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lamiacallsMy reading slowed down significantly in May, mostly due to being pretty damn sick for a week and a half. But I still read more than usual, and enjoyed what I got to! Here is way too many thoughts about them ^_^
I started off the month with a shitload of middle grade horror. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden was probably my favourite. It’s about Ollie, whose mother has died before the start of the book, and she’s struggling to cope. But on a school trip, when things start getting strange, she’s the only one with a chance of saving her class. It was genuinely scary at times, and I loved the little trio. I had mistakenly thought it was a straight-up mystery, but it gets extremely supernatural, extremely quickly. I’ll likely be reading the next books in the series!
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn was also a highlight. I’ve had this on my TBR for…basically forever? I read it while I was in the countryside too, which was perfect since this is set in a crumbling converting church that the family has just moved to. It got darker than I expected. What’s most interesting, though, was that I’m pretty sure I would have hated Heather, had I read it as a kid. But it’s easy to see as an adult what the turn for her arc might be, and it’s so tragic.
I finally started back on A Series of Unfortunate Events. I thought I read The Wide Window only a couple of years ago but apparently that was 2016?! Where have those 6 years gone? Anyway, I’m back with the 4th book, and I remember now why I stopped: because I was grumpy that Tim Curry doesn’t narrate this & the fifth book. He does come back for the sixth onwards at least. But Lemony Snicket does a pretty good job narrating. The Miserable Mill is the only one in the series where I would have quite liked the guardian to get their comeuppance (as opposed to every other book, when I’ve been so upset about it!), and so of course, this is one of the few where the guardian does not.
The Austere Academy was fun and silly, although felt a bit repetitive. The Ersatz Elevator was a back to the traditional guardian setup, and broke my heart a little at the end. And, finally The Vile Village finally brings about a major change to the formula—plus, crows!
I’m relieved to read that this is the turning point for the series, and after this, the standard formula is dropped since the Baudelaire’s are out of guardians. Listening to so many in a row really highlights how repetitive they get. I have The Hostile Hospital on deck next, but I’m taking a little break until later in June. 13 books is so many books, my god. Plus I'm antsy to finish so I can rewatch the TV show!
I’m really curious how many liberties the TV show took, because, so far, The Vile Village is the only book to truly hint at the much, much wider world beyond the orphans, outside of Snicket’s openings and closings of the books, and occasional, very vague asides. I keep wondering when all that is going to kick in properly! Fingers crossed for Hostile Hospital.
The other books I read in MG horror were The Sleepover by Michael Regina, which was cute but just generally fine (and possibly came at a bad time, as it shared a lot of themes with Wait Till Helen Comes, which I definitely preferred), and Midnight at the Barclay Hotel by Fleur Bradley which, again, was kind of fine but also fell short of being that entertaining. Even for middle grade, it read a little young to me.
Outside of MG horror, Bunny by Mona Awad blew me away. I’ve been putting it off for ages because everything about it seemed like something I’d love, and I was scared it would disappoint. Nope, I fell head over heels with it! Samantha getting pulled and brainwashed was wonderful, the magic was cool and unexpected, the body horror was divine. I need to seek out more books like this, ‘cause it was very much my cup of tea.
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen is a short horror novella and an absolute classic. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it more than I expected, given the reviews calling it boring. I really love classics where they have a character reporting stories that happened to them to other characters (what is this trope even called?!) and this was 90% that. The tension was good, and the story was fun. I don’t know, maybe the low expectations helped because it’s definitely not even mildly scary by modern standards, but I enjoyed the creepiness and general tone a lot more than GR reviewers seemed to.
I listened to From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy by Scott Meslow. I am an unrepentant romcom lover, so this was very appealing. I did expect a more academic look, but this was mostly just detailing the romcoms that changed the shape of the industry (or, in some cases, did not change them as much as they should have). It offered a lot of enticing little stories about each of them, how they were developed, why certain choices were made, etc. There were also some essays on particular leading ladies & men, including one just for Judy Greer as the best friend to so many protagonists <3 I have a t-shirt that says “Judy Greer should have been the lead” so that made me very happy! And an essay on Mindy Kaling, which I’m grateful for, because she and I share a bit of an id for romcom tropes.
He does make some different hand-tips about the difference between men and women in the industry (Meg Ryan’s adultery being such a big deal vs. Hugh’s being taken with an easy apology, or Matthew McConaughy’s body transformation winning him an Oscar while Renee Zelwegger’s was dragged in the press), he never directly links them. And it’s fine to leave it to the reader, I suppose, but I do wish he had put a finer point on it, especially as the incidents sometimes came chapters apart.
