Ceraphina
The first half of this was so freaking good, the writing desperate and panicky, a bit hazy and vague - made me think of Fernanda Melchor. Then you're telling me, that the abhorrently violent, sadistic, sexist man (POV Brother) who couldn't stop thinking about his sister Anne sucking some man's cock, and every woman he ever met or knew including his mother, was deemed of merit or insult depending how appeasing their physical looks was to him - was the Author(?!?!) to the book that spoke so greatly to women suffering that many women then off'd themselves from the sheer relatability?! once that was discovered I was thoroughly lost by what was supposed to be the actual point for these poor women involved.
“Under severe compulsion from Badger, even the barge woman was, with some trouble, sought out and the value of her horse discreetly made good to her; though Toad kicked terribly at this, holding himself to be an instrument of Fate, sent to punish fat women with mottled arms who couldn't tell a real gentleman when they saw one.”
Lol that's one of the last paragraphs in the books ending. It was disturbing the amount of misogynistic shit for a children's book. And not me minding myself over the reviews of people saying “this is my son's favorite book” or “my father read this to me as a kid” yeah yeah, I wonder why the prevalence of men reading/enjoying this one.
A world where the lower class are shat on and women are scum. Awesome!
2.5ish perhaps. Unfortunately this will be quite the forgettable read for me especially by the end of the year.
The first part, while I understandmany woman will find relatable, the young time in our life where we're wanting love and self doubts, it just came across too much like “pick me energy” and not enough deep dive into how we can alter that mindset to help.
Lunn's narrative voice that comes in between the questions is what made this experience not the best. After the first part and we know of her marriage, I'd say a good 70%ish of the rest of this is her talking about her miscarriage and or having the questions/answers with others skew towards her view point on how to deal with her miscarriage and dealing with how her marriage changed with intimacy. It felt more self serving than anything else in those moments. Other's who have read this and rated it lower like I have, make mention that it's repetitive and I agree, I wish there was a bit more nuance or that her monologues were more limited. It was almost like a backhand way for what I felt like what an attempt memoir of her experience with her husband and of her miscarriage.
I think this book is so successful because it definitely has the themes to help a multitude of people. There's conversations on loving yourself, what we can do to keep our relationships love steady through years, conversations on grief, etc.
If this works for you, great! But I found myself in an odd age bracket for this one. Mostly for how a majority of those who were interviewed came from what felt like a limited (perhaps privileged) view point. The sense of help might be lost on many others when the advice given in one section on how a husband can “show up” for his wife was to get a plane immediately and fly to where his wife was (to hand deliver a letter where he wrote down all his wrongdoings to her and the marriage. I wanted to say yikes!). Sure, I got the balance in my account to buy a ticket that would be so jacked up in price for a one day notice to surprise my partner, but is that sensible or reasonable? I can understand the message here, the intent, but most conversations skewed towards the “I have a life already set up, I”ve mostly moved on or have healed this part in my life, here's my answer to a few questions now that I'm in my later half of life. Good luck kids!” Pandering almost, annoying more so.
Sometimes I hear jokes about the kind of books you could buy your father, all the super commercialized ones like a Harlan Coben thriller. This one is what I'd suggest to gift your mother, or as a book club pick, because honestly, it just felt that gimmicky.
Reading this unfolds as if you're watching a documentary of one's mind. Already aware of the outcome, but each scene further you wait with bated breath for a different end.
I knew nothing of Guibert and his life prior to purchasing this. So the introduction and foreword (and the afterward) were paramount for me to get a solid footing on Guibert prior to starting this.
It's an autofiction account (though I believe more truth than not outside of name changes - someone can correct me on this) of Guibert writing during the time of finding out he has AIDS, and his friend Bill who works with someone currently developing an AIDS “vaccine” Melvil Mockney (a pseudonym for Jonas Salk), and how this friend ultimately let him down. While this title is apt in it's own right, his publisher agent had once remarked that the title on his manuscript was “Fuck you, Bill!” Both work as you get into this memoir.
Guibert is quite influential in France. Having published 20-ish plus novels prior to this one at the time it starts. Not to mention, a film writer and photographer, having well known actors and writers in his friend circle (yes, including Michel Foucault, I'll get to that in a moment). He was quite prolific even before his 30s, and remained so up until his death when he died at 36 (1991). I went on an absolute deep dive about him and was lucky enough to find a good portion of his film Modesty and Shame (the english title) where he documents himself in some of his last living moments. It was.... a lot. It brought up a weird memory from school where in textbooks we were shown emaciated bodies of people afflicted with the disease, and to see his round full face in photographs prior to that video of his gaunt body, and knowing he was at death's door was so horrifically sad and startling.
Reading this in 2024 also brought up a weird sensation considering just a few years ago, our whole world was finding out about COVID. Conversations and feelings Guibert writes in here about doctors not wanting to meet his eyes, or presuming it solely his fault and therefore needing to take responsibility for AIDS, the lack of information, all the MISinformation, having to navigate the health system, DRs disagreeing at any turn, the wanting to keep it a secret and to hide, the rumors of what's helpful to take, eat, or change in your habits just for it to be retracted, and the most scandalizing realization that if you're wealthy or in the right “social circles” of this world, the repercussions to a life ending disease or virus grants you a disturbing amount of privilege over the rest of the world.
While obviously vastly different, AIDS and COVID, it was just as easy to reflect on the parallels in experience of living in a time of uncertainty with an unknown contagion which added in a sense of uneasiness.
When doing my deep dive I was surprised by how much was focused on Michel Foucault in reviews and critics, who was Guiberts neighbor and them being very close friends. Foucault is documented for a decent portion in his memoir, Guibert muses and questions with anger and concern and tenderness on his friends illness and knowing that it was AIDS he was dying of and him likely to assume the same fate. But I didn't view this as Foucault only, like a biography of Foucault and his illness. I viewed it more as an encompassing part of the story over all, and what it must've been like for Guibert to reflect at that moment of his friend with him now having the same disease. I suppose Foucault was more of a selling point of the novel and reviews pushed that idea (esp considering Foucault's AIDS diagnoses was hidden to an extreme degree), but I digress. It felt if only a bit awkward that so much talked of him rather than Guibert and his work and life within this memoir.
