aaronj21's Reviews (912)

The last time I read this book I was about 10 or so and it was for a Summer Reading assignment. It was just as good this time around, a colorful tale that well deserves its status as a classic. What struck me on second reading was the thematic continuity of the whole book, even though it’s tied to The Lord of the Rings very directly it feels very much like its own self-contained, relatively light hearted tale. Another thing, Tolkien was a far more versatile writer than many people may give him credit for. The Hobbit, is a superlative children’s book, The Lord of the Rings, an epic fantasy, The Silmarilion a mythic history, etc. Although Tolkien’s work is mostly all set in the same world, his skill as a writer lets him explore that world in many different facets.

I’m quickly becoming a fan of Kiersten White’s adult horror novels. I really enjoyed Hide when it came out and Mr. Magic continued to delight in the same vein. This book scratches a very particular itch, filled as it is with 90’s children’s programming nostalgia, lost media, and unreliable memories.

The basic plot (spoiler free!) is this, the main character Val, discovers she was a child star on an educational show Mr. Magic, back in the 90’s, however she has no memory of this and any concrete info about the show, like the director, filming locations, old re-runs are completely nonexistent. When old friends that she also doesn’t remember, her former costars, come back into her life, Val sets out to find out what really happened. Kiersten White has a gift for solid and memorable characterization. Everyone feels genuine and fleshed out and they interact and clash with each other in a way that feels believable and human. The author is also skilled at setting up interesting plots and then moving the action along at a steady clip, once this book gets going it does not let up. The one area I feel this book didn’t fully rise to my expectations is in the horror element. The initial premise is pretty creepy and suggests lots of unsettling possibilities, especially if you’re a fan of pop culture rabbit holes and lost media. However, for me it never really got beyond that in terms of horror. The story ended up being excellent, with a lot to say about childhood, parenting, and how even though some things will haunt us for the rest of our lives, we can overcome them and do better, but it wasn’t scary per se.

Overall this book was a great read, when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about reading it and I wanted to get through the whole thing as soon as possible, the story was that good. In the end I wish it had leaned more into the unsettling horror elements that were present, but the ending was satisfying enough that I can’t really hold that against this book.

Another re-read, I may just do the whole series at this point since it’s been quite a while since I read them first.

The book is obviously much slower and less action packed than the movies, the characters do fight and perform daring deeds, but they feel much more mundane than their movie counterparts. What the movies cannot match, however, is the loving detail in every aspect of the world Tolkien created. It all feels acutely real and one gets the sense that Tolkien thought deeply about every plain and hill and forest. The world feels historically grounded and lived in in a way few other fantasy works do.

Generally enjoying my re-read of this series so far and finding quite a few things I didn’t appreciate or remember from the last time.

A snappy, flowing, if a bit surface level historical fiction novel about the famous Joan of Arc, this book was fine as far as it went, but for me did not go far enough. I can’t quite articulate what was missing but I was expecting something more from this novel. The pacing was a little off for me as the reader spends what feels like over half the book dealing with Joan’s horrific childhood. Other events are only very briefly touched on and whole years pass in moments. Sieges and battles are the matter of a few sentences.

Joan herself is a fascinating character though. This author makes Joan perhaps more of a warrior than she was in history, but it’s so entertaining that I hardly care. The reader, like the French peasantry, cannot help but be won over by Joan and wish to see her work miracles.

Overall this book did entertain me and make me very interested in learning about the historical Joan of Arc.

I’ve started reading poetry collections this year, it’s somehow become a thing I do. This was by far and away the best poetry collection I’ve read in this, or possibly any year. There were no real “duds” and the exceptional verses really did stand out in an already great collection. The poems felt very universal while also seeming incredibly specific. The poet’s range and incisive observations lend the collection a broad and at the same time focused and minutely intentional tone. The language is of course beautiful, and every poem has one or two lines that really shine out and stick in your mind. Here is an example I haven’t stopped thinking about since I read it and cannot bear not including, it comes from the end of the poem “Embarrassing”

“Embarrassment is a tactic of war / in which we teach the other / to destroy themselves / while we can say / that our hands / are clean.”

I got chills reading that, it’s stunning stuff.

