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stormlightreader's reviews
872 reviews
34 Years in Hell: My Time Inside America's Toughest Prisons by Jamie Morgan Kane
Being coerced into going to prison in his wife's place because she's a mother (pardon?!) and legal counsel claiming that if he takes her place in prison his son will respect him more (what?!). Infuriating beyond belief!
Interesting insight. I'd like to read a book like this from the perspective of an inmate who is less suited to prison (in terms of being able to stand up for themselves).
Also, the narrator is the more common narrator of the Reacher books, and I had to remind myself I wasn't reading a Reacher book 😂 because it could've easily passed for one, especially with Kane's ability to cope with prison.
Interesting insight. I'd like to read a book like this from the perspective of an inmate who is less suited to prison (in terms of being able to stand up for themselves).
Also, the narrator is the more common narrator of the Reacher books, and I had to remind myself I wasn't reading a Reacher book 😂 because it could've easily passed for one, especially with Kane's ability to cope with prison.
Formula One 2025: The World's Bestselling Grand Prix Guide by Bruce Jones
A really quick read. Recap of the 2024 season, profiles on the drivers, teams and tracks. The track overview was probably my favourite part. Really good for a new fan or an existing fan if you fancy a quick F1 read while you wait for the 2025 season to get started!
1984 by George Orwell
There's a lot of commentary on politics and control. More so on the latter. It's definitely a book that's more about the journey than the destination.
The descriptions of women are not great and the amount of time spent on Winston and Julia felt inconsequential as they didn't actually strike me as a believable couple - no chemistry and they are both strangely content to betray each other.
It's easy to see where subsequent dystopian novels have gotten their inspiration and reading 1984 in 2025 shouldn't have felt as unsurprising as it did. There were so many parallels with modern society and that's eerie.
It did feel a little repetitive but I think that served a purpose, particularly in part 3. However, at only 200 or so pages (for the actual novel) it's forgivable. I wasn't left amazed by the book when I finished it, but the theme of control was ever-present and at times extremely creepy.
"The object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war" 👌🏻
There's a lot of commentary on politics and control. More so on the latter. It's definitely a book that's more about the journey than the destination.
The descriptions of women are not great and the amount of time spent on Winston and Julia felt inconsequential as they didn't actually strike me as a believable couple - no chemistry and they are both strangely content to betray each other.
It's easy to see where subsequent dystopian novels have gotten their inspiration and reading 1984 in 2025 shouldn't have felt as unsurprising as it did. There were so many parallels with modern society and that's eerie.
It did feel a little repetitive but I think that served a purpose, particularly in part 3. However, at only 200 or so pages (for the actual novel) it's forgivable. I wasn't left amazed by the book when I finished it, but the theme of control was ever-present and at times extremely creepy.
Death Takes Me: A Novel by Cristina Rivera Garza
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
It's literary and very focused on poems. It's just not working for me.
Killing Season: A Paramedic's Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Opioid Epidemic by Peter Canning
A very interesting viewpoint from the perspective of a paramedic routinely encountering opioid addicts. The author who has changed their mindset towards opioid addicts, does make a compelling case for addicts to be treated humanely and lays out some hard-hitting facts about opioid use, and the dangers that users face. More importantly, the author makes the very scary point that anybody could become an opioid addict without even intending to, and that for me was possibly the most hard-hitting aspect of this book.
Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico by Juan Villoro
- perfect quote!
Villoro's essays take you through Mexico City using his own experiences to depict the city's history. Horizontal Vertigo was not the book I expected, but I learned some really endearing facts about Mexico City.
"A Mexican waving a flag has the same relationship with normalcy that a Formula 1 driver has with speed."
- perfect quote!
Villoro's essays take you through Mexico City using his own experiences to depict the city's history. Horizontal Vertigo was not the book I expected, but I learned some really endearing facts about Mexico City.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
What I struggled to believe:
What I did not like:
This is a book of two halves for me. Seriously, I was completely divided while reading this. If I hadn't have read and enjoyed Richard Matheson's writing so much in Hell House, I probably would've DNFed this. That said, the ending did put the most anger-inducing scene into a bit more context, so not DNFing actually worked out this time. But I'm still annoyed by this book...
