Tag: book review

Book club: Brave New world & The Girl on the Train

Posted on by Shawshank

Good afternoon my book lovers, There’s a bonus today. I’ll be talking about two books! I know, he has no time to read, but he’s reading two books now? While it’s true that I’m still trying to find balance between work and reading, I really wanted to read both of them.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

It’s very retro-futuristic. So I’m enjoying it so far. I’m not too far into it, but it’s very good. Very strange, and I don’t really know what’s going on in it so far. It seems to me there’s one really popular chick that everyone wants to date. They kinda sleep around and baby’s are made in a test tube. I can’t wait to dive into this and finish it up.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I remember watching a movie about this book. I liked the movie, but I got really sucked into the book. Although, it could be “Delusional Drunk Girl on a train”! The book is told from the perspectives of three different women.

I know not too much to go on with these books, but I’ve really only read the first couple of chapters each. But, let it be known, I’m really liking both books so far!

Book Review: The Raw Shark Texts

Posted on by Shawshank

Welcome to my book review of The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. As I was gathering a couple pictures, and reading the synopsis of the book to refresh myself on the book, I could swear that I’d done a review on it before. So I went to my site, and looked, I couldn’t find anything, but then again, I didn’t look too hard. It want checked off on my list, so here we are!

Imagine waking up in a strange house, with no memory of being there, no memory of yourself, no memory of anything. That’s what happened to Eric Sanderson. There’s a not to call this number, and it signed by himself, or so the note says. He calls the number and it’s his psychologist, and she tells him he has a condition.

Following a trail of clues and notes, Eric finds that he’s being hunted by a conceptual shark called a Ludovician.

I really liked this book. You can really identify with Eric, as you are going into this as blind as he is. You, like him, don’t know if you can believe the Eric that’s writing the notes. You even start to feel a little paranoid as Eric explores his past with the help of some mysterious characters that help him a long the way.

Like House of Leaves, this has some interesting printing in it. Some pictures formatted from words. At one point you actually turn what you’re reading into a flip book.

This book really does need to be on more people’s to be read lists. I really enjoyed this book, and more people should as well.

Book Review: Night Film

Posted on by Shawshank

First let me start off by thanking Crystal for making this awesome new graphic for my book reviews. It looks simply amazing.

I got away from reviewing the books that were sent to me when I was away. And looking at my list, i only had two left. So I figured, let’s get em done.

This is my review of Night Film by Marisha Pessl. (Who by the way, seems to have disappeared. She hasn’t posted anything in about 2 years. Just dropped off the radar.)

First off, this book is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There’s multimedia in the pages of this book. It’s hard to explain. One moment you’re simply reading a book, the next, you’re reading a magazine or even a webpage. It’s incredible.

It’s a massive book, over 600 pages. The storyline is this; Ashley Cordova, daughter of famous horror filmmaker, Stanislas Cordova, commits suicide. Believing that he was involved in her death, Scott McGrath teams up with Nora and Hopper to figure out what happened, and who was actually involved.

I really enjoyed this book. I started reading it inside, but then suddenly, Canada! I think I finished it one night while in quarantine in Montreal. I really have to revisit this book sometime in the future, because I really wanted to enjoy the ending, but it felt a little long.

All in all, I really liked this book, and would recommend it to others that enjoy mystery/thrillers.

Book Review: Sharp Objects

Posted on by Shawshank

So I watched the HBO miniseries long before I read the book. I loved the series, so I really wanted to see how the book was.

I loved the book as much as the miniseries.

Newspaper journalist Camille Preaker, is broken. Mentally broken. Fresh out of a recent hospitalization for self-harm for carving words on to her body. Camille is sent back to her hometown to investigate 2 brutal murders, as well as navigating and interacting around her family, including her 13 year old half sister.

I really liked the grittiness of the book, and the descriptions of her family and what it was like growing up in a small town. Since she’s a reporter, no one what’s to talk to her on the record, but she persists, and ends up figuring it all out.

Did I mention the twist ending?

I think I just did, but you have to read it for yourself. But when I first saw the twist on the show, I was shocked, repulsed, disgusted all at the same time. It was great. The book lead up to it as a slow burn.

I just wish I could read it again for the first time. Go out and get it!

You bring your knees in tight

Posted on by Shawshank

It’s the final Saturday that we’ll be talking about The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

I finished it last night. I actually stayed up an extra 20 minutes to finish the last 50 or so pages. And lemme tell you, they were page turners!

There’s some writers out there that try and rush the final third of the book, trying to tie up all the loose ends as quickly as possible.

In this book the pace didn’t seem to speed up at all, but I found myself reading faster and faster to find out how it ends.

It doesn’t end with a bang, but kind of ends on a cliff hanger! Just about 1000 pages and it ends on a cliff hanger!

I loved it.