Two hours into this, and I am enjoying it, but also some things rub me the wrong way. So far, it's a pretty fun romp, though.

This was an interesting read. I found it a bit goofy at times, and at times it made me really uncomfortable. I would say some things are a bit overexplained and overwritten, but the way this book makes the reader rethink how they view the images that are presented is very unique nd refreshing. The “mystery“ itself isn't exactly revolutionary, but the book does a good job of humanizing the antagonists and protagonists.

Pretty early in the book (Just finished Ch 16 of Book 1), there's excellent characterisation of the societal norms, but the story drags, things hardly happen, and Fanny is so uninteresting and prudish.

On one hand, it's very refreshing to see, but on the other, it's hard being invested in a meek character who hardly speaks up and lets everyone walk all over them. I'm hoping Fanny eventually gains some semblance of confidence.

This was a quaint little book, following two catholic priests, their friendship and their missions in New Mexico and newly aquired territories of the time. I believe it's based on real missionaries which I'll have to look into.

There is aclot of casual racism sprinkled throughout, but aside from that it is pretty tame.

I finally got around to reading this poetry collection, and I enjoyed it. It is of its time, but I think everyone still resonates with all of these themes even today (both a blessing and a curse, really).

There is a prevalent melancholy throughout the whole book. This also seemed to have predominantly resonated with the working-class African Americans in Harlem, talking about their struggles, partying, injustices, blues, and religion.

Normally, I would say that the story dragged, but I think in this case, the way the story meanders adds a lot ot the atmosphere of the novel. To me, this wasn't so much a “whodunnit“ novel as a “What even happened here?“ Some scenes in this book border on the supernatural.

I never know how to rate historical nonfiction books, but this was all really interesting. My only gripe was that the women's histories went into great detail about the men in their life and I really wanted it to focus on solely the women's deeds (it was all done for historical context so you can't really exclude the men)

There is an attempt at a conversation about the importance of the arts here, but it's all surface level.
There is always a scene of someone performing something or writing or talking about a comic book or a book but it has so little substance.

Some chapters are so short and could just be combined with others and it would not make any difference.

The book drags on and on with pointless scenes and dialogue.

There are some profound poems in this collection, but peppered in among them are a few that are very surface-level and don't add much to the collection. I would imagine the one I'm thinking of is somewhat about how people are obsessed with TV/reality TV and consumerism, but it came off more like “Grandma is having trouble with knowing how a remote works.“ The nuance is lost.

I'm 30% through. How can things be happening but nothing is really going on 😅 what is the point of all this vapid dialogue? How did this win awards?

Everything that was interesting and charming about the previous book (folklore and fey study) is severely lacking in this installment. Emily is somehow even more unlikable, bratty, and entitled.

I found her treatment of her niece particularly unpleasant to read, as the niece did absolutely nothing wrong, but was viewed as a nuisance regardless.

I got 50/50 with Red and Orange. This surprises nobody 😂

A friend who loves the books just showed me the new trailer and it def. looks super fun. Although I might be biased because I love Alexander Skarsgård, he's such a great actor.

I am so stoked to start this tomorrow 🙌

There were some genuinely good moments in this book, but on the other hand, there were so many toxic male fantasy tropes.

MC being afflicted by madness was fun for a while until it was just taking too long to cure and I got sick of being hammered over the head of how everything he perceived was fake.

I could have also gone without the martial rape garbage.

A lot of the plot points in this book were really weird and unnecessary, but when the book dealt with the main plot it was fine.

There were some parts where I was wondering if it was the aurhor's poorly disguised fetish or if it was something with the game lore itself that he borrowed from

This wasn't a bad collection but it also didn't WOW me. This felt more like a personal work, poetry written to commemorate Mary Oliver's pet dogs.

I also read a bit of this today, but due to a small but persistent headache, I didn't get much reading done.

So far, I am not the biggest fan of some wording choices and the general feel of the translation.

I picked this up (finally) yesterday, and it gave me so much serotonin while also hitting me with the most profound sorrow.

I honestly didn't mind the slow pace, but I kind of wish the story went more into Joshua's prophecy.

