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hfjarmer's Reviews (394)
DNF at 30%. Trained royalty hiding in a different country/state/village under a different name and she has to go through trials to become the kingdoms champion in exchange for her freedom? That is literally the plot of Throne of Glass, but with an Egyptian twist. Everything I've read so far just feels like the same recycled story line we get over and over in fantasy and I'm just not capable of reading for tropes alone, I need something more. Love the Egyptian motifs and lore, but overall just feels unoriginal.
Weird weekend for me. Started like three different books, read a third of them, and then ended up DNFing. This is one of them. When I was a kid my mom always told me I was allowed to read anything I wanted regardless of it's content because "if it is too much for you, you will put it down". Well, even as an adult reader that holds true. This book is probably very good, but it was just a little too much for me, and I didn't resonate with the author.
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This was not the most prolific set of personal/humor essays I've ever read, but it did have some merit. I most enjoyed reading Zach's thoughts breaking generational curses and how for his Dad, not being an alcoholic that beats your kids is a step in the right direction. For Zach, not pedalling harmful christian beliefs to his future kids will be the next generational curse broken. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but also not a total snooze-fest. At times I felt the essays to jump around in a way that was hard to follow, and disrupted the flow of the writing. I think sometimes comedians who are used to performing stand-up learn to rely so heavily on the tone and delivery of their jokes, that when they attempt to write a memoir such as this one the delivery gets a bit lost in translation.
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It's strange to try and assign a star value to someone's diaries, but I give this one a 3.5. I am a long-time fan of David Sedaris and was recently lamenting over not having any of his books left to read, when I realized I hadn't read this yet. Woo!
Though there is a level of editing that goes into publishing diaries, it was still interesting to see the types of things David felt worth writing about even when he was writing just for himself, turns out it's not all the different from the things we see him write about in his other books. It was fun to see the initial entry behind some of my favorite essays which David would publish in later works. I was surprised by the lack of personal intimacies (though they weren't completely lacking) and how David's entries were more stories and retellings of his day. Everyone's diary is different, and personally my diary is much more emotion-focused mixed in with retellings of my day to day, which lets pray are never published. I loved David's descriptions of what it was like being a young adult in Raleigh, NC especially as someone who has lived in the Raleigh area for the last several years.
Everyone says it, but I would read David's grocery lists. Live Laugh Love David Sedaris.
Though there is a level of editing that goes into publishing diaries, it was still interesting to see the types of things David felt worth writing about even when he was writing just for himself, turns out it's not all the different from the things we see him write about in his other books. It was fun to see the initial entry behind some of my favorite essays which David would publish in later works. I was surprised by the lack of personal intimacies (though they weren't completely lacking) and how David's entries were more stories and retellings of his day. Everyone's diary is different, and personally my diary is much more emotion-focused mixed in with retellings of my day to day, which lets pray are never published. I loved David's descriptions of what it was like being a young adult in Raleigh, NC especially as someone who has lived in the Raleigh area for the last several years.
Everyone says it, but I would read David's grocery lists. Live Laugh Love David Sedaris.
A big fan of his later works, but this was a nice little insight into the more intimate musings of David's life, including his struggle coming to terms with his sexuality and his mother's cancer diagnosis. A short collection of stories, but I love the way David builds a narrative, I feel like a member of the family at this point.
I don’t know what there is to say about Educated that has not been said a thousand times already, this book was phenomenal. I’ve put off reading Educated for a few years, plagued by my refusal to read the synopsis of any book and opting to go in blind instead, I assumed Educated was going to be a non-fiction, data-heavy sort of read, and never found myself mentally prepped for this kind of dense read. Educated is the opposite of a dense read. It is perhaps the most beautifully written work of non-fiction I’ve read to date. Tara tells her story as if it is just that, a story. Her memoir, written in a style I could only describe as literary non-fiction (take notes, Truman Capote), is powerful and compelling.
Tara tells the story of growing up in a strict Mormon household in the mountains of Idaho with her six siblings, meek midwife mother, and undiagnosed bipolar father. Tara’s father holds the firm belief that the government is working to indoctrinate socialism into the minds of US citizens via the public school and medical systems, among other things. Tara’s father’s mental illness wreaks havoc on their family, resulting in the withholding of a proper education, and many many safety risks in the home. Her parents believed only in the healing power of essential oils and God’s will.
