lukejones's reviews
419 reviews

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.

I’m slowly changing my opinion from ‘oh, I love Murakami!’ to ‘Murakami has some amazing books!’

I genuinely don’t know why this book exists. It’s an interesting concept to write a book that’s based on the same short story as another book you’ve written, but Hard-Boiled Wonderland is much more interesting, charming, and fun!

Rather than push through to try and finish, I decided to skip it. 

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

A pleasant book that feels more like The Humans than The Midnight Library (in the best possible way). Matt Haig has a knack for writing about the human experience and how messy it is to be human. 

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

dark informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read

adventurous emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

A competent detective / mystery novel. Light hearted and fun. Not my thing, but if it is yours you should give this a whirl. 

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.

Could feel it dragging and, given the length, I wanted to be kind to myself. 

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 10%.

Didn’t grip me. Writing was super ‘men writing women’ to the point where it felt like a parody.  

Concept is great and first season of the show is great, but I can’t bring myself to commit to this trilogy just because I enjoy the concept.

Drive by James Sallis

dark medium-paced

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

3.25

Short book which feels almost noire. Love the movie, book was just fine. Worth a read if you wanna deep dive into the characters. 

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

Witty and fun book. If you enjoy jovial crime thrillers, this is for you.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.75

I'm not inspired by the kind of people who push their bodies to the absolute limit, foregoing the human responsibility to help others in this pursuit, but I will read about it. Everyone who decides to climb Everest sacrifices some amount of morality while also accepting a very real possibility that they will die painfully.

The psyche of that kind of person is fascinating. I don't think the people who leave others to die in the moment are cruel, every climber on these expeditions understands the risks. As the author mentions in the book, once you're above 28,000ft lucid thought is impossible, and each individual or group has to make in-the-moment decisions about the safety of themselves.