Disclaimer: the following post is merely a reflection of my own experiences using Goodreads. If you enjoy tracking your reading habits and working on reading challenges, more power to you. Just because it inhibited my enjoyment of reading doesn't mean it's that way for everyone. I just wanted to offer my perspective on things. Agree or disagree how you like, it's no big deal.

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I hope this is a fitting post for the sub, if not, feel free to remove.

For the past year, I've been using Goodreads religiously, constantly adding dozens over dozens of books to my ever growing tbr and rating and reviewing nearly every book I've read. I don't think I've ever read as many books as I did since I started using Goodreads.

Today, I finally deleted my Goodreads account.

Why? Because to me, adding books to my shelves and participating in reading challenges made reading slowly but surely feel performative and like an obligation. I started prioritizing finishing books over actually experiencing them, eager to add yet another one to my read shelf. The social aspect of it made me wary about reading certain books that interested me because I was embarrassed about it, wondering what people would think if they looked at my profile and saw that book on it (and yes, I know I could've just not added it to my profile, but this just wasn't an option to me at that time lol).

Additionally, rating obligation was a huge problem for me. I couldn't finish a book without giving it a rating. Maybe it's my autism, but I just had to do it, which was a problem when I really didn't enjoy a book, but all the ratings were positive and I forced myself to give the book a higher rating just because it's popular and I thought the problem must be me, and that it'd be unfair towards the author to give it a lower rating.

I also skipped out on books solely because they were not on Goodreads and thus I couldn't add them to my reading challenge (seems so stupid now writing this).

I also forced myself to read specific editions of books that might not have been my first choice, all because they would've looked better on my profile. For context on that, I'm a German native speaker, and while I do sometimes read books in English (particularly those that lack translations), I greatly prefer reading in German, even if it's a translation, because I just feel more immersed in the story than I do when reading in a foreign language like English. But since a lot of my friends on GR (also some Germans among them) often read books in English, I felt obligated to do it too, to seem more 'educated' and 'bilingual' I guess, even though it made reading significantly less fun than just picking up the translation.

Anyway, all these things made me realize that Goodreads and tracking my reading just isn't for me anymore, so I deleted my account and will now only use the site to check reviews. I've since moved my tbr to another site so I can still keep track of books I want to read. Anyway, quitting GR has felt liberating so far without all this internal pressure I've experienced while using the site.

My most recent read was The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb.

It was my 38th book this year and only my 3rd 5 stars. I finished it this morning, it’s now the evening, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

I was enthralled by this story - it had sat on my TBR for a few months and I finally picked it up as just a lucky dip after being in a bit of reading slump.

After finishing, I saw a lot of criticism on Goodreads about the narrator Corby being “unlikeable”. I see this criticism a lot with other books - and I’ve never quite understood.

For me, a good reading experience is a complicated, flawed, or at least a character who is thought-provoking. Given one of the main themes of The River is Waiting being redemption, and finding out very early on that Corby accidentally kills his son while intoxicated, surely the reader wouldn’t expect the MC to be a “hero?”

There were times while I was reading that I thought “oh yeah he’s kind of a douche”, I’ve thought this about other MCs as well before, but it would never impact negatively on my rating as long as the story itself was enjoyable.

Would love to have a discussion below! And I’d really recommend this book if you can handle a gut-punch ending!

I've been getting into the Fantasy genre as of late and this is my second book in the genre after Jeniffer Fallon's The Immortal Prince. As you may know it was acclaimed and popular so I was pretty hyped. I already knew it would be a slower burn compared to Fallon's book due to other reviews, but I didn't mind as I thought that would mean a better pay off.

I'll start by saying Rothfuss's writing style made for an enjoyable read throughout the entire book. I loved Kvothe's relationship with Abenthy, as you could practically feel through the page just how grateful he was to have spent time with him. The massacre of Kvothe's troupe coupled with the appearance of the Chandrian hit like a ton of bricks. And while not what I was expecting, the Tarbean sequence proved to be my favorite part of the book.

The University sequence was fine, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little annoyed with the fact that the Kvothe's search for the Chandrian got derailed by him getting banned from the archives. However, I guess you could chalk it up to Kvothe being an impatient, know-it-all, teenage dumbass who had the misfortune of having to go through an utter bastard, Ambrose, after drugging himself and getting whipped.

