I read a lot of things in April and also one thing in March. I found a lot of them disappointing.
The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas
Decently written but doesn't have the guts to say ACAB or even to stand behind the idea that the problem is systems of oppression that can't be defeated by weeding out "bad apples". This was assigned reading for a student I was tutoring and it's an awful choice for Australian teenagers in 2026. There's a lot in it that relates specifically to the American context, and a lot of internet and social media stuff that's wildly outdated and confusing to today's kids, even just nine years after it was first published.
Playback (Philip Marlowe #7)
Raymond Chandler
Not his best, but still a cut above just about anyone else.
"I rolled over gently and sat up and a rattling noise ended in a thump. What rattled and thumped was a knotted towel full of melting ice cubes. Somebody who loved me very much had put them on the back of my head. Somebody who loved me less had bashed in the back of my skull. It could have been the same person. People have moods."
The State of the Art (Culture #4)
Iain M. Banks
A short story collection that I didn't care for at all.
- Road of Skulls: Seemed like a decent start to something, but there is no something.
- A Gift from the Culture: As above.
- Odd Attachment: I don't really have anything to say about this one. It was fine, I guess. It didn't make any kind of impact on me.
- Descendant: As above.
- Cleaning Up: This was the highlight of the book. Moments when it almost felt like an actual Culture story and was enjoyable to read.
- Piece: Tedious. Tiresome.
- The State of the Art: Felt far longer than it was, and not at all novel or interesting.
- Scratch: Pointless and irritating.
Deadeye Dick
Kurt Vonnegut
"Nothing means anything" is what this book seems, ironically, to say. It was fine. Not his best.
A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple #4)
Agatha Christie
I hate Miss Marple. I hate her false-modesty and disingenuous bashfulness. And I hate how every other character loves her. It's not enough that she's smarter than everyone else, but they all think she's the bee's knees. Can't get enough of her. This is not the first time I've complained about Jane Marple and it won't be the last.
Fortunately she's not in this one very much.
That said, I didn't think much of it. There are some points that seem deliberately obscured or avoided in a way that doesn't feel fair, some things that seem very obvious but which the characters fail to notice, and some rather extreme coincidences required for the plot to play out.
But what I did enjoy was the various bits that made me think "I can see why the Geraldine McEwan adaptation kept putting so many lesbians in these stories." I don't actually remember if this was one of the episodes they added lesbians to, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't. There's two obvious lesbian couples right there! It's barely subtext, honestly.
Lavender Jack Volume 1
Jenn Manley Lee, Dan Schkade
Really fun read. Schkade is also the current writer for the Flash Gordon newspaper strip and it's great too.
Bad Dreams and Other Stories
Tessa Hadley
Another short story collection. They mostly just felt like some stuff that happened and I'm not sure why I'm supposed to be interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment