Catalogue 📚 log(book)

I like Strong Poison a whole lot – Peter meets Harriet for the first time, and behaves like a bit of an idiot, which is both realistic and appreciated. Lots of terrible things about society in those days are displayed ostensibly without jud

Busman’s Honeymoon

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1937 · read 2020-02-11

I think at this point (or earlier, but who knows) Dorothy Sayers had understood that her forte was in the characters and the dialogue, and WOW does she ever deliver. It's a honeymoon with a murder, of course, and I can't get over my love of

Have His Carcase

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1932 · read 2020-01-23

This was a fair Wimsey novel – banter (especially between Him and Her), with the mystery being less important than the people (who cares about a dead body on the beach). The strong focus on their non-relationship detracted a bit from my car

The Five Red Herrings

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1931 · read 2020-01-22

I tend to like the Lord Peter Wimsey novels a lot – but I dislike mysteries in general, and I like these particular mysteries because Dorothy L. Sayers wrote brilliant dialogue and characters. This book has decidedly less dialogue and less

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1928 · read 2019-12-29

I disliked the last third/final twist of this novel, and found the first half a bit predictable, but I continue to enjoy the characters and the writing tremendously, so this may just be my general dislike of mysteries.

Gaudy Night

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1935 · read 2020-02-08

Gaudy Night is the first book on my Wimsey re-read that I hadn't read before. In truth, it's about 3.5-4 stars, but it gets five for breaking my heart.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

by Douglas Adams · published 1988 · read 2008-02-01

Fun ride, but not outstanding. I liked the gods, the absurdness, and – for some reason – the protagonist. Slightly annoyed with featureless female sidekicks, but what can you do. I have on occasion had the uncharitable thought that the titl

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

by Douglas Adams · published 1980 · read 2003-07-01

Everything is a bit less new and a bit less shiny in this book compared to its predecessor, but it's by no means bad. Still lots of hilarious moment, and lots of absurdity.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

by Douglas Adams · published 1984 · read 2011-12-01

I honestly didn't enjoy the later parts of the Hitchhiker's Guide. Maybe it was the novelty wearing off, the jokes becoming too predictable? Not the jokes themselves, of course, just their general shape.

Mostly Harmless

by Douglas Adams · published 1992 · read 2002-01-01

I honestly don't have real memories of reading this book. I only completed it out of a sense of duty – wouldn't have done so today.

Last Chance to See

by Douglas Adams · published 1990 · read 2011-08-01

Douglas Adams presents: Humans destroying the Earth (for a change). As fun as a book on this topic can be. Well-informed, well-researched, well-written.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

by Douglas Adams · published 1979 · read 2004-12-01

The incomparable, oft-compared, one and only Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's so much of a classic that saying anything about it defeats the point.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

by Douglas Adams · published 1987 · read 2007-02-01

Inevitably, the Dirk Gently books get compared to the Hitchhiker's Guide books. Lacking originality, I'll do the same. Yes, this book is much denser and a bit more absurd despite the fact that the Earth remains standing (er, revolving) and

Life, the Universe and Everything

by Douglas Adams · published 1982 · read 2004-08-01

I liked the series less and less, the longer it went on, but I still read it – and not just out of pop-cultural duty.

On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious

by Douglas E. Harding · published 1961 · read 2020-05-09

DNF. Not right for me, not right for now. It talks about Zen and Buddhism, but not in a way that's accessible to me.

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant

by Drew Hayes · published 2014 · read 2022-01-24

Saying that the title has better writing than the rest of the book would be cruel and not quite true (but.) … I had hoped for better. This is basically a short story collection, taped together, which is always tricky because while your shor

Der Sandmann

by E.T.A. Hoffmann · published 1815 · read 2011-06-01

Early science-fiction? You may not agree, but there's an automaton that drives the protagonist insane (more or less, shush!), so I'm declaring it sci-fi, on the horror side of things.

i won’t just survive (no you will see me thrive)

by EclipseWing · published 2018 · read 2024-09-15

It's getting dark outside, so it's fanfic season again. This one was really pretty alright – I think I found it while looking for anything featuring basic competence in everybody involved, because even when looking for stupid fanfic comfort

