Ex Machina + Handmaid's Tale 

Even the "okay" guy is a freakazoid. He gets 0 stars but I loved the storytelling! 

Junkies in Harlem in the 40s. Enjoyed his writing. 

YouTube video of weird books. Confirmed this is weird. That epilogue thought!

DE. VOURED. 

Couldnt put this one down. I highlighted a lot. Her writing is great, though I wouldn't have known from Bunny. I found that too ethereal and disconnected but maybe I should give it another go. 

Love these characters and obsessions. 

Rollicking! Enjoyed and would read more from this author or more from Reece's book club. 

I went thru a phase where I was reading very depressing Russian books. Things like Cancer Ward, Day in the life of Ivan Ivanovich, the Gulag Archipelago and for some reason, I thought Gogol had written one of these books. As I look back at my reading history and his oeuvre, I see the night before Christmas, which I gave 3 stars. So I don't know why I thought I would like this more, but this was a little meandering and exhaustive. The dialogues are carefully dictated but ultimately rambling. I had a hard time understanding the point. I can see the theme of the hypocrisy of the government with its stupid red tape and bureaucracy, and the boring downstream effects of class when you're not disgustingly rich. I highlighted some funny turns of phrase but I think this would've looked a lot different if it was published rather than published as a WIP. 

Not sure how I got this added to my TBR but I have 2 hypotheses: 1. Books like The Good Earth which I read in HS and enjoyed 2. Books like Thirst for Love by Mishima that we read in book club 5-10y ago and I also loved. 

If you liked either of those, you will like this. Realistic character studies. Set in the 40s in rural China before and during communist rule. A father's broken journey into and out of parenthood. 

So suspenseful! I couldn't put it down and really enjoyed the pacing. What's going to happen next? How will this unfold? Will evil prevail? 

Something strange is happening to Hilton James. He's losing time, experiencing events out of order, and losing his family. His Nana saved him from drowning as a kid, but something has been pursuing him for decades. He shouldn't be here. This story is woven with a hyper realistic racism storyline. I "liked" this. An upwardly mobile family of color, the vibrant Miami setting (ngl, Every time I saw "Biscayne" I would sing some of Mask Off - ocean air, cruuuising Biscaaaayne), the wife being more successful than the husband, a solid marriage without being overly perfect. The dog doesn't die! All the makings of a captivating story. Open ended ending. Did Hilton come out of that? 

I had this on my TBR for years(?) and finally read it. When I looked at the table is contents, there was only one author I was interested in, Updike. So that's the section I read and it was very poignant and dad and good and interesting and revealing.