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gwendle_vs_literature's reviews
117 reviews
Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A small colony of beavers has recently formed at my local nature sanctuary, and when the weather and my energy levels allowed I was going for sunrise walks to watch them.
That was the spark that ignited my interest in learning everything I can about beavers, and I think I made a good choice when I picked Eager as my next step after Wikipedia and other online articles.
Some of the structure of the book felt a bit scattered, but non-fiction often does, because the author either had to sort my location and repeat talking about behaviours, or sort my behaviour and jump to different times and places.
Beavers have the potential to help us reverse climate change, but as a species we’re too stubborn and determined to get rid of anything that disrupts the status quo — we want less lunate change, but not at the expense of flooded roads, or of allowing nature to reclaim some of the land we’ve stolen.
If you’re looking for an informative but not overly scientific book about beavers then I can highly recommend this one.
That was the spark that ignited my interest in learning everything I can about beavers, and I think I made a good choice when I picked Eager as my next step after Wikipedia and other online articles.
Some of the structure of the book felt a bit scattered, but non-fiction often does, because the author either had to sort my location and repeat talking about behaviours, or sort my behaviour and jump to different times and places.
Beavers have the potential to help us reverse climate change, but as a species we’re too stubborn and determined to get rid of anything that disrupts the status quo — we want less lunate change, but not at the expense of flooded roads, or of allowing nature to reclaim some of the land we’ve stolen.
If you’re looking for an informative but not overly scientific book about beavers then I can highly recommend this one.
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I have read this book about six times now, and it’s always a delight. I love how the truly ridiculously florid passages are marked with either two ** or three *** asterisks, and I’ve always assumed that those passages are the “material” that Flora is gathering.
I’ve never been much of a fan of Gothic literature, but but Cold Comfort Farm is a whimsical pastiche of the genre, and a much needed balm in a world full of sheds where one might see nasty things.
Also, “there’ll be no butter in hell!” is quite possibly the funniest line in all of English literature.
I’ve never been much of a fan of Gothic literature, but but Cold Comfort Farm is a whimsical pastiche of the genre, and a much needed balm in a world full of sheds where one might see nasty things.
Also, “there’ll be no butter in hell!” is quite possibly the funniest line in all of English literature.
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This is a steam-of-consciousness narrative that follows the sleep-deprived thoughts and experiences of the main character, Baxter. This style of writing can be difficult to follow, but luckily I’d re-read Mrs Dalloway recently, so I’d been primed for it, and this story follows only one character instead of many.
This is a beautiful book and provides a detailed account of the lives of black train porters in general, and of the added complication of homosexuality for Baxter at a time when he constantly risks being fired, or jailed, or worse.
I highly recommend this book. It’s challenging due to the narrative style, but it’s worth the effort.
This is a beautiful book and provides a detailed account of the lives of black train porters in general, and of the added complication of homosexuality for Baxter at a time when he constantly risks being fired, or jailed, or worse.
I highly recommend this book. It’s challenging due to the narrative style, but it’s worth the effort.
Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton, James Patterson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 42%.
The writing isn’t terrible, but it’s overly, pointlessly descriptive, melodramatic, and trying way too hard to be mysterious.
This was a book club pick, so I made myself keep going until I was halfway through, but I already finished one book club assignment that I didn’t enjoy this year, and there are too many other books that I want to read for me to put any more time into this one.
This was a book club pick, so I made myself keep going until I was halfway through, but I already finished one book club assignment that I didn’t enjoy this year, and there are too many other books that I want to read for me to put any more time into this one.
Fog by Miguel de Unamuno
medium-paced
3.5
I discovered that this book exists when a conversation meandered in such a direction that it lead me to wonder whether the movie Stranger Than Fiction was based on a book. It wasn’t, but apparently it was inspired by Miguel de Unamuno’s Niebla (variously translated as “Fog” or “Mist”) which is often credited as being the first work of Magical Realism, and with which it shares its central conceit; a man discovers that he is a character in a work of fiction, and the writer is going to kill him.
