morningtide's reviews
217 reviews

Dracula Daily by Bram Stoker

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I did Dracula Daily again this year, after failing to follow through in 2022 - I didn't stop reading, I actually got impatient in the June gap and finished on my own. This time, I did switch from the email format to the podcast (re:Dracula) and then back to the emails, and my "DNF reason" made me think I reviewed this already. Whoops! (Despite not sticking with the audio version, the production and narration on Re:Dracula was fantastic and I recommended it to friends, but due to general format restrictions in my life, reading became more feasible for me to maintain the schedule than listening did.)

I very much enjoyed sticking to the schedule this time - I did a bit of a binge the last year after following the email format for a month, I read the rest in maybe two days. Going through it slower had me processing it a bit more and I mainly got to really appreciate the prose and tension. My main fault originally was giving this the horror movie treatment and thinking that Johnathan was oblivious, like he should expect the monster in the dark, when actually he was pushing forward in a new situation and was showing subtle signs of fearing something ominous. 

It was now nearly the hour of high tide, but the waves were so great that in their troughs the shallows of the shore were almost visible, and the schooner, with all sails set, was rushing with such speed that, in the words of one old salt, "she must fetch up somewhere, if it was only in hell."
— Whitby, The Daily Graph,  August 8

The Demeter running around was my particular favorite scene, and came across so dramatic. Imagine the unmanned ship crashing into the shores?? It is also a cool effect of the daily factor - we get the set up of this in the two previous entries from Mina where we get to picture this scenic cliffside cemetery, then get to envision it taken over by a storm. Really a truly thrilling scene, and despite not being the type to do much mental envisioning of a story, this part came across as so very illustrated to me.

Van Helsing was my favorite this time - just a strange little man popping in, keeping his secrets and slowly leaking out his theories in the right way so that the others can accept them rather than assume he's a madman. I loved his moments of empathy and appreciation for the rest of the cast. Favorite old man doctor/folklore enthusiast.

Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he said; "come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You must not be alone; for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. Come to the drawing-room, where there is a big fire, and there are two sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we sleep."
— Dr. Seward's Diary, September 20

And, as in my last review, I will restate: Lucy deserved so much better. 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

I've been struggling to get my apartment truly tidied since moving in over two years ago now - I figured with a new habitat and different stuff, I probably needed a refresher to help me get a handle on things. I'm well past the acceptable 'still unpacking' phase. So I've returned to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up for the second or third time since my initial reading in 2015.

My own outlook on any books in the self-help genre is "take what helps you and leave the rest." Which, in retrospect may have been a thought process I gained from Marie Kondo the first time around. But all self-help/motivation books really are more of a guideline than a set of rules. I'll keep an open mind, take the thought, sit with it, and discard it if it doesn't give me joy :) For me personally, the majority of Marie's core values sit very well and have helped me a lot between now and my first read almost a decade ago now. Being the child of a bit of a hoarder, it's advice that hasn't just helped me with stuff - I've applied it to my goals, my social life, and my financial choices.  With each read through, I might accept more of the advice here, since what I've taken so far seems to work so well for me.

A lot of people seem to get very stuck at some of the concepts in this book, and sometimes seem to deliberately misunderstand it. Obviously there are always going to be cultural differences, and Marie makes is clear there is a spiritual base to her systems - if that base doesn't align with your experience, the way she discusses objects can seem over the top. But just because it isn't our norm doesn't mean you can't benefit from taking a moment to be glad for an object helping you through your day or teaching you that it was a waste of money. One can be consciously thankful for a meal without praying before it. There are languages that have gendered objects; if you've ever had a "favorite" or "lucky" object, then you've applied this kind of emotional attachment in your life already, maybe just differently. Yes, she wants things to spark joy in your life, but she also says to consider an item's purpose - if your coat is unflattering but it's the only thing that keeps you warm when it's cold, then you can still appreciate what it brings to your life (just maybe keep an eye out for the opportunity to get a coat that would also make you happy to wear for fashion as well.)

