Tall Oaks is Chris Whitaker’s debut novel. It is interesting to observe his progression as a writer from this novel to We Begin at the End and All the Colors of the Dark, but I don’t find Tall Oaks to be a particularly good novel.
…
Iain Reid is the author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things, which I have not read, but I did watch the movie adaptation by Charlie Kaufman, which was surreal and confusing, even if I was able to parse together what was going on by the end. I let the movie put me off from reading the book, and I almost did not read Foe either, but I am glad I did because I got a kick out of the ending (Foe has also been made into a movie, as you can see by Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal being on the cover of the book, but I haven’t watched it and I am glad I read the book first).
…
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Beautiful Ones was originally published in 2017 and is the second to last of her novels that I need to read before I am all caught up on her bibliography. Unfortunately, The Beautiful Ones fell short of my expectations.
…
Kate Quinn has appeared many times on my blog for her mid-twentieth century historical fiction, but The Astral Library is her first fantasy novel. The Astral Library poses the question, “Have you ever wished you could live inside a book?” What kind of a bibliophile would I be if I haven’t ever imagined living inside one of my favourite stories? I found the first couple of chapters of The Astral Library very difficult to get through, but once I did, this novel ended up being a fun read.
…
In my review for Mona Awad’s Bunny, I had said that I thought the Bunnies (the clique of rich girls that the main character does not like but wants to be part of) are the more interesting characters. I take that back. I was completely wrong. We Love You, Bunny is a slog to read.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Bunny in case you plan on reading it.
…
I have been meaning to read Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End since I read All the Colors of the Dark last year. Better late than never. I’ve had a hankering for another slow burn, character driven mystery ever since reading Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, and this novel was exactly what I needed.
…
katherena vermette’s most recent novel, real ones, is about a subject that I find intriguing, people who falsely identify as Indigenous (or who falsely identify as any race really). This novel came out about a year after it was revealed that American musician Buffy Sainte-Marie’s fabricated claims of Indigenous ancestry. Where do white people get the audacity to pass themselves off as another race that has been marginalized by white people? (It’s a rhetorical question). As interesting as I found real ones to be, though, I must admit that I do not love how vermette wrote this story.
…
I must like stories about astronauts and space travel more than I thought, because I ended up enjoying Atmosphere considering my lackluster feelings towards Taylor Jenkins Reid.
…
Untamed Shore is a noir novel featuring a questionable death and a shockingly cunning protagonist. I thought this was going to be another rote story about a good girl getting caught up with bad people, but I quite enjoyed the change in the protagonist’s character late in the story.
…
The Burning God is the final book of The Poppy War trilogy. Although I liked this book better than The Dragon Republic, my favourite is the first book, before the story devolved into one long civil war. If you are a fan of the fantasy genre, and do not find war to be a tedious subject, then I think you will enjoy this trilogy.
Spoilers ahead for both The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic, just in case you plan on reading them.
…