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maia313's reviews
38 reviews
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Beautiful prose, stunningly written. I imagine this would be really interesting to study, very interesting and haunting themes of youth/decay, beauty/ugliness, longing. At times slightly disturbing! Not much of a plot, more a look into Asenbach's mind. Without studying or analysing deeper into the text at times perhaps a bit hard to get through, but always captivatingly written.
Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Really fascinating read, 3.75 but will likely change to 4!! Read it in one day which is unlike me, a truly gripping book. Perfectly disturbingly fairytale-like. I loved how Maren and Lee were written, DeAngelis did a fantastic job of taking people who do horrific things and writing them in a way that makes you want to read about them and want them to be okay. The different characters' views towards cannibalism, their 'rules' etc were really interesting to compare. I personally was fine with the ending, rather I had an issue with how it was done - Maren eating Lee felt so sudden and not enough time was spent on it imo, it could have been done in a very hauntingly poetic way, but I didn't feel it here. I also would have liked to delve a bit more into the philosophy of it. Finding out that the book is supposed to be a metaphor for veganism and eating meat was interesting, and as a vegetarian myself I actually think this may have held it back a little from going deeper into the morality etc. I also did prefer the book to the film overall, although I think the film handled the ending slightly better and if anyone liked the book I 100% recommend the film, despite there being a fair few changes and focusing more on the romance. Also liked the film's switch of metaphor, if you will!
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
take a shot every time a Grisham novel ends with someone escaping to the Carribbean
Enjoyed this, a solid legal thriller, between 3.5 and 3.75. I felt it was slightly too long, took a while to get going and some of the middle section dragged a fair bit A really thrilling ending section, as someone else said the last 50 odd pages are impossible to put down. Same with the firm, would have liked to see slightly more pay off and slightly longer resolution. IMO better written than the firm and a more interesting plot, although I didn't find it as exciting for the majority of the novel. Liked the main character, but got quite confused with the amount of side characters there were! Overall a good read, will continue with some more of Grisham's works.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Enjoyed this, a solid legal thriller, between 3.5 and 3.75. I felt it was slightly too long, took a while to get going and some of the middle section dragged a fair bit A really thrilling ending section, as someone else said the last 50 odd pages are impossible to put down. Same with the firm, would have liked to see slightly more pay off and slightly longer resolution. IMO better written than the firm and a more interesting plot, although I didn't find it as exciting for the majority of the novel. Liked the main character, but got quite confused with the amount of side characters there were! Overall a good read, will continue with some more of Grisham's works.
The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan
2.75
Borrowing a friend's analogy: This book was a tin of off brand baked beans. Is it the best cuisine, and even the best within it's genre? No. Is it especially rich or developed? No. But - is it warm, comforting, and exactly what you need sometimes? Absolutely.
The Firm by John Grisham
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Really enjoyed this, for a slow reader I read this in 1.5 days! Very close to 4*, would have been pushed up if parts in spoiler tags added. Learning the author was a criminal lawyer added a fun layer after reading!
Enjoyed the writing style, the first two thirds were very different from the last. I did feel that there was a little build up that didn't pay off,I would have liked to have actually seen a confrontation between Mitch and the law partners and their sentencing, how they grapple with that. I also agree with lots of other reviews that there seemed to be a lot of time spent on talking about salaries and mustache twirling. Also whilst some moments of sexism/racism from the lawyers made sense and were relevant to their character, a few times in Grisham's descriptions of characters this felt too much.
Overall, a really good read. Really tense and exciting, a classic 'cant put it down book,' will look forward to watching the film and reading some more of Grisham's books.
Enjoyed the writing style, the first two thirds were very different from the last. I did feel that there was a little build up that didn't pay off,
Overall, a really good read. Really tense and exciting, a classic 'cant put it down book,' will look forward to watching the film and reading some more of Grisham's books.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
3.75
I always love nonfiction books that are written like fiction. Really interesting read about cooking techniques, about why certain recipes and ingredient combinations work rather than a simple recipe book. And written in a way that is genuinely enjoyable to read, following the writer's experience in kitchens.
The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Will likely come back to or finish next autumn! Really enjoyed the beginning, lovely light-hearted and seasonal book. Found that as it went on I lost interest around the middle, his time did not manage to get over that hump! I tend to prefer a little more of a plot even in chilled romances and the characters fell for each other very quickly so there wasn't much build up to keep me going. Could have kept going if pushed through and will try to return to at a later date, would like to try her Christmas book.
You, Again by Kate Goldbeck
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Was it good? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes.
Lover of when harry met sally so enjoyed seeing references to the film, really like the premise of this book. However the execution made it a little hard to read at times. Personally enjoy flawed complicated characters, but the two main characters had such little character development and so little redeeming qualities that I didn't feel like we got anywhere. Their relationship's development was interesting to see and I liked their dynamic, but they were so different and didn't change enough throughout the book. Ari, the female MC, was also just too annoying for my liking.
Also, it was very painfully millennial with constant pop culture references and lines such as 'chonky cats' that made me put the book down and pause for a bit.
Whilst very cliche, I did like the main ending 'airport run' scene. Yet, any positive feelings were quickly erased by the way she proposed to him.
Great for an extremely light-hearted read if you know exactly what you're getting from it when you go in. Had lots of fun reading it and did enjoy it, despite not thinking it was good. 3 starts purely for this, more critically would be closer to 2/2.5.
Lover of when harry met sally so enjoyed seeing references to the film, really like the premise of this book. However the execution made it a little hard to read at times. Personally enjoy flawed complicated characters, but the two main characters had such little character development and so little redeeming qualities that I didn't feel like we got anywhere. Their relationship's development was interesting to see and I liked their dynamic, but they were so different and didn't change enough throughout the book. Ari, the female MC, was also just too annoying for my liking.
Also, it was very painfully millennial with constant pop culture references and lines such as 'chonky cats' that made me put the book down and pause for a bit.
Great for an extremely light-hearted read if you know exactly what you're getting from it when you go in. Had lots of fun reading it and did enjoy it, despite not thinking it was good. 3 starts purely for this, more critically would be closer to 2/2.5.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin by Yevgeny Zamyatin
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Interesting read - enjoyed it a lot more than I expected I would, great example of a dystopian but interesting based on soviet rule, unlike some of the more popular books in the genre. Feels quite sci-fi at times, and interesting to see the influence it has on later books such as 1984. A surprisingly fun read, enjoyed the translation by Clarence Brown.
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Enjoyed this book! Interesting structure where we are told who the killer is, more focused on the chase and the character of Will. Hannibal is a fairly secondary/minor character in this, so if reading for this purpose one of the other three books may be better. If a fan of the nbc show some of the characterisations and the ending may feel a little underwhelming in comparison, but really interesting to read the source material. Also get to see more of Dolahyde's backstory. Quite a lot of points where lots of random detectives and characters are introduced and never seen again which can get a little confusing. But overall, a good read!