Marlena is the most boring book about meth addiction I have ever encountered. I just don't know why, but it completely failed to grab me, perhaps due to the literary nature of it. Which isn't fair to literary novels- I've written many a review praising lit fiction, but Marlena is not an original story and is a boringly unoriginal story at that. But I'm sure that this is another case of it's-not-you-it's-me, and someone else will have much better luck with Marlena.
My Review: The Zero and the One by Ryan Ruby
I doubt I'll actually recommend this novel- a Brideshead/The Secret History-esque work- to many people. It's too pretentious, too philosophical, too much of a niche book that I don't think anyone I know would be at all interested. And yet, I kind of liked The Zero and the One, about two boys involved in a suicide pact with each other. It's not a very memorable novel, but I did have fun letting it eat my brain.
My Review: A Boy in Winter by Rachel Steiffert
A Boy in Winter, despite its misleading title, is actually mostly about two boys, brothers, as they try to hide from the Nazis in the Ukraine countryside, helped along by a local girl. It's a sweet, snow-day historical fiction read with a satisfying ending, and, though it doesn't feel like the most original work ever, it is worth at least picking up.
Didn't write a full review for this book because I really don't have much to say about it. It was hard to get through and did not hold my attention as much as it should have. I found it overwhelmingly dry and lacking in intrigue. My favorite parts were the parts where Solomon inserted himself and talked about interviewing the Syrian president and other important figures. Overall though, unless one is really into dry Middle-Eastern history, I wouldn't go for this.
My Review: The Revolution of Marina M by Janet Finch
Ugh, my luck has not been strong with new releases this year, and The Revolution of Marina M is proof of that. It's a long, meandering look at the melodramatic life of Marina, a
My Review: The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn
This is how to write a damn fine nonfiction book. In The Road to Jonestown, Guinn writes a remarkably unbiased account of The Peoples Temple in an attempt to answer the question- where did the People's Temple go so horribly wrong? Recommended for any cult enthusiast.
My Review: Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
Ginny Moon is one of those seemingly lighthearted but darker on the inside books about a preteen girl with autism and a whole lot of other issues on top of that. The biggest strength of Ginny Moon is the heart behind the novel. I could tell Ludwig cares a lot about doing Ginny justice as a character, and for that I have to recommend this.
My Review: If We Were Villains by ML Rio
This month, I got super into reading The Secret History knock-offs, and If We Were Villains was a big one. This isn't necessarily a bad book, it just isn't that original a novel. This is about a Shakespearean theater trope at an ultra exclusive art college, and the murder of one of them. If you love The Secret History-type stories and you don't mind it being a little more heavy-handed then others, pick this up. If not, eh, skip it.
My Review: Shot-Blue by Jesse Ruddock
This is a book for people with a lot of patience for pretty writing and doesn't care much about plot or characters or any other thing that actually makes a story work as a story. It would have been much better if it was a short story or a novella that ended at the first book, since the second book was the downfall of the whole novel. I don't really recommend it.
My Review: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
I have never read The God of Small Things and, quite frankly, don't have any desire to. But The Ministry of Utmost Happiness intrigued me, being about a transgender woman in India, as well as a whole parade of other colorful characters. It started out so, so strong, but it wasn't consistent in its strengths and lacking in context for any of the things that happened. It was also confusing at times. In the end, I think this would have been a better novel had Roy decided to not make it about Kashmir conflict and stuck with the central story about Anjum.
My Review: The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler
First started this book back in August, and rather quickly lost the will to go on. Now that I finished it, I wish I just cut my losses and DNFed it. It was almost painfully dated and unfunny, and the characters were too flat. This was a disappointing book, especially given that the author is so famous for being everyone's favorite humor writer.
My Review: The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
Not my usual taste in books, but I really like the idea of a book being about a person who collects lost things, and writes short stories about them. It's convoluted, sure, and has a lot of other story-arcs, as well as not having the best writing in the world, but I liked reading it a lot, and really loved the interactions between Eustace and Bomber. This is a sweet read for a rainy spring day, with perhaps a glass of lemonade or a mug of tea next to you.
My Review: The Night Ocean by Paul la Farge
I was intrigued by The Night Ocean since March/April, when I read Night Film and wanted to look for other books with the same feeling. This book, which is about a journalist who becomes obsessed with the story of writer HP Lovecraft and his maybe lover Robert Barlow. However, there is a lot of unnecessary backstory and a lot that bogs down the core story. That being said, I did find it entertaining to read, and it was easy for a non-Lovecraft fan to read, so in the end, I liked it, but not enough to recommend it to anyone except to someone who really loved Night Film.
My Review: The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean Pendziwol
Is this book self-published? Because it feels like it. Regardless, I picked it up because I loved the story behind it- a historical mystery about a lighthouse keeper in the early 20th century on an island on Lake Superior? It feels like something Hannah Kent, one of my favorite historical fiction writers, would write. Unfortunately, Kent did not write this, Jean Pendziwol did, and that is the biggest problem I had with this book. It just wasn't a very well written book, and when a book is that poorly written, you need some stellar character building or story planning to redeem the book and this just doesn't have that. I don't recommend it.
My Review: Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin
My favorite book of December and also one of the year! This is why I put off making my top ten lists, because something like this will always happen. Paris in the Present Tense is a beautiful novel about an older man, a French Jew, who is dealing with a sick grandson and also the passage of time and how helpless he feels as a Jew in a highly anti-Semitic country. Highly recommended.
Page total: 5,572
Average rating: 6.5-7/10
Genre breakdown: 5 contemporaries
4 mystery-thrillers
3 historical fiction
2 nonfiction (1 historical, 1 true crime)
1 magical-realism/surrealism
Of those, 14 were adult and 1 was YA
December was an underwhelming month for me, but I am happy this year is over. It hasn't really been a banner year for me, both personal- and book-wise. Oh well. My Year Wrap-Up will come next so I'll talk more about end of the year stuff in that.
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