The Quiet Tenant

The Quiet Tenant

by Clémence Michallon

Blurb:

Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always lends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life.

When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend” who needs a place to stay. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful to attempt to escape. But Rachel is a fighter and survivor, and recognizes Cecilia might just be the lifeline she has waited for all these years. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a tenuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Cecilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.

Told through the perspectives of Rachel, Cecilia, and Emily, The Quiet Tenant explores the psychological impact of Aidan’s crimes on the women in his life—and the bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back. Both a searing thriller and an astute study of trauma, survival, and the dynamics of power, The Quiet Tenant is an electrifying debut thriller by a major talent.

My Reaction:

(DNF at over 50%.  I listened to the audiobook version.)

This was a disappointment.  I feel that I gave it a fair shot.  The first time, I struggled and stopped at probably around 25% through.  Months passed.  I read and listened to other books... And then I saw it, had nothing else to listen to, and decided I'd give it one more chance.  I picked back up where I'd left off, but unfortunately, all the problems I'd had with it the first time only intensified with the next quarter of the book.  

How did this annoy me?

First, it somehow manages to be terribly boring.  Very repetitive.

Second, I can't stand the way the narrator for Rachel voices Aidan (to the point I wanted to inflict physical pain on him for that alone, leaving aside all his crimes and abusiveness).  

Third, the whole story just made me angry.  If I feel worse every time I read or listen to a book, the story had better be fascinating to make up for the daily dose of negativity.  This wasn't all that fascinating, I'm afraid. 

Fourth, some of the characters' choices and behaviors just don't ring true to me.  Based on reviews I skimmed, you never get even an attempt at an explanation for why some characters are the way they are, either. 

Once a certain something happened (spoiler below), I just lost all interest.  I still gave it a bit longer, but when I realized I was only halfway through, I decided to spare myself the suffering and move on to something else.  Life's too short to push through books you dislike reading. No-one's handing out awards for finishing annoying books, these days.  I read a synopsis and a few reviews, and it doesn't feel like I've missed much by stopping where I did. 

**SPOILERS**

What was the "certain something" that made me stop caring?  I am beyond frustrated when characters who are held captive (or in some other dire position) don't at least try to escape when the opportunity presents itself.  Yes, I read this character's reasoning and I understand why she might not have acted—and maybe we're even supposed to think that she made the right call—but the fact remains that I loathe that trope.  

Don't ask me to care what happens to a character who won't even try to save herself/himself.  It's demoralizing to read, and I just don't need that in my life.  Then she ruined a second opportunity to run and was nearly killed as a result of her own stupidity.  (Argh!!)  

It felt clear that this book wasn't going to be a satisfying read for me, so why slog through another 150 pages (however many hours that would've been of listening) of torture?  Better to call it a DNF and be done!

The Babysitter Lives

The Babysitter Lives

by Stephen Graham Jones

Blurb:

When high school senior Charlotte agrees to babysit the Wilbanks twins, she plans to put the six-year-olds to bed early and spend a quiet night studying: the SATs are tomorrow, and checking the Native American/Alaskan Native box on all the forms won’t help if she chokes on test day. But tomorrow is also Halloween, and the twins are eager to show off their costumes.

Charlotte’s last babysitting gig almost ended in tragedy when her young charge sleepwalked unnoticed into the middle of the street, only to be found unharmed by Charlotte’s mother. Charlotte vows to be extra careful this time. But the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand, echoes of horrors that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house eleven years ago. Soon Charlotte has to admit that every babysitter’s worst nightmare has come true: they’re not alone in the house.

My Reaction:

I tried to keep an open mind, but this turned out to be another DNF.  The thought of picking it up to read was making me unhappy, and life is just too short to persist with books that you hate reading!  I read a few reviews to confirm that it wasn't just me, and after learning a couple of the things that came after I stopped, I'm glad I quit when I did.  This was not for me.  

I read the first part of the acknowledgements, and this phrase leapt out at me:  "I never have much idea where my stories are going..."  Yeah. I have to say, that doesn't come as a surprise, after this reading experience.

Listen for the Lie

Listen for the Lie

by Amy Tintera

Blurb:

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast "Listen for the Lie," and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.

My Reaction:
DNF.  I don't know how far along I was when I gave up on it... 20-ish percent through?  I think it was soon after Lucy went to her old friend's shop... Wherever it was, I decided I couldn't face slogging through the rest of this one.  It's just not my style at all, and I don't understand the high average of ratings.  I skimmed through the last chapters just to see the solution of the mystery and... Nope, no regrets.  

I didn't like any of these characters, the humor fell flat for me, and that voice in Lucy's head was beyond annoying.  Oh well!