This is a dense text, a little bit difficult to get through — like other modernist texts it’s a bit dense with some stream of consciousness, and like other absurdist texts it’s a little all over the place, dragging it’s heels through the inconsequential, and then finding itself at major plot points with very little indication of how it arrived there. Much of the humour falls a little flat more than a century after it was written, but the same is true of almost everything. And reading a work in translation tends to add another layer of obfuscation since cultural and linguistic differences (even of contemporary works, let alone works from 100+ years ago) something is always lost.
It’s an okay story, and apparently a highly influential one, so I’m glad I read it — but I struggled to enjoy it. If I revisit it in a few years (which I likely will given the trouble I went through to get my hands on a copy in English translation) I might like it more.
This is a dense text, a little bit difficult to get through — like other modernist texts it’s a bit dense with some stream of consciousness, and like other absurdist texts it’s a little all over the place, dragging it’s heels through the inconsequential, and then finding itself at major plot points with very little indication of how it arrived there. Much of the humour falls a little flat more than a century after it was written, but the same is true of almost everything. And reading a work in translation tends to add another layer of obfuscation since cultural and linguistic differences (even of contemporary works, let alone works from 100+ years ago) something is always lost.
It’s an okay story, and apparently a highly influential one, so I’m glad I read it — but I struggled to enjoy it. If I revisit it in a few years (which I likely will given the trouble I went through to get my hands on a copy in English translation) I might like it more.
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu
4.0
This is a fairly solid collection of stories, but there was one that I distinctly didn’t like, and a couple that fell a bit flat for me compared to the rest.
I had comments on each individual story, but the app crashed and didn’t save them . . . I might come back and give my detailed review later, but not right now.
I had comments on each individual story, but the app crashed and didn’t save them . . . I might come back and give my detailed review later, but not right now.
Miss Subways by David Duchovny
medium-paced
3.0
The writing was decent but not excellent — there were some sentences that even though I reread them three or four times still didn’t make sense (not too many, but enough that it became annoying).
The characters were a bit all over the place, and to the extent that they developed it was to become worse, less likeable people.
The plot felt weak and had some tangents that didn’t add anything, while also making some leaps that could have used connective details. The opening was interesting, then it lost me, and I kept reading in the hope that it would get better, which it didn’t.
It was fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I doubt I’ll try any of his other books.
The characters were a bit all over the place, and to the extent that they developed it was to become worse, less likeable people.
The plot felt weak and had some tangents that didn’t add anything, while also making some leaps that could have used connective details. The opening was interesting, then it lost me, and I kept reading in the hope that it would get better, which it didn’t.
It was fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I doubt I’ll try any of his other books.
A Winter Grave by Peter May
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This felt like a rushed attempt to turn a mediocre screenplay into a mass-appeal formulaic “gritty”police procedural novel equivalent of a herlequin romance — which is fine if that’s what you’re looking for, but it’s not what I like to read. I would have abandoned it after the first few chapters, but it was a selection for one of my two book clubs, so I felt obligated to finish it.
The first chapter was interesting (I felt intrigued, like one should at the beginning of a piece of detective fiction) but then it fell apart.
The writing is choppy, with what could have been decent compound sentences broken up into numerous single-clause sentences, which not only killed any momentum the text might have had, but also frequently resulted in grammatical errors — you cannot have the word “until” in a sentence unless there is a second clause (it can come either before or after the until clause) that explains what was happening until. Putting the until in its own separate sentence, and sandwiching it between two actions either of which could have been the the thing that was happening “until”, is just sloppy writing.
The vocabulary is run of the mill, which is absolutely fine, but makes “oleaginous” stand out like a flashing neon sign — just say oily, dude.
