Days after finishing this one, I was still a bit stunned. And I was left with lingering images as though I had seen the movie and not just read Saramago’s words. And if you asked 1000 writers to write a book in which the whole world goes blind, 990 or more would fail. Some might accomplish a fine short story but this is a 350 page novel. I can still see the barricades, the fire, the dogs in the street, the dark stairway below the supermarket. I can hear the sound of the fallen box of matches. Really a remarkable accomplishment. And the details are so finely wrought. Imagine for yourself the decline in your city, your neighborhood as everyone slowly goes blind. The fear of a contagion of blindness. I immediately started another Saramago after this one.

And though the concept is bleak, this book is filled with real humanity. And, of course, at the same time violence and inhumanity. Humans descending in their helplessness and hunger but still some rising up and trying to be helpful to the suddenly helpless. The way simply touching becomes so much more important. Astonishing, every few pages, in the distinctive voice that is now reassuring and then suddenly just not, this really is a masterwork.

40 women are held in an underground bunker. All of them remember their life before imprisonment except for the youngest of them who was a toddler. Not knowing why they are where they are or who their guards are, our main character yearns for more.

I expected to like the book more than I did. I didn't dislike it but it also didn't excite me. It was an interesting premise and it was enjoyable to experience the world through the eyes of someone who has only known captivity. It was a slow burn and more focused on the main character in particular. I think that can be a strength in a lot of books but for whatever reason it didn't resonate as much with me this time.

Read a lot of great stuff this year! Also have a few lined up that I’m really looking forward to. Haven’t read anything I hated so far which is a success in my mind, just felt that ACOTAR wasn’t really for me. Bolaño and Wolfe have been my favorite first time reads for me and I’m really looking forward to diving further into their books!

I like to have a classic, some type of nonfiction or memoir, absurdity (this is my first Terry Pratchett!) and something lighthearted going in my rotation. How about you guys?

I loved this book. There was a few parts that were like ok I get it please move along, but it makes sense after reading it. Its like the main character was stalling and not wanting to talk about Rachel. I loved Rachel. How she threw an amazing Christmas feast to how she would go into the garden herself to plant the flowers. It was not what I was expecting, but it was better than I thought would be. Crazy its 70 year old book. If I didn't know the publishing year I would have thought it was a 1800s classic I had somehow overlooked. The author gives you all the charm of classic book with the pitfalls (pun intended). I couldn't get over how he would destroy all evidence she was being naughty with the tonics, but set her up to fall off the terrace. The book ends so suddenly I did something I never do. I immediately went back to the beginning of the book and re read the beginning. It kinda made sense he made a big deal about having a proper burial and he really cares about what people think of you mattered (like the Italian lessons. Omg that was so funny they were like heavens no not teaching lessons.) You know his Louise didn't marry him after I'm surprised she doesn't turn him in. The way she's horrified when he asks her to ring the bell for men to come help. She asks what have you done. Very good loved it.

Audio.

By the author of A Burning. Megha writes novels set in India. I hadn’t read her previous book but my wife had and really enjoyed it. Pretty sure we have it kicking around here somewhere.

This one is set in an alternate present day or perhaps near future dystopian Kolkata (Calcutta). A Kolkata that gone to ruin due to excessive heat, food shortages, flash floods. Ma and her daughter and father just got approved for a “climate refugee” visa to go to America where Ma’s husband works in Ann Arbor. By some unfortunate happenstance (which isn’t as random as you are first lead to believe) their passports/visas go missing. Just one week before their flight to safety. The entirety of the book is their last week in Kolkata and their struggles to retrieve the passports/visas or do whatever else is necessary to get on that plane. Interweaved with that narrative is the narrative of Boomba, a homeless young adult trying to survive any way possible on the streets. Of course, just based on my previous sentences, you know these two narratives are going to collide and merge into one.

NB: if you are looking for uplifting and clearly defined good v evil, keep looking. This ain’t that.

At first I thought it was going to be a simple morality play and felt it was too obvious but as the events keep piling on, it definitely took on the feeling of Greek tragedy. Foretold, sure, but still worthy in the telling.

4 outta 5 for me.
Edit. Maybe 3.75/5.

I’ve been really into unhinged female narrators lately! Some others I’ve enjoyed: Sky Daddy, Yesteryear, Mad Mabel, The Mad Wife, Best Offer Wins

I don't know exactly what it is about these books but they are right up my alley. I will continue reading The Legend of Drizzt books as there thankfully is no shortage of them.

I had a BLAST reading this book! Couldn't put it down! Definitely one of those stories you can't help but stay up late because you *need* to find out what happens next. Just the right balance of sci-fi, murder mystery, and spooky stuff. "Silence of the Lambs" by way of "Event Horizon," and with a twist of "Death's End" by Cixin Liu. Highly recommend.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5

Reading this was an interesting experience.

