Amy Schubert

March Book Report

I thought I was going to get so much reading done during the week I was in Arizona without internet. Not so much. But! Lots of good fast fiction reads. I seriously have this problem where I just stop working mid-afternoon and read for hours and hours and hours.

I’m going to get a few novel-research-related books in the next month that I’m looking forward to!

Some of my reads from March:

Yesterday’s Gone (season 2 and 3) by Sean Platt and David Wright: Forget what I said about Yesterday’s Gone reminding me of The Stand. About the middle of season 2 it turned crazy sci-fi. Way different than anything I would usually read. I still don’t love it, but it’s kind of like … Lost, in that every episode I thought, “This is ridiculous. Why am I watching this? … I can’t wait til the next episode.” The second season brings up a lot more questions than it answers and I still don’t love any of the characters, but I can’t stop reading. Season 3 is perilously close to a trainwreck. Every single chapter takes place in a different time and place. Which means that while for most writers the goal is to keep the reader turning the page to the next chapter and next chapter, for this book every single chapter is a jarring reset, trying to remember how this time fits in with the previous chapter and then also the chapter 6 or 8 chapters ago that was from the same time and place.

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith: If you hadn’t heard, Robert Galbraith is actually a pen-name of J.K. Rowling. I tried to avoid reading reviews of this book before reading it – I don’t want anything to color my judgement of Rowling’s writing. Verdict: I liked it. Even more than I liked Casual Vacancy. I’ve only read a few real mysteries in my life, so I don’t know exactly how this fits into the genre, but I definitely enjoyed it. I think she’s planning on writing more with this same Private Detective character which I will read too! (Related: Anyone have good mystery recommendations? I’ve only ever read a couple Agatha Christie)

Burr: A Novel by Gore Vidal This book is the second I have read by this author – and I’m pretty sure I’m going to read all of his books. This is heavily and thoroughly researched historical fiction. Which, obviously, I love since it’s U.S. history-ish. The structure of this was a bit weird – it basically jumped back and forth between 2 1st person POVs : The protagonist (fictional character who is a writer) and Aaron Burr (who is dictating his memoir to the writer). Only very slightly confusing at times. But overall, I really liked it. (sidenote: I’ve read about 8 books about Thomas Jefferson and I really don’t like him. All of Burr’s characterization of Jefferson in this novel is *exactly* how I would describe Jefferson from what I’ve read).

Serena by Ron Rash: Added this to my to-read list because apparently it will be a movie later this year. Within the first 20 or so pages I thought, I really do not care for this Serena woman. She is well-written and fits in the context of the novel. But if she were a person? No thank you. That said, I feel like the book itself is fairly well-written and someone else might really love it. Some of the descriptions are particularly lovely.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth: The third book in this trilogy, I had been on the library waiting list since December or January. Pretty much the only reason I even finished this trilogy was because I’m a completist and they are CRAZY fast reads. But otherwise, I don’t particularly care for the main character, the general plot/conspiracy is awfully depressing and I don’t really know that I gained anything by reading them. But, you know. FAST reads.

Atonement by Ian McEwan: This was the fist book by Ian McEwan I’ve read, but I’ll probably read more. I really enjoy the super detailed and stream-of-consciousness writing – mostly because I don’t think I can write that kind of thing myself. This is one of the few books that I’m glad I saw the film first. I’m not totally sure why – the stream of consciousness, same scene from multiple points of view can be a tiny bit confusing. But, in general, I enjoyed it.

(and others. Mostly U.S. History. )

Read anything good lately?

P.S. I’ve added all of your recommendations to my To-Read list. But since there’s 1500 books on there, please forgive me if I don’t get to them all right away.

March Book Report is a post from: Lemon and Raspberry | Amy T Schubert

The post March Book Report appeared first on Lemon and Raspberry | Amy T Schubert.

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