Bitter Sun

Bitter Sun

by Beth Lewis

Blurb:

"Stand by Me" meets "True Detective" in this stunningly written tale of the darkness at the heart of a small mid-Western town and the four kids who uncover it. In the heatwave summer of 1971, four kids find a body by a lake and set out to solve a murder, but they dig too deep and ask too many questions. Larson is a town reeling in the wake of the Vietnam draft, where the unrelenting heat ruins the harvest, and the people teeter on the edge of ruin. As tension and paranoia run rife, rumors become fact, violence becomes reflex. The unrest allows the dark elements of the close-knit farming community to rise and take control, and John, Jenny, Gloria, and Rudy are about to discover that sometimes secrets are best left uncovered.

My Reaction:

DNF one-third of the way through the book.  

This book—or as much of it as I read, since I abandoned it after reading the first third—was such a disappointment!  I enjoyed The Wolf Road, the author's first published novel, and had high hopes for this one.  When I finally had a chance to read it, I jumped right in, but almost immediately it just wasn't working for me.  I think I gave it a fair chance, but instead of improving it was starting to seriously annoy me.  It's time to set this one aside and move on to something else.  I'm still interested in trying another of this author's books, in the hopes that they're more like her first work and less like... this.

So, what didn't I love about this? 

• Set in the United States, yet too often the characters use British words and turns of phrase that simply don't feel authentic to me.  I could overlook this in a more compelling read, but on top of everything else, it was grating.  
• I could have done without some of the tangents (commentary on the Vietnam War, for instance).  Maybe they're supposed to set the scene and paint a picture of the time, but I didn't like them, and in a slow-paced book, the last thing we needed was more blah-blah-blah that didn't advance the plot. 
• I couldn't believe half the things that happened (and that was just in the first third of the book).  Bizarre things, and way too many of them.  No, I don't think this is a fair portrayal of small-town America in the 1970s (or ever), and that annoys me (as someone from small-town America). 
• Gosh, these characters!  There's hardly a decent person in the book. Even the kids were utterly blah.  Everyone feels like such a cardboard cut-out cliche.  There's no joy in reading about these characters.  
• I need a plot that actually moves at something above a snail's pace.
• There are a LOT of "bad guy" characters in this book, and according to their descriptions, they're all absolutely disgusting.  (Quite a few of the baddies seem to be fat, too, by some strange "coincidence"...)

I skimmed some reviews to try to at least see what happens in the end, but I'm still not sure what (if anything) is the solution to the mystery.  What little I did gather about the conclusion is even darker than I was expecting, so I don't think I missed much.  Maybe I'll skip to the end and see if I can learn more, but I doubt it's worth the effort.  The impression I get is that it's not a particularly satisfying conclusion, even for those who like the book.  

I'm just glad to put this in the rearview mirror and try to find something that doesn't make me angry every time I read it!

No Exit

No Exit

by Taylor Adams

Blurb:

On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.

Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.

Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one?

Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape.

But who can she trust?

My Reaction:

The blurb sounded like something I'd like, but it didn't work out that way.  Based on the information in the blurb, I knew there was probably going to be some medical content, but when the specifics unfolded... and it just kept coming up... that was a problem for me.  I've mentioned on here before that I really dislike books to focus what I consider to be too much on certain medical problems/diseases.  I'm reading for pleasure, and that is the exact opposite of pleasurable reading, for me.  

So, there were frequent references to a horrible disease that I don't want to think about, and then there was the fact that it felt like I was making slow progress (and constantly in the back of my mind dreading the next gotcha moment with the disease).  Oh, and I'd just read far enough (not that far, really) to see that a villain was identified.  So... What?  Was that it?  No more mystery?  That was disappointing and essentially finished off my interest in reading the book.  

There's a movie adaptation of the book available, so I decided to just watch that instead.  The adaptation was okay (though somewhat more depressing that I expected), but at least now I don't "have" to finish the book to know what happens.  Phew.  

(It was interesting to note that someone saw fit to change the nature of Darby's mother's medical problem.)

On a Quiet Street

On a Quiet Street

by Seraphina Nova Glass

Blurb:

The perfect neighborhood can be the perfect place to hide…

Who wouldn’t want to live in Brighton Hills? This exclusive community on the Oregon coast is the perfect mix of luxury and natural beauty. Stunning houses nestle beneath mighty Douglas firs, and lush backyards roll down to the lakefront. It’s the kind of place where neighbors look out for one another. Sometimes a little too closely…

My Reaction:

Well, I like the cover, and the title is okay... Based on the blurb, I was expecting something a little gossipy and maybe slightly trashy—something inspired by the old Desperate Housewives TV dramedy, which could be okay, since I'm just borrowing it through Amazon.  Desperate Housewives may well be the intended vibe, but it just didn't work for me.  

