|
I finished Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America by Leslie Knope. A tie-in to Parks & Recreation, and a good one at that. It reads like a tour guide and has guest essays from characters of the show. It has the same humor as the show and a lot of callbacks to early episodes (the book came out in 2011, so it only really ties into the first 3 seasons). I like to laugh in general, but this book had me laughing out loud every few pages.
|
#
¿
Jul 20, 2015 22:14
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 07:10 |
|
|
How to Win Friends and Influence People, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, and The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie. I read these as part of a training I went to for work. I could summarize them with "be nice to people, keep yourself occupied, and talk about what you know." The books are very repetitive and full of stories of Dale meeting important businessmen from the early twentieth century. They were written during that time period and haven't been updated since. Very old phrasing and sexism abound. That being said, if you work for a corporation, read them (or say that you did) because I guarantee your Directors, VPs, and CEO all have (or claim they did).
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2015 02:56
|
|
|
Calm the gently caress Down by David Vienna. A parenting book about not worrying so much about raising kids. Very quick read, but not in-depth at all.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2015 14:26
|
|
|
The Expectant Father. My wife and I have a baby due yesterday, so it was a bit of a belated read. Reading the next book (The New Father) right now, which is much better timed.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2015 18:00
|
|
|
The New Father by Armin Brott. Another baby book for dads - focused on the baby's first year. Great book if you are going to be a father.
Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Nov 9, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Nov 9, 2015 00:36
|
|
|
Armada by Ernest Cline - I can see why people dislike it.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 24, 2015 15:58
|
|
|
Super You by Emily V. Gordon. I don't typically read self-help books, but I'm a fan of her and her husband's podcast, and they were promoting the book, so I thought I'd support them for the free entertainment they've been giving me. And I'm not going to not read a book I paid money for. I didn't like it. She throws a lot of comic book and pop culture references into it to help relate the topics being discussed to the reader, but it all felt forced to me. The book also didn't seem organized very well in terms of how she was trying to help the reader become more confident. The ideas seemed sound enough, but she referenced a lot of anecdotes from her life - almost to the point that I could label the book as self-help/autobiography. All that having been said, I'm not the target demographic, so I'd expect it'd be more enjoyable for someone who is earnest about improving their self-confidence and being happy with their self image.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2016 04:45
|
|
|
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing: If you're new to investing and think it's scary or too complicated, this is the book for you. If you've been investing for years and think you know everything, this could also be the book for you.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2016 04:03
|
|
|
The Millionaire Next Door - I'll save you the trouble of reading it. Be frugal, budget, own your own business, save your money, don't give your kids anything until they've made it on their own, and only drive American-made, Detroit steel. That will make you a millionaire.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2016 15:15
|
|
|
Deadpool, Vol. 1: Dead Presidents - at the recommendation of my local comic book shop owner, I picked this up. What a great story arc. Great writing and great art all around. If you've been curious about Deadpool comics after seeing the movie, this is certainly a great place to start. (If graphic novels aren't considered applicable to this thread, I won't post them in the future.)
|
|
#
¿
Apr 14, 2016 17:09
|
|
|
The First 90 Days - More corporate b.s. I don't know why I read the things my manager recommends.
