Paul DeSantis
A number of the stories in this collection are top tier and are worth a read considering their placement in time (~1950s). However, a few of these stories fall flat in their conclusion. Many tend to build and set the reader up for a Twilight Zone-esque big reveal that never comes. While I suspect the author is allowing the reader to imagine their own outcome to the narrative she has established, I would largely prefer to read the story as it was perceived--in its entirety.
Regarding the major themes, I enjoyed that many of the stories established these dark unknown characters. It can be fun to theorize and imagine what these characters look like or what their intentions are, but again I wish I could walk away with some confirmation at the story's conclusion. Another reoccurring theme is how many aspects of life that I consider "mundane" can be quite terrifying when considered from the female perspective. Running into a stranger on the street, a partner bringing a friend home, or a strange sound outside your bedroom window become more sinister when you already in a society that requires you be wary of everything around you.
While I would recommend this to fans of short stories and horror literature, prepare yourself for more of a focus on domestic life and a few endings that fall flat.
This novel definitely came together by the end, but the first two-thirds were quite slow. I think it's important to have a piece of literature with a neurodivergent lesbian as the lead, but the story should aim to hold the attention of all readers.
I likely would still recommend to fans of novels and LGBT media, but there are many other books I would recommend first.
Reading The Eye of the World was certainly an experience. It definitely follows the story beats of The Hobbit and other epic fantasies, but it makes a lot of unique choices and does a lot of strong world building along the way. I found myself endeared to many of the main characters and I appreciated the focus on strong female leads.
Upon completion, I was torn on whether I wanted to continue my journey with the rest of the Wheel of Time books, but for now I think I would like to continue. My hope is that much of the basis of the world has been laid out so far, and now it can be expanded upon in a more interesting way. The setting of the beginning of the book is indistinguishable from many other fantasy novels, but by the end there is a lot that feels unique to Robert Jordan's world.
There is a lot of online discourse about Wheel of Time as a whole. I know many love it and many have given up on it. I am remaining neutral so far, but I think it needs to be stated that there are lots of novels out there (including those in the fantasy genre) that have made me feel more with much fewer words.
Invisible Cities is an interesting experiment in world building and imagination. Calvino envisions many wonderous cities through the words of Marco Polo and it's interesting to picture yourself in these spaces-- to gleam the best of each city to include in your own life while rejecting what makes a city grim and glum.
The novel is overall brief, but written beautifully-- somewhere between poetry and prose. It's short length makes me believe it's a must read for everyone. Everyone will find something within its passages that resonates with them and makes them ponder.
I'm looking forward to reading more of his work, likely The Complete Cosmicomics next.
The Handmaid's Tale is an increasingly relevant novel that discusses the experience of women in a post-USA Christian fascist country called Gilead. Much of the way society is run in Gilead could be implemented in a short time if people are not careful-- relegating women & people of color to the absolute bottom of society, rejecting technology & literature, frivolous use of capital punishment-- the list goes on. In some ways you wonder how Gilead could have become that way, but in reality America inches closer all the time.
I praise Margaret Atwood's world building with Gilead and I think she does a lot with a very reasonable length book. I believe some of the characters are a bit underdeveloped, and I think it's an improvement made in the Hulu series based on the novel and in the sequel, the Testaments. So much time is taken to discuss the different classes in society, the government, and the history of the world that there wasn't enough room to explore how the characters relate to each other. For example, Moira's actions before and after becoming a Handmaid are touched upon in the novel, but her character's personality and motivations are really fleshed out in the series. It more than evident that Moira and Offred are best friends, where the book isn't able to explore their relationship as much.
I would definitely recommend this book and it's sequel. I hope it can open some people's eyes to how women deserve to be respected and to feel safe in our world.
The Things She's Seen (AKA Catching Teller Crow) is aimed at young adults, but still delivers a captivating story with a lot of adult themes. It features a strong premise and a unique writing style that consistently kept me interested.
I am unsure how an actual young adult might react to this story, but I think the themes of dealing with abuse, racism, and the fallibility of police would make it a great book for a classroom, but there are a few scenes that are quite graphic--possibly too much. This book also covers the experience of Aboriginal people in Australia, a topic that I think deserves even more attention in literature.