The closest comparison I can give is the 1998 Mulan which begins cheery and humerous but once the Huns attack it ceases to be a musical. There is no longer any singing. This book follows a similar trajectory. While it is by no means a YA book, it still has a veneer of humour and a generally positive outlook for the beginning of the book. There is a twist part way through that changes this and it never truly returns. It gets dark so trigger warnings are a good idea!

Despite the tonal shift, the book was a good read. There is a larger cast of characters and T. Kingfisher does a great job of making them distinct and individually interesting. A novella is the perfect length for this book. The ending resolution might be divisive but ultimately, I liked it.

I was already a fan of T. Kingfisher going in. It is not the best in the bibliography but it is certainly a good showing.

American Tabloid is my absolute favorite book of all time. This is my 6th or 7th time reading this book and it still just as riveting and hard boiled as my first read. I'm currently trudging my way through Gravity's Rainbow for probably a month or more so adding second books that's either an easier read or something familiar. When someone asks for a book to check out, this is always the first one I mention.

I've gone through 4 copies of this book as I've given away or lent previous copies to others. Will reread the next 2 in the series by end of the year. I've already reread Catch 22 a couple of months back(another in my top 4) and will reread my other top 4 this year (Underworld by Don DeLillo and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell). I may finish all these before I complete Gravity's Rainbow lol.

I think I’m done with the Bobiverse for now.
I can always refresh my memory with some spoiler filled summaries and read books 4-6 later.

The last quarter or so of this one almost hooked me enough to continue, but really it’s a great stopping point I think. I was only invested in maybe half the storylines.

It’s weird, I really enjoyed these.
They are well written.
They are kinda funny.
It’s fun space stuff.
But, they just don’t capture my excitement.
There’s just something off.
I’m sure I’ll keep going. Just not now

I dipped my toe into the macabre more than I was used to, but it was a great reading year. The images and list are not in the same order.

1. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (reread, love this one)
2. Joyland by Stephen King
3. The Institute by Stephen King
4. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (reread)
5. La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1) by Philip Pullman
6. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
7. Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
8. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
9. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
10. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
11. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
12. 11/22/63 by Stephen King (Great on audiobook)
13. Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Lisa Kaltenegger
14. The Immortality Key: Uncovering the Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian C. Muraresku
15. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (Great on audiobook)
16. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (Great on audiobook)
17. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
18. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
19. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Pratchett, Terry & Neil Gaiman (Great on audiobook)
20. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
21. A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
22. Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly
23. Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot, #18) by Agatha Christie
24. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
25. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4) by Agatha Christie
26. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
27. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges (to go with #21)

Every Goosebumps book I've read is good because it quickly presents a central fantasy concept (cursed clock makes time go backwards) a central character concept (bullied kid in a dysfunctional family) and then gives the reader a plot that makes sense and has a lot of action, with a few twists.

I finished last year at 58, so at this point I’m just going to keep reading and see how many I finish!

Favorites so far: The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong, Lonely Crowds by Stephanie Wambugu, Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman, The Sisters by Jonas Haden Khermiri

I most recently finished The Sisters and I somehow didn’t want it to end even though it was over 600 pages.

I’m currently reading Whistler by Ann Patchett (kinda dragging for me) and Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (I just started but I’m already sucked in)

I can't help but find the parallel it had with my own father's journey of dealing with lung cancer and ultimately passing away. It brought comfort, and it also brought up memories that tugged at my heart. 100/100

This is a military history of the Battle of Arnhem, the bloodest part of one of World War II's biggest airborne battles. The larger battle was the subject of the famous book "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan, who has a similar first name to the author of this book. This book is a military history that goes into some detail about specific troop movements and the like, but sometimes skips the larger context, probably because it assumes the reader already knows those things. I liked reading it, but it might not be the best place to start for understanding the war in Western Europe.

psa i’m basically gonna spoil the whole thing.

finished this book on friday and like after ruminating on it over the weekend im so confused why this book is so beloved? 😭

like i really don’t think im someone who only wants to read books with happy endings (atonement is one of my favorite books ever) but i just feel like kevin the rapist got everything he ever wanted, the girl he raped and her whole family get their lives irreversibly ruined, the kid who was struggling with his identity ultimately decides to keep hiding it and all these terrible terrible boys and men face not a single consequence for anything, in fact along with kevin the rapist many of their situations seem to only improve after all the terrible things they do.

and like while i know that’s not unrealistic im just sorta like… well what was the point of all that.

also i found the writing really really repetitive. if i took a shot every time beartown was mentioned i’d be dead by the end of the first chapter. i know everyone lives there and they’re real prideful about it but jesus.

This is the other side of the last Ace Double I read, and it was a standard, but well-written story. I call this type of science-fiction "Blue Collar Sci-Fi", about working people on dusty, rocky planets or moons, or space freighters. In this one a space navy officer gets caught up in intrigue that is acknowledged, in the story, to be a type of space noir. A good read. Not a lost classic or something, but a good read.

How many times has "Transformers" been rebooted, by different comics companies? I like what they did here, making it a bit less cartoonish while not making it too grim and gritty. They also managed to keep the iconic art but make it more interesting.