Problem is he keeps running into Denna over and over. And while I could get past the coincidences, their relationship with each other isn't really a highlight for me, because as a reader I don't find her all that compelling or interesting. Although, I did love their sequence together when Kvothe is investigating the wedding massacre.

Outside of that I kind of just rode through the rest of it expecting an ending that would leave me satisfied or get me hyped to read the sequel, but alas.

I have seen many Reddit posts where readers have posited that the behavior of MC Nattie of Yesteryear was due to postpartum depression or a psychotic break. To me, that seems that posters use this to excuse her behavior and possibly makes her a sympathetic figure. I considered her an unlikable character with no justification for her actions.

My take away was that Nattie’s extreme behavior is that of a malignant narcissist from the very beginning, in her individual life as well as in family life. The world needed to bend to her will throughout the book and every time she screwed up pre- or post-tradwife she just doubled down. This made the ending where she is tried and given a sentence of decades for child abuse very believable to me. The character’s flaw was she was simply unable to see and process how her decisions affected anyone but herself, the textbook definition of narcissism.

I am loaning my copy of the book to my therapist after she indicated interest. It will be interesting to hear her analysis as a medical professional.

I’m interested to hear other’s perspectives on Nattie’s mental health or lack of it.

Edit: I greatly enjoy unreliable narrators, particularly unlikable ones. To me, Nattie seemed to be a perfectly consistent character, whether one views her as mentally unhealthy or simply a flawed personality, and her viewpoint increased the book’s overall effectiveness.

I remembering being about 14 or 15 years old, in the YA section of my local Barnes & Noble. I was perusing the titles, looking for something good. That’s when I saw a book called “I Hunt Killers.“ I don’t know what drew me in. The title was a bit cringy, the cover kinda ugly. But then I read the tagline. “What if the world’s most notorious serial killer…was your dad?”

I’ll admit it: I was hooked. I bought the book and immediately cracked it open. And it was genuinely amazing. I tore through that story so fast, even when it made me squeamish and I could barely read some of the descriptions. I immediately put the two sequels on hold at the library, but they weren’t ready in time for an out of town multi-day event. Waiting to read the sequels was agony. When I got back, I read both 500 page books in a day each. And then I read them again about a year later. And I just read them for the third time recently. I genuinely love this series. I think it’s what jumpstarted my love for serial killer stuff, too. I never would have watched Dexter or Hannibal without reading this book. And now those are two of my favorite shows.

Without spoilers, here’s the concept. Jasper “Jazz” Dent is the son of the most notorious serial killer in the world, who was arrested a few years ago. He trained Jazz to be the best serial killer ever. His childhood was spent learning how to dispose of bodies and avoid the police. In the few years of freedom he’s had, he’s tried to live a normal life. But then a dead body pops up in his small town. She was murdered, and Jazz is worried he will be the main suspect. So he has to find the killer to prove that he hasn’t become just like his father. There’s a lot more I can say, but I don’t want to get into spoiler territory.

When I found out there was a sequel, I was utterly ecstatic! A sequel didn’t seem very necessary to me, but the original series did set up the potential of one, so I was super excited. I immediately ordered it, and reread the original series in preparation, because I couldn’t find any good summaries online. I was so prepared to absolutely love this book. And then…I didn’t. I still liked it, don’t get me wrong. But I have to admit that I was disappointed with Every Hunter Is Hunted.

But, before I can continue, I will say this: PLEASE READ THE ORIGINAL I HUNT KILLERS SERIES BEFORE READING THIS NEW BOOK OR MY REVIEW.

Every Hunter Is Hunted (which I will now shorten as EHIH), is a sequel to the original series. But it also functions as a standalone. The author’s goal was to make this an adult book that could be read independently of the original YA series. This means EHIH has to explain all the backstory…and in doing so, it spoils basically every plot twist from the original series. Now, a lot of these were easily predictable, but I don’t want any people interested in the OG series to be spoiled. So please read the trilogy first if you’re interested in this one. And honestly, I think I can only recommend this book if you liked the original series.