I also found him kind of wishy washy as a character. It might have been because he was still significantly young, but I did not care for him as much.

Also Val didn't deserve what happened to her, she was my favorite 😔

I'm so stoked for this book!

This was a nice collection of poetry and two Essays about nature, and more specifically various species of birds. I enjoyed most of them, but my favorite was “Wild Geese“

My only criticism is reading through her second essay about finding an injured gull, and instead of taking it to a wildlife facility or the vet, she and her partner started caring for it. It isn't what you fo with injured wildlife. You don't keep them as pets.

Can't believe it's my Litsyversary already or how long it has been haha

Some of these poems were profound and I had a lot of fun analyzing them and their meaning, others felt poorly edited, disjointed, and vulgar for the sake of vulgarity. Some also felt heavily inspired by Lana Del Rey's lyrics. I would not really recommend this poetry collection, there are better poetry collections out there.

#Bookreport

Last week was pretty productive in terms of reading. I finished Archmage and started a contemporary poetry collection because I wanted to read something different for a bit. I will wait until I finish it to really have any solid thoughts on it, but it has been an interesting experience.

📚CR:

📙Last Sext
🎧The Witness for the Dead
🎧Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Just finished this and it was okay. There were some really stupid plot points and decisions made but it was tolerable. This and the other two novels following it also seem to be taking place and are the cause of the events in The Out of the Abyss module. (My OOTA campaign is on a hiatus currently, but it's so amusing to me that my characters are unfortunately there to experience all of that mess)

#Bookreport

Last week was very off for me. I got very little reading done due to fatigue and things out of my control. Made little progress with Archmage, and was too tired for any physical reads. I hope this week will go better.

📚CR:

🎧Archmage
🎧The Witness for the Dead
🎧Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

#Bookreport

I am still struggling to find time to sit down and read WFTD, but I am aiming for next week. In the meantime I am continuing my Drizzt book binge, they are ones I can kind of zone out on and it wouldn't make much of a difference, so I listen to them when I play my fav MMO.

📚CR:

🎧Archmage
🎧The Witness for the Dead
🎧Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

This was one of the better ones in the series. at least one character finally got it through their head that Genocide Is Bad, Actually. MC really got on my nerves through this series, a bit less so in this particular installment.

I, in general, l don't like how he's written (omniscient yet substantial, having all the life experience and wisdom, yet learning basic life lessons like “not everyone is a bad person because of their background“

I remember reading and studying “Hands“ in college so I wanted to revisit it and read the whole collection.

The short stories are all somewhat interconnected and multifaceted. I found some a lot more interesting and deep than the others. There is a loose plot but mostly it's vignettes focusing on specific characters with one exaggerated theme (what used to be called grotesques)

A satisfying revenge story, plain and simple.

#Bookreport

Steady reading week, finished ROTK that I've been stalling. This weekend I started Winesburg, Ohio because I wanted something different. I remember studying a section of it in college, but I had forgotten all of it. I have some YouTube analysis videos prepared for when I finish it in a few days.

I will also start witness today, it has been too long.

📚CR:

🎧Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf
🎧The Witness for the Dead
🎧Winesburg, Ohio

I re-read this today and it still made me sad. I want to listen and read more of Hawthorne's work, he was my favorite author in high school. I always enjoyed his commentary on women's agency and rights and their treatment by men/the patriarchy. (The Scarlet Letter/Young Goodman Brown are also great examples of this.)

This short story at its core is about the ethical use of science and I find that interesting.

There is a lot to unpack here. Aside from being repetitive, this one and the previous book deal with themes of good vs evil, but they lean more towards trying to justify heinous actions because the characters we follow are “good“ and the enemy is “Bad“ As readers we know that there is a third party that manipulates things from the shadows. But certain good characters claiming it's okay to slaughter the enemies because they are evil is gross to me.

#Bookreport

Last week was a slow reading week, but I made progress with the tagged book and finished The Aeneid. I still need to take notes on 5 of the books, but I am satisfied with having finished it. Next week I will be starting Witness because I really want to catch up to the series before the new book comes out.

