Christine

I'm not sure what this book is for, but I enjoyed looking at it. It's definitely more about the art than the text, and that art is very rich and evocative. I rarely just sit down and look at drawings, so this was a nice example of the PopSugar reading challenge leading me to books I normally wouldn't pick up!

So, why am I unsure about this? It's structured like a kids' picture book, but the drawings can be pretty disturbing. For the right kid, it might be perfect, and it seems like it's meant as an impressionable little brother parsing his sibling's admonishments through his own surreal fantasy world. So ultimately not too terrifying.

And yet. The eldritch flora (and fauna?) that spill in through the negligently unlatched door overnight - shiver! And the series of pages showing the little brother locked in a gray cell (or furnace?!) as the surrounding city crumbles to dust and black birds form a growing flock - the images give enough information to set you on a path, but leave enough ambiguity to get under your skin for a while.

Check this out if you want to spend 15 minutes restocking your nightmare fuel, or you have a particularly morbid child to read it to!

This is a pleasant little book, and a must-read for typography nerds. It never really grabbed me by the lapels and yelled, “KEEP READING - must find out what happens next!” but it was charming and funny, and the narrator delivers wry, nerdy quips at regular intervals.

The story flirts with transhumanism, but never really goes anywhere with that subject, except maybe to subvert it. This is a tale of reading and relationships, much more than one about eternal life.

There are frequent references to abstruse places, practices, and events that might or might not be real - I found myself thinking very often, “Wait, is that a real thing? Does Google really do that? Is there really a book copier like that? Is that an actual typeface we use?” I can't decide if these instances added to the experience by engaging my curiosity, or if they detracted by being distractions and messing with suspension of disbelief. I feel like this book (to the extent that it reflects reality in these things) could spawn multiple episodes of 99% Invisible and This American Life.

Ultimately, I recommend it. It was a fun, thought-provoking ride.

This is of course only a fragment, and would have been considerably more polished if Jane had been able to finish the novel. But even this proto-story has its charms. I was struck that Austen manages to address three issues of real import in our time: alt-med nonsense, gentrification, and the availability of health care! Oh, and one of the key players coming to town is a super-rich lady of mixed race, from the West Indies - it's so enticing to think what Austen would have made of her character.

This is all of course in the context of some lovable (and some not-so-lovable) characters behaving ridiculously. Mr. Parker is a gem, totally devoted to making Sanditon a hot resort town. I would have loved to see what Austen could do with that idea!

DNF. Read the synopsis of the rest of the story and I'm glad I abandoned it. It annoyed me far more than it entertained me.

This was OK - the boys are very cute together. But it started to feel like every possible modern teen problem was being crammed into the story. It went from sweet slice of life with some earned drama to feeling like a particularly heavy-handed after school special.

I'm not sure if this is an adventure story, a family relationship story, or a horror story. I think Paver set out to weave those elements together, and in many ways it's compelling. There's barely a hint of spookiness until you're well into chapter 7, which was a little disappointing and interfered with good pacing. But there are touches of true wilderness horror that echo the classic “The Wendigo,” and the brothers' relationship combined with altitude sickness and isolation leads to an unreliable narration that reminded me of [b:The Turn of the Screw 12948 The Turn of the Screw Henry James https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443203592s/12948.jpg 990886].And yet, this book consistently struck me as a wan imitation of Paver's superior [b:Dark Matter 8350864 Dark Matter Michelle Paver https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504563569s/8350864.jpg 13203928]. For me, that book has much better characters and relationships, engages the reader's sympathy better, and is much, much scarier. It even has a higher quality dog! My advice is simply to read that (or listen to the exceptional reading by Jeremy Northam).

A wonderful book for people who want to figure out how to be happy and fulfilled, but who don't go in for navel-gazing or “spirituality” as such.

The casual, snarky tone and detailed personal examples make the counter-intuitive lessons easier to grasp. You may not be interested in puzzling out Zen koans, but Manson makes it easy to understand how craving positive experiences is itself a negative experience, while acknowledging negative experiences is itself a positive experience. Or how problems are the source of happiness (you just have to choose the right problems). Or how rejection is an essential part of accepting a positive experience.

