June Wrap-Up and July TBR

June was more prolific than I expected it to be. Audiobooks definitely helped.

June Wrap-Up

Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service by Carol Leonning

This covers the entire history through the secret service through 2018. It was mostly factual and fascinating until the Clinton’s. Leonning eviscerated them, skipped the impeachment, and jumped to September 2001. Really? Nothing interesting happened during that election? I did enjoy hearing what a nightmare the Tr*mp family was. 4/5

In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund

The first in a YA trilogy of Clue themed mysteries at a boarding school in a remote part of Maine. It switched perspectives so you know most of the characters are hiding something. Enough secrets are still uncovered so that I’m curious to tune in from the next installment 4/5

Backcountry Lawman by Bob H. Lee

I listened to the audiobook for this memoir. My biggest takeaway is to always pay attention to hunting a fishing laws and don’t piss off wildlife cops. 4/5

Nightfall by Marisela Treviño Orta

An audio drama from Audible that somehow got an ISBN. It was OK but the lead up vs payoff didn’t work for me 3/5

The Clergyman’s Wife by Molly Greeley

The tale of Charlotte’s life after she marries Mr. Collins. It’s a sweet and sad story that happened to so many women in the past. A good reminder of much things have changed in such a short time. 4/5

The Adventures of Tom Stranger, Inter-dimensional Insurance Agent by Larry Correia

Absurd and funny sci-fi adventure until Correia brought up politics just to shit on liberals. It wasn’t funny and added nothing to the story. Don’t waste your time. 2/5

My DNF was the second installment of the Tom Stranger series. It opened with Correia having a triggered snowflake rant about the negative reviews the first story got thinly disguised as story. It’s almost like shoehorning your bigoted beliefs into fiction was a bad idea but his ego can’t allow that. It sounded like Fucker Carlson wrote it.

I will never touch anything he does again. And this was before I found out he was the rectum behind the Sad Puppies debacle at several Hugo Awards.

July TBR

Red Widow by Alma Katsu

A spy thriller with whiffs of Aldrich Ames from someone who used to work in intelligence? Yes, please! I’m waiting for my hold to come up at the library.

Cold Cuts by Robert Payne Cabreen

I got Kindle Unlimited for Prime Day so I’m starting with a horror novel about scientists trapped at the South Pole and mutant zombie penguins. As ridiculous as it sounds, it won an award. We’re in the midst of an ugly heatwave so reading about subzero temperatures sounds awesome.

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

Best book I’ve read so far

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

It’s a nonfiction book about the people who live in vans and trucks, many by the transient nature of their work. Incredibly well done.

Best sequel I’ve read so far

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

It’s the only sequel I’ve read this year. I can see why some people have some issues with this franchise but I enjoy it.

New release I haven’t read yet but want to

Red Widow by Alma Katsu – A spy thriller

The Plague Year by Lawrence Wright – Nonfiction about the mess that was last year

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

I love his stuff and the concept for this is fantastic.

Biggest Disappointment

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

Fantastic premise. I was so excited for this but it was a huge mess. So many characters making so many bad, unrealistic choices. The why if it all was so convoluted and ridiculous.

Biggest surprise

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

A Disney novel that asks, what if Aladdin didn’t get the genie out of the lamp? It got so much darker than I expected. The quality of writing was just OK but that’s often the nature of franchise novels.

Favorite new author (debut of new to you)

Mira Grant. I reread Rolling in the Deep and started Into the Drowning Deep. I’m really enjoying her writing.

Newest fictional crush

Not really a thing I do but I guess I’d go with Vesper from Hench

Newest Favorite Character

The Auditor from Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. Her character journey was absolutely fascinating.

Book that made you cry

Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller

Part memoir, part history, all beautiful nonfiction. Fascinating and heartbreaking. I loved it.

Book that made you happy

Devolution by Max Brooks

I listened to this on audiobook and it was phenomenal. It’s ultimately a lite horror book but it was so well done.

Most beautiful book you bought this year

My clothbound classics of Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll’s poetry

Books I need to read by the end of this year

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant – Started it, need to finish it

The Clergyman’s Wife by Molly Greeley – What happens to Charlotte after marrying Mr. Collins?

Zero Fail by Carol Leonning – A nonfiction about the history (and blunders) of the secret service

In the Hall with the Knife by Diana Peterfreund – A YA locked room mystery based on Clue

The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde – Humanoid rabbits in England face bigotry. Fforde is an auto-read since he’s fantastic.

These are all my library holds or books I’ve already started. I’m very much a mood reader so I don’t like doing strict TBRs. I’ll see what else I can get read this year.

What Is Dead Will Never Die

I just finished The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman. It is a fantastic premise about wronged women, ghosts, and the persistence of stories. All the nice things I have to say end there.

Chapman’s writing style reminds me of Josh Malerman. ICYMI, not a fan. He repeats the same words and phrases over and over again. This doesn’t make things deep or tense. It makes them tedious and boring.

Amber said ‘this movie should have died’ so many times. If I was a drinking woman, I’d make a drinking game out of it.

I’ve often wondered why so many stories have the same general structure. Tease the past, jump to present, then simultaneously build both narratives. It felt formulaic. Now I know why this narrative structure is everywhere. It makes the reader care more.

Going chronologically weakened Chapman’s narrative. There’s less at stake so I’m less invested. Going in reverse makes you care about the character as they are now. What got them there? Why happened? Why does it matter? You become invested in both timelines.

This book also does one of my least favorite things: telling the entire story on the back cover. Once I realized things were going chronologically, most of the mystery was gone. Movie, remake, podcast. I knew what was coming and I didn’t much care about getting there.

Making the podcaster black, when Chapman himself isn’t, felt very unnecessary. There were entirely too many ‘this character is black’ sort of moments for how briefly he’s there.

There was so much good material here. Wrongfully accused women, arrogant men insisting on telling their version of the story, history repeating itself over and over again. There’s so much to work with so the mediocre execution made it all the more depressing.

Who was Jessica’s father? Who hurt Ella Louise that night? We’re they witches before or did their burning give them their power? If telling their story is so goddamn important, how about some critical details!

I do not recommend this and I only finished it because I was looking for answers I didn’t get. 2/5