A huge portion of the text is extremely detailed descriptions that do nothing to create a mood, or reveal character, or scatter clues — they’re just long dry descriptions with no purpose. In this book, if the curtains are blue, it’s just because they’re effing blue. I’m not saying that every detail needs to have profound meaning, but it’s nice if some of them do.
I found the characters to be two-dimensional and didn’t particularly care about any of them, because none of them felt like real people.
It was a slog to get through this book, and a relief when I got to “THE END” (which is actually there, in all caps, at the end of the text). There are so many good books in the world; high quality detective fiction, and speculative fiction about climate catastrophe, and suspenseful thrillers, and compelling portraits of flawed characters . . . give this one a pass and read a few of those.
The first chapter was interesting (I felt intrigued, like one should at the beginning of a piece of detective fiction) but then it fell apart.
The writing is choppy, with what could have been decent compound sentences broken up into numerous single-clause sentences, which not only killed any momentum the text might have had, but also frequently resulted in grammatical errors — you cannot have the word “until” in a sentence unless there is a second clause (it can come either before or after the until clause) that explains what was happening until. Putting the until in its own separate sentence, and sandwiching it between two actions either of which could have been the the thing that was happening “until”, is just sloppy writing.
The vocabulary is run of the mill, which is absolutely fine, but makes “oleaginous” stand out like a flashing neon sign — just say oily, dude.
A huge portion of the text is extremely detailed descriptions that do nothing to create a mood, or reveal character, or scatter clues — they’re just long dry descriptions with no purpose. In this book, if the curtains are blue, it’s just because they’re effing blue. I’m not saying that every detail needs to have profound meaning, but it’s nice if some of them do.
I found the characters to be two-dimensional and didn’t particularly care about any of them, because none of them felt like real people.
It was a slog to get through this book, and a relief when I got to “THE END” (which is actually there, in all caps, at the end of the text). There are so many good books in the world; high quality detective fiction, and speculative fiction about climate catastrophe, and suspenseful thrillers, and compelling portraits of flawed characters . . . give this one a pass and read a few of those.
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
This is a novel in the style of James Joyce’s Dubliners, with chapters that are really short stories, but which are all woven together through family connections, cross-story character interactions, and circumstance.
It’s difficult for there to be strong character development because each chapter is a snapshot of a person’s life, or of a relationship, or of the ways people cope with loss and grief and catastrophe. But sometimes a character would warrant a mention in a later chapter and their growth would be evident, or at least implied, there.
I highly recommend this book — it’s a well-crafted exploration of humanity, capitalism, harsh realities, and hope.
It’s difficult for there to be strong character development because each chapter is a snapshot of a person’s life, or of a relationship, or of the ways people cope with loss and grief and catastrophe. But sometimes a character would warrant a mention in a later chapter and their growth would be evident, or at least implied, there.
I highly recommend this book — it’s a well-crafted exploration of humanity, capitalism, harsh realities, and hope.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I’d been interested in this book from the first moment the cover caught my eye in one of my local independent book stores and I read the back cover (particularly because I read Other Minds last year , which is a combination nature and psychology book about actopuses and other cephalopods) so when it turned out to be the September pick for one of the book clubs I belong to I was excited to read it and it did not disappoint me.
I really enjoyed Marcellus as a character — and I think I liked all of the characters, which is rare for me. I got frustrated with characters sometimes, but I was never annoyed by them.
I’m not usually a fan of endings or epilogues that go out of their way to tie up absolutely every last thing with a little bow, but the epilogue in this book was done well, and I wasn’t rolling my eyes at it.
It doesn’t make it into my five star list, but I highly recommend it.
I really enjoyed Marcellus as a character — and I think I liked all of the characters, which is rare for me. I got frustrated with characters sometimes, but I was never annoyed by them.
I’m not usually a fan of endings or epilogues that go out of their way to tie up absolutely every last thing with a little bow, but the epilogue in this book was done well, and I wasn’t rolling my eyes at it.
It doesn’t make it into my five star list, but I highly recommend it.