I came across Moon of the Crusted Snow while browsing the Indigo website. It is essentially a story about the apocalypse, which attracted my attention because I love stories about the apocalypse. Weird, I know. But I like to get ideas for what to do or not to do when shit hits the fan. Moon of the Crusted Snow is a somewhat interesting story, but I feel like it ended before it really got started and overall the novel was just okay.
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The Ministry of Time is Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel. I love time travel stories, and there has been a lot of buzz around this book, so I decided to buy it. I absolutely loved The Ministry of Time and can see it on my short list of favourite books of 2024. I made the mistake of going onto Goodreads (ugh) and checking out the reviews on there, and I am baffled by the number of one-star reviews, as well as the false accusations of plagiarism against this book because it shares the same name as the Spanish TV show El Ministerio del Tiempo. As someone who has seen El Ministerio del Tiempo AND read The Ministry of Time, I can assure you that there is no plagiarism involved. Both are delightful to watch/read.
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White Teeth was originally published in the year 2000 and is Zadie Smith’s first novel. It is a pretty impressive debut considering Smith was only 24 years old when it was published. It is a thick book that took me nearly two weeks to read, and it is Dickensian with a large cast of characters. It reads like a quaint 19th or early 20th century novel even though it is set in the late 20th century. White Teeth is broadly about the immigrant experience in western culture. It took a bit for me to get into the story, but I ended up finding it to be an interesting and humorous read.
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One of Us Knows is the second novel that I have read by Alyssa Cole. The first was When No One is Watching, which I read before I started this blog. Both novels explore the horrors of racism. When No One is Watching is about the sinister gentrification of a Brooklyn neighbourhood. I liked it enough that I wanted to read Cole’s next thriller, One of Us Knows, but I somehow missed in the synopsis that the protagonist has dissociative identity disorder (DID – formerly known as multiple personality disorder), which almost stopped me from reading it as I feel that DID is a sensitive subject matter that not many people take seriously. However, my curiosity won out and I ended up being completely engrossed by this novel.
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The Familiar is the latest adult novel by Leigh Bardugo. Like Ninth House, The Familiar is magical realism, but it is also historical fiction as it is set in 16th century Spain. I enjoyed The Familiar and at this point I think that Bardugo cannot fail to write a novel that I find interesting.
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Where Sleeping Girls Lie is Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s second novel, after her debut Ace of Spades. I have pretty much gravitated away from YA novels, but I decided to give Àbíké-Íyímídé’s second novel a chance because I liked Ace of Spades and I appreciate that her YA fiction is grounded in realism. Unfortunately, I was not as engrossed by Where Sleeping Girls Lie as I was by Ace of Spades. I feel as though this novel is lacking something, and after pondering over it, I have concluded that it is because the characters are somewhat bland.
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Listen for the Lie is Amy Tintera’s adult debut novel. I have read some of her YA novels, The Ruined Trilogy, but I honestly do not remember much about them (oops). I decided to read Listen for the Lie because it sounds interesting and has been getting good reviews. I think Listen of the Lie is an entertaining and easy read (I read it in one weekend) that is perfect for fans of the mystery genre.
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This is the first – and most likely only – “blind date with a book” that I have purchased. A Hero of Our Time is apparently “whip smart with biting humor” but I did not find it humorous at all. It actually kind of made me feel sad – when it wasn’t making me feel so bored that I wanted to DNF it.
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I came across a collection of Maggie O’Farrell’s novels in the bargain book section of my local independent bookstore, and since I have read and enjoyed O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet, I decided to read one of her more contemporary novels. After You’d Gone, O’Farrell’s debut novel that was first published in 2000,sounded the most intriguing out of the collection. I found After You’d Gone to be just as interesting as both The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet.
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I came across The Book of Doors while browsing my local Indigo bookstore. The inside book flap says that this novel is for readers of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which almost made me pass it over, but then it said that this novel is also for readers of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, which is a book that I really enjoyed reading, so I decided to give The Book of Doors a chance. I like it better than The Midnight Library, but it does not hold a candle to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. The Book of Doors is an interesting idea, but I really do not care much for certain aspects of the novel.
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