Word Revel
Book blogger, recent Sociology grad in her twenties. Stares at labels when no books are in sight. Disproportionately reads YA. This is a companion blog to http://wordrevel.com.
The Catastrophic History of You and Me
Actual rating: 3.5 starsInitial thoughts: When I picked up this book, I didn't realize how young the protagonist would be. Generally I have little interest for books involving 15-year-olds but despite that, I thought The Catastrophic History of You and Me was entertaining, if a little sad. Aubrie, better known as Brie had a hilarious voice that overshadowed the fact that she was a dead person watching the living, unable to move on from this afterlife. She witnessed her family unravel in the wake of her death and that was heartbreaking. At the same time, the style of writing was light and funny, which lessened the impact of the sadness.
One thing that I didn't care for were all the references to cheese and the myriad of cheese-related nicknames that Brie received. Also, Brie was extremely self-absorbed in a way that made me want to slap her. Then again, even the best of us were self-absorbed at that age, so here's to a good dose of a realistic portrayal of a teenager on her path to a slight bit more maturity. (For she did develop more empathy in the end.)
Ach du liebes Griechenland!
Viele Karikaturen treffen selbst heute, wenn nicht besonders heute, noch zu. Ich habe mich köstlich beim durchblättern amüsiert. Ich hatte es zum ersten mal als ich etwa 11 war gelesen. Damals war ich noch viel zu jung um vieles zu verstehen. Jetzt konnte ich nur schmunzeln; ab und zu auch lachen.
Flat-Out Love
Audiobook rating: 3.5 starsBook rating: 3 stars
Initial thoughts: Well, Flat-Out Love was something. The resolution was twisted and yet I kinda expected it by the time I reached about a third of the book. Personally, I thought Matt was a disturbing character but in light of all that had happened, the plot and the characters did fit together. Some parts went rather slow but listening to the audiobook at 3x speed helped me pull through in the end. My favourite character was definitely Celeste. She obviously suffered from some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder and her family had no idea how to deal. I liked seeing how she slowly opened up and got better with Julie (the MC) around.
On a side note, Flat-Out Love is a perfectly good standalone book. It doesn't need the two companion novels about Matt and Celeste. With that, here's to adding to my uncompleted series count because I'm downright certain that I won't read the other two books in the series.
Deadly Little Sins: A Prep School Confidential Novel
Initial thoughts: I thought the second book in the trilogy was better but Deadly Little Sins delivered anyway. Anne continued to be on the verge of expulsion but that didn't keep her from pursuing her next lead. The way her romantic interests were handled ran somewhat thin for me but since I read these books for the mystery, I didn't care much either way. The plot continued to be fast-paced and kept me practically glued to my Kindle. Except at night because too much excitement of a murder mystery is not why I wanted to lose sleep. Although, that ending! Hahaha. *wipes tears*
Wicked Little Secrets: A Prep School Confidential Novel
Initial thoughts:So much fun reading this series! I went through a phase when I was 14/15 years old where I read one mystery book after another. Reading Wicked Little Secrets kinda felt like revisiting this phase, which is a lot of fun. Picking up Deadly Little Sins next because that cliffhanger means I must know what happens next.
The Glass Magician
Audiobook rating: 2.5 starsBook rating: 3 stars
Initial thoughts: Well, well, well... Turns out that I liked The Glass Magician slightly better than The Paper Magician. That's something. In fact, without that narration, it's a pretty decent book. But the narration! Goodness. It really grated on my nerves. Occasionally it was so jarring, I considered abandoning the book. But audiobooks aren't as easy to come by as written books (printed books and ebooks), so I pressed on anyway. I think I will read The Master Magician after it comes out later this year but it'll be the Kindle version. No way am I subjecting myself to another audiobook in the series.
Towards a Philosophy of Photography
Actual rating: 4.5 starsInitial thoughts: I expected this book to be rooted more in theory. Instead, Flusser set out to contribute hypotheses to the discourse of photography. He did mention this in the foreword though, so that was clear from the beginning. Towards a Philosophy of Photography is not solely about photography but about the deconstruction of information—how it's encoded and decoded, the cultural influences and how it is conveyed. Flusser broke down photography into the image, the apparatus and the functionary/photographer, which added much clarity to his discussion.
When he did refer to other thinkers like Marx and Kafka, his survey of their theories in relation to photography were extremely brief. They would've benefited a clearer analysis but that wasn't Flusser's intention, thus he didn't even include a bibliography at the end.
The Ball Jar
Initial thoughts: To this day mental health is difficult to grasp. It is impossible to measure it or to put it to any sort of scale. When is someone mentally healthy? At what point does mental illness kick in? When someone starts to harm themselves or others around them? By then it's too late, isn't it? The Bell Jar is a very thought-provoking portrayal of a descent into madness. At times, Esther sounded so logical despite the consensus of the people around her that something was amiss. In fact, Esther asked a lot of questions that I ask myself rather regularly. As one of my professors liked to say, "Aren't we all a little bit crazy?"
