Heartless by Marissa Meyer. A take on how the Queen of Hearts from Alice In Wonderland got to be where (and who) she was. Some of the decision making in the story felt forced and/or dragged out, however it was more than made up for by the creativity and overall interesting nature of the plot.
Hearing God by Dallas Willard. I’ll be honest, I had real trouble parsing what I was reading. I got a few good nuggets from it, but I put this book on a special list to re-read in a few years.
The Wizards/Rincewind arc (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent, Unseen Academicals, The Last Hero) by Terry Pratchett. I finally went back to reading Discworld books. I’d been warned that the Rincewind books were some of the first books written about Discworld, so they would be the weakest. I thought naaaaah, but that person was correct, I did not enjoy the first two at all. However, by Sourcery, it felt more like Pratchett had found his feet and it was quite a good story. Then Eric blew past and crashed that impression. Then I lit up again when reading Interesting Times. Then, again, the following books let me way down. By the time I was a few pages into Unseen Academicals, I gave up on that book and didn’t even bother picking up The Last Hero. At this point, I’m going to slip into The Witches character arc instead of finishing this one. Life’s too short to trudge through books you don’t enjoy, even if they’re by authors you usually love.
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett. A standalone novel in the Discworld series, we get a look at Pratchett’s version of ancient Egypt. In a land where tradition is calcified beyond repair, a pharaoh’s son goes off to a modern city and learns the trade of assassination. He finds himself excelling in most parts of the craft, but unable to take a life. When his father dies, he returns home, bringing all kinds of new ideas that the high priest can’t bring himself to acclimate to. Alternately humorous and poignant (as Pratchett’s best books are) it’s a good read that reminds us to stay flexible while remembering whose shoulders we stand on to be here today.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I tried to read this ages ago and ditched it because certain sequences were too disturbing and visceral for my full-color imagination to deal at that earlier point in my life. Now that I'm a bit more inured, I came back to read what was an excellent book. There's a waiting list a mile long for this and all its sequels in the library—and no wonder. It's simple and easy to read, but there's also clearly layer upon layer of storytelling and archetypal work here. Ender Wiggins, a rare third-born child on Earth, is quite likely a tactical genius. If he can be trained properly, he may save Earth from the next wave of alien invasion. So he is sent to battle school for children and trains at their games like nobody before him has ever trained, only to discover that not everything he does is a game.
Introvert Book Club Reads
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. I picked this book up, mildly suspicious that I might get yelled at by the author through its pages. I read it and sank into the world, fell in love with the web of characters, and breathlessly followed each twist and turn from every new point of view. I dropped my guard. I opened my heart. Then, I finished this book sad and angry—with the author.
This book is a work of art. I cannot adequately relate to you the pleasure I had reading it. I am most comfortable reading fantasy, but this sucked me in so deep I didn’t care that I was reading historical fiction. The writing is of a caliber I rarely find and, when I find it, I enjoy it like someone eating the richest chocolate cake.
This cake had two rocks baked in. The first time a character had a sort of vision of the future, I thought it was strange and a little out of place, but I dismissed it as an aberration. The second time, right near the end, there was no mistaking it. The author stepped out of the pages to backhand the reader in the face with The Moral In Case You Missed It. Both moments were presented as a sort of flash-forward to the future (our present) in what felt like a thin cover for the author breaking immersion to shout directly at the reader. The effect, for me, was complete whiplash. Whatever softening and letting-down-of-my-guard had happened during the rest of the book vanished, leaving me feeling empty, angry, and bewildered.
As a reader, I am tired of being treated this way by authors. As someone trying to write a novel, I am discouraged by this trend of shoehorning in a moral instead of letting the strength of the story carry the reader gently to the point that is being made—as if I hear from the pages of so many bestsellers, “Kid, you’ll never make it in this biz if the right boxes ain’t checked and the right views ain’t been made crystal clear.”
Your story and writing were good enough to carry your message themselves. Why did you do this to your work?
I can’t honestly give this book less than five stars. I think the quality is exceptional and I won’t lie about my opinion. But the disappointment hurts too much. I’m not keeping this book, and I never want to read it again.
(later edit) I couldn’t stop thinking about the story, and realized at least one part of it that sits very badly with me. Spoilers past this point. We are shown over and over again the sins, biases, and wickedness of the white doctor in this tale, and fair enough. It culminates in him groping a sick, unconscious woman, and not long after he dies and is mocked and reviled by the narrative. Again, fair enough. But then we are expected to swallow the black character, Son of Man, who runs the asylum ward with a cruel iron fist, someone who has a taste for little boys and rapes a character we the readers have come to love and cherish throughout the story. And yes, he is killed, but before he is killed, he is told “It’s not your fault.”
This juxtaposition of who does and doesn't bear fault for their sins makes me ill, especially given that the one who seems to be pardoned by the narrative is one who did to to a literal child. If this is part of the moral we’re being slapped with, I reject this. Adults are culpable for their decisions, especially when they make them in regards to children. It’s still excellently written, but down one star on this count.
