Look, I'm as shocked as you are at my relatively low star rating. This had every element of Things I Love but something about it just didn't cook righLook, I'm as shocked as you are at my relatively low star rating. This had every element of Things I Love but something about it just didn't cook right. I'm giving it 4 stars anyway because it was unputdownable. I read this 900 page tome in 9 days, in my busiest season of the year. I could not stop reading it.
I guess the Fool never resonated much with me for whatever reason. I like that they have a friendship. Friends are good! But it never really went beyond that for me.
After spending most of the second book in tears, I was dry-eyed in this 3rd volume. Wildly emotional things happened and I just kind of shrugged my way through them. I have no idea why I was so heartless. The cruelty of the Pale Woman reminded me of Regal, just like soooo evil with no shades of gray to be seen. It's boring, honestly. It gets to a much deeper core when things have nuance. Everything on the ice isle left me flat.
I was worried Fitz would (view spoiler)[end up with Molly and I am extremely disappointed I was right. 16 years and 7 kids later you have outgrown your childish love, okay? You just have. There's just no way they would go from meeting to marrying within 3 years and it is a step backwards for Fitz and I extremely disapprove. (hide spoiler)] I guess it's full circle but I wish it hadn't happened....more
This was super cute! +1 star for children that weren't annoying and I actually liked them!
-.5 stars for the love interest. He's a jerk. I guess we werThis was super cute! +1 star for children that weren't annoying and I actually liked them!
-.5 stars for the love interest. He's a jerk. I guess we were supposed to root for them but I was like Go Find Someone Better Who Doesn't Throw Your Trauma In Your Face During a Fight And You Immediately Forgive Him Because He Has Trauma Too. GIRL. C'MON.
Very cozy, with one explicit sex scene, if you're worried about that kind of thing....more
I loved the first half of this re-telling of The Snow Queen, but once the reindeer showed up it got a little weird. I mean, fairy tales are very weirdI loved the first half of this re-telling of The Snow Queen, but once the reindeer showed up it got a little weird. I mean, fairy tales are very weird! But it was a re-telling so you get to pick and choose your weirdnesses. I loved the raven. He had all the one-liners and was quite funny! I also liked that the relationship between Gerta and Kay isn't the important one....more
It's the most checked out book of all time from New York Public Library, and I had never even heard of it. I put this on hold because of this article.
It's the most checked out book of all time from New York Public Library, and I had never even heard of it. Maybe because it takes place in New York and I grew up in Oregon?
Sweet little story - even as an adult, waking up to snow feels magical. I know it made a big splash at the time because it is a black child. It is bonkers to me that this was published in 1962 and it was one of the first non-caricatured black children in a children's book. America's racism still manages to surprise me. I want it to be better than it is.
There were some extra pages at the back about Ezra Jack Keats and his creative process that I enjoyed reading....more
Sweet: This book could be read by Puritans without blushing. --->Sensual: A few pages of sexy time, buWhere this book falls on the motor revvin’ scale:
Sweet: This book could be read by Puritans without blushing. --->Sensual: A few pages of sexy time, but mostly story.<---- Hot: NSFW but safe enough for the bus if you hide the cover. Erotic: Oh my.
This was a sweet book with a couple major flaws. The four female friends who live and work together are great and I admit to some envy. I want to have good friends like that!
There were a few other major female characters and they were awful, terrible people, and they made the whole story worse. There was way too much of Mac's mom in particular.
I always always hate the 66% mark of a romance novel because that is the magic amount of pages that have to pass before the author is forced to introduce something dumb and dramatic into the story. Our heroes always have to almost break up. WHY IS THIS THE ROMANCE NOVEL FORMULA. IT'S A DUMB FORMULA.
I will complain about this formula forever until it stops happening....more
I don't give out many 5-star reviews, and this is the 3rd book to get 5 stars by Naomi Novik. I am having a hard time capturing what I loved about it I don't give out many 5-star reviews, and this is the 3rd book to get 5 stars by Naomi Novik. I am having a hard time capturing what I loved about it and I'm dissatisfied with this review. I keep thinking of deleting it but it's the best I have right now.
So here is a half-formed review of a book I won't shut up about.
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The first time I read The Odyssey I was disappointed. The Odyssey lives in my pop culture knowledge as one of the first fantasy books, full of adventure, death, and beautiful women. Odysseus is clever in how he escapes traps and defies gods to get home to his beloved wife, Penelope. Once there he continues to use guile to complete the story, outwit the suitors, and carry his wife to bed. But upon reading it, his adventures are over almost immediately – only about 1/6 of the total book. His son Telemachus complains a lot. His wife complicates things. All I wanted was adventure.
My definition of epic has changed as I have aged. I no longer think of Odysseus as the main character of The Odyssey. He goes off to war and has some adventures getting home and, in the process, loses his entire crew. That takes about 20 years. While all that is happening, Penelope is at home, using her wit and guile to stave off the advances of a horde of suitors. 20 years. She manages to keep their interest and never gives them a single piece of herself. When Odysseus walks in, she finally sees a chance for a decisive victory. She sets the challenge of the axes, one of the most famous scenes in literature. Odysseus is the one who completes the challenge, but it is Penelope who is the focus. She is what makes it epic. She wins her hearth, her home, and her love all in one shot of an arrow.
Hearth and home and love. These are not words I would have associated with “epic” when I was younger. Now I realize that everything I have ever read that made me cry and shudder at its epicness was all about one thing: achieving safety and comfort.
When I finished Spinning Silver I rocked back and forth and sobbed and felt the void in my chest where nostalgia lives. I was in the lunchroom at work which was an amazingly poor decision on my part. I couldn’t stop reading it even as I gasped for breath and sent a Slack message to my coworker asking to delay our meeting.