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2016 04:02
|
|
|
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (along with Mistborn earlier last month). Thanks to the recommendation thread for pointing me to it. The second book in the trilogy really hit the spot I was looking to itch for a fantasy setting trying to rebuild after the "big bad" is defeated. Lots of discussions on how things may actually have been better with an evil tyrant in charge.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2022 12:48
|
|
|
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson. The end of the first trilogy in the Mistborn series. A good wrapper to the trilogy in my opinion, though it didn't necessarily end the way I wanted it to (I don't like it when main characters die even if it fits very well into the story.). The book did a lot more world-building on the technical side of how the universe's power works compared to the first two, which I enjoyed. Lots of solid character growth, introduction of new characters that fit well into the story, and characters discovering new mechanics of the "magic" in the world. I was enthralled by the dive into the origins and tragedies of the Kandra and Koloss, and how even though he was ruthless, the Lord Ruler did love his people and was ultimately doing his best given the circumstances (The reveal of atium being Ruin's physical manifestation and the careful planning he took to hide it were jaw-dropping.). I'll be taking a break, but will definitely jump back into Sanderson soon.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 20, 2022 16:13
|
|
|
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez: a historical fiction telling the story of four sisters coming of age during the time of El Jefe in the Dominican Republic. It's inspired by the true story of the Mirabal sisters and their deaths by the regime, and I found it to be a good story. The book alternates chapters told from each sisters' perspective, going through their lives, involvement in the revolution, and eventual deaths. It does a good job with each one's voice and their internal thoughts towards everything going on while growing up in a violent dictatorship. This isn't my usual genre choice, but there was a recent attempt to get it banned in a nearby school district, so I wanted to see what the fuss was about. There are parts that danced around a woman's sexuality and menstruation, and one vague account of torture. But nothing worse than the violence depicted in Lord of the Flies (which is another book in that school district for a younger grade). I have no idea why someone would want it banned. Some serious pearl clutching going on. Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jul 9, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2022 16:34
|
|
|
How to Take Over the World by Ryan North: If you like Ryan's work (Dinosaur Comics, How to Invent Everything, To Be or Not To Be), you'll like this one. It's a humorous look at how one might actually do the things super-villains do in comic books using real and theorized science (e.g. cloning dinosaurs; becoming immortal; etc.). Most of the topics end up being not physically possible at face value, but he pivots on the theme and still makes an interesting case for something similarly super-villainous that could be achievable given enough resources. What Your Teachers Are Playing by Christian Cardenas, Dylan Altman: A collection of essays and interviews from professors talking about video games. I'm not sure where I got this, but it was on my Kindle and was short. The essays were largely dull and uninspired takes on video games circa 2015. Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Aug 29, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2022 01:08
|
|
|
Rolling Through the Years: A Cedar Point Atlas and Chronology by Ken Miller: A behemoth coffee table book that discusses the history of Cedar Point - an amusement park in Sandusky, OH that is regularly on "top amusement park" lists. It was intended to be one of the many big to-do's during Cedar Point's 150th anniversary in 2020, but the pandemic squashed all of their plans that year. While it still was published in 2020, it only made it into the gift shops of the park this year which is where I discovered it during our annual family trip. Cedar Point is very near to my heart and this book was fascinating for me with a lot of history about the early days and year-to-year discussions of changes at the park from 1870 to 2020. I can definitely tell this was a one-man book (no editors, published by his own company, etc.) because it's riddled with typos, but that didn't detract from the author's clear love of the park and its history. Among the last pages of the book is a preview for the 2020 season before the park opened and before the pandemic hit, which was a bit sad to be reminded of all the plans that were shifted to 2021 or cancelled entirely. Overall though, a great book for a Cedar Point aficionado like myself. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull: My daughter is classified as an "advanced reader" in her 1st grade class, so we've been trying to grow that at home. We provide many books, but we will also suggest books that are levels higher and read them with her or let her read them herself. She still maintains that chapter books are boring because they don't have pictures, so I've been trying to find one that will enrapture her. Fablehaven probably won't do the trick for her, but it was a good middle-grade read. I can't be too critical of the book given its intended audience is 1/3 my age, but its story is told well. One of the main protagonists annoyed the hell out of me. He's constantly making bad decisions and not learning from his mistakes, but I suppose that sums up a 6th grade boy pretty well. It was a quick read, but probably not one that my daughter will latch onto. Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Oct 1, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2022 14:12
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:Depends on how advanced you want. St that age we read through the Just Grace series, which is "advanced" for a first grader, but in the sense that it's more 2-3rd grade probably. There's still a good bit of pictures and the problems and whatnot seem really appropriate to 2nd grade kid. The Sheep, The Rooster, and The Duck by Matt Phelan is an amazing sort of pre-french revolution pastiche, where the titular animals try and prevent a war between England and France. Phelan tends to have sort of graphic novel-y action sequences. There's like a 15 page hot air balloon chase in the middle that's almost all just drawn and is pretty cool. My kid isn't so much into knights, but his Knight vs series is also pretty slick. Once Upon a Camel is a good one probably 3rd grade or so. You know, with camels. It gets a bit sad at times. My kid loves the Mythomania books as well. She's big on 39 Clues now, but I haven't read any so can't speak to pictures. Not advanced, but in 1st grade, my kid read through Owl Diaries, Unicorn Diaries, and the Kitty books by Paula Harrison. Sort of early chapter books with lots of pictures. Thanks for the suggestions! She loves Owl Diaries and Unicorn Diaries. She also regularly picks up Junie B Jones, Firehawk Island, and Rainbow Magic. I'm just trying to help her branch out even more (and reading kids books is a guilty pleasure of mine).