He also does a pretty good job of dismantling cultural misconceptions about self esteem, relationships, and boundaries. I didn't find his opinions to be gospel truth on every front, but generally speaking he hits the nail on the head.

I felt like the opening of the book was the strongest part, with the profundity and usefulness diminishing toward the end. But that may be because I've never tended to have the problems he talks about toward the end of the book.

I really loved the idea of this book, but have to admit that I didn't much enjoy the actual book. It took me two months to read it - if some books are “unputdownable,” this ranks as “easily putdownable.”

I think it's a combination of things: I'm not a fan of mysteries where the sleuth's personal concerns occupy much of the narrative, the characters all represent likeable tropes but not actual people, it's impossible to care about the murder victims, and probably worst of all, it winds up just being a mishmash of coincidental events more than it is a complex web of mystery.

In 1988, I totally had hair like the main character's. This graphic novel gets the nostalgia right in a big way, without being too reliant on that element. There's plenty of substance, as well as strong plotting reasons for the setting. Seeing those reasons emerge is a huge driver of this story - as we saw more clues about what was happening, I became increasingly desperate to find out what would happen next! Action packed, with a cleverly enticing mystery to pull you along - this story is addictive.

Do yourself a favor - if you decide to give this a try, just have Volume 2 standing by. I'll bet when you turn the last page of this volume, you'll have a burning need to read on!

Oh, and by the way, this has some of the best depictions of nightmares I've ever seen. It viscerally captures the messed up logic, mishmash of subconscious flotsam, and terrifying emotional impact that makes you wake up with your heart hammering after a bad dream. The subconscious flotsam also represents not just an individual girl's but that of the collective unconscious of 1980s America - brilliant!

A fun and quick-paced thriller. Makes good use of the setting to evoke claustrophobic dread and paranoia. The mystery is actually pretty simple to figure out, but a couple elements made this stand out in my mind.

First, the story winds up discussing mental illness in an effective and sympathetic way. It's significant to the plot but avoids being overly simplistic or tropey.

Second, I found the climax took a refreshing turn. I literally thought to myself, “oh, in these last few pages we'll see the obligatory XYZ happen,” and the author subverts that expectation.

In some ways this was clunky and obvious, but it had enough originality and skillful storytelling, along with a sympathetic and relatable hero, so that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This was good, but I would rather have seen the actual story unfold, without the frame tale. I couldn't have cared less about Chih and their dumb bird. Needs more badass empress!

I picked this up “to read for 15 minutes before bed.” Couldn't put it down and finished it in one sitting.

This is a wrenching tale, beautifully told. There are two interwoven tales - one is the story of a silent girl, told in her own words. The other is the silent tale of another girl, told entirely through drawings. It's ultimately a story about desperate loneliness and grief. Does it have a happy ending or a tragic one? I'm not sure.

I know I was immediately invested in Mary's diary entries cataloging a merciless cycle of bullying and exclusion. And the drawings set in the present become more revealing of Ella's inner life and circumstances as you go.

While this story contains great sadness, it's also beautifully crafted and the drawings contribute so much that wouldn't be quite the same if told in words. This is a wonderful, different book that's well worth experiencing.

This was the perfect book to read while under the weather and quarantining while I waited for my PCR test results. It's simple and predictable enough to be easy on a foggy brain, but leaves enough enticing breadcrumbs that I wanted to follow to the end.

That said, I'm a little annoyed this is shelved as Horror. It's much more like a culty take on The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window than proper horror or Gothic fiction.

I feel this could have used some more ambiguity, and I would have appreciated a more empowering ending for our hero. But I was game for the ride. Whenever the main plot seemed a little too blatant or the workings of the cult strained my suspension of disbelief, I'd get a glimpse of Maeve's childhood that propelled me forward.

There's good character development, a compelling parallel to real life political horrors, and a creepy mansion in the mountains. It was a fun, quick read!

I feel like this would be fun to read right after reading the novels. I mean, I read Gideon less than a year ago, and I could barely follow this - there's a lot of opaque terms of art and references that are unintelligible without the books giving you some of the world-building code. That aside, this is fine. Nice to see inside a different House. The mystery is OK.