The book's short length made it a quick read, but definitely delivered a fully fleshed out story. Very reminiscient of The Lovely Bones, but with an additional hint of The Sixth Sense. Definitely would recommend!
The God of the Woods was a very enjoyable read. I got my copy from Book of the Month Club after seeing it was highly rated there, and I think it's worth the praise it's been getting.
It's a mystery novel at its core and it does a great job of presenting facts from a few different perspectives and encouraging you to solve the crime with the characters. There are definitely clues that end up being red herrings, but never in a way that feels disingenuous to the reader. I felt strongly about my own (incorrect) theory, but I was still very pleased with the conclusion.
It was a bit longer than what I am used to reading (at nearly 500 pages), but I was very engrossed and finished it over just a few days. Definitely would recommend!
Contains spoilers
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow admittedly took me some time to get through. It packs a lot of feelings and ideas into one book, but it does a great job of making you feel connected to the characters. There were times where I hated the main characters, and sometimes that can be off-putting, but they are complex and they are not always acting their best. This is true for people in real life too, and there are points where I don't even like myself, but it can be hard to want to continue when you feel like the characters on the page are only making choices that destroy themselves.
Overall, I think the book is well written. There are points where I found some of the dialogue to be a bit cringey. I initially viewed this as being OK because the main characters are nerdy videogame developers, and of course they are going to make some cringey statements, but ultimately there are some points where I believe the author's cringe makes it through to the page.
I did appreciate that the subject was video game development and many of these aspects felt very accurate and informed. I was definitely immersed in the process of watching a new creative business form and grow with their success. People reading this book that are interested in games that aim to teach the player something new should look into "serious games," a bad name for a great genre where the intent of the game is more than just entertainment.
I do have to complain that there is a section of the book that takes place from the perspective of a player playing a farming simulator-esque game that is very immersion breaking. It's not realistic to how anyone could experience a game, and felt a bit more like a sequence where the main character was trapped inside of a video game, as opposed to just playing one. All of the other descriptions of playing games are very genuine and some of the ideas are great (I would love to play "Solution" and "Ichigo").
I must also say that including the sequence with the gunmen felt very cliche to me. It felt like an attempt to just shoehorn another issue into a book that is already filled to the brim with social commentary. I don't think there is a limit to how many different topics a book can cover, but I did feel emotionally drained after so many depressing sections.
Overall, I would recommend this book to someone who has an interest the video game industry. If someone had no interest I worry they might find the video game discussions completely unrelatable.
Oliver Sacks' work is definitely worth reading, and I would highly recommend The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings, but I don't know that The River of Consciousness is good without the additional context of its famous author.
This book is a collection of essays from the very of end of Sacks' life. It touches upon many different topics and summarizes a few aspects of his earlier work. He also discusses other famous psychologists and scientists and the difficulties of having a "legacy" as he he too has become a famous researcher.
I was interested in reading what Sacks had to say because I find his work interesting and think that he is a very thoughtful person, but I must admit that if my interest in Sacks hadn't kept me going, I likely would have DNF'd this book. It's difficult for me to recommend this to anyone who is unfamiliar with Oliver Sacks and I definitely would recommend his earlier works first. It's also worth noting that although many of these works were written at the end of Sacks' life, they are not particularly morbid or focused on death themselves, but "legacy" and "memory" are recurring themes.
Overall, I think this book is worth reading. It helps to demystify the "process" of dying and helps readers to understand that there are some aspects of dying that seem unusual, but are actually very common. I appreciate the messaging that everyone grieves differently, but from a technical aspect I think the book needs some editing.
If I could make a big change to this book, I would have recommended this book to be about Hadley, but not written by Hadley. There are a lot sections that just come across as Hadley patting herself on the back: Oh, Hadley, you're the only nurse that makes me smile and treats me right... and while it all might be true it just doesn't feel that way sometimes. I would have preferred to see Hadley's work approached more from a journalistic standpoint, with someone observing Hadley and talking to her patients. Obviously stories from her previous work deserve to be in the book, but it needs something to anchor it to the truth.
