The Expats by Chris Pavone
Recommended: Sure!
For people who like to try to solve the puzzle before the characters, who like to travel, and who like spy-crime intrigue minus guts and gore. It's a pretty PG spy story.
This is the first spy book I've ever read, and I may have found a new genre I like! This might not be a blow-you-away book for people more well read on this genre, but I loved it as an introduction. Since I've been to some of the places they visit, I got a little giddy when I could picture so well where they were and merge with my own memories. 😊
We really only get in depth with the main character, Kate, and the others are created through her own impressions. They're fairly predictable static characters: clever dependable husband, sexy playboy spy, cunning faux-friend spy. Kate is not terribly exciting, but I appreciated the turn of her being excited to have a stay-at-home mom kind of life, and then having the courage to admit that maybe it's not actually for her. I enjoyed watching her sneak around and work things out and plan out how to get everything to go her way. There's really no romance here, so don't be looking for that.
It wasn't terribly predictable to me, but probably would be to more well-read people in the genre. I also wasn't thinking so much about how it might end, because I was really sucked into the present moment. That's good writing! Definitely enjoyed it!
Showing posts with label realistic fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label realistic fiction. Show all posts
Friday, May 17, 2019
Friday, May 3, 2019
April 28 - May 4, 2019
The Wednesday Letters by Jason F Wright
Recommended: YES!
This was a glorious used-bookstore-find, and a rare book that I will probably read multiple times. It gives me the warm fuzzies, but avoids the cliches and cringing that often also accompany the warm fuzzies.
The adult children of this family suddenly lose their parents and all come together in their hometown to handle it, when they find a basement full of THOUSANDS of letters that their father wrote to their mother, weekly, without fail, for their entire marriage. Including the last one, which he wrote immediately after his wife died in his arms and before he takes his own life / dies of heartbreak. Reading through the letters reveals some intensities of their parent's marriages they had never known, and deeply rattles all the kids as their images of their parents - and themselves - changes forever.
Also, the "Epilogue" and its presentation KILLS ME with how adorable it is!!!! All I'll say: read to THE VERY END OF THE BOOK.
Recommended: YES!
This was a glorious used-bookstore-find, and a rare book that I will probably read multiple times. It gives me the warm fuzzies, but avoids the cliches and cringing that often also accompany the warm fuzzies.
The adult children of this family suddenly lose their parents and all come together in their hometown to handle it, when they find a basement full of THOUSANDS of letters that their father wrote to their mother, weekly, without fail, for their entire marriage. Including the last one, which he wrote immediately after his wife died in his arms and before he takes his own life / dies of heartbreak. Reading through the letters reveals some intensities of their parent's marriages they had never known, and deeply rattles all the kids as their images of their parents - and themselves - changes forever.
Also, the "Epilogue" and its presentation KILLS ME with how adorable it is!!!! All I'll say: read to THE VERY END OF THE BOOK.
Friday, April 12, 2019
April 7 - 13, 2019
I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
Recommended: nope.
Stay away if you like developed characters, original plot, likable characters.... Blech.
Characters: flat, main character weak and frustratingly stupid
Romance: was there any??
Predictability: the only surprise was the idiotic way the obligatory couple's fight happened.
Overall felt like this was just checking boxes off a list of "what goes into a story."
Recommended: nope.
Stay away if you like developed characters, original plot, likable characters.... Blech.
Characters: flat, main character weak and frustratingly stupid
Romance: was there any??
Predictability: the only surprise was the idiotic way the obligatory couple's fight happened.
Overall felt like this was just checking boxes off a list of "what goes into a story."
Friday, March 22, 2019
March 17 - 23, 2019
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Recommended: yes!
Good for a light read, like a beach day - though for this one, I probably won't recommend it as airplane reading.
Having finished this, the title is delightful in context. I'm not usually big on medical dramas and books that take place mostly in a hospital, but this was a quick enough read that it didn't drag me down or bore me as they usually do. I'm not terribly qualified to judge (thank my lucky stars), but the depiction of grief in this book felt real. The ups and downs that Margaret-now-Maggie detailed seemed reasonable for her situation.
I wasn't sucked in to the romance line, really at all. The whole idea of the stoic mean guy that later reveals his soft side doesn't appeal to me: I don't want a jerk as the main guy in the story! It also felt like a very standard procedure of falling in love, with one big grand gesture at the end that felt... contrived, I suppose. At best. I was rolling my eyes a bit and skimming through those last parts.
