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aaronj21's Reviews (912)
Erik Larson makes writing narrative non-fiction look effortless. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the twin narratives of the Lusitania’s voyage and the German Submarine crew’s patrol, two strands of action he narrates deftly until the very moment the torpedo is fired and the ship is sunk.
I honestly can’t say enough good things about this book. The art is stunning and evocative, the story is spare and restrained but hints at so much that’s complex and disturbing, and the characters are as solid and compelling as the world they inhabit.
Without spoilers, this story is about the few survivors left after most of the world’s population inexplicably vanish. Subsistence is challenging enough, but our protagonists also have to contend with the mysterious appearance of huge, well…giant, creatures who are enigmatic and otherworldly.
While I’ve already mentioned how impressive the art and style is, the story itself is a masterclass in the power of brevity. There isn’t a single extraneous thing here. the narrative skips over gaps in time, hinting at larger plot points but not getting bogged down in them, and focuses with laser precision on the crucial elements of the tale. Reading this story is like looking into a very carefully packed bag for a long, long hike, only the best and most critical items make the cut.
This graphic novel is definitely one you finish in one sitting. It works well as a standalone work but I desperately hope there is more to come. I’ve never read or seen anything like it and I want to revisit this bleak, bizarre, mysterious world again and again.
Without spoilers, this story is about the few survivors left after most of the world’s population inexplicably vanish. Subsistence is challenging enough, but our protagonists also have to contend with the mysterious appearance of huge, well…giant, creatures who are enigmatic and otherworldly.
While I’ve already mentioned how impressive the art and style is, the story itself is a masterclass in the power of brevity. There isn’t a single extraneous thing here. the narrative skips over gaps in time, hinting at larger plot points but not getting bogged down in them, and focuses with laser precision on the crucial elements of the tale. Reading this story is like looking into a very carefully packed bag for a long, long hike, only the best and most critical items make the cut.
This graphic novel is definitely one you finish in one sitting. It works well as a standalone work but I desperately hope there is more to come. I’ve never read or seen anything like it and I want to revisit this bleak, bizarre, mysterious world again and again.
What an informative, energetic read!
Despite being conscious and aware for at least the latter half of the 90’s, my knowledge about these Canadian superstars was practically non-existent. I knew Celine Dion was the lady who sang the titanic song that gives me involuntary goosebumps. I knew that Shania Twain was a country singer that my mom liked and that man, she felt like a woman. My husband LOVES Jagged Little Pill so I at least knew more about Alanis Morissette’s music, and that she played god in that movie where Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were gay angles. But I only really knew Sarah McLachlan as the artist who sang those sad songs on the commercials about rescuing abused animals for as little as a dollar a day.
This book was packed with information, facts, and research, but is also written in an almost casual, conversational tone that makes it easily readable. It’s like listening to your smartest friend ramble on about their pet interest, in this case Canadian musicians from the 90’s. Another strong point of this title is that it explores these artists and their music in context. The music industry was, and still is apparently, a business rife with sexism and discrimination, the artists with the most talent or best songs don’t always get the chance to rise to the top. Additionally, musicians who are women get talked about and scrutinized in a way that male singers and songwriters just don’t. they’re more likely to be judged on appearance rather than substance, more likely to have their success attributed to partners or husbands also in the music business. This kind of thing was everywhere in the 90’s and is absolutely still a factor today. Reading this book wasn’t merely informative, it was eye opening.
It was an absolute delight to learn more about these phenomenally talented artists who really did change the music industry and music itself forever.
Despite being conscious and aware for at least the latter half of the 90’s, my knowledge about these Canadian superstars was practically non-existent. I knew Celine Dion was the lady who sang the titanic song that gives me involuntary goosebumps. I knew that Shania Twain was a country singer that my mom liked and that man, she felt like a woman. My husband LOVES Jagged Little Pill so I at least knew more about Alanis Morissette’s music, and that she played god in that movie where Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were gay angles. But I only really knew Sarah McLachlan as the artist who sang those sad songs on the commercials about rescuing abused animals for as little as a dollar a day.