There are no sword fights or dragons or political intrigue to be found here. There is only the quiet heroics of women making a safe place to live. They pull their power around them like a shroud. That is what epic looks like to me....more
Sweet: This book could be read by Puritans without blushing. --->Sensual: A few pages of sexy time, buWhere this book falls on the motor revvin’ scale:
Sweet: This book could be read by Puritans without blushing. --->Sensual: A few pages of sexy time, but mostly story.<---- Hot: NSFW but safe enough for the bus if you hide the cover. Erotic: Oh my.
I actually liked this.
Are romance novels slowly breaking me down, until even mediocre romance novels I find I enjoy because they aren't absolute dreck?
This was a sweet story about an already married couple falling back in love. Usually, romance novels make me weepy as the story begins because I want that! This time the ending made me weepy. Their first time making love was so intensely sweet.
Given, romance novel authors probably don't want you to cry during their sex scenes...
I had saved this to read during Christmastime because I thought it would be nice to read a romance novel of the season. But honestly, the amount of Christmas was so trivial, I think you could read it at any time of year....more
This was a struggle to get through. I ended up resorting to a goal of 10 pages a day to make it to the end. It gets 2 stars because there was some evoThis was a struggle to get through. I ended up resorting to a goal of 10 pages a day to make it to the end. It gets 2 stars because there was some evocative imagery that is going to stay with me, but there is no story. No story at all.
My favorite line was: "Smoke exited the chimneys in remarkably thin and solid lines. The children took note of this for their future drawing." It encapsulated the smoke and the children and the drawings we all know from children that draw smoke like that in very few words.
Actually, the story is New York City. If you don't really care about New York City, you probably won't love this book, because there is nothing else. There's no climax or denouement or characters we care about. There's just New York....more
I picked this up because I enjoyed the miniseries so thoroughly. At almost every turn, the miniseries took the ideas from the book and made them betteI picked this up because I enjoyed the miniseries so thoroughly. At almost every turn, the miniseries took the ideas from the book and made them better/scarier/more charming, as the case may be. I absolutely LIVED for Dr. Goodsir in the TV show, and while I liked him here he was just so so good IRL, as was the actor who played Capt. Crosier.
At a certain point, about 75% of the way through, the book became torture porn. Bad thing after bad thing happened to the crew and I grew tired of it. It was exhausting.
I'm not quite sure why it was necessary to have a supernatural element added to the story - all these men died, and (I assume) there was no revenge bear in history.
Every interaction of a man with a woman was extremely questionable and cringeworthy.
Still, though, I actually quite liked it! It was readable, it was scary, it was full of hubris. Dr. Goodsir is so great.
The voice actor was amazing. Definitely added to the tone and depth of the characters with perfect accents. ...more
I first read this maybe 15? years ago and I loved it. I had picked it up randomly having no idea it was based on the fairytale "East of the Sun West oI first read this maybe 15? years ago and I loved it. I had picked it up randomly having no idea it was based on the fairytale "East of the Sun West of the Moon." Not that it would have mattered - this book was my introduction to that fairytale. The story has stuck with me and I have recommended it to people with abandon.
Now I'm a boring adult with a lot more books (and feminism) under my belt. The reread didn't hold up. The girl is so great and brave and does so much all because of this dude and I'm like GIRL when are you gonna do something for YOURSELF. She just keeps following him. I get she's keeping a promise, and then messed it up so really owes it to him, and along the way really grew as a person and had a whole hero's journey and learned a lot about the world, but also then she just settles down and becomes a loving wife once she finds her man. BOOOO.
I guess that's fairytales for ya. I think younger-me still found that romantic.
I also did not like the switching perspectives. I only cared about Rose and only wanted to hear her story....more
I did not expect my view to change so much on my second read-through of this series. I remember these books with a certain overtone of bitterness and I did not expect my view to change so much on my second read-through of this series. I remember these books with a certain overtone of bitterness and bad decisions, and while that is still the case it felt much more true this time through. I am guessing my own maturity has a lot to do with that, but also I think it was just better on a re-read. I knew I was getting into a long long journey and so I was more willing to stick with it, whereas last time I was bored and probably a little mad.
I did not write a review last time so I can't point to it, unfortunately, but my star rating was just 2-stars. This time, the last 50 or so pages almost convinced me to make this a solid 5-star book, but then I remembered the 700 pages leading up to that and so I couldn't do it. It goes on too long. Fitz is injured and recovers and walks and gets tired and questions everything and also hates it all and it just keeps GOING.
I remember feeling disappointed by the ending last time, but this time I found it to be suitably epic. I was crying the whole last 50 pages.
Looking forward to starting the next trilogy....more
I have a real soft spot for 19th century home life books meant for girls, like the Little House books and Anne of Green Gables. I never loved Little WI have a real soft spot for 19th century home life books meant for girls, like the Little House books and Anne of Green Gables. I never loved Little Women like those two series and did not reread it as a kid. Reading it as an adult, I can see why.
It is not meant for children the way Little House and Anne of Green Gables are. None of the romances will set your heart aflutter, most of the anecdotes are a little too twee. The Marches are just so damned wholesome. There is a lot of philosophizing on how hard work makes you a better person and worthier of being loved.
I remember having always identified with Jo, and I did again in this read. Though I could never forgive Amy for burning my manuscript, seriously.
There is not really a story here. It is a collection of vignettes on the trials of growing up and leaving girlhood behind. Maybe it is meant for women who took the more traditional path of growing into womanhood and marrying. My path has wandered from that girlhood dream and it is hard now to identify with the stories I grew up reading....more
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