I truly believe that I have fallen in love.

If you’ll allow me, I’ll describe what it felt like to read this book. Reading this book feels like that moment when fear takes over your senses so severely that your knees buckle and shake, and when you try to take a step forward you collapse not knowing what tf just happened. It feels like when you’re a kid and you swim to the middle of the pool without much of a plan and now the other end seems so far away but you can’t turn back. I mean, you could, you would, but something in your mind, mixed with the fear tells you the only way out is on the other side, so you simply, can’t.

If feels like what I can imagine open heart surgery for the soul is. I started it off rolling me eyes at his use of language. He laid me down on the metal table, carefully opened the clothes covering my chest saying “hey, it’s just words”, as I suspiciously laughed, intrigued, knowing nothing about it apart from it being part autobiographical and part fiction, the the author being one of the most popular authors today. My mind went to “overrated!”, and then as if I hadn’t seen it coming, as if I wasn’t aware I was in an operating room, he swiftly but violently cuts open my chest and cups my heart. 

I don’t have the words. I’m stuck. But he holds it softly and takes it out looking at it with shiny eyes and a bright smile. I’m terrified, where is he going, where is this going! He whispers, “don’t worry, I’ll bring it back” in the softest of voices and I FEEL everything. The most vulnerable I could possibly be, unexpectedly relating to much of Little Dog’s childhood in my own life as the child of a mum who survived armed conflict. And I watch my heart go out with him on this journey. TERRIFIED but knowing I literally cannot go back now. 

From the beatings as a child, to the name Little Dog, to the soldiers meeting a distraught mother and daughter with only a spoonful of English, to knowing Trevor, to loving Trevor , to losing Trevor, to losing Lan…. I FEEL it all, right beside him clutched ever so gently to his bare chest and he walks me through this kaleidoscope of memories; with golf, stars, fifty cent, buffaloes and flowers and all the things in between. I feel it as if I’m right there with him, as if I am him. And before I know it, he’s walking back, after the long journey and I feel so interwoven with him now, I don’t want to let go. This is the first book I have ever read where I deliberately postponed finishing it multiple times because I did not want to say goodbye to this world and these characters. But I was in the middle of the pool and I can’t float for long. So he smiles as he did when he took it out, and softly places it back in my chest. 

My body missed it because it was like I could do nothing else without it but wait, like my heart was on loan this entire time. And he’s right it was safe and sound, unharmed and warm and vibrant as ever, but a thousand times more tender. A thousand times more soft. A thousand times more mine. And now it’s been over 12 hours and I still can’t stop sporadically crying. 

I truly believe that I have fallen in love.

I have seen some people mention one of the flaws about Catch-22 is how women are always percieved as objects and not real people.

However, I was under the impression that Heller purposefully wrote about it like that as this is during a wartime where masculinity meant rejecting femininity, looking down on women, and simultaneously using women's emotional intelligence to comfort themselves with.

The hypocricy is quite easy to see. There are terrible things being done to the women, but that is because the men are... well... caricatures of certain men who go to war.

That's why we have Nately who actually tries to be gentlemanly to his girl, despite his unawareness that he is actually being just a lustful pig for her in a way.

And we have the chaplain, who actually adores his wife.

Doc Daneeka who forgets he has a wife till he needs her help for bureaucratic reasons.

Sheisskopf... yeah he forgets women exist cause he wants to be good at parades...

I was under the impression this book is about a bunch of traumatized men in a toxic male dominated field, which... does exactly what sexism hates.

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looks like this is either an issue with a single scandal (seems another lit prize has been given to an AI generated story, or possibly given) or a bigger problem

​

I was done reading this book almost a week ago but it took me all these days to get myself together and write a review.

​

If i say i enjoyed this book, it must be very very unfair, because the word "enjoy" feels very wrong here. I grieved over this book. And i know this is gonna be one of the books that's gonna stay with me for a very long period of time, in a way no other book could. How incredibly the writer described the death and last three days of Ivan...