Ravencry

by Ed McDonald · published 2018 · read 2019-11-20

I did not finish Ravencry by Ed McDonald. It's not bad Fantasy, but it's not outstanding either, and I noticed I just didn't care about the story or the characters, and didn't even notice when I stopped reading for several weeks. Life

Blackwing

by Ed McDonald · published 2017 · read 2019-05-05

Blackwing by Ed McDonald is classed as grimdark fantasy. I'm usually careful about those – much of the genre strikes me as ~edgy~ woe-is-me drivel that just delights in being as cynical as possible. Looking at the facts, Blackwing seems s

Essential Tales and Poems

by Edgar Allan Poe · published 1843 · read 2003-01-01

Long time since I've read Poe – but the clever (if old-school) language and the fine sense for vibes and rhythm have stuck with me, far beyond the famous raven.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

by Edwin A. Abbott · published 1884 · read 2017-06-01

I had seen the (a?) movie and enjoyed it a lot. But the book is horribly classist and misogynistic and eww. It ready a bit like Brave New World without the social criticism. Yeah, the idea is great and mind blowing, but the execution just

The Second String

by EiderDown · published 2001 · read 2024-09-17

Sweet, well-written, if not always logical. On the other hand, overpowered overly wise protagonists are a plague, so him being a mix of brave and stupid kinda tracks, honestly. Things are occasionally too handwavy/fanfic-logic, but honestly

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

by Eliezer Yudkowsky · published 2015 · read 2014-11-01

HPMOR is both the best and the worst of rationalist fiction. Terrible, terrible writing, in a physically painful stilted style, and oh-so-fucking superior. There aren't even characters in this story, only symbols.

Three Worlds Collide

by Eliezer Yudkowsky · published 2009 · read 2018-07-05

I always enjoy thought experiments with alien cultures with different values. This one was … well, very Yudkowsky-ish, which to me isn't only good in a story. It's still very enjoyable. Babyeathers and Super Happy People, y'all.

The Sword of Good

by Eliezer Yudkowsky · published 2009 · read 2018-02-19

Oh boy, Yudkowsky writes high fantasy, and it's exactly what I expected.

The Alchemists of Loom

by Elise Kova · published 2017 · read 2020-05-06

Decent enough generic fantasy, but ends on such a blatant cliffhanger that I feel mor appalled then compelled to read the next part.

Range of Ghosts

by Elizabeth Bear · published 2012 · read 2020-05-08

Good worldbuilding on the Mongolian inspired Fantasy, but I'm generally not a fan of books that end on a cliffhanger without even an attempt at providing an internal arc, and this bothered me a lot. First book by Elizabeth Bear and not some

A Time to Reap

by Elizabeth Bear · published 2019 · read 2020-02-12

A Time to Reap by Elizabeth Bear was a very solid time travel story, probably even better for people from the US. Extremely strong atmosphere – I remembered both the characters and the atmosphere mostly by way of the plot.

The Cold Between

by Elizabeth Bonesteel · published 2016 · read 2021-11-19

Genuinely enjoyable space opera with a bit of mystery and romance, where everybody has a brain, and a character, motivations and grievances, and different opinions on each other (which is nice with multiple POV characters).

Bloodlust & Bonnets

by Emily McGovern · published 2019 · read 2021-10-24

A sweet comic book by the author of "My life as a background Slytherin", following the trio consisting of an inconsistent annoying protagonist, a mysterious silent annoying side character and an Extremely Annoying Lord Byron on their, uh, "

Station Eleven

by Emily St. John Mandel · published 2014 · read 2019-05-08

Sometimes, you find books that are good books, and you notice how they are good books, and you like the parts that make them good books, but you don't like them. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is such a book for me. It's not

Sea of Tranquility

by Emily St. John Mandel · published 2022 · read 2023-02-08

Inoffensive to a fault. Read for book club. Feels odd in several ways: feels slice-of-life even when it's not; doesn't feel sci-fi even when it isn't. The characters are cool but I won't remember them. The author stand-in is awkward. The ti

The Glass Hotel

by Emily St. John Mandel · published 2020 · read 2023-02-09

Again with the flat emotional affect and the repeating characters. Jumbled, didn't go anywhere, and wasn't compelling enough to convince as a slice-of-life. The only things I slightly cared about were the less obvious connections to [Sea of

Silver in the Wood

by Emily Tesh · published 2019 · read 2020-02-20

Good forest fairytale. Heavier on the "hurt" side of hurt/comfort that I initially thought. Good characters, good writing, and only a bit low on substance.