For the book itself I don't think I've ever read such stark prose like Guibert. It was entirely engrossing, I never wanted to put it down. It's painful, and angering and Guibert is rightly self absorbed yet passionately talks on his friends and portrays them in a degree that I felt like I could reach out and touch them. There are passages that left me breathless. And some parts were so blatant and clear in sexuality and desire, it almost made me feel bashful like as if I walked in on Guibert myself. Every page with Bill was maddening, how he drags Guibert into thinking that he was going to be his hero, get access to this vaccine before his T4 cells dropped too low - Bill being the dictionary definition for empty words with no follow through.
I hope to see more people reading this in the future as many of his works are translated in English now.
This is a Sci-Fi Horror “Greek Tragedy”, even if the mythology isn't even the overall story arc, and the story is NOT a myth retelling and it is beyond even claiming that, there's a fair and beautiful amount of foreshadowing and tying in to the plot within this if you read closely. You'd fair best if you understand Gods/Goddesses within Roman & Greek, if even loosely, is my preface before reading this and general biblical figures. Based off of earlier reviews I think this understanding of how mythology played largely in this story gave it a low avg. rating at the start of this books life.
But Alice Thompson is so brilliant, and takes the stories and characteristics of these Gods to create an original, and thought provoking unsettling sci fi and at times horror, space mission. Chimera being uniquely its own, I'd side mention if you liked Becky Chambers To Be Taught if Fortunate for it's slower pacing, more prophetic musings and questions surrounding life and the dynamics of characters on a spaceship for a lonely space mission, this would probably be a good read for you, as Chimera ties in similarly in that way.
The synopsis doesn't touch on anything that would make you think it's tying in themes of mythos and I'm unsure if that's the intent or not, so hence my prefaces so future readers hopefully feel satisfied of this genre blend. It's not a fast paced sci Fi thriller, it builds it's momentum to leave an absolutely insane ending.
At the surface: Artemis is a part of a space mission to get to a new moon to try and find a bacteria that could help consume the carbon in the air on Earth and re-stabilize the environment. Earth is a waste-land, completely ruled by technology. People are lost in their VR worlds, enjoying a fake view vs reality. We have AI Dryads, advanced androids who have human DNA. I imagined Earth in this novel like a Black Mirror esqu episode. Artemis, a Dream scientist researcher joins the mission as it's her duty to ensure the crew has “Dreamless” nights. The reasons being unfold over time, but the main points, it's how dreams and consciousness, desire, humanity all share the same root to Dreams.
My many hints of mythos being in this under the surface to again, hopefully help others in reading this (Thompson at times almost clearly lays this out, specifically a chapter about how the crew base at the moon is designed, but I just didn't see anyone mentioning these things in their reviews!):
We have Jason whose her partner who funded this mission. Think, Jason and the Argonauts.
The Spaceship mission and crew is named Chimera. What do we know of the mythology of chimeras?
Ivan “the terrible”, is the crews biologist.
We have an advanced AI Dryad aboard the crew, named Troy. Cough, Trojan Horse, Cough.
The moon is called Oneiros: in mythology it's of a place that's the land of dreams
There's mentions of labyrinths and minotaurs, we have the failed prior space crew called SIREN: Sirens known as mythological woman with bird heads who sing luring men to death - there's even a mention of the Flannen Isles - known for the popular mystery of how three lightkeepers went missing, many theorizing about Sirens being their reason of disappearence.
Other characters that tie in to this grand mythos: Cressida, Luther, Myra, Daniel, Seth (think Set). Shadows relating to the God of Darkness. Mentions of Sound of The Temple Bells. It's expansive.
And even knowing all of these Gods and stories even at the level of “maybe I recall this from school???”, helps guide you through the story and yet doesn't Spoil any of it! Thompson is unique in her approach in how she weaves these themes and messaging in, giving it's significance at just the right moments, to leave you in awe of what she's mastered in this book.
The characters are individual, motivations varying amongst them. The intricacies of dreams and humanity, the intricacies of technology and how it conflicts with religion and beliefs, in the nest of it all in the AI Dryads and Virtual realities, the driving forces of life, ahhh I'm fangirling!
There's more I can say but I'll leave it at this, if you like the idea of a slow paced sci fi that builds towards deeply unsettling and horrfic conclusions that gets you thinking about life and hidden meanings, you just have to pick it up :)
I almost felt punished during my time reading this novel by the end. My first thought upon finishing it was “This exhausted me.” I can see why majority love it, and I can see also why some have rated this quite lowly.
This novel is auto-fiction. A lot of what's reflected upon and events are what the author herself has lived through. Locations being the same, what she experienced at mental hospitals, etc.
It starts off strong for me. Already I found myself in love with the sentences I was reading. Some beautiful passages right at the start, like this one on PG 9: “Thoughts of death chase after me. Day and night, I think about killing myself. My reasons unclear. To carry on with life, or to die - either will do. A vague disquiet, nothing more. Troubled thoughts, pushing me towards giving suicide a try.”
But a few pages later and I felt myself getting lost and struggling to keep up with our narrator. Within a same paragraph, we can be reading a sentence about her childhood home and the next about her penthouse apartment and her an adult. Or, a conversation with a past lover, and the next sentence talking about one of the times she is at a mental institution. This type of narration forced me out of her scope, out of her mind, and left me so close to just simply observing the pages on the book rather than being immersed. The lack of flow in between these moments are jagged and disorientating.
The second biggest issue was how much time, sooo much time, was spent on the minute details of the locations and weather! All told in extraordinary small details, everything needed to be described to even a speck of dust essentially. This is true for her apartment. Her other homes. Her random lovers homes and the places they went. Movie theaters, bars, cafes. How the rain fell, how the heat felt, how the snow looked, how a couch looked, a lamp on a table, how this street interconnected to another street, and that other street connecting to a different town and on and on. I ended up spending about an hour on Google just typing in all these places so I could try and get a feel of what she was talking about. This sparse writing style, and all the jumps between the places didn't give me a good sense of being there with her but rather like as if I was seeing these places by looking at a drawing. My googling helped a bit to help me see Istanbul but still, I was amiss.
The strongest parts were when she was recalling anything around strong emotions. Like her friends, and how many of them betrayed/failed her. Her family. The psychiatric wards. How it felt for her to endure electroshock therapy (all against her will), how the doctors/nurses were physically or sexually abusing her, how she felt about life and what she wanted from it, seeing the good and the bad, questioning her religion, things like that. But it felt too far in between to get these moments. This was when her writing was the strongest as well, other things coming across as late night ramblings.