This book was packed with information, facts, and research, but is also written in an almost casual, conversational tone that makes it easily readable. It’s like listening to your smartest friend ramble on about their pet interest, in this case Canadian musicians from the 90’s. Another strong point of this title is that it explores these artists and their music in context. The music industry was, and still is apparently, a business rife with sexism and discrimination, the artists with the most talent or best songs don’t always get the chance to rise to the top. Additionally, musicians who are women get talked about and scrutinized in a way that male singers and songwriters just don’t. they’re more likely to be judged on appearance rather than substance, more likely to have their success attributed to partners or husbands also in the music business. This kind of thing was everywhere in the 90’s and is absolutely still a factor today. Reading this book wasn’t merely informative, it was eye opening.
It was an absolute delight to learn more about these phenomenally talented artists who really did change the music industry and music itself forever.
Twisty, dark, and addictively readable, everything I’ve come to expect from Gillian Flynn. Please publish more things, Gillian, I’m begging.
Just as engrossing and riveting as the first book in the series. Muir’s talent for characters and world building really comes into its own in this second entry, proving, as if there were any doubt, that the success of Gideon the Ninth was no fluke. The world Muir paints is so vividly weird that you can’t help but want more. Her characters are absolutely brilliant and her sense of timing and drama is unparalleled, I mean come on…the soup! (if you know, you know). Gideon the Ninth sparked an interest and Harrow the Ninth has fed an addiction, I NEED to know what happens with the last book in the series.
Tamsyn Muir has a talent for drawing out a story and teasing her readers.
Both Gideon the Ninth and Harrow end on cliffhangers where all you want is more book. You long to pick up the thread of the story and resolve the drama that happened in the closing chapter. But in each new book Muir cheerfully refuses to give you that and instead presents you with something entirely new. Nowhere is this tendency more pronounced than in Nona The Ninth, a book that by the author’s own admission, wasn’t really planned. One could imagine a seed of resentment taking root in the minds of readers after such treatment. One could imagine it, but such feelings of effrontery exists in hypothetical musings only. The story, although it isn’t the conclusion you’d hoped for, is Just. That. Good. While reading, it’s impossible to be anything other than grateful.
This book, while a delightful departure from the first two in terms of plotline, is the most ambitious yet in terms of scale and world building. Not only do we get to finally see the life of ordinary people throughout the empire (spoilers, it’s not great) but we also finally get some backstory about the Emperor Undying. All of this on top of a brand new (kinda?) character and a reprise of some of our old favorites (Ianthe Tridentarius, you will always be one of my favorite evil characters). That is value for money indeed. The humor is, as always, top notch and utterly disarming. These books, brilliant as they are, wouldn’t be the same without the interjection of some levity every now and again.
True to form, the ending of this book left me desperate for the conclusion of the story. Another book won’t be out for some time so I have little choice but to wait and possibly re-read these utterly unique, perfectly bizarre books.
Both Gideon the Ninth and Harrow end on cliffhangers where all you want is more book. You long to pick up the thread of the story and resolve the drama that happened in the closing chapter. But in each new book Muir cheerfully refuses to give you that and instead presents you with something entirely new. Nowhere is this tendency more pronounced than in Nona The Ninth, a book that by the author’s own admission, wasn’t really planned. One could imagine a seed of resentment taking root in the minds of readers after such treatment. One could imagine it, but such feelings of effrontery exists in hypothetical musings only. The story, although it isn’t the conclusion you’d hoped for, is Just. That. Good. While reading, it’s impossible to be anything other than grateful.
This book, while a delightful departure from the first two in terms of plotline, is the most ambitious yet in terms of scale and world building. Not only do we get to finally see the life of ordinary people throughout the empire (spoilers, it’s not great) but we also finally get some backstory about the Emperor Undying. All of this on top of a brand new (kinda?) character and a reprise of some of our old favorites (Ianthe Tridentarius, you will always be one of my favorite evil characters). That is value for money indeed. The humor is, as always, top notch and utterly disarming. These books, brilliant as they are, wouldn’t be the same without the interjection of some levity every now and again.
True to form, the ending of this book left me desperate for the conclusion of the story. Another book won’t be out for some time so I have little choice but to wait and possibly re-read these utterly unique, perfectly bizarre books.
The Menendez Murders, alongside the trial of OJ Simpson reinvented courtroom drama and basically changed forever how highly publicized crime would be presented and talked about in our culture. Foolishly, I neglected to watch either drama unfold live on television in the nineties as I was in kindergarten at the time.
As someone who knew next to nothing about the crime and trial, but wanted a more factual footing before watching the new (possibly wrongheaded) Netflix series about the case, I decided to give this book a read. By popular consensus it was held up as one of the best non-fiction titles on this subject.