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2022 00:36
|
|
|
Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull: It turns out I borrowed the entire series as one e-book from the library, so I may as well read them all. This young adult book continues the story of Kendra and her dumbass annoying little brother Seth in the secret world of magical creatures at their grandparents' estate. Kendra is now fairykind and is just starting to experience her magic as a new threat looms. It introduces new, interesting characters, expands the world a bit more, and has one or two good twists. It also retcons some world rules from the first book with "well, it works that way but except in this specific scenario" as if the author had forgotten about them and an astute editor later pointed out the logic issues. I'll let it pass because I'm an adult man reading a middle grade book, so my standards are clearly pretty low for that kind of thing.
Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Oct 15, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Oct 14, 2022 22:53
|
|
|
Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull: The third in this 5-part young adult series. The story continues for Kendra and her unable-to-have-character-growth, idiotic little brother Seth. We are introduced to larger elements of the world in this book - like a secret society of heroic knights that try to keep the other secret society of evildoers at bay... by acting like a clandestine evil organization. Kendra meets a love interest. Seth continues to be a loving idiot. More world rule retcons, more obvious plot twists. For all its flaws, it has its hooks in me, and I'm going to see the series through. The Mona Lisa Sacrifice by Peter Roman: The premise of this book is that when Jesus Christ resurrected, he was actually a different person since his soul had gone to heaven, and a new unknown soul had to be put into the body. He can never die, and he gets a high from killing angels and absorbing their power. He's played off as an anti-hero and reluctantly saves the day many many times. It mashes way too many mythos and legends together (a small list of characters introduced in this: Judas, Mona Lisa, King Arthur, Medusa, Tutankhamen, Gabriel) to make a coherent story. The writing is all over the place, and I can't fathom anyone finishing the (planned) trilogy.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2022 00:41
|
|
|
Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull: The penultimate book in this 5-part young adult series. Kendra and Seth, along with the rest of the crew, continue their secret fight to save the world from certain doom. Seth isn't a complete dumbass this time around and learns some (questionable) lessons from his mistakes. He is now a shadow charmer (ominous), and his inner darkness complements his sister's inner light. They even get extra powers when they hold hands. A legitimately surprising twist near the end of the book had me staying up late to finish it. There are some gripes with it. The denouement feels rushed and I would've liked some more words to wrap up the story arc, but this is a pattern for the series. The big bad seems to be playing 7D chess while the heroes are stuck in 2D, yet they still succeed by the skin of their teeth without any major characters dying. I'm in it for the end, so we'll see how the final book wraps everything up.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 29, 2022 02:44
|
|
|
Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull: The fifth and final book this young adult series. It is the culmination of Kendra and Seth's journeys throughout the rest of the series. The build-up of tension throughout the book is felt as various parties are caught and escape and sent on missions for fabled treasures and foiled. The bad guys ultimately succeed in their plan (due to Seth's idiocy returning), and the good guys ultimately stop them, as can be expected from a young adult book. The gripes I have with the series remain in this book. The denouement is rushed again, and there are many loose ends left open, which I'd be fine with if the author didn't explicitly state in the afterword that he has no intention of returning to this world he built. There are several deus ex machinas in this book that take the onus from the heroes and puts it onto external parties, turning the heroes into bystanders. Overall, it was a fun epic-light fantasy series that I would've really enjoyed in middle school, but still enjoyed to a lesser extent as an adult. Haven by Adam Roberts: I didn't know this was the second part in a series going into it, but I felt confused the entire time regardless because the story was written in such a way as to make you feel like you had no idea what was going on ever. The main character was constantly oblivious and was the majority of the viewpoint in the book. Plot and events happened around the character, but rarely included the character in a way that helped you understand what was going on. There was a secondary character that had chapters written from their perspective in the book, but those chapters abruptly end for no clear reason and you never see the character again. Also, halfway through the book, there is an "Intermission" that tells some very long background that ties into the overall story, but not in a way that flows. Just a bad book all around. Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Dec 19, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Dec 19, 2022 18:06
|
|
|
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: I had added this to my short list based on a response to someone else's question in the recommendation thread, and it did not disappoint. The author does a great job of world-building and getting you to love / hate the many characters introduced. I enjoyed the setup of the interludes, which would flash back to a relevant piece of the past that helps provide context for a decision or occurrence in the upcoming chapter. Locke and his associates are lovable conmen who you cheer for throughout. The book made me feel a rollercoaster of emotions, and I spent several late nights telling myself that reading the next chapter was worth the agitation I was going to feel in the morning from lack of sleep. I, personally, would have liked the world to be no-magic instead of low-magic, but maybe that's just because the author did such a great job making me abhor the one magic user you're introduced to. I'm adding the sequels to my "to read" pile for sure. Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jan 11, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Jan 11, 2023 20:01
