book reviews!

1/17/24

happy new year! i don't have much to say for the new year - i'm not much of a resolution maker and i'm even LESS someone who would say them publically just in case i don't do them LOL. i hope 2024 has been treating everyone well so far, and i hope the year goes well for everyone!

the reading bug has hit me again over the last month, and i ended up reading about the same amount of books in a month as i did all 2023 (which is only 3 either way, but y'know.) as i'm writing this, my internets been out for a few days due to the cold and frankly i am getting a bit bored. i can only cross stitch so long before my hands hurt. hat better way to pass the time than writing a blog post reviewing all i've read!

first book of the month, which technically was read in 2023, is Revelator by Daryl Gregory. it's described as a southern gothic horror about generations of women and their connection to their family's personal god.

this is a book that i randomly pulled off the library shelves! when i don't have a to-read list, i like occasionally going through the shelves and picking up covers that intrigue me. despite the classic "don't judge a book by it's cover" saying i absolutely do. books of certain genres and styles are going to be visually marketed in similar ways to find a similar audience. if i know that i don't care for beach read romance, i'm not gonna pick up a book that has those flat, drawn over a photo portraits and that one font, y'know?

that spiel may be a bit ironic for this case, since i personally found this book extremely meh. i didn't find it particualrly scary and while the concept is neat, the coming into direct contact with an unfathomable being, i feel like plenty of books could and likely have done it better. i gave it 3 stars overall and honestly wouldn't recommend it to anyone. just find a better southern gothic book!

the second book i read was The Art of Drag by Jake Hall. i had heard a brief positive review on this book before, so i kind of had an idea of what i was going into! i was expecting a fairly brief history of drag with a bunch of pictures, and that's what i got. i was a bit disappointed with how brief some of the sections were, with most of the individual topics lasting about half a page, but i understand why they were. i'm personally viewing it as just enough to give me direction for further research.
the art is colorful and generally nice to look at! not every style was my favorite. my favorite illustrations are the guest (?) ones, by Noa Denmon and Nada Hayek. i found the illustation by denmon gorgeously rendered and i really enjoyed looking at hayek's collage-esque scene. i gave it a solid 4 stars and i think anyone wanting an overview of how drag historically came to be and how it's come to it's current iteration would enjoy it!

the final book, which i finished shortly before writing this, is The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill. i have very mixed feelings about this book, some parts were eyerollingly annoying to read, while others were compelling and kept me chugging through the book till the end! it's a reasonable length (288 pages according to storygraph) so i didn't have to chug that long.
this is a book within a book mystery about a woman who was murdered in the library and 4 people were connected by it. that book is written by the fictional author, hannah something, and each chapter is broken up by a fairly brief email from her adoring fan and beta reader, leo.

i found the the emails the most enticing for sure. i was interested to see how it'd progress, especially after around the halfway mark when some vibes i had were confirmed LOL. for the rest of the book, i found the characters really annoying and flat. i genuinely do wonder if its intentional in the context of the emails, but the rushed relationships were killinggg me. like girlie you've known this guy for a month why are you constantly like ~i'm falling in love with him~. i found the friendships equally as unbelieveable, since they progressed just about as fast as the romance.
BUT, despite it all, i did keep reading and finished it within a day just to see how the emails resolved LOL. ultimately the emails were not that unique and the characters, regardless if it was on purpose or not, are just not very compelling. i enjoyed it enough overall, but i gave it 3.25 stars.

ultimately all the books i read this month weren't stinkers, but all were very Meh and Okay. they passed the time. the only one i'm mildly annoyed about spending time on is revelator, but that's mostly because i finished it in a very short period of time and the book is decently long. my brain was tired AND it wasn't great? booo

here's to better books the rest of the year! i'm also going to highly encourage everyone to check out your local library's events. i've been enjoying myself attending mine! in december i went to a 3d printing class to be able to book the library's printer, and this month involves a painting class and a jewelry class! :)

- jamie xoxo