I do think Hadley is doing a great job of talking to the public about hospice. Her writing makes it seem less scary and depressing. Ideally dying is a peaceful process and hospice nurses, doctors, and workers are responsible for ensuring that. Highly recommend for a book club as I think everyone has a story about death they want to talk about, but don't have the appropriate venue.
John Green has achieved such a monumental level of celebrity that I was initially unsure if people really enjoyed his work, or if his fans just loved that he put out another thing for them to consume. I have definitely caught a "vlogbrothers" video here and there and I loved "Crash Course World History" when I was in school, but I wanted to read this book without the outside context of John Green as much as I could.
As with many other "collection of essays," I think your connection to the author really drives where or not you find the writing interesting, and I don't think I would have picked it up unless someone who was a fan of John and enjoyed reading the book hadn't recommended it to me.
Ultimately, I think the book is extremely well written and is very captivating. John does a great job of taking some smaller ideas and concepts and adding some of his own personal experiences to make the idea just feel so important. There are a lot of aspects of daily life that just go underappreciated, and it's nice to think about sunsets, Halley's comet, and Diet Dr Pepper sometimes when there is so much else going on. I was also surprised to see that some people dislike the "meandering" that happens in each chapter, but ultimately the meandering is the book. Anyone can read the Wikipedia page about the Lascaux Cave Paintings and get the gist of what they are, but John's writing can help us to understand what the cave means.
I would definitely recommend giving this book a read. The audiobook is also particularly good, John is a great narrator. I am also interested in checking out some of his fiction, although I do worry that I am too far from the intended demographic. We will have to see.
This book is an excellent resource for someone who has read passages of the Bible, identified contradictions, and been interested how religious scholars address them. Ehrman plainly describes how Christians throughout history have interpreted passages of the Bible that do not align with each other and provides historical context on how and why some of these stories were included in the first place.
It's difficult to say how others might feel upon reading this. I feel that Ehrman's writing is fairly objective and he's honest that he does not believe in Christianity the way he once did, but still cares to study the Bible as a historical document. My biggest takeaway is that being a Christian requires a type of faith that I just don't have. A true believer would read this book and not care that there are contradictions in the Bible– they would remain steadfast in their faith because they believe in god. Ehrman also makes it clear that there are a number of aspects of Christianity that just aren't supported by rational accounts (e.g. Jesus rising from the dead), but believing these things in spite of the evidence is what makes someone a believer.
I can imagine some die-hard Christians reading this, calling it blasphemy, and refusing to finish it. I think that's an unfair assessment as much of what Ehrman describes is just exactly what is written in the Bible or other established historical documents (I think it's fascinating that Ehrman has studied ancient Greek and is able to read some of these documents in their original form). Reading this information and still believing is probably a good sign that you really believe.
If someone is on the fence about Christianity I would guess that reading this book would push you towards the non-believer side of things. If that idea scares you, maybe come back to it after some time. For me, there was not a single passage that made me reconsider my choice to not believe in Christianity.
This was my first book by Ehrman that I've read and I enjoyed his writing style and tone. I would definitely read more of his works. I must admit that I was on the fence about rating this 4 or 5 stars, however, as this was a bit of tough read for me to finish. It's definitely written in an accessible manner, but it still is an academic document about religious history and at times I found it boring. I don't think anyone would be clamoring to finish it after beginning, but I took my time and read it a bit at a time and feel glad that I completed it. Ehrman is himself a well-read person and he has taken the time to review an unbelievable amount of documents, and I think he did his best presenting this information to a wide audience. I'm looking forward to reading more.
The Swimmers is a unique novel written in a style specific to Otsuka. Those drawn to the book by its description might be disappointed to find it changes significantly in content almost halfway through, but an open-minded reader who loves strong metaphor and emotional writing will likely enjoy it.
The first two sections of the novel focus on a community of people who find solace in regularly attending a university pool. On the surface it's an interesting story that encourages a lot of introspection. Many of the swimmers use their time at the pool to forget about the complications of their “real lives,” and live according to different rules inside the pool than out.
