Wednesday Reading Meme
What I Just Finished Reading: Stuck to my rotation plan! Two books and a short story this week: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (prompt), Ushers by Joe Hill, and Every Last Secret by AR Torre (dusty bookshelf). Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm almost done with Allergic to Death by Peg Cochran, which I only picked up because I needed a "allergy" book to fill my final Save The Bees prompt. Sometimes reading to prompts allows me to discover amazing books I'd never have found otherwise. Sometimes it's like this one, which is not great, but I'm barreling through.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: Still rotating, with the addition of two library books because I have no willpower. For the next three I will probably pick between Tales of Old Earth by Michael Swanwick (prompt), Fire & Ash by Jonathan Maberry (finish what you started) and Aurora by David Koepp (library).
This weekend I'm going to put up my Christmas tree so I'm not sure how much reading time I'll have :)
131. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
A time-traveling killer targets women who “shine.”
This is an intriguing premise that unfortunately fails miserably because the mechanics are all a muddle. And I don’t mean the mechanics of time-travel; that can be hand-waved all you like. But there’s a house that’s got various objects in it that the killer is drawn to, and the women’s names he’s going to kill are pre-determined, and there’s nothing to explain WHY all this is happening. We don’t know the ‘rules’ of the house or what makes these girls special, and honestly, it feels like the author doesn’t know why either.
The timeframe and POV also jumps around a LOT, so we are never in any one person’s head long enough to really get to know them and get emotionally invested in their story. Each person feels like they are playing a role. No one feels real. The jumps in time also don’t help because we miss much of that character development. This was a big disappointment.
Trigger warning for animal abuse.
Dates Read: November 03 to 07, 2024
Page Count: 401
2 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges BINGO - N45 (23/25)
132. Ushers by Joe Hill
I think it is short stories that really separate the greats from the not-so-greats, and Joe Hill is definitely one of the greats. He packs a lot of punch into 29 pages, crafting a story that is sad, amusing, and bittersweet and matched with the perfect punch of an ending that delivers on multiple levels. His fully realized characters burst with life and his pace is perfect. Couldn’t ask for anything more than this.
Date Read: November 08, 2024
Page Count: 29
5 out of 5 stars
133. Every Last Secret by AR Torre
When Neena and her husband Matt move into a gated community, Neena immediately begins working to gain what she covets: namely neighbour Cat’s husband, William.
At first this was a hard read, simply because I find it hard to sustain interest when every character is horrible. Cat is a snob, Neena an ambitious gold-digger, and William an arrogant, controlling ass. Only Matt elicits sympathy, and even that is difficult because he’s such a pushover.
Then things start to get twisty, and the novel takes on a whole other dimension. At that point it became un-put-downable as I eagerly turned the pages to see how it was all going to unfold.
Dates Read: November 08 to 10, 2024
Page Count: 293
4 out of 5 stars
.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm almost done with Allergic to Death by Peg Cochran, which I only picked up because I needed a "allergy" book to fill my final Save The Bees prompt. Sometimes reading to prompts allows me to discover amazing books I'd never have found otherwise. Sometimes it's like this one, which is not great, but I'm barreling through.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: Still rotating, with the addition of two library books because I have no willpower. For the next three I will probably pick between Tales of Old Earth by Michael Swanwick (prompt), Fire & Ash by Jonathan Maberry (finish what you started) and Aurora by David Koepp (library).
This weekend I'm going to put up my Christmas tree so I'm not sure how much reading time I'll have :)
131. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
A time-traveling killer targets women who “shine.”
This is an intriguing premise that unfortunately fails miserably because the mechanics are all a muddle. And I don’t mean the mechanics of time-travel; that can be hand-waved all you like. But there’s a house that’s got various objects in it that the killer is drawn to, and the women’s names he’s going to kill are pre-determined, and there’s nothing to explain WHY all this is happening. We don’t know the ‘rules’ of the house or what makes these girls special, and honestly, it feels like the author doesn’t know why either.
The timeframe and POV also jumps around a LOT, so we are never in any one person’s head long enough to really get to know them and get emotionally invested in their story. Each person feels like they are playing a role. No one feels real. The jumps in time also don’t help because we miss much of that character development. This was a big disappointment.
Trigger warning for animal abuse.
Dates Read: November 03 to 07, 2024
Page Count: 401
2 out of 5 stars
+ Lost Challenges BINGO - N45 (23/25)
132. Ushers by Joe Hill
I think it is short stories that really separate the greats from the not-so-greats, and Joe Hill is definitely one of the greats. He packs a lot of punch into 29 pages, crafting a story that is sad, amusing, and bittersweet and matched with the perfect punch of an ending that delivers on multiple levels. His fully realized characters burst with life and his pace is perfect. Couldn’t ask for anything more than this.
Date Read: November 08, 2024
Page Count: 29
5 out of 5 stars
133. Every Last Secret by AR Torre
When Neena and her husband Matt move into a gated community, Neena immediately begins working to gain what she covets: namely neighbour Cat’s husband, William.
At first this was a hard read, simply because I find it hard to sustain interest when every character is horrible. Cat is a snob, Neena an ambitious gold-digger, and William an arrogant, controlling ass. Only Matt elicits sympathy, and even that is difficult because he’s such a pushover.
Then things start to get twisty, and the novel takes on a whole other dimension. At that point it became un-put-downable as I eagerly turned the pages to see how it was all going to unfold.
Dates Read: November 08 to 10, 2024
Page Count: 293
4 out of 5 stars
.