Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Mini-review Time!

I want to write a post. But I don't feel like finishing my review of The Good Girl. Which is the last book I read in 2015 that I still need to review. So obviously I'm pretty behind on reviewing. So instead of writing one review, let's do a much of mini reviews!

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica: A thriller about a kidnapping that doesn't quite go as planned. I like the idea, where it jumps back and forth between the past and present. But the characters aren't very fleshed out so it's sort of boring. A blurb compares it to Gone Girl. The blurb is wrong.



When To Rob A Bank by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner: It's a collection of Freakonomics blog posts that you could have just read for free (and they are upfront with that) except I didn't. I did only pay a dollar for it, so I don't feel too bad. Not my favorite Freakonomics thing but entertaining enough.



Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist: Swedish horror story with some scary moments, some very squicky moments, and some surprisingly sweet and touching moments. And it manages to bring some new (to me, anyway) elements to the vampire novel.


Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry: I was reading this between Hamilton chapters so I don't feel like I gave it a fair shake through the first half, where I had trouble getting into and following the story. But once I actually gave it my full attention, I really really liked it. Like almost started it over from the beginning so I could fully enjoy it. Multiple interconnected stories, NYC setting (NYC in the 1800s anyway), unique characters, and a mystery to solve.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein: A few of my friends have been reproducing and they all seem to be having daughters, so I felt it was my job to read up on this for them. It's an interesting look at the "princess" culture and Orenstein's own conflicted feelings after she had her daughter, who went full princess.



The Bullet by Marie Louise Kelly: A woman goes to the doctor for wrist pain and discovers there's a bullet in her neck. This opens a whole bunch of doors that were never meant to be opened about her past. Except the main character annoyed me to no end so that review will likely just end up being a bunch of sarcastic comments.



Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan: I did not expect to like this one as much as I did but I tore through it. Fish out of water rom com with a bunch of stupid rich people. The main characters are a bit boring but there is a huge cast of fun and shallow and materialistic and snobby and manipulative and catty people AND a setting I'm not super familiar with so there's lots of details of slang and local food.


So there you go. Some good stuff, some not-so-great stuff, some fiction, some non, a lot of ladies, way too many white people. Maybe I'll work on some of these actual reviews soon. But for now I'm going to go back to my coconut cream pie and TV.