The Book is Better
Currently reading:
The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki
Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
Books finished this week: 5
Well, finished over the last two weeks, but who’s counting? (I am. I am literally counting.)
★★★★★
Where this book came from: I was finally allowed to grab an ARC from work! (In the team’s defense, the book has been in high demand.)
Why this book: Honestly, it just sounded spectacular.
Thoughts: And it was. So tense——truly had me cringing——and so darkly funny. Highly recommend (and not just because I work for the publisher. Pinkie promise).
★★★★☆
Where this book came from: The Studio City Barnes & Noble, which is in an old theater and has a very cool old marquee outside!
Why this book: Honestly, Sabrina (hi, Sabrina!) and I were just having the time of our lives reading titles in the cozy mystery section, and I decided what my life needed was a mystery about pizza involving a fat ginger cat named Butterball.
Thoughts: Genuinely, this was the perfect book. I was in the middle of reading something that I wasn’t totally jiving with (see below, oop), and I think devouring this helped ward off a reading slump. I couldn’t wait to have time during the day or right before bed to read! Yes, there are a ton of the cozy hallmarks here, but the mystery felt a bit less silly and more modern, and I really liked Delilah as a protagonist. Minus one star because Delilah truly sounded like she was a senior citizen, when, in fact, she’s supposed to only be one year older than me. (I cannot believe I’m now old enough to be a cozy mystery protagonist.)
★★☆☆☆
Where this book came from: Purchased during a chilly trip to the Book Barn in Connecticut earlier this year. (And yes, I know you’re not supposed to resell ARCs. My only excuse is that I can’t resist a deal, and also that I plan to drop this in a Little Free Library in a couple weeks.)
Why this book: I’ve had this on my TBR for a long time and, as noted above, I finally picked up a copy a few months ago. I saw an upcoming book club for it and figured it was finally time.
Thoughts: Sacrificial Animals focuses mainly on Nick, his older brother Joshua, and their abusive father Carlyle, jumping between “then” (when the boys are kids and teens) and “now” (when they’ve come home, after years of estrangement, because their father is dying). Joshua was disowned because he married an Asian woman, Emilia, but his father encourages him to bring her to the house, too, to say her goodbyes. The back cover copy gives away some scenes that would’ve been interesting to see play out, and there’s a supernatural element that I think is easy to see coming after reading only the first maybe quarter of the book. Things ramp up toward the end, but purple prose, shifting between “then” and “now” every chapter, and some incredibly repetitive language really stalled this book for me. I also just did not care about these men. You’re all awful!! Go to therapy!! Or just die!!
★★★★☆
Where this book came from: Purchased from Skylight Books after reuniting with my friend Meg (hi, Meg)!
Why this book: “Anne Boleyn speculative fiction” is a subgenre created for me.
Thoughts: Anne Boleyn wakes up after her unjust beheading, has to reattach her head, and then goes on a magical quest to try to kill Henry VIII. Like, come on. I docked a star (though maybe it would really only be, like, half a star) because as the book went on, it felt like things were just happening to keep the plot moving. There were suddenly a lot of magical and mythical elements, which were fun, and which I understood were meant to call back to English legends and fairy tales, but the book had been so grounded previously——I mean, aside from Anne Boleyn reattaching her fucking head——that the surrealism felt a little sudden. But I read almost all of this book on my flight home from LA because I just could not stop reading, and that, to me, is the mark of an excellent book.
★★★★★
Where this book came from: Downloaded from Libro.fm.
Why this book: Because apparently my new favorite thing is listening to books I’ve already read physically.
Thoughts: I cried again at the end. THIS BOOK IS PHENOMENAL.
Library updates:
First, if you’re reading this because you saw me post a link on social media, then you have Meg——hi again, Meg!——to thank. She mentioned that she liked reading the blog whenever I posted it on my Instagram, so I’m going to try to do more of that going forward.
Second, sorry to anyone who reads this and lives in Los Angeles, but, dang, I hate LA. You spend so much time in a car and if you aren’t on very specific stretches of road, everyone looks at you funny when you walk anywhere. I just don’t agree with that city. If so many people I love didn’t love there (and if I didn’t love movies so much), I’d never go there again.
Still, I was there for a week, and it was nice! A beach day, a pool day, excellent tacos, a bunch of new-to-me bookstores, beautiful scenery, excellent conversations and catch-ups. I do think I lost my humidity resistance in the short time I was there, because I looked like I’d been dunked in a tank while waiting for my train home back in New York, but it was worth the strife.
I also saw a million billboards for the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ The Shards, and it made Sabrina and me angry every time. I watched the first episode Friday and it was . . . fine. But I don’t think I’ll be continuing. Just read the book instead.
Closing thoughts:
May you have Linda’s courage to pursue doggedly that which you dream about, and the good fortune to have people to help you along the way.
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 226
(Total books added to the Moratorium Library: 476)
Okay, so technically Sabrina let me borrow The Fourth Wife, so I only bought seven of these books. But I’m counting them all, because I’m an honest person.
Almost all of those seven books are also books I want or need to read, too, so I did a great job buying things off my TBR and not just because I felt like it. Finally, I read two of them before I even got back to New York, so I feel like it all evens out in the end!
Anyway, other titles from Vroman’s in Pasadena, the B&N in Studio City, and Skylight Books. (Sabrina and I also popped into Stories and North Figueroa Bookshop, and though I loved them both deeply, nothing spoke to me at those spots. My restraint this trip is unmatched.)
