#24/130 -
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I don't read much YA any more now that my older daughter has moved on to mostly adult literature, but neither of us had read this one and we didn't want to watch the movie first, so we picked it up on Scribd and both read it together. It was enjoyable enough, but like with a lot of more realistic/topical YA fiction I wasn't especially wowed by it. I found the format, written as a series of letters to an unknown recipient, rather distracting and the narrative, while pretty realistic for how I remember high school, struck DD as more "TV high school" than reality. It was still a fun read, nostalgic in an idealized way, but not quite what I expected from all the hype.
#25 -
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
A recommendation I got from this thread, I really enjoyed this one. The post-apocalyptic world was just realistic enough to carry a truly fantastic story, and the elements of native myth and legend that drive the plot were really intriguing in a "where can I find nonfiction about this?" sense. The main character was somehow likeable despite being prickly, suspicious and sometimes hostile, and I'm really looking forward to picking up the second book in the series when it comes out.
#26 -
What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon
I think this was an
Amazon First Reads pick, and I second guessed choosing it because even from the description it sounded rather derivative. I hate how, when a particular book does really well, a whole genre of knock-offs seems to spring up, and I suspected this was going to be one of those. It was and it wasn't. It was a time-travel romance, very much in the vein of Outlander, only instead of landing during the Scottish rebellion of the 18th century, the heroine lands in the early days of the Irish fight for independence in the early 20th century. The writing was quite beautiful at times, reflective and descriptive without slowing or detracting from the story, but it was hard not to read it and hear echoes of Outlander in the storytelling. It was an enjoyable read, which is more than many "capitalize on the popular concept of the moment" books can say, and unique enough to keep me engaged, partly because it centered around a part of history that has always fascinated me personally, but not something I'd have run out to buy if it hadn't been free.
#27 -
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
I cannot figure out what took me so long to get to this book! I adore dystopian fiction and it has been on my to-read list for years, so when I found it on Scribd I had to read it. It was nothing short of amazing and, in many ways, disturbingly prescient - set in a largely lawless U.S. sharply divided between a small number of wealthy "haves" who can afford privatized water and security in a world ravaged by climate change and drought and the masses of "have nots" killing one another over the scraps, even the politics described in the story seem to foreshadow elements of our current climate that could easily see escalating in the face of widespread hardship. It takes on situations and themes that were barely on the radar in 1993, when it was published, and does it all from the perspective of a black girl navigating this world where, predictably, the fight to survive has revived old prejudices and patterns. It was an excellent book from start to finish and I'm really looking forward to the second novel set in the same world.
#28 -
Where I Found You by Brooke O'Brien
And now for a string of mind-candy. This one popped up in my Kindle Unlimited recommendations in the romance category and I can't imagine why. It wasn't a terrible book but it wasn't good either, and nothing about it was similar to the kinds of romances I prefer. But the description was just vague enough to be intriguing, so I picked it up anyway. And it was so "meh" that I had to go back and look at the description on Goodreads to remember what it was about even though it hasn't been a week since I read it.
#29 -
The Bratva's Baby by Jane Henry
So, what I was saying before about copycat novels... This was that in spades, a combination of the organized crime antiheroes that became so popular on the heels of Sons of Anarchy and the dominant rich guy stories that are everywhere since 50 Shades. It wasn't a bad bit of escapism, though the main character was rather cold and unlikeable and the antihero quite two dimensional, but it was nothing I'd recommend or go out of my way to find. Another Kindle Unlimited recommendation miss and a good reinforcement of my decision to suspend my subscription for a while. Scribd just has better content these days.
#30 -
Undertow by Alessandra Torre
The third strike on Kindle Unlimited recommendations. I'm starting to think I've fallen for enough bad or mediocre recommendations that now it is profiling me as preferring them over better titles. LOL This one was just kind of a mess all around - a ridiculously improbable plot about a woman unknowingly dating brothers in a long-term open relationship situation, absurdly excessive sex scenes, and a virtually conflict-free resolution when the estranged brothers reunite over the knowledge that they're both involved with the same woman.