My Worst Books of 2020
Wednesday, 20 January 2021 • audiobooks, Book List, book review, book wrap-up, books, Net Galley, review, Yearly Wrap-Up
This was a really weird year for me. Two of my favorite series released books that made it onto this list and two books that I thought I was going to like also made it on the list. 2020 was a weird year for many reasons. If you check out my Top Ten Books of 2020 post, you'll see that I read some amazing books last year, but the bad ones are still worth talking about.
5. Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
This hurts my heart. The Dresden Files is my favorite book series of all time. It got better and better with each installment. Then Skin Game came out in 2014, which was a great book, but it took 6 years for the next book to come out. Unlike Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Butcher made it clear he had good reasons as to why it took so long but when two books were announced in one year, I was so happy. Then Peace Talks came out and I picked it up and.... almost put it down.
Here's what I think. I think Jim Butcher wrote one big book. He wrote one book that was over 700 pages and either he decided or his publisher decided to break it into two books. Because when put together Peace Talks and Battle Ground make for one epic book. But when you separate them Peace Talks is a boring mess with no point to it and Battle Ground is exciting but mostly all action. Peace Talks is the literary equivalent of Ben Stein's voice while Battle Ground is a coked up Tasmanian Devil.
If Butcher had released Peace Ground or Battle Talks in one big volume, we wouldn't have having this conversation. But two separate books were released and Peace Talks was not only the lesser of the two, but it was slow, boring, and pointless.
4. The Genesis Game: Vol 1 by Andrew O'Kelley
I love LitRPG books. They're my guilty pleasure. They're so nerdy that even I hesitate, briefly. Then I own it. I also love Net Galley because thanks to that service I've read a lot of books for free before they even come out! This was one of those books.
This books is about Seraph, a tyrant known as the Angel of Genocide. He is the strongest person in the world dungeon, a powerful place that's coming marked the end of humanity. Seraph finally reaches the Altar of the End but is cursed and sent back in time with his powers sealed away. This time he's forbidden from hoarding the power for himself and must help humanity survive.
I wrote a full review on Goodreads but to give you the Cliff Notes version, this book had terrible pacing. The story moved so fast that it felt like O'Kelley was too excited to get to the next part that he rushed the plot. A downside of everything moving faster than The Flash with his ass on fire is that you don't get to know the characters so I didn't care about a single person. To quote my review: “Seraph is supposed to come across as some dark and broody bad ass but he's just an a-hole. We meet his father but we get so little of their relationship that I think the Lindbergh baby would have been closer to his father than Seraph and his dad.”
Seraph and his dad's relationship is supposed to be his only hope to not turn out like the villain he was. But I never once cared. This book was bad.
3. My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Talk about a bait and switch. If you look at the cover of this book it sets you up for something light hearted or even comedic. If not that, then it hints that it's not super serious, something along the lines of Stranger Things. But no, this isn't a comedy, this isn't even slightly humorous. It's considered horror fiction and not only is it not scary in the least, it's so slowly paced that it could be cut down by half and it would only make it better.
Almost every character is unlikable and the two main characters Gretchen and Abby, are idiots. Gretchen is possessed for most of the book, so she mostly gets a pass, but even before she's possessed, she's simply boring. Abby is an idiot who has less personality than Katniss Everdeen.
This book is boring and a waste of time.
2. The Land: Monsters by Aleron Kong
This is another one that hurts my heart. The Land is another one of my all time favorite series. I stumbled upon the first book thanks to a sale on Audible and fell in love. The Land: Founding is a great book and a wonderful introduction to the LitRPG genre. If you like the first one, then dive right in because the first seven books are great and the 7th book is epic and is 2202 pages long (or 48 hours for the audiobook) but the 8th book is when it hits it's first hiccup.
There was no point to this installment. Nothing really happens. It's pointless and you hardly see any of the side characters as it mainly follows Richter as he tries to escape the underworld or wherever he is. But it feels like Kong took what could have been 2 -3 chapters and turned it into it's own book.
You know what this felt like? This felt like something mindless Kong wrote that should have been released as a freebie to his fans or as a reward on Patreon. That would have been fine. I wouldn't have minded this if it was sold to me as a mindless add on and not an actual part of the story. But for the 8th book in a series I loved? It's terrible.
