Kristie
Note to self: Bahni Turpin is quickly becoming one of my favorite audio book narrators- I swear I could listen to this woman read the phone book and enjoy it.
I really enjoyed this, which is funny because I didn't know I was in the MOOD for it. It's a quiet book that asks a lot of deep questions and tells the story of a family. No big plot twists, no scares, nothing weird or abstract- you know, not what I thought I was in the mood to read. My only motivating factors were that I knew I “should” read this super hot book (of Fall 2020) and the library list is really long, so it's now or never. I have not read Gyasi's first novel. Yes, yes, I know I should.
I found that Gifty's story wormed its way into my heart and I really friggin cared about what happened next. I was cheering her on and crying with her. I started thinking about the religious beliefs of my childhood. I really thought about the immigration experience and the opioid epidemic.
This would make one hell of a book club read.
It was excellent. My only grumble is with the ending, which feels very tidy and too convenient.
“If everybody thought of everything, there'd be nothing left for anybody else to think about.”pg 164I read [b:Five Children and It 45181 Five Children and It (Five Children #1) E. Nesbit https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327882197l/45181.SY75.jpg 975095]in 5th grade and disliked it. For years I had a bad taste in my mouth when I heard the name E. Nesbit. Then, recently, I read one of her ghost stories in the [b:Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers: 1852-1923 52974605 Weird Women Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers 1852-1923 Leslie S. Klinger https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575591998l/52974605.SX50_SY75.jpg 73796202] collection and thought maybe I should try her again. Here's the thing, I see why this charmed so many people for so long. It's got the total Anne of Green Gables feel to it, and the afterword in my edition compares it to A Little Princess. But it's so....twee. I mean, my teeth hurt while reading it because it's over the top sweet. And I know that is how some people want their stories to be, but for me it's grating. I also wanted to spank Peter for being an idiot. He never once talks to his sister without calling her “silly” or a “prat”. But if one looks at the time this was written, some of it is forgivable. I'd love to overhear a parent explain to their modern children why the Railway Children are running around train tracks and quarries unsupervised but as a child of the 80s ...it's not shocking.
This was a chilly story to dip one's toes into. Frannie Stone is quite the character. She's focused on her mission to follow the last of the Arctic terns. The rest of her life story unfolds via flashbacks. I had some major issues with this, all of which I will blame on listening to the audio version instead of sitting and close reading this novel. The time jumps were hell on a listeners ear. I'm still in shock from, early on, when we learn that 10-year-old Frannie snuck off with a boy for two nights and came home to find her mother...just gone. Like, up and left or dead gone?I'm still unclear of why Frannie spent time in jail. I'm still unclear about what happened to her grandmother. At the same time, I don't feel like this was important enough (or enjoyable enough) for a reread. There were times while reading it, I was reminded of another book, [b:Burial Rights 21939898 Burial Rights Hannah Kent https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 21943144]. I see other reviewers comparing it to Moby Dick (which I have not read). I think the fact that I just read [b: The New Wilderness 48836769 The New Wilderness Diane Cook https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597017220l/48836769.SY75.jpg 67686772] made me want to compare and contrast the world-building of this future of no animals, but we really don't see too much of Frannie's world before her expedition, at least, we don't see the effects of an animal-less world on her world. I'm curious to see how much of this sticks with me.
“Never leave a Frendo behind”. (pg 9)
Clown is something else. It lives up to the online hype, it will literally scare the hell out of readers who swear they are no longer scared by anything anymore, AND it goes to a deeper level with a message that is on point for this moment in history. Long review short: wow.
Reading Clown is very much like watching a well-produced horror movie in your head. It's filled with visuals. The character depth is strong where it needs to be- we know each character enough to be able to tell them apart and care about them just enough to be worried for them when they are put in danger. Oh, and man are they in danger.
I'm determined to stay spoiler-free in this review, but what's going on here is so much bigger than homicidal clowns in cornfields. It's a real glimpse into generational mindsets and considered threats to a way of life.
My one bummer was that I thought, for 65 percent of the book, that Quinn and Glenn Maybrook were Black. I was all excited that this novel was diverse, but then the scene in the barn when the Black kids are identified as sitting somewhere....I continued to picture Quinn the way she had appeared in my mind.
