hollyway's reviews
524 reviews

Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm so glad I finally got around to this. I've been meaning to read it for years and it was also the last book left on my priority 2024 TBR! Wizard of the Pigeons is the first full length novel I've read by Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm that has nothing to do with the Realm of the Elderlings and it felt both different and familiar. There are certain themes that Hobb is obviously drawn to in her work and it was cool to see how that has evolved over the years. I can't stop my brain from noting RotE parallels (in everything, not just Hobb lol) but honestly that didn't overpower this reading experience for me. This is a unique little story, and although the nature of it didn't allow for the most profound bond with the characters, I still found it quite emotionally affecting. I just really love this woman's writing.
When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett

Go to review page

reflective slow-paced

3.0

A sweet little slice of life but it didn't draw me in as much as There Was Still Love. Highly likely I'm just not in the right mood for a quiet story like this at the moment.
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Go to review page

challenging reflective slow-paced
Chronic fatigue/brain fog turned this into a four month odyssey but I made it through, and honestly I had a great time with it. Regardless of whether I agreed with the points she was making at any given time, they were still always fascinating to read. Simone de Beauvoir was a great writer and a bold and original thinker. Reading this was an experience I won't forget.
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

Go to review page

3.0

I have a lot of respect for Elif Shafak as a writer and an activist, but I'm realising her style of storytelling is probably never going to fully connect with me. She's really good at what she does but the broad scope of her stories tends to disconnect me from the characters and leaves me afloat. I won't necessarily avoid her books in the future but it's time to stop seeking them out.
The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
*for book club*

I promised myself I wouldn't force myself to finish the next book club book if it didn't grab me and surprisingly I'm sticking to it.
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Go to review page

tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was fun! The first hundred or so pages I couldn't put it down. It got less interesting for me after that as it veered more into typical thriller territory but it was still entertaining. I'm a fan of Patricia Highsmith's writing and plotting and I'll continue to reach for her books when I need something quick but quality to read.
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

Go to review page

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

4.0

This didn't blow me away the way A Single Man did, but I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book. On one hand it's a rather lighthearted series of vignettes about a cast of quirky characters, and on the other hand it's a poignant portrait of the heart of a nation on the verge of the most harrowing collapse. These two aspects of the novel are not at odds but rather bring to light the way that people simply keep living their silly little lives, right up to the point where it becomes impossible. It was quite painful at times, how relevant certain lines still feel. "The Nazis may write like schoolboys, but they're capable of anything. That's just why they're so dangerous. People laugh at them, right up to the last moment..." 
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Go to review page

adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

3.0

Not for me. Heavily military/war focused which is not my thing anyway but I am capable of getting invested in any plot if I'm invested in the characters. Unfortunately all the characters in this book (and their relationships to one another) were severely under-developed and uninteresting. This includes Rin. Amorality is not the same thing as a complex, compelling character psychology (the prose is also at fault here as it is lacking in subtlety and leaves no room for subtext). I found her motivations to be extremely weak and she just never jumped off the page for me.

All this might make it sound like a terrible book, but it's not. If you, like me, prioritise deep, real-feeling characters and beautiful prose, then yeah, you probably won't be impressed with it. However, if you love fantasy for the magic, the world-building, the bloody battles and epic scope - and don't mind if the characters are merely serviceable to move the plot forward - I'm sure you would thoroughly enjoy this. It is genuinely very good at being an action-packed,  mystical spectacle. Hell, many people do in fact recommend this series based on Rin's supposed complexity which is why I read it in the first place, so it's not even guaranteed you'll find the characters as flat as I did.
Another Country by James Baldwin

Go to review page

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

5.0

This is an absolutely breathtaking novel. James Baldwin's writing is so refined yet so raw and visceral. I was so immersed in both the emotional and physical world that these characters inhabited. This story is a reckoning with America at a very specific time in history and yet the larger questions it raises about race, sexuality, masculinity, love and humanity still resonate deeply today. Something Baldwin captures so brilliantly both here and in Giovanni's Room is the exquisite agony of existence and that essential, unanswerable question: how do we bear to live? In Another Country, love is perhaps both the problem and the solution, and the way Baldwin walks this tightrope is a wonder to behold. 
A Constant Hum by Alice Bishop

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
I'm quite conflicted on this one! It's well-written and I think it succeeds in doing what it set out to do, which is to make the reader reflect on the tragedy of Black Saturday. A few stories stood out as being very emotional and insightful. However, I found that despite the variation between first, second and third person POV, the narrative voice in almost every story was exactly the same. Such consistency would be commendable in a novel but here it did start to make the separate stories blend together and by the end it felt a bit repetitive. That said, though, the stories that did work for me will stick with me and overall I do think it's worth reading! Not everyone will notice or be bothered by the lack of differentiation between stories, and reading it at a slower pace than me would probably help too.