Wednesday Reading Meme
What I Just Finished Reading: Three books this week, but only one good one. I read Goblin by Josh Malerman, The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist by Sophie Gonzalez, and The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy. Reviews below.
I also DNF'ed Dungeon Crawler Carl, that "litrpg" book. It was EXACTLY like a video game, with dialogue that basically consisted of setting up the rules and then huge chunks where it's just the character, like, opening up the things he's won. Like, "Congrats, you killed a gremlin. You've earned blah blah blah, insert unfunny joke here." Really awful.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm close to finishing The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone, the spider story, which is super good and creepy and UGH BUGS.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I think I'm going to alternate between library books, the last 3 books I need to read for my bingo prompts, and my Dusty Bookshelf and/or Finish What You Started books. So probably between Skitter (second book of the Hatching series, library book), The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (bingo pick), and Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell (dusty bookshelf).
124. Goblin by Josh Malerman
A series of novellas that take place in the same general timeframe in the town of Goblin, where the cops may take the village name a little too literally.
I’ll just cut to the chase: none of the stories were very good. They all suffer from the same strange affliction of being both too long and too short at the same time. The author seems to stretch out scenes that don’t matter - we’re told every turn and street a boy takes on his bike to get to a magic show, for example - and then when there’s a supernatural reveal with the magician, it literally takes up one line. Between the pacing problems, the two-dimensional characters, the acid-trip stories, and the open endings,, this just felt like a waste of my time.
Also, spoiler warning for animal deaths.
Dates Read: October 23 to 25, 2024
Page Count: 410
1 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges BINGO - N42 (20/25)
125. The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist by Sophie Gonzalez
This YA book started off pleasant enough, with a reasonably realistic look at juggling high school friendship, crushes, and sexuality. Ivy has a fun and sarcastic inner voice. Her and her best friend Henry, who’s the gay-best-friend trope without actually being gay, are big fans of a sci-fi show about teen superheroes, and during a stormy night Ivy accidentally brings the fictional star of the show to life.
Too bad that’s the premise, because that’s where the fun stopped. Ivy is a fanfic writer, but she’s an AWFUL self-insert, doesn’t care about spelling and grammar, cheesetastic fanfic writer. Every version she has of her star, Weston, is cringeworthy. She’s not only inserting herself into the fics she writes but she’s using Weston as a substitute too, which I have NEVER heard of a fanfic author doing (and I wrote enough of the things.) We fanfic writers write because we love the characters and want to continue their stories, not to make them into someone else.
This was just so frustrating. I was hoping for something like Rainbow Rowell’s fantastic Fangirl. If you are thinking of picking this one up, get that instead.
Dates Read: October 25 to 26, 2024
Page Count: 298
2 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges Bingo - B3 (21/25)
126. The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy
150 years after plague and war had devastated the world, a group of survivors in a despotic community escape, hoping for a better future in what was once Oregon.
This was fantastic. The author did a brilliant job of describing the post-apocalyptic landscape, both in the barren world of Sanctuary and the world outside its gates. I really felt I was living and breathing in that world. The characters are also complex and interesting. Each one feels as though he or she is the ‘star’ of their own story. I also like the author’s play on mutations in this world and what it means going forward.
If I had one complaint, it would be that a few times the action jumps ahead in time and the author just fills in what happened with a few sentences, and sometimes they are quite pivotal moments. I wonder if he or his publishers felt the book was getting too long? I wish there’d been a way to supply those scenes because I really felt like I was missing out.
The book itself has a satisfying conclusion but the ending definitely lends itself to a sequel. Unfortunately I don’t see one published, but a girl can hope.
Dates Read: October 26 to 27, 2024
Page Count: 417
4 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges Bingo I25 - (22/25)
+ Challenge Factory Save The Bees - character buys locally-grown product (Task 7A)
.
I also DNF'ed Dungeon Crawler Carl, that "litrpg" book. It was EXACTLY like a video game, with dialogue that basically consisted of setting up the rules and then huge chunks where it's just the character, like, opening up the things he's won. Like, "Congrats, you killed a gremlin. You've earned blah blah blah, insert unfunny joke here." Really awful.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm close to finishing The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone, the spider story, which is super good and creepy and UGH BUGS.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I think I'm going to alternate between library books, the last 3 books I need to read for my bingo prompts, and my Dusty Bookshelf and/or Finish What You Started books. So probably between Skitter (second book of the Hatching series, library book), The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (bingo pick), and Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell (dusty bookshelf).
124. Goblin by Josh Malerman
A series of novellas that take place in the same general timeframe in the town of Goblin, where the cops may take the village name a little too literally.
I’ll just cut to the chase: none of the stories were very good. They all suffer from the same strange affliction of being both too long and too short at the same time. The author seems to stretch out scenes that don’t matter - we’re told every turn and street a boy takes on his bike to get to a magic show, for example - and then when there’s a supernatural reveal with the magician, it literally takes up one line. Between the pacing problems, the two-dimensional characters, the acid-trip stories, and the open endings,, this just felt like a waste of my time.
Also, spoiler warning for animal deaths.
Dates Read: October 23 to 25, 2024
Page Count: 410
1 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges BINGO - N42 (20/25)
125. The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist by Sophie Gonzalez
This YA book started off pleasant enough, with a reasonably realistic look at juggling high school friendship, crushes, and sexuality. Ivy has a fun and sarcastic inner voice. Her and her best friend Henry, who’s the gay-best-friend trope without actually being gay, are big fans of a sci-fi show about teen superheroes, and during a stormy night Ivy accidentally brings the fictional star of the show to life.
Too bad that’s the premise, because that’s where the fun stopped. Ivy is a fanfic writer, but she’s an AWFUL self-insert, doesn’t care about spelling and grammar, cheesetastic fanfic writer. Every version she has of her star, Weston, is cringeworthy. She’s not only inserting herself into the fics she writes but she’s using Weston as a substitute too, which I have NEVER heard of a fanfic author doing (and I wrote enough of the things.) We fanfic writers write because we love the characters and want to continue their stories, not to make them into someone else.
This was just so frustrating. I was hoping for something like Rainbow Rowell’s fantastic Fangirl. If you are thinking of picking this one up, get that instead.
Dates Read: October 25 to 26, 2024
Page Count: 298
2 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges Bingo - B3 (21/25)
126. The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy
150 years after plague and war had devastated the world, a group of survivors in a despotic community escape, hoping for a better future in what was once Oregon.
This was fantastic. The author did a brilliant job of describing the post-apocalyptic landscape, both in the barren world of Sanctuary and the world outside its gates. I really felt I was living and breathing in that world. The characters are also complex and interesting. Each one feels as though he or she is the ‘star’ of their own story. I also like the author’s play on mutations in this world and what it means going forward.
If I had one complaint, it would be that a few times the action jumps ahead in time and the author just fills in what happened with a few sentences, and sometimes they are quite pivotal moments. I wonder if he or his publishers felt the book was getting too long? I wish there’d been a way to supply those scenes because I really felt like I was missing out.
The book itself has a satisfying conclusion but the ending definitely lends itself to a sequel. Unfortunately I don’t see one published, but a girl can hope.
Dates Read: October 26 to 27, 2024
Page Count: 417
4 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges Bingo I25 - (22/25)
+ Challenge Factory Save The Bees - character buys locally-grown product (Task 7A)
.