I really slacked with reading this year. I just kept getting in movie moods instead, but here are the few books I read in 2018. My 2019 goal is to double this.
Crazy is my Super Power - AJ Mendez-Brooks
I haven't watched wrestling in years, but I still love reading wrestlers' memoirs. I had heard AJ covered a lot about mental health, so that peaked my interest. She does speak of it extensively and I love her for it. My only complaint is she barely talks about wrestling at all. I love backstage stories and really only the final few chapters are devoted to it. It surprised me how little it was mentioned.
B
Meaty - Samantha Irby
After We Are Never Meeting In Real Life became my favorite book from last year, I had to check out Samantha's earlier work. It was hilarious. Not as polished as her second novel but I still feel like I relate to her so much.
A-
Attack on Titan: No Regrets vol 1 and 2 - Gun Snark & Hajime Isayama
Last year during one of the TV editions of Thursday Movie Picks where we had to find non English TV shows, I picked non English shows I planned on watching. One of those was Attack on Titan and I dove in head first. I ended up reading these two volumes as they were side stories on Levi, one of my favorite characters. I loved getting that extra knowledge and now I've started following the main manga online.
A-
Why Not Me - Mindy Kaling
I adore Mindy, and while Marathoning the Office this year I decided to pick up her second book. I found it really interesting and I'm not going to lie I was trying to Google some of the people she talked about with fake names because I love drama like that.
B
One More Thing - B.J Novak
Another product of my office binge, I'm really impressed by how wonderful of a writer Novak really is. Not that I ever doubted it, but it was nice to see so much of his work in one place. This is collection of short stories and some of them are pretty bland but most are wonderful. I'd love to read something else by him.
B+
The Broken Girls - Simone St. James
This book is way better than it has any right being. St. James tells multiple stories at the same time and you'd think it would get messy but it never does. I love mysteries and this satisfied all of my cravings.
A
Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
From her blog post of the same name, I love that Reni expanded on this. This is such an important book and I found it so fascinating. I will say that the first chapter is a lot because she's talking about Black History in the U.K and for me personally, I knew nothing about it so I felt like I was getting a massive info dump but the rest of the chapters are clearly in her voice.
A
Wilde Lake - Laura Lippman
I love Laura, she's one of my favorite authors and Wilde Lake has been one of the best she's written in a while. All of her books are mysteries and even though this one was slightly predictable, it was a page turner that I couldn't put down.
A
Here is a list of bookings I've read in 2017 followed by a few quick thoughts.
Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
This is a post apocalyptic-ish book about a traveling theater company going through the upper midwest after a flu wipes out the majority of the population. It also checks in with other people outside of the theater company who are all connected by the people they know. It's absolutely fascinating and it touches up on things a lot of shows like The Walking Dead ignore - that eventually gasoline goes bad and you can't use cars anymore. - A
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Man, the story is so interesting but so poorly executed. Literally half of this book is an 80's pop culture circle jerk. I'm not sure who the target audience for this book was supposed to be, but damn, I get what you're talking about. I don't need 10 pages explaining it. For what it's worth, this will probably make a decent movie because they can eliminate all the tedious pop culture knowledge. D
It - Stephen King
I decided that it was kind of ridiculous that I've read two Joe Hill books but never read anything from Stephen King. I now realize that Hill does not have his own voice and he took a lot of inspiration for Nos4ra2 from this novel. Overall, I liked It. It's not perfect, I didn't like the catalyst to ending the children's story and there's way too much filler. (The book clocks in at over 1100 pages) but the story is good.
B
The Circle - Dave Eggers
This book was fascinating. I couldn't relate to the lead character, Mae at all because nearly everything she does is so ridiculous but it makes you think. It's a shame that Emma Watson was cast as the lead in the film adaption. She'll probably ruin it.
B
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
This movie was one of my favorites when I was young. I haven't seen it in years, but while browsing the shelves I came across it and decided it was time to read it. I'm glad I did. The book is very frank. It's written in letter form, much like We Need To Talk About Kevin. From my memories of the movie, it was adapted fairly well. I enjoyed reading it.