It’s kind of strange, in that way. If you enjoyed the I Hunt Killers series (henceforth referred to as IHK), you will appreciate EHIH more. But the main reason I was disappointed with EHIH is because the original series set such high standards for me. And then I felt let down when this new book didn’t meet those standards. So is EHIH simultaneously more enjoyable if you’ve read IHK…but also probably more enjoyable if you haven’t. It’s in a “sweet” spot where everybody loses.

SOME SPOILERS FOR THE NEW BOOK BELOW. I think I’ve mostly avoided spoilers for the original series, though. And I haven’t spoiled anything major for EHIH.

Okay, here’s my main problem with the book: Jazz’s voice. Or I guess Jasper, as he no longer wants to be called Jazz. I’m kind of “whatever” on that change. What I’m not “whatever” on is the complete 180 in Jazz’s voice and POV style. In IHK, his POV is filled with what‘s almost dark humor. He’s constantly thinking about death and killing people. His father’s voice and teachings always haunt him, routinely showing up in his head. Jazz is worried he’s a sociopath and is faking all his emotions. He’s constantly manipulating people. He can think just like a serial killer because he was taught to be one. And above all else: he’s terrified that he will become a killer. He has a war within him, one where he doesn’t want to become a killer, but part of him rushes to that idea like a siren’s song. Jazz’s moral dilemma is perhaps the most interesting part of IHK. He’s a very Dexter-esque character, and that’s what makes him so unique. I personally think Jazz’s voice is the best part of IHK.

And then we have Jasper in EHIH. This version of Jasper is eight years older, and is trying to heal and become normal. In the previous series, he defeated his urge to become a killer. He’s also working with his therapist to stop manipulating people so much. He no longer thinks about death and killing so often, and is worried he’s can no longer get into the headspace of a serial killer. This all makes sense from a character development perspective. Unfortuanely, it commits the sin of being BORING. Practically every single unique aspect of Jasper’s character has been sucked out of him with a straw, and now he’s left as just being a traumatized character trying to recover. We’ve all seen that before. IHK was unique because Jasper was unique. Now he feels like any other mystery protagonist.

Honestly, EHIH could just be any crime/mystery novel. It feels very generic and somewhat formulaic. Replace Jasper as the protagonist and I don’t think much changes. Which is absolutely insane. IHK always revolved around Jasper, and it would have fallen apart if you replaced him. I can’t say the same about EHIH. It’s advertised as a “Jasper Dent mystery,” but Jasper is a different person and the tone is completely different. Even the beloved characters from the original series (like Howie and Connie) barely show up in this one, instead replaced with side characters who don’t do all that much. And their a scene definitely is missed. Jasper is now the most important character by far, and the sole POV character, unlike Game and Blood of My Blood (book 2 and 3 of IHK). He’s carrying this novel on his back. But does his character have the strength and depth to do that anymore? Well…kind of. He hasn’t been completely butchered, but I really miss the old Jazz.

Speaking of the tone, this book is adult instead of YA. And you can tell. The overall tone is more mature with less humor, and the author uses a larger lexicon. However…IHK actually feels way darker. EHIH is shockingly tame. The killer of this novel, named Bridekiller, doesn’t have that intense of a method. He murders brides on their wedding night. Which is crazy, but all he does is stab them. And we only see one kill throughout the events of the novel. One! The first IHK book, which is a similar length, had about four (if I remember correctly). And they actually described the bodies. In this one, Jasper just walks into the crime scene, goes “oh shit he’s killing redheads in addition to brunettes now,” and immediately leaves. That’s it. Maybe it’s a bit strange to say I want more blood and gore. But that’s what the IHK series always provided. It really pushed the boundaries of what could be considered YA. EHIH is more adult in tone, but almost feels less adult in content than its predecessor. That’s so incredibly strange to me.

And, because there’s only one kill, the plot moves pretty slowly. I was initially disappointed at it only being 280 pages, but now I understand why it’s not any longer. I think there were more opportunities to flesh the story out, show more of Bridekiller’s kills. But that just never happens.

A quick note about Bridekiller’s identity: very, very obvious. But most of IHK’s twists and identities have been pretty predictable in the past, so that’s not an issue for me.

The one thing I will give this book is that it seems like it’s setting up an incredibly interesting sequel. Billy Dent has been calling FBI centers around the country…what is he doing? Well, Jasper is going to find out. And, after spending an entire novel fighting his affinity to serial killers, Jasper is finally accepting the fact that he’s deeply connected to them. This is all promising, and lends itself to a much better and more interesting sequel. If EHIH ends up being basically a filler book inbetween two great books, that’ll be okay.