1. The Frame-Up by Meghan Scott Molin.
I hated The Big Bang Theory. It was just a group of aholes who were gross stereotypes of nerds. MG, the main character of this book, could have fit right in with that group of dicks.
This book follows MG, a comic writer who realizes a recent string of crimes are just copies of crimes from her favorite comic series. So she takes it upon herself to help the cops track the killer, but can a geeky comic nerd really help stop crime
The story for this was more basic than a “ripped from the headlines” episode of Law and Order. It's a story that's been done before and done by better writers. Also, MG was horrid. She hates it when people put her in a box and assume they know who she is but she turns around and does the same thing to most people she meets.
What's worse is that there's at least one “nerdy” reference on each page and even worse than that, they're not all correct. I really should have written down some examples but at the time I was too pissed off to care, but there were quite a few times that the nerdy stuff Molin was referencing, was completely wrong. Also, the constant nerdy references got super old.
I also feel like Molin must have some huge chip on her shoulder because it came across in the book. MG is one of the most hateful and judgmental characters I've ever read and it feels like Molin was using her book as an outlet.
This was a true waste of time. This is the first book in a series and if I ever read the second one it's because someone paid me a lot of money to do it OR my life was threatened.
So there you have it. My worst books of 2020. There were others that I didn't like but these were the ones that actually got a reaction out of me. What books from last year did you hate? And if you're not the type to hate, which books did you seriously not like? Let me know by leaving a comment!
My Top Ten Books of 2020
Saturday, 16 January 2021 • Book List, book review, book wrap-up, books, Yearly Wrap-Up
2020 allowed for a lot of reading for most of us. Can't go out because of a pandemic made worse by idiots not following the rules? Then stay inside and read a book instead! So since I've read more books than ever this year, narrowing it down to a ten could have been hard, but I've read some pretty outstanding books this year, so it wasn't a difficult decision. Here's my top ten which I painstakingly put in order. Some of these have been around for a while and others were released this year, so you'll find a nice mix here. Enjoy!
10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This is a heavy book that follows young Leisel Meminger who has a history of stealing books. It all started when she steals the Gravedigger's Handbook at her brother's funeral. Leisel then goes to live with the Hubermann family, but not all is well as WWII is in full swing and Leisel and the Hubermann's don't drink the Nazi Kool-Aid but must survive by pretending they do.
I listened to this as an audiobook and I can't imagine it any other way. It's narrated by Roger Allam and he did a fantastic job. The narrator of the story is Death and Allam's smoky storyteller voice was perfect.
The Book Thief was everything I expected. You don't go into a WWII book expecting things to be happy. But what I didn't count on was being charmed by the characters, especially Liesel's foster father Hans Hubermann and his ornery wife Rosa. The characters are what set this story apart from others like it. It took me a while to read it and I'm glad because 2020 needed to be a good reading year.
9. Red, White & Royal Blue
This was a popular YA book from last year the follows First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz and his relationship with Prince Henry of Wales. The two met once and Alex has considered them mortal enemies ever since, but after a snafu at a White House Christmas party, the two are sent on a PR tour to fix it. But what Alex doesn't know is that his feelings for the Prince are going to grow.
I love love. You've heard the saying “Love is Love” and it's true. I love love stories. I love romance be it straight or any color on the LGBTQ+ rainbow, I can dig it and I'll get all sorts of warm feelings reading it. But it's more than just romance. The book has to be well written too. It needs characters who have more than one dimension. It's needs to have a realistic relationship even if the circumstances are extraordinary. It needs to be exactly what Red, White, & Royal Blue was.
If you're in the market for a solid romance with a touch of politics, this is for you. This may be labeled as YA, but like a lot of YA books, it's for everyone.
8. The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
This was published back in July and it's about two high school students, Marva and Duke. Marva is very passionate about politics and voting as she understand People of Color need to vote if anything is going to change. After she votes for the first time she runs into Duke who is having trouble voting. So she takes it upon herself to ferry him around town, skipping school, to get his vote to count. Marva is having some relationship issues but will Duke be the answer.
I expected a basic YA romance book. Something good. Something fun. But also something I've read before. What I got instead was a YA romance that was perfectly balanced with commentary on important political issues. Brandy Colbert expertly discussed these issues while making it part of the story. The book does stand on a soapbox at times about issues like the systematic inequality for African Americans in the American political system and it does so while never letting the story of Marva and Duke get lost in the process.
