Clearly the only way I can get myself to read one of the books in my continually growing to-be-read pile is for there to be a movie coming out. Get on it Hollywood, there are about 60 books I still need to get through. Disclaimers: I read a translation due to my French being nonexistent, but the original is supposed to be exquisite. I don’t have to warn about spoilers in a review about something published in 1856, do I? Madame Bovary is one of those classics in which the elements that […]
If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much are gifs worth?
So, what did I think of The Infinite Sea? I want to leave it at that, but apparently there’s some stupid word minimum for reviews. Goddamn it. Anyway, a friend saw I was reading this and asked how I liked it. I said, “I’m about 2/3 of the way through and so far, nothing has happened to justify its existence.” She said, “High praise indeed.” But it’s true. The Infinite Sea fails to do what any competent sequel does, i.e. expand the universe and raise the stakes. Off the top of my head, here […]
Angels and Demons, #2
HOLY SMOKES, THIS BOOK BLEW ME AWAY. Thar be Daughter of Smoke and Bone spoilers ahead. I liked but did not love Daughter of Smoke and Bone. The heroine and the worldbuilding were intriguing, but the story got derailed by an oh-so-tortured love interest, and then it became a series of flashbacks, and right when the book got back on track, it ended on a cliffhanger! But if I think of that entire book as a first act, setting up the characters and the world they live in, I […]
You Rub Me The Right Way, #2
I guess February is unofficially sequel month. The Art of Wishing spoilers ahoy! The Art of Wishing was an adorable paranormal romance that surprised me by raising a bunch of ethical issues. In The Fourth Wish, Lindsay Ribar dives even further into the real-world implications of becoming/using a magical being, specifically one that is meant to be submissive. Last time we saw Margo, she had made a fourth wish to save Oliver and became a genie herself. Now she has to adjust not only to her magical powers, but also to the loss of […]
“But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.”
Fiona Maye has had a long and successful career as a High Court judge. She works in the Family Division, deciding what is best for children in messy divorce cases and matters of religion. Professionally, Fiona is “almost ironic, almost warm,” and she is respected for striking a balance between compassion and distance, understanding and objectivity. But after years of parents “dazed to find themselves in vicious combat with the one they once loved” and children used as “bargaining chips,” Fiona has become ever so […]
“Either way you win. And either way you lose.”
At first I was doubtful about If I Stay, figuring it was going to be some overwrought teenage melodrama. (The moody cover with the girl on it didn’t help.) Boy was I wrong – it turned out to be this lyrical, deeply moving book about life, death, and love. This is a very introspective novel with little to no plot. Mia’s body was seriously injured in a car accident, but her essence seems to be hovering in limbo. She will have to decide whether she wants […]