A
Dolores Claiborne - Stephen King
This book is only 300 pages yet it felt like the longest 300 pages I've ever read. It takes 100 pages for you to find out why Dolores killed her husband, 100 more to explain why she did it, then I expected some grand twist with the last pages and nothing happened. To be fair, It wasn't a terrible book, and I bet the movie version is really good, but it's not something I'd ever read again.
C-
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
Having watched a trainwreck of a family (that I won't name because they don't need attention) who spectacularly fail at homesteading and unschooling, I took a suggestion to better understand how a child would view this type of lifestyle and picked up this book. I was completely fascinated and horrified by all that Jeannette went through. I'm legitimately surprised she still talks to her parents. I wouldn't.
A
The Handmaind's Tale - Margaret Atwood
After all the buzz surrounding the mini series, I picked up this book until I could binge this with a friend that has HULU. I liked the book well enough, but the series was so much better as it expanded on more. Atwood's book, while beautifully written and interesting has a habit of being quite vague. I appreciated more insight.
B
11/22/63 - Stephen King
Man, I love Stephen King's stories but his writing style drives me crazy. There's so much junk. This book is 800 pages long (or in my case, over 1000 because my library only had large print available) and it didn't need to be. Ultimately, having to dig for interesting plot points wasn't worth it.
C
The Vagina Monolouges - Eve Ensler
I finally got around to reading this book and I was long overdue. The stories in here are all so unique. They're funny, sad, inspiring, I can't recommend this enough.
A+
Thrawn - Timothy Zahn
After watching Star Wars Rebels I was curious to know why everyone was so hyped for him. This did a good job of showing his backstory but it was a bit long. I hate to say it, but a Wikipedia page would've sufficed.
C
The Snowman - Jo Nesbø
I love mysteries but this one took m forever to get into then once I did, I just didn't care. I just wanted this to be better than it actually was. I read it because I wanted to see the film, and after this, I ended up skipping that to.
C-
We Are Never Meeting In Real Life - Samantha Irby
This is hands down my favorite thing I read in 2017. I am a full on Samantha Irby stan after this. This book is a collection of essays and she's so funny and sincere and I could relate so much. I plan on reading this over and over again.
A+
War for the Planet of the Apes - Reveations - Gregory Keyes
You all know how much I love the Planet of the Ape reboots. After enjoying the prequel novel that came before this, Firestorm, I picked this one up as well. It offered a lot of insight to characters we don't normally hear from, like Blue Eyes, Cornelia, and Rocket. (Making the film all the more tragic) Like the other novel, the chapters from the human point of views weren't very interesting, but I loved reading what the apes had to say.
A
Persepolis- Marjane Satrapi
When I went to check this out at the library, someone had misplaced it. I spent a good 20 minutes searching for it before I eventually found it and it was worth the effort. This graphic novel was fascinating, and I'd love to see the documentary on it as well.
A+
I didn't get to read as many new books as I would've liked this year. I was re-reading the Harry Potter books for a while, and also re-read A Game Of Thrones. Here are some quick thoughts on the new ones I did pick up.
The Girl With All The Gifts - M.R Carey
I picked up this book as a friend shared a list of "bookings with surprise endings." Outside of The Walking Dead comics, I haven't read a lot of zombie fiction. I really enjoyed this one, it's very different from what I expected it to be, but it is overwhelmingly sad. - B+
After I'm Gone - Laura Lippman
More Laura for me! This one was structured a bit differently than her other books where we're focused half on victims and half on law enforcement. Our POVs here were all members of a family where the dad bailed on them. I liked is quite a bit, it made for an engaging murder mystery as always. - B+
The Three-Body Problem - Liu Cixin
This book was heavy. I remember thinking The Martian felt very science heavy (and I enjoyed that) but it has nothing on this. This is a very popular book in China that recently was translated into English. There's a lot of physics here, so much that I had a hard time following it during its snail pace of a build. This one just wasn't for me, no matter how much I wanted to like it. The story itself was interesting, but the journey there didn't feel worth it once we got to the pay off. - C
When A Fan Hits the Shit - Jeanine Renne.
