Everything I Read & Where I Read It: August 25-31
I WILL finish the Broken Earth trilogy, mark my words.
The rumors are true: I did go to Six Flags for my friend’s birthday this past week. Roller coasters hit different as an adult. As a kid, on my family’s annual pilgrimage to Kennywood, any time spent NOT riding a rollercoaster felt like a colossal waste of time, if not an outright punishment. Now, I could only ride the Nitro twice before I felt so unsteady that I had to take a break. A BREAK. Like a goddamn loser. Dippin’ Dots hit the exact same, though. Refreshing, exciting, intriguing, bewildering, etc. My only regret is that I got a kiddie size instead of a Goliath size. (And why isn’t the kiddie size called a David? Such a missed opportunity.)
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
I got Deep End from the library, where I was taken aback to see that 1) they already had paperback copies of it, and 2) those paperback copies have the fancy spraypainted page edges. Queens Public Library is investing heavily in Ali Hazelwood, apparently.
As I’ve said before, I think Ali Hazelwood is a good writer. She develops consistent main characters–unfortunately, they’re usually deeply annoying, too, but that’s less important–and she can write some serious sexual chemistry. Really, it’s a gift. This book did not need to be 450+ pages, though, and parts of it felt repetitive. Like, we get it, Lukas is gone again being an Olympic swimmer, we miss him, etc. I did like the world of college swimming and diving, though. I don’t want to scare anyone, but I am, for all intents and purposes, an Olympian swimmer (I swam on a high school team with Katie Ledecky). No, but actually, I swam until I was 18, so I was passively into the swimming details. Same with the STEM academic background that Hazelwood usually does: it works fine for me. I don’t love it as much as, say, a story set in the world of publishing in New York City, but I don’t hate it as much as, for example, a romance with an organized crime, touch-her-and-die subplot, either. ⅘ romance stars.
Set Piece by Lana Schwartz
Ok, here’s the cool story behind this book: my friend and I randomly went to a reading series called Letters & Sodas because it was at a brewery near us. The reading series was cool, one person was way funnier than everyone else, etc. Partway through, I realized that the organizer, Lana Schwartz, had published a book with 831 Stories, the very cool, very new imprint publishing romance novellas with distinctive covers. I went up afterwards to say hi and told her I was excited to read her book, Set Piece, and she was like, Oh, thank you, just take this copy. And I was like, What? No, I can’t do that, that’s your personal copy. And she was like, no, for real, please take it, I have so many. So I did, and I told her that I’d come to the next event and return it to her.
Anyway, so then I read Set Piece. It was really cute–reminded me a lot of Linda Holmes or Annabel Monaghan. Lots of workplace relationship development, a strong LA setting–great! Enjoyable all around. ⅘ romance stars.
Mood Swings by Frankie Barnett
My Kindle read of the week. I recently got a Kindle cover and I love it so much. It took me a while to realize that opening and closing the case was the equivalent of pushing the on/off button? Which is? Genius?
This book was insane. It read like a dream-scape–sort of like a nightmare, but really more just like a nonsensical, meandering dream. In a good way! It’s speculative fiction–all the animals rise up against the humans, and then a billionaire creates a sonar weapon that kills every animal on Earth. But it’s just as much about being young and broke and online in Montreal as it is about the plight of the earth. I really liked it. It took on serious topics without being at all serious about it, and somehow that really worked for me. I want someone else I know to read this one because I loved the ending–I could see no way that the author was going to land this plane, and then she actually did in a way that was beautiful and perfect and amazing. 5/5, I think.
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
I’m NOT officially counting this as a DNF because I’m still committed to finishing it. I almost never make myself read a book I’m not enjoying, but I loved the first two books in the Broken Earth trilogy and feel like I owe it to myself to finish the series at this point. The book is still optimistically spread-eagle next to my bed, waiting for me to continue.
The first Broken Earth book blew me away. I loved it–the characters, the way the storylines came together, the dystopian future, the survival aspect. The second one was good, although not as compelling. This last one is dragging for me. I want to know what happens to Essun and her daughter, but the whole book feels really bogged down by the lore around the orbs and the Stone Eaters, both of which I feel like I’ve lost the plot on. Unfortunately/fortunately, I just got an amazing haul from the library full of books that I’m incredibly excited to read, so I’m having trouble getting myself to read this one.