Wrap-up! (End of March + April)
Alright listen I know I fell off the wagon at the end of March and the entirety of April but I am back now and isn't that what really matters?
Hi, hello, how are you folks doing on this fine Tuesday? Today we're going to be talking about all that I've read since my last blog post, which is 9 books. It's a little on the low end, considering I was supposed to read 8-9 books per month, but I'll make it up eventually. I included my ratings in this post, however, I just want to say that by no means would I dissuade someone from reading any of these. I found the descriptions of all of these interesting when I picked them up, and I found them interesting enough to finish the entire thing. These are just my final ratings, but they aren't necessarily going to be yours.
Rating system:
🙅 - equivalent to anything less than 3/5 stars
😐 - equivalent to 3/5 stars
🍪 - equivalent to 4/5 stars
🍦 - 5/5 stars
So let's get straight into it :
1. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans - 🍦
This is a short story collection by an author who I think has become one of my favorite authors this year. I read Danielle Evans's latest short story collection "The Office of Historical Corrections" earlier this year and I thought it was absolutely brilliant, so in March I went back and read one of her older books, "Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self", which is such a fantastic title. I really don't like short stories that much, however, Evans is honestly such a compelling writer that I just love anything she writes. "Virgins", "Snakes", "Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go" and "Robert E. Lee is Dead" were among my favorite short stories in the collection, but I genuinely enjoyed them all. If you haven't already given Danielle Evans a shot, even if you don't like short stories, I say you should. She's a really, really, REALLY, good writer. 10/10.
2. Verity by Colleen Hoover - 🙅
Here is a book that had a lot of elements I really enjoy in books generally, however apparently not when they are all in the same book. The basic plot is that there is a woman Lowen who is a writer and she is approached by a man named Jeremy to take over his author wife's book series. His wife, Verity, has been the author of a super successful book series for years, but she's been in an accident, leaving her unable to continue it. Lowen ends up temporarily moving into their home to read through Verity's notes and plans to get a sense of how to write the series, and she starts to realize that perhaps things aren't as they seem.
Did I enjoy this book while reading? Yes. I think Colleen Hoover is a really great writer. However, I'm not sure this book was what I want out of a thriller. To me, it was hard to tell how much of this book was romance and how much it was suspense, and that definitely impeded my ability to really love this book. I also didn't really like our main protagonist, which is fine and I'm normally fine with reading books about characters I don't particularly like if they are still relatable in some way or we are purposefully meant not to like them. However, it is obvious in this case that we are supposed to be on Lowen's side, but she just seemed like an unlikeable idiot who was not relatable.
3. The Darkest Place by Jo Spain - 🍪
Well well well, look who came crawling back to Irish detective fiction. Me. I did. I found another fantastic Irish detective fiction author and watch me literally read all the books in this series over the next couple of months. The funniest thing is, I literally didn't even start at the beginning of the series. The Darkest Place is fourth in the series, but it was still great. and I still got the gist.
The book follows this detective, Tom Reynolds, who gets a call saying that they found the body of a doctor who went missing from an old psychiatric hospital. Reynolds and his team were great and I loved their banter and dynamic. Reynolds himself just seemed like such a good guy and sometimes it's just nice to read about a homicide detective who's got his act together has a strong character and knows what he's doing. It's great. Loved it. Loved Jo Spain's writing.
4. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh - 🍪
This book was wack. Like...wack. The book follows this woman living in New York City in 2000 who decides to take one year off and essentially hide away from society. She quits her job, stops meeting people, and takes an innumerable amount of drugs to numb herself for a whole year in an attempt to restore her energy and sanity. She refers to it as 'extended hibernation'. This book was perversely hilarious. If you're into dark comedy, I have a feeling you might like this book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, even though at parts I was just so confused as to what this woman was ingesting and where the story was going. To be completely honest, the book does not have much of a plot considering that the protagonist is sleeping a lot of the time, or not doing anything particularly interesting. However, I still enjoyed the reading experience because Ottessa Moshfegh is really a fantastic writer and it was just interesting to be inside the head of a woman trying this insane experiment on herself.
5. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - 🙅
This is a Victorian classic novel. The plot, told from multiple perspectives, follows the disappearance of this rare diamond called the Moonstone. Basically, there was this British guy who stole the diamond from India way back when and ended up dying a bad death. Ever since then, it has been believed that the stone is cursed. In the present day, this young woman inherits the Moonstone, and shortly afterward, it is stolen from her room. The entire rest of the plot is all about the mystery surrounding it and how it is found.
I really love Wilkie Collins's writing style, however, this was a no for me. I read Collins's "The Woman in White" last year and it was fantastic, so to be honest, I had very high hopes for this one. But I just didn't enjoy it. It made no sense. The mystery was subpar, and the best character was the detective, who really only appeared at the beginning of the novel. Also, I had no sympathy for all these people going around trying to find this 'stolen' diamond, when they themselves stole it from India. ALSO, they refer to Indians as 'little mahogany fellows', which I find perversely hilarious, but like, why Wilkie? Clearly, this book is a product of its time, and I would have genuinely been fine with it if at least the mystery was good. But it wasn't, so, sorry Wilkie, but this is a no from me.