Ahhh, fandom wank. Sometimes you just can't look away. I used to be into the Lord of the Rings fandom, but I never came across this shit storm when it was happening. Renne writes about a massive con she fell for. The sad part is that con artist is apparently still out trolling the Harry Potter and Supernatural fandoms. A self published book isn't without its faults, and the last 70 or so pages are a shared chat log between people pretending to channel hobbits that made me so uncomfortable I stopped reading it, but the actual story of the con was fascinating. - B
Goat - Brad Land
I'm utterly confused by the praise this book is getting. I hate saying that about a memoir, especially when the author went through so much, but he desperately needed an editor. The writing is completely stilted and he used no punctuation. The lack of quotations when the people were speaking made it so hard to read. Plus, and editor would've cleaned up sentences like "He said later, I said later." This is being made into a movie, which I'm sure will be much better way to tell the story - F
When She Was Good - Laura Lippman
This book got off to a slow start, but then I got so invested in it to the point where I actually got super pissed at the main character for a page, then got over it. I feel like if I wanted too I could run a pretty successful, lowkey escort agency after reading it too. Not Lippman's best, but she never really does bad. - C+
Nos4ra2 - Joe Hill
I started reading this in the auto shop while my oil was being changed. A nice old man commented on how "kids never read these days" then asked me what this book was about. There wasn't really a way to sugar coat this. It was another hard start for me, then it was brutally fascinating, then it felt about 300 pages too long. Good story, but overly long and extremely inconsistent at times. C+
Scrappy Little Nobody - Anna Kendrick
I like Anna Kendrick quite a bit, and I enjoyed reading her stories. Especially when she talks about not knowing much about stylists when she's faced with her first red carpet events. I do think she really stretched what she could fit in this book. She has a chapter completely devoted to all the parties she'd "love" to have and another focusing on an ill fated boating trip she took which felt out of place, yet she glosses over what it was like to receive a Tony nomination almost completely. But it was a nice quick read, I finished the book in about two hours total. B-
Where Am I Now - Mara Wilson
I loved Mara when I was a kid, and I've enjoyed her Twitter account and podcast appearances she's done since quitting acting. I'm glad she calls herself "pretentious" in the first chapter because that's how her writing really felt..completely pretentious. I like how she touched up on anxiety and OCD, but I got the feeling that she really seems to look down on a lot of people. It could be because I read this right after finishing Anna Kendrick's, and she was very self deprecating. I found a good amount of what Mara was saying interesting but I couldn't shake the tone. C+
Here's some quick thoughts about the books I tackled this year. Here's hoping for another (mostly) good year of reading!
Beneath The Surface - John Hargrove
Hargrove was one of the former trainers featured on Blackfish and was the only one working at SeaWorld at the time of Dawn Brancheau's death. He managed to add a lot of perspective about some of the dangers at SeaWorld and wasn't nearly as repetitive as he could've been. A
The Princess and the Queen - George R. R. Martin
The Targaryens are so batshit. Seriously, all of them except Egg and Bloodraven. Okay, they probably were too but but they're my favorites. I thought this was a bit long, but I enjoy the world GRRM has made, so I didn't mind reading about the crazy Targs in all their glory. C
Captain America: Civil War - Mark Millar
I figured I'd brush up on the comic so I could be reminded of how much they're going to change in the movie. Maria Hill was almost too bitchy in this, right? B
Life Sentences - Laura Lippman
Lippman is becoming one of my favorite authors. All of her books follow a similiar formula, but she knows how to write a crime novel, so I'm find with it. Although this didn't have the most satisfying ending, I didn't see the conclusion coming from a mile away, and that's always nice. B+
The Martian - Andy Weir
I devoured this book. I'm not the biggest sci fi reader, though my husband is constantly recommending books for me to read, I took him up on this one and I'm glad I did. I was very thoughtful and nearly gave me a heart attack at one point. A+
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
This is supposed to be a classic, but I find it severely overrated now that I actually got through it. It's a chunky marathon of a book that offers a good heroine, but not exactly an engaging story to match her. Smith gets almost too descriptive (yes, that can happen) and its 500+ pages might as well have been 1000. It felt that long. Francie deserved a better book than this. F