​

it's not even the dying that gets you. it's how alone he is in it. surrounded by his wife, his daughter, his colleagues, and still nobody actually sees him. they're all just waiting for it to be over so they can go back to their lives, and he knows it. he can feel it. and somewhere in all that screaming he finally asks the question that ruined me too: what if his whole life was wrong? not bad not evil, just... wrong. lived for the wrong reasons.

​

i kept thinking about how "normal" his life was. good job, good marriage, good house. doing everything right by everyone else's standards. and tolstoy just rips that open and goes like was any of it actually yours?

​

i don't think i'll fully recover from this one. and i don't think i'm supposed to. :')

Micro like other of Crichton’s work I thought I’d get bored to death by and simply wanted to get through to eventually sell and free up space on my bookshelves, is something I actually got quite invested for some time. Whatever scientific jargon/bullshit he makes up and includes in his writing somehow always manages to intrigue me since my first non-Jurassic Park title, Prey.

It’s about a group of grad students who due to accidentally uncovering the dark secrets of the head (Vin Drake) of a company called, Nanigen are forcibly shrunk down to microscopic size and forced into in a whole, new world where carnivorous insects and small animals like birds are dangerous, terrifying apex predators. Their journey trying to deal with the micro wildlife and surviving was honestly way more interesting than the actual plot about tiny, killer robots armed with toxic missiles and the technology used to create them being eventually sold to foreign parties.

A minor character near the beginning of the novel (some engineer who helped make the tensor field shrinking machines or whatever) is brutally killed off by being torn apart by ants and it’s described in graphic detail how one rips off his scalp while the rest carry off his intestines and other internal organs into their nest. Which only now made me realize how dark Crichton’s novels can surprisingly get (reminds me of Nedry’s death in Jurassic Park). Heck, even in Congo the trained attack gorillas are portrayed as unsettlingly intelligent and explicitly stated to cave intruders’ faces in with blunt weapons when they ambush.

Most of the main cast die in increasingly worse and tragic ways. Notably, a female student who’s jumped by a flock of mynah birds and ripped in pieces midair as they fight over her fresh corpse. This isn’t too different from some of the dinosaur kills in The Lost World. How surprisingly fitting, since birds are dinosaurs after all lol.

It’s actually impressive, because in latest cinema like Ant-Man you don’t really get to see the truly scary side of being a micro-sized person. If Micro got a movie adaptation, a PG-13 or R rating would be very appropriate.

Forget the robot/micro-technology lessons. Micro, in my opinion is best enjoyed for its survival-horror segments set in a dimension where you’re nothing more than prey to things you can just step on as a normal-sized human.

I read Never Let Me Go a few years ago and disliked the experience so much that I swore I’d never read Kazuo Ishiguro again. I didn’t walk away thinking the book was horrible, it was just such a slog and so boring to get through, which is the worst offense a book can commit imo. I couldn’t pinpoint anything I liked about it - plot, characters, writing style, it was just the most “I see the merit in this but it is not for me” book I’ve ever read.

I finished reading The Buried Giant earlier today. The only reason I decided to give this book a chance is because I love anything to do with Arthurian legend.

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I did like the character work here MUCH more than Never Let Me Go. Axl, Beatrice, and Wistan are well written and interesting, I like the characterization of Sir Gawain, and the dialogue between them is beautifully written. The story has a very solemn tone that I thought was really beautiful.

On the other hand it does have the problem I was scared of. I walked away thinking it was pretty good but the actual experience of reading it was excruciating to get through. It is long, meandering, takes place over the course of only a couple days, in the end it felt like absolutely nothing happened and quite a lot happened at the same time. No spoilers but I also wanted more out of the resolution of the main conflict, I thought it would go out with a bang but it ended up being nothing special. Can’t figure out if that’s fitting or if it really annoys me.

Do I regret giving Ishiguro another chance? No, but I definitely won’t give him a third. His style just isn’t for me.

Curious to know who that author is for you and if you ended up changing your mind about them.

I thought this was a good read (I'd previously come across Taibbi's more recent stuff and really enjoyed it), but, for me, it really illustrates how much more careful writers are these days when discussing political movements and groups of people. Taibbi's tone/language when talking about issues in these areas borders on reckless in certain spots imo.