It's truly a sad story. You can't help but feel her pain, and her passion. But I couldn't connect because I was feeling forced not to. Some unspoken rule amongst the language and writing, that I can only see it, not endure it with her. This also feeling true considering that if I read this story and not the Introduction and Afterwards I'd of known next to nothing about her. I wouldn't of learned that she was in these mental hospitals due to being diagnosed bi-polar. I wouldn't of learned how many times she was married, or what ages she was during some of the bigger events. I wouldn't of learned how her writing mostly blossomed due to her brothers connections (him also a writer). There's so much that I'd of not known without these parts.
Unfortunately, I don't think this book will stick with me for long.
3.5. and it's actually not for what To Build A Fire is, but for the short story tacked onto the end of my edition of this book by London: Love of Life.
To build a fire is immensely written and I honestly can't recall if I ever read Jack London's famous books, but this was spectacular. I had to pick this up as I'm currently dealing with a heavy snowy day and negative degree wind chills, here in Portland.
But in my cynicism I just found the man to be as dumb as he was written to be. So in 18 pages (my ed.) It was okay. The best quality being the writing of nature itself and just how desperate you can try to build a fire and save your life.
However, Love of Life was much better and this is probably the unpopular opinion. It's a similar-ish premise (man, nature, bad weather) but perhaps without quite the frantic quality as from the man To Build A Fire.
We have a man traveling with his friend Bill, when while crossing the river he slips on a rock and sprains his ankle. For whatever reason you can conjure, Bill abandons him without even looking back. We get his adventure over 20ish pages, encountering colder days, rain, and some snow. His main issue is his hunger, and how hunger in a survival situation controls all else. It was honestly riveting.
I want to mention that my copy of this book was apparently independently published? And when I found my other copy (that had these short stories and more by jack London) I noticed stark differences. Some sentences were removed and or changed. Also a lot of the “cruelty” was reworded to make it seem more softer and not as harsh. I prefer my copy, relishing the brutal aspects within survival and how far one can go when wanting to continue living even after realizing that just dying would be easier. Maybe not all copies are this drastically changed but thought I'd mentioned it. My fav passage from Love of Life...
“Then began as grim a tragedy of existence as was ever played - a sick man that crawled, a sick wolf that limped, two creatures dragging their dying carcasses across the desolation and hunting each other's lives.”
That insane passage was almost entirely rewritten in the other copy. So I'll be keeping this one instead :)
I'm so thankful I found this book at my local Powell's a few months ago. I wasn't expecting to be hooked into it right from page one, and certainly wasn't expecting to love it so much that I instantly re-read it. While reading this I took many notes and the best I could come up with in a way to describe it is: A mixture of the humor found in ‘I Think You Should Leave' skits with the brutal honesty of the world from ‘Adam Ruins Everything', but make it funnier, smarter, and a shit ton of Barbie. There were some parts that were so funny that I was clutching my stomach from laughing so much. It wasn't all funny of course, the moments of realizing the truth within these moments, and I think our author Stohlman was masterful in the way she blended in the surrealism and absurdity of what our world has turned into yet... hasn't turned into at all. I've never read anything like this, the closest I can think of is [b:Gutshot 22237153 Gutshot Amelia Gray https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405015536l/22237153.SX50.jpg 41610669] ( a short story collection that I love but leans towards more of horror and strange). We get snippets of our nameless narrators life - talking about ‘Before the Rapture' and ‘After the Rapture' of our world collapsing and crumbling in. A dystopian in absurdity but yet, you can't help but see just how much of it could happen and how the world would handle a Rapture. Between our nameless narrator - we get infomercials, news articles and broadcasts / and Barbie FAQs. Some of my favorite parts were the “Barbie Blank” infomercials, where we hear of a new released Barbie and how she's handling the Rapture, and the “Karaoke Gang” news articles. The orgy being secretly a time-share selling meeting had me laughing so hard till tears. It's all brilliant. I love this very, very much.
Contains spoilers
this was... surreal.
I spent a lot of time debating over the ending. A few hours on Reddit included, I've decided that the mural on the ceiling was Penny committing suicide. Someone pointed out symbolism of the couple times Penny is touching lightbulbs on the ceiling as symbolism for “ideas about suicide” and it made the most sense to me. Someone also more elegantly pointed out that the last couple pages tied into all the math equations Hilbert was mentioning and Penny's conclusion in her body and mind after committing suicide, a sense of finality.
Reading this book will make you feel like you, yourself, are old and losing your memory. Iain Reid perfectly wrote this to make it seem like you and Penny are one and the same. Which adds into how surreal it all is, as “one and the same” being the main plot points throughout this.
At the center of this story it's really about Lisbet and her worries over her pregnancy, and sorrow over her multiple miscarriages prior to this. I have no children and I've thankfully not have had to endure that particular road of loss, so needless to add but this story could not move me in any profound or meaningful way.
And a novel doesn't owe me this - it doesn't owe me a story that only I can relate to. And I've loved many novels that didn't relate to me at all, and still moved me by the end. However, I did pick this up based on the blurbs and synopsis and was left feeling awkward within this story as it had the parts of what was in the synopsis but none of the follow through.
The dancing plague is almost, just almost an after-thought to this story. We get chapters in between the plot line with Lisbet of woman who join in on the dancing, a brief glimpse into their lives before they join the masses. But it seems wildly out of place when the plot line just touches onto this ‘dancing plague' not happening all that far from Lisbet. Seemingly used primarily as a point to allow certain characters to meet, or argue, converse, or conspire. I was hopeful of more conversations regarding the religion and beliefs, and conspiracies as to why all these women lost themselves in the movement (literal and figuratively). I'd of liked to of spent more time amongst the crowds and how this was affecting their loved ones.
We get Nethe, and we get Ida. Their presence seemingly too quick within scenes. Their personal struggles and unraveling not nearly as encompassing or important to the flow of this. Their stories heart breaking and sad, wholly believable, yet nothing that would leave a lasting impression on me. Mainly due to how it's all framed, forever and solely Lisbet being her world and us revolving around it.
The bad guy, Plater, is the bad guy to all in this story. His actions easily determined by all the twirling mustache ‘bad man' predecessors in novels, art, movies... and with all the typical-ness of this character we're not treated with particularly deep insights of motivations for him, or nuanced conversations. A caricature is all that was left.
