Short & Sweet: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and The Mask Falling

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

This book might've gotten a slightly higher rating if I hadn't been in a reading slump, but the pandemic has been doing weird things to my reading. Anyway, I found the main character Nina highly relatable, and I think that was probably the stand-out aspect of the book to me. I felt like I connected with her quite well, from her love of books to her anxiety to her quirky sense of humour. Plot-wise, this is not the most exciting story, and Nina ends up with a lot of relatives who I had difficulty keeping track of. But I liked that by the end, Nina was opening up more to others and being more proactive in her life.

3 shooting stars.

      

The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon

I found most of this book to be slower-moving than its predecessors; I feel like it was more of a stepping stone to set up the next stage of the story than its own contained plot. It did pick up the pace towards the end, though -- and that cliffhanger! Lots of lingering questions about reveals in the last few pages, for sure. I liked that we got to spend time in a new setting (albeit another Scion one) and met a few new characters.

4 shooting stars. 

         

Short & Sweet: An Anonymous Girl and The Wife Between Us

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

I polished this one off in a day! I was pulled in right from the get-go and then by the end couldn't put it down. A compelling, gripping psychological thriller where you're not sure who to trust and the truth is continually being questioned. I really enjoyed the themes of social psychology and ethics/morality woven throughout. The style of switching between Jessica's and Dr. Shields' perspectives was excellently done; their voices were distinct and Dr. Shields' chapters in particular were written in a clinical, 2nd-person/distant-1st-person that worked really well to convey her unsettling personality. I felt a little mixed about the ending; I thought that one part of it was very fitting in a thematic and storytelling sense, whereas another part kind of took me aback. Spoilers, highlight to read: the fact that Dr. Shields committed suicide by taking Vicodin felt like it made sense from a storytelling perspective. However, I'm not entirely sure how the reader is expected to respond to how Jessica behaves in the last conversation she has with Thomas. She's been the character the reader has been rooting for, so I felt a little upset with having her essentially blackmail Thomas. It certainly drives home the point that no one is 100% "good".

4.5 shooting stars.



The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Good, but not as gripping or cleverly plotted as the other book I read by this writing duo, An Anonymous Girl. I guessed at one of the big twists early on, and just generally I'd say this one was fairly predictable. Towards the end it does get pretty hard to put down, though! The villain in this one is so despicable that it is very easy to root for another character (being deliberately vague here so as not to spoil, lol). And there was a reveal right at the end that I didn't see coming! Also, a very weird relationship dynamic that is hinted at but not fully explained left me still with questions... Spoilers, highlight to read: what was up with Maureen? What kind of twisted brother-sister relationship do they have? Creeeeeeeepy...

3.5 shooting stars.

Short & Sweet: The Fever and Alias Grace

The Fever by Megan Abbott

About halfway through this book became pretty hard to put down! As the mysterious events unfold, the writing becomes more and more unsettling, with the style being sort of reminiscent of magical realism at times, making you question what is real and what isn't. I do wish that the ending had explored more of the purported cause of the events (spoiler, highlight to read: I feel like it would have been helpful for there to have been more details about the theory that the symptoms were due to mass psychogenic illness). Things feel like they get wrapped up awfully fast, and not as satisfyingly as they could have been. Nevertheless, Abbott adeptly conveys the mood of panic and paranoia that the community is swept up in as more and more young girls start showing alarming symptoms.                                                                                                                                                                   4 shooting stars. 

                                             

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

A fascinating re-imagining of the real-life Kinnear-Montgomery murders. It's a bit slow-moving as Grace begins relating her tale to Dr. Jordan, but soon picks up, and I easily became sucked into the story that Atwood weaves.

4 shooting stars.  

Short & Sweet: The Storyspinner and Eleanor & Park

The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace

I actually ended up polishing this off in a day and finding it highly entertaining! Which surprises me, given that it is rife with cliches of the genre and you can tell from the writing (some awkward phrasing and metaphors) that this is a debut novel. Nevertheless, it was an inviting story with a couple main characters I liked (some of the side characters never felt really fleshed out, unfortunately) and a world with glimpses of an interesting history between various factions. The storytelling style worked pretty well to keep the momentum of the plot going, although I admit that certain characters' POVs felt a bit boring/unnecessary to me (spoiler, highlight to read: I didn't really care for the Pira and Leao POVs) and I always wanted to be back with the Johanna-Rafi side of things.