I don’t know who I’d recommend this to, anyway. If you like little tidbits of milestone romcoms, this is your book! If you want the romcom deconstructed or anything more analytical, this is not the book, but it is still a fun one.
Finally, on the romance front, I read By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate, about an editorial assistant that has just been promoted to look after their star client, and her favourite author, the reclusive Noa Calloway. Except, as it turns out, Noa is not an older woman as Lanie thought, but a man of about her own age. I don’t know that I totally bought just how betrayed Lanie is about that revelation, but it sets their rocky relationship into motion and def livened up their dynamic. I ate this up in a single day, it was really light and fluffy in a way that I found just delightful.
I’m also a quarter into Book of Night by Holly Black but I’m enjoying it so far, but given the mixed reviews, my expectations are low. That'll be for next month.
11 books is still pretty good and hopefully I can keep that momentum up through June, even though it'll be a busy month for me.
I would love to hear what other people are read this month!
I started off the month with a shitload of middle grade horror. Small Spaces by Katherine Arden was probably my favourite. It’s about Ollie, whose mother has died before the start of the book, and she’s struggling to cope. But on a school trip, when things start getting strange, she’s the only one with a chance of saving her class. It was genuinely scary at times, and I loved the little trio. I had mistakenly thought it was a straight-up mystery, but it gets extremely supernatural, extremely quickly. I’ll likely be reading the next books in the series!
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn was also a highlight. I’ve had this on my TBR for…basically forever? I read it while I was in the countryside too, which was perfect since this is set in a crumbling converting church that the family has just moved to. It got darker than I expected. What’s most interesting, though, was that I’m pretty sure I would have hated Heather, had I read it as a kid. But it’s easy to see as an adult what the turn for her arc might be, and it’s so tragic.
I finally started back on A Series of Unfortunate Events. I thought I read The Wide Window only a couple of years ago but apparently that was 2016?! Where have those 6 years gone? Anyway, I’m back with the 4th book, and I remember now why I stopped: because I was grumpy that Tim Curry doesn’t narrate this & the fifth book. He does come back for the sixth onwards at least. But Lemony Snicket does a pretty good job narrating. The Miserable Mill is the only one in the series where I would have quite liked the guardian to get their comeuppance (as opposed to every other book, when I’ve been so upset about it!), and so of course, this is one of the few where the guardian does not.
The Austere Academy was fun and silly, although felt a bit repetitive. The Ersatz Elevator was a back to the traditional guardian setup, and broke my heart a little at the end. And, finally The Vile Village finally brings about a major change to the formula—plus, crows!
I’m relieved to read that this is the turning point for the series, and after this, the standard formula is dropped since the Baudelaire’s are out of guardians. Listening to so many in a row really highlights how repetitive they get. I have The Hostile Hospital on deck next, but I’m taking a little break until later in June. 13 books is so many books, my god. Plus I'm antsy to finish so I can rewatch the TV show!
I’m really curious how many liberties the TV show took, because, so far, The Vile Village is the only book to truly hint at the much, much wider world beyond the orphans, outside of Snicket’s openings and closings of the books, and occasional, very vague asides. I keep wondering when all that is going to kick in properly! Fingers crossed for Hostile Hospital.
The other books I read in MG horror were The Sleepover by Michael Regina, which was cute but just generally fine (and possibly came at a bad time, as it shared a lot of themes with Wait Till Helen Comes, which I definitely preferred), and Midnight at the Barclay Hotel by Fleur Bradley which, again, was kind of fine but also fell short of being that entertaining. Even for middle grade, it read a little young to me.
Outside of MG horror, Bunny by Mona Awad blew me away. I’ve been putting it off for ages because everything about it seemed like something I’d love, and I was scared it would disappoint. Nope, I fell head over heels with it! Samantha getting pulled and brainwashed was wonderful, the magic was cool and unexpected, the body horror was divine. I need to seek out more books like this, ‘cause it was very much my cup of tea.
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen is a short horror novella and an absolute classic. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it more than I expected, given the reviews calling it boring. I really love classics where they have a character reporting stories that happened to them to other characters (what is this trope even called?!) and this was 90% that. The tension was good, and the story was fun. I don’t know, maybe the low expectations helped because it’s definitely not even mildly scary by modern standards, but I enjoyed the creepiness and general tone a lot more than GR reviewers seemed to.