The author said as much herself in the acknowledgements, that she wanted a story to touch on the loss of life and grief that so many woman experience from miscarriages, and the fears and uncertainty of motherhood in general. She achieved that. But more should be warned that that is all they're really going to get from this story.
“Sometimes there's a moment where two people split and both keep going.... No matter what, we're going to find each other.”
This novella is so much about grief and yet, not much about grief at the same time.
Jenny, at age 11, losing her wrestling tournament and her mother on the same day sends her adrift from all she's ever known. She quits wrestling, and finds her reprieve solely in TV shows. This book doesn't touch greatly on what it feels like in losing a parent, but gives metaphors instead and indirect conversations to cover the exact emotions. Like with Jenny suddenly being caught up in TV, and protective of her time with the shows (like getting upset at her dad and ‘Uncle' Mike for talking too loud and turning up the volume defiantly or when in an argument with her father, takes the tv upstairs to her bedroom saying “its mine”) we can dot the line from this current moment to when at the hospital to visit her mother a Nurse wanting to be helpful tells Jenny to watch TV saying: “Sometimes it's nice to have the company.”
The connected lines being this is what Jenny uses and needs to escape the feelings of this situation. Finding solace in the company she experiences with TV shows while in all reality is a girl whose abandoned in multiple ways. We're on the outside of this ordeal as much as Jenny is. Months go by and then years go by. Her life the same rhythm until a defining moment when she discovers her dad starting his own cult religion “Church of Wrestling.”
When we get conversations with the father again he's odd and frantic. Desperately clinging on to words Jenny cried in frustration to him the day her mother died and she lost the wrestling match “How do you strike first in Death” as his purpose to find out and solve.
It gets weirder from here, her dads situation I hadn't seen coming. I was hopeful that this would be the turn in the novel where we'd start getting more inside Jenny's head, and her thoughts and feelings in all of this. But it progresses on the same, filled pages of interactions that aren't ever clear in the emotions or intentions but wistful metaphors guiding you into how Jenny is processing these horrible events and situations around her.
I wasn't the most excited over learning her dad having brain cancer, and it having to of appeared before he even left for russia. I felt like in learning this. it had delegitimized her fathers own anguish and peril at losing his daughter, losing wrestling, and losing Jenny's mother. It brought up more questions than answers in how that particular fact could play into her father starting his own religion and leaving for Russia to pursue the meaning of “strike first in death”
Simply, I'd of liked to of felt closer to Jenny and not so torn away from her. I'd of liked a little more directness to who she was/is during this, the vague heart touching conversations becoming almost overdone. And I'd of liked if that one plot point I mentioned in the Spoiler tag to of been either omitted or expressed upon a bit more in the type of questions it brought up for me that I could of only assumed others would of had as well.
“Half the trouble in the world, comes from people asking too much of themselves”
This was actually extraordinary in its own way, but it loses itself in a false sense of passion towards loved ones.
We find Maggy in a jail cell, currently in a hunger strike. When reading this I think it'd be best to familiarize yourself with The Troubles, because this short novella has no room or time to hold your hand through it. I'm rather naive on this topic not knowing a whole much so as far as accuracy goes, I couldn't account for that.
But we quickly delve into Maggy meeting her friends Rosheen and Dizzy. She was left with Nuns when she was just a young kid, not knowing of her mother really at all. We learn that Dizzy is a bit agnostic but joined Catholicism school for the... ‘fun' of it? Hard to say her motivations. Rosheen very devout in the teachings of Catholicism gets more or less exiled from it, and marries an abusive man named Sean. Maggy herself upon leaving school leaves to America for 8 years and makes her way to London where Rosheen has left her abusive husband to move in with Dizzy, and Maggy ends up living with them too.
Maggy throughout this appears apathetic to it all. Like she's just there not really inside her own body. When she's recalling these memories she doesn't come across as delusional from starvation, the writing actually making all interactions quite straightforward. It's only during the brief moments out of these memories that we see how hungry she is, and how that's messing with her feelings and body, making her weak and uncertain in this path.
I'm not sure if it's the writing or the length but when we find out WHY she's deemed on the side of the IRA and participating in a political hunger strike it seems completely outlandish. The reasons behind her setting off a bomb, and who she targeted with a bomb, was more about her allegiance to her friends Dizzy and Rosheen over anything political at all, albeit the Politics being the driving force behind this entire situation in the first place. We don't get much emotions from Maggy regarding Dizzy and Rosheen, no extreme declarations one way or another about how she feels about the friendships. So to make the decision to plant a bomb and take out someone seen as a “threat” was lacking a sense of reason for me. Not to mention, Rosheen and Dizzy don't even appear at the court hearing for her. Maggy's political stance was not entirely conveyed either. All we know of her is growing up in South Ireland, raised Catholic. Off to America and then is in London for an indescriminate amount of time. I'm not sure though if in a mere 50 pages we could of gathered more in understanding from any of this should it of been written in a different way.
However, again, it truly is extraordinary in its own way. You're thrown into this and I couldn't help but be drawn to the premise of a woman locked in jail on hunger strike, with the background of The Troubles. The writing while vague in emotional territory is confident and welcoming. The ending is a left over question, not a perfect bow conclusion. I was okay with this as it gave me the opportunity to imagine Maggy in the way I think her story should end.
I thought I was in my romance era but the last few books I've picked up have been proving me wrong at every turn. I was excited until about 50 pages into it. And then around page 200 I was starting to slog my way through this. I'm not sure where the exact disconnect happened for me but our love interests sparked no joy in me to want to keep the pages turning. For me when I'm reading romance, an actual plot is a nice addition, but for me it's more about the relationship building between the characters to enhance everything else like the plot. I love to watch a romance build between two characters, the stolen glances, the rising tension, the will they won't they scenarios... and I felt none of that with this book unfortunately.
We start off the book with Alister having his ship attacked, and seeing a young woman as a stowaway on the opposing ship that's now sinking. He saves her and brings her aboard his, all to find out that the woman is named Rosetta and it was her plan all along to play the damsel in distress so she could actually take over his boat as she herself is a Captain. Rosetta is a strong character, and she was written excellently as a strong character. As we get further in the book we learn more about her motivations as to why she's a female captain amongst Pirates and what her goals are. It's all believable.
