Bookish Thoughts

I got this book as a free download from Tor.com, which is the only reason I decided to read it. I did enjoy the other Charlie Jane Anders book I read, All the Birds in the Sky . And I guess I was expecting more of the same. But that was a subtle story that took me by surprise. And this....wasn't. It's not that it was bad. I'm just not really the target audience for this book. I'm not much interested in young adult books. But it was free and on my kindle and I figured it'd be a quick read. The fact that it took me over two weeks to read this YA novel with less than 300 pages tells you something about how invested I was in it. It actually started pretty strong, with a fun premise, interesting and sarcastic characters, and a plot that kicked into high gear almost immediately. But then the middle of the book got muddled. Parts of it felt more like an outline than a novel, as the story jumped from scene to scene with very little transition, which kept me off balance and ...

 After taking two weeks to read my first book of 2022, I needed something quick. Romance novels always do a great job of filling that urge. They're easy to read, happy, and usually a perfect little palate cleanser. And this one definitely lived up to all those expectations. But as a romance novel it was sort of middle of the road. I liked Makeda a whole lot more than Beznaria, which probably comes down to Makeda getting the lion's share of the chapters. Her journey was more compelling and satisfying, and I was really rooting for her. Beznaria felt a bit more sketched in to me, and she went through a bit less growth. Not that she didn't change, but I have no real confidence that those changes were permanent. Which is a weird place to be with a romance novel. I also felt like the ending was a bit too abrupt. I could have used another few chapters to tie up some loose ends or an epilogue to assuage my fears that this relationship would never last in the real world. They had a ...

 I've been slowly making my way through Kristen Britain's Green Rider series for the past year. And I mean slowly. After a year, I only just finished the fourth book. When I started, I assumed the series was complete at six books, and that seemed doable. But a seventh book was released this year, and it turns out that the author has no set plan for how long the series will be. That's been fine up to now. Each book has been a distinct story. I find I have little trouble remembering what happened previously when I picked up the next book (Britain's ability to seamlessly integrate the "previously on" into her text is pretty amazing). It's also been easy to remember what happened in each book. But then this one ended in a cliffhanger, and now I'm worried that we're diving into some more classic epic fantasy, where the story drags on and on for countless books until the author abandons it for one reason or another. But I'm only a little worried, be...

This book is exactly what people mean by the phrase "wild romp". It's vaguely historical fiction, veering off into fantasy in a number of ways. It muddies the waters between what probably happened and what might have happened and what absolutely did not happen. But it's entertaining, even when it goes off the rails. The main character, Monty, is a complete disaster. As most eighteen year olds are. He's lived a life mixed with privilege and punishment. On the surface he has everything he wants. But scratch that surface and he can't have anything he actually wants. And he mostly deals with that by trying not to think too hard about what he wants. And drinking way too much. Like I said, he's a disaster. And he spends most of the book as a disaster. But by the end he's starting to figure some things out, starting to realize that he needs to change and how and why he needs to change. I was by turns exasperated and charmed by Monty and his sister, Felicity, ...

Instead of reading The Goldfinch in December like I was supposed to, I found myself revisiting Saga. I read the first nine volumes more or less as they came out over the years, which really spread the story out. While I enjoyed the later volumes, I was occasionally confused by who a character was or why they were doing something. Then the ending of the ninth volume left me hurt and angry and then the whole story went on hiatus for what was supposed to be a year, but which the pandemic dragged out to closer to three years. In those three years, a lot happened. And I came to appreciate the ending. I found myself growing more and more curious about where the story would go next. I wanted to know what would happen to Hazel in the wake of her most recent losses. So I went back and re-read the whole story over the course of about two weeks. The compressed schedule worked really well for this story. Everything flowed much better than the first time through. I was able to hold all the charact...

 There's something freeing about starting out the year with a complete and abject failure. Nowhere to go from here but up. Hopefully. Last year I read every book my book club picked. This was actually the first year I accomplished this feat, despite being the founder and default leader of the book club. But for one reason or another (new babies, my husband's death) I always ended up missing a few meetings. I even missed one meeting in 2021, because my family was under a covid quarantine. But I read every book! It was actually fairly easy. For our first book of 2022, we picked The Goldfinch. It's massive, a real door stopper of a book. But the length didn't frighten me. I routinely read big books (500+ pages) and usually get in at least one 1000+ page book a year. So I dove in with excellent intentions. And then I had a completely novel experience. Any time I was actively reading The Goldfinch I enjoyed it. It was entertaining, if a bit overly descriptive. But then I...