Intriguing, surprising, gross and over-the-top! I was a little disappointed that Dana seems to be the worst police officer in history, constantly making bad calls, missing what's going on, and getting held at gunpoint. But I'm still keen to find out what happens next!

Fun as usual - just too short after the full novel [b:Network Effect 52381770 Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5) Martha Wells https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568667704l/52381770.SX50_SY75.jpg 63614271] spoiled me! I still think novellas 1 & 2 are the pinnacle, but this is a good entry in the series. I especially like the section that introduces the verb “to blorp.” :)

It's a classic for a reason! For those who celebrate Christmas this is definitely seminal. I actually enjoy the various film adaptations more, since the descriptions of people's festivities sometimes relied on contemporary knowledge, but I got the gist, and yes, this brings a wonderful Christmassy feeling and reminds us what we really value about that time of year.

Hmm, feeling very puzzled after finishing this up. Perhaps this is the best way to express my feelings: I think I just read three different stories: a short, fairly effective adventure-romance story, a less successful war and romance story, plus a rather disturbing inferred story that I guess the author never intended?

Spoiler tags from here on out. So first story - two people thrown together in a survival situation, who develop a relationship even though they hate each other at the beginning. Think anything from Enemy Mine to Romancing the Stone. It's pretty well done - you can see how each of them starts noticing qualities they admire in the other, and their predicament is intriguing. There is a bit of off-key telling rather than showing when Cordelia explicitly narrates how she is finding him attractive, but I suppose you could chalk that up to the author still getting her feet under her, as this was her first book.Second story - here it gets a little weird and often contrived. There's a bad guy who literally idolizes the Marquis de Sade, and monologues his eeeevil plans up front. There's an escape that's dependent on a wildly implausible coincidence. Followed by an even more implausible coincidence. The character traits that made Vorkosigan appealing in the first act get muddied, even as Bujold seems to be trying to underline them. Nevertheless, there's a reveal that's quite satisfying and does set up a tension around "honor" and what it means, and it's still mostly a fun ride.Then Cordelia goes home and the whole story goes rather bonkers, and kind of limps over the finish line.Third story - I take it from a quick Google that Bujold intended this story to be face-value. It's a romance with a happy ending (with enough complications to set up the further story).But from the time Cordelia is heading home until I turned the last page, I was increasingly suspicious. There seems to be plenty of textual support for the notion that Cordelia is a totally unreliable narrator, and all the facile, clunky, and convenient notes early in the story are tells that hint at her successful brainwashing. We're told the Barrayar military can wipe memories and manufacture false memories to replace them. The Beta officials are convinced that Cordelia is a victim of this process, and perhaps that she's been made into a mole without her knowledge. Her behavior becomes more and more erratic, with symptoms that could be explained by paranoia and exhaustion, or could hint at something darker. Eventually she becomes so removed from herself that she almost murders her doctor, having strange, sadistic flashes of thought that could indicate a meditation on what war can do to good people, or could indicate programming by the enemy.Taking the latter view makes some earlier "mistakes" and strange details fall into place - the weirdly emphatic internal monologue notes about her attraction, the sudden marriage proposal, the mustache-twirling villain, the convenient reappearance of known characters, the issue of where Vorkosigan got his intelligence, the "benevolent and self-sacrificing" reason why she must resist Betan psychological probing at all costs, and finally her sacrifice of her entire identity without a look backward. Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this?

DNF at 27%

Real, actual quote:
The courtyard was full of smoke, from which ghostly figures appeared and disappeared like ghosts.

I literally would not let my 10-year-old turn in a story with that sentence in it.

The main character is pretty much a Mary Sue - pretty, unusual hair color, insufferably brilliant at everything, vaguely Tragic Backstory, etc. etc.

Most characters are given names and actions, with no descriptions or characterization, never mind actual character development. The deepest characterizations are as follows: red-headed, awesome at everything, and emotionally reserved; red-headed and mean; blue-eyed; tall; tall and blonde.

Nothing about the time travel program makes any sense. What it's for, how it's funded, how it's staffed, etc.