What I did like:
What I did like:
- Matheson creates such a great atmosphere. From the opening sentences, the atmosphere of this story is palpable. You immediately feel how grim this world is and how it must feel to live this life.
- The cause of the plague is really interesting, albeit a bit too briefly explored.
- There is chunk of this book that is really scientific and that part is really interesting.
- This is not what today's readers would expect from a vampire novel, and that made it a good story.
What I struggled to believe:
- It is so hard to gauge time in this book, the edition I read is 160 pages but spans three years. So, it's really difficult to comprehend just how much time is passing in these relatively short chapters.
- Robert Neville conveniently has everything he needs
A generator (which when the vamps attack, luckily they don't smash up because it's implied that they're not smart enough, even though they do intentionally smash his car up and pay attention to damaging the engine) He has a steady supply of groceries, which last three years despite the amount of whiskey he drinks Oh yeah, and he's immune to the vampiric illness
- He begins to study science textbooks
to teach himself how to develop a cure. This one man. Alone. Ok.
What I did not like:
- He's incredibly horny and has clearly never learned how to remedy that urge without the use of a woman. So, I found being stuck in the head of this man for 160 pages to be incredibly draining.
There are numerous references to the women vamps parading themselves naked. He takes a female vamp to experiment on and then it's justified that she just happened to be the first vamp he came across and when he bound her to a chair she was wearing a black dress and 'too much was on show when she breathed' so he had to be in a different room to her 🙄 seriously, draining. He just had to inject the female vamp IN THE ARSE CHEEK 🙄 - This point made a LITTLE bit more sense by the end but still:
He sees a woman and chases her down before dragging her into the house while she begged him not to kill her and by the end (30 pages later) it's love. I wanted to throw this book at the wall.
HARD ROLL: A Paramedic's Perspective of Life and Death in New Orleans by Jon McCarthy
Hard Roll is a blunt account of life as a paramedic in New Orleans. McCarthy explores things from the events of a disciplinary meeting to an array of day-to-day emergency cases. The bromance with his partner was entertaining and was clearly important, and I can imagine this kept them both from spiralling.
The writing style is brutally honest but respectful of those involved. McCarthy did a great job providing an overview of the job, while providing insight into the dark humour that I can imagine is most definitely needed to get through a job like this.
I found this on the Audible Plus catalogue and figured I'd give it a go but I wasn't expecting to be as engrossed as I was. I like Adam Kay's books and I would say this has a similar writing style.
The writing style is brutally honest but respectful of those involved. McCarthy did a great job providing an overview of the job, while providing insight into the dark humour that I can imagine is most definitely needed to get through a job like this.
I found this on the Audible Plus catalogue and figured I'd give it a go but I wasn't expecting to be as engrossed as I was. I like Adam Kay's books and I would say this has a similar writing style.
Encounter by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan
Random note: While the plot is not the same, these stories gave me similar vibes to the movie Dog Soldiers.
I have The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan on my TBR and this was a good chance to see if their writing is for me before investing time and money in a full length novel.
Del Toro and Hogan do a great job with the storytelling and atmosphere in so few pages. I was so keen to get to the next story because each story finished at such a good point. The characters were written very well in the small page count, but done so well that it was very easy to get invested in them.
Random note: While the plot is not the same, these stories gave me similar vibes to the movie Dog Soldiers.
Siege by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan
Random note: While the plot is not the same, these stories gave me similar vibes to the movie Dog Soldiers.
I have The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan on my TBR and this was a good chance to see if their writing is for me before investing time and money in a full length novel.
Del Toro and Hogan do a great job with the storytelling and atmosphere in so few pages. I was so keen to get to the next story because each story finished at such a good point. The characters were written very well in the small page count, but done so well that it was very easy to get invested in them.
Random note: While the plot is not the same, these stories gave me similar vibes to the movie Dog Soldiers.