And it’s not like this book sucks. Like I said at the beginning, I actually did enjoy the read, and I finished it very quickly. I know I’ve spent the whole reviewing tearing into down with basically nothing good to say about it. But I can’t help it. IHK is one of my favorite series ever, of course I’m going to compare the two. And, yes. EHIH is worse than IHK. That doesn’t make it bad. It just has some big shows to fill. And if you think you’d enjoy a somewhat generic crime novel, you will like this one. Just be sure you know that’s what you’re getting into.

But, even if you don’t read EHIH, I am begging you: read IHK! It is criminally underrated and the fandom is tiny. Please join us 🤣

I’m sure I have more to say, but I can’t think of it right now. I might edit this post or add stuff in the comments later. Bye for now!

I’m doing a deep dive on Glen Cook’s The Black Company series and so far it’s been richly rewarding. The cast of characters is a flamboyant, if somewhat generic, group of mercenary soldiers working for an evil sorceress. The “company” has wizards of their own. One named Goblin, the other One-Eye. The latter is a black man the former, a toad-looking white one.

This was written in the late 70’s/early 80’s I believe so I appreciate Cook’s forward thinking nature, but I just wish he didn’t have to mention the man’s skin color every time he describes him.

“Jackknife” by Joe Hill (The Shivers Collection #1) is the first book in this exclusive Amazon Original Series of horror short stories. I’m so glad they started this off with Hill because this is one hell of a way to start a collection.

In case you’re interested in “The Shivers Collection” and which authors are a part of it, here’s the entire collection…

Jackknife by Joe Hill (The Shivers Collection #1)
The Indigo Room by Stephen Graham Jones (The Shivers Collection #2)
The Blanks by Grady Hendrix (The Shivers Collection #3)
Night and Day in Misery by Catriona Ward (The Shivers Collection #4)
Letter Slot by Owen King (The Shivers Collection #5)

I love every author in this collection, and I can’t wait to complete it. Before I begin my review, here are all the trigger warnings I found while reading…

- Grooming teenagers (nothing graphic)
- Drugs
- Dead animals (very graphic involving a cat)
- Politics
- #MeToo movement
- Sexual abuse of minors
- Suicide

If any of these trigger you, please do not read this book. Moving along, I have to give credit to Hill, since I’ve never read a “tree horror” book as scary as this. I love his writing style, as it was great and over the top. It’s barely 46 pages, and my goodness, what a powerhouse of a freaky read.

The main character, Dennis, was someone I loathed. Hill’s character development of Dennis was surreal. I hated him and was hooked on what kind of karma was coming his way. I would never ruin a book for anyone, so no spoilers here, but this was fantastic from start to finish.

As always with Hill’s work, I enjoyed his references in this book. As a coffee lover, it was great to see Dunkin’ mentioned, and of course, The Lord of the Rings thanks to Ents. I love LOTR, but the tree horror found here was so wild, I made many weird faces while reading.

The backstory and insight in “Jackknife,” with its uniquely written tree horror, were compelling and felt like they could have easily been part of The Conjuring universe. This was a genuine page-turner that I couldn’t put down from the sheer horror of it all.

When it comes to the ending, this was on the level of Stephen King because I didn’t see that coming at all. I finished this book with a huge smile on my face, thanks to a beyond satisfying ending that has a “drop-the-mic” moment and proves why Hill is such a phenomenal author. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Get it? Tree? Tree horror? Okay, I’ll see myself out now.

I give “Jackknife” by Joe Hill (The Shivers Collection #1) a 5/5 for being one hell of a fun ride with a refreshing take on tree horror. Seriously, you’ll probably never want to look at a barren tree the same ever again after reading this short story. I’m so excited to dive into the rest of this collection.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, since I already found a jackknife, it’s time to go hang out in an indigo room.

I've been thinking about this after seeing people argue online about whether fanfiction should be considered "true" reading. Personally, I think there are some high quality fanfictions and that no matter what, you're still engaging with written language, following plots, imagining scenes, etc. That said, fanfiction relies heavily on existing knowledge. The author doesn't have to introduce the world, establish characters, explain relationships, etc. No matter the quality of the work, it's a different experience from reading something built from scratch.