If you feel offended by the concept of stuff going into the landfill, know that by already owning it, it will end up there one day, the amount of things that are still serviceable to other people or actually recyclable in current systems is based on a lot of wishful thinking - also touched upon by the sections about handing off your unwanted stuff to family or friends, and ditching your sentimentals at your parents home. A great way to combat this kind of waste is to learn what is or isn't useful or enjoyable in your life and don't obtain it in the first place, which can be a skill learned by looking at what you do have, taking the moment to consider items thoughtfully and how they personally affect your own existence. Marie Kondo is teaching us to be mindful and live our lives the way we want to.

And finally, on a very personal level:

On my visit this time, I have since joined the subset "30 something year old women finally diagnosed with ADHD because it was only for boys in the 90s and aughts" after an old school friend was like "remember all the stuff we struggled with in school and got in trouble for but bonded over, creating our life long friendship? turns out I have ADHD. and I've been thinking about it and I gotta say, girl…. you might have ADHD." (She was right, and my neurologist followed up with, "Girl, you definitely have ADHD.") That run-on sentence is to set up that I noticed that a lot of Marie's reasoning behind why she developed this kind of structure and outlook in her life - the actual specific examples of problems she had - were very on par with the way I struggle with things as well, which is probably a reason why that same friend and I really both resonated with this book. So, I suppose I'm saying that if you're the kinda ADHD person or has struggles parallel to ADHD that needs to develop a bit of a "system" to cope with (literal) things in your life, this one has really worked for us (me, my friend, and Marie obvs (girl….u might….))

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown

informative slow-paced

4.5

I initially saw this book in my StoryGraph feed from someone I follow reading it, and as a person of a certain age group, I did feel offense due to my emotional attachment to Pluto and decided I may check it out just for that reason. I picked it up for a shorter non-fiction audiobook listen that I wouldn't feel too invested, but ended up being more interesting than I expected.

How I Killed Pluto is a look into the astronomy world which, like all sciences seems to have its own drama culture. The actual "controversy" surrounding Brown's studies seems so minor and so interesting at the same time, and I was surprised with how invested I got with the database information being questionably accessed and the standards of discovery and reporting. I also loved hearing about his scientific approach and compulsion to collect and graph data on.... everything in his life, including the personal.

This actually isn't the first book I've read on the debate about scienctific classification conventions (Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller and Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science by Carol Kaesuk Yoon - both interesting books about flora and fauna taxonomy) but this one was about space!! Besides the change in actual subject matter, it didn't shock me that classification in space is just as fraught and emotionally vested as classification on Earth. So it didn't even take half of this book to let go of my emotional grasp on Pluto — I still love it, but I get it.

Overall, this was a fun foray into space for my first time since K-12 earth sciences, which for me, did all predate Pluto's demotion. I will give up my mnemonic of "My Very Excellent Mother Served Us Nine Pizzas" and giggle at "My Very Excellent Mother Served Us Nothing." I can remember and love Pluto on its own, anyway.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

My friends on instagram kept sharing that meme that was like, "A Christmas Carol the book is long and boring, don't read that when you can watch A Muppets Christmas Carol" and it's right that the Muppets adaptation is a wonderful gift to us all, but there's no need to slander the book!!! So out of spite I wanted to read this book again for Christmas. Unfortunately I got knocked completely off my feet with covid right before the holiday and didn't finish it until later, but it's fine because I still adore this book.

The thing I always really forget is that this story has such funny moments alongside the charming ones. Scrooge in general is a hoot - from insisting he ate a bit of bad pototoes to explain his ghost sightings, thinking that his welfare would be better cared for if the ghost hadn't interupted his sleep, and insisting that, no he was not crying, that's a pimple you see on my face!

But really is such a charming and hopeful story, and so short I can see now why it's such a classic that can be enjoyed year after year. And I did take it as a nice little reminder to appreciate the people and things around me.

Charles Dickens as the narrator just comes off so positive, I love the moments when he compliments a character. If they are not Scrooge, they have something good to be said about them.