Der Trotzkopf

by Emmy von Rhoden · published 1883 · read 2004-03-01

Luckily you cannot read this book in earnest anymore – times have changed too much. So if you read of the far-too-wild, far-too-stubborn young Ilse, who has to go to a boarding school to learn manners, and who is slowly "tamed" by her new f

The Eternity Code

by Eoin Colfer · published 2003 · read 2005-12-01

Artemis gets more growth and a mind wipe, both completely deserved. Holly gets less growth and more voice, which is also nice. All in all an enjoyable book, up to the standard set by Arctic Incident, and better than the first book.

Artemis Fowl

by Eoin Colfer · published 2001 · read 2004-02-01

Artemis Fowl was fun at the time – I particularly enjoyed decoding the secret message in the decoration on every page. It was a good thing to read at the time, but nothing I'm going to revisit any time soon – I don't think it would stand up

Doctor Who: Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories

by Eoin Colfer · published 2013 · read 2018-01-24

An alright collection of Doctor Who stories, but missable for the most part. Neil Gaiman's Thatcher story was unsurprisingly the highlight of the collection.

The Arctic Incident

by Eoin Colfer · published 2002 · read 2004-06-01

Arguably an instance of the second book being better than the first book: We see more of Holly, Artemis is forced to cooperate. There's more banter, there's more depth to both our heroes, and the plot is more intriguing.

The Opal Deception

by Eoin Colfer · published 2005 · read 2005-10-01

Artemis does some more Artemis things. I don't have any memories of this book at all.

The Wish List

by Eoin Colfer · published 2000 · read 2008-08-01

Meg Finn, 15, is a troublemaker and also dead. Because her good and bad deeds balanced out perfectly, she has to go back and help her last victim go through his bucket list – all while her last partner sabotages the mission.

The Manual: A Philosopher’s Guide to Life

by Epictetus · published 2017 · read 2019-09-24

I had a couple of stressful weeks, with both positive and negative experiences with wonderful people. When I start losing my equilibrium (ok, no, when I have irrevocably lost my equilibrium), I sometimes go back and read The Manual, a v

The Great Explosion

by Eric Frank Russell · published 1962 · read 2018-01-27

Aww, it's scifi from the 60s! It's witty, and funny, and sarcastic (but never quite mean). Love it a lot.

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

by Eric H. Cline · published 2014 · read 2020-05-16

This book was a great overview of the wider mediterranean civilisations during the Bronze Age, with a short discussion of the so-called collapse towards the end. I went into it expecting a lot of content about the collapse itself, and the b

Gedichte

by Erich Kästner · published 1987 · read 2009-10-01

I really really like Kästner's poems. They get dark, they get snarky, they are political, they don't stop for anybody, except for their author's sentimentality. He doesn't do sentimentality very well – but he knows it, and he can laugh abou

Die Zeit fährt Auto

by Erich Kästner · published 1928 · read 2008-04-01

The first Kästner poems I ever read – overlaps with the others, but reading a Kästner poem twice is good for the soul, anyways.

Pünktchen und Anton

by Erich Kästner · published 1931 · read 2001-01-01

Goddamnit, this book might have been good. Instead it is infuriating – Kästner inserts sermons (in italics, at least, to make them easier to skip) into an already heavily moralising story, and tells children about social injustice, money an

Das fliegende Klassenzimmer

by Erich Kästner · published 1933 · read 2001-07-01

It's the one German boarding school novel and I loved it to pieces as a kid. As all Kästner books except for Lottchen it features a transparent self-insert, but it's fine, imo. Most boarding school no

Das doppelte Lottchen

by Erich Kästner · published 1949 · read 2001-01-01

Das doppelte Lottchen (English: Lottie and Lisa) is exactly what I loved to read as a child. The story of the twins Liese and Lotte, who were split up soon after birth when their parents separated. Once the two very different girls realise

Doktor Erich Kästners Lyrische Hausapotheke

by Erich Kästner · published 1936 · read 2008-06-01

More Kästner poems, these here designed to help you during your everyday life. And – surprisingly – they do. Well, some of them do, but that's how every collection of poem works.