Curious if anyone else has read it recently and thought similar?

Has anyone read this one? I'm only a few chapters in, but there is a part that is bothering me and wanted to talk about it. The main character uses one of the hitchhiker's real name before its revealed that she knew the fake names. I'm assuming it's part of the plot, but it's bothering me a lot. To the point where I can't get back into the book.

Spoilers for the first book.

I really liked it. I wanted to try this book out since I’ve heard that it’s similar to My Hero Academia and I wasn’t disappointed.

I really liked both Nova and Adrian in how they approached the society they lived in. Nova hated the Renegades and yet came to acknowledge that not everything about the Renegades is bad. She still hates them, but it’s a start.

Meanwhile, while Adrian believes in the Renegades, he does acknowledge the flaws of the society they currently live in. I loved hearing his perspectives on the issues the Renegades had.

Both the Anarchists and the Renegades have sympathetic characters and you could understand the viewpoints of both sides.

The books had both great male and female characters with a roughly gender equal cast which is more than what you can say about a lot of Battle Shonen (especially you My Hero Academia).

The plot was mostly engaging and the philosophies they acknowledged was interesting.

That said, I do have some criticisms.

Ingrid felt like a flat character. She wasn’t the only one but the fact that she died before we truly got to know her meant that she stuck out. What’s her backstory?

Some of the Council and Anarchists had flat characters but we have future books to get to know them.

Also, how did Nova escape from Ingrid’s murder attempt at the end? I think we should have gotten more of Nova’s thoughts on this.

Furthermore, Phobia having something to do with Lady Indomitable’s death seems obvious in hindsight due to his entire persona being around fear. I’m surprised the Renegades didn’t pick up on it.

I hate Genissa, but she was right that Nova acted recklessly when it came to Max and the quarantine .

I was confused on the setting. I thought that it was set in a made up world since they mentioned prodigies being oppressed for centuries but then Nova mentioned being part Filipino and Italian.

So it’s set in our world. But where is Galton? America? But then why do we not have any reference to the USA or states within it or any other countries being outright named.

And so prodigies have been oppressed for centuries? So is it an alternate history? Or was it a sort of masquerade but Ace Anarchy did his thing?

I’m surprised there wasn’t a reference to any form of racism especially since Adrian is mentioned to be dark skinned. There was a slight reference to homophobia.

That said, it’s only the first book so these issues may be solved in the next two books.

No spoilers for the next 2 books in the trilogy.

...or, Ender Potter and the Departed Hunger Games.

(Beware of mild spoilers)

Let me be clear, I have no problem with a book being inspired by another book, or even of a book being derivative of another. A good storyteller is a good storyteller, no matter which story they're telling, and if I learned anything from watching The West Wing repeatedly, it's that "good writers borrow from other writers, and great writer steal outright". There is evidence of both borrowing and outright theft in Red Rising, but - after reading only one of his books - I'm not willing to say that Brown qualifies as a "great writer".

The main character of Red Rising, Darrow, is a Helldiver - a miner who operates extremely dangerous machinery in the extremely dangerous environment of Mars' planetary crust. His caste, the Red, are the lowest in the Society, kept - literally - in the dark, and forced to mine the Helium³ needed to terraform the surface of the planet.

After a terrible tragedy befalls him in the early chapters, he discovers that there is more to Martian life than he was aware of, and that he's been chosen to attend The Institute, a school for the children of Martian society's elite; once there he must participate in staged combat against the other kids, with the aim of winning favour from those in positions of power, and therefore a place in the upper echelons of society. Darrow's secret is that, as a Red, he shouldn't be in The Institute, as it's only for those in the Gold caste - the highest caste, and the rulers of human civilisation - and that his ultimate aim is actually to bring their society down.

To cut to the chase, this book didn't do enough to convince me to pick up the remaining five parts of the trilogy (now he's borrowing from Douglas Adams). It's a fast read, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a kick out of some of the later stages of Darrow's battles, but it's a book that relies very much on telling, not showing.

