jarvvis's reviews
86 reviews

The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome by Harry Sidebottom

informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

Perhaps there isn’t a whole book about Heliogabalus.

A lot of this, especially the early portions, is excruciating detail about tangentially related characters to pad out the runtime because there simply isn’t a lot to say about Heliogabalus, particularly his days before he was emperor. It gets better when he does take the throne, I must say. Slightly harsh review, it is enjoyable and comprehensive, but far from a must read.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I have a deep affection for books that trundle along and explore what they like without much regards to plot, so Brideshead Revisted suited me just grand. There’s a lot of naval gazing, some confusing themes and character directions (

shocked that Sebastian did just seem to fade into the background with no great conclusion to his character other than “he might die of alcoholism soon”

), but it is wonderfully well written and manages to convey this crumbling lifestyle of English country houses, deep rooted Catholicism and unquestioned wealth and privilege. I do wish there was a little more depth/romance on Charles’ relationships with both Sebastian and Julia: he has a number of wondrous lines and scenes with the two of them that I wanted more of - he was the forerunner is an excellent quote, and a fascinating angle for a relationship. I also am a little lost on the whole religious angle and not entirely sure if we ever got a proper answer to that niggling question, but I digress. It’s a lovely book, worth a read.

Medea by Euripides

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Bitch it’s Medea!

Didn’t bother to log this when I first read it, guess I just wasn’t feeling it. Back now to tell you Medea is great, and you should read it, it’s very short and is so densely packed with tension and cultural analysis. She’s an icon and a monster and a product of her circumstances. 

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

Damn. Shit. I am crying right now.

I don’t really go in for war novels, but perhaps I should, this shit was soul destroying. The violence is very cut and dry, it’s gratuitous and unsentimental, much like the love story at the core of this whole thing. It’s honestly fucking brutal to read, to go through it all and feel that love is just as unforgiving as war. It does, vague spoiler here,

end on a lighter note but is far from saccharine, which did not comfort me in my final moments reading this but was objectively the correct choice

. Huge departure from what I normally read, would do this again. 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Hey! This was delightful!

I’ve had the Hobbit and the Lord of The Rings trilogy on my shelf for years now, and only recently have I decided to crack them open in order to please a very dear friend of mine who’s a huge fan of the franchise. The only expectation I had was that it would be more lighthearted than my other books of late, which it very much was. Reading this was a wonderful romp.

The Hobbit is a classic for a reason, there’s so much warmth and depth here, and just a hundred hallmarks of really good, simple fantasy. It’s like seeing a roast dinner done right: it’s not rocket science, but it’s very satisfying. 

The Slynx by Tatyana Tolstaya

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

There’s a lot of good here. The most unsettling parts of this book were when, after pages upon pages of an unrecognisable society, suddenly the Oldeners would appear and talk about banal things like meat grinders, it hits that this is not just a miserable 
fantasy novel, it is a post-apocalypse, and underneath the depressing malaise the world that we know lies dead and forgotten, and only the barest of artefacts remain. Bone-chilling stuff.

Mostly it’s boring as shit though. 
The immersive approach is a bit too effective and does make one feel like they’re living a monotonous life in a world with no culture or history, in a barren wasteland. Honestly, this could have been one of the best short stories I’ve ever read, but ultimately outstays it’s welcome and by the end I genuinely had no idea what was happening or what this book was really commenting on. 

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

dark funny mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was fucked up and strange and interesting, but also thematically incoherent. There were a number of weird ideas, symbols etc. but none of them were fully expanded upon and therefore lacked impact. For example

Abby briefly references the idea that she loves Ralph because he is kind and maternal which is so twisted and weird I wanted so much more of that

. The writing style also bounced between having intrigue and a very personal tone, and just being plain bad. Also,

I feel like I’ve read every cannibalism novel ever and I’m kind of getting sick of it now. In order to make cannibalism land, you’ve gotta really tie it in to your themes and character motivations. I will not accept a simple “cannibalism-love-consumption” tacked on at the end. God I love hit show Hannibal.

Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy by Judith C. Brown
Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.

Look 100% will get back to this soon, but I just don’t have the time rn.

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I read this over quite a long period of time wherein I was very busy and distracted, but that all notwithstanding, this is a pretty good book. It drags in parts, and some chapters are outright incomprehensible (cricket? What do I know about cricket. Why would anyone want to know about cricket), but it’s a smart little mystery with a fairly fun detective at the centre of it.

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

adventurous dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

For the most part, this book is pretty damn fun. You start to enjoy the endless waffle about food and publishing. The gory descriptions are fairly well executed as well. I’m not particularly attached to Dorothy as a character, she’s a cannibalistic murderer but apart from that, a refined palate, and a further appetite for sex (there’s quite a lot of both in this), she doesn’t have a whole lot going on. Internally, at least. Sometimes she lapses into feminist musings or thoughts about her life, but mostly I was interested in what Dorothy did, rather than who she was. 
Ending felt a little strange, various loose threads and new points brought up abruptly (

who were those two men mentioned exactly once that she fucking murdered? Why was that never elaborated on??

), still good overall though.

Very much want to have a nice meal and watch Hannibal again.