Despite all the failings of her upbringing as a result of her tumultuous family dynamic (to put it lightly), Tara is able to put herself through college at BYU where she becomes a massive success and goes on to obtain graduate degrees at Cambridge. Her story is an absolute inspiration, and it is truly unbelievable all that she has accomplished. While Educated does have some graphic content and difficult subject matter, I unequivocally recommend this book to any and every reader, it is inspirational and just a truly amazing read.
Tara tells the story of growing up in a strict Mormon household in the mountains of Idaho with her six siblings, meek midwife mother, and undiagnosed bipolar father. Tara’s father holds the firm belief that the government is working to indoctrinate socialism into the minds of US citizens via the public school and medical systems, among other things. Tara’s father’s mental illness wreaks havoc on their family, resulting in the withholding of a proper education, and many many safety risks in the home. Her parents believed only in the healing power of essential oils and God’s will.
Despite all the failings of her upbringing as a result of her tumultuous family dynamic (to put it lightly), Tara is able to put herself through college at BYU where she becomes a massive success and goes on to obtain graduate degrees at Cambridge. Her story is an absolute inspiration, and it is truly unbelievable all that she has accomplished. While Educated does have some graphic content and difficult subject matter, I unequivocally recommend this book to any and every reader, it is inspirational and just a truly amazing read.
3.5 ⭐️
A new, interesting take on a Greek retelling of the story of the labyrinth, Piranesi was a thought-provoking, though somewhat confusing, novel. The book follows Piranesi (if that even is his name…iykyk) a man in his mid-30s who lives in a labyrinth like house with an ocean “imprisoned” within. The house, in a way, is Piranesi’s religion, his god. The house provides for Piranesi and he deems himself “the child of the house”. Piranesi fills his days tending to statues, exploring the far reaches of the house, caring for the 13 dead (collections of bones he has located in his adventures) and carrying out scientific observations of birds, tidal patterns, stars, etc. He keeps a meticulous journal of his daily life in the house. Piranesi is not totally alone, and on scheduled days he meets with “Other”, as he is lovingly named. Other is carrying out his own “scientific” research in an attempt to unlock some great and magical truth about the universe.
The story was admittedly hard to follow, though this is intentional by the author. The reader learns more as Piranesi unlocks key memories and old journal entries that shake his perception of reality.
I was engrossed in the concept of the house and found the modern-ish day story line to be compelling, however due to the author revealing more about Piranesi’s life through old journal entries I felt the story lost momentum right when it should have realistically been picking up. There were a lot of moments when you are just reading blocks of biographies and while this is a good tactic for keeping the story brief, I think it really slowed down the pacing of the story, and a lot of the time I was bored of reading about this that or the other random character in his journal. Ultimately, it all tied together and was an enjoyable read, and I’d still recommend it to any lovers of Greek-retellings. However loosely.
A new, interesting take on a Greek retelling of the story of the labyrinth, Piranesi was a thought-provoking, though somewhat confusing, novel. The book follows Piranesi (if that even is his name…iykyk) a man in his mid-30s who lives in a labyrinth like house with an ocean “imprisoned” within. The house, in a way, is Piranesi’s religion, his god. The house provides for Piranesi and he deems himself “the child of the house”. Piranesi fills his days tending to statues, exploring the far reaches of the house, caring for the 13 dead (collections of bones he has located in his adventures) and carrying out scientific observations of birds, tidal patterns, stars, etc. He keeps a meticulous journal of his daily life in the house. Piranesi is not totally alone, and on scheduled days he meets with “Other”, as he is lovingly named. Other is carrying out his own “scientific” research in an attempt to unlock some great and magical truth about the universe.
The story was admittedly hard to follow, though this is intentional by the author. The reader learns more as Piranesi unlocks key memories and old journal entries that shake his perception of reality.
I was engrossed in the concept of the house and found the modern-ish day story line to be compelling, however due to the author revealing more about Piranesi’s life through old journal entries I felt the story lost momentum right when it should have realistically been picking up. There were a lot of moments when you are just reading blocks of biographies and while this is a good tactic for keeping the story brief, I think it really slowed down the pacing of the story, and a lot of the time I was bored of reading about this that or the other random character in his journal. Ultimately, it all tied together and was an enjoyable read, and I’d still recommend it to any lovers of Greek-retellings. However loosely.