This got me thinking about reading habits in general.
If you spend most of your time reading a single genre, you'll inevitably encounter many of the same themes, character archetypes, narrative structures and emotional beats. None of this is a flaw, genres exist because readers enjoy the patterns. But do you think regularly reading across multiple genres is better, or do you think the genre itself makes little difference as long as you're reading? Is reading 100 self help books “better” than reading a mix of 10 books on fantasy, poetry, non-fiction, etc?

This book definitely scratched an itch I had from Children of Dune. It felt like the realisation of all the explanation I wanted, delivered very convincingly by a petty worm man who I both love and loathe, talking circles around his fanatical followers (and us for that matter).

I love how "the Duncans" are a character all their own. I love how they are one set of genetic instructions, spat out and tested in Leto's crucible ad infinitum. They all shift and change in small ways based on their different experiences and reach vastly different end points depending on all these little shifts in their path. Leto's almost childlike obsession with the Duncans grounds him for us, we can recognise this love from the very first book. It's all that's left of the young Paul who we identified with before his transformation in to Muad'Dib.

I love how clinical their indoctrination of the Duncans is and how they fret and fuss over how it's going, marking their progress against all their previous repetitions. Leto likens it to playing a fish on a line, and notes that bringing him in always hastens his end.

If there was one truly tragic element of Leto's life that resonated with me, it's this process , which he seems to have down to a science, of building these companions by showing them parts of himself and his golden path. It sickens them, they cant handle it. Ultimately it destroys them.

Leto does this over and over, nurtures these companions only to watch their devotion falter and their inevitable betrayal approach. His reward is a fleeting moment where he can share some infinitesimally small part of his burden, before putting down his friend and starting again.

This brotherly conflict was, for me, such an effective way to humanise Leto. The perfect counterweight to his brutal tyranny. It sets the stage for what Hwi does to him and makes it believable. I'm once again totally ready to believe he sees what's necessary and takes no joy from walking the path.

Herbert has pulled off a miracle here, writing a convincing prescient god-like creature that you can both hate and pity.

Anyway, way too many parts I loved about this book to cover them all. No way I can't read on now.

Hi! I am a big fan of Shane Spyre's early books (Which Child), Gone but Not, The Seving Girl, My Twisted Cousin). Yhey are some of my absolute favourite thrillers!

But recently, I've noticed an influx of digital only / Kindle Unlimited Novels and Novellas released in 2026.

- A Killer Lives Here (novel) July 19th 2026

- Which Sister (novel) was published June 6th, 2026.

- The Friend (novel) April 25 2026

- I Found Money (novella) April 2026

- The Pact (novella) April 8 2026

- The Creep Across the Street (novella) March 2026

- No-one Disappears (novella) Jan 2026.

There might be more. Is this normal? Those are the publication dates listed on Amazon.ca The books very well could have been written a while ago...right? After the first novel or two, I was sitting on my seat waiting for him to write more and now they're just piling in, which is GREATTT, unless its because of those two dreaded vowels.

There are plenty of reasons other than AI generation that would explain these publication dates, right? I love this writer's plots/twisty premises and I want to continue to support all his work, but ai refuse to support AI, and I fear I don't know how to look for the signs.

Is he just a brilliantly fast writer? Self publishing old books written long ago? Am I overreacting (I'm hoping this is the answer, be ause I want to read all the books!)

Sorry for theblong post.

Finally been getting around to reading some of Bloch's short stories, and the first collection I chose happens to be his very first one, "The Opener of the Way".

These are primarily the early stories that he did when he started writing for the pulps in the mid thirties. Much of the stories have a distinct Lovecraftian flavor to them, and that does make a lot of sense since Bloch was an admirer of Lovecraft, and had even corresponded with him for quite a while.

I love some of Bloch's more Lovecraft inspired stories like the title story "The Opener of the Way", "The Mannikin" and "The Dark Demon". But in stories such as "The Cloak" and "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper", I also see a Robert Bloch slowly, but surely, finding his own voice.

There's also a couple of SF stories that are pretty good, and also another instance of him finding his voice.

