I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am Pilgrim is the best fiction book I have read in years! Terry Hayes is a master storyteller. He weaves an alluring, investigative thriller surrounding a plot to unleash hell on earth. The book has another crime storyline that just barely kisses up to the main story but adds to the overall excitement. It follows a member of the intelligence community and one of the most calculating & devious villains I have ever seen. He is out for revenge and will stop at nothing to get it. The planning and execution is unbelievably detailed. I love how we find out little bits at a time. I found myself getting frustrated and agitated with the antagonist (but I loved it!) which drew me in deeper. It was the mark of a well written character. The story integrates multiple characters, timelines, and plots but it is done seamlessly. There is murder, secrets, high stakes, and great locations. It has a great balance of good and evil as well as successes and failures. The see-saw of it all was amazing. I love how in the first chapter or so the reader is thrown for a loop and I was made to check my assumptions. There was a part where I felt physically nauseous due to what was happening and the description. A book that can elicit physical reactions also rates high for me. I cannot identify one detracting factor, so I am going to go out on a limb and say this novel is perfection! The main character comes alive and it is like you are along for the ride. He is portrayed so well, and he has faults too, so it makes it more realistic and engaging. He makes mistakes which heightens the pressure and stakes. The scenarios are full of energy and tension. The little hints and foreshadows at the end of chapters just basically forced me to keep going. Terry Hayes is funny and clever writer. The way he phrases things is great. “A rope of gold chains around his neck big enough to anchor a cruise line.” I did not want to put it down. I didn’t want to go to sleep. I toyed with calling in sick to work (I didn’t but I wanted to) just so I can read some more. If I could give it 6 stars I would. This should move to the top of everyone’s TBR pile immediately.
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Author: kgpeters
Life is Short And How to Make it Shorter So You Don’t Have to Read This
Life Is Short: An Appropriately Brief Guide to Making It More Meaningful by Dean Rickles
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Well, this book is about the shortness of life I guess. I know at several points while reading I wished my life was a lot shorter. It was supposed to convey how to approach life realizing that death and limitations were a good thing. It allows humans to be intentional about how we live our life as our decisions actually mean something. “Limit gives birth to freedom.” There were some good one liners and advice that I captured but I have heard it explained elsewhere and in a much easier to swallow pill. I also found that there were tons of quoting others. It ruined the flow and made me think what thoughts did the author contribute. This read like a textbook from a highly pretentious college. It was very, very dense and difficult to read. I struggled and rolled my eyes multiple times. Some days I could only read a couple pages before I had to step away. Dean Rickles was unnecessarily lofty and his prose was meandering. I also question some of his beliefs around religion and that without humans the universe would be pointless. I don’t want to spend any additional time thinking about this book as it has already taken too much of my life. Do not read. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman is a thousand times better than Life is Short.
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Sleepwalking Through Life and Other Disasters To Wake Up The World
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Station Eleven is a tale about multiple characters and a pandemic that wiped out an untold amount of people here on the planet. It jumps between moments in time and locations. I actually liked how this was done. Sometimes, when authors choose this path, it can be confusing and annoying but, in this case, it heightened the suspense and investment in the story. I felt like I was taken by the hand and brought along for the journey as I was experiencing everything firsthand. I did like Miranda a lot as she seemed chill and had an approach to life like “well this is how it is”. The author drops these little nuggets of foreshadowing that creates an ominous read which drew me in and I was hooked by page 25. I have always like disaster or survival stories and this one fits the bill wonderfully. I loved how Star Trek was mentioned at several points and a key phrase as the mantra of one group. I am a huge Star Trek nerd and it made me smile. Emily St. John Mandel does an amazing job of connecting people and events. She weaves a history and connectedness between things that is brilliant. There was a scene where a snow globe gets described but then also all the people and steps it took to make it, including truck drivers and people that package the globe. The way she also points out explicitly and aptly what life was like before and how humans interacted with the world was perfection. The depth and brilliance are lyrical. There was a description of friendship with respect to expectations and the work needed that really resonated with me. I was immersed in the world and enveloped by the prose. As one character put it, were they (are we?) just sleepwalking through life with our jobs, life, and what counts for happiness? Clark mused on in his past how he would take redeyes from NYC to LA and marvel at the sun rising as “the world was waking up.” Maybe, the world does really need to wake up and this is what took it to happen. Overall, this was a superbly written novel that brings forth all the feels and is so strongly rooted in possible reality to make it scarily relatable.