Alister despises Rosetta right off the bat, and it's rightfully so as she did steal his ship and his crew. This first book doesn't delve too much into who Alister is outside of a captain. He seems to be guided by some words his mother had said to him about helping those in need, etc. Outside of that we don't really learn much about him. He sort of blended in with the rest of the characters, if I'm being honest.
This book is written in third person, and I'm usually not a fan of it all. I still wanted to give it a chance as the beginning of the book started off strong for me. However as it continued I felt that it created a severe distance from me as the reader to the characters. It was hard for me to see why Rosetta and Alister were even remotely attracted to one another. Her relationship to a couple of her closer crew members in comparison to Alister was written the same. No real sense of emotions played into their exchanges. There were no moments that had me desperate to have more scenes with them around each other. I prefer my romances to have smut in them but I can't stand them if the characters are as flat as Rosetta and Alister are. I felt no tension or angst between Rosetta and Alister to make those smutty moments exciting or rewarding.
There's a plot point in this that was used repeatedly throughout, which had me knowing exactly how this book was going to continue and how it was going to end. We have Rosetta trying to attain her ultimate goal which is to get to another ship (I won't share why to save from spoilers). In order to do that, she keeps tricking Alister. She tricked him into taking over his ship. She drops him off at a port. He steals the ship back, and drops her off at a port. She tricks him in order to regain the ship. It was repetitive to a frustrating degree. They never gain a common ground and if it appears they do, one of them lying or outright tricking one another deters that entirely. And all the trickery was awkward to read on about considering we're removed from it. We don't know why Rosetta or Alister does something until it's already happened and then they explain how they pulled it off or why they did it. I'd like to feel a part of it instead of a bystander. So all they had truly was enjoying having sex together.
Which while Alister respects her during the couple times she says no to sex, there is a scene when he low key guilt trips her into sucking his dick. I wanted to put the book down at this point. Specifically, he fingers her to orgasm, and he's starting to put his dick in her when she says no. He agrees and stops but then tells her that she's going to have to “take care of him” and suck his dick. Rosetta didn't show enthusiasm to do so, in fact her response is “I already sucked you” ... I'm supposed to be turned on by this? Lol
crossing fingers that I have a win soon but I am very happy to be done reading this
This was a genuine surprise as far as what many assume and expect from a “creature smut” kind of a book.
We start off strong with learning about our main character Ketahn, a “vrix” that is similar to spiders. There's a sense of the world and the politics amongst other Vrix and we quickly learn that the Queen Vrix has been desiring for Ketahn to mate with her, deeming him the only acceptable vrix to give her offspring. This fact becomes the core of the plot and tension in this.
Ketahn comes from a family of Vrix weavers, but when the Queen took reign he was essentially forced to become a Warrior Vrix instead. The reasoning behind this as we learn plays into the “why” he refuses the Queen's advances. But now, he's meant to protect and provide for all the others. He's off to go into the “Tangle” a jungly mess of an area filled with various and harmful creatures and predators, to find food and other offerings for the village. This is when Ivy comes in.
Ivy is awakened in her Cryochamber and immediately Ketahn is completely consumed by her, never having been around humans before (obviously). There's a language barrier but you can still understand what Ivy is communicating, a lot of it written out like phonetically so us as readers can figure out what's happening. And it doesn't take long before the language barrier isn't even a trouble between them. Both of them being “quick learners”
The story progresses with us learning that Ivy was space traveling to live in a new colony and planet. A rash decision on her part after experiencing some horrible things back on ‘Earth'. She quickly takes to Ketahn, understanding that he's her only sense of hope in survival. Ketahn also aptly aware of this wastes no time in teaching her how to hunt, fish, weave things like baskets, start fires...
While the writing is decent, and I appreciate the world we're being immersed in, I struggled to find the attraction between the two of them. And I had no issues with him being a spider, lol. They take on a relationship that's like, Teacher and Student. Parent and Child. Sometimes even Child and Child. Both having so much to learn and overcome in their differences. There's the moments that's supposed to make me feel giddy and excited, waiting for the love to blossom but Ketahn too suddenly felt like a sweet old man to me. He's apparently very fast and strong but something in his written demeanor I felt like the way some action scenes went or his way amongst other Vrix couldn't solidify Ketahn as some strong warrior type who could save Ivy and himself but more easily breakable and unsteady. Me unintentionally starting to see Ketahn as sweet and frailer and that his age could suddenly catch up to him causing his demise, took away any desire I had to see him in a relationship with Ivy.
Ivy is sweet and simple. I couldn't turn off my critical brain when reading however at a certain point and I got lost in the idea that she only started romantic emotions towards Ketahn as he was her only savior on a strange alien planet. Outside of that, the relationship felt neither rushed or too slow.
This is me taking a creature romance book too seriously so I'll end my review here lol. It was nice but overall not quite what I was looking for, so I don't think I'll be continuing the series.
Enjoy my 2,600 words review on this book. My title is Who Cares! Says the Author.
If RAWR XD had a physical embodiment, it would be this book
I'm tempted to leave my review at that, considering that truly sums up how I feel but I took many notes while reading this so I'll share my thoughts down below:
Apparently this is a “TikTok” book? I've never been on TikTok, and I think I had only heard of this due to the GR awards. However once I finished this book and looked into how it got published it suddenly made a lot of sense mainly in how its written.
Elaborating: We have a relatively strong prologue, and towards the middle and end there were a few scenes I also enjoyed. The writing being confident, with a finality of what was supposed to happen in those moments while the other 80% was written without that similar assuredness. It made a confusing reading experience and when I dug into it all, I can't help but make an assumption that the author in her TikTok videos had certain scenarios or dialogues planned out in her head and when a book deal came her way, she frantically wrote the rest just to tie in her key favorite scenes. It's disappointing as I truly believed this could of ended up something fun and unique in it's own way but got overshadowed by so much from the lack of direction within in.
Lack of direction in the tone, lack of direction in the plot, lack of direction in characters...
Too many points in the book and I swore I was reading a middle grade, young adult. Nothing wrong in that but I was marketed something differently. I spent my money and more valuable as a reader, my time to read this did I not? It's an obtuse intricacy of when or if it matters and to how much it matters if it does matter in regards to how books are being marketed as of late. I remember when romance and erotica books were tucked shamefully on just a few shelves in the dim lit corners of Borders and Barnes and Nobles. Girlies are in resurgence of contemporary romance, creature smut, bully romances, fantasy romances... I love this for us!