My personal interpretation is that this part of the book is all an extended metaphor–the pool representing the mind and the crack signifying the dementia that damages it. People with dementia and other memory disorders find comfort in routine and can become distressed when these routines are disturbed. When Alice is able to follow her preferred routine and the set rules within the pool, she is happy–and then the crack starts to disrupt this. Some attendees stay home, some are distressed by the crack, and some ignore it. Eventually the crack ruins the pool entirely, causing it to close, and beginning the next section of the book: Alice transitioning into an extended care facility.
The pool story is very enjoyable to read, but features a few sections that add to its eerie feeling. These eerie sections lead me to believe this is not meant to be taken literally (although many members of my book club were certain these pool sections were meant to be taken at face value). I found the following two excerpts to strongly hint towards the more abstract nature of the pool:
“Others have heard that the crack opens up onto a second and deeper world that lies just beneath the surface of ours. An alternate and perhaps truer world with its underground pool filled with faster, more attractive people in less-stretched-out suits who nail their flip turns every time... and a vast and vapid emptiness so great that to contemplate it for even more than a few moments would cause your mind to implode. It's like we've been swimming over a void.“
&
“Often, the lifeguard is late. Timely or tardy, young or old, male or female, the lifeguard never lasts for long. Last month, the lifeguard was an out-of-work IT guy from the next town over. The month before that, the local football coach's son. Land people, we say.
The Swimmers
living
A quick yet enjoyable read that adds to the already large Harry Potter canon. Worth the time for existing fans of the series.
I'm in my mid-twenties, I read this, and I enjoyed it. I am unsure if this is embarrassing, but nostalgia for Harry Potter is strong, and I appreciate continuing to expand the Wizarding World.
I am however, conflicted about enjoying the Harry Potter series because although I find a lot of the world-building fascinating, and I think there are a lot of great lessons for kids, I do not agree with many of JK Rowling's beliefs on social issues. I respect that sales of some (possibly all) versions of this book support Comic Relief, but would encourage those interested in reading this book to financially support link: Comic Relief directly and acquire the book through means that don't also fund JK Rowling.
Charities worth supporting that JK Rowling would not approve of:
The Trevor Project (US)
Gendered Intelligence (UK)
Trans Lifeline (US)
A touching and informative memoir about processing grief and not allowing loss to consume one's life. I enjoyed this book immensely and learned so much throughout. The author gradually shares their knowledge of foraging for fungi with the reader, and you can experience her growth from novice to expert through her writing. At the same time, you can feel the author battle with her grief for her husband. I admire how honest she is about her situation– her mention of weight loss due to lack of motivation to eat really spoke to me. It shows proof that grief can go beyond mental anguish; it takes a physical toll on our lives. I shed many tears reading about Eiolf, in particular the passage about feeling connected to him through the buildings he designed during his time as an architect. I think many of us worry about what it might mean to be forgotten after we die. Did we actually leave anything substantial behind? Will it matter at all that we were alive in the first place? An architect leaving behind a building is a straightforward example of a having a timeless legacy, but it challenged me to think of how I might leave behind something; for me likely something less tangible: Publications, protocols, stories with friends, positive impressions with strangers. I don't mind if it's little things that stick with others when I'm gone. I'm glad that for Eiolf it was his designs, and that Litt Woon can continue to appreciate them. I must also mention how technical the writing can be at times. It never reaches textbook levels of dryness, but it is very detailed and that may turn some readers off. Long is obviously very talented as a writer (and the translator, Barabara J. Haveland) because there is a great balance of casual sections where her personality shines through and technical sections where you know that her work is accurate and well researched. This would be a great starting point for someone who is interested in learning more about fungi, and you could easily transition to more traditional educational materials afterwards. I must also point out how this theme of mixing narrative with technical writings reminded me immensely of [b:Moby-Dick or, The Whale 153747 Moby-Dick or, The Whale Herman Melville https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327940656l/153747.SY75.jpg 2409320], although Long is much more succinct than Melville. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to others. After returning to reading as a hobby after neglecting it for many years, this is the first book I felt compelled to recommend to my father. I think he would appreciate reading about foraging for food in the outdoors, and could use some exposure to more emotional topics. We will see what he thinks!