3.5 stars.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I know this book has a lot of fans, but I'm afraid I found it very bleak and depressing. The problems that Eleanor faced at home overshadowed the lighter storyline of Eleanor and Park's relationship. I had to push myself to keep going, and Eleanor just kept dealing with more and more of the same awful stuff. That's not to say that it wasn't a realistic portrayal; the thoughts and emotions that Eleanor goes through felt authentic. And the writing was solid (as I have come to expect from a Rainbow Rowell novel), although I felt like it sometimes slid into melodrama. But I feel like I wasn't in the right frame of mind for reading about these sorts of serious, heavy issues, so perhaps it was at least partly a case of book-at-the-wrong-time for me.


3 stars.

 

Text, Don't Call: A Rambling Review

Text, Don't Call: An Illustrated Guide to the Introverted Life by Aaron Caycedo-Kimura

I don't typically review non-fiction books, so this is a bit of a change for me! However, I am unapologetically an introvert, so when I was offered the chance to review this book by the publisher, of course I said yes.

The online personality of INFJoe and his cartoons were totally new to me. I think the artwork itself is simple but gets the point across very effectively -- a minimalist sort of approach to cartooning. The humour isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but it's often enjoyable in an "oh man, I can sure relate to that" kind of way. There were a couple aspects of the cartoons that I found questionable, though. One is that the introverts are always portrayed wearing glasses; I realize that this is so it is always clear which individual is intended to be the introvert, but it does perpetuate a bit of a stereotype about introverts being bookish, nerdy people. (Sure, plenty of introverts are, but I'm sure it's a generalization!). The other element was a metaphor of introverts being like computers/appliances -- needing to "recharge," or be "dimmed," which I feel paints a picture of introverts as emotionless robots. I know it's a metaphor that's intended to communicate an aspect of an introverted personality, but I feel like it plays on stereotypes that already exist about introverts rather than representing them in a more accurate way.

The cartoons in this book are really the star of the show; the text that accompanies them provides basic information about handling being introverted in an extrovert-appreciative world, but it wasn't anything I hadn't read before. Other books about introversion, such as Quiet, go into far more detail. That said, I thought the cartoons did a good job at capturing moments of introverted life — particularly snippets of internal monologue — that felt familiar to me (and likely to many introverts). It was nice to feel like someone else "got" it.

3 shooting stars.

Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher.

God Is In The Pancakes: A Rambling Review

God Is In The Pancakes by Robin Epstein

This book ended up being more intense than I was expecting. The quandary that Grace faces is one I can imagine being extremely gut-wrenching, with no easy answers. It brought home to me how important it is that in Canada physician-assisted dying is now legal (with strict criteria that must be met).

I really liked the main character Grace; she was a thoughtful, independent teen girl who strove to (usually) do the right thing – and yet she wasn't perfect. Her reflections on everything going on in her life felt very realistic and I could often relate to her mindset, even if I did not always agree with her choices.

Her relationship with Mr. Sands really stood out as unique in a YA novel; often we see peer friendships and romances being explored, but it's rare to see an inter-generational relationship. Having candystriped for a year in high school, this was a personal touch for me. There was one particular gentleman who was my favourite patient – just as Mr. Sands was for Grace – and who was such a lot of fun to spend time with. There is so much about a hospital setting that is depressing, but this story definitely highlighted that building a connection with a patient there can brighten it.

Sidenote, but: the speech-language pathologist in me was wondering why they didn't try some augmentative/alternative communication (AAC) methods with Mr. Sands as his ALS progressed to affecting his speech. There are technologies available nowadays that can operate voice output devices with eye movement only, for instance. Instead it seemed like he just wasn't given any means to communicate anymore!

4 shooting stars.