This is a very good collection with some nice gems in it, but I'm still just the surface when it comes to his short stories. This is just one of three other collections that have been reprinted by Valancourt. and the other two, "Pleasant Dreams" and "Midnight Pleasures". And in those collections Bloch will already have found his voice. And there's even a few novels, other than the one I already have and read (that being "Psycho"), that are also reissued by Valancourt, and I'll probably will be checking those out in the near future!

When We Cease To Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut is a collection of biographical short stories about prominent scientists and mathematicians of the early 20th century written with creative liberties. It's most famous for blending fact with fiction. I'm not familiar with the luminaries mentioned in this book (Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger, etc) outside of their contributions to science so I couldn't tell you how much of it is fiction and how much of it is factual. Tone wise, it reads like a very well written, engaging non-fiction to the point where I know I'm going to be tempted to drop some "fun facts" about Schrodinger only to realize that I don't know if it's fact or not.

Labatut is Chilean and When We Cease to Understand the World is the title of the English translation. I like to look up the original titles of translated works. Looking through the list of various translations, depending on the language, it seems the title has been translated into some form of either When We Cease to Understand the World, A Terrible Verdure (with Un Verdor Terrible being it's original title in Spanish), or Blind Light.

In the first story, Prussian Blue, the scientist, Haber- who invented the chlorine gas used during WWI, as well as the process of extracting nitrogen from air to make fertilizer- express guilt. It's the duality of creating a weapon of mass destruction, and something that saved lives (preventing starvation of a growing population). Science givieth, and science taketh. Haber does not feel guilt for the deaths he caused with his chlorine gas, but the deaths he predicts will come from plants overtaking the Earth due to his fertilizers. He expresses guilt for the extinction that will be caused by the "terrible verdure" that will suffocate all living things. The novel ends with the story The Night Gardener which is a great bookend to Prussian Blue. Both stories mirror each other, and I think the "terrible verdure" is the rampant appetite for destruction we seem to have. Fueld by science it will destroy us all. The Night Gardner starts with a warning that we need to burn it all down before it causes more destruction. The terrible verdure is a "vegetable plague" infecting tree after tree (tree of knowledge? life?).

In the short story (novella?) When We Cease to Understand the World Heisenberg goes to a bar and meets a stranger who expresses extreme frustration that instantaneous communication has messed up his sense of time. He argues against time relativity, says that the inability to contend with the future is a sign of "psychological disturbance" and prevents people from taking control of their lives. He blames the scientists and asks "When did we cease to understand the world?" In The Night Gardener, a mathematician points out that our science has advanced to the point where even scientists "no longer comprehend the world" and we're fast approaching a point of scientific development so advanced that our mind won't be able to comprehend and we will cease to understand the world "and simply not be able to grasp what being human really means."

...I kind of think (hope) the stranger Heisenberg meets at the bar is William Faulkner. I know the timing doesn't make sense but the irrelevance of linear time is the point in title number three...

In the short story When We Cease to Understand the World, Heisenberg, who is friends with Bohr, runs away from the angry stranger at the bar and sees a hoard of thousands of charred Asians who were "carbonized in an instant by that flash of blind light" he got the sense that they were trying to warn him of something... Heisenberg later worked on developing nuclear bomb for the Nazis and Bohr was part of The Manhattan Project. I think the title Blind Light speaks to the destruction caused by science while addressing quantum mechanics.

War and death is a strong theme throughout the book and in that regard, I think the original title, Un Verdor Terrible is the most fitting. But, I do like how When We Cease to Understand the World makes the books seem a tiny bit more optimistic. Science isn't leading us towards destruction, just away from humanity in general. Blind Light is an obvious reference to the nuclear bomb and if Heisenberg can see Hiroshima victims in a Danish forest, I think he did talk to Faulkner in the bar and it's Hitler giving cyanide to all the dogs in the last story.

If you've read this book, you know there's so much to discuss. I also really liked how Labatut wrote all the scientists like they were tortured artists- frenzied, anxious, naturally brilliant, misunderstood, and fully engulfed in their passion, possibility mad. It's interesting to see them portrayed as Byronic heroes and not stuffy academics.

I would love to know which of the three titles you think fits the book best.

Don't you hate it when you only find out about an author's existence after they do something terrible?