What The Dead Know - Laura Lippman
Another Lippman, and she actually reused some of the minor characters from Life Sentences, which was kind of cool. This was another one that didn't have a shocking ending, I figured out part of it very early one, but I have no complaints. B
To The Power of Three - Laura Lippman
This might be my least favorite of hers that I've read, but "Least favorite Lippman" is still high above some of the other books I've read. She uses the same minor characters from previous novels again, but this was the first time I actually felt like some of the points of view she used could've been completely cut out and it wouldn't have altered the story. Peter was worthless. Kat's dad getting back with his ex wife was pointless. Less time could've been devoted to Eve. At least the book offered more depth than it's summary suggested, because just reading that makes it sound awful. B-
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
I never read this book when I was in high school like I should've, so I decided while waiting for other books to give this a read, it's only a little over 200 pages. I would've loved this as a teen. I appreciate it as an adult. One thing that realy stood out to me was how poorly written it was at the start, like a 15 year old would actually write, then as Charlie got to be a better writer, it showed in his letters. That was a nice touch. A-
I'd Know You Anywhere - Laura Lippman
I know. Original, right? This was the first book of hers where she didn't alter between multiple characters until about 22 chapters in. Then it only stayed between 4. This also wasn't set in Baltimore, and I found how much I missed her writing about it. It's very different than her other books, but the characters in this one were very infuriating. It picks up pace towards the end, but it was hard to "love" this one. C
Room- Emma Donghue
It's an interesting perspective as it is told from the POV of a five year old, but at the same time that narrative makes it a bit awkward to read. I thought as the book went on, the adults started to sound exactly like the five year old did, and it's not that he got better with his speech, they got worse. It's definitely a slow burn, but a good one. B
The Luckiest Girl Alive - Jessica Knoll
The cover of this book will tell you it's like reading Gillian Flynn, only it isn't. It's like reading someone who wishes they could be Gillian Flynn. My biggest gripe on this book is a completely unlikable lead character in TifAni. At 28, she's about to marry a rich guy that will set her for life. She's entitled, spoiled, rude, and catty. Then it flashes back to her time in high school where she's...entitled, spoiled, rude and catty. The fact that she's suffered through two very serious acts of violence doesn't rub off on her at all. She has the same voice at 14 as she does at 28. It's a little sad when the best chapter in the book is the one with all the violence. And the more I think about it, this reminds me a lot of To The Power of Three, only not nearly as good. D
The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
This book was one I had been waiting months to read (long waitlist at the library) and it was absolutely worth the wait. It's a proper mystery that handles alcoholism very well. Rachel, the lead, is very likable even when she's a complete mess. The ending does hit one fairly big cliche that I don't care for, but it was so engaging I can't fault it. A
Devoted - Jennifer Mathieu
Anyone who reads my blog knows I have a morbid fascination with religious fundamentalism and this piece of fiction was based off of the Quiverfull movement, (You know, the ones those damn Duggars are part of) It's strange to see all the things I've seen snarked about online written in this format. It was so good, and I really hope the author writes a sequel. A
Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
I went into this book expecting it to be entirely a love triangle and it was so much more than than. Eilis is a character that I felt I could relate to so much. It's such a quick read, only about 267 pages, but I enjoyed every word of her journey. A
The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
I picked up this book since a movie I was looking forward too, Carol was being released. I can appreciate the fact that this was written in the 50's when gay relationships were very taboo and I think the author is brave for doing so, but the book was such a bore. The edition I was reading was terrible too. It was printed and spaced to where it was like reading a movie script and there were tons of spelling and punctuation errors. That may have contributed to me not liking it, but I wanted to so badly. D
