In non-book news, we saw The Disaster Artist this week and it was amazing.
You know what was not amazing? Stephen Florida. I had a lot of questions about this book. Questions like, “Why do people like this?” and “Why am I reading this?” and “How do I get those hours of my life back?” I don’t want to just say that I hated this main character, because I certainly don’t believe that a main character has to be likable, or even un-hateable. But he should at least be interesting or compelling or engaging in some way, and Stephen Florida is not. The only positive thing I can say is that it was not as bad as My Absolute Darling.
From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs…I got to read an ARC of The Summer I Met Jack, and I LOVED IT! I’m a Michelle Gable superfan, and she just gets better every time. This one has so many elements that I love, I’m especially a sucker for old Hollywood drama and glamour. And this main character is just to die for. I wish I could read a whole series about Alicia. I feel like I barely had time to read this week but I still managed to inhale this over a couple of days because I could not put it down. Loved this.
Tough act to follow, so I went in kind of a quirky direction with Landscape With Invisible Hand. This is such a weirdly affecting little book. It feels more like an extended short story, but it leaves a solid impression. I liked this a lot, and I think it would be a great book to teach in English classes; an allegory about colonization that I think young readers can really connect to. I’m really glad I read this.
I’m now somewhat reluctantly reading This Is How It Always Is. It’s gotten a lot of buzz, and it seems like something I would like, but I really hated this author’s first book. I decided to give this one a chance anyway and I’m trying not to hold that first book against it. I don’t love her writing style, but the story is interesting enough, and I want to see where it goes. I am really curious about her choice of setting, and I am definitely going to dig up any interviews she’s done about this once I’m done. Or maybe I’ll just wait until I run into her since we live in the same city. It could happen!