📚CR:

🎧Rise of the King
🎧The Witness for the Dead

This could have been a really interesting spiritual successor (at the time) to Homer, but this read more like Roman Empire propaganda than an original work.

Virgil does have *some* original ideas and portrayals of the characters and events in the overall story, but it still feels like you're better off reading the Iliad and the Odyssey.

#Bookreport

Pretty good reading week even if I only finished a single short story and a novel. The Aeneid is proving to be a whole project so I'm treating it like I treated Lud in the Mist, making various notes about the symbolism and history. It's been pretty interesting. It is a lot, but I will most likely finish it this week.

📚CR:

🎧Rise of the King
🎧The Witness for the Dead
🎧The Aeneid

This was an unsettling cosmic horror short story about a little boy with god-like powers, and like a god, he can be merciful or ruthless depending on how his neighbors or family treat him.

This was a poignant and visceral novel about womanhood and the mistreatment of women with a heavy subject matter. Most of the men in this novel are so awful and disgusting that I was rooting for their demise from my very being. It follows three generations of women from the same bloodline, their lives, and their struggles.

I would recommend this novel wholeheartedly but I will also issue a warning about explicit descriptions of SA, rape, and CSA

#Bookreport

Pretty nice week of finishing up some novels and starting ones that have been on hold for a while. I am almost halfway finished with Weyward so I will most likely finish it in a few days. I am looking forward to starting some epic poetry with the Aeneid and jumping back into Drizzt or witness for the dead, depending on my mood.

📚CR:

🎧Weyward
🎧Rise of the King
🎧The Witness for the Dead
🎧The Aeneid

I never know how to rate nonfiction books. I'm hoping this isn't too outdated and accurate enough with the information that was available at the time.

This was really fascinating, overall. The author had written out some questionable opinions, however (I doubt people in the future would laugh at chemotherapy, but I do believe in the distant future there will be better ways to treat diseases and illnesses)

This made me laugh so hard.

It's hard to divorce the background information about this book from the overall story, but I will say this was a delightful read. The protagonist subverts expectations and feels very refreshing to read. As this is a Pre-Tolkien fantasy novel it alludes to fey but they are left to the reader's interpretation. This had a very meandering pace with a pastoral setting, but it was to its advantage, like a calm walk in the park.

This went from a 4-star to a 2-star slowly but surely. I didn't hate it but there were a bunch of glaring problems with some plot points that made me scratch my head in confusion. The MCs remained stagnant in terms of character development which would have really helped with this premise.--

I'm about halfway through this so here are some thoughts:

I love the folklore stuff but I also wish the book kept focusing on that instead of side plots. I know it can get repetitive that way but I would prefer that tbh.

There's hints of MC being ND and thus making the hinted romance awkward and one sided. Not 100% sure its good rep

#Bookreport

Revamped my weekly summary post a bit. Holidays are always hectic and I'm glad I'm able to read again. This year I'll try to focus on getting through my TBR and then a challenge sprinkled in there as well occasionally.

📚CR:

🎧Lud in the Mist
🎧Rise of the King
🎧Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

I don't typically read detective or pulpy works, but this was pretty fun. This particular collection deals with a female criminal mastermind and her rival. As this collection was published in 1903, there are many issues, ranging from ableism to racism/orientalism and bad characterizations of anyone who isn't white or the good guy. A few stories feel repetitive and formulaic and follow the same overall structure.

Template by @/lacycstoner on Pinterest. Just as the title says these are my favorite reads of 2024, it was a really good year for me.

I set my goal really high this year but next year I will try to read a bit less to maintain time for other hobbies. This was a really good reading year, however, and I am glad I finally got through some books and series I've been meaning to read. Looking forward to whatever I choose to read next.

I wanted to finish this around Dec 31st but I had time today. It was a tough pick between Diavola, Dark Matter, and The Goblin Emperor, but The Goblin Emperor won 🎉 I don't think I'll get anything else read this year. The construction is still going on and on unpredictable days as well so it's difficult to keep on schedule. I've been treating this like a vacation.

(the template is by @/CSeydel)

#bookbracket2024
#ReadingBracket2024
#TopRead2024