But, I am annoyed to a certain degree in how I'm supposed to determine if a book is for me if it's marketing is valued in various levels of misdirection.
- Adult? Yeah the characters are adult age, but the characters have no qualities about them that even give a whiff of being adult.
- Spice? No, none. Every “intimate” (intimate being an absurd term considering what this is) moment is written with childlike innocence.
- Fantasy/magical? Um, a weird take on it, sure. You get next to no world building. No sense of the region, or general politics - and it wasn't described as a high fantasy I am aware, but it gives nothing. Things just are. Magic is the same. It is what it is. Where do people in this place (????) go or typically do when born with magic? Are they assigned special roles in society? Who cares, says the author. Who exactly is the King? Who cares, says the author. How does the Villain manage that castle full of people and interns? Get his money? Have magic shooting out of his hands? WHO CARES, says the author.
Tone and Writing of this book: Adults can be funny without being a childlike impersonation. That had to be one of my biggest gripes within this. Humor is subjective and I especially think it's a feat for written humor to come across well. As I was reading this, 99% of the humor was handled like how a young kid jokes about “naughty” things. And if not a direct joke nearly all thoughts and words are just what I'd expect a kid to say as well. Examples following, and PLEASE know I'm roughly paraphrasing from my notes, not pulling direct quotes.
Evie at work and she's tit for tatting with her co worker Becky and says “are you aware of the office pixies using ink to make portraits of their rear-ends?” Evie fell again at some point, some point being roughly one page in between from the last time she fell eye roll!! and Villain sees her on her hands and knees. Evie instantly thinks along the lines of “he sees me doing some weird version of leap frog” In other adult romantasy's we'd of had something obviously sexier, but I digress because obviously these are children I'm reading about. Evie is talking to the Villain and something gets brought up where the words “Vulnerable Places” is spoken aloud. And Evie acting terrified over anything remotely sexual like a twelve year old caught googling the word ‘sex' says to Villain: “Not that I'm thinking about your vulnerable places!” Evie is talking to the healer Tatiana, (what is the difference in magic used or born with that differentiates Tatiana's healing magic or Villains grey mist magic hands? Whoooo Caaaaares, says the author) and Evie brings up that she had a dream about Villain. Tatiana asks in some variation of “ooOOOooo was it dirty?” And the Villain comes in ofcourse when Evie confesses to Tatiana that her dream of Villain was dirty. She then flusters about and says “it was dirty. Like dirt. Mud” Another Evie falls situation, this time from her chair (All she does is fall), and Villain asks if she wants to see Tatiana and she goes “no I wouldn't want to subject Tatiana to my war with the chair” The word “nincompoop” is used often. Evie in, yep you guessed, another falling scene and Villain breaks her fall, he asks her “can you ummm please dismount me?” What do you mean dismount? You're a horse,Villain? It's awkward language.
Continuing on with the writing, you'd think being the assistant to the Villain we'd get to see Evie involved in straight up wild times with murder and fight/action scenes and not just day in and day out filing papers, starting accidental fires, and falling every 2 seconds? You'd think that we'd get more description of the level of violence our Villain pursues in but it's often kept quite short like “severed heads hanging from the ceiling” and thats all, folks. She's involved in none of it. Outside of a couple scenes later on that we are kindly granted a couple paragraphs of seeing the Villain be a you know, Villain, we are straight up deprived of a good plot. Or any plot for the matter.
The mystery over who is trying to harm Villain sent me into small fit of rage. I'm going to delve in spoilers here. Don't read if you don't want spoilers. If I did this right the spoiler should be covered, and the rest of my review is spoiler free.
At the end scene where we find out the traitor is her father but yet it's written like Evie is discovering this herself the same time we are just for the dialogue of “I knew it was you father” afterwards is frustrating. We had some sentences and snippets when she's with Tatiana and Clare that some of the things they're pointing out is ringing bells for Evie, but a less amateur writer would know how to trust their readers more into providing foreshadowing and allowing us to kick our feetsies in stirring in who the culprit could be, which would make turning the pages that much more exciting. Instead by foregoing this it's just endless pages of “there's a traitor in our midst” “we need to find the traitor” “I am no closer to who it could be” I know theres one more scene in the beginning when Evie says “my father once worked for King Benedict is that a problem?” But that isn't something a reader could hold onto in my opinion, when so many scenes with Evie is almost always mentioning her sick father. Or talking to her sick father. You paint a picture this clear, that Dad is just an innocent dying man who raised his two girls after their mother killed their brother, with no other hints or conversations within her time with her dad... The end result is not a gasp! What an exciting plot twist! The end result is ugh. Way to give us nothing. I was irked.
There's a chapter somewhere in the middle where Villain is talking about how much Evie helps at his castle. That Evie is so integral to everyone around her. She had a voracious knowledge and problem solving skills and was an excellent schemer. It was shocking. Shocking because we never see these things. There was a 5 month time jump after her first meeting Villain, and when we're back in the world she's... just a mess. We don't see her do anything that is skillful. We just get the aftermath of her telling the Villain “Ok I did it!” So to make me read a chapter about this apparently brilliant in the background mastermind to your people and plans, is jarring. I would of loved to be a part of the action, and see Evie's mind turning the gears on figuring out how to exact plans, or her interacting with all of these other co workers that all are positively affected by her working there. She's bickering with Becky, awkwardly awkwarding with Villain, getting healed by Tatiana, or dealing with Blade, the Massacre Mansions resident Himbo. It was flabbergasting as to all of Villain's confessions of a smart, conniving, cut throat Evie. Wish I knew her.
Last thing in my notes regarding the writing: There's a couple scenes of arguments with Evie and Villain. And the 5 month time jump after the prologue really amplifies the disadvantages of doing that within these scenes.
Evie in response to being any level of hurt and upset with the Villain makes it appear like Villain owes her what a boyfriend would, yet she simultaneously acts strangely oblivious to the notion that Villain probably likes her a bit too. In these scenes she literally starts crying, and runs away! Or stomps off and has a tantrum like an actual baby has a tantrum, swinging her fists.
I'm really supposed to believe you're 23 years old? Interacting with a 29 year old man? It's weird.
Am I supposed to find these people... endearing? Funny? With the author, I have no clue where the line is in consideration to “I'm well aware of the intentions I set out when writing this book and it's a joke within a joke that my characters are in their 20s yet have the emotional capacity of a rock and problem solving skills of mashed potatos” like was this written as an inside joke, a little side nod that there's a purpose of none of it making sense? Or is the intention the cringey not ironic line of “I'm quirky and cooky! I do silly things! I'm just not like other girls!”
