chaoticbibliophile's reviews
600 reviews

Winter Love by Han Suyin

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

Skip The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith and read this masterpiece instead.

A Feather on the Breath of God by Sigrid Nunez

medium-paced

Damn it, even not at her most accomplished Sigrid Nunez is bloody brilliant, it seems.

Am I in the Right Place? by Ben Pester
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.

"Annoying-(un)funny-guy at party" book if I've ever read one. Go read George Saunders instead. 

Bunny by Mona Awad
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.

Having tried harder to persevere with Rouge, I am now accepting that I just don’t like her writing.

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
Did not finish book. Stopped at 48%.

I am not sure I can pin-point exactly why this book is so bland. There is a detachment to the writing that is neither cool nor pained, that just seemed to follow by now extremely well-trodden territory in both millennial and queer fiction. The structure seems offbeat but not in a purposeful way, and even if you tell me it all comes together in the end, that would have been too little too late. There were scenes where Jesse (the main character) seemed to glimmer ever so slightly on the page, where we could understand his pained desire and internal conflict, being gay and having been baptized as a Jehova's witness... but then the glimmer vanishes and we are back to cardboard cutouts. A big disappointment.

How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
Did not finish book. Stopped at 65%.

This started out living up to its reputation as one of the best examples of "thinky navel-gazey autofiction": Interesting musings, solid writing, insightful with compelling characters (even in their unnerving flaws), etc. It is also quite funny, which I always admire in a novel. But then... it kept going. It kept going and the interesting points became tired and it kept going even after it seemed like the novel had said everything it could possibly have to say and it kept stretching the (already thin, as befits the genre) plot. I began skimming, then jumping, chapters to see if it grabbed my interest again. A couple of times it did, so I went back and ploughed through the skipped chapters, but then it stopped working. I skipped to the last chapter and it convinced me to DNF.

This was somewhat similar to my experience with Motherhood, which also started out solid and deflated somewhere in the middle. This one is better, though, so if you're curious, I'd say give this one a go. I think I'm done with Sheila, though... although I would probably be in for some of her essays. 

So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (And Why We're Still So Obsessed with It) by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

Fun and well-researched, but I would say that the cultural commentary is definitely secondary (and a bit repetitive) in comparison to the "making" part. If you're a fan (but maybe not a superfan), you'll enjoy this. The audio narrator was excellent as well. 

Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.

This is actually waaaay more fun than I expected and I'm glad I gave it a chance, but I think this is one I would 100% enjoy more as a light audiobook, so I will definitely listen to it if I ever have the chance. 

The Ghost of Frederic Chopin by Eric Faye
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.

I could see what the writing style was going for, and it wasn't for me. Will be passing this on. 

A Science Fiction Omnibus by Brian W. Aldiss
Did not finish book. Stopped at 64%.

There are some real hits here, but also waaaay too many misses. After "Story of your Life" (which was a reread, and I still believe it's great), I thought it was best to quit while ahead.