4.5/5– A beautiful and emotional story trapped inside a book about hockey. I absolutely love where the story of Beartown goes. Like other Backman books, every character is complex and interesting; it's hard to not imagine the residents having their discussions right in front of you, as though you were a fly on the wall. However, Beartown took me a while to complete. I found a few sections of the first half of the book too slow. I'm not a huge sports fan, and I was assured that you didn't have to be interested in hockey to appreciate this book, but there are a lot of passages about hockey– players practicing hockey, competing in hockey games, discussing careers in hockey, raising sponsor money for hockey, fans watching hockey– it's a lot of hockey. “Beartown is a hockey town,” could not be more true, and I appreciate how important the sport is in this fictional town, but it's a place I just know I would not fit in. I was glad to see that much of the conflict of the story involves an issue that I think many people need to reflect on: victim blaming. Just like in so many real-life cases, much of the conflict could be avoided by remaining calm, listening to the victim, and trying to help them heal. Sometimes there isn't enough evidence to prove a victim's case, and that's always going to be a possibility, but no one is helped by making the life of an already suffering person worse through harassment and scare tactics. A passage that will continue to stick with me is: “She will always be this to them now: at best the girl who got raped, at worst the girl who lied. They will never let her be anyone but that. In every room, on every street, in the supermarket and at the rink, she will walk in like an explosive device. They will be scared to touch her, even the ones who believe her, because they don't want to risk getting hit by shrapnel when she detonates. They will back away in silence, turn in a different direction. They will wish that she would just disappear, that she had never been here. Not because they hate her, because they don't, not all of them: they don't all scrawl BITCH on her locker, they don't all rape her, they aren't all evil. But they're all silent. Because that's easier.”I think there is a lot to learn from this situation and it reminds us that we just need to have compassion. People who have experienced trauma are not landmines, they do not need to be avoided at all costs. Just like everyone else, they need to be cared for. I didn't think I would finish this novel, and I certainly didn't think I would read its sequels, but I absolutely plan on doing so now. After this, [b:Anxious People 53799686 Anxious People Fredrik Backman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594234890l/53799686.SX50.jpg 67840009], and [b:A Man Called Ove 18774964 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405259930l/18774964.SY75.jpg 21619954], Frederik Backman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!
Mary Roach does an impeccable job of discussing a complicated topic in an approachable way. Death and dying are topics that make many people uncomfortable, but ultimately dying is something everyone is going to experience at some point. I went into this book already having a very open mindset about cadavers. I was already interested in donating my organs, and have explored the idea of donating my body to science. I believe that all of us benefit from advances in medicine that have happened as a result of people who came before us donating their bodies to science, and it is only right to do my part and allow for the continuation of this process. This book helped me appreciate how truly wide the impact of cadavers on research is. Some of these uses are not so glamourous, but ultimately a lot of advances in automotive safety, forensics, and medicine have come about as a result of working with cadavers. I was also glad to find out that this is not an exposé about how cadavers are mistreated in today's society. Instead, it brought tears to my eyes to read about how many people treat cadavers with a lot of respect and care. I previously assumed that most people working in the medical field would treat cadavers as equipment or solely biological material. Surprisingly, many medical students treat the cadavers with a lot of reverence and care, and it made me more accepting of the idea of donating my own body. When this book was recommended to me, I did not realize that it came out back in 2003. I think overall many of the sentiments about the dead have not changed since its release– many Americans are still divided about burying embalmed bodies vs choosing cremation, and “green burials” are still far from mainstream. I do feel that the content is still important, and its focus on the history of cadavers also makes the book timeless. It will always be interesting to read about how intertwined medical schools and grave robbing were, and the myths and facts of cannibalism in the past. I would definitely recommend this book to others, with the caveat that it probably isn't for the squeamish. I work in medical research and have seen a number of gross things in my time, but I could still feel my hands get a little clammy reading Roach describe some of the sights and smells she encountered during her fieldwork. I would honestly love to see Roach work on an update to Stiff at some point as I would be very curious to see how the field has changed over time. Are there new areas of research that require the use of cadavers? Are there fields where the use of cadavers has been retired? Research at body farms is ongoing in the US; what new developments have there been over the last 20 years and what is being planned for the future? Looking forward to reading [b:Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife 14990 Spook Science Tackles the Afterlife Mary Roach https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1401287778l/14990.SX50.jpg 2398507], [b:Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal 18377999 Gulp Adventures on the Alimentary Canal Mary Roach https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391866061l/18377999.SX50.jpg 19216563], and [b:Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law 56769577 Fuzz When Nature Breaks the Law Mary Roach https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1619615618l/56769577.SY75.jpg 88729211] soon!