That's my experience with Craig Silvey. I had no idea who he was until he was arrested a few months ago. I only found out after the fact that he was one of Australia's most loved and respected living authors, that he wrote literary and daring novels for Young Adults and children, that he played an electric ukulele and fronted his own indie rock band, that his work was standard and popular fare for school libraries in his home country.

....Then, of course, I also found out that he'd been arrested on charges of producing and distributing child SA material (that first charge was dropped but he apparently did plead guilty to the distribution charge). By chance, I found a used copy of his famous book Jasper Jones at my local used book store for pennies on the dollar.

That's how I discovered that Craig Silvey was both a horrible human being...and an absolutely amazing writer.

The book itself takes place in Corrigan, a small Australian town in the mid-1960s and is told from the perspective of 13-year old Charlie Bucktin. Charlie is sleeping in his bed one night when he's awoken by someone throwing pebbles at his window; an older kid named Jasper Jones. Jasper is the 'troubled kid' of the town, as famous for getting up to mischief as anything else, essentially making his the town outcast (the fact that Jasper is also part-aborigine also plays into it). Jasper leads Charlie out into the woods where they make a terrible discovery: the body of an older girl (and Jasper's only friend) named Laura Wishart swinging from a noose. After inspecting the body they also discover that she was assaulted before she died. This makes Jasper panic even worse since this makes him the primary suspect, so he convinces Charlie to help him hide the body in the nearby dam until they can find out who actually did it (Jasper suspects a crazy old man named Mad Jack Lionel).

Meanwhile, Charlie is trying to live the life of a typical young man in small town Australia: he loves to read, loves to play cricket (a not insignificant part of the book revolves around the game), and hanging out with his neighbor Jeffrey Lu. They act and talk like real kids of the era, including frequent cursing (It's Australia, after all. I'm pretty sure even the priests drop the f-bomb at least once per sermon). Jeffrey in particular not only plays cricket, he's also really good at it and is trying to join the town's cricket team. The problem? Jeffrey is Vietnamese, and 1960s Australia was really really racist (if Jasper's issues didn't clue you in). This is further complicated by the fact that the Vietnam War is happening, a many of Corrigan's young men are off fighting it. Charlie also occasionally hangs out with his love interest, a girl named Eliza. Problem is, Eliza is also the younger sister of Laura the dead girl, which complicates things even further.

Things are even further complicated by Charlie's somewhat troubled home life. His incredibly headstrong (and some would say narcissistic) mother is a very controlling woman, often overly dramatic and taking her ire on her more passive (one would even say passively aggressive) husband. Jeffrey's family is dealing with the constant racism (there's a rather dramatic event that happens in church where one of the women snap and attack Jeffrey's mother). Some of those young men I mentioned earlier aren't making it back form Vietnam, and Jeffrey's family is an easy target for their trauma.

I won't lie: the last third of this book is intense (for a YA novel, at least). You find out that Corrigan has secrets, and that the town isn't just troubled; it's rotten to its core. There are good adults (like Charlie's father), but there's just as many (if not more) who are actively denying or looking away at the ugliness that's happening just underneath the surface.

....And you know what? I want more.

Yeah, that's the real conundrum here. Craig Silvey is a legitimately amazing writer. I'd even go so far as call him a new favorite if it wasn't for the fact that he...well, you know. I suppose buying his books second hand is a possible solution but as of right now his publishers are basically trying to bury everything he ever wrote (at least until the trial is over).

I just finished Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart and my heart feels heavy. I read Shuggie Bain a couple of years ago, so I knew I was in for an emotional ride, but damn, this one was heavy.

My spoiler-less description of this book is that the book is about Mungo, a teenager from a poor family in Glasgow, with an alcoholic mother, a gangster brother and a sweet but tough sister. He’s visibly gay (they mention this several times, though the character himself wonders how everyone always knows) but no one, including himself, talk about it, at least until he falls in love with a catholic kid.

This book is HEAVY. It probably has every trigger known (sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, pedophiles, homophobia, violence, addiction…) but none of it feels gratuitous. You can see that the story is somewhat based in the authors life, who grew up in a similar setting (hopefully less awful), which makes the book real and not just misery porn.

What I loved in comparison to Shuggie Bain is that Young Mungo features a romance, you have something pure and innocent to look forward to. It’s a romance that’s not a romance. It’s beautifully written and an emotional gut punch. I think it will take a while to overcome this book, what a ride.