I found the plot ridiculous.  The irritating characters' behavior is nonsensical and frustrating, to the degree that I lost all patience with them, so I stopped reading at 28%.  

After skimming some of the unfavorable reviews (and completely ignoring the many who apparently loved it), it doesn't sound like I'm missing out on much.  DNF, and relieved to move on to something fresher!

Don't Look Now

Don't Look Now
by Mary Burton

Blurb:

Austin homicide detective Jordan Poe is hunting a serial killer she fears is the same man who assaulted her sister, Avery, two years ago. The details line up: the victims are the same age, same type, dead by the same grim MO. Luckily Avery survived. But the terrible memories linger, making Jordan more determined than ever to stop this monster in his tracks.

Texas Ranger Carter Spencer isn’t one to poach on a detective’s territory. Yet no matter how resentful a capable lone wolf like Jordan is, when she is attacked at a third crime scene and suffers a trauma that leaves her with limited vision, it’s up to Carter to help Jordan navigate a world she no longer recognizes. He needs her instinct, her experience, and her fearless resolve to crack this case. A case that’s about to get even darker.

A stranger is watching. He’s closing in on his ultimate prey. And no one but the killer can see what’s coming.

My Reaction:
I had to check out a book available on Prime, to qualify for a promotional deal.  This one looked okay.  I liked the name, and it had a good average over tons of reviews.  Apparently this author is prolific and successful, so it seemed promising.  Unfortunately, this simply isn't for me.  I like murder mysteries, but I don't enjoy anything too "police procedural"-y.  After years of watching Original Flavor CSI, I'm kind of burned out on that genre.  Films and miniseries are about as far as I'll stretch for a police procedural, these days, unless they are something very special.  They need to grab me by the collar and pull me in.  This didn't meet that requirement. 

Specifics?  I found certain aspects of it awkwardly written; fairly basic information any crime reader would already know was shoehorned into the dialogue, for instance.  The dialogue didn't feel natural to me.  Also, the level of detail on minor, inconsequential items and actions was over the top.  I just couldn't face slogging through a whole novel of that.  

I declared this a DNF (Did Not Finish) at the 10% mark.  No hard feelings, just not my style. 

Other Worlds

Other Worlds

by Barbara Michaels

Severely Edited Blurb:

In a London Club, Houdini, Conan Doyle, and other psychic investigators and debunkers gather to tell ghost stories. Their purpose is to tell the tale, and then each will pick it apart to try to find an explanation for the phenomenon in question. The first story is one of the most famous historical hauntings in U.S. history: the Bell Witch in Tennessee. The second is a moderately well-known haunting in Stratford, Connecticut, called, appropriately, the Stratford Haunting. Each tale is told, and then the guests gather around the club describe their understanding of whether the hauntings are either fake or very real.

My Reaction:

Well, the title (Other Worlds) certainly sounds like it could be creepy and interesting and typical of a Barbara Michaels gothic thriller.  The reality, unfortunately, is nothing like her usual tales.  I'm sorry, but I found it dry and dull.  I recognize the Bell Witch, so I don't expect a satisfying conclusion-- or indeed, anything from this retelling to be worth this slog... I just can't.  Not right now.  Maybe I'll pick it up again at a later date, but for now, it's a DNF!  I stopped 15% of the way through.  On to greener pastures! 

(Incidentally, this is the second DNF I have for this author.  With the other one, Smoke and Mirrors, I think I quit after the first page or two, because something annoyed me, I peeked at a few reviews, and I had my suspicions confirmed.  Political plot?  Heavy on the "Democrats are good, Republicans are evil"?  Oh, good grief!  No, thanks.  Life's too short.)

The Art of Inheriting Secrets

The Art of Inheriting Secrets
by Barbara O'Neal


Blurb:

When Olivia Shaw’s mother dies, the sophisticated food editor is astonished to learn she’s inherited a centuries-old English estate—and a title to go with it. Raw with grief and reeling from the knowledge that her reserved mother hid something so momentous, Olivia leaves San Francisco and crosses the pond to unravel the mystery of a lifetime.

One glance at the breathtaking Rosemere Priory and Olivia understands why the manor, magnificent even in disrepair, was the subject of her mother’s exquisite paintings. What she doesn’t understand is why her mother never mentioned it to her. As Olivia begins digging into her mother’s past, she discovers that the peeling wallpaper, debris-laden halls, and ceiling-high Elizabethan windows covered in lush green vines hide unimaginable secrets. 

Although personal problems and her life back home beckon, Olivia finds herself falling for the charming English village and its residents. But before she can decide what Rosemere’s and her own future hold, Olivia must first untangle the secrets of her past.

My Reaction:
Another DNF.