It was pretty gripping honestly. The author was journalist (always a good background to have for true crime writing) with connections to the trials of the brothers. He doesn’t pretend to be totally unbiased or un-opinionated, (and how could anyone claim that with a straight face in this instance?) but does draw a clear line between facts and conjecture. The pacing of the book was well thought out and the writing felt informative without being dry, evocative without being melodramatic. Basically it lives up to the hype.
As someone who knew next to nothing about the crime and trial, but wanted a more factual footing before watching the new (possibly wrongheaded) Netflix series about the case, I decided to give this book a read. By popular consensus it was held up as one of the best non-fiction titles on this subject.
It was pretty gripping honestly. The author was journalist (always a good background to have for true crime writing) with connections to the trials of the brothers. He doesn’t pretend to be totally unbiased or un-opinionated, (and how could anyone claim that with a straight face in this instance?) but does draw a clear line between facts and conjecture. The pacing of the book was well thought out and the writing felt informative without being dry, evocative without being melodramatic. Basically it lives up to the hype.
What is there to say about this book that hasn’t been said already?
Was the writing poetic, heartbreakingly evocative, yet also teased up within an inch of its life? Yes. Was the story the author told about his own life so tragic and shocking in an everyday sort of way but couched in brilliant metaphor and sumptuous language? Absolutely. Did I find glimmers of brilliance that made me sit up and take notice, read sentences that will stay with me forever, while also wishing the abstract nature of the writing would come back down to earth on occasion, just for a brief visit? Obviously. Did I find pieces of myself in this book and also elements that are universal to all humanity while acknowledging it might have all been just a *bit* much? Unequivocally.
I’m absolutely planning on reading his poetry.
Was the writing poetic, heartbreakingly evocative, yet also teased up within an inch of its life? Yes. Was the story the author told about his own life so tragic and shocking in an everyday sort of way but couched in brilliant metaphor and sumptuous language? Absolutely. Did I find glimmers of brilliance that made me sit up and take notice, read sentences that will stay with me forever, while also wishing the abstract nature of the writing would come back down to earth on occasion, just for a brief visit? Obviously. Did I find pieces of myself in this book and also elements that are universal to all humanity while acknowledging it might have all been just a *bit* much? Unequivocally.
I’m absolutely planning on reading his poetry.
A collection of wonderfully weird short fiction that answers the question, is this story horror or science fiction? With a resounding yes!
Short story collections, especially of the horrific variety, are my bread and butter. I think I’ve read at least one such collection every month this year. This offering from author Andrew Najberg is far and away the most unique collection I’ve read this year. The stories in these pages have premises as varied as robots conducting a séance to contact dead humans, a mother who just can’t understand her teenage daughter’s new fascination with dimension hopping and attempts to transmute herself into a silica based lifeform, and a shut in spontaneously finding himself the unwilling creator of diminutive creatures that see him as a god. The writing itself is obviously skillful, the stories are told deftly and lucidly even when describing the most bizarre material imaginable. There’s an admirable level of pathos packed in as well, the last story in this anthology almost made me cry. But the plots, the ideas themselves is where this book really shines, the stories were all so singular as to make for a memorable reading experience.
My personal favorites in this collection include: Do You Read?, May I Take Care of That For You? And, We Have No Spare Parts. I would gladly read anything else from this writer and hope this collection is just the beginning in an extensive career.
Short story collections, especially of the horrific variety, are my bread and butter. I think I’ve read at least one such collection every month this year. This offering from author Andrew Najberg is far and away the most unique collection I’ve read this year. The stories in these pages have premises as varied as robots conducting a séance to contact dead humans, a mother who just can’t understand her teenage daughter’s new fascination with dimension hopping and attempts to transmute herself into a silica based lifeform, and a shut in spontaneously finding himself the unwilling creator of diminutive creatures that see him as a god. The writing itself is obviously skillful, the stories are told deftly and lucidly even when describing the most bizarre material imaginable. There’s an admirable level of pathos packed in as well, the last story in this anthology almost made me cry. But the plots, the ideas themselves is where this book really shines, the stories were all so singular as to make for a memorable reading experience.
My personal favorites in this collection include: Do You Read?, May I Take Care of That For You? And, We Have No Spare Parts. I would gladly read anything else from this writer and hope this collection is just the beginning in an extensive career.