Brandy Colbert's expert touch is what set this book apart from other YA romances.
7. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Xiala is a captain who is promised a ship of her own if she completes one job. She's tasked with ferrying a young man named Serapio to the holy city of Tova in time for the Winter Solstice. In the holy city the Sun Priest, a woman named Naranpa, prepares for the solstice celebration but finds that some of her so called political allies may be plotting against her.
I had read Rebecca Roanhorse's Sixth World series and loved it. So when I heard she was starting a new series I preordered the book. But lucky me, I got an ARC on NetGalley and got to read this before my physical copy came.
Rebecca Roanhorse is a fantastic world builder. I had no trouble understanding the setting, the politics, and the magic of this new series. It's a vast world that doesn't get too confusing. The characters are all unique and as the story jumped between the two (3 at times) points of view I never once felt lost.
The story was enthralling and Roanhorse as an amazing way with words.
6. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Night Circus is a magical thing. It appears without warning, capturing the imagination of all the locals and then disappears just as fast. Celia and Marco were both trained by famous magicians and are pitted against each other in a very odd contest and the circus is the stage.
If you've heard about this book and you think it's about two magicians doing battle, I'm going to have to put a stop to that. This isn't a battle. There's no magic duel. Whoever wrote the premise to this wanted to try and make it sound more epic than it is.
What this book really is, is a beautiful story that revolves around the setting. The characters are still very important but the main character is the circus. Erin Morgenstern used some beautiful flowery language and if you listen to the audiobook you have the benefit of Jim Dale's voice which makes the whole thing feel like a bedtime story.
5. Becoming by Michelle Obama
I shy away from books about politics. But here's the great news, this isn't a political book. This is the life story (so far) of former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama. It follows her from her upbringing on the South Side of Chicago and follows her up and up and up all the way to the White House.
This book showed that she's more than just the wife of a president. She is a powerhouse of a person who uses her abilities and fame to advocate for women and people of color. This was also an entertaining memoir full of anecdotes that made me smile, stories that made me cringe or get teary eyed, and it was a wonderful way to relive the historic moment Barack Obama was elected.
What's more is that I put the book down and felt hopeful. Even if the last four years have been bad, there's hope that good people are out there who want to help.
4. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
To shamelessly steal the first paragraph of the synopsis: A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.
I had no idea what to expect with this book. But that's just Fredrick Backman's style. He is a true master of characterization. This was full of characters who shared the spotlight equally and not once did I get confused because I knew who everyone was. This was a page turner but not because it was exciting or fast paced. It was a page turner because I cared about what happened to everyone and I NEEDED to know how everything went down.
Each character had their own wonderful arch and by the end I liked everyone. Even the people I started out hating, I even grew attached to them. Is this the reading version of Stockholm syndrome? Or is Fredrik Backman a master at what he does? Or maybe it's both.
3. The Only Good Indians By Stephen Graham Jones
Four American Indian men made a horrible mistake when they were but young boys. Now, decades later, those boys are men and that event is coming back to haunt them in the form of an entity bent on revenge.
Writing a premise for this book wasn't easy. I know. It was only two sentences, but I read the official premise and it's just not quite right. I think the official premise is slightly misleading.
Enough about that though. Jones is an amazing writer. I would compare him with Stephen King, not because they both do horror, but because they're both masters of the written word. But Jones has the benefit of getting to the point, which King can sometimes forget to do. The Only Good Indians is an amazingly written book. This is the only book of his I've ever read so all I can say is this book, at least, is a masterpiece. This is also an own voices book as Jones is Blackfoot.
2. Punching The Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
2020 was a very volatile year. The Black Lives Matter movement exploded onto the tips of everyone's tongues due to the demonstrations caused by the rampant police violence. Due to that, Punching The Air was an unfortunately perfect timed YA Fiction piece loosely based on real events. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five (aka The Central Park Five) used his own life experience to help Ibi Zoboi craft this truly powerful story.
This revolves around Amal Shahid, a young artist and poet who was on the wrong end of a biased system and the victim of systematic racism. Due to events that wouldn't have happened had he been born White, this sixteen year old is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison. But can he make the best of a horrid situation or will he fall victim to a system designed to make him fail?
