Kristie
This was wonderful. I couldn't put it down. I have a new hero in Hiram. That said, it could have been a little shorter as some of the ideas are just repeated and repeated. I also stumbled in the first chapter, but reading on explained everything. What really got me excited for this story was a review I read about it on NPR. I could not wait to meet Moses, and was truly rewarded.
A very satisfying ending to the Stevie Bell story! I haven't read too much Agatha Christie, but I think what I'm seeing here is a nice tribute! I'm not a big mystery reader, or crime fan, but I loved this quirky little series. I think Nate is fabulous.
I did this one on audio and it was just perfect. Laughs when I needed them.
Well done.
Well, this was unlike anything I had ever read before!
As a side note, I started this on audio and whoooo, it was not working for me. The language was too...flowery? You would be thrown into this cool world, and by the time my mind accepted what was going on it would switch to the letter and...
yeah. I ended up picking up a print copy. So much better! I was able to read and reread sentences, take a slower pace and actually process what was being said.
I really enjoyed this.
At first, I did not love this but it grew on me. I loved what it had to say about family building. Sometimes your biggest fans are not people who are in your inner-circle when a crisis happens. I found a lot of hope in this story. I listened to this on audio and the narrator did a fabulous job with the voices.
Gorgeous! I was super impressed by this! It had some moments I felt could have been scenes in a Studio Ghibli film. One part I absolutely adored was when Nate figured something out by looking it up in a book and FisherBear told him that he was smart not because he knew the fact right off the top of his head but because he knew where to look for the answer. I think books often hold up characters who spout facts as geniuses, which is fine, but not really practical. I just thought it was sweet to model some intelligent behavior in a different way. I also loved the lesson about the scarf.
A very enjoyable short novel about a new “old” west in which librarians caravan across the plains to bring “approved materials” to towns for folks to enjoy. Except, these librarians are also badasses and they have a stowaway on board who may just change everything.
I don't want to give anything away. I went in cold and that worked for me. I think Gailey did an amazing job with the character development and the world-building in such a short format. I was a little queasy about the insta-love and didn't feel the story needed it but I'm hoping it's just set up for a sequel.
This is a tough review, because it's a tough read. The characters are so REAL. I really felt like I spent time with both of these families. I'm of the age to remember reading about some of these events in the 90's but I had no idea of the personal sides and was very interested to experience them through Cha's work. I loved how she balanced both sides of the event with realistic emotions and showed that each side had it's own complexities.
For me, there was some bogging down in the middle and I found myself losing patience but that may have to do with the fact that I've been reading some very heavy lit lately and may have tuckered myself out. I need a light, breezy read before I continue on with the TOB books.
I friggin loved this book! I plowed through it in two days. What a complete surprise, because I didn't love the Family Fang and have been kind of avoiding Kevin Wilson since. This is why Tournament of Books rocks, I would not have picked this one up on my own.
Lillian is my new, sarcastic hero. I love her.
Loving this story! So glad I waited and could roll right into the second book.
Can I just say that I appreciate Maureen Johnson, not just because she is funny (she is!) but because she create a trilogy and managed to avoid the “waiting room” trap the second book always seems to suffer from. I find that second books always feature: not much happening, the characters being split up in some way, and no real resolutions.
Not in The Vanishing Stair! I don't want to give out any spoilers, but...damn. Stuff happens.
Extremely entertaining to listen to on audio. It's made my drives more fun for a week or so. Luckily, Johnson repeats the clues and the poems often enough that I didn't have to worry about forgetting anything. Started this series because I know it has ended. Moving right on to book 2. Thanks to other reviewers who gave the head's up about the cliffhanger in book one.
This poor book has been sitting on my shelf since November, when I read the bulk of it. I only had 5 more stories to go, so I sat down last night and finished it. This is probably my favorite Jackson collection. Many of my favorites are in here, and now I have some new favorites.
I loved The Witch, Trial by Combat, Of Course, Got A Letter From Jimmy and Men With Their Big Shoes. Even Jackson's stories that I don't consider “favorites” are still head and shoulders above other short stories. I just love her work.
The goal was to slowly read this over a couple of days, but I couldn't put it down....so I'm done. It's only 107 pages, so it was basically a novella.I was worried I would be lost because I know absolutely nothing about Angola or what happened historically in Goa in the 1960's but our narrator is a little girl (for the most part) and everything comes off dreamy and out-of-time anyway. Each little chapter houses a dramatic little scene that set that particular moment apart from the rest.It reminded me very much of [b:Fruit of the Drunken Tree 36636727 Fruit of the Drunken Tree Ingrid Rojas Contreras https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1511284543l/36636727.SY75.jpg 58402751]. It felt similar.
