en-US Mon, 05 May 2025 15:17:26 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9391394819 Mon, 05 May 2025 15:17:26 -0700 /review/show/7545961715 Sirbriang2 is currently reading Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies by Sheila Curran Bernard
]]> Review7417900018 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 17:24:10 -0700 /review/show/7417900018 Sirbriang2 gave 2 stars to The Blunderer (Paperback) by Patricia Highsmith
While I enjoyed Highsmith’s prose style, this was a frustrating read for me. The plot felt glacial and the climax inevitable, an utter chore to read. And that’s too bad, because I liked a lot of the character work. It’s almost like there was too little plot spread across too many pages. ]]> Review7187889719 Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:48:06 -0700 /review/show/7187889719 Sirbriang2 gave 3 stars to Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (Hardcover) by Mary Roach
I enjoyed Roach’s writing as much as ever � I was just disappointed when the subject matter didn’t match the cover tagline. I wanted to read about “When Nature Breaks the Law,� not a semi-serious discussion of how humans try to kill animals that have become invasive pests.

It’s fine for what it is, it just is not a subject that interests me much. ]]> UserChallenge61572315 Wed, 22 Jan 2025 13:45:07 -0800 /user/show/21919657-sirbriang2 Create your own 2025 Reading Challenge » ]]> ReadStatus8882428379 Tue, 07 Jan 2025 15:28:50 -0800 /review/show/7187889719 Sirbriang2 is currently reading Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
]]> Review6712617144 Mon, 29 Jul 2024 15:29:25 -0700 /review/show/6712617144 Sirbriang2 gave 3 stars to The Ballad of Black Tom (Paperback) by Victor LaValle
I didn’t realize this was using Lovecraft’s THE HORROR AT RED HOOK as its framework until after I finished reading it. That explains a few of the more unusual plot elements!

On its own, this is a pretty solid eldritch horror novella. Reframing the original story with a poor black protagonist makes it a lot more compelling than Lovecraft’s story, and LaValle seeded the eventual violence well. It just feels a little slight, like so many novellas do. I don’t know how many more pages I would have enjoyed, but when it finished I felt like the second part had been heavily compressed. ]]> Review6712705789 Mon, 29 Jul 2024 15:02:06 -0700 /review/show/6712705789 Sirbriang2 gave 2 stars to The Horror at Red Hook (Paperback) by H.P. Lovecraft
I read this after Victor Lavalle’s THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM, which uses this story as a framework for something a bit more nuanced.

This has some interesting elements of cosmic horror, but the actual storytelling is awkward, even by Lovecraft’s standards. It’s unnecessarily wordy and yet fails to be evocative. The protagonist is, uncharacteristically, a cop, but Lovecraft doesn’t seem interested in any directions that could have taken the story. It’s just an early draft of the cosmic horror that Lovecraft would later become known for. ]]> Review6712617144 Mon, 29 Jul 2024 14:18:52 -0700 /review/show/6712617144 Sirbriang2 gave 3 stars to The Ballad of Black Tom (Paperback) by Victor LaValle
I didn’t realize this was using Lovecraft’s THE HORROR AT RED HOOK as its framework until after I finished reading it. That explains a few of the more unusual plot elements!

On its own, this is a pretty solid eldritch horror novella. Reframing the original story with a poor black protagonist makes it a lot more compelling than Lovecraft’s story, and LaValle seeded the eventual violence well. It just feels a little slight, like so many novellas do. I don’t know how many more pages I would have enjoyed, but when it finished I felt like the second part had been heavily compressed. ]]> Review6702812324 Thu, 25 Jul 2024 21:45:29 -0700 /review/show/6702812324 Sirbriang2 gave 3 stars to Barnstormers (Comixology Originals) by Scott Snyder
]]> Review6698404460 Wed, 24 Jul 2024 11:22:01 -0700 /review/show/6698404460 Sirbriang2 gave 3 stars to Thor: Vikings (Thor: Vikings (2003-2004)) by Garth Ennis
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