Here we go, another month done. So I'm not writing much but at least I'm still reading. And I actually bought a book, which is the first in a while since I've been relying on the library for most of my stuff in the last year or so. Well, bought a book for me. While we try not to buy any toys for the boy (the grandparents have that covered) I've announced that books don't count so plenty of those have come in.
Reading this month as been a bit hit or miss. But again, it's mostly library stuff so at least I'm not out dollar bucks (note, I have been watching a lot of Bluey recently, for anyone familiar. And if you aren't, you should probably check it out, whether or not you have small kids cos it is GREAT).
Anyway, let's check out some stats.
Books Read
5
One by One by Ruth Ware
Later by Stephen King
Salt Sugar Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
One by One by Ruth Ware
I was looking through what the library had available and it recommended this new mystery by Ware. I've had mixed results with her but figured even when they're bad mysteries are at least interesting so let's give this a shot. There's a chalet up in the Alps, cut off from everyone due to an avalanche and one by one (see what she did there) people start dying. That and it's got a couple narrators and I love that. However, I didn't love this. I did love it, or at least really like it, for a while and I won't go into how things shifted because I can't get into that without spoilers but to say it was an abrupt about face with me going "Oh but I mean, they wouldn't do that...she wouldn't...cos I mean, you can't" and then angry listening to the remainder of the story going "Well...I guess she did that."
Rating before the turning point: 4 stars
Rating after the turning point: 2 stars
Later by Stephen King
It felt like I hadn't read King in a while. Though actually I read one of his books just last year. But I used to read a lot more King and then he just hasn't been top of mind for a while. Anyway, the point is, I was still scrolling through available titles from the library and this new King story came up. A young boy can see the spirts/ghosts (?) of the recently deceased and talk to them. Importantly, he can ask them questions, ones they have to answer truthfully. The story is interesting and feels very much like a King story. (Side question, has anyone, other than King, ever talked like the characters in King books talk? It is fascinating.) it also, despite being almost 250 pages, felt like it was a novella or at least the beginning of what could be a much longer story. Which I would definitely read.
Rating: 4 stars
Salt Sugar Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
This book sort of fell flat for me. The conceit is that processed foods have a lot of salt, sugar and fat in them and those things are bad for us and we should eat less processed foods. Which great, agreed. There's a lot of stuff the food industry does that is presented as very ominous but it's mostly "they put a lot of these things in food, even when you wouldn't think the foods have a lot of salt/sugar/fat in them". Which. Yeah. They also went into "Sometimes the businesses make it a goal to change and make foods healthier but then people buy less of the healthy versions so businesses decide to go back to the less healthy version" which again. Yeah. At one point the book does seem to claim that sometime in the '90s Kraft came up with the concept of using cheese as an ingredient in recipes instead of as something to be eaten on its own and, no sir, I do not think that is true. The parts about how unhealthy these things can be were interesting. It seems to want to make the point that there should be gov regulation on these things because businesses won't make things healthier on their own since it costs them money without actually saying that, which was too bad because it left me going "OK making a lot of good points about how people eat too much of these but falling short on what can be done"
Rating: 2.5 stars
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
What if you had the chance to undo your regrets, to take a different path in life? Nora is given this opportunity for reasons, presented as a library and she can read herself into all new lives if she had just made different choices. What if she met that guy for coffee, what if she had studied glaciers, what if she had stayed in that band with her brother, what if she kept up with swimming? There are thousands of "what ifs" and each decision, big and small, can have drastic outcomes in a life. I like the idea of the novel but there were pieces I found frustrating. For example, whenever Nora jumps into one of this new versions of her life, she's her current age with no memory of what came before it. There's a lot of bluffing her way through these different lives since she should know, say, all of the band's hit songs before she plays in front of a crowd of thousands. Maybe I just found the idea of having to do this
very stressful and while it added suspense to the story, I didn't see why, per the logic of the book, how that was helpful. Especially if the idea is Nora should find a life she would rather lead. That and the fact that Nora seemed to be AMAZING at whatever she decided to do. Should she have stuck with the band? Great, she's an international rock star beloved by millions. Should she have stuck to swimming? Olympic gold medalist! And while those frustrations did drop my rating down a bit, overall I did want to keep reading, even if the ending is fairly predictable. So that's something
Rating: 3.5 stars
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
This is a pseudo-memoir about Bess Kalb's relationship with her grandmother. Pseudo because it is based around conversations, many imaginary (as in, after her grandmother is dead) though some are taken direct from voicemails with her grandmother. Talking about her grandmother's life, and her grandmother's relationship with others in the matrilinear line (her mother, her daughter and of course, her granddaughter, Bess). The book is funny and touching, with a few pieces a bit more serious though mostly it's lighthearted and full of Jewish grandmotherly advice. And short. As an audiobook it was just about 4 hours.
Rating: 4 stars
Number of pages read
1,628
Fiction
60%
Female authors
40%
BIPOC authors
0% - not good, not good
US authors
60%
Book format
100%
Where'd I get the book
library: 80%
Indie bookstore: 20%
Bookclub/readalong
20%
Decade published
2010s: 20%
2020s: 80%
Resolution reads
40%
One by One by Ruth Ware (UK author)
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (UK author)