Was it predictable? At times, yes. The main question was one I was unsure about, however, so I'm grateful for that.
Is it good? Eh. It's entertaining, if it a little common. Nothing wildly unique about the story, based on what I've read before.
Did I enjoy it? YUP! I plowed through this mostly in one day that I had off, where I lounged in the sunshine until I finished it up.
Pretty dang good, especially since I had no idea what it was about when I accidentally bought it. I approve of the ending. A good read for a day off. 😊
Recommended: yes!
Good for a light read, like a beach day - though for this one, I probably won't recommend it as airplane reading.
Having finished this, the title is delightful in context. I'm not usually big on medical dramas and books that take place mostly in a hospital, but this was a quick enough read that it didn't drag me down or bore me as they usually do. I'm not terribly qualified to judge (thank my lucky stars), but the depiction of grief in this book felt real. The ups and downs that Margaret-now-Maggie detailed seemed reasonable for her situation.
I wasn't sucked in to the romance line, really at all. The whole idea of the stoic mean guy that later reveals his soft side doesn't appeal to me: I don't want a jerk as the main guy in the story! It also felt like a very standard procedure of falling in love, with one big grand gesture at the end that felt... contrived, I suppose. At best. I was rolling my eyes a bit and skimming through those last parts.
Was it predictable? At times, yes. The main question was one I was unsure about, however, so I'm grateful for that.
Is it good? Eh. It's entertaining, if it a little common. Nothing wildly unique about the story, based on what I've read before.
Did I enjoy it? YUP! I plowed through this mostly in one day that I had off, where I lounged in the sunshine until I finished it up.
Pretty dang good, especially since I had no idea what it was about when I accidentally bought it. I approve of the ending. A good read for a day off. 😊
Friday, March 8, 2019
March 3 - 9, 2019
Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman
You know, it's sort of confusing how both of these statements can be true:
I enjoyed reading this book
This wasn't a very good book
The premise was intriguing, and the writing was entertaining, and I originally liked the main character because she felt modern and like someone I might meet around Boston. However, as the story went on, it just felt flat and seemed to lack much further development. Trying to paint the woman who stole the yearbook as some sort of villain was a weird move, particularly after she has an attack and we learned that she has a serious, problematic medical condition, to which the author responds by stealing from the woman's house and saying she doesn't feel bad at all and later insulting the women for using her father's money to work towards success.
The romance was baffling. It was basically they meet, they bang, he starts dating another girl, then randomly they confessed that they loved each other all along. It feels like the author felt obligated to include some sort of love story, however half-assed, and borrowed from every rom-com ever.
It was a pretty quick read, which is probably why I didn't really realize how meh it was until I was already done. This feels like a beach book or one that you take on a trip for reading on the plane and leaving behind when you get off the plane. You won't care if it gets lost or ruined, because you won't read or really think about it again.
Recommended? ...nah
You know, it's sort of confusing how both of these statements can be true:
I enjoyed reading this book
This wasn't a very good book
The premise was intriguing, and the writing was entertaining, and I originally liked the main character because she felt modern and like someone I might meet around Boston. However, as the story went on, it just felt flat and seemed to lack much further development. Trying to paint the woman who stole the yearbook as some sort of villain was a weird move, particularly after she has an attack and we learned that she has a serious, problematic medical condition, to which the author responds by stealing from the woman's house and saying she doesn't feel bad at all and later insulting the women for using her father's money to work towards success.
The romance was baffling. It was basically they meet, they bang, he starts dating another girl, then randomly they confessed that they loved each other all along. It feels like the author felt obligated to include some sort of love story, however half-assed, and borrowed from every rom-com ever.
It was a pretty quick read, which is probably why I didn't really realize how meh it was until I was already done. This feels like a beach book or one that you take on a trip for reading on the plane and leaving behind when you get off the plane. You won't care if it gets lost or ruined, because you won't read or really think about it again.
Recommended? ...nah
Saturday, September 15, 2018
September 9 - September 15, 2018
To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Cute! And a quick read, as I expected. Probably tool about 4 hours total to read. Pretty generic and predictable, really, but I still enjoyed it just as a break from all the high fantasy I've been reading. It's good to get the variety! The names the girls have are baffling old white woman names. It's really hard to remember that they're Korean. That one or two times they mention kimchi or being biracial was sort of odd; kind of stood out.
