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omnomicons's Reviews (139)
The pretentious, literary, Didion fan club is lying to you. Though it’s unarguable that Didion is a great writer, I found these essays dull and the opposite of engaging. The experience of walking through waist-deep mud while listening to Gregorian chants is similar to my mental state while reading this: not entirely unenjoyable, but definitely not what I’d prefer to be doing at any given time. Read this if you are a regular enjoyer of nonfiction or if you have boring friends.
AAPI queerness in 1950s SF Chinatown! I can honestly say I’ve read no other books with that premise, but Lo provides a gripping primer into every part of that concept. I think I probably liked this book extra because I was reading it almost exclusively in San Francisco, seeing the same things discussed in the book whilst walking around. Regardless, I felt attached and protective of the characters and this book was a thoroughly interesting read. It wasn’t the best-written book I’ve ever read, but I’m glad I read it.
Doerr’s earlier book, All The Light We Cannot See, is probably one of my favorite books of all time, so I was obviously excited to read Cloud Cuckoo Land. Interesting concept to base the novel around a story from Diogenes, and I was always unsure how much of the classics incorporated into this novel was real or made up. Doerr is fantastic at making you care about characters (maybe too much, i teared up on the Caltrain reading this) and his prose is as beautiful as always. However, I have to say, I thought the plot wasn’t as organized as All The Light We Cannot See.
Wow, you can see why this won the Pulitzer Prize. Such a cool concept and great execution. Fun read, I didn’t want to put it down, but also didn’t think about going back to it when I wasn’t actively reading it. In other words, the reading experience was thoroughly enjoyable but I wasn’t dying to continue.
Holy shit, this was sad. Good intro into the religious attitudes in both urban and rural India, but characters feel clearly split into categories of hero and villain, both of which feel cartoonishly characterized at times. Amazing prose.
Babitz’s writing is funny and refreshing, and some of the situations she finds herself in are so outrageous you can’t help but laugh. As someone who reads almost exclusively fiction, this was some of my favorite nonfiction I’ve ever read.
Loses its way in terms of pace in some places, but overall an enjoyable read. Somewhat dull in certain sections but other parts make up for it.
The vast majority of my reading time comes on the commute to and from work — uninterrupted time for sustained silent reading. I generally don’t read after I get home because there are other things I prefer to do. Beach Read sucked me in so thoroughly that after I got home from work, I dropped onto my bed without changing out of my work clothes and read another 200 pages nonstop. The first half of the book is a masterpiece in romance: I was feeling butterflies on behalf of the main character and though it was cliche, it never felt trite. Henry makes the most important decision of this entire novel, which is to lean into the cliches and write unabashedly. This novel has no shame, and it shouldn’t! I picked it up as an easy and enjoyable read to pass time. Don’t get me wrong: Beach Read didn’t teach me any important moral lessons or unveil any groundbreaking philosophy. Regardless, it was stellar at its job. I fell in love with the characters and only ever wished for it to be longer. My only critique is the unevenness of the pace: I understand that the book couldn’t go too long, but the book picks up disorientingly fast about halfway through, then slows to its original pace in the last 50 pages. Henry’s characters made me not care about all that. Beach Read might be one of my favorite books of 2022.