There's also what appears to be a central tension - Historians can observe, but if they try to interfere, History will protect itself by killing the fuck out of them. This gets triggered by the mere interest the protagonist shows when a man gets followed by some thugs - she barely takes a step toward them, and a rock literally falls out of the sky to try to squash her.

And yet! In the next chapter, she spends weeks doing medical triage in WWI, deciding who will live and who will die. (Needless to say, she is FANTASTIC at it.) And her senior colleague gets all butthurt at their companion because he laid low and tried not to change things.

That was where I gave up. The author is a bad writer and isn't even trying at internal logic for her world here. Time to go read some more Connie Willis to see this done much better!

I love a good Girl vs. House story: [b:Rebecca 17899948 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386605169l/17899948.SX50.jpg 46663], [b:The Turn of the Screw 12948 The Turn of the Screw Henry James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567172392l/12948.SY75.jpg 990886], [b:The Haunting of Hill House 89717 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871336l/89717.SY75.jpg 3627], [b:The Silent Companions 35458733 The Silent Companions Laura Purcell https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500725504l/35458733.SY75.jpg 55746774]. Earlier this year, I picked up [b:Nine Coaches Waiting 27695 Nine Coaches Waiting Mary Stewart https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1550784765l/27695.SY75.jpg 1122506] hoping it would scratch that itch, only to be disappointed overall. BUT! This book takes a lot of the good elements of that story and uses them to much better advantage.This isn't a book with monsters jumping out of shadows or ghostly forces making themselves obvious. This genre is about the slow burn, and the heroine's uncertainty. She arrives at the Gothic pile, at the mercy of the inhabitants through poverty, lack of connections, desperation, or the extreme physical isolation of the manse. The staff are secretive, evasive, hostile. Her hosts seem to have something to hide - or is it all in her head? The place seems haunted - or is it her imagination, lack of sleep, stress?This sort of story works for me whether the haunting is metaphorical or clearly literal, and also if it's left ambiguous. It's about atmosphere and dread. And Moreno-Garcia works that angle beautifully. In this case, Noemí isn't poor or without familial support, which is refreshing. But the story believably cuts her off from her resources. She's still active and strong, and I was rooting for her the whole way. Is she battling supernatural evil? A family's dark secrets? Or is her mind betraying her as she deals with displacement and worry? I'll leave you to take the journey with her - that's what makes this so fun.

I'm sad that this didn't resonate with me, since so many people love it so much. But for me it was a slow slog till about 60% of the way in, and even when I was engaged with the story, I found the characters troubling.

First, I acknowledge that the descriptions of the settings are amazing, and if you're totally enchanted by all that, the extremely slow plot advancement early on may not be a problem. I would have done with a bit more plot zing to carry me through.

As far as the characters, the main thing is that Linda is somehow smart, courageous, and confident, and simultaneously an insecure, silly idiot. I mean, maybe I just defined being in love when you're in your 20s? But if it is, I'm immune as a crusty 40-something. I actually really loved the passages where Linda held her own, especially as she supported and defended Philippe. But her relationship with Raoul is forked up. The "romantic" climax has her absolutely debasing herself (not to mention seriously, stupidly endangering herself), apologizing for suspecting that he was a murderer when she had very good reasons to suspect he was a murderer! (fine, attempted murderer). Reasons that wouldn't sensibly be counterbalanced by what, a few hours of time spent together and some hormones? Also, Raoul is an asshole. I want to rewrite this where he actually is in on the plot and she winds up with William Blake.

Also, I had a big problem with the “morally upright” hero of our story being incredibly nice and sympathetic to A woman who had just confessed to trying to murder a child - multiple times! Was Heloise pathetic and having a breakdown? Sure. But the appropriate reaction in my opinion is more along the lines of "That's a normal consquence of TRYING TO MURDER A CHILD - have fun with that emotional upset, you monster!"

So all that added up to a really unsatisfying ending for me. At least there was some scenery to enjoy along the way, and now I want to visit some charming villages in France in the springtime.

