this is maybe not a great romance. the male lead is too much of an asshole, the female lead too quirky. it is also maybe not my favorite writing � of the kind where it feels like a bunch of words are the synonyms of the word the author was actually looking for.
but i loved reading about vietnam and amazing food and glorious sites.
so a good romcom, no. but a pretty entertaining travel guide.
bottom line: yet another case of liking everything except the romance in a romance.
i wanted to read this since before it came out, so i was shocked it's one of the least read books i've ever seen on goodreads.
once i'd finished, i boti wanted to read this since before it came out, so i was shocked it's one of the least read books i've ever seen on goodreads.
once i'd finished, i both got it and didn't.
the whole time i was reading this book, my main thought was "i shouldn't be reading this book."
john edgar wideman is under-read on goodreads, but was one of the most critically acclaimed authors of the 80s and the first to win the pen/faulkner award twice. his most widely read books and his award winners are 40 years old.
i maybe should not have started here, with an unknown new release.Â
there was a lot of brilliance here, but it never quite coalesced into brilliance itself. in my unease at reading a book of almosts, i kept googling the author, reading interviews and excerpts and his wikipedia page.
this armed me for the back half of this book, which dissolves without comment into memoir.Â
wideman sets up a group of real people, and an interesting theory in the "slaveroad," but he fails to put it all together. even the ultimate pivot into his own memories could've served it, but the book abruptly ends without much to say.
bottom line: a less-brilliant work by a still-brilliant author.
this didn't have much of a plot (besides the very trope-y one we fell into 75% through) or characters (one chahad me at cute book about magical girls!
this didn't have much of a plot (besides the very trope-y one we fell into 75% through) or characters (one character is cute and dumb and cheerful, the other character is mean and smart and cold, that's it) or relationship dynamics (two of the weirdest and least real-feeling romances occur in this book) or an explanation (i do not understand the magic system in this � or if i can even call it that)...
but what it did have is the cutest art ever.
turns out that's mostly enough for a good time, some of the time.
this is a book about a family nail salon sabotaging the chain that opens up across the street.
as someone who is a fan of both pranks and supporting smthis is a book about a family nail salon sabotaging the chain that opens up across the street.
as someone who is a fan of both pranks and supporting small business, i just hope the happy ending does not involve learning some kind of lesson about how crime is bad.
worse, it's not really about sabotage at all � more about kind of upsetting hijinks and financial errors committed by a family trying their best.
it aims for a lot, like separate plotlines and happily ever afters for each of the 5 family members we follow and themes of gentrification, family, immigration, community, and success.
as you can imagine it didn't quite stick the landing on everything.
but it wasn't a bad read, and it made me really hungry for vietnamese food. that's good enough in my book.
this book, about four families living in a communal apartment building, convinced me that we need to wait for men to die out and theme and my friends.
this book, about four families living in a communal apartment building, convinced me that we need to wait for men to die out and then start society over.
the writing is simple and abrupt, as is the ending...and the plot...but this successfully made me feel some type of way about the family unit.
and that's more than some can say!
bottom line: the system is broken!!! at least within this fictional story.
BUILD A BODY LIKE MINE at this point i may dedicate my life to seeking out eating disorder-related fiction that irelatable.
mini-reviews for each story:
BUILD A BODY LIKE MINE at this point i may dedicate my life to seeking out eating disorder-related fiction that is at all unique. i will even accept interesting.
we are not there yet. rating: 3
THE PROBLEM SOLVER this one also is not anything extremely not-done-before, but it is very sociopolitically accurate, so you have to give it props for that. rating: 3.5
SHE’S ALWAYS HUNGRY title story alert!
all of the jokes i could make about this are spoilers. bummer. rating: 3.5
THE SHADOW OVER LITTLE CHITALY this one is about a combination chinese / italian restaurant that makes evil pizza with apples and chow mein in it. fun. rating: 3.5
HOLLOW BONES gross! rating: 3.5
GOTH GF the american dream.Â
okay that was very literal. in hindsight i don’t know what i expected. rating: 3
EXTINCT EVENTS the theme of this is mostly “weird plant starfish creatures are people too, you know.� but no they aren’t. you can’t fool me. rating: 3
NIGHTSTALKERS not to be confused with the one that’s jake gyllenhaal. rating: 3.5
SHAKE WELL i recommend this story for people who like dr. pimple popper. i do not like dr. pimple popper. rating: 3
THE KING i didn’t want to say it. i was trying not to saying it. but by naming it ironically herself, eliza clark has forced me to say it:this book is fun, but it’s not particularly clever or novel. it’s mostly online edgelord bullsh*t. rating: 2.5
COMPANY MAN ²õ³Ü°ù±ð.Ìý rating: 3
OVERALL there were some fun ones in this, but nothing as crazy or out-there or unique or edgy as it seemed to think it was. rating: 3
so this was not my favorite romance novel of all time, but it would've been a really, really good dream. i'm 100% giving this 3 stars, but i would've so this was not my favorite romance novel of all time, but it would've been a really, really good dream. i'm 100% giving this 3 stars, but i would've been, like, super bummed to wake up after spending a sleep in it.
so that has to count for something.
the problem with this book, which follows our (still) (unfortunately) heartbroken protagonist (who was dumped several years ago and is still being kind of a bad hang to her friends about it) as she somehow ends up in the fictional setting of her favorite romance series for a love story of her very own, is not what i thought it would be (that it makes less than no sense).
i'm willing to overlook the little things, like logic and things adding up in any way.
what i'm not as cool with is that the fake story was better than the real one.
the fake town: rocked. the fake characters: amazing. the fake love stories: dreamy.
the real romance, real characters, real setting, real setups, and oh man the real happily ever after ish ending...meh.
but if they open up an eloraton amusement park i'll be there for a honey surprise and a quirky side quest with my name on it.
until then, i wish ashley poston wrote the other story she made up for this one instead.
bottom line: i often don't love a frame story, but this was the first time i loved one too much.