As deep as The Bell Jar turned out to be, some of the characters were such caricatures, they ended up fairly underdeveloped.
Sweethearts
Actual rating: 3.5 starsInitial thoughts: With that, I've read all of Sara Zarr's published novels, including Roomies, which she co-authored with Tara Altebrando. It's evident that Sara Zarr tries to tackle the difficult issues. For her earlier works, I think she showed brat promise and did it well but still had a lot of potential. There were some things I thought she could've pushed more but she left them to rest instead. Either way, I think Sweethearts was well-written and I liked the way Sara Zarr narrated her own book. Plot-wise, some parts didn't entirely add up but that's probably also because it's a fairly short book.
My Christmas Curse
Actual Rating: 1.5 starsIt took my over three weeks to finish reading this book, even though it's fairly short. I liked the idea of metafictive elements as the protagonist published a short story in her newspaper column every day in the lead-up to Christmas. An advents calendar but in the form of reminiscent stories. Trouble is, My Christmas Curse was very mundane.
Sure, there were sweet moments but on the whole, I felt very lukewarm towards the book. With such a title, I expected the book to be either funny or sad. It was neither. What got to me the most though was the constant moral preaching thinly veiled by the protagonist's personal experiences. I didn't appreciate that. It wasn't a terrible book by any means but it sure was bland and the holiday mood hardly touched me at all.
Devil Wears Prada, T (Lib)(CD)
Actual rating: 3.5 starsInitial thoughts: I watched the movie years ago when it came out, so I only remembered the overarching storyline. Since I did find the movie entertaining, I expected the same of the book. I was not disappointed. The entertainment value was there, which was elevated by Bernadette Dunne's narration. Given that I graduated from university only a year ago, I could definitely relate to Andrea's plight of finding a job, and then constantly overworking herself, wondering if it'll be worth it in a bid to pursue her goals. Occasionally though, I thought that the plot was driven thin and so was a tad repetitive. In any case, I think the book is good for anyone looking to read about someone in their 20s looking to break into the job market.
Toy Cameras: Creative Photos
Initial thoughts: I borrowed this book from the library because I was very curious about all those toy cameras. I'm not particularly familiar with lomography, so for me Toy Cameras offered a great overview of what is out there beyond the Holga and Diana. If I can get hold of some of those, I'd definitely take some time to experiment. Should be loads of fun.
Leave the Window Open
I'm not sure if Goodreads guidelines consider this a book but at this point, I don't care. More of Wesley and more of Mackenzie is what matters. And Awwww! was I happy at the end of reading Leave the Window Open. A smile is dancing on my lips right now and won't go away. Not that I want that smile to go away because evidently, I liked this short story. The only frustration is that now I yearn even more for the third book, which still is untitled and still has no set publication date.
Amy, Number Seven
Actual rating: 2.5 starsInitial thoughts: I must've read this book for the first time about twelve years ago. For me that's half a life time. Hah. So it's interesting to compare my perspective now with that from back then. When I was twelve, I had just about learnt English. Naturally, my linguistic knowledge wasn't anywhere near as good as today, so I didn't notice any of the editing errors. Also, I wasn't so jaded yet by "perfect" characters. By now I avoid books with perfect protagonists.
Alas, in this book, it's what carries the plot, so I accepted that during my re-read. Re-reading the book, I noticed how much I surprisingly remember yet how much I also forgot, if that makes sense. Like, I would read, looking for something I remembered in particular, only to notice something else. In a way, that means that the plot isn't entirely predictable, although it still is predictable to a large extent. Nonetheless, for the twelve-year-old me, there had been sufficient hooks to keep me reading, as I wanted to know what would happen next.
Besides, which student hasn't wished for photographic memory before, just so they wouldn't have to put in so much effort at school? I know I wished for it plenty of times over the years.
Either way, it was fun re-reading Amy, Number Seven just to get a sense of what I used to enjoy reading. I can see what drew me to the series when I was younger and even though those books might be much more simplistic than the books I've read since then, they still shaped me into the reader I am today. One thing is clear, I already enjoyed science fiction back then, despite my preference for contemporary books and that year-long phase I had where I read almost nothing but mysteries.
Cress (Lunar Chronicles, #3)
Initial thoughts: Compared to Cinder and Scarlet, Cress was craaaazy! And I loved it for that reason alone. While Cress was the dominant character, Cinder and Scarlet still mattered as their trajectories intertwined. Sadly though, the addition of yet another main character to the mix resulted it weaker characterisation. The characters in Cress came across as more detached as compared to the first two books in the series, which was such a pity. While I loved the craziness of the plot, maybe some aspects could have been cut out to allow more space for the characters to breathe. Although, Iko remained a classic character for me. I liked her even more in Cress than in Cinder because her personality was even more larger than life.
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