Ugh. Moving on to Characters.
Evie:In my notes I wrote “Evie is very childish and she alone deserves all the criticisms in the trope of damsel in distress” I could not agree with myself more smirk
Formula is repetitive of She Falls, He helps her. She Falls, He helps her. She gets injured, He Helps her. On and on this merry go round we go! And it sucks because this trope has it's audience and I'm usually quite a fan.
However with Evie, I was exhausted. She could not go a single second of her life without falling, getting injured, accidentally starting fires, etc etc. It took out all the romantic tension for me. Using this as her main personality trait, stripped away any good “hurt/comfort” scenes or legitimate saving her scenes. If only she could fall, hit her head, and wake up a completely different person!!!
I could tell that the author very much loves romances where something happens to the Heroine, like has a bruise or is sick, or someone hurts her and then we get endless descriptions of how the Hero is still and quiet and Heroine mistakes the cue of him about to lose his mind over his girl being hurt as a “He doesn't like me!! I made him angry!! Oh no!” And again, I'm usually a fan of this too but this mixed in with Evie being.. Evie, it sucked. Overdone and overused!
Any time another character hinted at the signs that the Villain liked her, it truly went over her head. The book just moved on to a different scene. Next to zero reflection on why Villain goes out of his way to do the nice things he does for her, or all the times he shows worry or concern or fear regarding her. Juvenile, again, in that way. Evie's headspace is nearly identical to YA romance girls. Full of self loathing and doubt.
Villain: It's mainly just: Looks at Evie uwu she cute. He's bland. While the book hints at all the evil things he does, Villain is portrayed as All Talk and No Action. There's multiple instances of him sharing the happiness or glee he feels when he is murderous, I mean, a guy who likes to decorate his castle with heads should be pretty twisted minded? Nah, reading from his POVs was realization that the man is soft. Like, soft serve ice cream soft.
And overall, I wasn't bothered by waiting to hear why he didn't like King Benedict. And when we do find out right at the end, I just shrugged my shoulders. I figured as much that it would be something like that. It wasn't over the top dramatics but it was enough to make sense as to why someone would want revenge. It felt like a grasping at straws situation because you go 300 pages of hinting and hinting at such a fraught situation just to end it on that, like, okay. Sure.
Lyssa, Evie's little sister: She's fine. She's around. Likes to skip school.
Clare, Villains sister: I... Whatever. She doesn't do anything. She's just angry.
Tatiana, the healer: I wouldn't be able to tell her apart in a line-up.
Blade, the animal Himbo: He's weak willed and minded. He did one right thing in fixing a mistake but all his time with his dragon (A dragon! Wow! Can we know more about the mystical creatures in this world? Who cares, says the author) is truly inconsequential to everyone and everything. He's just there to chill with dragon.
King Benedict: If he was in the aforementioned line up with Tatiana, I also couldn't tell him apart. Like who even is this dude?
Arthur Arnold Arthur Arnold WHO CARES SAYS THE AUTHOR Villain's Dad: I don't know what came first, Arthur or Arnold but wow! is that an oversight in editing if I ever saw one. What is the name of Villain's father? Don't worry over it, just remember our motto!
Evies Dad: when I realized I should of DNF'd this book
Kingsley a frog with a crown:wasn't actually impressed but still probably the only fun thing about this book
Becky:like all the best caricatures of people, she's outwardly rude, but don't worry she's just protecting herself cause tRaUMa!
I'm officially done. This will go down in history as my lowest point as a reader, that I opened up a words document to type out a review for this book. However....
...If I get a comment from that one person going around leaving passive aggressive remarks for everyone who leaves a low star rating review for this book, I will have made it as a Goodreads reviewer.
“There are means sons of bitches Starr, and then there are... monsters.” Tamsyn Muir writes like heartbreak. I went into this unknowing what it was about. But Muirs other novella book [b:Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower 54391767 Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower Tamsyn Muir https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594041962l/54391767.SX50.jpg 84877379] is an all time favorite of mine so regardless of what it's about, I will read anything she publishes. This was sassy and weird but I think Muir excels in this. Her prose beautiful and thought provoking but it adds to the story rather than subtract, both prose and plot molding together perfectly. Our characters while not new in concept; Bodyguard, Dancers, Business Owners, Detectives... The story and the world transformed it all into something exciting, and breathed life into it all. We have Amy Starr whose an undercover detective with a directive from her boss to work under “The Widower” to find the Ghoul that she has under her care and play Bodyguard. Ghouls are the catch all as described to us, the catch all for various sort of creatures/monsters that are in this world. And this world is sparse, hard to get your foot on it and that's largely due I'm sure to the length of this. At 60 pages, it's a it is what it is kind of a situation. But when you catch the glimpses of the environment and politics within this world it's mesmerizing. The Ghoul in question, Lucille is introduced quickly. Starr, and the Widower are watching Lucille enter the stage. Lucille has all the physical qualities of a ‘human' but we're told that parts of her body are “moth eaten” exposing flesh and muscle on various parts of her body. We watch Lucille dance and flit about on stage when a lizard is brought out. A lizard thats size is more proportionate to a small wolf, or alligator. Lucille attacks and kills this lizard with no sense of struggle, exposing fangs and claws as she devours her victim. A sudden mystery is started when Starr meets Lucille face to face afterwards, and Lucille calls her by her first name “Amy” The story progresses as Starr tries to understand and learn more about Lucille and what her involvement is with Widower, and why Widower wants Lucille protected in the first place. Beautifully and adeptly told, within these 60 pages we learn and uncover just how these three are interconnected to each other and what is at stake to themselves depending on the actions they take. I geeked out a bit with the ending. I had sneaking suspicions along the way and it was exactly the conclusion I wanted. I should not of expected anything less by Tamsyn but this was haunting, weird, and different.
Tyler reminded me of a misguided Cop. The kind of man you meet who is pretentious about what's right/wrong, thinks they're smarter than the rest and that the way to fight and dismantle evil is from within the evil itself. But you come to find out that they're overall lazy, want the easy way out, and yet use their position as a way to keep themselves up on a pedestal for pseudo change and liberation.
