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A Truly Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Started: 12/6/22
Finished: 12/12/22

Hank Green does everything, so it’s not really a surprise that he also wrote a book. And it’s pretty good! Not subtle in its message, and it’s a bit meta (about his life) at times, but since I tend to agree with the message and I know something about his life, it didn’t bother me.

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

Started: 11/16/22
Finished: 11/25/22

Sequel to The Atlas Six, which I enjoyed so much I got on the waiting list for this one immediately. Turns out there will be at least one more (there’d better be), and this one suffers a little bit from 2nd volume syndrome. It has a thing to do, but it takes overlong to get there, and there are a lot of scenes of characters figuring something out without actually telling the reader what they’re figuring out. I can’t tell if whatever the thing is (or things are – this happens more than once) is supposed to be obscure and I’ll find out later, or if I’m just being dense and I should have understood what the character was saying.

But I enjoyed it! And I’m looking forward to the next book.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

Started: 11/8/22
Finished: 11/16/22

I have no idea what prompted me to pick this one up, although I’ve heard of the author, but I’m glad I did. It’s not good, but it makes me laugh every 20 pages or so. I’m going to be super annoyed if it ends with the main character in love with this one dude. (I’m afraid it will.)

Update now that I’ve finished it: super satisfying, and I am not super annoyed. Yay!

I should mention that this book is extra violent and pretty gross.

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Started: 11/3/22
Finished: 11/8/22

This started out super interesting (it’s set in LA’s Chinatown and written like a movie script), and it’s a fast read, but I nearly gave it up around 2/3 of the way through. I don’t think there’s any question about the conceit (that I don’t want to spoil for anyone), but I will admit to be confused about what was reality and what was, I don’t know, maybe allegory?, a couple of times.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

Started: 10/1/22
Finished: 10/31/22

I read this for the first time last year, and I’m thinking about making it an October tradition. Here goes year 2. The book has one chapter per day, so that’s how I’m reading it. It’s delightful. I think my favorite chapter is October 17.

Definitely doing this again next year.

Docile by K.M. Szpara

Started: 10/1/22
Gave up: 10/5/22

I tried really hard to keep reading this book. I’ve read a lot about it, and it gets good reviews, and what the book is eventually saying is stuff I would want to say, but it starts out SUPER rape-y, and it sure feels like the victim is going to fall in love with the rapist, and the rapist is going to see the error of his ways, and gross gross gross. My understanding is that this is NOT how it goes, but I couldn’t get past the initial part. Not for me.

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

Started: 9/27/22
Gave up: 10/1/22

I have no idea how this book crossed my radar. I usually take better notes about that, and I’m annoyed that I messed up this time. Captain Bluebear falls into adventures, and I suppose each one is a life. Nothing much happens (adventures might not be the right word). It’s a series of vignettes, all fanciful, mildly amusing. Maybe good for bedtime reading. They remind me of The Phantom Tollbooth and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but without the morals, the lessons.

I got bored, lost interest. Might be nice to come back to if I’m looking for something without any suspense.

Velvet Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Started: 9/24/22
Gave up: 9/27/22

I don’t remember what I thought this book was going to be about, but I certainly didn’t expect a bored and thoroughly unpleasant 30-something woman, a somewhat interesting young government thug, and a missing person who sounded like someone I would find pretentious and obnoxious. Not for me. Gave it up.

Oh, wait, I know. I was confusing it with Certain Dark Things, which I am still interested in reading.

Oona Out of Order by Margerita Montimore

Started: 9/17/22
Gave up: 9/18/22

The premise is interesting, and it got me through the first 90 pages, but no. Girl (on the eve of her 19th birthday) begins living her life out of order, meaning that her consciousness spends every year in her own body in a random year of her future life. So when she turns 21, maybe she jumps to her body when she’s 30. (I don’t know – I quit before that.)

I quit for two reasons. First, I don’t like the character, and I feel like that’s a failure of the writing, not of my imagination. She’s going through a lot, and I would like to feel sympathic and understanding when she’s bitchy to the people who are trying to help her, but even though the reader is ONLY in her head, there’s not enough to bring me to sympathy. Then again, she’s still a teenager when this begins, so maybe I should give her more slack, but THEN I feel like I shouldn’t have to put in this much effort. So I quit.

The Thousand Eyes by A.K. Larkwood

Started: 8/28/22
Finished: 9/5/22

Sequel to The Unspoken Name, which I really enjoyed. I liked this second book so much I emailed the author to thank her. And I learned there will be a third! (That wasn’t guaranteed, or even necessary, based on how it ended, but I’m happy to hear it.) There’s a time jump I found jarring at first, but pretty quickly I loved that the characters got to grow up. I think that just means I’m old, but still!

Book of Night by Holly Black

Started: 8/12/22
Finished: 8/17/22

I really enjoyed a trilogy by Holly Black (about fairies, the not friendly kind) and just could not finish a book of hers about vampires, so I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this one. I think she enjoys writing main characters that are hard to like, which is fine, but also the magic in this was weird. It’s to do with shadows, but how and what exactly is mostly unclear (on purpose), and I just can’t tell you if I liked it. I had no trouble finishing it, though, so that may be a clue.

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

Started: 2/3/22
Finished: 2/8/22

This book was a LOT. It’s the first in a series (didn’t know that when I started it), and I cannot WAIT for the next one. It was a little hard to follow, not because it didn’t grab my attention (because boy did it), but because there are a lot of characters and a lot of factions, and I wasn’t clear on all of them until the very end. It was only published four months ago, so I have NO idea when book 2 will come out, and I’m sure I will need a refresher by then. I am for sure going to read his debut novel (The Lesson) while I’m waiting.