Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) [Cormoran Strike 5], 1000pp
It was 1000 pages but I didn't want it to end. I think this might be my favorite of this series, and this is Book 5. I really liked the balance between the case - and it was a really interesting cold case of a woman that disappeared without a trace in the early 70s - and the main character's personal lives. Strike is dealing with his Aunt's cancer, an Aunt who really was a stable maternal presence in his childhood. Robin is coming off her divorce, which is still in negotiations but at least some time has passed. This book's timeline is a year in Strike and Robin's lives. The mystery is well done, and it is just so nice to spend time with these characters.
Jhereg by Stephen Brust, 172pp
I picked this up upon![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hamsterwoman ardent recommendation. And I am happy to say that I ended up enjoying it and I am planning to read the next one in the series next year, even though I am still unsure about the world yet or even the series. Brust's worldbuilding is actually pretty great - I was never confused about all the Houses and who was who, even though it seems a bit simplistic of everyone in the House sharing specific characteristics but that's probably nurture. I was glad for the pronunciation guide. And it was pretty amusing that people could be brought back to life and there is a difference between mostly dead and all dead in this world. It actually brought humor to the situation. I liked the main case of the story - Vlad has to assassinate a person who is in a place where he can't be killed - how to persuade him to leave that space. I'm still not sure why a jhereg is needed as a familiar and I'm sure there is a whole world to the story that I am still missing, but I was amused by Vlad and his musings and rooted for him to succeed and to crack the case. Brust writes in these staccato sentences - I'm not sure if that is the right word but the pace of his dialogue is very short and snappy and I think that worked; I just needed to get into it. I don't love this series yet but I like it and I'm intrigued, which is a good place to start. I find the characters pretty interesting.
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary, 183pp
This was Tanya's 1st summer reading book and she told me to read it too. I really enjoyed it. Ramona was a perfect 4 year old troublemaker and Beezus' emotional dilemma and resolution worked so well. There are some books that Tanya is reading (like the Unicorn academy) which are silly to me and the prose is just blah and are not just good as books, but this one is really well written and interesting despite being from 1955. I was a fun book.
The Sandman Act I by Neil Gaiman [Audible audiobook, for Sandman books 1 to 3]
This audiobook is so good! I don't tend to be an Audiobook person but this was free to download and to listen too (Act II is coming out on September 22, and this free promotion totally worked because now I am going to buy the Act II and the all the others since I really enjoyed it). I was thinking of rereading the Sandman graphic novels because of the show on Netflix to refresh my memory (I have all volumes at home), but this was better since it was rereading it while cooking or just sitting there relaxing. (I can't do other things while listening to audiobooks or I will get distracted by cooking seems to work perfectly fine). the voices were well chosen (except for Death, she didn't work for me for some reason) and the sound effects were spot on. It was good to get little details that I forgot about. When I read a graphic novel, I read it for the story, not the visuals. The visuals are nice but not essential to me (unlike Bear, who as an artist, pays attention to that). So audiobook format worked perfectly for me. I believe Act I is still free until the end of September.
Crosstalk by Connie Willis, 499pp
Meh. This is painful to write about Connie Willis' book because I loved her Time Travel series so much. "To Say Nothing of the Dog" is one of my favorite books. I watched an interview with her where she was promoting this book and this book was supposed to be her take on the Romantic comedy just with telepathy and also a take on why telepathy would be a terrible idea. I like romantic comedy at times so I picked it up. It didn't really work for me as I was getting annoyed with the characters and the whole thing. Yes, the guy the main character is with is supposed to be bad for her and she is supposed to meet the right guy but Trent was so obviously wrong and clearly planning something, he was almost twirling his proverbial mustache. I tend to like stories where the boyfriend is not a douche, just wrong for the main character and this was not that. Also everyone at Briddey's work (and my brain could not read that name, it kept wanting to say Bridley) cares way too much about people's personal life and gossips too much, and her family had no boundaries either. It was just too much. the middle part where Briddey and C.B. are hiding out at the library also went on too long. Also the resolution where ( spoiler ) was just ridiculous and completely not believable. I also didn't care about the main romance of the story which mean this book didn't work for me as a romantic comedy. I just couldn't nail down Briddey as a person and her character at all. Why is she into Trent? Why does she want to have this procedure done? Why would she panic about telepathy? There were just too many things that did not make a lot of sense and I didn't care that much about the characters. I could predict a bunch of things ahead of time too. So, overall - meh
It was 1000 pages but I didn't want it to end. I think this might be my favorite of this series, and this is Book 5. I really liked the balance between the case - and it was a really interesting cold case of a woman that disappeared without a trace in the early 70s - and the main character's personal lives. Strike is dealing with his Aunt's cancer, an Aunt who really was a stable maternal presence in his childhood. Robin is coming off her divorce, which is still in negotiations but at least some time has passed. This book's timeline is a year in Strike and Robin's lives. The mystery is well done, and it is just so nice to spend time with these characters.