I say this book is powerful. That's not just some meaningless critic buzzword that can be slapped on the cover of the book. It's the truth. This is a fictional tale with it's roots based in horrifying reality. But this story isn't just doom and sadness. There is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. But it's going to be a fight getting there and Zoboi and Salaam were the two best authors to tell the tale.
This next book needs a trigger warning for sexual assault. There's no graphic detail but it is discussed.
1. Know My Name by Chanel Miller
This is a story of survival and about the woman formerly known as Emily Doe, now openly known by her true name of Chanel Miller. She was made famous by her victim impact statement that went viral after the trial of convicted sex offender Brock Turner. This book shines a light on not only Miller's experience but how the horrors of sexual assault continue even after the heinous act is committed.
I'll be honest. I was going to let this book pass me by. I was familiar with the Brock Turner case and followed it as it was going on. I, along with the rest of the world, was left dumbstruck by the light sentence the judge gave as well as the horrid statements made by Turners parents. I read the impact statement by Miller written when she was still keeping her identity a secret. So I knew this wasn't going to be like any other memoir I've read. I tend to read memoirs by comedians and actors, people who tell funny stories and make me laugh, but after my wife read it and loved it, I new I had to read it too.
I'm so glad I did. It's a super tough subject but it's so very important to read. It's very eye opening to the court process and how unfair it is. How Miller had to defend herself even though she was the victim. She had to prove that she didn't want it or deserve it which is outrageous. Also, if her family wanted to testify they had to put their lives on hold and risk their education and jobs. It'd disgusting and Miller's story helped bring light to something I never knew.
A bonus to this book is that she has an amazing way with words. She's a fantastic writer, but even if she wasn't, this was still an important and necessary story to tell.
So what were your favorite books of the year? Let me know!
Books I DNFd in 2019
Tuesday, 21 April 2020 • Book List, book review, book wrap-up, books, Yearly Wrap-Up
One of the downsides of expanding my reading horizons has been finding some of the books on my most hated book in 2019 list. A downside of doing a year long reading challenge is sometimes feeling like you don't have a choice in what you read. When both of those things combine I found these books, books I DNFd. Though I didn't "did not finish" these because they're all bad. For some it just wasn't the right time and for others I just couldn't get interested.
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire By J.K. Rowling
Premise: Come on, you know it.
I love me some Harry Potter. I've loved the series since I first picked it up back in 2000 with the release of Goblet of Fire. Back in 2018 I said that 2019 would be the year I reread Harry Potter. Not only that, but I would marathon all of the books, something I haven't done since 2007 when The Deathly Hallows came out. So September rolls around and I still haven't picked up the first book and I felt like I had to. So I forced myself into a series I just wasn't in the mood for and I made it to book 4 before I gave up.
My DNFing of The Goblet of Fire has nothing to do with it's quality. It's still a great book. But I forced myself into a marathon of the Harry Potter books, and that was the wrong move. What should have been a fun and enjoyable reread turned into a boring chore and an old favorite book should never be a chore. So I put this down and will pick it back up later. When I try the reread again, I won't do the first three books as I'm super familiar with them. I'll just start with this one.
Gil's All Fright Diner by A Lee Martinez
Premise: Duke and Earl are just passing through Rockwood county in their pick-up when the stop at Gil's All Night Diner right before a zombie horde attacks. Loretta, the diner's owner, asks Duke and Earl to stay and help. But what she doesn't know is that Duke is a werewolf and Earl is a vampire, so this is right up their ally.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from The Goblet of Fire is this book. Let me start out by saying that I've read two other books by A Lee Martinez and liked them quite a bit. I think he's very funny and a good writer. What's his trick? Maybe he took every bad idea he was ever going to have and put it into one book just to get rid of it. Gil's All Fright Diner has none of the humor or enjoyability that his other books have. The jokes felt forced, the characters are more wooden than Lincoln's cabin, and the pacing is slower than a stoned sloth. The story was contrived and the two main characters were just awful.
Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb
Premise: Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America's lakes and rivers.
I didn't hate this book. I just couldn't focus. This was an audio book I picked up during a sale on Audible and was very interested in the history and current status of the beaver. However I just couldn't concentrate on it. I would have to rewind entire chapters because it would finish and I wouldn't remember what had just happened. I don't think it was the audio book's fault. I think I had too many mental distractions so I had to change to a different book. I want to revisit this next year though. We'll see if 2020 is the year of the beaver.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Premise: Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome or fight the invasion.
