Thursday, January 18, 2024

Books of 2023


A quick round up of the novels I read last year:

Maggie Stiefvater - Greywaren 
 

Third installment of the Dreamers trilogy in which different people, some with mythological powers, some not, try to prevent a catastrophe caused by resentment and megalomania. It takes place in the same universe as the Raven Cycle books (which I have not read). Unfortunately, I found the conclusion to the trilogy disappointing as especially the way some characters’ arcs ended fell flat for me. This might, however, not be a failure of the book per se as I’ve noticed my tastes changing over the last year and a half. Maybe YA just isn’t for me anymore. Over the trilogy I have found myself gravitating to the older characters and I truly cannot blame Maggie Stiefvater for not concentrating on them in her YA series.

3/5
 
Becky Chambers - To Be Taught If Fortunate


I love Becky Chambers’ novels. She is one of my favorite Sci Fi writers and so I was excited to start this novella. In it, a quartet of astronauts is sent out to seek out distant planets and catalog the life they might house. The story is, in my opinion, a beautiful and poetic look at space exploration and the inner life of the people who do it. Despite it being shock-full of intricate descriptions of possible new worlds out there it feels very grounded in reality due to its basis in science. And in fact, it achieves what I find so appealing about space in the first place, the connection of logic and emotion and how there’s beauty in science.

5/5
 
This is in retrospect my favorite book I read in 2023.



T.J. Klune - The House in the Cerulean Sea
 

A very sweet story about a middle-aged man stuck in his dead-end job as supernatural orphanage inspector given the opportunity to experience joy and love and make a difference when he is sent to inspect a secret orphanage inhabited by only the most dangerous of supernatural children. I enjoyed the world building here very much as well as the characters and their relationships to each other. Writing children is very tricky but all the kids here - despite their supernatural nature - felt like actual children. A story about difference and the beauty that comes from it.

4.5/5



The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022


I read these every year and I do indeed plan on doing more top 4 stories from these. This year was a reminder on why I can basically ignore amazon reviews because despite the reviews for this year’s collection being largely negative I enjoyed many of the stories within greatly and the collection as a whole much more than the one that came before. The theme with this one was hope and resilience and that appealed to me much more than last year’s focus on grief. Anyway, included some bangers and generally solid.

4/5


Susanna Clarke - Piranesi


I went into it not knowing what to expect at all. It simply caught my eye at a train station book shop. There is a man who lives in a House. The House is eternal and provides him with all he needs, he has never left the House and does not know anything outside of it, but then one day mysterious happenings start to heap up and all he knew may crumble down. My favorite part of the novel was getting into Piranesi’s mind and his world. Susanna Clarke has a beautiful way with words that drew me right in and let me experience the House in the way Piranesi did. The conclusion and the explanation gives context to what was disconnected before and though it does reduce the dreamy quality of mysticism that reigned before it furthers the main character’s arc and struggle with identity.

4/5


Margaret Atwood - Hag-Seed


This is an installment of a - sadly discontinued, I would have loved to see Gillian Flynn’s interpretation of Hamlet - collection of Shakespeare retellings. This one was a gift from a friend who knows well how much I like Shakespeare and Margaret Atwood. This is her take on The Tempest. A play I have studied in university and watched in the theater (and I like it, that, too). I really enjoyed her approach of centering the theatrical aspect of the play and having it revolve around a production of this same play as this telling’s Prospero is an unfairly ousted theater producer who puts on a production of The Tempest in a prison to get revenge on those who wronged him.

4/5


Claire Kohda - Woman, Eating


What attracted me to this book first, was the cover. Not the one here, because this one is the one I did end up buying and it’s a different one.) And of course, themes of women and food/eating are very dear to me. Khoda tells the story about a young woman, half vampire on her mother's side, who moves to London to pursue a career in the arts. Away from her overbearing mother for the first time in her life, she struggles with her identity and sustenance, which is inextricably linked to the former. It’s all tied together with her mixed heritage (her dad was Japanese, her mom is half Malaysian and half white), womanhood, budding romantic feelings, morality and artistic self-expression. I always enjoy stories about people struggling with and discovering their identity and this is no exception. I especially like that the novel deals with the difficulties and set-backs self-discovery can have.