|
|
|
Kings Island: A Ride Through Time by Evan Ponstingle - this is a history of Kings Island released right around its 50th anniversary last year. Kings Island is a wonderful regional amusement park in Cincinnati. My family and I love the park and visit it regularly, so it was cool to read about the ups and downs of how it got to where it is today.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 12, 2023 15:55
|
|
|
Extinction Biome: Invasion by Addison Gunn: A mediocre, sci-fi, brink-of-the-apocalypse story. The premise is that climate change has caused the ice shelf to recede to a point that frozen pre-Ice Age animals, insects, and parasites have been revived and are causing havoc in the world. Governments have fallen and only a single multi-national corporation can save the day. It tries to cover too many ideas at once, though, and falls short in every way. I really need to stop reading books from old book bundles I bought, or at the very least, read reviews first. Side question. Anyone else on The Story Graph? I'm "prengekp" on there, and my Community list is empty.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 4, 2023 16:02
|
|
|
Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel by Jason Padgett, Maureen Seaberg: An autobiography describing the life of Jason Padgett, and how he went from a club rat to a mathematical savant after a brutal mugging. It's an interesting look at the life of someone with acquired synesthesia and savant syndrome. He covers the challenges of his life both pre- and post-mugging and explains his journey to accepting his new self and becoming who he is "today" (2014).
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2023 03:10
|
|
|
Jester by Geoff Hart: A self-published, fantasy novel that I got in a StoryBundle years ago when I hoarded digital bundles. It has a lot of potential but ultimately falls flat. The book follows the tale of Morley, a little person, who agrees to assist a sorcerer in exchange for becoming "normal" sized. Obviously, this is a bad idea, and he gets trapped into helping the big bad of the book. The build up in the first act is really good, but the actual adventures of the second act amount to talking in tense conversations with the hidden races (Elves and Goblins) of the world. Nothing of substance comes from these conversations, and you never feel like Morley's in any real danger (or accomplishing anything). The resolution to the big bad's evil-doing is only a few pages long and pretty lackluster. There are hints at a larger world of magic in the author's head that never make it to paper, and it's disappointing.
Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Mar 27, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Mar 27, 2023 01:18
|
|
|
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe: A sequel to the first What If? book from the creator of XKCD. If you read the first one, this is more of the same. If you aren't familiar, Randall takes silly questions and answers them seriously using science to back it up. Examples of questions are "What would happen if the Solar System was filled with soup out to Jupiter?" and "If ALL of Japan's islands disappear, would it affect Earth's natural phenomena?" Randall's writing style is a good mix of seriousness and comedy that makes it a breeze to read through the book, and it's an enjoyable way to learn some high-level science. I've always been a fan of Randall's work so I'm biased, but I do think it's a great read for anyone even remotely interested in the scientific analysis of absurdity. If this does sound interesting to you, you can get a taste of what the books are like since it started as a pseudo-blog and a portion of his books are already on the blog.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2023 16:21
|
|
|
Angel's Ink by Jocelynn Drake: An urban fantasy novel where warlocks and witches view the rest of the world as bugs to play / experiment with and people live in constant fear of them. We follow Gage, the only known warlock to escape that world alive and who actually cares about other living beings. Gage now runs a tattoo parlor where he infuses potions into the ink to imbue certain temporary gifts into the recipient. The story very quickly throws Gage into a whole mess of interconnected poo poo that is only partially resolved (it's a series). The author does a great job building the world, and while Gage is an rear end in a top hat with a short temper that is the reason for his mess, you can still see his compassion for his friends. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville: I read this with my 7yo daughter. I was a huge Coville fan as a kid and wanted to try something with her. I never read The Magic Shop series, so this was new for both of us. I appreciate good explanations for the rules of a world so I can understand it better, but like most kids books, this one sorely lacks in that department. The incessant "girls are gross" mantra of a 6th grade boy annoyed me. Overall, though, it's good for a kids book, and we enjoyed reading it together.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2023 17:01
|
|
|
I wasn't as smitten with House of Leaves as everyone seems to be. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely an experience that I mostly enjoyed, but I always have a bad taste for books that are purposefully hard to read in a physical sense. Just let me read without having to go back-and-forth between pages or turn the book around in circles. I understand that's the point, but I still don't have to like it. 