I listened to probably more than two-thirds of the audiobook-- selected because I could listen for free on Amazon-- but at some point I lost patience and stopped listening. I'd planned to skim through to the end just to satisfy my curiosity, but it's been months, and I find my curiosity simply isn't that strong! Maybe I'll still skim through, but I think I can guess more or less what will happen, and if I'm wrong... (shrug)

My SPOILERY annoyances:
-- I'm not bothered by a little Anglophilia, but Olivia takes it to sickening, barf-worthy extremes. I was embarrassed on her behalf. The whole "as Lady of the Manor, I must learn this, do that, change who I am" thing made me sick. I guess I'm too American for that nonsense. Inheriting a beautiful home? Fun and exciting to think/read about! Doing right by the community as you take possession of this historically significant home? Great! But all the airs and graces and "you must do it this way because this is how it's done because we say so"? No, no, a thousand times no.

-- Olivia's obsession with the age difference between herself and Samir? Ugh, so, so boring! But then when they "hook up", it's possibly even worse. I wasn't expecting so much sex in this book, and it was unwelcome. (Please, more house renovation/mystery and less village gossip, family drama, food talk, and sex!)

-- Such a slow pace. Dragging its feet the whole way.

-- Very obvious "baddies".

-- Didn't really care for the "closeted lesbian grandmothers" subplot. Sorry, not what I was expecting from this book. Just didn't care. Like the heroine's food obsession. (Seriously. Can we stop with the food already?) I just couldn't care less!

All in all, it wasn't what I was expecting, and I didn't like what it was enough to get over that and stick with it until the end.

I'm sure Olivia and Samir end up together, her plans for the house work out (one way or another), and there's a happily-ever-after. That much was never, ever in doubt.

Every House is Haunted

Every House is Haunted
by Ian Rogers


Blurb:

In this brilliant debut collection, Ian Rogers explores the border-places between our world and the dark reaches of the supernatural. The landscape of death becomes the new frontier for scientific exploration. With remarkable deftness, Rogers draws together the disturbing and the diverting in twenty-two showcase stories that will guide you through terrain at once familiar and startlingly fresh.

My Reaction:
This is a DNF. 

Every so often I think a creepy short story would hit the spot, but unfortunately, I must be very picky when it comes to horror short stories.  I so rarely actually enjoy them!  I only read three in this collection before calling it quits.  "Ace" was just "okay" for me, "Autumnology" was far too short for me to get into at all, and "Leaves Brown" was another "okay".  They're not long or involved enough for me.  I know short stories tend to be open-ended, but these were open even by that standard.  Worse, I didn't find them scary or even particularly eerie.

No sense in continuing, as I suspect "okay" is going to be my strongest reaction.  I can see how some readers might enjoy them, but they're not for me.  It's a shame; I love the title, but the stories don't seem to match it, in my ever-so-humble opinion.

DNF: Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff
by Sean Penn


Blurb:

Bob Honey—a modern American man, entrepreneur, and part-time assassin. He’s just a guy trying to make it through each day while grappling with loneliness, alienation, violence—uncertain of his place in a culture that considers branding more important than being.

Bob Honey has a hard time connecting with other people. He dreams he is sleeping with his ex-wife every night, and imagines waking up unhappy next to her every morning. Advertising, entertainment, and commerce rule his days; he’s sick of being marketed to every moment, but is unable to pry himself away from the constant feed. A paragon of American entrepreneurialism, Bob sells septic tanks to Jehovah’s Witnesses and arranges colorful pyrotechnic displays for foreign dictators. He’s also a part-time assassin for an off-the-books program run by the CIA that targets the elderly, the infirm, and others who drain this consumption-driven society of its resources.

When a nosy journalist starts asking questions, Bob can’t decide if it’s a chance to form some sort of new friendship or if it’s the beginning of the end for him. With treason on everyone’s lips, terrorism in everyone’s sights, and American political life racing to ever-lower standards, Bob decides it’s time to make a change. If he doesn’t get killed by his mysterious controllers or exposed in the rapacious media first.

My Reaction:
I can sum up my reaction to this book (and the audiobook version read by Penn himself, which is how I "read" it) in one single word: UGH.

Yeah, big surprise: I absolutely hated it.  I'd give it negative stars, were it possible.  If not for the 372 Pages podcast, I never would have been tempted to read this one, and even with that as an incentive, we didn't get very far.  (This was another shared read/listen with Donald.)  I don't remember how far we got before saying, "Eh... Let's just listen to the podcast episodes without reading the rest, okay?"  (For the record, that's the first time we've done that, and it does reduce the listening pleasure of the podcast when you haven't read the book.  In this instance, however, I think we still came out ahead by avoiding further exposure to Bob Honey.)

Imagine my surprise upon discovering that there's a sequel in the works! 
Nope, not for me.