"If that's not high praise, tell me higher, and I'll use it."

"If you should happen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh than Scrooge's nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too. Introduce him to me, and I'll cultivate his acquaintance."

And for Scrooge himself, he's not so bad as he's been stereotyped to be in pop culture now. (Another good reason to come back to the original on occasion!) After the first ghost's visit, he's openly ready to submit to learning the lesson. The edition I read this time remarks that, while Scrooge himself is frugal and does not pay his employee well or give to others, he doesn't go so far as trying to take what others have away. Sadly, that really hit home with me on how we would see a similar "villain" today, seeing as the Scrooge types today would not only be keeping for themselves, but doing their best to keep it from others as well.

And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year;

When I was younger, I used to think it was a cheap effort to be kinder on Christmas - shouldn't we be kind all the time? But now I can also appreciate the reminder to step back and look at life and take the moment to remember to be kind. And this book is quite a nice little reminder. 

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

funny informative slow-paced

3.75

 At the time of our hike, the Appalachian Trail was fifty-nine years old. That is, by American standards, incredibly venerable. The Oregon and Santa Fe trails didn't last as long. Route 66 didn't last as long. The old coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway, a road that brought transforming wealth and life to hundreds of little towns, so important and familiar that it became known as "America's Main Street, didn't last as long. Nothing in America does. If a product or enterprise doesn't constantly reinvent itself, it is superseded, cast aside, abandoned without sentiment in favor of something bigger, newer, and, alas, nearly always uglier.

My inclination to read this book was less for the topic and more for the author, so (spoiler alert) when Bryson and Katz do not actually finish hiking the Appalachian Trail, that didn't bother me so much. After reading The Body: A Guide for Occupants and A Short History of Nearly Everything, I was interested to see what one of Bryson's memoir style books were like.

I loved all the historical tidbits he included, and learned a lot of things I never even heard about despite living on the east coast my entire life. (The city in Pennsylvania that's been on fire for decades?? What?? And I may have to take the time to actually stop at the Delaware Water Gap on my next trip instead of driving right through.) I appreciated his dry humor towards the negligence or destruction of nature, especially by the groups that we expect to care for it.

I did not care much for the actual hike, to be honest, and to me it made a perfectly serviceable delivery system for the historical facts about the different locations. But I found myself feeling either ambivalent or leaving with a lesser impression of him after finishing the sections about his own hike. Bryson is very funny and I know he likes making fun of people along the trail, but I can’t fight the feeling that every woman gets a bit more flack than the men do :|

The End by Lemony Snicket

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

The Baudelaire orphans looked at one another sadly, realizing it was time at last to tell Kit Snicket the whole story, as she had told them. “We’ll forgive your failures,” Violet said, “if you’ll forgive ours.”

Respectfully: Thanks, I hated it!

For every answer we finally receive, I think we come out with two more questions. And I completely get that - the world is too mysterious, we are never going to get all the answers. We are very clearly told, it is not the whole story, but it is enough. Under the circumstances, it is the best for which you can hope. The Baudelaires have survived this particular series of unfortunate events - it does not mean they live happily ever after or at all, necessarily. Sadly, surviving these events does not guarantee them a better life. Life's not fair, after all.

In the less obscure moments, the big themes are really hammered in. You cannot shelter someone completely without also causing them harm. Good people can do bad things, and bad people can do good things. Even if you love someone you can still hurt them, or fail them.

There were very many emotional moments and a lot of prose and imagery in this book that I loved, it would be obnoxious to include all my favorite quotes in this review, but the pretty moments did almost make up for the disappointment of never knowing all the answers.

... for a minute the four castaways did nothing but weep, letting their tears run down their faces and into the sea, which some have said is nothing but a library of all the tears in history.

 

The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

 “But why didn’t anyone tell us what was going on?” Klaus asked. “Why did we have to figure things out all by ourselves?”

“I’m afraid that’s the wicked way of the world,” Dewey said, with a shake of his head. “Everything’s covered in smoke and mirrors, Baudelaires."