Honestly? I was really excited for this, but overall: MEH.This totally lacks texture and nuance. The characters are drawn as black & white, good and bad. The main narrator is unsure but on the side of Right Thinking; Mostar is Always Correct Despite the Doubts of the Feebleminded; The rest of the residents are at best moronically naive or at worst Selfish Narcissists. Oh, and there's an appreciable amount of fat shaming thrown in to paint one of the Willfully Blind residents as particularly gross and selfish.Perhaps worst of all, people don't act like normal humans. It doesn't make sense for Mostar to jump to all the conclusions she does (she's put in that role because she's the Always Right character.) Meanwhile, it also doesn't make sense for the rest of the residents to be as blithely unworried as they are (they're put in that role to demonstrate how Mostar is Always Right.)This is annoying on multiple levels. I love Max Brooks's other books. I can see lots of possibilities here and I did like the arcs of Unsure CPA Wife and Depressed Husband responding to a survival situation. Mostar's backstory is gestured at but never explored. There was no reason behind the perplexing actions of some key characters.I honestly thought there was going to be a surprise where the Evil Violent Ape-Creatures were going to be shown to have more nuanced motivations. But no, they're just Evil Violent Ape-Creatures and the whole point is to . . . I don't know? Demonstrate how sucky nature is? Make fun of people who venerate nature? Have an excuse for detailed battle descriptions? (Which I find incredibly boring, in contrast to the tongue-in-cheek but somehow compelling analyses in [b:The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead 535441 The Zombie Survival Guide Complete Protection from the Living Dead Max Brooks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320562270l/535441.SX50.jpg 818].)On average, it's OK. Judy Greer's narration of the audiobook and the inclusion of other great voices were a saving grace. But don't go into this expecting [b:World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War 8908 World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War Max Brooks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1528312647l/8908.SX50.jpg 817]. This is better than the movie adaptation of that book, but nowhere near as good as the book itself.

This was fun and interesting, and the panel art between issues is beautiful! The story is definitely the opening act of the Hero's Journey, but this is a well-executed example, and I really enjoyed the setting of Taisho-era Japan (early 1920s or so), and the design of the demons - really disturbing and effective.

This is a meringue of a book - light and airy and sweet. Maybe it doesn't have a ton of substance, but it's very enjoyable. Anyone who has been a theater nerd or endured the maddening ambiguity of early teen romance will relate. It evokes very poignantly the feelings of crushes, friendships, and the difficult territory in between.

The art is fun and engaging, and you feel the author's love of theater shining through.

It's nice to see representation of different ethnicities and sexual orientations. Everyone has their own unique character, but kids of all kinds are presented as just part of the gang. Sadly, the LGBTQ+ acknowledgement has earned this book challenges and bans. Just having gay characters is pretty much anathema to so many benighted people, sadly.

If you like creepy weird fiction, but don't need it to be purely bleak, this one might be for you! I was immediately drawn in by the homey and lovable Uncle Earl and his cozily weird museum, but I wasn't sure where this story was headed. Then when supernatural/sci-fi stuff started to happen, I was here for it. But imagine my delight when I noticed the willows were not just a passing bit of background, and there were creepy funneled holes all over the sand - ‘HOLY COW is she embroidering on [b:Algernon Blackwood 1335601 The Willows Algernon Blackwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348548258l/1335601.SX50.jpg 2588003]?!' Yes, reader, she was, and it was almost entirely successful in my opinion. What a charge to realize a classic but largely unknown story by the author of [b:The Wendigo 1137702 The Wendigo Algernon Blackwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1181290361l/1137702.SX50.jpg 2482119] is the basis for this supremely unsettling, compelling horror story! This is less toward the hopeless Lovecraft/Ligotti end of the spectrum, and honestly more toward the Raimi end - there are seriously chilling and terrifying bits, but also almost a slapstick element at times, and a good deal of snark. For me, it worked!I guess technically this is a 4.5 for me due to some reliance on a couple of colossally stupid decisions by the protagonists, and one point that the readers can see perfectly clearly yet the main character misses in a way that starts to seem dense (but is defensible if you take the point of view that someone really experiencing these things wouldn't notice what we readers in our comfortable chairs can see much earlier).