Lots of sunny weather this week, which means lots of reading on the beach. Why does summer have to end? Can’t we do something about this?
Goodbye, Vitamin was a perfect little gem of a book. I practically read it in one sitting. It’s a fairly ordinary story, and a good example of what a difference great writing can make. This could have been kind of a throwaway in less capable hands but it was unforgettable. Totally worthy of all the buzz it’s gotten.
I’m still not sure why I bothered with The Impossible Fortress. It sure seems like something I would hate, and, surprise! Hated it. So this is a lot like Ready Player One, but with even less feminist sensibility, which is kind of impressive in a way. I don’t think I have an unquenchable thirst for 80s nostalgia, but if you do, enjoy.
New People was a weird, crazy little book and I loved it. I very rarely feel this way about anything, but I wish it had been longer, like twice as long. I loved this main character, and her ambivalence about her relationship was so interesting. She had so many great and awkward interactions with everyone else, I could have read about her forever and I’m definitely going to read more from Danzy Senna asap.
I am so disappointed in Are You Sleeping. I loved the idea for this, a family is shaken up by a podcast that digs into the closed case of the father’s murder. (Obviously based on Serial.) This could have been great, but it just ended up being a really uninteresting, badly written mystery. It was really annoying how every female character was vapid, plastic, evil, or flat out crazy, and all infidelities are clearly the fault of the predatory female. If you don’t think internalized misogyny is a thing, read this. j/k, you can just read the comments on pretty much anything ever.
I’m also mildly disappointed in The Refugees. I love short stories and I was expecting greatness here. These were okay (except for one that I didn’t like at all) but nothing really stood out for me. They all had a similar tone that was pretty flat. I think I will still read The Sympathizer at some point though.
I have a few things out from the library right now, but nothing was really speaking to me. I decided to start Queens of Geek today, even though YA is not especially my thing. I am liking it ok so far. It’s about three friends getting to attend Comic-Con in San Diego (they call it SupaCon in the book, but, come on.) so I do like that it’s about fandom, because people liking stuff is one of my favorite things. The plot feels fairly predictable at this point, and I hope something surprising happens. We’ll see!