2.5 Stars
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi left me with mixed emotions, making it an unremarkable start to my reading year. Let's delve into the positives first, which contribute to my decision to give it a 3-star rating. Amina, our FMC, breaks away from the typical fantasy mold by being in her 40s and retired, a renowned pirate of the Indian Ocean pulled back into action to resolve a "kidnapping" case with the promise of abundant gold in return for the safe return of Dunya, the granddaughter of a wealthy woman and the daughter of one of Amina's late crew members. It's refreshing that she's not a youthful heroine, and her physical imperfections add depth to her character. Amina's substantial build becomes a formidable asset, portraying her as deadly yet not conventionally delicate or flowery like many other fantasy FMCs.
The narrative is rich with cultural elements, deviating from the usual medieval England-based fantasies, a choice I found both invigorating and captivating. Chakraborty integrates Amina's Muslim faith and rich cultural background, emphasizing that her character, though not a "perfect Muslim," is a vital part of that world.
However, my enthusiasm waned around the 50% mark due to several shortcomings. While the initial setup was intriguing, the plot lost its coherence, leaving me confused and questioning the unfolding events. The secondary characters lacked depth, and the overall story felt lackluster. Amina's relationship with Raksh seemed underdeveloped, and his character's purpose ultimately remained unclear to me. The inclusion of magical systems later in the narrative felt messy and detracted from the core quest of finding Dunya and retrieving the sought-after artifact. The repetitive pattern of pursuing Dunya, losing her, and then finding her again became tiresome, tempting me to abandon the book around the 65% mark.
A final disappointment was the seemingly random attempt to incorporate a "queer" element into the story. While the ending of it just felt a little too random for me to really appreciate this aspect of the story. Like Chakraborty just happened to stick something in there about Dunya being trans/non-binary. Ultimately it just felt like queer-baiting.
I don’t feel like I will remember anything that happened in this book two weeks from now.
Overall, I think Chakraborty’s work is simply not for me, as I had a similar experience attempting to read the City of Brass series - enjoying the culture and unique setting and disliking much else.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi left me with mixed emotions, making it an unremarkable start to my reading year. Let's delve into the positives first, which contribute to my decision to give it a 3-star rating. Amina, our FMC, breaks away from the typical fantasy mold by being in her 40s and retired, a renowned pirate of the Indian Ocean pulled back into action to resolve a "kidnapping" case with the promise of abundant gold in return for the safe return of Dunya, the granddaughter of a wealthy woman and the daughter of one of Amina's late crew members. It's refreshing that she's not a youthful heroine, and her physical imperfections add depth to her character. Amina's substantial build becomes a formidable asset, portraying her as deadly yet not conventionally delicate or flowery like many other fantasy FMCs.
The narrative is rich with cultural elements, deviating from the usual medieval England-based fantasies, a choice I found both invigorating and captivating. Chakraborty integrates Amina's Muslim faith and rich cultural background, emphasizing that her character, though not a "perfect Muslim," is a vital part of that world.
However, my enthusiasm waned around the 50% mark due to several shortcomings. While the initial setup was intriguing, the plot lost its coherence, leaving me confused and questioning the unfolding events. The secondary characters lacked depth, and the overall story felt lackluster. Amina's relationship with Raksh seemed underdeveloped, and his character's purpose ultimately remained unclear to me. The inclusion of magical systems later in the narrative felt messy and detracted from the core quest of finding Dunya and retrieving the sought-after artifact. The repetitive pattern of pursuing Dunya, losing her, and then finding her again became tiresome, tempting me to abandon the book around the 65% mark.
A final disappointment was the seemingly random attempt to incorporate a "queer" element into the story. While the ending of
Spoiler
finding out the scribe the whole time was (formerly known as) Dunya,I don’t feel like I will remember anything that happened in this book two weeks from now.
Overall, I think Chakraborty’s work is simply not for me, as I had a similar experience attempting to read the City of Brass series - enjoying the culture and unique setting and disliking much else.
After having read some of the other Goodreads reviews for this book, I am terrified of this fan base and hesitant to even write a review for fear everyone will come for my throat, but alas, I’m going to be brave.
Tolkein seems to take the title of “Father of Fantasy”. I certainly can understand how this book revolutionized or even was the genesis of the fantasy genre, and high fantasy in particular. The characters were detailed, the worldbuilding is (obviously) unmatched, to the point where I think Tolkein may have needed psychiatric evaluation. It is evident he saw this world so clearly in his mind that it would be impossible for it not to be written down and I think I could have read them just wandering through Middle-earth forever. I loved the characters in the Fellowship (largely because those are the only ones of which I could reliably keep track), they were each unique in their origin and in their respective utility to the group’s larger mission.