I loved parts of this and didn't love others. Joan is a great character, and I adore Zeus. What worked for me was the family times- being with the family, learning about traditions and the aunt (hoo, she needs her own book!) I tuned out with the Jesus tent people and so much detail about in and out of motels. I agree with some other reviewers that this is more of a thriller, and not horror. It is, however showing up on a ton of horror lists. Just a head's up.
Dimaline has chops though and I'd like to see where the next book goes. I'm assuming there will be a next book?
Ever since I read [b:Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction 44326161 Monster, She Wrote The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction Lisa Kröger https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552268790l/44326161.SY75.jpg 68879371] last year, I've been obsessed with reading a lot of these authors whose work I had never really stumbled upon. I am now a huge Gaskell fan (Lois the Witch is crazy good).This anthology hit the mark for including many of those authors, and some new ones too. It's so hard to review an anthology. There is always going to be a story or two that I loved and a story or two that didn't work for me, but I think Weird Women kills it with finding works that are hidden gems and are really, really good reads. New favorites: The Were-Wolf, In the Closed Room, Lost in a Pyramid, What Was the Matter?, An Itinerant House (actually had a dream about this story the night I read it. A moving haunted house? Unlike anything I've EVER read before!!!), The Giant Wistaria, The Lady With the Carnations, The Wind in the Rose-Bush, and The Third Drug. Seriously, that's a lot of new favorites- all in one collection.I hope they are working on a second collection!
“It was a terrible plan, but Abby was all out of clever.” (pg 263)The effort to read books from my own shelves in August continue with an arc I picked up at BEA forever ago. My copy looks like a high school yearbook and Grady signed it, “Kristie, Only the Most Hardcore Librarians work the county system. Rock on! Grady”My apologies to Mr. Hendrix in how long it took me to sit down and read this heavy brick of awesomesauce. I loved it. It wasn't just the 80's references, it was the way he nailed the relationship of two young best friends. All of the horror (and it's pretty horrifying) is just icing on this cupcake. I was all in. I was also laughing so hard at some points coffee shot out my nose, but that's to be expected from Hendrix. I love his work and Quirk books sooooo much. I recommend [b:Horrorstör 13129925 Horrorstör Grady Hendrix https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414314217l/13129925.SX50.jpg 18306052] constantly. This ended up being a perfect summer read too. Much of the action takes place in the summer, and the early days of fall. So, my lateness is not personal, Grady. I've been really trying to focus for the past couple of years on diversifying my authors. I bet this would have been an awesome audio book to listen to!
Overall, I really enjoyed this. I don't know who wrote the jacket copy- don't look at that. Just, go in cold.
A group of people sign up to be a part of a study in The Wilderness State, living on the land and leaving no trace behind. This is told from the point of view of a mother who was a founding member of the group and her daughter, who was too young to remember the world on the outside. They face so many challenges. It is, at times, a nature survival novel and those were the parts I enjoyed the most. The psychological stuff, while interesting, had less appeal for me. I would really, really like a side novella from a ranger's POV because I think that really might explain some things.
I'd put this in the hands of a reader who enjoyed Station Eleven or Into the Forest.
This one is polarising, huh? I'm seeing people who have never read O.M. before just slaughtering it (I get the feeling they were looking for a cozy mystery) and long time fans just losing patience with it. Maybe because I went in expecting not to like it, it tripped me up and I fell in love with the damned thing. I don't think I have read anything else lately that has made me think so much. Not about the book, per se, but by the questions it raises.
At first, it was like listening to a master musician just mess around. Moshfegh is a literary genius. She sinks her teeth into the idea of a note found laying in the woods, “Her name was Magda” and then she just jumps off on it in this direction, then that direction. We have a whole, invented biography of Magda, Magda's lovers, her parents, her landlady, and her son. In the meantime, we have Vesta and her daily movements through life. A life that, at first, seems almost idyllic. A cabin by the lake, an adorable dog, and complete freedom from obligations and family.
Then, the novel becomes about Vesta. And loneliness. And isolation. I found myself really thinking about things...are we meant to live alone? Who is our support network? What is life like when you choose not to have one?
Because Moshfegh shows and doesn't tell her readers (and I do LOVE that about her) we can see something is going on. Maybe. At least, Vesta sees it. Has someone ripped out every seed she planted? Why is every single townsperson so incredibly ice cold toward her? Is it because she is a stranger in a small town or is it bigger than that? Is this how we treat our old? (OK, Greatest Generation). Even the librarian seemed to be put off by Vesta. What is real? What is being filtered by Vesta's “mind space”? Was Walter a Nazi hiding in the US?
