The Cabinet | 
panSuch a promising premise, such a cold, empty, shallow, bitter, clumsy execution.
I love being able to add books to the sub sub genre of job-based horror, and I think this fits there better than it does in the sci-fi or fantasy genres, but I can't recommend it as a decent read within that categorization.
There are a number of fragments within chapters or sections of what is too messy to be either a series of connected short stories or a novel 1/?
so-soConversation as book review:
Me: This is seriously the strangest book I‘ve ever read
My MIL: Then why are you reading it?
Me: Your son gave it to me for Christmas!
My husband: It was on your list!
Me: No, it wasn‘t—you picked this one out on your own!
Husband: Because it sounded amazing!
Me: No, you don‘t understand, this is next-level strange
Husband: Hahahaha yessssss
Me, later, after finishing the book: I‘m still not sure what I just read
“All the information contained in this novel has been manufactured, modified, or distorted in some way, and should not be used as evidence in any argument, be it in a respected academic journal or a heated bar fight.”
Well, that‘s a fantastic opening! 😂
pickIn this remarkable & sometimes disturbing book, Mr. Kong is a low level office worker who escapes the boredom of his job by reading the mysterious files stored in Cabinet 13. As he becomes embroiled in the tales of the symptomers, unfortunate souls who skip ahead in time or find a lizard has replaced their tongue, Mr. Kong becomes the target of a dangerous syndicate. An absurdist look at the existential woes of modern life, whimsically Kafkaesque.
Christmas book stack! My husband did a great job choosing titles from my list, as well as a couple off-list picks. The tagged is one of those off-list choices—and it sounds amazing!! So excited to dive into these. Along with Auld Lang Spine, I have way too many good books for my January list! (I mean, that‘s always the case in any month but feels more true right now!)
“You may never discover magic. But it won‘t be because magic doesn‘t exist. It‘ll be because you stopped dreaming. Magic exists all around us. In fact, magicians are quite common.”
I randomly picked this up the other day because who wouldn‘t pick up a pink book with a cat peaking over the title & a collaged chameleon? Exactly.
Then I opened it & there‘s a warning instead of a dedication.
Then I read the prologue, which starts “It is called Cabinet 13. But there is no particular reason for the number 13. It only means it‘s the 13th cabinet from the left.”
Needless to say, despite my book buying ban, I bought this book.
I thought it would be fun to start highlighting a favorite cover each month. It begins & ends with the story, of course, but I also really appreciate all the work that goes into making a really awesome cover. Tagged book was a delightfully quirky read about a file cabinet containing the unlikely stories of people with strange & unusual talents & the implications for the world as we know it. A good book with a great cover.
#FebruaryCoverCrush
pickAn unusual, fascinating, hypnotic—I couldn‘t once put it down even though I‘m not entirely sure what I was reading—story about a man in a dead end job who stumbles across a room with a mysterious filing cabinet inside of which are files on people with quirks from manipulating memory to skipping time & growing trees in their fingers. Is it the end of humankind & the emergence of a new species? Odd, intriguing, unexpected, I enjoyed this one.
So far this one is weird and wonderful…It‘s also in the running for my favorite cover of the month.
#OutAndAbout #ReadingOnTheTrain #CoverCrush
Thank you so much for my #jolabokaflodswap package, Suba! @batsy Good pick on the book, what an interesting cover, too! And two chocolates?! 🍫🍫😋😋
Merry Christmas! ❤️
Thanks to @MaleficentBookDragon for hosting & organising one of my favourite swaps!
pickThis one is pretty bizarre. But I enjoyed it. A man accidentally ends up in a job working for a man doing research on people with bizarre symptoms. Like the man with a tree growing out of his thumb. The stories end with a weird little moral between chapters.
#DoubleSpin done!
@TheAromaofBooks
Pub date is 10/12/2021
#ARC #Netgalley #AngryRobot
pickI enjoyed this quirky novel which tells the stories of “symptomers” — people who have odd habits or characteristics. Each story ends with a bit of a moral at the end. #ARC #Netgalley
Sure there are various attempts at telling stories high in body horror about those who might be considered the next evolution in humanity (think X-Men with less convenient mutations) or maybe mad scientist victims/experiments, but aside from being vaguely horrifying they're more an obstacle to this not particularly personable protagonist who hates - well, everything. The judging people by appearance, 3d
I can't find any redeeming quality in the writing, in the plot, it didn't leave me wondering with interesting questions, or wrap things up particularly well. 3d
I can't think of a single person I'd recommend it to, though I'm sure there are some poor bastards out there ready to praise it for being purposefully repellant or some such bunk.
No thank you.
⚠️body horror, fatphobia, suicide attempt, alcohol abuse, assault, suicide, sexism, ED, torture 3d