I had been in the market for a new sci-fi book and this had been at the top of all the lists. This was a highly rated and highly recommended book so I thought it was a sure-fire win. As I got farther and farther into it, I was getting more and more lost. I thought that maybe I was too used to lighter toned book and that this book was deeper than I was giving it credit for. So I tried to be a more active reader, but that wasn't what the problem was. It was just a meandering and pointless book. I got about halfway through and I still had no idea what it was about. All I knew is that the main character was trying to get into some sort of secret society and one of the keys to that was a virtual reality game called "Thee Body" which was more confusing than D&D to a toddler. There may be promise in this book. Maybe it gets better after the first half. But I didn't want to stick around to find out. There was even supposed to be an alien invasion but the story was so slow that there wasn't even a hint of it up to halfway through.
The Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman
Premise: Violet's husband disappears just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He gives no clue as to why he left or where he's going and the only person who may know is Violet's daughter Ella, but she' not saying a word. As the war in the Pacific escalates, more and more soldiers come to their small Hawaiian town. As a way to make ends meet, Violet and her friends start to make pies to sell to the soldiers.
If you've read any of my past book blogs you may have noticed that I'm taking part in the 2019 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. I have since completed the challenge but my final prompt was "read a book with sweet, salty, bitter, or spicy in the title." I was having a hard time with it. I stumbled upon this book while enjoying a free trial for Scribd, an app that has ebooks and audio books. I gave this book the "old college try," but just couldn't get into it. I just didn't find it interesting even though it seems like a book right up my alley. A slice of life book set during WWII and involves Japanese people and culture. But I found that I just couldn't wait to put this book down.
Most Surprising Book of 2019
Monday, 23 December 2019 • Book List, books, Yearly Wrap-Up
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
Most of the world has drowned after rising waters flooded the Earth during a climate apocalypse. The Navajo reservation has been reborn as Dinetah and in this new world, gods and heroes of old walk the earth once again, but so do monsters. Maggie Hoskie is a monster hunter from Dinetah who is supernaturally gifted. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie steps in to help, but she finds more than just a missing girl.
This is a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy, which is right up my alley. I went into this book prepared to enjoy it, but what surprised me was just how much I loved it. Rebecca Roanhorse is a wonderful author who created a truly wonderful cast of characters that I just fell in love with. I have to be honest, I expected a basic fantasy book, but I found a new favorite series. If you've ever read authors like Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, or Kim Harrison, then you'll love Rebecca Roanhorse. If you love Harry Dresden, Mercy Thompson, or Rachel Morgan, then you'll love Maggie Hoskie.
I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend by Martin Short
I don't need a premise for this book. It's a memoir from Martin Short. That explains it. But what I do need to explain is why this stood out when compared to other memoirs I read. I listened to the audio book, which was read by Short himself, and I felt like it really helped the book. It was fascinating learning about his life, his start in comedy, his stint on SNL, his movies, and the love and loss he's experienced. I found myself laughing out loud more than once and even crying a time or two. I thought I was going to listen to a basic memoir. Something interesting but ultimately forgettable. But what I found was something that will stay with me for a while to come.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
This is the story of Theo Decker, a young boy who miraculously survives the bombing of a museum but loses his mother. We follow Theo over the course of about a decade of his life going from living with a family friend, to Vegas, then back to New York. All the while he harbours a secret. He stole a painting in the aftermath of the bombing. A painting that was very special to his mother. The Goldfinch.
My wife recommended this book to me so I knew I was going to, at the very least, like it. But what I didn't know was that I was actually going to enjoy it. This book is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, which means that a lot of haughty judges somewhere thought it was artsy enough to win an award. I'm not a fan of "literature." I think it's overrated. But this was actually an okay book. My wife is reading one of Donna Tartt's other books and from what I've heard, it's pure torture. I may never read The Secret History as it sounds more pretentious than an ivy league sommelier. The Goldfinch was also pretentious, but not as much so I was able to stay invested in the story. The first half of the book is much better than the first and the ending sucks, but I still liked it more than I thought I would.