DNF: The Long Ships

by Frans G. Bengtsson 
(translated by Michael Meyer)


Blurb:

This saga brings alive the world of the 10th century AD when the Vikings raided the coasts of England.

Acclaimed as one of the best historical novels ever written, this engaging saga of Viking adventure in 10th century northern Europe has a very appealing young hero, Orm Tostesson, whose story we follow from inexperienced youth to adventurous old age, through slavery and adventure to a royal marriage and the search for great treasure. Viking expeditions take him to lands as far apart as England, Moorish Spain, Gaardarike (the country that was to become Russia), and the long road to Miklagard. The salt-sea spray, the swaying deck awash in slippery blood are the backdrop to fascinating stories of King Harald Blue Tooth, the Jomsvikings, attempts to convert the Northmen to Christianity, and much else. Like H. Rider Haggard, Bengtsson is a master of the epic form.

My Reaction:
This was to have been a shared read with Donald, but we didn't get very far.  I think we were only 16 or 17% through the book (having skipped the introduction for fear of spoilers) when we decided that we just weren't that into this saga.

My main interest in the book was that it was about the Vikings and written by a Swede.  Donald (my husband) is Swedish, so I thought this might be something we could both enjoy.  I don't really know much about the Vikings, but obviously they're one of the more exciting parts of Scandinavian history, so I was curious.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the book was boring, but it wasn't exactly gripping, either.  You know that nothing too terrible will happen to Orm, since he's the hero of the saga and has to live at least until the end.  That knowledge takes away much of the suspense you might otherwise feel on his behalf, which has a flattening effect.

However, I think what bothered me more was that the novel suffers from "Too Much Action Syndrome".  It's just a fairly simple, straightforward cataloging of the events of a fictional character's life.  "And then he did this, and then he did that, and then (after a spate of lackluster poetry) he did this other thing."

Aside from our hero and Krok (who does stand out, as the leader of the expedition), one character is hardly distinguishable from the next-- or at least we both had a hard time remembering who was who and what their names were.  In keeping with the rest of the book, the characterization felt shallow.

There wasn't enough conversation, charm, and distinct personality (to suit my tastes).  Maybe this changes for the better, later in the book, but we tired of waiting for more depth and color in the tale.

I'm disappointed that we didn't enjoy this more.  It wasn't dreadful, but we weren't excited to keep reading.  After my recent capitulation to the interminable The Far Pavilions (and the flood of elation that followed), I didn't hesitate to suggest that we could set this aside as a DNF, and so we did.

Maybe one or the other of us will try reading it with better luck, at some point in the future.  If so, I suspect it will be Donald who conquers Red Orm; this has been another reminder that sagas really aren't for me.

Since I haven't come close to finishing it, I feel guilty giving it a star rating, but since goodreads seems to require that, I'll have to give two stars...

DNF: The Far Pavilions

The Far Pavilions
by M. M. Kaye

(My Ruthlessly Edited Version of the) Blurb:

This sweeping epic set in 19th-century India begins in the foothills of the towering Himalayas and follows the adventures (and romance) of Ashton/Ashok/Ash.  A young orphan born to English parents but raised as an Indian, he struggles to belong completely in either culture. 

(Some think that) M.M. Kaye's masterwork is a vast, rich and vibrant tapestry of love and war that ranks with the greatest panoramic sagas of modern fiction.

My Reaction:
I have been slogging arduously through this "saga" for months and months (because I've lacked motivation to read, not because it's at all challenging material), only to finally decide that the time has come to throw in the towel and let this become a DNF (Did Not Finish).

The novel started off promisingly enough, and I did enjoy parts of it and was touched by aspects of it (Ash's adoptive mother, Sita, in particular), but the enjoyable moments became too few and far between, and I eventually recognized that there wasn't anything that could happen in the remaining quarter of the book to make it worth continuing to read.  So I just skimmed the rest!

I found that my two main predictions proved correct...

SPOILERS FOLLOW!!
.
.
.
.
(Wally dies; Ash and Anjuli go off in search of their peaceful valley in the Himalayas)
.
.
.
.

...which was all I even remotely cared to know, at that point, and skipping to the end means that I probably saved myself another month or two of forcing myself to read something I no longer wanted to read.  (Ah, sweet relief!)  Basically, I spared myself the Second Afghan War portion of the novel, and I count myself lucky. 

The Far Pavilions has 964 pages.  A book that long might be okay if it's a real page-turner.  This was not one of those books.  Also, the novel seems to have been promoted as more of a romance than it really is, so there's an element of false advertisement.  (Though to be honest, I don't think a stronger emphasis on the romance would've helped in this case, because this author's version of romance leaves me cold... It's not her strong suit, imho.)

