altlovesbooks
" 'Objects that held my heart' is how Breitwieser described his finds."
This was a fascinating book about a guy who was so obsessed with the beauty of art that he felt compelled to liberate pieces from museums and art galleries just so he could enjoy them at home. Home being...an attic he and his girlfriend lived in at his mom's house. Dozens, and then hundreds of pieces get taken, until his own hubris and compulsion finally gets him in the end.
Alongside Breitweiser's story, we also get some really great info about art theft. Did you know Picasso hired a guy to steal two statuettes from the Louvre in 1907 for the equivalent of $10? I sure didn't, but I thought that was fascinating.
Just a really compelling book about something I didn't realize was so prevalent (50,000 art thefts each year!). Highly recommend.
" 'Objects that held my heart' is how Breitwieser described his finds."
This was a fascinating book about a guy who was so obsessed with the beauty of art that he felt compelled to liberate pieces from museums and art galleries just so he could enjoy them at home. Home being...an attic he and his girlfriend lived in at his mom's house. Dozens, and then hundreds of pieces get taken, until his own hubris and compulsion finally gets him in the end.
Alongside Breitweiser's story, we also get some really great info about art theft. Did you know Picasso hired a guy to steal two statuettes from the Louvre in 1907 for the equivalent of $10? I sure didn't, but I thought that was fascinating.
Just a really compelling book about something I didn't realize was so prevalent (50,000 art thefts each year!). Highly recommend.
"Everything rests on a knife's edge."
I realized when making my to-read list for this year that, for whatever reason, I had gotten up to book five of this amazing series years ago and never bothered to finish it up. I went into it a bit hesitant after being gone from the desert for so long, but this book delivered and then some. An amazing end to an epic fantasy series I wish more people knew about.
I'm not going to summarize the plot here because it's the culmination of five books of setup. Not only would it not make sense to someone jumping in fresh, it'd also be rife with spoilers from the previous books. You'll just have to trust me that this book's story is a worthy conclusion to this desert fantasy series.
All of our favorite cast members are here, with nothing and nobody extraneous. I felt some of the previous books dragged on a bit (Beneath the Twisted Trees, I'm looking at you), but this book has the advantage of being set up to be wall-to-wall plot with nothing really new in the mix. Watching everything come together was delightful. I also appreciated that the author included a 'Story so Far' section up front to catch readers up to speed, because a lot happens in the previous books.
Just a great book, a great end, to a great series. Well done.
"Everything rests on a knife's edge."
I realized when making my to-read list for this year that, for whatever reason, I had gotten up to book five of this amazing series years ago and never bothered to finish it up. I went into it a bit hesitant after being gone from the desert for so long, but this book delivered and then some. An amazing end to an epic fantasy series I wish more people knew about.
I'm not going to summarize the plot here because it's the culmination of five books of setup. Not only would it not make sense to someone jumping in fresh, it'd also be rife with spoilers from the previous books. You'll just have to trust me that this book's story is a worthy conclusion to this desert fantasy series.
All of our favorite cast members are here, with nothing and nobody extraneous. I felt some of the previous books dragged on a bit (Beneath the Twisted Trees, I'm looking at you), but this book has the advantage of being set up to be wall-to-wall plot with nothing really new in the mix. Watching everything come together was delightful. I also appreciated that the author included a 'Story so Far' section up front to catch readers up to speed, because a lot happens in the previous books.
Just a great book, a great end, to a great series. Well done.
Added to listClassicswith 15 books.
Added to listTW Book Clubwith 1 book.
I guess I was expecting something different when my friends and I picked this one up. It's supposedly what inspired Lovecraft to create his entire mythos, so I was expecting something more...I don't know...existential horror? Unsettling? I didn't really get much of that. It was a fine read, just not what I was expecting, I guess.
It's a series of four short stories about a mysterious book, 'The King In Yellow', where anyone who picks it up to read goes mad. Each of the four stories features a different person in a different setting, but beyond the common thread of the book, there isn't a lot to really explain what this book is, where it came from, or why it is the way it is. As the reader, you're just along for the 'how is this person going to manifest their madness' ride, with no real backstory or explanation.