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2023 14:35
|
|
|
That's fair. I did enjoy a good CYOA when I was younger. Though, I recall keeping a pencil and dozens of bookmarks at hand to keep my place in the various paths I was following. But you'll have a hard time convincing me that page-long, tiny-fonted footnotes within footnotes or mirrored & spiraling text are fun to read.
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2023 14:57
|
|
|
The Illustrated Al: A collection of comics drawn from the lyrics of Weird Al songs that never had official music videos. It turns out there's probably a reason these songs never warranted the music video treatment from a musician that made heaps of music videos. It's fun to reminisce through the lyrics, and the artists they chose are good at their jobs. But the actual representation of the songs didn't really mesh most of the time. Also, I forgot how psychopathic some Weird Al songs are, and they definitely hit me differently now compared to when I first heard them in my teens.
Good-Natured Filth fucked around with this message at 15:21 on May 18, 2023 |
|
#
¿
May 18, 2023 14:17
|
|
|
David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa: The story starts off by introducing David, his backstory as a half-god, how the gods fell down to Earth from their plane of existence, and what he does as a godhunter. He quickly takes on a job that is bigger than he planned for and things go awry. If the book stretched this setup out further with many more jobs to show off the tools and tricks of his trade, I would have really enjoyed the book. But instead, about 1/3 of the way in, it flips the story into a (kind of) hero's journey. David needs to find his true self to defeat a big bad. Like most hero's journeys, he makes new friends, and their lives are put on the line to prevent the end of the world (though, nearly every named character he meets makes it through unscathed). It's not a bad hero's journey, but I read plenty of those. I would've rather read a monster-of-the-week story about his godhunting because that setup was intriguing. The story is set in Lagos, Nigeria. I know very little about Nigeria in general, let alone the city of Lagos, so it was interesting learning about the city through the lens of David. I opened up Google Maps pretty regularly to get a sense of direction because the author does a thorough job explaining the various streets and buildings being discussed in the story. It was a decent read, but I would've preferred the initial act of the book to be the whole book.
|
|
#
¿
May 28, 2023 03:36
|
|
|
The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman: I have mixed feelings about this book. There were parts that were genuinely enjoyable, parts that were boring, and parts that made me question what was going on. We follow Egon Loeser, a Holden Caulfield type, in his journey through the Berlin theater scene in the years leading up to WWII. He travels from Berlin to Paris to Los Angeles through the course of the book and each chapter skips a few years of his life. The entire time, he's fixated on his (lack of) sex life and desperately wants one specific woman, which is why he travels to the cities mentioned. He is an irredeemable prick and treats everyone like poo poo. The thing that I really enjoyed about the book is that Egon cares very little about the politics of the world, so while we see all the makings of the impending war, it's always in the periphery and Egon seems oblivious to it all. He is thrust into situations where he's out of his element and clueless to what's actually going on, and it's the characters and events surrounding Egon that I enjoyed the most - and not so much Egon himself. The last few chapters try to wrap things up, but they get a bit bonkers. The writing is full of tangents upon tangents, and you can forget where you are in the story when it gets back to the main path. The author has a good way with words, though, that kept me engaged even if I ultimately am still mixed on it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2023 15:26
|
|
|
Is it easy to know if an author is using a pen name? I'm worried now that I've been misattributing authorship if it's a common occurrence.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2023 19:11
|
|
|
Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths: A discussion of the history of different "big" algorithms in computer science (e.g. sorting, scheduling, networking, caching, etc.) and how they relate to human problems. It's an interesting read if you like to / work with code. The authors suggest ways to incorporate these algorithms into your daily life, which was intriguing, but ultimately not something I'd want to do as it would make me feel very robotic to adhere to a strict guideline for different choices / tasks in my life. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl: I read this with my daughter. I didn't get into Roald Dahl when I was young (I think the only book of his I read was Matilda), so I had never read this book. I've seen both movies a few times, so I came into it knowing mostly what to expect. My daughter came in blind. From my perspective, I liked comparing and contrasting both movies' interpretations of the book. What they did "verbatim" vs. what they changed. The book feels very rushed, but it's a children's book and they tend to do that. It's also much more into child shaming than I'd liked (overweight kids, talkative kids, kids who like TV, etc. all need to be taught horrific lessons to change them). From my daughter's perspective, she enjoyed the book and my very bad British English accents. She almost cried when the book introduced Charlie's starving family and kept asking why no one would help them. What a great discussion to have with my 7yo daughter. Coincidentally, the new "Wonka" trailer dropped the day we finished reading the book, so naturally, I showed it to my daughter who is pumped to see the movie when it comes out, even though I am lukewarm on the trailer. We'll need to show her the existing movies as well at some point.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 17, 2023 15:08
|
|
|
Windsworn by Derek Alan Siddoway: A YA fantasy book about A mid-tier, by the numbers, YA fantasy novel. Oh right, the big secret about her parents. Her dad is the king's brother and is still alive, but exiled because he impregnated the queen (his brother's wife) who died giving birth to Eva. And the king sent baby Eva away because he didn't want to be reminded of the queen's infidelity. Which is glossed over towards the end of the book. A huge revelation that is basically received as "Oh well. Them's the breaks. You have to read the second book to find out more!"
|
|
#
¿
Jul 22, 2023 03:31
|
|
|
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Catherine Webb (as Claire North) - I really enjoyed this book. It introduces us to a world where there exists a secret society of century-spanning time loopers (when they die, they start their lives over remembering their previous lives) and follows the story of Harry August in his journey as he discovers and comes to terms with what he is, finds the society, and attempts to stop another of his kind that is causing the end of the world much earlier than it should. The author jumps around Harry's lives in each chapter, but each chapter is short and purposeful. I was sucked in and couldn't put the book down. I know there has been some negative reception over the years, which is valid. Harry is an anomaly of an anomaly in that he has perfect memory, where most of his kinds' memories become fuzzy as their lives progress. He is very much in the right place at the right time making nearly perfect decisions or simply getting lucky as the story progresses. His goal is essentially to stop progress in order to maintain the status quo, but the "progress" is causing mass future murder by ending the world centuries before it should. But I can put those things aside for a page-turner like this book was for me.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 10, 2023 16:43
|
|
|
The Oracle Year by Charles Soule: I enjoy Soule's comic book work - especially when he works with artist Ryan Browne - so I wanted to give his debut novel a go (he's written 2 more since this one was published). A pretty standard plot-driven thriller. I didn't love the characters or feel particularly invested in anything that was happening. The story is driven by the main character receiving predictions of the future in a dream that start coming true and what he does with this information. Government black ops, religious zealots, clandestine hackers, rogue journalists, and genius best friends all make an appearance as you'd expect from a by-the-numbers thriller. At the end, I'm left with a big question completely unanswered and a general feeling of "I should've read this next to a pool."
|
|
#
¿
Aug 24, 2023 14:57
|
|
|
Animorphs: The Invasion by K.A. Applegate: My 7yo daughter saw this in our local library, was entranced by the cover and really wanted to get it. I told her I remembered reading it as a kid but I was a few years older than her at the time, and I couldn't remember if it was too mature. I promised I would read it and let her know. After doing that, I feel that she would probably be okay, but some of the descriptions of the aliens and the fight scene at the end may scare her. I may read it with her and see how she does. I saw there was a goldmined thread reading through the series, so I'll definitely check that thread out because re-reading the book really made me want to revisit it all.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 28, 2023 22:04
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 07:10 |
|
|
EightFlyingCars posted:reading with your kid is always the best move. my mom read books for my sister and i all through our childhoods and they're some of my fondest memories For sure. We read to both kids at bedtime still, but my daughter devours books and doesn't always wanna wait for Mommy or Daddy to finish them. 
|
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2023 00:50
|
|