6. Hide and Seek by Mary Burton - 😐
To no one's surprised, I read yet another detective novel. In this book, we follow FBI agent, Macy Crow who is still feeling the aftereffects of a major car accident. She gets assigned to work with a former flame of hers, Sheriff Mike Nevada, on a case involving missing young women. This story is 80% detectives solving mystery and 20% detectives falling in love, and to be completely honest, I found myself not really impressed with either. Would I recommend it? Probably not. There are plenty of other insane detective novels with crazy mysteries and no unnecessary romance. However, if you're in need of a predictable, dependable mystery that probably won't shock your socks off, but is backed by some solid writing, Mary Burton's books might be the ones for you.
7. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara - 🍪
So if you've been following this blog for a little while, you might know about my love for the 800-page novel, 'A Little Life'. That book is intense, emotionally draining and I loved it. So, I decided to go back and read the author's first book, 'The People in the Trees'. Now I think I went into this book thinking it would be very similar to the experience that was 'A Little Life', however, I was very much wrong about that. 'The People in the Trees' is written as though it were a memoir, chronicling the life of Dr. Norton Perina. As the reader follows his life, we see how he became a medical doctor, and how he ended up working with anthropologists on an island studying a forest-dwelling community. We further see how he, and other scientists, work to exploit this community and it's clear that Yanagihara is commenting on racism and the abuse of marginalized communities in the name of science.
It is hard to believe that this is Yanagihara's debut novel. She is literally a genius with her words. Even the structure of the novel itself is quite innovative. Several detailed footnotes make it appear as though this were a proper memoir or scientific paper, even though everything is fictional. How someone can spend so much time writing detailed footnotes of fake articles, fake journals, and fake facts about a made-up community is beyond me. The only reason this book did not receive a full 5 stars from me was for its ending, which left me unsatisfied. If you are worried about reading this book because of the emotional manipulation in 'A Little Life', you don't need to worry about that here. The story is very much focused on the scientific exploits of a man who is unlikeable and unreliable, lacking the intensity of the vivid descriptions of harm that is featured in 'A Little Life'. I won't say that this is a happy book because 100% it is not, I will say it is tamer and more palatable for a wider audience.
8. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams - 🍪
This is a play written by the one and only Tennessee Williams. Before you ask, Tennessee Williams is not from Tennessee. Yes, I was disappointed by that too. Tennessee Williams is considered one of the great American playwrights. A bunch of his plays have become super famous movies, including one called 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.
I first watched the movie and thought it was brilliant, so obviously I had to read the play. The play, set in New Orleans, really revolves around 3 characters: Blanche, Stella, and Stanley. Blanche is visiting her sister Stella and her sister's husband Stanley. Stanley is a macho man type who is very good-looking, but who clearly is very abusive towards Stella. Blanche and Stanley do not get along and Stanley thinks she is hiding something regarding her past. The story goes on from there.
This play was first performed in 1947, and it is very obvious that it is a product of its time. So why did I like this play? The characterization. Williams really knows how to write characters, particularly unlikeable ones that you can feel are real. Blanche and Stanley's relationship is so complicated and realistic, and honestly hats off to the man for having so much insight into the mess that is being human.
9. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell - 😐
The most recent book I finished was 'Then She Was Gone'. This is my second Lisa Jewell book, the other being 'The Family Upstairs', which I thoroughly enjoyed. The book begins with Laurel's daughter Ellie going missing. 15 years later, Laurel is still thinking about what happened to her daughter when she meets a guy named Floyd and his young daughter Poppy, who happens to look exactly like Ellie. Now Laurel is like, wait, what REALLY happened to my daughter?
'Then She Was Gone' was just...okay. There was nothing wrong with it. Jewell is a solid writer and her characterization is great. I guess, I just wasn't blown away by it. I have no specific qualms with this book. It's just that I felt the ending was a little rushed and unsatisfying. It's like I wanted a full-on fireworks show, but all I really got was a couple people trying to do some fireworks in their backyard. Like I got fireworks, but they weren't the ones that I wanted? I don't even know if that makes sense. But anyway, I would say, read this if you want a nice little predictable mystery by a solid writer that won't blow you away but won't disappoint either.
So there you have it, folks, the 9 books I've read since my last wrap-up. I assure that you that I will attempt to not fall off the wagon for May and be back to my bi-weekly wrap-up schedule. As you may have noticed, I didn't even sort of pay attention to my own monthly themed book reading. Maybe themed book reading isn't really for me. However, this month, in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I will be trying to read books written by Asian American authors. Let me know if you want to join in!
Happy reading!