There's a lot of unreliable narrator business going on, obviously, which I thought was fun. You're never quite sure if things actually happen the way things are written, and there's some room to draw conclusions of your own at the end of each story. There's also some unexpected humor written in by the author in the form of descriptions of places and people, which I enjoyed but also felt tonally different than what I was expecting out of the story.
So, not bad, but also don't go into this expecting Lovecraft. It's a neat read featuring unreliable narrators, but I really didn't feel existentially horrified or even mildly concerned at all while reading it.
I guess I was expecting something different when my friends and I picked this one up. It's supposedly what inspired Lovecraft to create his entire mythos, so I was expecting something more...I don't know...existential horror? Unsettling? I didn't really get much of that. It was a fine read, just not what I was expecting, I guess.
It's a series of four short stories about a mysterious book, 'The King In Yellow', where anyone who picks it up to read goes mad. Each of the four stories features a different person in a different setting, but beyond the common thread of the book, there isn't a lot to really explain what this book is, where it came from, or why it is the way it is. As the reader, you're just along for the 'how is this person going to manifest their madness' ride, with no real backstory or explanation.
There's a lot of unreliable narrator business going on, obviously, which I thought was fun. You're never quite sure if things actually happen the way things are written, and there's some room to draw conclusions of your own at the end of each story. There's also some unexpected humor written in by the author in the form of descriptions of places and people, which I enjoyed but also felt tonally different than what I was expecting out of the story.
So, not bad, but also don't go into this expecting Lovecraft. It's a neat read featuring unreliable narrators, but I really didn't feel existentially horrified or even mildly concerned at all while reading it.
Added to listSci Fiwith 68 books.
Added to list2025 Favoriteswith 2 books.
Added to listAudiobooks Readwith 155 books.
Like if Oceans 8 had a focus on Fast and Furious's family, but set in a cyberpunky space station with lots of representation. You've got a team of people set on liberating valuable items from a corporate CEO with the intent to ransom them back to him and make bank. That's basically it, but it was enough for me.
I'm gonna fly in the face of everyone here who had complaints about the boring plot and say up front that the plot is secondary to the characterization. Is the heist fun? Absolutely. It's clear the author did a lot of cybersecurity/physical security research, and it shows without being too bogged down in technical minutiae. Is it incredibly satisfying/tense/subtle/layered? Not particularly. There isn't a lot unexpected here to keep anyone guessing. But I thought the real joy in this book, and the reason for the five stars, was getting to know Edie and Angel and the complex relationship between them. Even the secondary characters, the people making up the crew, were interesting, I thought, and each had their personal strengths they brought to the table to make the heist happen.
I especially enjoyed the Hawaiian lens we experience the story through. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator really nailed all the various slang/pidgin thrown in to really bring conversations to life. I wish that I had a bit of translation or a glossary or something to reference sometimes, though, but context clues did a good job of carrying meaning through.
Just a fun heist with colorful characters in a unique setting. Highly enjoyed it.
Like if Oceans 8 had a focus on Fast and Furious's family, but set in a cyberpunky space station with lots of representation. You've got a team of people set on liberating valuable items from a corporate CEO with the intent to ransom them back to him and make bank. That's basically it, but it was enough for me.
I'm gonna fly in the face of everyone here who had complaints about the boring plot and say up front that the plot is secondary to the characterization. Is the heist fun? Absolutely. It's clear the author did a lot of cybersecurity/physical security research, and it shows without being too bogged down in technical minutiae. Is it incredibly satisfying/tense/subtle/layered? Not particularly. There isn't a lot unexpected here to keep anyone guessing. But I thought the real joy in this book, and the reason for the five stars, was getting to know Edie and Angel and the complex relationship between them. Even the secondary characters, the people making up the crew, were interesting, I thought, and each had their personal strengths they brought to the table to make the heist happen.
I especially enjoyed the Hawaiian lens we experience the story through. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator really nailed all the various slang/pidgin thrown in to really bring conversations to life. I wish that I had a bit of translation or a glossary or something to reference sometimes, though, but context clues did a good job of carrying meaning through.
Just a fun heist with colorful characters in a unique setting. Highly enjoyed it.