The author’s insistence on embracing his queerness as well (not instead of) as his Appalachian heritage is admirable and heartening. Especially given the current political climate in many Appalachian states. This is the kind of poetry collection I wish I had stumbled on as a middle/ highschooler, it’s genuinely optimistic in a way that doesn’t downplay the challenges LGBTQ people from this region face.

I would recommend this collection to just about everyone, especially if you’re a bit of an outsider and especially if you're from the Appalachian region. If you read one poetry collection this year, make sure it’s Gay Poems for Red States.

This book was an engaging and well researched foray into a terrifying and tragic topic. The Floyd Collins / Sand Cave debacle is terrifying to hear about in any context, especially if you already have an aversion of or distrust of being underground. The author brings the full, horrific impact of Floyd’s entrapment to the fore without veering into sensationalism or poor taste, a difficult task. Despite knowing the outcome of this event, while reading I found myself becoming tense, almost expecting Floyd to be rescued.

Overall this is a very complete account of all the circumstances surrounding this horrifying cave in.

I’ve started reading poetry collections this year, it’s somehow become a thing I do. This was by far and away the best poetry collection I’ve read in this, or possibly any year. There were no real “duds” and the exceptional verses really did stand out in an already great collection. The poems felt very universal while also seeming incredibly specific. The poet’s range and incisive observations lend the collection a broad and at the same time focused and minutely intentional tone. The language is of course beautiful, and every poem has one or two lines that really shine out and stick in your mind. Here is an example I haven’t stopped thinking about since I read it and cannot bear not including, it comes from the end of the poem “Embarrassing”

“Embarrassment is a tactic of war / in which we teach the other / to destroy themselves / while we can say / that our hands / are clean.”

I got chills reading that, it’s stunning stuff.

The author’s insistence on embracing his queerness as well (not instead of) as his Appalachian heritage is admirable and heartening. Especially given the current political climate in many Appalachian states. This is the kind of poetry collection I wish I had stumbled on as a middle/ highschooler, it’s genuinely optimistic in a way that doesn’t downplay the challenges LGBTQ people from this region face.

I would recommend this collection to just about everyone, especially if you’re a bit of an outsider and especially if you're from the Appalachian region. If you read one poetry collection this year, make sure it’s Gay Poems for Red States.

This book was wild. I greatly enjoyed it but I would have a hard time recommending it to anyone, it felt like 3 different books in one, there was no point, it was all point, all of these statements feel. I was expecting a more straightforward horror novel, and it definitely had that vibe in the beginning, for about the first 1/4 of the book. After that the plot goes in another direction entirely, and the book does this acrobatic routine a few times before the end. The tangents are all related to the main thrust of the story but almost feel like they're from different books. Ultimately the story I was being told was so well done I didn't mind the odd, meandering pace at all.

This was a fine dive into an ever more relevant, increasingly thorny issue: what do we as fans, consumers of art and media, do when the artist behind our beloved movie, book, music, whatever, is revealed to have done something shockingly heinous and morally repugnant? I appreciated the author’s erudite and honest approach to this topic, there are no easy answers here, no ironclad rules for this sort of thing. Instead this book offers only an intellectual framework, a more nuanced way of looking at the whole messy business of morally terrible people and their artistically great works. On the whole this was an interesting mediation, I think the strongest writing was at the beginning but it was an interesting read throughout.

Let Me Out is a captivating horror graphic novel dealing with such terrifying topics as the Satanic Panic, bigotry, corrupt officials, and New Jersey.

In a small town a woman goes missing, black suited agents have an agenda, the local police perpetrate a coverup, and the townspeople immediately suspect anyone who looks or acts different from the majority. This is very bad news for our story's protagonists, a group of ethnically diverse, LGBTQ friends who care about each other just as much as they loathe the monotonous, at times hostile conformity around them.

The Satanic Panic has always interested me as a stark and all too modern example of people’s tendency to look for "Others" to scapegoat when they’re scared, even when those they target pose no threat. That concept is on full display here and it makes for an interesting overarching theme in an otherwise plot heavy story. The art style and characters mesh seamlessly and create a vaguely vintage aesthetic, but at the same time the action and horror are rendered fascinatingly dynamic and lavishly creepy.

I found this story immediately gripping and burned through the whole thing in a brief sitting. If I have any critiques of this graphic novel at all it would be that it set up an engaging story with interesting characters but then ended right as I was most invested; however, I hope this means the series will continue.