speculative

What might happen if a fan got to live inside her favorite story.

The Fandom by Anna Day

January 14, 2019 by narfna Leave a Comment

“What the fuck is the fandom?” — Reagan, Fangirl Every time I have seen the title of this book, or the word “fandom” in any context since 2013 (the year Fangirl was published), I have thought of this line. And it somehow feels fitting for my reaction to this book to be precluded by a quote from another (better) book, because The Fandom just did almost nothing for me as a reader. This was actually the first book I picked out of my brand new TBR Jar for 2019. In an effort to finally get to books I’ve been ignoring […]

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The Fandom by Anna Day

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1/14/2019 | narfna's CBR11 Review No:9 |

This book is a lot. #CBRBingo

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

November 30, 2018 by narfna 2 Comments

I was skeptical going in to this. If you’re following my reviews, you probably know that lit fic and I don’t always get along. And it was a bit dense, especially at first. I knew going in this was made up of a series of interlocking stories, which was probably another reason I was wary. It’s actually cooler than that, though. The book is structured in a sort of mirror. The first story is set in the 18th century and is told as a diary, and in the second, the characters have a copy of the diary, etc. This goes […]

11/30/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:159 |

And so I have now given Brandon Sanderson three stars.

Lies of the Beholder (Legion, #3) by Brandon Sanderson

November 29, 2018 by narfna Leave a Comment

Well, I suppose it had to happen sometime. I’m rating a Brandon Sanderson book less than four stars. He’s written about five million of them, so statistically this was a very likely outcome, eventually. And now it has, and we can all move on with our lives. I really enjoyed the first two novellas in this series. The premise is great (a genius who has schizophrenia channels his illness into the creation of imaginary people who he calls aspects, all of whom are experts in one field or another). And it was so fun seeing it in action in the […]

11/29/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:145 |

“The power that each of us has over complete strangers to make them feel terrible and frightened and weak is amazing.” #CBRBingo (BINGO!)

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

November 12, 2018 by narfna Leave a Comment

This was actually a really strange reading experience for me, because I usually don’t read (fiction) books where I’ve spent so many hours listening to the author speak on non-fictional topics. It’s allllmost like what I imagine reading a book that a friend wrote would be. I’ve never actually had that experience, though (yet), so what do I know. Anyway, almost ten years of Vlogbrothers videos, and three years of weekly podcast episodes lends a little familiarity, is all I’m saying. And I liked the book! I liked it a lot, actually. The story was solid and interesting, and sort of […]

11/12/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:136 |

Jasper Fforde’s silly brand of satire returns, a little bit darker this time around.

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde

September 28, 2018 by narfna 2 Comments

Jasper Fforde hasn’t released a new book since 2014, and that is a long time for him. I have been waiting and waiting (so patiently) for the third Nursery Crime book, but it just doesn’t seem to be happening. Neither does the second Shades of Grey book. But now there is this book, which is not actually out in the US until 2019, so I bought it from Book Depository. I’m glad I did this anyway because the UK cover is so much better than the American one. It has a cutout cover and when you lift it up those people […]

9/28/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:114 |

The black bat night approached and enfolded her in its wings

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

July 11, 2018 by dAvid 4 Comments

For the past 15+ years, I’ve been the target audience for the Man Booker awards: literary fiction snob leaning to British Commonwealth authors. Though I have been branching out into other genres over the last few years, I still look to the Booker long- and shortlists for recommendations and usually pick up at least a few each year. For some reason, I haven’t looked much into other prizes until this year when I realized the Baileys (formerly Orange) prize lists would be a great resource for discovering new books by women. Browsing through that list as well as the Costa […]

7/11/2018 dAvid's CBR10 Review No:37 |

One of the few instances where the sequel surpasses the original.

Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe, #2) by Neal Shusterman

February 10, 2018 by narfna Leave a Comment

This is an extremely suspenseful, and surprisingly thoughtful science fiction novel. Honestly, I’m kind of at a loss as to what else to say! But mostly that’s because my brain feels like it’s just been squeezed through some sort of bladed juicer and now I’m expected to have coherent thoughts. I think this series is one of the few where I’m so intrigued by the ideas behind the story, and the plot developments, that I’m actually okay with the characters being somewhat empty vessels. It’s the only thing keeping me from giving this book five stars, honestly. I zoomed through […]

2/10/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:20 |

What a strange, lovely little book.

That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston

January 5, 2018 by narfna 4 Comments

I’m a little torn on this one, honestly! I thought it was a bit slow for my tastes, mostly at the beginning, and I would have appreciated a bit more wallowing in emotions, but I also understand this is a book designed in part to ape Victorian conventions and mores, so perhaps I was never going to get the version of this book that would have pleased me best. And what a strange little book it was! This is an alternate history/speculative take on quite a complicated scenario. Basically, what if Queen Victoria hadn’t been quite so Victorian, at least […]

1/5/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:2 |

janet snakehole on I don’t want to review this book.Loved this review. I like Rob Delaney's twitter, which does not necessarily mean I would enjoy a full book by him. I found this out...
janet snakehole on White Feminism: A NovelGood review! As a white feminist lady I was intrigued by this book but skeptical of its relevance. Your review confirmed pretty much what I...
Scootsa1000 on Just Because It’s Brief Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t PainfulA+ use of Jack Tripper.
Scootsa1000 on You, Sir, Are No Colin FirthI read this ages ago, maybe for CBR3. Hands down, the worst Austen-related book I’ve ever come across. Everyone was awful and the sex scenes...
emmalita on This is where we learn it’s not a good idea to throw your GF into a bottomless pitEmotional satisfaction and political outcomes rarely seem to go hand in hand. I guess I’ll stick to voting and protesting.