Misery is incredibly suspenseful and captivating. I love horror films and that feeling of suspense or dread that they can give you, but I never thought that I could feel that same way reading a horror novel. Misery absolutely achieves this! There were a number of times I was genuinely terrified for Paul and read on with clenched teeth and a rapid heartbeat.
My only complaint with the novel was that some of the “Misery Returns” sections of Misery took me out of the overall narrative. I understand that the monotony of the story can sometimes highlight Paul's relationship with the Misery series and how he just wants it to be over, but I think this was well conveyed without making the excerpts themselves so drawn out. I would be interested in an edit of this book that only includes the “real world” sections of the novel, and see how it compares to the original.
[a:Frederik Backman 19692362 Frederik Backman https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] has absolutely mastered the art of character development. It's impossible not to feel each character's joy–their sorrow, their frustration, and their love towards Ove. You get to experience the cold exterior of Ove's heart melt away through his many brief, but meaningful interactions with others. Ove is a modern day Grinch, a character who is extremely committed to maintaining their image of a gruff and abrasive person, while also having a pure heart–one that is capable of growing many sizes (maybe even one size too big). A Man Called Ove has many themes that you hope will one day feel outdated, but right now are still incredibly important and relevant. You initially understand Ove's resilience to act sympathetically to queerness, to immigrants, to those that don't conform to typical gender roles (e.g. men who can operate a computer, but not hang drywall) as just an example of someone whose beliefs are outdated. He is old enough that you almost want to excuse him as it can be so difficult to change your ways with age; but Ove always come out on top of these situations and learns to accept these things because it's just the right thing to do.Ove shows us that anyone is capable of loving and caring for others, of acceptance and tolerance. We might have initial reservations of accepting people who are different or act differently, but ultimately it's just easier to love others. Everyone just wants to be happy and succeed in life, and it does no good trying to stop others from living their lives. (An exception to this might be bankers and scammers, who are never redeemed in the eyes of Ove.)Ove's character continues to inspire me after reading. There are so many opportunities each day to just help people because it's right; to accept others for who they are. It's hopeful to think that one might achieve their own happiness by living with the ideal of serving others when they can. Maybe one day I too will die and people will be happy to have known me, and grateful for what I had done for them. And I will die grateful to have met so many others and for the kindness and compassion they had given me in return. When I die I will definitely have been grateful to have read this book, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to others. Naysayers may feel that this book presents an idealized world that is too simple and kitschy, and maybe the truth is that the world really is that simple: just tell the truth and be kind to others.
