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Nineteen Eighty-Four
My Review: Winston is our everyman, a middle-aged average male living under the heel of a totalitarian regime. His work is bland, his food is bland, his everyday routine is bland. Winston is losing it, he wonders about the world that was before the party and resists in small ways. He ponders about the subtle ways that the party exerts its control, by perpetual war, by rewriting history, by lying so blatantly that the members of the party have to accept the lies as truth. Winston dreams of revolution and finds himself seeking out others like him. Nineteen Eighty-Four was not an easy read by any means, it’s startlingly brutal.…
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Thinner
Warnings: Violence, Sex, Racism, Descriptions of Starvation My Thoughts Do you know what one of the most un-fun things in the world is? Starving. Speaking as someone with experience and a stressful hospital stay because of it, this book has become that much more terrifying to me after that experience. Billy is a scum bag lawyer saddled with a gypsy curse that leaves him withering away slowly after committing a heinous crime. Both body and mind begin to deteriorate at an alarming rate and Billy finds himself fighting for his life. He goes through all the series of emotions you would expect from someone after they figure out that they’re…
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The Grave Tender
Warnings: Violence My Thoughts The Grave Tender is a haunting and beautifully woven southern gothic about a broken family and the love that binds them together. The story starts slow as the story introduces Hadley, her friends, family, and their small town which on the surface seems idyllic. It’s the sort of town where everyone knows each other over generations, but the smiling town hides many secrets. What I loved most about this book was how it dealt with matters of appearance. It’s easy to point fingers and blame those that look the most guilty, who are the most eccentric. It’s the folly of letting appearances dictate our perception of…
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That Weekend
Warnings: Violence, Domestic Abuse, Mature Themes My Thoughts An intensely readable page-turner with more twists than an M. Night Shyamalan movie, That Weekend is a young adult mystery thriller about a trio of friends that disappear in the woods. The story begins with Claire, the only one of the three that is found injured and alone in the woods with no memory of what happened that weekend. It’s the perfect set-up for a summer thriller. The first twenty percent of the novel was slow, setting up Claire’s story and her relationship to her two best friends. It was essentially just Claire’s romantic drama with three different teen boys and while…
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The Martian
My Review: A lone scientist finds himself left behind on planet Mars with limited supplies and no rescue in sight. Add in a dash of humor and The Martian makes for a perfect science fiction adventure and it is no surprise that this book was wildly popular upon release. The book does well explaining the science behind many of the things that Watney does to survive, making this a good solid hard science fiction book that would please fans of the genre. Although some of the technical details may be intimidating or a bore for some readers, the humor littered throughout makes this book a lighthearted read. It’s a great…
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Kink: Stories
My Review: “It was the first real pain he had caused me, it made me suck in my breath, but it wasn’t too much pain, and not unexciting.”Kink is a curious little collection of literary short stories with heavy doses of BDSM and other kinks. It is a nuanced collection that explores human sexuality, relationships, communication, and consent through a diverse lens. I loved the wide spectrum of sexual orientations that are represented while also exploring various themes about desire and the joys and frustrations that come with it. The collection is definitely spicy, especially in the earlier stories. I was surprised that I could find some stories relatable, particularly…
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