The Buddha in the Attic
This book tells the story of Japanese "picture brides" as they move from their homes in Japan to America where something other than the promised riches of their suitors awaits them. We follow their stories as they adapt to this new life in a county that doesn't want them, married to men who just wanted someone to help them work, and raising children in this new world.
Let's be honest. Books and stories written from the 2nd person perspective don't work. When I started The Buddha in the Attic, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to follow it. I was wondering if I would lose interest. But surprisingly enough, it kept my interest. This wasn't a great book. Not at all. But the reason this made it on the list is because I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I was actually able to follow it. The second person omniscient perspective wasn't confusing. I may never reread this book, but I'm glad I at least read it once.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Paul Kalanithi was 36 and just about to finish a decades worth of training as a neurosurgeon. However life has different plans. Paul is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and while there is hope that he can survive, it doesn't look good. So he begins to write a book that has the unique perspective of a doctor on the other side of things. Paul talk about his experiences on both the doctor's side of things as well as the patients.
This was another book Anne recommended to me and I never would have even given it a second thought if it wasn't for her. I barely want to read memoirs about celebrities I like, let alone a no-name doctor. But I trust my wife and picked up the audio book and was unprepared. I wasn't prepared to be charmed by Paul Kalanithi. I ate the book up and even though I may never reread it, I'm glad I read it at least once.
Most Disappointing Books of 2019
• Book List, book wrap-up, books, Yearly Wrap-Up
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Cinder is a gifted mechanic who lives in New Beijing. She is also a cyborg. She lives with her evil stepmother and when her sister suddenly falls ill, she is blamed. Things get slightly better, but not easier, when the handsome and very single Prince Kai finds her and takes a liking to her. Can she save her step sister and can a cyborg ever hope to find love?
The answer? I don't care. Look, I didn't expect to read a great book when I picked this up, but I did expect a mediocre one. This is a perfect beginners novel for kids. It's fairly innocent and doesn't have much questionable content, if any. But for anyone above the age of 12 I think you should pass on this. It's a poorly written story that's so linear, a one way road has more surprises. This was predictable and uninspired. Not worth anyone's time.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? by Lee Israel
This is a memoir by Lee Israel about her short lived life as a forger of signed letters by old authors and Hollywood elite. Israel is a struggling biography writer and discovers that there's good money to be made in the world of written correspondence from long dead authors an actors. So she goes about stealing and forging letters.
I really don't know what I was expecting with this book. I knew the story thanks to the movie starring Melissa McCarthy. I never watched the movie, but the trailer tells you the whole story. I expected an interesting memoir of a literary forger and what I read was a mildly interesting short memoir that read more like pretentious old school "literature." Instead of just telling her story, Lee Israel tried to flower it up with purple prose and it all just came across poorly.
Shallow Graves by Patrick Logan
Robert's life has taken a bad turn.First he gets laid off, then his wife is having an affair with his former boss. And that's not even his entire day. So when things are looking bleakest, Robert gets a letter from an Aunt he never knew he had offering her entire estate to him if he cares for her in her final days. He takes his daughter and heads to the house to help, but the house holds more than just a harmless old lady.
I wanted to like this. I was looking for a book that reminded me of a Conjuringverse movie. But what I got was a book with a very slow build in the first half, and then a second half that moves faster than a greased up road runner. We spend a good porting of the book building up the story with a couple creepy things happening then it all just ends. A new character shows up who literally just used Google to figure out the answer to all the questions and then boom, the book's over. It could have been so good.
Are You Listening? By Tillie Walden
Bea is on the run when she runs into Lou. Together the two set off on a journey through West Texas and strange things seem to happen wherever they go. Along they way they meet a mysterious cat and it affects their trip in unpredictable ways.
I wanted to love this. I wanted to love it so bad. I wanted this to be the new graphic novel I discovered and introduce to my group of friends. A graphic novel written by a woman with two female main characters and a cat? That sounds great! But instead it was a boring mess with a convoluted story that dabbled in magical realism but never quite made sense. It could have been good but it was all lost. The characters were bland, the story was weird, and nothing could save this good idea turned bad.
Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire
If you want the premise for this, then just check out my blog about the worst books of 2019. Why did this make it on both lists? Because I was so disappointed. I wanted so badly to love this series, but instead I hated it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Seanan McGuire is a talentless hack who wrote an awful story that shouldn't be read by anyone.
