So I used to read a fair amount of young adult fiction. Up until a couple years ago, it probably took up a good 40% of my reading each year, and was the first section I’d go to in the library, even as an 30-something. I appreciated the willingness to experience along with the avoidance of pretension just for the sake of it I found in YA literature. This included YA dystopian novels, which often told interesting stories with bold, frequently female protagonists. However, anything […]
Just Google It Already
I’m not sure what it says about me that within three chapters of this book, I thought, “This had better end with a divorce.” Really, I don’t know what it says about me that my standard reaction to married couples in books is the same. Or most episodes of House Hunters. In this book, though, the husband spends the first few chapters so busy throwing red flags that I don’t know how he got anything done. I’m struggling hard with what to say about this […]
Now that’s how you reclaim a narrative
You can’t escape Lovecraft’s influence if you, like I, read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy/horror. But until now, I had never read any of Lovecraft’s works directly just interpretations of them by authors like Neil Gaiman. I was aware that he is considered problematic due to racist beliefs that even for his time were extreme but I wasn’t sure how much of that bled into his actual work. Well, thanks to my book club I got to find out firsthand. Our assignment this month was to […]
God rest her soul and may she never walk at night
The Screaming Staircase is the first book in Jonathon Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. series. It is a creepy ghost story murder mystery featuring young teen and pre-teen protagonists and it kept this many-years-past-her-teens lady up at night. There were some things about the world building that bothered me, though I can see why Stroud did what he did, however as a whole this book was highly enjoyable and I will be checking out the remaining four books in the series. This book is set in […]