anna_curlyquotesediting's reviews
196 reviews

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I literally have no idea how to rate this book. Does that make it a good book or a bad book? I'll give it a 4 for thoroughly confusing me and making me rub two brain cells together. That's a good thing.

Anyway, I'm definitely not the right audience for postmodern satire. I think I'm too literal a person. I didn't dislike the book at all. Just....what was the point? And isn't that exactly the question the book throws at you in 800 different ways? I found the whole thing kind of sad. Hopeless. 
The Mist by Stephen King

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reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

For a novella, this book certainly read like a full length novel. Not in a good way. It was extremely slow to move forward and didn't pick up much until almost 65% in. As if most of the book was setup. It was frustrating.

I read this because I liked the movie. I prefer the movie. This novella works better that way.
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Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
I loved this book as a kid. I'm 30 now and reading a lot of books for nostalgia, and I really just couldn't get into this book again. It's extremely slow to start and truly meant for younger kids. The writing is super basic--which is fine for middle grade--and I had a lot of trouble liking the characters, especially the main little girl. She doesn't really have much of a personality.
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

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reflective fast-paced

3.5

I have some super mixed feelings about this book. A lot of Pressfield's assertions have merit and bear thinking about and maybe even trying to apply to your life. Buuuut, a lot of other things he says sounds cold, unfeeling, callous.

No one person is the same as the other, so don't treat them as if they have the same problems, responsibilities, or ability. It's something I think he forgot sometimes.

As I said, I have very mixed feelings here. I made a lot of margin notes, underlines, and highlights. But I don't think I'll pick this up again.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A fantastic book, but don't come here for a good time. Especially in today's world of February 2025, this book hits harder and harder as the days go by. I am so sad and feel so much distress for the MC of this story. If only the world would learn from its own history...

I don't even know where to start with content warnings for this book. Thankfully, others have done plenty.
The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

A really fun anthology from Paolini and his sister. I liked getting to see a snippet of what Eragon was up to as well as a legend from the Urgals, a race often scorned by others in previous books, so we didn't get to learn much about them.

Now that Murtagh is out, The Fork is less necessary to read as it's almost directly lifted from this anthology to the main book. However, the end of The Fork does go back to Eragon's POV, so don't skip it entirely.
Murtagh by Christopher Paolini

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Really a very slow book. Doesn't pick up until well over halfway through. I didn't particularly mind since I like character studies, especially for this character. The last section of the book would be a great horror movie! Though really the whole book is very dark, much darker than the original four books in The Inheritance Cycle.

AND I'm happy this book leaves room for a series focusing on Murtagh; I hope to see it one day.
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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

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dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was weird to have Collins try and make Snow relatable or pitiable; thankfully she didn't try too hard after the first quarter or so of the book or I may have DNF'd it. But it was fun to see all the little connections between the original trilogy and this book, even if those details were added for the sake of that connection. It was fun to imagine the future President Snow being annoyed and bothered by so many small things. Dude probably thinks all problems start in District 12.

As a story, it was difficult to get into. Lucy Gray was interesting enough, but she had no character growth at all. Literally none. And the end was . . . well, strange. Not necessarily unsatisfying--it was foreshadowed--but some of Snow's though processes were weird and couldn't be confirmed. Then again, Snow definitely has some kind of personality disorder, so I'm not too surprised at his maladaptive logic.
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Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Better than I remember it being, and definitely better than Catching Fire. My main issue with the book is how slow some of it was. I also wish there just hadn't been an epilogue, to be honest. I would've preferred to see the FMC heal than jump ahead to the "after." I would've liked to see the same from the MMC.

Overall, of course the book is very sad; it's war, after all, and the author doesn't shy from it.
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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Really the Quarter Quell section of the book was just too long, and I get the feeling it was shortened during editing already. It dragged the pacing down.

The FMC being in the dark about basically everything, without even an inkling of intuition, also bothered me. The FMC has shown herself to be smart--very smart--so where'd that go here?
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