Lincoln in the Bardo is an extremely unique piece of literature. It combines historical accounts of Lincoln during his time grieving his son Willie, age 11, with a fictional narrative about ghosts attempting to help Willie pass on from this mortal world. I found the story incredibly engaging and heartfelt, often contemplating how I would feel if I were to awaken in that Washington cemetery post-mortem. Is infinite time a blessing or a curse– forced to reflect on all of the legitimate time we were afforded? Is any afterlife a sham? If judgement is based on what actions we took as we lived, then what point is there to purgatory at all? There is much to consider when reading, and these moral quandaries kept me wanting more. While reading I often found myself reminded of the much more family friendly [b:The Graveyard Book 2213661 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531295292l/2213661.SY75.jpg 2219449] by [a:Neil Gaiman 1221698 Neil Gaiman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]– where a vivacious young boy is raised and mentored by the undead residents of a nearby graveyard (a variation on [a:Rudyard Kipling 6989 Rudyard Kipling https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550677494p2/6989.jpg]'s [b:The Jungle Book 77270 The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327873594l/77270.SY75.jpg 17441265]). Both books explore the hopeless side of attempting to live on after breathing your last breath. Much other media shows us how terrified people should be of undead spirits, when it's very possible that the spirits themselves are unhappy upon being forced to reflect on their unresolved lives. While I loved the story and themes, much could be said about the formatting and writing style of the book. I can appreciate wanting to create something unique, but Saunders has chosen to write in a style that reads unlike anything else I have encountered and is overall difficult to keep track of at times. The audiobook's cast of 166 voices makes it clear there are many characters, but to me also makes it clear the book would have worked well in a stage play format. Rather than hear each character speak in their voice, with an additional narrator providing outside context, we constantly change perspectives between characters and hear their accounts of the scene, including the dialogue of other characters in the same scene. There are also the shifting perspectives of historical accounts that provide context to the scene, which I do think work for the story, but the narrative sections become incredibly complicated as the book progresses. Overall, I think the story and historical context contained within the pages is extremely worth reading, but the way in which the story is delivered makes it difficult to fully appreciate. I would love to see this story adapted to an0ther format, possibly a stage play or television series. The book itself is very successful, but I think it should be even more widely appreciated.
[a:David Eagleman 2883386 David Eagleman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1238026723p2/2883386.jpg] presents a number of possibilities for what life might be like after we die. No single scenario is more likely or more believable than any other. Instead, you choose to ponder what afterlife you might hope for, or dread. One's initial impressions might consider this a “spiritual” book because of its overwhelming mentions of God, gods, Heaven, and Hell, but overall I think the novel fits more in the science fiction or fiction category. Someone who is looking for the book to either affirm or disaffirm their own beliefs about what happens when we die would be sorely disappointed– the stories are just overall contemplative, some fun and some major bummers. My only criticism is in the format of the book. It is short in length and contains 40 “micro chapters” that are never longer than a few pages. Some of the stories feel repetitive or a rehashing of a previous theme, and others are so engaging that you wish the author would continue on, but is then stopped by his own limitation of keeping its chapter so brief. I would love to read a follow-up that expands on 5-10 of the original 40 stories. Overall, worth reading and definitely worth keeping a copy for the shelf. I look forward to coming back to a few stories over time and seeing how my feelings about them change.
A perfect split between absolutely grim and beautifully uplifting– my face was glued to this story as I yearned for it to unfold. Benioff did an amazing job with the pacing, the characters, and the perfect level of detail.
While this certainly falls under the category of historical fiction, I think it would appeal to both fans and enemies of the genre. At its core, it's just a great story with suspense, drama, and comedy. And I'm sure it even counts as learning about of the Siege of Leningrad, although you won't find any of the historical detail boring.
For those on the fence, I would highly recommend just giving it a try. City of Thieves just has a way of pulling you in and the characters are so genuine that I found myself hearing their laughter, feeling their hunger, and thinking of my own way out of their unique situations. You won't be able to predict where the story goes at any point.
I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of Benioff's work!
Normal People may not be for everyone, but it's absolutely worth giving a try.
Sally Rooney's characters are extremely believable and lifelike. You feel their highs and lows, and like people in our own lives, they are flawed. I think in this lies the issue that many people have with Normal People:the main characters don't act like you want them to. They don't communicate well and they make decisions that actively make their lives worse, but wanting them to act differently is much like reflecting on a conflict you had in your own life and wishing it went differently– “Damn, I should've said ‘x' instead of what I actually said.”
Connell and Marianne make mistakes, but they also have successes. They have good role models and bad influences in their lives. I enjoyed watching their lives unfold, and continue to enjoy imagining how their lives would continue; either together or apart.
I also must say that I have never empathized with a character more than when Connell seeks counseling at his university. When I was reading this, I too was talking to university doctors about treating my anxiety; something I didn't realize I was dealing with for years. After my mother read this book it was a big help for me to be able to tell her that I was going through what Connell did in college. She didn't know anyone who was open to her about their struggles with mental health, but she knew Connell and I didn't have to start from scratch when I tried to explain how I was feeling.
Thanks Sally for helping me to be feel understood.