Book Review: The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

Book #34 of 2018:

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

This is an interesting account of two black boys with the same name who grew up in similar Baltimore neighborhoods, one of whom became a Rhodes scholar and one of whom is now serving a life sentence without parole. Both stories are well-told, but there’s not much deeper analysis here as to what these stories can tell us about inner-city life, black masculinity, and so on, nor what factors sent the boys off on such different paths. The shared name is clearly what started the author on the journey that led to this book, but the joint presentation here doesn’t feel particularly cohesive or insightful.

★★★☆☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: A Beautiful, Terrible Thing: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal by Jen Waite

Book #33 of 2018:

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal by Jen Waite

On the one hand: this is a gripping true story, told engagingly in alternating chapters of the author first falling in love with her husband and then discovering years later that he’s been harboring a dark secret. On the other hand: that secret is ultimately just run-of-the-mill infidelity and gaslighting that maybe doesn’t justify the breathless Gone Girl treatment presented by this narrative. It’s also hard to have complete sympathy for the author’s situation after we see her cheating on a previous boyfriend in one of the early chapters.

Still, I enjoyed this book as a memoir of recovery, and while I don’t think the author’s internet research into sociopathy is necessarily the correct diagnosis for her husband, I definitely got caught up in her emotion as she attempts to process all of his lies.

★★★☆☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offerman

Book #32 of 2018:

Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offerman

Not nearly as funny as I expected from a comedian of Nick Offerman’s caliber. I still enjoyed the autobiographical sections on the author’s bucolic childhood and subsequent acting career, but without more jokes to leaven the life advice that makes up the rest of the book, it comes off as rather preachy and condescending. And while I’m always going to disagree with a writer who argues that digital life can’t be as meaningful as anything you do with your hands, Offerman doesn’t even try to engage with the matter beyond knee-jerk platitudes.

★★☆☆☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View edited by Elizabeth Schaefer

Book #31 of 2018:

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View edited by Elizabeth Schaefer

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the first Star Wars movie, this book presents 40 short stories retelling the events of that film from the perspective of various minor characters — from Jawas to stormtroopers to the thing in the trash compactor. Some include scenes lifted straight from the movie; others offer plots that have purportedly been playing out in its background this whole time. These vignettes are brief, but the writers are talented, and the project as a whole carries a certain ludicrous joy. (My personal favorite contribution is Daniel Mallory Ortberg’s “An Incident Report,” in which an imperial officer files paperwork regarding the time his coworker Force-choked him during a staff meeting.)

The stories in this collection correlate roughly with the timeline of A New Hope, but they’re packed full of clever references to the rest of the Star Wars canon as well. It’s a labor of love for fans by fans, and the 40+ authors are all donating their share of the proceeds to the First Book children’s literacy nonprofit. Highly recommended for any lover of this franchise.

★★★★☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

Book #30 of 2018:

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3)

I’m satisfied by the conclusion of this trilogy, but I do find it a tad underwhelming after that excellent middle volume. There’s a lot of attention given to a brand-new viewpoint character of dubious importance to the plot, and some worldbuilding revelations that largely come out of nowhere and aren’t really given space to breathe. The author also keeps throwing new contrivances at her central romantic couple to keep them from sharing a quiet moment together, and at a certain point that plot mechanic gets obvious and tiresome. I don’t want to be too harsh, because there are some pretty great moments in this story, and I’m glad to see how the war between the seraphim and chimera finally resolves. This is a beautiful setting with characters that I’ve grown to love, but this final novel just didn’t hit the expected heights for me.

This book: ★★★☆☆

Overall series: ★★★★☆

Book ranking: 2 > 1 > 3

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Book #29 of 2018:

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

The entire first half of this novel is an extended Agatha Christie pastiche, wherein a Poirot-like detective investigates some suspicious deaths in a quiet English village. It’s very well done, and would be a fun pastoral whodunnit even on its own merits. But as it turns out, this section is actually a novel within a novel, with the final chapters removed. It’s the manuscript for a book that hasn’t been published yet, and before its editor can locate the missing pages, she finds out the author has turned up dead.

This new mystery of a writer killed to protect secrets hidden in his books feels a little like the J. K. Rowling-as-Robert Galbraith novel The Silkworm, but the inclusion of the full text of the inner story is an excellent postmodern twist. The whole thing is a great love letter to the mystery genre, and an intriguing exploration of the ties between authors and their characters.

★★★★☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: Warp by Lev Grossman

Book #28 of 2018:

Warp by Lev Grossman

It turns out this short first novel by The Magicians author Lev Grossman went out of print for a reason, and the success of that later work doesn’t really justify this new edition. You can almost see the origins of Magicians hero Quentin Coldwater in its aimless protagonist if you squint, but the book is mostly just self-indulgent angst and an interior monologue of sporadic pop culture quotes. It’s like the worst parts of The Catcher in the Rye and Ready Player One combined, and if it had been any longer I don’t think I would have bothered finishing it.

★☆☆☆☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Book #27 of 2018:

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

What a great read! And one that, I’m happy to report, doesn’t require a reader to know anything about Wonder Woman or the greater DC Comics canon to enjoy. This is an alternate version of the heroine’s origin story, where a teenaged Diana leaves her island home to enter our modern world on a quest. There are fierce female friendships, a diverse cast whose different backgrounds inform their characters nicely, and some quality action and adventure. It’s the start of a new line of DC superhero novels, and author Leigh Bardugo launches the series on a perfect note.

★★★★☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

Book #26 of 2018:

Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

I find that I often react to novellas by wishing they were longer, and this recent Stephen King collaboration is no exception. (If nothing else, expanding the book would help to distinguish it from the classic Richard Matheson short story / movie / Twilight Zone episode about a similar deadly button.) I do like the wrinkle here that the young heroine is a fundamentally decent person who safeguards a power she knows other people would abuse, but that power itself and the overall moral thrust of the story are left somewhat murky by the authors. There are some good ideas here — like a certain black-clad man with the initials R. F. lurking around Castle Rock — but it all feels a little under-developed in the end.

★★★☆☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Book Review: The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman

Book #25 of 2018:

The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman

This is a collection of essays, speeches, and other writings from author Neil Gaiman, pulled from across the span of his career. They contain some interesting reflections on his own works, literature in general, and writers like Douglas Adams and Diana Wynne Jones that Gaiman has admired over the years. The selection could have been curated better — I don’t fault the author for sometimes using the same anecdote in two pieces written years apart, but there’s no need to then include both items here — and it probably helps for a reader to already be a Gaiman fan before picking up this book. But if you like his work (and that of the other artists he discusses) and don’t mind a little repetition, this is a neat look into a creative mind.

★★★☆☆

Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started