What Really Happens in Vegas by James Patterson and Mark Seal. I learned way more about Vegas than I ever thought I would. This book is a collection of fascinating non-fiction vignettes about what happens behind-the-scenes with the people who make Vegas—well, Vegas. From Cirque Du Soleil to chefs to limo drivers to Elvis impersonators, this book has it all. Lots of fun to read.
Crosshairs by James Patterson and James O. Born. A sniper serial killer mystery. We follow a class-act NYPD officer with a new partner—a moody young sniper veteran. As the chase drags on, fingers begin to point in the direction of this new partner. Did he do it? Well… you’ll have to find out for yourself. It was a decent enough read. Good time-killer.
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls. A new novel by Walls, and at the halfway point I suspected I was reading a retelling of Henry VIII from Elizabeth’s perspective… in Prohibition era America. I still think I’m right. I didn’t like this one as much as the others that Walls has written. Even so it kept me turning the pages all the way to the end.
Three-Inch Teeth by C.J. Box. This is the second Joe Pickett novel I’ve read. Have to say, even though I jumped in a decent ways through, I’m starting to enjoy them. Following a competent game warden in the wilds of Wyoming and the various criminals or revenge plots he has to wade through makes for an enjoyable read. This time, its a string of murders made to look like grizzly bear killings—but how? And who? Well, we know, seeing both sides of the story, but watching Pickett sort through the details to figure it out is the fun part.
Movies
Inside Out 2. Knocked it out of the freaking park. My therapist tried to get me to understand what a sense of self was for a long time, and only in the last five or so years (on my own) have I more or less understood what she wanted me to. This movie? After this movie, every kid aged six and up will understand what a sense of self is. And the Anxiety character... just... the look on her face toward the end when she's crying will haunt me for a long, long time. This was an excellent film.
TV Shows
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. So, at first I thought this was going to be a reboot, taking the film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and doing it over as an anime. WRONG. Despite what most of the first episode does, this is actually a sequel. This carries on directly from the end of the movie (or graphic novel?) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. And it is fantastic. I normally hate dubbed animes, but I'd recommend getting this dubbed instead of subbed this time because they got the WHOLE original cast together for the dubbing. On top of that, we get really interesting character development for Ramona in this round, as well as development for all her exes. Turns out, Ramona needs to process and deal with the messes she left behind for once. This is crazy good on the animation front and lots of fun story-wise. If you liked the movie, you will love its follow-up anime.
The Last of Us (TV show). I saw the cutscenes to this when the videogame came out, thanks to friends who insisted that even if I didn’t play videogames I simply HAD to see this story. I only remembered the highlights by the time the TV adaptation rolled around. It follows Joel, a rough-edged contractor, as the apocalypse comes in the form of a fungal infection that evolves to live in and control humans—turning them into mindless, tough, very fast zombies. All of civilization comes crashing down over the course of one weekend. Twenty years later, Joel is tasked with escorting a teenage girl, who might be the key to a cure, across the country to a lab. In an apocalypse scenario where fungus-driven zombies are everywhere, you get to see how different humans handle the apocalypse one scenario at a time.
On the whole, this was one of the most excellently written and acted TV shows I’ve ever seen in my life. The story was incredible to begin with—in the videogame—and though my memory of it is fuzzy, my husband says the show mostly stayed true to the game. They did lean political in a few episodes, but to be honest, I’ve seen so many shows that do their politics so obnoxiously over the top that you can color me tired and grateful that it was moderately subtle in this shows—with the exception of about five sexually explicit minutes in episode three, which were incredibly unnecessary. However, by and large, the storytelling and characters stayed in the driver’s seat, where they ought to stay.
Games
Ori and the Blind Forest. So this is the first of the Ori games, and a lot more of the visual narrative of the second story made sense once I saw this one. I will say that I enjoyed the play style of the second game better, but this first one was still a good game to play. Frankly, both games together are beautiful so I was just happy to get more Ori. It’s a shorter play-through than the second as well. Both together make a wonderful addition to any gamer’s library. Speaking of which—
Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I have to come back to this because last time I put up a review about this game, I was about to punt the Sandworm boss onto my husband. He told me in no uncertain terms that I couldn’t dump on him a game boss from a game that has a steep learning curve on complex game controls and expect him to work a miracle. So I sat down for about twenty minutes a day for four days and tried to make headway through the boss. I found myself progressing a little farther each day I tried, and eventually I beat that boss myself! Then I got to the end shortly after, and it was GLORIOUS and I felt SO ACCOMPLISHED. And this is an excellent game. Just keep trying on that stupid sandworm, you’ll get through eventually. Here's what that looks like. You don't fight the sandworm, you just have to stay ahead of it because touching it is instant death.
Dredge. An artistically interesting game where you—a fisherman—crash your boat on the rocks of a town. You wake up and are given a new boat by the mayor, who says you can pay it off by catching fish and selling them in town. After you pay it off, you can upgrade your ship, engines, tackle, trawl nets, and crab pots as you try and catch all kinds of fish to sell. Along the way you take on quests and investigate mysteries, but don’t stay out too late. You might start to hallucinate, or worse, see things that really are there and really are coming for you. This slightly eldritch game is a cross between open world exploration/foraging and mild horror. It was loads of fun to play.