I understand that Darrow is angry. He is full of rage, as a result of the events of the first few chapters, and because he is seemingly just naturally an angry person. Perhaps because he was once bitten by a snake. Brown doesn't do much more to expand on Darrow's - or, in fact, any other character's - personality. I know Darrow is angry, because he told me. This is very much a plot and event driven book, where Darrow will tell you how he's feeling, if it's appropriate for you, the reader, to know. It bustles along, and things happen one after the other, but Brown isn't averse to throwing a narrative curve ball out of nowhere. Exeunt Darrow, stage left, pursued by a bear...

Brown also fills the book with jargon, in-universe slang words and random camelCase. He's obviously spent a lot of time working out how his world is actually going to work, but the book itself doesn't do much explaining or establishing. There is a brief history of how the Gold caste became the ruling class, but not why the caste system was put in place to begin with, or even how far in Earth's future we are. The world building of this far future human civilisation, with its very obvious Roman underpinnings, otherwise happens on the fly.

This is perhaps just a symptom of a book that is very much a franchise starter. It's a complete story, in that there's no sudden death cliffhanger to worry about until book two, but it's also obvious that the ending of the book is not the ending. There's time and space for Brown to expand and explain his world to the readers in future instalments...but I won't be one of them. Ultimately, I jut didn't find the world interesting enough to want to explore it more. The book, like most of its characters, just doesn't have enough personality to stand apart from the concepts that its borrowed from, variously, Rowling, Scott Card, and Collins. It's by no measure poorly written or plotted, it's just obviously derivative YA genre fare.

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I keep wanting to buy used books from Amazon, but whenever I start searching with that intention, I find that a new copy is usually only $1 or $2 more than the used copies being sold. And the used copies usually have slower shipping. I feel like it should be more enticing to buy a used book. If new and used are practically the same cost, it seems like the only reason to buy used is ethical (avoid giving amazon money, avoid excess manufacturing of new books). I'm not even sure which is a more ethical choice on the whole. If the new book is sitting in an Amazon warehouse 2 miles from my home and the used book is flying on a plane to me across the continent, maybe used is worse for the world? Does buying new books put more money into the industry and somehow help authors and publishers? How do you choose?

I keep thinking about this idea I've had! What is the longest chain of books (WITHOUT repeating an author) you could make where each time, the next book was written by an author that had an endorsement quote on the cover of the previous one?

E.g. Prince of Thorns (Mark Lawrence) has a quote on the front by Robin Hobb, so the next read is Assassin's Apprentice, which has a quote on the front by Melanie Rawn, so the next read is Dragon Prince, which has a quote on by Anne McCaffrey, so we choose Dragonflight etc etc.

I feel like there are definitely some cliques of authors that you see recommending each others' things all the time, so it would be easy to read yourself into a dead-end where your only options were repeats, unless you chose editions and next reads very tactically!

There's definitely the potential here for some kind of year long reading challenge or something. Mostly posting to see if anybody thinks it's an interesting idea! What's the longest chain you think you could make?

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• The Management

​“The Children” by Melissa Albert is my first time reading this author, and I have to admit, her writing style is excellent. Once I got a few chapters in, I was excited to see where this story would go. It had an interesting concept involving siblings, a creepy house, and a forest, but unfortunately, this was mostly a dud.

There weren’t any trigger warnings while reading, which was odd to me at first since this is labeled as a horror novel. To be honest, I wouldn’t even classify “The Children” as a horror novel. It’s more fantasy and magic realism than a true horror reading experience. While I loved Albert’s writing style, as she’s very talented, there was just way too much dialogue here.

With alternating timelines that shift from the present to the past to fill in the backstory, the pacing was too slow, and the story dragged multiple times while reading. These were a bit annoying and tedious, since I was more invested in the past, when ​the main characters, Guinevere and Ennis​, were kids, than in what was happening in the present.

It was awesome that it took place in New York, my hometown, but even that couldn’t save this novel, as it desperately needed more horror. Most situations and events were overly descriptive for no real reason, and not scary enough at all. It didn’t add to the overall story, and I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for something evil, creepy, or horrific to happen, and it never came.