Worst Books of 2019
Thursday, 19 December 2019 • Book List, books, Yearly Wrap-Up
Legends of the Maya: A Guide to Mayan Mythology by Kezip Macleod
This is a nonfiction book that's exactly what it sounds like. It's a book about Mayan Mythology. Not much else to it.
This was one of my first kindle books. The same day I got a kindle years ago I looked for all the free books I could find and this was one of them (Though now it goes for 2.99). I was excited to finally pick up this book because I forgot about it. However, that excited glow quickly faded as this "book" felt more like a pile of haphazard research notes.
For a better example of how to write a book retelling myths from ancient civilizations, pick up Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. Legends of the Maya read like the transcript of a unprepared student giving a presentation on Mayan mythology. I was 100% disappointed. I understand that we may not know Mayan myths as well as we know Norse but the book could have at least been presented better. Instead it was just a cold mess. This shouldn't be read by anyone.
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Every Heart a Doorway is about a school for children who visit other worlds; think Dorothy or the Narnia kids. Nancy has just returned from her adventure and her parents don't know what to do with her so she's sent to a special school. Once there, strange things begin to happen. Is Nancy tied to this? And can she ever get back to the world she misses so much?
I was so disappointed by this book. I was so sure I was going to love it that I put the next two books in the series on hold in my local library. I thought I had found my next favorite series but after reading the first one, I realized I found one of my most hated books of all time.
Seanan McGuire is an awful writer. She wrote a poorly thought out, poorly paced, and poorly plotted mess. The characters were one dimensional, the LGBTQ representation was contrived. And the story's resolution was as lackluster as a rusty nail. This book doesn't deserve the praise it gets and I truly question the taste of anyone who likes it. It's not bad in the same way the next three books in this blog are bad. It's true bad to it's core. It's a bad book and McGuire should be ashamed she ever published such a travesty.
Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton
Rusty-James is the toughest kid in his school. He loves getting into fights, he loves shooting pool, and he loves getting into trouble. He idolizes his older brother the Motorcycle Boy who was once the toughest gang leader in town, before gangs were mostly dissolved. He wants nothing more to be like his brother, but that could be a dangerous wish.
I read The Outsiders while I was in school, like a lot of us did, at least in America, and it was one of the few required reading books that I actually liked. I even reread The Outsiders years later and still enjoyed it. I even read Tex and enjoyed it too. So when I found a copy of Rumble Fish at a library book sale, I jumped on the chance to own it. When I finally go around to reading it I found the magic of the first two S.E. Hinton books completely missing and instead I read a shallow book with a main character as scattered and unlikeable as Holden Caufield.
The story was boring. The characters were shallow and unrelateable. And this was a far cry from wonderfully woven stories of Hinton's other works. I know this next part is petty, but the names got annoying. The main character was always Rusty-James and his brother was always the Motorcycle Boy. We never learned what his real name was. But on top of that petty complaint, it was a bad story. It was slow, boring, and the characters were highly unlikable.
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Smithson "Smithy" Ide is a man whose life is on a dead end road. He's going no where fast. He has a bad job, no love life, he's fat, awkward, and an alcoholic. When his parents are killed in a freak car accident and he finds out his long lost sister is also dead, he sets off on a bike ride across America to go retrieve his sister's body and to find himself again.
I received this book as a gift from a friend years ago who thought I would enjoy it. I didn't read it right away. When I was younger I tended to stick to Sci-Fi or Fantasy and rarely strayed from it. But now that I'm a mature(ish) adult, I decided to pick it up.
I'm actually glad I waited so long. My friend has since moved away and we lost touch so I don't have to let him know that I hated the book that he enjoyed so much he wanted to gift it to me (alternatively I don't have to lie to him about liking it). I'm still grateful. The gift of a book is a wonderful thing but unfortunately the stagnant story coupled with characters who failed to learn a single thing from the journey came together to make on of the worst books I've ever read. I'd rather marathon read the Twilight series. Smithy was an unlikable character the author felt like fat shaming quite a bit. There were no good characters. They were all horribly flawed and not even in any sort of compelling way.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. He hates everything. He wants more out of life and one day he finds out that magic is real. Not only that but he's been invited to join the only magic school in America. Once there he finds that he's not the best in the class like he used to be and on top of that, but he may not be ready for what's to come.