If you're interested in the history of India as part of the British Empire, give this a look.  Personally, I found it just didn't keep me interested enough, so I rarely wanted to read it, which is a very bad quality in such a long book!  Part of the problem is that I'm probably just not cut out for sagas.  Terribly sorry, but I get bored; I got bored, and now I'm so so so happy to put this book behind me and never look back.

I'm giving it three stars because while I just couldn't find the will to finish it, parts of it were good.  I think it deserves three stars despite my difficulties with it.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All

by Laird Barron

Blurb:

Over the course of two award-winning collections and a critically acclaimed novel, The Croning, Laird Barron has arisen as one of the strongest and most original literary voices in modern horror and the dark fantastic. Melding supernatural horror with hardboiled noir, espionage, and a scientific backbone, Barron’s stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards. 

Barron returns with his third collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Collecting interlinking tales of sublime cosmic horror, including “Blackwood’s Baby”, “The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven”, and “The Men from Porlock”, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All delivers enough spine-chilling horror to satisfy even the most jaded reader.

My Reaction:
In the interest of full disclosure, I should acknowledge right away that I stopped reading after 70%, skimmed the next story ("Vastation"), and stopped even skimming after that. Technically, this is a DNF (did not finish).

I tend to think I'll enjoy short stories more than I actually do. Short stories simply don't (typically) offer the kind of character development and longer-arc story-telling that I like best, and they are frequently (unsatisfyingly) open-ended. There are exceptions, and I'm tempted by short story collections that sound promising-- but even when I enjoy them, I find them more work to read than a novel and requiring more motivation to finish. This collection was no exception.

Still, even as a person who wants to like short stories but often struggles with them, I can say something positive about these. First, I appreciate that at least I could more or less understand what was happening in (most of) them. (Parts of the first story were a little disorienting, though, and "Vastation" was definitely out there.) Sometimes it seems that short story writers take pride in being incomprehensible, laboring under the misconception that if the reader has any grasp of what is happening (much less why), it's a sign that the author lacks that ineffable something.

I also found more of these stories to have true conclusions than I've come to expect from modern short stories. Conclusions! A satisfying sense that the story has come to an intentional end rather than just keeling over in mid-stride! Amazing!

Actually, it's funny that I keep seeing reviewers complaining-- or maybe simply commenting-- that these stories lack cut-and-dried conclusions. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I have the impression that I knew basically where most of the stories/characters were headed, at the end.  (Not-quite-a-spoiler alert: Usually, death or a fate worse than.) In any case, that I at least felt there was a sense of conclusion was good enough for me, I guess!

Then there's the writing itself, which is skillful. It's not quite to my personal taste, but I'd say it's well-crafted (if rather self-conscious).

Now for the negatives. I've already admitted that I'm probably just not the ideal reader for most modern short stories. Well, that's not the only reason I found myself unwilling to keep reading. Unfortunately, I find this style of horror ineffective. I'm not sure whether it's more properly called "cosmic horror" or "the weird"-- or even "Lovecraftian horror"-- but it just doesn't usually work on me.  Some of "the weird" that I've come across (in my limited forays into the genre) have given me distinct moments of "The Creeps", but it's certainly not my go-to genre for all my spine-chilling, goosefleshing needs. At some point, I just find these stories of Infinite Weirdness... boring.

As others have noted, it's impossible to care what happens to most of these characters-- with the exception of "The Redfield Girls". However, unlikable, unsympathetic characters seem to be rather more common than not in this type of story. (Rather like those horror movies that apparently desire you to hate the characters so much that you won't mind seeing them finished off one by one.)

There was also a bit more gore than I like.  I can deal with some of it-- especially if it seems necessary for the story/book, but gross-out/body horror-- while it does gross me well and truly out-- is not what I'm looking for in horror. I'm that weirdo who finds all the gratuitously grody zombie close-ups/zombo-cameos in The Walking Dead uninteresting, if not outright annoying.  ("Look, we get it: Zombies be decomposin'. Now, can we get back to the survival story?!") These stories aren't even that extreme, in the realm of gross horror, but it was gross enough often enough that I noticed I was skimming to sidestep the blood and guts.  Blugh.

...So, anyway... If you love cosmic horror, you should give these stories a try. If you're left cold by the unknowable Blah-Blah-Blah drifting in from some dark corner of the universe (like some sort of scary, gargantuan, blood-feasting jellyfish), maybe it's not worth the effort.

I see that many reviewers particularly enjoyed the last two stories, which I skipped, so I may go back and read them, if/when the mood returns. However, unless there's something unexpected in those last two tales, whatever it is that inspires such adulation from this author's many fans will remain a mystery to me!

I'm rounding up to a 3, but really, this is more of a 2.5 for me.

