caitlin_89's reviews
530 reviews

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

4.0

Phew. My first Colson Whitehead. I read this because I wanted to see the movie when it hits theaters in a week or two, but the book was enough of a gut punch, I'm not sure I want to go see the adaptation anymore.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

3.0

When I was a kid, I would have told you Robert Louis Stevenson was one of my favorite authors. Idk, I guess I read A Child's Garden of Verses and Treasure Island? But I didn't know anything about him, really. Reading this, I learned that he was Scottish. This is a very Scottish book, and I was very thankful for the glossary. 😂 Like a Scottish Dickens. Poor young hopeful boy, whisked into a whirlwind of danger and a world of dubious characters. A good old fashioned adventure story.

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks

3.0

This took me a while to get through. It was a really interesting look at how movies are made, but it could have been shorter.

The Museum of Forgotten Memories by Anstey Harris

4.0

I really enjoyed this! Recommended it to everyone I spoke to while I was reading it. It's sweet and interesting and overall lovely with just the right dash of mystery and drama.

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

2.0

I was really excited to read this book, and it just fell flat for me. It's perhaps not fair to Stone Blind that I went in with expectations for something akin to Circe. The premise is so promising. The story itself is fascinating, but I felt like it was undermined by the storytelling. (I hope the author doesn't read this. I feel bad for being so critical - just sharing my experience and opinions). I wanted to read about Medusa, and the multi POV aspect undermined her prominence and importance as the central character, in my view. Characters whose inner lives were not a draw got tons of screen time, and character who didn't add anything at all to the narrative and impact were woven in in a way that detracted rather than added, albeit I see the "poetic" point that was trying to be made (I'm looking at you, snakes, islands, and olive groves). 

And, perhaps my biggest gripe of all was the gorgoneion voice (Medusa's head, severed from Medusa the person). I get that it would be detached (haha) and bitter (who wouldn't) but it had no depth of feeling to it, and came across petulant and strangely modern-voiced. This voice, the  voice at the crux of the whole story, the voice upon which the whole story hinged, the voice I wanted to champion as the multi-faceted protagonist finally getting its time to speak out, fell SO flat for me. And maybe that was an artistic choice. Maybe the poetry was supposed to die. Maybe it was suppose to sound modern to make a point. But it didn't work for me. 

The best part for me were the chapters on the lives of the gorgon sisters. Some of the "is it monstrous or is it just different?" dialogue was a little on-the-nose for my tastes, but seeing the Gorgons come to life as the sisters of Medusa was lovely.

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

4.0

This was such a pleasant surprise. I picked it up from a library shelf display on the basis of seeing Steven Martin's name and not being formerly aware he was a writer. This is an art history book, more than it is a story about any particular people. It's like The Great Gatsby, in that it's told from the perspective of a man kind of on the periphery of the action, observing the shining players in a game of glitzy strategy and subterfuge. It's also like The Great Gastby in that there aren't really any truly engaging or likeable characters - it's more like watching the rise and fall of a small social empire, but with one character serving as an anchor for the various moving parts. 

What's odd is I thought this book was fascinating, but not incredibly .... interesting? I don't really know how to describe it. The prose is amazing. The story is worthwhile. But it didn't create that sense of *caring* that I cherish so much about some of my favorite books. And yet, that's not an indictment. I really liked it a lot and am interested to read Martin's other works.

How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

1.0

Ew. Gross. The blurb calls it dark humor but I missed any shred of comedy. This was more like being hit over the head with trauma porn wrapped in a cliche, corny and heavy-handed feminist/therapy/self-empowerment schtick. Just. Gross. It wasn't clever. It wasn't deep. It was a fun idea, cheaply done and leaned hard on shock value versus being thought-provoking. It was needlessly and disgustingly explicit in places. Also, from a more pedantic voice of view, the characters all told their stories the same way, when they weren't busy being caricatures. Nobody talks like that in real life/real therapy. This left a strong bad taste in my mouth.

Broken Harbour by Tana French

5.0

Literally could not put this down. Read in two evenings, staying up til 2:30 am to finish.

Van Gogh: A Power Seething by Julian Bell

4.0

This is a really straightforward biography, which I enjoyed. I appreciated that the author said up front that he would not be embellishing or casting VVG in this light or that, as a madman, or as a tortured artist, or in any other such speculative or poetic lens. The fact that this book communicates, as clearly as possible, the bare facts of Vincent's life and how those facts may have informed his painterly life made it a nice, straightforward read. 

Luther and Katharina: A Novel of Love and Rebellion by Jody Hedlund

adventurous dark inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

Interesting historical fiction wrapped up in a Christian romance package