I wanted to badly to love this. It's sold as an adult Harry Potter and I can see where the comparison comes from but The Magicians lacks any of the magic Harry Potter had. All of the books on this list have one thing in common. Unlikable characters. Queintin Coldwater is one of the worst people I have ever read about outside of nonfiction. I related with Voldermort more. In all honesty, there was only one character who wasn't awful and Alice doesn't even play a big role. The story itself suffered from pacing issues and it had one of those endings that came out of nowhere. It felt like there was more story to tell but Lev Grossman ran out of time and rushed to finish.
Just like Every Heart A Doorway this could have been a great series to get invested in, but bad writing put a stop to that.
Favorite Books of 2019
Wednesday, 18 December 2019 • Book List, book review, book wrap-up, books, Yearly Wrap-Up
Less By Andrew Sean Greer
Arthur Less's 50th birthday is looming and he wants to do all he can to not be home as he takes his first steps on the wrong side of the hill. So what does he do? He accepts every pending invitation for trips and guest teaching positions he has and doesn't look back. If he looks back he may see bits of his past he may way to forget, like his former lover or his first love whose health is failing, and those he's hurt or been hurt by along the way.
This was the first book I read this year and it took the top spot right away. Even though I've loved other books I've read this year, this one has stuck out in my mind as the best of the bunch. Andrew Sean Greer not only came up with a cleaver plot but also created realistic, flawed, and likable characters whose journey I loved to follow. I want more. I want him to write a sequel. Even if it's fluffy fan service, I just want more. I want more. I need more. Thank you, Mr Greer for writing a book that's now on my top 10 list of favorite books of all time. Read my review of the book here and then read about my dream cast if it's ever turned into a movie here.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Evelyn Hugo is Hollywood royalty. One of the biggest stars of her time. Her life has been filled with secrets and she finally thinks it's time to tell her story. So she turns to Monique Grant, a magazine reporter who has been summoned to Hugo's home under the guise of writing an article about Hugo's charitable donations. How many skeletons does Evelyn Hugo have in her closet and how exactly did she get to the top? Only she can tell.
My second favorite book of the year. It was a close call but Less just happened to beat out Evelyn Hugo. Don't let that take anything away from this book though. If I could I would have all five of these books share the number one spot. Taylor Jenkins Reid created a true Hollywood legend for this book and the story she wove was not only captivating, but page turningly plausible to boot. It felt like Evelyn Hugo was real and I have to fight the urge to look her up on IMDB. Just like with Less, I want Reid to write another book about Hugo. It could be a prequel, or a side story, I don't care. I just want more.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Ove can only be described as a grumpy old man. He likes things a certain way and he's had his routine set in stone since the dawn of time. When a loud family of four move in next door, Ove finds that not only is his world going to change, but his help will be needed.
Even though this was another book Anne recommended to me, I still count it as my discovery though as I learned about it by seeing a trailer for the original movie from Sweden back in 2016. This book was a joy to read because even though Ove was a curmudgeon, he was still a likable character. Just like John and Max from Grumpy Old Men. Fredrik Backman has a way with words and he created a beautiful and engaging story that I can't wait to revisit.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
WWII breaks out and France can't help but be engulfed by Hitler's Third Reich. This is the story of two sisters and how they deal with the terrifying new world they live in. They both choose to fight, but in their own ways. One has a daughter she must protect and one strives to do a more literal version of fighting. Together they show that there's more than one way to stay strong when all seems lost.
You know what would make this book better? The Fanning sisters, said no one ever. If you didn't hear, they were cast as the sisters in this film. So instead of watching the movie, you can read the book and be blown away by an epic historical fiction book. The Nightingale takes you through France's entire involvement in the war but the book never dragged. It was a page turning from the start and I experienced the whole rainbow of emotions.
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
Nana, a stray cat, is adopted by Satoru. The two set off on a road trip to visit Satoru's old friends. Nana serves as the perfect companion for the trip as the pair travel across Japan and meet a colorful cast of characters.
This book was a gift from Anne who knows me oh so well. I say that with absolutely no sarcasm. She does know me very well. Based on the cover alone this book hits me in two areas I've very interested in. Cats and anything Japanese. The story is told from the cat's perspective so as Nana figures things out, so do you. Well, to be honest, you may figure it all out before Nana does but that did little to make the story any less enjoyable.