Wow. Wow. Wow. I feel like I just attended a party with some of the coolest women in the world and I got to really know them over a brief period of time. Not everyone's story was as fascinating as Hattie's (but come on! How great is she?) but each one was full of wisdom. I thought to myself at one point, this book could literally go on forever-introducing new characters and letting them intersect here and there and I would continue to read it.
I loved this book. I think I'll probably reread it at a slower pace sometime in the future as I was under a time crunch because of library holds and the goal set by myself to read all of the Tournament of Books books by March 1st.
This was fine, it just didn't do anything me. Candace was so unemotional that I felt myself not caring about her situation either. I mean, if she was unconcerned then why should I be? And I have read so many dystopian stories at this point, I'm probably a bit fatigued. This one didn't seem to have much to add except an extreme fascination with capitalism. Higher end skin products, fashion labels and designer furniture- Candace cares about these things, and not much else. The flashback style wore on my nerves and no other characters were explored.
Sadly, it's also the case that the story comes alive and really picks up in interest in the last two chapters.
I think the title is perfect, however. Candace is severed from feeling things, severed from her art, severed from those around her, severed from her parents, just: severed. She's just kind of floating around while the world dies around her.
I'm embarrassed by how long it took me to read this book. Easily, a month. So long that I had to hand in one copy from one library and borrow another copy in order to finish. I just kept putting it down and not picking it back up. Clearly, it was boring me. I should have been more on board! It's historical, it's got a sort-of fantasy element, it's just so damned...repetitive. I suspect now that I could have skipped some chapters and not missed a bit of action (I have never skipped chapters and I don't skim).
What I will take from this is the Monty Python-esque scenes of the parade of doctors, clergyman, and apprentices marching through the village to attend to the births and the idea that people with a great deal of money grow bored and will pay large amounts of money to witness horrible things.
Other than that, I'm just glad I finally finished the story.
I really enjoyed this and not to overshare but I want to be the kind of person who can appreciate art I just feel like I'm so behind the eight ball in getting started that I just go to museums and pick out pieces because I like them (or do not like them). Sad.
With Optic Nerve, we get a glimpse into the art world juxtaposed with real life happenings in our main character's world and I loved this. I would bring up pics of the art she was describing online and really look at the work.
To Be A Rapper was my favorite chapter and it could stand alone as a short story (maybe it has, somewhere).
Very, very enjoyable and a reminder of why I try to read the Tournament of Books Shortlist each year- I never would have picked this one up otherwise.
I devoured this. Halfway through I thought, I need to reread this...slowly. I loved every second of it even though I was getting frustrated with the lack of explanations. It all came together in the end. An excellent follow up to Night Circus.
I think Morgenstern sits with a notebook and lists everything I want to read about in a book, even some things I am yet unaware of that I would like to read about-like doorknockers, and just builds fantasies around that list. The woman is a genius.
I enjoyed this. I'm usually not one for reboots or sequels to things that had their time a decade ago. For example, I never made it through the “new” Gilmore Girl episodes, despite loving the series when it was on. This still feels timely.
I had quite a few people tell me NOT to read this until I was caught up on the tv show, so I waited. I'm glad I did.
This is tough review. I know people loved this book but I just didn't. I wanted to... but I had trouble connecting to the story. I just didn't care. I was also waiting for some big reveal, and it never came and I really blame the press around this book. I think I read a blurb that said it would change the way you saw fiction or that it totally left the reader blown away.
Well, not me. I was unimpressed. Could have been my mood. Could have been that it couldn't live up to the hype. It could have been that I read it during the holidays and was too busy to focus on it. Maybe it's because I grew up in the same time period and am completely unimpressed by the idea of teenagers running around without adult supervision.
It is what it is.
I ended up liking this. Don't get me wrong, it's a slow-starter. My notes read: “pg 102, not much going on” and “page 153- still haven't hit the plot yet”.
But, if you tough it out, it's Black Mirror-esque. This is our world, only slightly skewed. You have to wait while details of this alternate world are doled out-but you are rewarded with drones in trees, shrunken heads on display, composting homes, and non-disclosure agreements all over the place.
I loved this quote:
” People liked to think they were having a relationship with each other, but really they were having a relationship with the relationship itself.”
And the idea of gentrification because of sustainability? Amazeballs. I found myself thinking about that for awhile. I found myself feeling bad for Anja, an heiress who everyone wants to tell her how to spend her money. That's pretty out of character for me, so there must have been something about Anja that I really liked.