4/5


Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - This Is How You Lose the Time War


This novel became an internet phenomenon which ironically made me reluctant to read it. Given tags such as ‘time travel’ and ‘enemies to lovers’ it didn’t exactly sound promising to me. Then I picked it up in a bookstore and read a couple of pages and was intensely intrigued. It is a sci-fi epic of love and connection and how it has the power to change our world view and who we are. El-Mohtar and Gladstone employ beautifully lyrical language to explain their esoteric concepts of the time traveling spies of two warring factions and how they begin to communicate, grow closer and ultimately form a bond like no other.

5/5

 



TJ Klune - In the Lives of Puppets


As I had read and enjoyed another TJ Klune novel this year and because I do love living robots as a general rule, buying this book was a no-brainer. After robots took over the earth a robotic inventor lives a peaceful life with his human son, a nurse-bot and a roomba in the forest. When the son finds a humanoid robot in a garbage pile and the father gets kidnapped, a journey of exploration begins. I loved the different characters and the world Klune created in this coming-of-age story, but I couldn’t quite get into it as I had with his other novel.

3.5/5

 

Monday, December 4, 2023

Reviews of Christmas classics I have never watched before: Home Alone

 I've not written much for this blog. But I'll give you some more reviews of Christmas classics considering I have started with Christmas season in mid November. 

This is a movie I felt I'd watched through pop culture osmosis. Turns out I never actually did sit down to watch it before. It is fun, it is charming, it is clever. It has a classic sweet Christmas message of togetherness. The traps are just as inventive as I was promised but I have to disagree with the popular opinion that Kevin is a little "psychopath". What was he supposed to do? They explain why Kevin couldn't just call the cops and the thieves could have left at any moment and escaped but they wanted to kill him. So yeah. No sympathy for them.


Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Halloween Countdown: Wendell and Wild

 

Wendell and Wild (2022)

Years after the tragic loss of her parents Kat finally returns to her now desolate hometown and gets an offer from two demons who promise to bring her parents back in exchange for a summoning. Things don't quite go that way and then there's also the private prison to stop.

A wonderful Halloween stop-motion adventure about grief, guilt and responsibility.

Monday, October 30, 2023

Halloween Countdown: Jennifer's Body



Jennifer's Body (2009)

Needy and Jennifer are polar opposites and best friends. After Jennifer falls victim to a ritual she is transformed and has to consume people. It is up to Needy to deal with the situation.

Why am I explaining the premise to you? You likely know Jennifer's Body. It is iconic for a reason. The more time has passed the more the movie has cemented itself as a classic of the subgenre. It is for women more than it is for men as it deals with the use/abuse of the female body and the blurred lines of the close friendship of teenage girls. But it is enjoyable for everyone.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Halloween Countdown: Ready or Not


 Ready or Not (2019)

When a woman marries into the estranged eccentric family of her husband, she gets more than she bargained for. She has to fight for her life and make it to sunrise or else become a sacrifice for continued prosperity.

This is, first and foremost, a very enjoyable, very violent romp. It is also a scathing look at rich people dynamics and how they are willing to literally walk over corpses. Grace is a fantastic and funny main character that contrasts perfectly with her husband's family. The end is beautifully cathartic.

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Halloween Countdown: Blood Red Sky


Blood Red Sky (2021)

A mother with a rare disease and her son board a plane in the hopes for better treatment. Criminals hijacking said plane is only the beginning of their troubles.

It's surprisingly good for a German movie (well, German-British but still). Bloody, tense, well made. The child actor does a phenomenal job.

Friday, October 27, 2023

Halloween Countdown: Nope

 Another newer movie tonight.


Nope (2022)

After their father's sudden death, siblings Emerald 'Em' and OJ Haywood try to keep their family horse training business afloat when mysterious happenstances start plaguing their ranch.

The wonderfully creepy trailer and poster (and to be honest, the name, too) enticed me to watch this movie which blew me away and became my favorite movie of 2022. It is one of the best movies - if not the best - that I've watched in the last years. Maybe it is not 'scary' in the way some people expect horror movies to be but it is tense and unsettling made me fear clouds on my way home from the theater.

About Me

My photo
I am in my mid 20s and finished my university career. My areas of study included media analysis, literary and cultural studies, linguistics, and history. I like reading, drawing, writing, movies, TV, friends, traveling, dancing and all kinds of small things that make me happy. Just trying to spread some love.

Books of 2023

A quick round up of the novels I read last year: Maggie Stiefvater - Greywaren    Third installment of the Dreamers trilogy in which differe...