Half Way Home

Half Way Home
by Hugh Howey


Blurb:

Five hundred of us were sent to colonize this planet. Only fifty or so survived.

We woke up fifteen years too early, we had only half our training, and they expected us to not only survive... They expected us to conquer this place.

The problem is: it isn't safe here.

We aren't even safe from each other.

My Reaction:
(This was a DNF-- Did Not Finish.  First, I tried this as a shared read with Donald, selected on a whim because it was a temporary freebie.  We got bored and abandoned it, but I decided to continue on my own, thinking it might be better suited for reading alone.  I didn't get very far before giving up in disgust and skimming the last two chapters.)

The premise was promising, and it started out pretty well, but before long it felt as though the author stepped aside and let someone else pick up where he'd left off.  The quality of the writing went downhill, and I was endlessly irritated by the author's sledgehammer-weight "social issues" overtones.  Prepare for a heavy-handed message of "religion is bad/dangerous (and believers are insufferable and stupid)".  Oh, and you'll thrill to the totally-not-done-to-death cliche of the evil corporations that care about nothing but profit.  There's also a very odd focus on a character's sexuality (see spoiler section below).  That's not really what I expect (or want) to be the focus of a book that's ostensibly a sci-fi tale of survival in a hostile environment!

Amusingly (?), there's also a bit toward the end that is rather scathingly anti-abortion (see section below for direct quote), which I imagine would displease many of the same readers who thoroughly enjoyed the other "messages" in the book... Sure, in this book the ones being aborted are 15-year-olds-- so obviously it's wrong-wrong-wrong-- but we mustn't have the word "abortion" being sullied by association.  Didn't the author get the memo that it's not cool to question the morality of abortion?

I didn't realize this was supposed to be YA literature until after I'd started reading it-- and to be honest, I probably wouldn't have chosen it, if I'd known.  Some YA lit is great, but there's just so much dross to wade through to find the good ones-- unless you have a reliable recommendation to steer you aright.  (Of course, that's not true for just YA...)

I enjoyed the author's Wool series (though even those I felt were uneven in quality-- strong in premise, somewhat weaker in execution), but this was not nearly as interesting (beyond the "intro" section).  When I read his novella, The Hurricane, I had a similar sense of disappointment-- though that at least I managed to finish reading.  (That, too, was written for a YA audience; make of that what you will.)  Too bad... I wouldn't recommend this.


Specifics (with SPOILERS):
--The narrator is homosexual, and in the first quarter of the book that I read before skipping to the end, he seemed to struggle to come to terms with this fact.  It just kept cropping up, which felt weird and uncomfortable-- and frankly, completely out of place, given what I thought the focus of the book was going to be (i.e. a fight for survival on an alien planet).

Then, to make things even stranger, it's revealed at the end of the book that all the psychologists for the various colonization groups have been carefully selected to be homosexual (because apparently it's as easy as looking for some handy dandy gay gene).  Each psychologist is the only gay colonist in his/her group.  Since they won't be able to have a romantic relationship with another colonist, these psychologists will be completely impartial and clear-eyed (or something).  Enforced celibacy/monkhood.  Um, okay...  Yeah, it's not like people can form platonic bonds strong enough to make them emotionally involved, biased, or whatever else.

--"Note the pit in the earth where Geiger counters register the death of five hundred potential humans.  And know that you killed more than just them in your ruthless calculations.  You killed every generation that may have come after, if only you'd given them a chance."

If this sentiment is true when applied to 15-year-old colonists-in-goo, why isn't it true when applied to a fetus/unborn child?  Believe what you will.  Speak and vote for what you want-- but be honest with yourself about the results of what you're advocating.  (No wonder some readers get in a twist over this aspect of the book!)

--One review I've skimmed indicates that there are caterpillar-type creatures with golden poop.  As in, their "droppings" are literally made of gold.  (insert blank expression here)  If that's true... I no longer feel the slightest twinge of regret for giving this a one-star rating.

After the People Lights Have Gone Off

After the People Lights Have Gone Off
by Stephen Graham Jones


Blurb:

This collection of fifteen stories taps into the horrors and fears of the supernatural as well as the everyday. Included are two original stories, several rarities and out of print tales, as well as a few "best of the year" inclusions. Stephen Graham Jones is a master storyteller. What does happen after the people lights have gone off? Crack the spine and find out.

My Reaction:
I was drawn to this book by its eerie title and cover art (the twilight scene of a woman facing a house with a lit upstairs window), so I decided to give it a try.  Modern short stories can be hit or miss with me, and this was my first experience with this author, but it had a lot of positive reviews.

Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that this author's style just isn't right for me.  I've read four of the stories, and while each had some promising moments, the pay-off isn't there (again, for me).  I think part of the problem is that the endings are (usually) too ambiguous for my tastes.  I don't expect everything to be spelled out in a horror short story, but I could use a few more dots to help with the connecting.