I think this was probably my favorite book in the series, with The Slippery Slope coming in right behind it. Things continue to get more and more unfortunate, and the Baudelaires persist through the events of their lives with discernment but have not become completely jaded.

I adored the themes in this book. I keep mentioning the gray morality of the world in all my reviews of these books, but the topic really continues to be pushed, and I appreciate there being a book for this target audience that emphasizes the world can be too complicated for everything to be black or white. The Baudelaires are shown making the choices they think are either right or what will protect them or their siblings - highlighting how complicated doing the good or bad thing is. Some of the errands they ran were bad, some were good, some completely nullified each other. Were they the right or wrong choices? (It's difficult to say.)

There is also a big discussion about forgiveness - and that forgiveness isn't an obligation but a choice, and the children choose to forgive the adults that failed them, and hope for better (even when they don't expect it to work out.)

When the Baudelaires thought about the harm that each J. S. had done to them, it was as if they had gotten a bruise quite some time ago, one that had mostly faded but that still hurt when they touched it, and when they touched this bruise it made them want to stomp off in a huff. But on that evening—or, more properly, very early Wednesday morning—the siblings did not want to stomp off into the hotel, where so many wicked people were gathered, or into the pond, which was likely to be very cold and clammy at this time of night. They wanted to forgive these two adults, and to embrace them, despite their disappointment.

Miscellaneous favorites:

• Kit's main condition being "distraught" with the pregnancy as an afterthought.
• I can't believe Charles hasn't broken up with Sir, like, get it together man!!
• "[The Baudelaires were] not born yesterday. Neither were you, unless of course I am wrong, in which case welcome to the world, little baby, and congratulations on learning to read so early in life."

 

The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

"Our stepfather probably didn’t tell you what happened to me—he always said there were secrets in this world too terrible for young people to know. What a fool!"

While action/adventure in this entry to the series was technically exciting and very tense, I didn't care for it so much - I think at this point I am just wanting maybe a few answers before we get a dozen more questions.

As with the previous books, I did especially love the moral discussions. The Hook-Handed Man/Fernald became more than just a henchman and I enjoyed his observation that people are like chef salads ("good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.") Saying that this puts everyone in the series on equal footing is a bit drastic, but it does make me feel sympathy for Fiona. We know she's making the "wrong" choice, but at the same time I get it, and not everyone makes the right choice every time.

We don't always have all the information, and we don't always know who we can trust. I especially liked the detail that Violet is judging Fernand from the information she found in the newspaper clipping and we still get the conflict - it is written by Jacques Snicket (a reliable? noble? person) but it was published in The Daily Punctilio, an extremely unreliable source.

My favorite parts were the bits of learning about Volunteer Factual Dispatch and Verse Fluctuation Declaration, especially learning slowly of the different skills taught to VFD that people in the Baudelaires life have been using through the whole series (e.g. Aunt Josephine's letter in The Wide Window)

Seeing the children take a more active role in their well being rather than passively accepting what the adults around them choose is pretty satisfying. I did a little mental fist-bump when they got in the taxi instead of following orders.

Additional notes re: audiobook format - Tim Curry's enactments of Captain Widdershins' bits gave me the giggles almost every time, when I think they would have annoyed me to actually read through. I think in general, his delivery makes the repetition in the books more enjoyable, and I do usually have fun with the repetition, so it's like double fun for me. 

The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

I keep feeling the urge to pick "hopeful" as a mood for some of the books in this series, but that's really completely wrong. Things are always so unfortunate for the Baudelaires that when they get to actually learn some information or have a calm moment, I'm like, "Ah!!! Things will be okay then, maybe!" Whoops.

There is something I adored specifically about this book and the leadup to the moment ... the KNIFE. Violet carries this butter knife in her pocket since they leave the caravan from the carnival, and there are multiple moments when she puts her hand in her pocket, touches it, wonders if now is the time to try and use her weapon. In previous books the Baudelaires have been thinking or discussing different choices they've made, and their actions compared to Count Olaf's and his accomplice. When they are between a rock and a hard place they are trying to determine what makes them any different if they are making such similar choices. Do their motives really a difference? And the last time Violet considers the knife in her pocket she realizes - the knife is not just a weapon. The knife is a tool!! And how you use that tool determines what kind of person you are much more than whether you used it or not. This moment was just so satisfying. Thank u.