Tyler's similar. After his sister experiences something truly awful he decides to keep his faith and become a Priest, a way to offer a fresh start for the people and on his pedestal show “change”
He's on his path of self righteous-ness until he hears a breathy and husky voice in a confession and all of a sudden, fuck God am I right? What's a man to DO when faced against a sexy voice? How is God testing him this horribly? Eye roll
Tyler overall is a very confusing character which tells me perhaps the author wasn't confident in which direction she wanted to go with this. Tyler at any point will be like: “I want to see her choke on my cock” and within the next sentence think “but this isn't feminism!!!”
Yet his feminism is what.... Exactly? Choosing a career that is famously known to hurt and exploit? Oh right he's different though, um, so after realization of what happened to his sister and him repeatedly harping on himself for all the signs he must have missed of her pain, surely he extended his time in understanding more of what women have to endure and go through and educate himself on these signs? No? Okay, how about!! he begrudgingly reminisces over how every girl who he wanted to fuck rough didn't like it because they're educated and independent and every girl who did want rough sex had.... emotional issues? Trauma? They were unloved? This all screams that he surely paid much attention in his women studies classes. By placing women into such tight boxes of x equals x screams feminist mindset to me.
And what the fuck was Poppy? She had no dimension to her. By page 65 she was getting eaten out after using a HOLY confessional booth to talk about how wet she is, how she likes to finger herself, loves to get rammed into... Like sorry Poppy, while Tyler is written like a confused white man you're written low key predatory. She saw her new Priest was hot and said I don't care, even though I spent hours on Google to learn Catholicism - really Poppy was just on Google to figure out how to get into Tyler's pants. She was aware she was well educated and attractive. Admitted she got off on seeing men want her for sexual reasons only. Knew of her sexual allurness and used this all against poor willed Tyler to nab the ultimate forbidden situation of having sex with a priest. Weird Poppy, that's weird.
It's like the author just constantly was back tracking. Wanted a broody horny man who took what he wanted yet valued Godlike etiquette. Wanted a man who was deprived emotionally and sexually, yet valued Woman on the same plain as his God. It was like Simone was trying to cover the tracks for various criticisms. The top example that came to my mind was how Myer was ruthlessly criticized over how Edward watched Bella sleeping from Twilight. And yeah, we should question these things when it's what a teenage girl is reading. But this is SMUT. For adults. I don't want to read Tyler saying he's googling Poppy and her prestigious family and in the next sentence with parentheses (I know this is creepy. I'm sorry) seriously, what?? Lol just Google your silly little slut, jack off, and let's move on. I don't need apologetic behavior from a man who is a fake feminist and clearly shouldn't have thought that by becoming a priest he was going to absolve every bad man's actions cause that's not how allyship works. You can have religion, but you should be very aware of when your actions under your religion become questionable.
The sex scenes were hot. Simone knows how to write a good one. But with Tyler's issues, Poppy being a cardboard cut out of a pile of horny no moral lavender scented trash, the sex was just overall whatever to me. I'm not entirely sure what I wanted from this, but Tyler and Poppy are not it. It landed on that strange line for me when it comes to smut/romance on being too serious or too silly for what the premise should be.
I had a humiliating moment while reading, when I realized just how desperate I've became for Vampire romance to of ended up reading this.
It's... Awful.
I've read a couple things by Katee Robert at this point and irregardless to how fascinating a book premise of theirs is in the future, I won't dare to pick up another.
I write notes when I'm reading books and one of them I had was: “writing is janky. like the author was typing out scenes one handed and ‘flicking her nub' with the other.” and maybe that's too sarcastic even coming from me lol, but I can't seem to find another way to describe the structure for this. It doesn't flow. Not to mention that when I wrote that in my notes was because just a mere couple pages into the book, our character is orgasming on the floor and humping the vampire upon first meeting.
Majority of the scenes make little sense, particularly between the physical movement of the characters and actions. Example: (not pulled from the book directly but so you get a sense of what I'm talking about) if you're reading a character whose in a bedroom at night but a couple sentences later it's afternoon the next day and they're in the kitchen. You're left with a character finishing a sentence or a thought and next thing you know, you're transported elsewhere into a new situation. Sometimes that's okay but the writing has to be there to make those scenes come together and whole. This is not that.
The only thing I enjoyed in this was the fact that multiple vampires had sex with her, and lots of threesome scenes. i do enjoy reverse harem
We don't learn much about these vampires. We don't learn much of anything of the other vampires. The whole reason for why she's there doesn't feel like much of a reason. Any thoughts/emotions/motivations is surface level. It's presented as fact, leaving me disconnected from enjoyment. For me to read a smut book and come away only valuing the smut and not the characters is disappointing.
And that ending made my eyes roll so hard I could of been having a stroke. Spoilers here the vampires learn that Mina has magical abilities, that she may also be 'other'. Malachai is under a magical lockdown at his castle imposed on him by Mina's father. Why? idk. And in order to destroy this magical binding she needs to take 3 vampire dicks to unleash her abilities and break the barrier. I mean... Wow lol. After the threesome they talk about what should be done at this point. Somewhere along the way they decided Mina needs to become pregnant. It ends with "I need to get pregnant but first, we have to kill my father" Ugh. The cringe.
Not that it hasn't already been said but I won't be continuing.
The ending of this book is enraging and not in a gasp what a cliffhanger!!! kind of a way. A couple of months ago I binged another Romantasy series as the finale had just came out. The 2nd book ended this EXACT way. Not even kidding, it was the same. I was so worried and shocked but read the 3rd and realized why this type of a plot twist fails. Plated Prisoners series is set up to fail as well as there's only going to be one book left as was the same with aforementioned series, and I think even if it was 1000pgs too many readers are going to be disappointed (me included) as it just won't be enough to do justice for our MC's, and now all of the shoved in characters that were introduced in this installment. Is Raven going to take the same route and use the finale book to set up a new series with the new characters instead of just wrapping up this story and focus on the MCs (you know, the reason why we read the four books prior?)
It's truly a shame and while I think Raven has more literary talent than the other series author, it's still too much to untangle unless within the first hundred pages or so that plot twist gets undone which then just makes said plot twist feel cheap and unnecessary to make your readers grasp on and ensure they spend money for the finale book.
I think romantasy relies too heavily on certain aspects/plot devices to ensure authors get the last penny in their pocket and I'm starting to lose overall confidence of this Subgenre that has otherwise fulfilled a nice spot in my reading life.