I'm not enjoying it much, so it's time to declare this a DNF (Did Not Finish) and move on to something else.

(I may go back and read the title story, though, as that's what drew me to the collection in the first place-- and because I've seen some reviewers who seemed to think it was the strongest of the bunch.  If I find I have more to say after reading it, I'll come back and edit this entry.  Otherwise...)

Ravenscroft

Ravenscroft

by Dorothy Eden

My Reaction:

This is a DNF (Did Not Finish).  I couldn't get into it.  From the very beginning it felt "off", so I looked it up online and saw that though it has a decent rating overall, there are plenty of readers who dislike it.  Despite those bad reviews and my own misgivings, I determined to give it a second chance, but as soon as Guy was introduced, my patience came to an end.  Somehow I'd missed reading the blurb, so I didn't realize this was going to be a "husband obsessed with his dead wife struggles with his attraction to a new woman" plot.  No, I don't like that angle in a romance.  It has about as much appeal as the "baby romance" genre.  Not for me.  Moving on!

Oh, and I've seen one or two claims that this is the author's best work... Yeesh... Remind me to save myself some time by scratching her off my "to read" list!

DNF: Becoming Jane Eyre

Becoming Jane Eyre
by Sheila Kohler


Publisher's Blurb:

The year is 1846. In a cold parsonage on the gloomy Yorkshire moors, a family seems cursed with disaster. A mother and two children dead. A father sick, without fortune, and hardened by the loss of his two most beloved family members. A son destroyed by alcohol and opiates. And three strong, intelligent young women, reduced to poverty and spinsterhood, with nothing to save them from their fate. Nothing, that is, except their remarkable literary talent.

So unfolds the story of the Brontë sisters. At its center are Charlotte and the writing of Jane Eyre. Delicately unraveling the connections between one of fiction's most indelible heroines and the remarkable woman who created her, Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre will appeal to fans of historical fiction and, of course, the millions of readers who adore Jane Eyre.

 
My Reaction: 
In a hurry to find entertainment for some time on the treadmill, I grabbed this library book sale purchase from a bookcase.  The first chapter was enough to tell me that it's not for me, though I did skim a little through the book and read the last several pages just to confirm that it didn't get better.

I didn't like the weird choice of "present continuous" tense.

I didn't like the switching back and forth between Charlotte's and her father's point of view.  (It's Becoming Jane Eyre.  I don't want Charlotte's father's p.o.v.!)

I didn't like the inclusion of medical crap or the memories of Charlotte's mother's agonizingly slow death.  Please, no.  Not now, not ever. 

I just... didn't like anything about it, really.

This one will be going into the donation box, immediately.

DNF: The Singing River

The Singing River
by R.K. Ryals


Why I didn't finish:
What grabbed my interest in the blurb was the setting-- Pascagoula.  That's not terribly far from here, and I was curious to see how the author (a native of Mississippi) would present the region.  Also, there was mention of a legend ("the singing river") that I'd never really heard about.

Now, if I'd stayed with the book, I assume there would eventually have been more about the legend, but it was just taking too long getting there, and it became clear that the story was really more about family drama and "real life problems" than I'd expected or wanted. (Yes, you read that right.  I'm a shallow person who reads for pleasure and doesn't like too much "real life" creeping in.  What's your point?)

There were some nice local touches.  Butter beans.  Purple-hull peas.  A glass of milk and cornbread. (With the cornbread in the glass with the milk.  I've never eaten it, but I've heard about it.  I think it was more common a couple of generations ago.)  The incessant summertime noise of insects.  The heat and humidity.

But there were also things I didn't really love-- such as all the talk about "blue bloods", meaning "old money".  I don't think I've ever heard anyone seriously use that term, but these people bandied it about like it was in regular, daily use.  Maybe it is, in Pascagoula.  Not a couple of counties over, though-- or at least, not in my circle.

I could go into more reasons I wasn't compelled to finish, but what it comes down to is this:  I don't think it's an awful book, but it's not for me. 

DNF: The Third Floor

The Third Floor
by C. Dennis Moore


Not-a-Blurb: 
It's a scary book about a man, woman, and little boy who move into a haunted house in a creepy Missouri town.  (They don't know it's haunted until after they've moved in, btw.  In case you were wondering. ;oP)


My Reaction:
My second DNF in as many days!  Maybe I'm too picky...

I don't want to be mean, but it's just not very well written.  It has a distinctly amateurish feeling.  (Even with its irritants, Cocaine Blues at least had a fairly professional, finished style.)  It might have some interesting moments, later on, but the beginning didn't bode well-- and at this point, I'm done slogging through books just because I've started reading them.