Emil and the Detectives

by Erich Kästner · published 1928 · read 2004-12-01

Charming adventures in Berlin of the 1920s? Children taking on adults together? Wild chases and solidarity? All this, and more. Emil is infinitely relatable as he travels to the big city, is robbed and tries to recover the money. Emil is ju

Der 35. Mai oder Konrad reitet in die Südsee

by Erich Kästner · published 1931 · read 2003-08-01

Konrad goes into a magic wardrobe and comes out in a very weird world. Everything in this book is designed to be fun to children and optionally offend adults at the time. For example the rich suburban villa district where deceased gener

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline · published 2011 · read 2015-08-05

Despite the rating and the everything, there are some redeeming things about Ready Player One: It immerses you in a dystopic future where humanity takes to a huge Virtual Reality to flee their problems (dwindling oil reserves mean poverty

The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized

by ErraticErrata · published 2015 · read 2022-02-06

More of the same, with the novelty worn off a bit. Some new interesting Roles (Bumbling Conjurer, Exiled Prince), and some hints at future escalation into less of the pedestrian wars with soldiers at borders and more of the world/universe c

So You Want to Be a Villain?

by ErraticErrata · published 2015 · read 2022-02-01

Web-serial that is generally not terrible! Takes place in a world with clear Good and Evil, with the protagonist an orphan in a country that was taken over by an Evil state. She starts her path to become a Villain to help her country, kinda

Focusing

by Eugene T. Gendlin · published 1978 · read 2019-07-15

Focusing by Eugene T. Gendlin was my first book I really wanted to give up on this year. I'm always very hesitant to pick up non-fiction books, especially those that touch on self-help or psychology in any way. There's so much misinformat

Keks, Frau K. und Katastrophen

by Fanny Müller · published 2003 · read 2011-05-01

Fanny Müller was hilarious to me at the time, though I wouldn't want to swear that her books still hold up.

The Student Prince

by FayJay · published 2010 · read 2019-11-15

The Student Prince is very well-written Merlin (the TV show) fanfiction. You don't need to know the show to enjoy it: It transplants the characters of Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, Lancelot et al into pre-Brexit UK, where they go to college and

Bambi

by Felix Salten · published 1922 · read 2023-03-26

Not tagging plot spoilers for obvious reasons – the movie did not deviate much from the book, all told: Bambi grows up, lears words, plays with other young deer and other animals with quirky personalities, like the owl who is always happy w

Of a Linear Circle Part VI

by Flamethrower · published 2018 · read 2022-01-04

More side characters come in to get a role, which is oddly satisfying. The Latin manages to get worse somehow, and for a while, everything looks pretty repetetive, but then we get open war, so I won't complain too much.

Of a Linear Circle - Part III

by Flamethrower · published 2017 · read 2021-12-27

This is where the series starts to come into its own: It provides the backstory of the protagonist, Nizar, back during the founding of Hogwarts around 980. It's extremely well-researched regarding the realities of the British Isles back the

Of a Linear Circle - Part IX - Serpent in the Grass

by Flamethrower · published 2021 · read 2022-01-07

The rest of this series was so good, but the last part just wasn't. It's backstory, in a way, but more importantly it sees itself as just backstory. Nobody gets any depth, everything is narrated as if this was the Silmarillion, family his

Of a Linear Circle - Part IV – A Founder’s Return

by Flamethrower · published 2018 · read 2022-01-01

Back to the present timeline, this (long) part of the ongoing series proves fun, and dazzles with payoff. Plus, a new (mature, unexcited, beautiful) romance side-story. And then there's the extremely slow-building (4th long ) power gradient

Of a Linear Circle - Part VIII - The Second Wizarding War

by Flamethrower · published 2020 · read 2022-01-05

Series continues to be good, with a few caveats: Tons of side characters being treated well means massively slower story progress. General competency porn continues, but the Latin somehow got worse (while the complaints about bad Latin, in-

Of a Linear Circle - Part II

by Flamethrower · published 2017 · read 2021-12-25

Second part of a delightful fic. The rapid setup continues – it doesn't obviously lead anywhere yet, except into romance, but the romance is grown-up and delightful and so I won't complain. Continues the general competency porn.

Of a Linear Circle - Part V - Gryffindor

by Flamethrower · published 2020 · read 2022-01-02

More backstory, more carefully researched historical fiction. Well, some is inaccurate in minor details, but on the level of getting one of the historical lords of Orkney wrong, which seems to be a cruel thing to count against a fanfic. Th

Of a Linear Circle - Part VII - Exile

by Flamethrower · published 2018 · read 2022-01-04

Novella, filling in some more backstory stuff. I'm not super well-versed in 14th-15th century Spain and France, so I spent half the time on Wikipedia. Generally entertaining, but too much is already known through previous and later story el

Of a Linear Circle - Part V - Ravenclaw

by Flamethrower · published 2018 · read 2022-01-01

This part of the series goes all in on historical fiction: It follows the backdrop of Rowena Ravenclaw, who is really called Hrodwunn of Hrabanklawa, Bavaria. We get some alright character building, and more importantly, some really fun

Of a Linear Circle - Part I

by Flamethrower · published 2017 · read 2021-12-24

Really decent fanfic: The brother of Salazar Slytherin mysteriously falls from his portrait, while Harry Potter has gone missing after is 4th year at school. Nizar, the protrait, continues to oust Umbridge, be a teacher, correct everybody a

I (28M) created a deepfake girlfriend and now my parents think we’re getting married

by Fonda Lee · published 2019 · read 2020-02-12

About as good as the title suggests (and about as much content, too). Got the tone of voice right, more or less, though catering to the wider crowd/immersion break with the user names.

RE: Trailer Trash

by FortySixtyfour · published 2022 · read 2022-08-16

Ongoing series, but this is when I read all of it (and I've kept up to date since then). It's well-written for an online series, but that's naturally not saying much. It has all the hallmarks of the genre: long-winded, self-insert, overly

Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel

by Frances Gies, Joseph Gies · published 1994 · read 2021-08-01

Officially my new favourite history book: I'm in love with Frances and Joseph Gies showing off the technology and technological development of the Middle Ages. The book is dense and doesn't coddle the reader, and, as many of their works, is

Dune Messiah

by Frank Herbert · published 1969 · read 2018-08-04

I disliked Dune Messiah, and for different reasons than I disliked Dune. While my criticism regarding Good vs Evil characters from the first volume isn't relevant to the second one, Frank Herbert's narration style of showing the thoug

Dune

by Frank Herbert · published 1965 · read 2018-07-09

Dune is a classic scifi novel, which can mean it's anywhere between breathtaking genius and hardly accessible anymore. I found it a bit difficult to get into at first, similar to Ancillary Justice. Once I grew used to the storytelling devic

Die dampfenden Hälse der Pferde im Turm von Babel

by Franz Fühmann · published 1978 · read 2000-03-01

Five stars mean a book changed my life. This book changed my life several times, and I'm not sure it's done with me yet. It's about language. It's about philosophy. It's about linguistics. It's about playing with language, and it's about he

The Metamorphosis

by Franz Kafka · published 1915 · read 2009-03-01

Content warnings were made for this book. A friend of mine read The Metamorphosis while transitioning, and please don't do that. Not while you're transitioning, or in inner turmoil, or feeling alienated or depressed. Or when you're in a g

Das Urteil und andere Erzählungen

by Franz Kafka · published 1912 · read 2009-04-01

Kafka's short stories are no less depressing than his longer works, but I found them more bearable, and even enjoyable on occasion. They don't induce a spiralling depression, and have some very neat images and concepts.

The Castle

by Franz Kafka · published 1922 · read 2009-11-01

Grey sky, constantly on the verge of darkness. Tiredness. Dragging onwards. That's what I remember from The Castle. I tried finishing it three times, and never managed – nobody saps my energy like Kafka.

The Trial

by Franz Kafka · published 1925 · read 2008-03-01

I don't do well with Kafka, and this one was no exception. I'm not debating the quality or skill of execution, it's just that Kafka makes me feel truly terrible in a way that I don't care to introduce artificially if I can avoid it.