There is also the more dramatic moment of the kids setting up a trap to catch Esme and use her as a hostage, then realizing it was taking things too far, which makes it clear they know who they are and that they want to be good. Another big thing the kids have been questioning is if they really knew their parents - and how could they hide something as big as the VFD from them? Were they good or bad? But when they come together and discuss the good luck (ha! good luck!) of their combined skills being so helpful to their dilemma and they realize - their parents may not have told them everything, but they were beginning to include them in their world by nurturing the skills in their children that would help them in the future, which means they saw them as capable of knowing the whole thing someday. Yeah!!!!!!! What an awesome moment for kids to see as they grow!!

I said it in my review of the first book and I'll say it again now - while reading these books as an adult feels quite a bit more wretched with a fuller understanding of the world - seeing the way topics are discussed and that you can't shy away from every slightly scary thing in the world to try and protect kids, it's confirming to me these are actually great books for the target audience. The world is gonna be out there whether we prepare kids or not, and there is no way on knowing when the rug will be pulled out, so I think it's probably a good idea to introduce slowly than try to hide from the darkness completely.

ALSO, this passage broke my heart a little:

“Hello?” Violet called, looking around her at the rubble. “Hello?” She found that her eyes were filling with tears, as she called out for the people she knew in her heart were nowhere nearby. The eldest Baudelaire felt as if she had been calling for these people since that terrible day on the beach, and that if she called them enough they might appear before her. She thought of all the times she had called them, back when she lived with her siblings in the Baudelaire mansion. Sometimes she called them when she wanted them to see something she had invented. Sometimes she called them when she wanted them to know she had arrived home. And sometimes she called them just because she wanted to know where they were. Sometimes Violet just wanted to see them, and feel that she was safe as long as they were around. “Mother!” Violet Baudelaire called. “Father!”

There was no answer.

 

The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

4.25

I think I have to admit I may be enjoying these later books in the series more as an adult than I could have as a kid. Maybe it's also that I never made it this far in the series before "growing out of it" and the past few books have been where the deeper plotlines start to pull together, but I truly am enjoying the themes in the story.

The Baudelaires are in the belly of the beast (that one counts) after they have to choose to hitch a ride with their literal worst enemy against his knowledge rather than perish in the fire at Heimlich Hospital. They know they can just run - but have the wits to realize Olaf will only just keep chasing them, and it while it is a more dangerous choice, sticking around to gain more knowledge may have them get ahead of their enemies rather than be chased by them. To do so, the children have to take a leaf out of Olaf's book and disguise themselves, not only to hide from Olaf himself, but because of the false accusations from the Daily Punctilio stating they are murderers.

I love the ongoing discussion of the guilt the children feel when they have to make choices that remind them too much of the villains - are they just as bad, when they are doing the same things for a different reason? Is it still bad if they are just trying to level the playing field when the world is wrongly against them?

Even after being disappointed by so many guardians and being betrayed by adults they thought they could trust, I loved that we are reminded the Baudelaires are still, deep down, hopeful about other people and want to have faith in them. They see Olivia/Madame LuLu as someone not too far gone to the wrong side of VFD, and they want to save her and give her a chance. And while it's made clear in the last moments of the book that she did give their identities away to Count Olaf - I like to think she still could have found the courage to do the right thing in the end, had she not been eaten by lions, of course. And the children continue to show their goodness by feeling sad and remorseful about her death despite the fact that she let them down. She seems like one of the adults that had the potential to be a better person if she had made better choices, ranking her somewhere closer to Aunt Josephine rather than Jerome Squalor on the scale for 'Adults in the Baudelaires lives who may not be actively trying to hurt them but sure haven't actively tried to help.'