Jhereg by Stephen Brust, 172pp
I picked this up upon
hamsterwoman ardent recommendation. And I am happy to say that I ended up enjoying it and I am planning to read the next one in the series next year, even though I am still unsure about the world yet or even the series. Brust's worldbuilding is actually pretty great - I was never confused about all the Houses and who was who, even though it seems a bit simplistic of everyone in the House sharing specific characteristics but that's probably nurture. I was glad for the pronunciation guide. And it was pretty amusing that people could be brought back to life and there is a difference between mostly dead and all dead in this world. It actually brought humor to the situation. I liked the main case of the story - Vlad has to assassinate a person who is in a place where he can't be killed - how to persuade him to leave that space. I'm still not sure why a jhereg is needed as a familiar and I'm sure there is a whole world to the story that I am still missing, but I was amused by Vlad and his musings and rooted for him to succeed and to crack the case. Brust writes in these staccato sentences - I'm not sure if that is the right word but the pace of his dialogue is very short and snappy and I think that worked; I just needed to get into it. I don't love this series yet but I like it and I'm intrigued, which is a good place to start. I find the characters pretty interesting.Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary, 183pp
This was Tanya's 1st summer reading book and she told me to read it too. I really enjoyed it. Ramona was a perfect 4 year old troublemaker and Beezus' emotional dilemma and resolution worked so well. There are some books that Tanya is reading (like the Unicorn academy) which are silly to me and the prose is just blah and are not just good as books, but this one is really well written and interesting despite being from 1955. I was a fun book.
The Sandman Act I by Neil Gaiman [Audible audiobook, for Sandman books 1 to 3]
This audiobook is so good! I don't tend to be an Audiobook person but this was free to download and to listen too (Act II is coming out on September 22, and this free promotion totally worked because now I am going to buy the Act II and the all the others since I really enjoyed it). I was thinking of rereading the Sandman graphic novels because of the show on Netflix to refresh my memory (I have all volumes at home), but this was better since it was rereading it while cooking or just sitting there relaxing. (I can't do other things while listening to audiobooks or I will get distracted by cooking seems to work perfectly fine). the voices were well chosen (except for Death, she didn't work for me for some reason) and the sound effects were spot on. It was good to get little details that I forgot about. When I read a graphic novel, I read it for the story, not the visuals. The visuals are nice but not essential to me (unlike Bear, who as an artist, pays attention to that). So audiobook format worked perfectly for me. I believe Act I is still free until the end of September.
Crosstalk by Connie Willis, 499pp
Meh. This is painful to write about Connie Willis' book because I loved her Time Travel series so much. "To Say Nothing of the Dog" is one of my favorite books. I watched an interview with her where she was promoting this book and this book was supposed to be her take on the Romantic comedy just with telepathy and also a take on why telepathy would be a terrible idea. I like romantic comedy at times so I picked it up. It didn't really work for me as I was getting annoyed with the characters and the whole thing. Yes, the guy the main character is with is supposed to be bad for her and she is supposed to meet the right guy but Trent was so obviously wrong and clearly planning something, he was almost twirling his proverbial mustache. I tend to like stories where the boyfriend is not a douche, just wrong for the main character and this was not that. Also everyone at Briddey's work (and my brain could not read that name, it kept wanting to say Bridley) cares way too much about people's personal life and gossips too much, and her family had no boundaries either. It was just too much. the middle part where Briddey and C.B. are hiding out at the library also went on too long. Also the resolution where ( spoiler ) was just ridiculous and completely not believable. I also didn't care about the main romance of the story which mean this book didn't work for me as a romantic comedy. I just couldn't nail down Briddey as a person and her character at all. Why is she into Trent? Why does she want to have this procedure done? Why would she panic about telepathy? There were just too many things that did not make a lot of sense and I didn't care that much about the characters. I could predict a bunch of things ahead of time too. So, overall - meh