On the Manner of Negotiating with Princes

by François de Callières · published 1983 · read 2019-12-19

I enjoyed this book a lot, because it gives insight into the thoughts and everyday work of diplomats three hundred years ago. It's not a subject I've thought about in detail before, so this was fascinating. The approach to the matter is bro

The Space Merchants

by Frederik Pohl & Cyril M. Kornbluth · published 1952 · read 2022-04-21

Naive capitalist propaganda worker (aka advertising agency jerk) gets to confront his belief in the system – nice enough premise, and with the book being 70 years old when I read it, I really can't complain about it. It's held up well –

A Marvellous Light

by Freya Marske · published 2021 · read 2021-11-05

Comfort ~~food~~ read. But for real, what is it with fantasy novels about gay magicians in Victorian England, where the lower-class magician falls for the upper-class non-magical nobility? Not that I'm complaining.

Die Physiker

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1962 · read 2007-02-01

Satirical stage play, in a Swiss asylum for the insane. The three inmates think they are Newton, Einstein and Moebius. Or so the initial story goes – there's much more to it than that. The murder mystery is just window dressing – the real

Die Panne

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1956 · read 2021-01-17

Our protagonist has a breakdown and, because the village inn is full, is invited to stay in a local mansion. It turns out that his host is a retired judge, and together with his friends, a retired prosecutor and a retired attorney, they sta

Der Richter und sein Henker

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1951 · read 2009-10-01

Existentialist mystery, is maybe the best description of this book. Do not read if you're not in the mood for dark and dire. The aging detective may be staple, and even some of the plot twists may invite you to think that this is just anoth

The Visit

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1956 · read 2009-01-01

Dürrenmatt will always punch you in the face. This time he's talking about corruptability and the corruption brought about by wealth. It's the terrifying story of a man sold out by his entire community for the promise of wealth. It's about

Der Verdacht

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1952 · read 2006-11-01

Detective Bärlach's second case concerns a surviving Nazi doctor. As always, it's not – in the end, at least – about bringing about official justice. Dürrenmatt doesn't much care for that, or trust in it, and looking at the publishing date,

Twilight of the Idols

by Friedrich Nietzsche · published 1888 · read 2020-05-25

Nietzsche – in this book, he is equally malevolent spirit, joyfully brilliant shitposter, and asshole. The full title is Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer (*Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philo

Maria Stuart

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1800 · read 2008-02-01

Honestly, I don't remember much of this one except that I started out interested (Mary, after all, has a quite dramatic story to her name) and ended up bored.

Die Räuber

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1781 · read 2006-03-01

Criticising society by telling a tale of bandits, as one does.

Kabale und Liebe

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1784 · read 2006-02-01

Schiller at his worst, arguably. I had to read this in school, and I had read it beforehand, and at no point in time I could seem to care.

Wilhelm Tell

by Friedrich Schiller · published 1804 · read 2009-12-01

Wilhelm Tell might be Schiller's most enjoyable drama, but also his most generic one. That's probably a compliment, seeing as it wasn't generic then, and only became so due to its own popularity?

Die Tante Jolesch

by Friedrich Torberg · published 1975 · read 2008-01-01

Kaffeehauskultur. Tales of the Austrian in-group.

A Pail of Air

by Fritz Leiber · published 1951 · read 2022-10-01

Weird. Frozen planet, air is carried in in frozen chunks. Only four completely weird isolated humans (parents, sister, protagonist) seem to be left. Super strong atmosphere, then … what is that ending? 3.5, no idea what I'm thinking. Proba

The Blacksmith Queen

by G. A. Aiken · published 2019 · read 2022-05-09

Nothing in this book worked for me. The sulky protagonist, the flat romance, the "quirky" family dynamic, the evil antagonist sister, the centaurs … nothing. The dialogue is terrible, yet drives most of the plot as if this was a screenplay.

Heretics

by G.K. Chesterton · published 1905 · read 2021-06-03

Chesterton is an utter bastard, and enjoying himself while he's at it. As a result, I enjoyed myself, too: He's unrepentant in how conservative he is, and he likes using a handful of cheap tricks to make himself seem both very clever and ve

Soulless

by Gail Carriger · published 2009 · read 2020-07-22

Victorian London, just with vampires and werewolves – both of which very proper and integrated – and propriety, corsets, hats, gossip, and all other Victorian stereotypes. It's Urban Fantasy, complete with the sassy, abrasive, clever, femal

Abhorsen

by Garth Nix · published 2003 · read 2018-02-18