Books You've Read Lately

[KazooSquirrel]

What books have you read lately?

Maybe give a brief summary, or tell us how many stars (out of five) you would give the book?

Looking forward to sharing and to possibly discovering some new favorites with everyone here!!!

 

[d3_3p]

Under the Dome by Stephen King.

It was a behemoth and a bit slow in the middle, but overall good.

 

[MorningStar]

My New Year's Resolution was that, each month this year, by the end of the month, I will have read or finished reading one new book and one new game. Maybe one I'd started and never finished, or one I'd never started at all, as long as I was finishing one I'd never read before.

January I read Cassandra Clare's "Red Scrolls of Magic." And I really enjoyed it. Her writing style has improved over the years. Ironically, for February, I read the stories in "Ghosts of the Shadow Market," set in the same universe.

"Chain of Gold" came out a few days ago, but right now I'm halfway through "Otogizoshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu" and am planning on reading Junji Ito's adaptation of Dazai's "No Longer Human" once I've finished. All books listed are books I'd recommend, though I will admit that "No Longer Human" is kind of a dark and nihilistic book and Junji Ito's art style is not necessarily for the faint of heart.

 

[Xara]

not sure if this counts lmao but i recently read “the girl that care forgot” on wattpad. i know wattpad is notorious for being home of some real cringey works, but “the girl that care forgot” was absolutely wonderful and might be one of the best stories i’ve read - it shone light on domestic violence and just how burdening the abuse cycle can be.

 

[visibleghost]

i recently read oranges are not the only fruit by jeanette wintersson and the sense of an ending by julian barnes, both for a university class. i enjoyed them both but the latter did leave me feeling a bit uneasy.

 

[Bcat]

Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells

It's a unique fantasy book, and I would highly recommend it!

My (vastly oversimplified) summary is: After seven years of self-imposed exile Maskelle, a disgraced former priestess, is summoned home to the Empirical capital of Duvalpore to assist with the Wheel of the Infinite: the most important magical rite of her religious order, which is being sabotaged by an unknown source. Along the way, she is accompanied by a troupe of colorful theater actors and the swordsman Rian, a foreign outcast with a complicated past of his own.

Spoiler: what I loved. no spoilers

1: The characters are all wonderfully written and well-rounded! Maskelle isn?t a typical fantasy heroine being a woman in her 40?s. In a genre that?s dominated by teen protagonists and coming of age stories that's incredibly refreshing to see! Her age doesn?t prevent her at all from kicking ass or from hooking up with the sexy swordsman, Rian, either. He?s probably my favorite character due to his sarcastic personality and the wry banter he shares with all of the other characters. I LOVED the romance between him and Maskelle as well?and the fact that he happens to be 10-15 years younger than she is. (An age gap in a relationship that?s between consenting adults and not creepy at all??? HELL YES.)

2: The world building is incredibly lush and detailed, like everything else by this author. It doesn?t have a ?quasi-European? setting like Game of Thrones or other mainstream fantasy either. Instead, it has a unique setting that felt inspired by Southeast Asia and probably some other cultures as well as the author?s own imagination. You?ll definitely end up wanting to visit Duvalpore and the surrounding temples in the jungle before the story is through.

3: The magic system and Maskelle's religion were interesting to learn about and see in action. I?ve never really seen anything quite like ?The Wheel? in other fantasies, and I also loved learning more about Maskelle's patron deity "The Adversary" as the story went on. There's plenty of other fun fantasy stuff too: like cursed puppets, water spirits, and paranormal murder.

Spoiler: what I didn't love as much. also no spoilers

1: I had issues with the pacing. The story lagged a bit in the middle before rushing into an ending that came on too suddenly. There were a few too many loose ends for my taste and a couple of things that left me scratching my head. It's not that the conclusion itself is bad, it's just that the way it unfolds is too rushed.

2: Mainly I just wanted more. There was so much depth in this story and so many characters that didn't get a chance to shine was well as they could have: like Rastim, the leader of the theater troupe. I wanted more of Rian's backstory as well. You get a taste for what his home life was like through his POV chapters and some of the things he says, and I just really wanted to learn more about him and how he feels about certain people in his past. And on that note, there wasn't enough about Maskelle's interesting past for my liking either.

It really needed either have a second part or to be a trilogy in order to be truly satisfying imo. But I think that it says something when my biggest problem with this book is that it's so good it left me wanting more!

So, yeah, solid 4.5/5. Pardon my rant and do think about checking it out. You can get it on amazon or barnes and noble on ebook for about $3 or so.

 

[RedTropicalPeachyFish]

Spoiler: wow didn't think it was this huge image

It's a how to design/build the house so your cats are more comfortable with you there.
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[RandyBatiste]

"The monk who sold his Ferrari"like self-development books

 

[Soigne]

wide sargasso sea!! i would give it 0 stars lol. i understand why it can be seen as important but the writing... oh god. oh god the writing.