I need to stop. I could talk about this all day. And that, right there, is the mark of a 5 star read for me.
This is the first Millet I have made it through. Years ago, I saw David Sedaris and at that performance he went on and on about how clever and smart her writing is. I have tried her works a couple of times over the years and it just never sat right with me.
Until now. Maybe I am a more warped person (thank you, 2020), maybe I'm just older and wiser. I friggin loved this. I could not even begin to guess where this was going next. It kept me on my toes. I was both extremely proud and horrified for these kids. I laughed out loud (probably inappropriately) more often than I expected to.
I couldn't wait to get back to it when I put it down.
This would be a fantastic TOB 2021 pick.
I have never read anything about the Green Man in the woods. Until now. I found this to be rather sad, in tone and in execution. No bad, instead a lonely sad. I think it would have been more invested if it had been longer and we'd had time to explore more of everyone's backstories.
I plan to read the second book. Perhaps that will deepen the story.
Tesh has some writing chops, for sure!
Oh this was epic! I regret taking so long to pick it up, but as usual, the books I own get pushed aside by my library books and their infernal due dates.
I couldn't help but think Cora was like Odysseus and on an tragic trail of a story. Meeting unique characters, in alternate history settings, and conveyed all along by an actual railroad dug under the earth. This is the second novel I have read by Whitehead and now I'm determined to find another to read. A near perfect novel, and 5 stars for sure.
I don't know what the odds are of me reading two 5-star reads in one week (I just finished The Underground Railroad) when I barely find a handful a year, but here it is: The Pull of the Stars is freaking amazing. I almost skipped it. It came in for me via la digital library and I knew absolutely nothing about it except that Donoghue wrote it.
And on the surface, it's not my kind of read. I've been actively avoiding all pandemic or flu or dystopian reads since March (hard to avoid them, but it's not where I want to go right now). Childbirth and maternity wards and, well, nursing have never really interested me. Also, I am embarrassed by how little I know of Irish history.
And then, I read the first few pages and was HOOKED. I could not wait to find a quiet moment to steal to get back to Julia and the rest of the gang in the emergency ward they have thrown together for pregnant women who are also sick with the influenza. I swear I was reading to keep pace with them, as the entire novel takes place over two and a half days (maybe 3, I lost track).
Just as when I read Room, I have had my heart wrenched out of my chest, stomped on and now handed back to me and I must find a way to live on.
Needs must.
This was wonderful. I had a bit of time in the beginning because I preferred May Belle's tale vs Rue's and would just “get through” Rue's parts to get back to May Belle. I realized it was Bruh Abel I couldn't stand (and still can't). Once the book revealed some of its twists, I was totally on board. There are some characters here that will stick with me for a long time. In a way, it conjured the same feelings in me that Cold Mountain did. I don't think I've ever read anything else like Conjure Women. It takes place in a bubble-the war is over but you would not know it. I don't want to say too much.
I think I picked this up at a book sale or a thrift store a couple of years ago and just decided to grab it off my shelf the other day. I get why, now, it's a cult classic. Wow. This book is nuts and I loved it. I will forever think “stairs and beef jerky”.
First of all, teenagers in the late 70's and early 80's were badass. I already knew this from reading The Outsiders and every Kristy McNicol movie ever but damn. The five 16-year-olds trapped in the house of stairs are mini-adults. I can totally see Matt Dillon playing Oliver and C. Thomas Howell playing Peter in my head.
I was fascinated by everything Sleator WASN'T telling us: What was the world outside like? What the hell is up with Peter's “trances”?
This is a psychological study of 5 people who are thrown together in a giant space made of staircases, a flowing toilet, and a red machine that dispenses meat pellets-sometimes. Imagine if one of the teens had been vegetarian? Lol. It gets crazy. I found it to be borderline sinister because Sleator has this cut and dry, straight style of writing. The characters really reveal themselves via their actions. We are rarely in their heads.
This book brings up some very interesting questions. It also wraps up with a conclusion I didn't see coming. I wonder if it inspired The Maze Runner?
Now I must hunt down the rest of Sleator's works.
I was in the mood for a GOOD story. One so good, it sucked you in and made you forgot the rest of the world existed. I found it in Hoodoo. I can't remember what list I found this book on, it's older (2015?) but it is so, so good.
