Mockingjay : Suzanne Collins
I really enjoyed this 3 book
series, even after I’ve seen the first movie. I even felt a bit of a loss that
this was the final book. I was pleasantly surprised with the way she was able
to bring about closure, even after so much gore. This book was gorey. My
biggest complaint has always been Ms “woe is me, which guy do I pick” Katniss.
The Historian : Elizabeth Kostova
I got this book for Christmas, and
it has taken me that long to finish it. I’ve picked it up and given up on it
twice already, including on vacation. I refused to even read it on the plane
ride to Mexico, that’s how serious my giving up on it was. I hate leaving books
unfinished, so fueled by my internal guilt about not finishing it, I picked it
up and finished it within a week.
It was 500 pages of her describing
in great detail landscapes, monasteries, libraries, and rehatching out details
you already new but in a letter within a story context so that somehow made it
different. The italics on this part in particular killed my eyes... The last
100+ pages? The parts that actually mattered? Flew by with barely any detail.
Characters came crawling out of the back story like no big thing. It wasn’t
terrible, but it didn’t need to be just shy of 700 pages long.
Affinity : Sarah Waters
Not to long ago I read Tipping the
Velvet by the same author, and really enjoyed it. It had a lot of lady sex
happening in it, and she did a fairly decent job of recounting affections
between two women.
This book? I gave up on it a couple
of times, but again my guilt kicked in and I had to finish it. I was sorely
disappointed. She spent a great deal of time recounting an upper class woman’s day-to-day
life in 1874. The longing and uncertainty was well captured, but the lack of
real substance made it a hard sell for me. There wasn’t a lot of supernatural
nor spookyness about it.
The Devil in the White City : Erik
Larson
Another book that took me
absolutely forever to finish. The historical basis that sets the background to
HH Holmes’ murderous tale couldn’t keep me hooked. Once I was able to get
through all of that, the retelling of his capture and sadistic deeds was even a
bit lackluster. So much time and effort was put into the beginning of most of
these books, I just wish there woud be some follow through.
Railsea : China Mieville
A retelling of Moby Dick, set in
another world where the earth is covered in railways and giant moles are hunted
like whales. So far an easy read, and the author is quite good at setting up
the visuals for this new world.
The Help : Kathryn Stockett
I began listening to this as an audio
book, but soon realized I didn’t want to purchase the whole thing as an audio
book, and have switched over to reading it. I’m only a couple of chapters in,
but so far I like the characters.
xo
Women Who Run With the Wolves is on my list too!
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