--------------------- tbr review
i like one (1) romance and suddenly the author's whole backlist is on my tbr...more
i hate men as much as the next literate 20-something woman, but at one point does "the patriarchy is the third member of every heterosexual marriage" i hate men as much as the next literate 20-something woman, but at one point does "the patriarchy is the third member of every heterosexual marriage" become "you married a mean child."
you can tell from page 18 that this guy is a no go, so it cuts down the power of that a bit.
this is the kind of book i really like (depressing and miserable and cutting lit fic about modern society), but i didn't like how it was done. this artist-cum-mother/wife becomes increasingly mother/wife and also maid and also secretary in a cartoonishly unequal relationship with a guy with no redeeming qualities. but that's not even what we're supposed to be reading? our narrator constantly tells us that she loves her husband and the hardest thing about her life is that she misses him and wishes she could be near him all the time, but we never see that. just shouting and liberal usage of the word "meltdown."
i think the intention here is to show how these two totally contradictory feelings can, and possibly have to, coexist in marriage...but it doesn't do that, so.
by the end, it dissolves into a series of platitudes looking for a conclusion it doesn't quite find.
but i read it in a sitting so i guess take this with a grain of salt.
bottom line: an eminently readable but otherwise just okay book.
this was a short book that was mostly about two things: - overcoming hyper-specific and very disturbing trauma - smut.
these are talia hibbert forever!
this was a short book that was mostly about two things: - overcoming hyper-specific and very disturbing trauma - smut.
these are two things that i don't love in my romances in general, and especially in combination due to the breakneck tone shifts switching back and forth between them entails, but i enjoy everything by talia hibbert and it was nice to read about these two nice people being nice to each other.
in the moments that weren't, you know. the stuff that makes me upset and the stuff that makes me blush like a proper old woman.
i'm sorry. i wish i was cool.
bottom line: not my favorite talia hibbert, but still by talia hibbert.
i'm sorry but. could this title / cover / author combo hit any harder.
this is of that weird subgenre of books that you give people when they graduate i'm sorry but. could this title / cover / author combo hit any harder.
this is of that weird subgenre of books that you give people when they graduate from college. the ones they sell in the gift aisle instead of the book section at target. they're usually adapted from a commencement speech and are roughly 65% illustration, 35% words.
it's weird to review a book that by many metrics is not a book, but this is pretty good for what it is. inspiring. a unique perspective. it's basically the same themes as one of those viral facebook posts that's like "oprah didn't start her show until age whatever," but a little more up my alley.
bottom line: the best (published book) of the worst (kind of gift to receive).
thank you to colm tóibÃn for understanding what few do: all the books i like should get sequels.
this book is the absolute most i could enjoy any storythank you to colm tóibÃn for understanding what few do: all the books i like should get sequels.
this book is the absolute most i could enjoy any story that refused to go anywhere i wanted it to go, and in fact at any given time was following one nightmarish plot point with another unique hellscape of its own making.
in many ways this book was very similar to the last one � woman leaves one life and visits another path she could have taken and has to choose between them, ending on an emotional crisis and then a cliffhanger � but it wasn't as charming and i found it very stressful.
it also had three perspectives, which was a bummer because i love eilish (an evildoer who can do no wrong in my eyes) and i don't much care about anyone else.
it was still evocatively written and in many ways an excellent read, but it just wasn't so much for me.
bottom line: i guess i'll just hope for another random sequel in 15 years.
------------------- tbr review
i haven't read the first one yet but i still know i want to read the second
it is not realistic, it does not progress logically, it does not care about following the precedent it has set for itself. it's kithis book is a lot.
it is not realistic, it does not progress logically, it does not care about following the precedent it has set for itself. it's kind of confusing and everything happens really fast and emotionally and the romance and the friendships essentially just spring up fully formed like the greek gods who popped out of zeus's head.
(you read that correctly. this is, ostensibly, a romance, and the love story that is, presumably, the plot doesn't really unfold in any sort of narrative way. but it's fine. we have 300 pages of dialogue to get through.)
what it IS: fun. it's funny and silly. it's 99% conversations made just for the terminally online.
by book standards, i don't know how much i loved this (no plot, characters kind of hard to track), but if i pretend it was a blog or 1,200 tweets i'm like...masterpiece.
bottom line: a great book for when you really want to be scrolling.
----------------------- tbr review
pinning my happiness hopes dreams and optimism on whether i like a romance novel again. which is kinda romantic if you ask me...more
i could give a lot of reasons i wanted to read this, but the top one was always going to be "look at that gold detailing on the cover."
unfortunately ii could give a lot of reasons i wanted to read this, but the top one was always going to be "look at that gold detailing on the cover."
unfortunately it turns out it's orange, and that this book is not really for me.
i love short books, but that's because i typically read literary fiction, and books about the ennui in the life of a woman in her 30s don't normally need extra pages to clear up any confusion.
this, about polish magic in chicago featuring a romance, a movie theater showing alien as a cover, climactic, action-packed sequences like a guy trying to pick a flower, and musical mythical creatures, probably could've used some.
but it wasn't a bad time.
bottom line: i don't really know what happened in this book, but i might've liked it.
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