Hoodoo is a charmer. He's a repeater of expressions (some of them hilarious) and a lover of food. He is also from a strong family that practices Hoodoo. Then some giant evil comes to town and it is up to him to protect and save his family.
The imagery in this book is incredible, but believable all at the same time. Talking crows, candy stores that double as potion ingredient stores, fortune tellers and graveyards. If Hoodoo isn't brave enough for you, he has a best friend named Bunny who does not seem to be afraid of anything.
I don't want to give spoilers, but I learned about something in history that I have never come across before and am now off to research it.
This is, legit, the most Lovecrafty thing I have read since reading ....well, Lovecraft. I loved it. Faith had an amazing head on her shoulders. Evil cults summoning monsters from other worlds? Yeah, okay, I'll go suit up with camping equipment. She was bad ass.
I wonder if this is going to be a series, because I could use more Faith and Janice. I look forward to more from Cooper.
I mildly enjoyed this. I consider it more of a virus horror novel than a zombie horror novel. The character I loved most was Zoe and, sadly, she's a side character that barely gets any love. I would have given anything to see what she was researching on the deep web. Davin, while a good guy, was kind of slow to grasp things, was afraid to say what he was thinking to other characters, and I think accidentally stalled the plot's growth by being wishy washy.
Am I the only one who wanted more about the thing on the bridge that caused the accident? I thought that was WAY more interesting than the whole Lazerus storyline.
It had it's moments or I would have DNF'd.
I'm embarrassed to say this had been on my Kindle for years. I just now sat down and read it. I think I thought is was going to be unapproachable, or that I was going to have to take notes or something as if I were attending a profound lecture.
Instead, I found myself in a state of awe and I recognized that the words being said in Citizen are real and raw and I had to let go and just experience it.
The stories are impactful but I leave this work with the deep thoughts about who is invisible in this country and who is seen. There is a lot to think about in this little book.
I read this years ago and loved it but I just reread it and I find myself attracted to the same passages (people who live on hills...) and other vignettes hold new meanings for me. What I actually enjoyed was the biographical intro Cisneros included (I don't think this was in the edition I read originally) about where she was from, her intentions with her writing and her life in Chicago. So interesting!
This was a case of it's not the book, it's me. It took me forever to read this as I found the beginning to be a super slow burn and I was lacking the patience to give it time. I put it down to read other books 3 times. It's me. I'm a seasonal reader and I have more brain space for slower reads in the fall and the winter. In summer, I enjoy a faster-moving plot. There was also the problem of me going into this expecting something else. I think I was expecting to see more about Mexican culture. What I got was an evil English family on Mexican soil.
That said, this is to those thinking of DNFing...around 51 percent (Kindle-wise) this story goes bat-shit crazy and I could not put it down. Whoa! Once things get revealed....well, it's engrossing and gross. Wow. So, in that way a 3 star read became a 4 star read and I will highly recommend, with the caveat that one needs to have patience at the beginning of the tale. I'm so glad I finished it.
I'm reading all of the noms for the Ladies of Horror Fiction 2020 awards. So far I'm loving reading these short, horrific novellas in July. Who knew?
The Ladderman is a deadly thing that comes to take lives when a chant is sung. This had some super spooky moments. I can't remember the last time I read something that didn't really have a main character, but it really works here (otherwise how could we be with certain characters when the Ladderman comes for them?) It reads like a horror movie.
It's very fast-paced and starts off running. Would I like for it to be longer and to get to know the characters a little better? Maybe. I'll have to see what else Archer has in the future.
No Sophomore Slump here. Burn Our Bodies Down is a slow burn of a mystery that had me whipped into a frenzy trying to guess where it was going (is it Cosmic Horror? Is it clones? Ahhhhgggghh!) No spoilers here but I raced through the paragraphs as antsy as Margot trying to figure out what the hell was going on at the farm.
Margot is a strange girl, her mother-even stranger. When she comes across a photo hinting at a family that exists (and her mother has never talked about) she takes it upon herself to go investigate.
The second the pickup truck pulls into town, things get weird. Then they get weirder and weirder and weirder. I loved it.
Powers proves once again that Young Adult novels can be amazing and not feature 1. a chosen one and 2. a love triangle.
Full disclosure: I also LOVED Wilder Girls. I think I just love Power's voice and her amazing storytelling chops. Bodies is another winner and a perfect summer read. Perhaps one might consider skipping picking your own corn this year ;)
