ARC, Books, Reading Events

Book 146: Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1) – L.A. Witt

I decided to read L.A. Witt’s Where Nerves End after I found myself thoroughly enjoying Tucker Springs #2, Second Hand and although I enjoyed the first one I read, this one was a disappointment even though it wasn’t bad.

I honestly don’t think the writing of this novel is bad. I read it in a day and would not have been able to do so if it was badly written. I think the major issues I had with it come from the storyline. Why introduce what could be a fascinating facet to a relationship just to ignore it for most of the book?

I felt the story was pertinent and relevant to current events, the housing market crash and everyone struggling to make ends meat, and I’m assuming was well researched (the acupuncture portion), but what really bothered me was that one of the main characters, Michael, had a son and the son was just absent for large portions of the story.

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ARC, Books, Reading Events

Book 143: Second Hand (Tucker Springs #2) – Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

Embarrassingly, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. AND I’ve already purchased a copy of Where Nerves End (Tucker Springs #1)…and will read it later this month. And will probably now follow the series forever because this first one I’ve read was fun and easy to read.

I received a copy of this novel via NetGalley as I wanted something fun and light to kick off The Literary Others LGBT October event and I am glad I chose this. This response is my honest opinion and I received no compensation for it.

I really shouldn’t say I’m embarrassed I enjoyed reading Second Hand. There is nothing to be embarrassed by, really, unless you’re me and you flush crimson at any sort of intimate scene. I mean I’ve already purchased the other novel in the series, so I must’ve enjoyed it.

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2012 Challenges, Books, Quotes

Book 140: Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami

You’ll have to excuse the language, but this book was a mind f*ck. Now, don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean it was bad, it is actually one of the best written books I’ve read this year, but my brain hurts trying to process the novel.

A friend in the UK recommended this book to me and I only just now got around to reading it and thus it counts for my Mount TBR Challenge (22 of 25).

I did a brief cursory search to see if I should save this novel for the Literary Others event in September and I should have with the amazing character Oshima, but I’m glad I didn’t. At one point he says this and it boggled my mind at how awesome he is. I mean there were a lot more awesome things, especially as to the reveal which happens pretty late in the book, but still definitely a great character. Click here to continue reading.

Books, Quotes

Book 136: Flesh and Blood – Michael Cunningham

I knew Michael Cunningham could write a great novel, especially one that could be adapted to the screen, like A Home at the End of the World and The Hours, but I didn’t know how great of a novel he could write! This book definitely belongs in the Top 5 Books I’ve read in 2012. It also counts towards my Mount TBR Challenge and officially puts me over 75% on my 2012 challenges! (It’s also the last book my boss gave me to read almost exactly a year ago.)

This is the story of the Stassos family over three generations and although it starts off slow it’s an amazing read. If you’ve ever read my blog before you know I’m obsessed with characters, especially minor characters, and their portrayal. Although there are very few ‘minor’ characters in this novel it doesn’t matter because this is one of the best novels from a character perspective I’ve ever written. Cunningham somehow got inside his characters heads at all ages and really exposed them. When I started reading, I thought these characters are all crazy, but the more I got to know them and as they grew up I realized that he really wrote the book in such a way that you realize hey I probably had thoughts similar to this but could never in ages figure out how to put them into words.

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Books

Book 124: The Man Who Knew Too Much – David Leavitt

Overall this book was ‘meh’. I couldn’t get into it and it wasn’t what I thought it would be. With the title and the blurb I assumed the book was about Alan Turing and his life and not the history of inventions which led to modern computers. I was clearly wrong.

The book was interesting, but I just didn’t enjoy it. There was too much math and science (sometimes explained nicely so that a non-mathematician could understand it) and not enough biography. Again, this was apparently my misunderstanding. The one thing I took away from the novel about Turing was that everything that is known about him has to come with a grain of salt. He sounded like someone I would love to talk to and find out more about. What I found most fascinating was that

“Turing had displayed a remarkable degree of self-confidence and comfort in his sexual identity. That he saw his sexuality as part of his identity in the first place put him at odds with the prevalent thinking of his age, and reflected, no doubt, the years that he had spent in the privileged corridors of King’s College.” (195)

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