This was my first time reading a quest-based fantasy, as opposed to the typical, perhaps more modern, style of fantasy where there is clear exposition, rising action, climax, resolution. This proved to be a bit of a problem for me personally (shut up fans, I don’t want to hear it) as I found the lack of defined plot points resulted in a lack of momentum. I loved the first 50-60% of the novel and was happy to be on the journey alongside Frodo, however when we hit the council with Elrond, I was just eager to move on, and really feel that section of the book killed any momentum the story had. It felt like Tolkein had put on the emergency break and I was jolted from “movie in my head” to “words on a page” territory. I wanted more of a defined resolution, they didn't even complete their task and while I know it is a trilogy I still feel there could have been more of a "wrapping up" than we received.
As I mentioned before, it is evident that Tolkein had an unbelievable imagination and clear vision for the world he built, but as a reader I found the ways in which he portrayed this world to occasionally veer more into info-dump territory, and I think there were better ways to portray world building to the reader. He is declared father of fantasy for a reason, but I believe still that he could have benefited from a bit of editing that would have made the world more clear without sacrificing the depth of story. There were several times in my reading where I thought to myself “this feels like it’s more for him than for me”.
Lastly, there is so much sexual tension between Frodo and Sam and I really think the story would benefit from them “living happily ever after together to the end of their days”.
Fellowship of the Ring is a wildly impressive first book and even more so when you remember it is a first of it’s kind. I am extremely grateful to my Fiance for being knowledgeable enough about this series that I could ask him all of my clarifying questions. For that reason, I am excited to see what awaits in Two Towers, I am hoping it is Tolkein just a tad more refined!
Tolkein seems to take the title of “Father of Fantasy”. I certainly can understand how this book revolutionized or even was the genesis of the fantasy genre, and high fantasy in particular. The characters were detailed, the worldbuilding is (obviously) unmatched, to the point where I think Tolkein may have needed psychiatric evaluation. It is evident he saw this world so clearly in his mind that it would be impossible for it not to be written down and I think I could have read them just wandering through Middle-earth forever. I loved the characters in the Fellowship (largely because those are the only ones of which I could reliably keep track), they were each unique in their origin and in their respective utility to the group’s larger mission.
This was my first time reading a quest-based fantasy, as opposed to the typical, perhaps more modern, style of fantasy where there is clear exposition, rising action, climax, resolution. This proved to be a bit of a problem for me personally (shut up fans, I don’t want to hear it) as I found the lack of defined plot points resulted in a lack of momentum. I loved the first 50-60% of the novel and was happy to be on the journey alongside Frodo, however when we hit the council with Elrond, I was just eager to move on, and really feel that section of the book killed any momentum the story had. It felt like Tolkein had put on the emergency break and I was jolted from “movie in my head” to “words on a page” territory. I wanted more of a defined resolution, they didn't even complete their task and while I know it is a trilogy I still feel there could have been more of a "wrapping up" than we received.
As I mentioned before, it is evident that Tolkein had an unbelievable imagination and clear vision for the world he built, but as a reader I found the ways in which he portrayed this world to occasionally veer more into info-dump territory, and I think there were better ways to portray world building to the reader. He is declared father of fantasy for a reason, but I believe still that he could have benefited from a bit of editing that would have made the world more clear without sacrificing the depth of story. There were several times in my reading where I thought to myself “this feels like it’s more for him than for me”.
Lastly, there is so much sexual tension between Frodo and Sam and I really think the story would benefit from them “living happily ever after together to the end of their days”.
Fellowship of the Ring is a wildly impressive first book and even more so when you remember it is a first of it’s kind. I am extremely grateful to my Fiance for being knowledgeable enough about this series that I could ask him all of my clarifying questions. For that reason, I am excited to see what awaits in Two Towers, I am hoping it is Tolkein just a tad more refined!
This is not a bad book of poetry, despite what some may think based on my rating. It was simply not for me. It is poetry that appeals to the masses and I was wanting a little more from it, I wanted to feel impacted by her words. I, like many, found Sophie on TikTok and was excited to pre-order her book. This is her first collection...and it feels like it. The writing is simple and straightforward and the rhyming scheme made it feel borderline Seuss-like. Poetry has to find you in the right time and life stage to make a huge impact, and I think unfortunately I am just not the target audience for this collection. I have confidence that her future collections will feel a little more substantial (the last two poems were my favorites).