Ink by Amanda Sun
Was excited about this one, I'll be honest, in large part due to it being set in Japan. I miss living in Korea and my time in Japan was delightful as well. It's hard not to have that anymore, and reading stories set there is fun for me to have a tiny taste of the culture again. Not too far in yet, but kind of expected more from this. It's not particularly riveting, and the characters just feel... the decisions they make, the moods they have, and their odd relationships feel really contrived and awkward so far. We'll see if it gets better...
Cute! And a quick read, as I expected. Probably tool about 4 hours total to read. Pretty generic and predictable, really, but I still enjoyed it just as a break from all the high fantasy I've been reading. It's good to get the variety! The names the girls have are baffling old white woman names. It's really hard to remember that they're Korean. That one or two times they mention kimchi or being biracial was sort of odd; kind of stood out.
Ink by Amanda Sun
Was excited about this one, I'll be honest, in large part due to it being set in Japan. I miss living in Korea and my time in Japan was delightful as well. It's hard not to have that anymore, and reading stories set there is fun for me to have a tiny taste of the culture again. Not too far in yet, but kind of expected more from this. It's not particularly riveting, and the characters just feel... the decisions they make, the moods they have, and their odd relationships feel really contrived and awkward so far. We'll see if it gets better...
Sunday, December 10, 2017
December 3 - December 9
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak
I don't remember when I stumbled upon this, but it's been a while since I first heard of it and my interest was piqued. Of course I wanted to read what the actor who played the ambitious-but-useless-hipster-of-pretention character from The Office was actually capable of doing. And my conclusion is DAMN is he capable! This just makes it that much more hilarious that he's actually a fantastic and imaginative writer when his best known acting role is for someone who couldn't write (or do) anything. I don't often read short stories or collections, but I'm glad I made an exception for this! His style varies widely so you get a different experience every time. This was good because I always got something new and exciting, but sometimes I loved what I'd been given that I wanted to get more of it and see how it would work in other ways. Definitely highly recommended though, and especially for people who aren't really interested in reading. These are varying lengths for when you have time, keep you from getting too bored, and cover a huge range of topics to give enough choices that there should be at least one that catches someones eye.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Okay, so it's a little weird that I went for this. I was honestly looking for a short audiobook on youtube that I could listen to while I had a fairly repetitive and lengthy task to accomplish at work. I ended up with my trusty Librivox version of The Art of War. I honestly didn't know what to expect, but the book is exactly what it says it is: a description of wars and how to win them. I definitely did NOT expect it to be so literal.
This is popular as a business-person high-risk-career book, and I'm not really sure why. Sure, some of the advice you can sort of translate to a fast-paced modern-day workplace, but when it starts discussing the best way to organize your carriages and what exact provisions to take to certain climates... well, maybe that's not so applicable anymore.
What irked me most was the startling naivete or ignorance of external factors. There are multiple statements made that I feel are unfair in their expectations and deliberately ignore the uncontrollable aspects of this world. For example, there was an aphorism that was, as closely as I can recall, "Do not make any mistakes and you will win the war." WELL... yeah. Obviously that's the goal. But if mistakes were that simple to avoid, they would never happen! Additional pieces of advice like "Don't let yourself get into an unfavorable position" are, again, really not that helpful and kind of annoyingly simple. No shit, Sun Tzu. If I do everything right, then I'll win. Definitely merits writing that down.
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
The followup to the first book nominated for a 2017 Goodreads best book award, this book was a delight! I was impressed with the author's ability to parallel the first book comfortably while not just rewriting the same plot in a slightly different manner. The author gave us some issues that I was genuinely surprised by, but not because they weren't believable, but rather that they weren't predictable, which is super appreciated. All in all, very satisfying! I'll have to be patient until I can get the next one!
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
I'm pretty sure I picked this book up for free in one of the weekly deals I receive, and it just kind of sat around waiting for a day when I ran out of all my other books. Well, I recently had to really hit the gas on what I was reading to meet my yearly goal and I figured this would be a quick, if not terribly great, read. I was definitely surprised by what I got, but that's probably because my expectations were pretty low. The morals in this book were perfectly gray, and I really appreciated that. There were some interesting new dynamics added to the usual lore characteristics of the supernatural (zombies are super strong and can pretty well take out a vampire? that's a new one to me). I just kind of plodded along with this, and while it was okay, I got to the end and thought "You know, I could just stop here." I wasn't really that excited to continue with these characters. And yet...
Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
I still picked up the next book pretty quickly for two main reasons: it was available at the library, and I was trying to meet my reading goal for the year. Not the best motivation, but whatever. It did take me a while to start this one though, too. There were some SERIOUSLY predictable moments that I was deflated by. Some standard cliches used. I really love when authors have the balls to kill a character and make them stay dead. But nope. Anyway, by the very end this actually did surprise me once, but the turn it took made me think that the next book will be radically different from what we've had... which doesn't really excite me. It's probably for the best, since what I've had hasn't really excited me either, but I have no idea if I'll ever actually continue this series. Maybe next December when I hit crunch time again.
I don't remember when I stumbled upon this, but it's been a while since I first heard of it and my interest was piqued. Of course I wanted to read what the actor who played the ambitious-but-useless-hipster-of-pretention character from The Office was actually capable of doing. And my conclusion is DAMN is he capable! This just makes it that much more hilarious that he's actually a fantastic and imaginative writer when his best known acting role is for someone who couldn't write (or do) anything. I don't often read short stories or collections, but I'm glad I made an exception for this! His style varies widely so you get a different experience every time. This was good because I always got something new and exciting, but sometimes I loved what I'd been given that I wanted to get more of it and see how it would work in other ways. Definitely highly recommended though, and especially for people who aren't really interested in reading. These are varying lengths for when you have time, keep you from getting too bored, and cover a huge range of topics to give enough choices that there should be at least one that catches someones eye.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Okay, so it's a little weird that I went for this. I was honestly looking for a short audiobook on youtube that I could listen to while I had a fairly repetitive and lengthy task to accomplish at work. I ended up with my trusty Librivox version of The Art of War. I honestly didn't know what to expect, but the book is exactly what it says it is: a description of wars and how to win them. I definitely did NOT expect it to be so literal.
This is popular as a business-person high-risk-career book, and I'm not really sure why. Sure, some of the advice you can sort of translate to a fast-paced modern-day workplace, but when it starts discussing the best way to organize your carriages and what exact provisions to take to certain climates... well, maybe that's not so applicable anymore.
What irked me most was the startling naivete or ignorance of external factors. There are multiple statements made that I feel are unfair in their expectations and deliberately ignore the uncontrollable aspects of this world. For example, there was an aphorism that was, as closely as I can recall, "Do not make any mistakes and you will win the war." WELL... yeah. Obviously that's the goal. But if mistakes were that simple to avoid, they would never happen! Additional pieces of advice like "Don't let yourself get into an unfavorable position" are, again, really not that helpful and kind of annoyingly simple. No shit, Sun Tzu. If I do everything right, then I'll win. Definitely merits writing that down.
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
The followup to the first book nominated for a 2017 Goodreads best book award, this book was a delight! I was impressed with the author's ability to parallel the first book comfortably while not just rewriting the same plot in a slightly different manner. The author gave us some issues that I was genuinely surprised by, but not because they weren't believable, but rather that they weren't predictable, which is super appreciated. All in all, very satisfying! I'll have to be patient until I can get the next one!
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
I'm pretty sure I picked this book up for free in one of the weekly deals I receive, and it just kind of sat around waiting for a day when I ran out of all my other books. Well, I recently had to really hit the gas on what I was reading to meet my yearly goal and I figured this would be a quick, if not terribly great, read. I was definitely surprised by what I got, but that's probably because my expectations were pretty low. The morals in this book were perfectly gray, and I really appreciated that. There were some interesting new dynamics added to the usual lore characteristics of the supernatural (zombies are super strong and can pretty well take out a vampire? that's a new one to me). I just kind of plodded along with this, and while it was okay, I got to the end and thought "You know, I could just stop here." I wasn't really that excited to continue with these characters. And yet...
Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
I still picked up the next book pretty quickly for two main reasons: it was available at the library, and I was trying to meet my reading goal for the year. Not the best motivation, but whatever. It did take me a while to start this one though, too. There were some SERIOUSLY predictable moments that I was deflated by. Some standard cliches used. I really love when authors have the balls to kill a character and make them stay dead. But nope. Anyway, by the very end this actually did surprise me once, but the turn it took made me think that the next book will be radically different from what we've had... which doesn't really excite me. It's probably for the best, since what I've had hasn't really excited me either, but I have no idea if I'll ever actually continue this series. Maybe next December when I hit crunch time again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)