I listened to From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy by Scott Meslow. I am an unrepentant romcom lover, so this was very appealing. I did expect a more academic look, but this was mostly just detailing the romcoms that changed the shape of the industry (or, in some cases, did not change them as much as they should have). It offered a lot of enticing little stories about each of them, how they were developed, why certain choices were made, etc. There were also some essays on particular leading ladies & men, including one just for Judy Greer as the best friend to so many protagonists <3 I have a t-shirt that says “Judy Greer should have been the lead” so that made me very happy! And an essay on Mindy Kaling, which I’m grateful for, because she and I share a bit of an id for romcom tropes.
He does make some different hand-tips about the difference between men and women in the industry (Meg Ryan’s adultery being such a big deal vs. Hugh’s being taken with an easy apology, or Matthew McConaughy’s body transformation winning him an Oscar while Renee Zelwegger’s was dragged in the press), he never directly links them. And it’s fine to leave it to the reader, I suppose, but I do wish he had put a finer point on it, especially as the incidents sometimes came chapters apart.
I don’t know who I’d recommend this to, anyway. If you like little tidbits of milestone romcoms, this is your book! If you want the romcom deconstructed or anything more analytical, this is not the book, but it is still a fun one.
Finally, on the romance front, I read By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate, about an editorial assistant that has just been promoted to look after their star client, and her favourite author, the reclusive Noa Calloway. Except, as it turns out, Noa is not an older woman as Lanie thought, but a man of about her own age. I don’t know that I totally bought just how betrayed Lanie is about that revelation, but it sets their rocky relationship into motion and def livened up their dynamic. I ate this up in a single day, it was really light and fluffy in a way that I found just delightful.
I’m also a quarter into Book of Night by Holly Black but I’m enjoying it so far, but given the mixed reviews, my expectations are low. That'll be for next month.
11 books is still pretty good and hopefully I can keep that momentum up through June, even though it'll be a busy month for me.
I would love to hear what other people are read this month!
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Date: 2022-06-02 09:42 am (UTC)OMG, I used to love Unfortunate Events. My memory of them is very hazy, but I recall thinking they were genius and being righteously outraged by the conduct of Count Olaf. I didn’t realise they’d made a TV series out of it, but that sounds tempting. I haven’t read any of the other MG horror but I enjoyed your comments.
I’ve decided June is the month I finally start to fill the gaping hole in my history knowledge that is WWI, so that’ll probably eat a large chunk of my reading time. But I’ve also just checked out a charming-looking book called The Enchantment of the Long-haired Rat from the library which I’m hoping will break up the grimness nicely.
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Date: 2022-06-05 10:03 pm (UTC)Yesss Unfortunate Events is so good! I tried to read them when I was younger and didn't groove with the general tone, but now I realise teen!me was an idiot because they are great. The TV show is so good :D It brings in the VLD stuff from the first episode, IIRC, so that whole thread provides a lot of intrigue.
That's awesome, re: history! I'd be interested in recs -- I feel like WWI was a huge blindspot in my high school education :X And the rats book, omg! I hope that's great, rodents are the damn cutest!
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Date: 2022-06-03 04:51 am (UTC)I'm midway into An Oresteia by Anne Carson, which I'm hoping to finish this weekend. After that, I'm not sure! I might pick up By Any Other Name if I can find it, because something light sounds nice.
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Date: 2022-06-05 10:06 pm (UTC)Ooh, An Oresteia -- how are you finding that? I'm imagining it's a tough read but maybe that's my own laziness about Greek literature coming through.
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Date: 2022-06-06 05:53 pm (UTC)For An Oresteia, I found the second and third translation really easy to get through! The first one was cleanly written, but I didn't like it as much. She modernizes a lot: "kudos were not universal" is an actual line in the third play. xD The translations are not the most accurate, from what I've heard, but it was a lot of fun. Some of the context around the translation soured me on the entire thing though (which I may go into in a DW post the next time I write about books), so it works out to be an anti-rec for me.
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Date: 2022-06-09 06:14 am (UTC)That kudos line, haha. I'm guessing it makes it a bit easier to read, but not in any way accurate. I would be very interested in hearing more about the translation context though, if you ever do pen a post about it!
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Date: 2022-06-10 05:01 pm (UTC)Oh! This is so interesting. Given how fraught I remember her books going, this makes me think that some of her characters should walk away. :D
I think I read her first Curseworker book and kind of had the same feeling -- a very passive viewpoint character surrounded by other characters who were much more driven -- but that was ages ago, so all I remember are vibes at this point.
And oh, yay for the iddiness of the ending! :D I'm glad you did enjoy it, even if it wasn't FotA.