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Kiwiria's March Madness
Apr. 1st, 2022 03:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiwiriaOne of Us is Lying - Karen M. McManus, 4/5, 360 pages
I've been wanting to read this for several years, and with good reason as it turned out. I could not put it down and just wanted to know both what happened next, and the reason why everything was happening.
Fortunately it did not disappoint. Karen McManus managed to keep me guessing until the very end, while still providing a believable and satisfying conclusion to everything. I'm not usually a fan of the unreliable narrator writing style, but thanks to the nature of the book (and the characters) it totally worked here.
The characters have been compared to those from "The Breakfast Club", and I totally get that. There are definitely shades of some of them (Bender especially), but I think they did a better job of bending stereotypes here - although that's probably because the plot was stretched out over more than just a Saturday.
I did have a few issues here and there, which pulled the rating down a notch, but I still really liked it, and will definitely be looking into more books by this author.
Laurus - Eugene Vodolazkin, 3/5, Audiobook ~13hrs
Not entirely sure it was the right decision to 'read' this as an audiobook. There were several times where I would have liked to flip back and reread passages (especially when he started skipping around in time - that part really threw me at first), so I'm pretty sure I missed stuff along the way.
I liked the beginning, and the atmosphere reminded me quite a bit of both "Pope Joan" and "Physician" which are two of my favourite historical novels, but I wasn't entirely comfortable with how he treated Ustina, and while I found his experiences as a holy fool interesting, this was also the point where the author decided to start treating time as inconsequential, and I couldn't always figure out exactly what happened when.
But it was quite a departure from my normal reading habits, and I appreciated being pushed out of my comfort zone like this.
The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club - Sophie Green, 4.5/5, 432 pages
I basically picked up this book because of the title, and stayed on because of its setting. The atmosphere is very much "Cooper's Crossing" (from the TV show "Flying Doctors"). It's a bit slow to start, but I soon ended up absolutely loving it.
You follow the lives of 5 women and their families over the duration of 3'ish years - share in their joys and sorrows, their hardships and their successes. It doesn't shy away from describing the hardships of an Outback existence, but never becomes a depressing book, even if not everybody gets the HEA we could have wished for.
The book is written in vignettes and jumps from character to character, but with enough of a red thread that it never feels disjointed, and I grew to love all the women of the book club - even if Kate did quickly become (and remain) my favourite).
An unassuming book, that I ended up loving a lot more than I had expected to.
Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind*, 5/5, Audiobook ~34hrs
My 10'th reread or something about as good - I still love it. While the later books in the series definitely have their weaknesses, this first one is fantasy when it's best.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl*, 4/5, 121 pages
I recently saw the musical version of this and wanted to reread it as they made some weird changes (Charlie's father was dead, several of the other children actually died at the factory rather than just having misfortunes). It's still very much worth reading :-)
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear - Walter Moers*, 3.5/5, 710 pages
Unfortunately I have to downgrade the rating from 5 stars to 4. I still like it, but man it is WAY too long! Would definitely have benefitted from a better editor. Some of the 'lives' were fine, but Atlantis especially was waaaaaay too longwinded, and I found myself skimming a lot of the descriptions of architecture and creatures living there, as well as many of the 99 rounds Bluebear went in his final duel.
I've been wanting to read this for several years, and with good reason as it turned out. I could not put it down and just wanted to know both what happened next, and the reason why everything was happening.
Fortunately it did not disappoint. Karen McManus managed to keep me guessing until the very end, while still providing a believable and satisfying conclusion to everything. I'm not usually a fan of the unreliable narrator writing style, but thanks to the nature of the book (and the characters) it totally worked here.
The characters have been compared to those from "The Breakfast Club", and I totally get that. There are definitely shades of some of them (Bender especially), but I think they did a better job of bending stereotypes here - although that's probably because the plot was stretched out over more than just a Saturday.
I did have a few issues here and there, which pulled the rating down a notch, but I still really liked it, and will definitely be looking into more books by this author.
Laurus - Eugene Vodolazkin, 3/5, Audiobook ~13hrs
Not entirely sure it was the right decision to 'read' this as an audiobook. There were several times where I would have liked to flip back and reread passages (especially when he started skipping around in time - that part really threw me at first), so I'm pretty sure I missed stuff along the way.
I liked the beginning, and the atmosphere reminded me quite a bit of both "Pope Joan" and "Physician" which are two of my favourite historical novels, but I wasn't entirely comfortable with how he treated Ustina, and while I found his experiences as a holy fool interesting, this was also the point where the author decided to start treating time as inconsequential, and I couldn't always figure out exactly what happened when.
But it was quite a departure from my normal reading habits, and I appreciated being pushed out of my comfort zone like this.
The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club - Sophie Green, 4.5/5, 432 pages
I basically picked up this book because of the title, and stayed on because of its setting. The atmosphere is very much "Cooper's Crossing" (from the TV show "Flying Doctors"). It's a bit slow to start, but I soon ended up absolutely loving it.
You follow the lives of 5 women and their families over the duration of 3'ish years - share in their joys and sorrows, their hardships and their successes. It doesn't shy away from describing the hardships of an Outback existence, but never becomes a depressing book, even if not everybody gets the HEA we could have wished for.
The book is written in vignettes and jumps from character to character, but with enough of a red thread that it never feels disjointed, and I grew to love all the women of the book club - even if Kate did quickly become (and remain) my favourite).
An unassuming book, that I ended up loving a lot more than I had expected to.
Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind*, 5/5, Audiobook ~34hrs
My 10'th reread or something about as good - I still love it. While the later books in the series definitely have their weaknesses, this first one is fantasy when it's best.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl*, 4/5, 121 pages
I recently saw the musical version of this and wanted to reread it as they made some weird changes (Charlie's father was dead, several of the other children actually died at the factory rather than just having misfortunes). It's still very much worth reading :-)
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear - Walter Moers*, 3.5/5, 710 pages
Unfortunately I have to downgrade the rating from 5 stars to 4. I still like it, but man it is WAY too long! Would definitely have benefitted from a better editor. Some of the 'lives' were fine, but Atlantis especially was waaaaaay too longwinded, and I found myself skimming a lot of the descriptions of architecture and creatures living there, as well as many of the 99 rounds Bluebear went in his final duel.