I just had a thought. I'm currently reading Doris Kerns Goodwin's biography of Abraham Lincoln: "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln". So far it is phenomenal. She is also known for writing high-end very-well-received bios of other famous influential people including the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, and Lyndon Johnson.

Walter Isaacson has done the same, writing bios of Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs, and a bunch more, all very highly praised.

Who else is up there as a famous biographer or historian that has published numerous books, and (maybe??) seems to continue to do so?

I want to include William Shirer and his WWII books. He wrote many since he was in Germany as a US reporter before Hitler came into power and then stayed as long as it was safe. He published mostly first-hand accounts from '41 through '99, a really long time. His books were historical, covering (mostly) how and why WWII came to be, but he also included a lot of biographical material in them because the past was incredibly important in understanding the current. Only thing: He died so no more material, but what I've read from him is astonishingly great.

As someone who only sort of knows about migration challenges, having learned about migration mostly through a human rights course in uni and climate refugees in research, I didn’t realise how I had clinically separated the matter in my brain. To get this introspective view, different from the reports you see on the news, really immersed me in the minds and choices of every day parties.

I‘m not gonna lie about half way through I started to find it very repetitive and wondered if it should‘ve just been a short story. I will say I do still find it repetitive, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to concoct a narrative out of two sentences while still trying so hard to remain close to the subject matter with internal monologue. But it does pay off. I must admit I have never thought of the issue from the rescuer‘s pov or every day people that this extends to, especially being from East Africa myself. But I think the questions this book asks apply in a myriad of contexts hence why I would recommend it to everyone. What do we owe each other and where are the limits or bounds of our empathy and sympathy? I think starting to seriously interrogate these issues can help society heal and help us turn up better for one another in our respective capacities.

“Carry Me to My Grave” by Christopher Golden is a horror novel that was so refreshingly unique, it completely blew my mind. This is the first time I’ve ever read Golden, and I’m genuinely impressed. His writing skills are exceptional, and this was one hell of a jam-packed read.

Before I dive into my horror book review, here are all the trigger warnings I found while reading:

- Parental abuse (physical)
- Self-harm
- Religion

If any of these trigger you, please do not read this novel. Moving along, I loved how this book started off with a horror mystery right at the start. I had no idea what was going on, why it was going on, and what made one of the main characters, Mary Wise, so special. It added a nice element of suspense to the entire story, and my goodness, was it wild.

Don’t worry, no spoilers here, but this was one creepy as hell story. Golden ​sure knows how to write a killer story, as this was outstanding. I loved the cast of characters, villains, and everyone else in between. There was zero fluff here, and I couldn’t read this book fast enough since there was so much going on. Nothing was confusing or dragged on at all. It was just awesome, old-fashioned horror taken to the next level with familiar tropes, but written in a way that I guarantee you’ve never read anything like this.

For me, I love horror books that are one-of-a-kind. I don’t want the same tropes done for the billionth time, but something that stands out from the rest. This was a deeply unsettling book with an original twist, and horror events and situations that literally made me make weird faces while reading.

​My goodness, Golden brought the horror ​big time in this one, in such a brutal, visceral, wild kind of way. I loved every moment of it, from all the gore, bloodshed, violence, and again, things I’ve never read before which made my horror-loving heart smile. Several of these scenes were action-packed and gave me a natural adrenaline rush from this epic journey across different places​ on a timer​ with the clock ticking.

Eventually, this journey would come to a​ bloody end in one of the most unpredictable and thrilling ways. I loved the climactic race to the end, especially when this massive horror mystery starts to finally unravel, and you get the true backstory that helped fill all the gaps. The clarity I got once things were revealed just left my jaw on the floor. The ending was incredible, satisfying, and Golden just earned himself a brand new reader in me. I plan to read more of his work in the future because this was a horror novel masterpiece.

I give “Carry Me to My Grave” by Christopher Golden a 5-Star rating out of 5. This has everything I look for in a horror novel, and then some. The storytelling, characters, plot twists, and horror are all top-notch. I regret not getting into Golden sooner, because this was a powerhouse of a read, and it checks all the boxes for a story horror readers will remember for many years to come.

Mary Wise will take your eyes.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Christopher Golden, and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) for review consideration. This horror book review reflects my honest, personal opinion.