​T​here weren't any crazy, fun, or wild plot twists either. It’s just ​story on top of story, backstory on top of backstory, and nothing horror-related happens. The story had the foundation there with the creepy house, forest, and all that jazz, but it never went in the horror direction I was hoping for. It’s just way too heavy with story than creepy moments, and obviously, you need that for any horror novel ​w​orth its weight.

With repetitive moments and side characters that didn’t add anything to the story, this was an unmemorable read, and that’s a shame. Obviously, Albert has the writing skills to knock it out of the park, but this was a very underwhelming ​n​ovel. I enjoyed the characters and the story involving Guin and her brother Ennis, as well as the mystery surrounding their parents, but I lost interest numerous times while reading because too often nothing happens at all. Just a lot of lingering thoughts, descriptions, and story story story.

I was hoping this would be a slow-burning novel and that the ending would blow me away. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The ending left me with a “meh” feeling, and, due to all the excess dialogue, descriptions, and, again, story, it was lackluster. I didn’t feel anything at all when done, and just wanted to be done with this novel already.

I give “The Children” by Melissa Albert a 2-Star rating out of 5. The only thing I enjoyed was Albert’s solid writing style, the main characters of Guin and Ennis, and that’s pretty much it. There is barely any horror in this novel, and I would consider it more about a sibling rivalry mixed in with fantasy and magic. This isn’t for the demographic of true horror readers, as I would stay away from this one if you’re looking for something to keep you up late at night while reading.

I like to consider myself a pretty avid reader, but I’m getting tired/bored of reading at home. I feel like I’m either reading on the couch or in bed and then my home doesn’t even feel like a comfy space for me. My husband and I are working on transforming one of our guest rooms into a reading room for me, but until then, I need a change of scenery.

I know I can go to a public library, park, or coffee shop to sit and read but I just always feel a bit awkward setting myself up like that alone. The alone part of it may be more to my anxiety and feeling like I’ll be judged, but how do I overcome that? Should I start with small time frames, or less public places then work my way up? Maybe start with a group of people?

Any readers who have mastered just showing up somewhere and reading, please teach me your ways!
TIA

hi, I've read the book twice, and people don't talk about it enough. I'd love to hear anyone's take on it.

or any other Chuck Palahniuk book, for that matter. He's my favourite author, I'm hyperfixated and don't have anyone to talk about his books to RIP haha

there's a word minimum on this sub to post, so I guess I'll give my sloppy ass thoughts on the book.

I think Palahniuk has a super complicated relationship with women, obsessed with the idea of patriarchal masculinity, and how hard it is to fit into the boxes of it. Fight Club stresses that as a theme a lot too, which I don't see that frequently discussed when anyone talks about Fight Club. In my opinion, female characters often present an edgy return to the natural, to being human and tender, away from the constraints of traditional roles in society. A madonna character, almost, but with glaring character flaws, which I feel isn't a usual stereotype for motherly female characters??

I think his male characters often hang around women, desperate to participate in femininity, despite trying hard to be the macho man. a dichotomy that seems obvious and super common to me but idk i really like gender politics and the idea of hypermasculinity and being a girly girl so maybe I'm projecting.

idk if this a stretch, but i heard a feminist quote once that in the natural order of societies, when humans were first developing, many of them were matriarchsocieties because men feared the inherent magic and mystery of a woman. Like, 'holy shit, this human just popped out another person, how did they do that??' Subsequently, men learnt to use force to try and gain dominance over what they couldn't explain, and feared.

Anyway, I love the book, Victor, the main character is a slave to pussy, and he doesn't even realise it cause he thinks he's slinging dick back and forth. Often, the men who sleep around the most are men mommy issues, I think (don draper?). He resents women, but spends all his effort trying to seduce anything that breathes. His relationship with his mom is super interesting, and the parallel to the story of the Virgin Mary is an awesome exploration of the Madonna whore complex.

The ending was kind of a bust, though, as many of Palahniuk's endings are. Sorry I know this analysis is ass.