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Bored To Death and Other Queer, Geeky Ways To Die
Board to Death by C.J. Connor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is about 30-year-old guy who chooses to come back to Utah and help run a board game shop for his father as his father was diagnosed with a medical issue. He is gay and recently divorced. A shop owner neighbor comes into his life as a murder takes place on his doorstep. The murder seems to revolve around an original game that predates Monopoly. There is a small amount of romance and an even smaller amount of mystery. I am not sure how to classify this one. I cannot find a genre to place it in. The book dips it’s toe into a few different classification pools but never takes the plunge. The main character, Ben, annoyed me slightly. I am not a fan of the meek, easily scared, or pitiful literary trope and unfortunately Ben fits this mold. Granted, it is not as strong with him as other characters, but it still applies. There were two quotes that I did enjoy though. “I loved attempting to read Dune. It was so much easier to accomplish than actually finishing it.” I relate as I have attempted several times to get more than 50 pages into that novel. The other I thought was funny and unique was “I’d had a bowl of Thin Mints doused in milk for breakfast, for goodness sakes. You can’t ethically expose the world to yourself when you are in that state of mind.” Sadly, two good quotes do not a good novel make. Ben was not a good sleuth (he just started giving all his own information away at one point) and it felt that he had no impact on moving the story along. I can’t recall of anything he did by himself. It was bland but a very easy read. I did like that it had queer elements though. You can skip Board to Death and play Solitaire instead.
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Zen Affirmation Repetition and A Must Read For Billionaires
The Zen Monkey and the Lotus Flower: 52 Stories to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Thoughts, Find Happiness, and Live Your Best Life by Tenpa Yeshe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a collection of parables about how to approach living your life. It provides guiding principles and meditations on improving your mindset. There are 52 stories, which is perfect for reading one a week. I don’t think this was meant to be read in like a few sittings, front to back. I think it would have a bigger impact and make more sense to choose one to read at the start of the week. This would be a good book to have as reference material so that when you are preparing for the day or need a pick me up you can just grab it and find a story that would apply to your present situation. It has some helpful and useful guiding thoughts, but it does not have any new mind-blowing reveals. It is wisdom that we have all heard before but it is nice to hear it again. The stories are cute and they frame it in a way that helps it sink in. I did end up taking many notes. However, there were a couple things that bugged me. First, there is a lot of repetition regarding the topics. More than one story revolved around being one with nature, gratitude, letting go, change, and being in the present moment. Granted, it might help to hammer home the points, and this highlights the fact that reading a story a week would be the way to go but it caused some eye-rolling. Even some of the names of characters repeated in different stories. Also, there were some rehashing of story beginnings. Tons of characters were dissatisfied or restless. There might have been a type or complete nonsense in one story. I think there is one huge takeaway that can sum up how to go forth from this book. “It is in our hands to shape ourselves and determine who we really want to be.” I think this should be a must read for billionaires and people in power.
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The Existence As a Jellyfish and Other Poignant Ways To Survive Life
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby in his own words. It is sad but incredible how the book actually got written and learning about what he had to endure. It covers the time he spent in hospital as well the day it all happened. It is a short book with short chapters. You are able to quickly get through it but there is something that makes you want to slow down and really try and understand what is being described. When reading I totally forgot that he was French and that this was taking place in France until the communication system was outlined. It is amazing what he was able to convey with only his left eye. His writing comes across beautifully. He evokes a sense of longing and sadness but doesn’t come across in a woe-is-me way. Jean-Dominique is funny and witty such as when he states “his communication system disqualifies repartee” and “not only was I…reduced to the existence of a jellyfish.” He doesn’t take himself too seriously and allows the reader to reflect on his use of his imagination when his “mind takes flight like a butterfly.” The title that gets sprinkled throughout is poignant and uplifting. His reflections point the readers to enjoy the little everyday moments or “gusts of happiness”. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly allows the reader to slow down and absorb how life could change in a moment.
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Hawthorne Is An Asshole And Other Manipulations
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is about an ass of a detective and an easily manipulated writer with boundary issues. The writer is orchestrated into writing this book, as evident by the book in hand, and it follows an investigation into the death a woman who plans her funeral hours before her murder. We get a first-person account which allows the reader to join in on the adventure and the inner thoughts of the author. I really did enjoy the structure and concept behind the book. A writer writes about himself in a semi-fictional world, in which he creates this intriguing story but interweaves real people, shows, and movies. The name drops are cool and London is a great setting. It did interest me right away and I found it an easy read. It was quick and held my attention throughout. There were phrasings throughout that were teasing and playful which made me smirk. However, there were things that I definitely did not like. As mentioned above, in my opinion, the detective is an ass. He had only 1 redeeming quality and that was his intelligence and shrewdness (is that technically two?). Otherwise, he is a jerk who is manipulative and doesn’t care how he interjects himself into other people’s lives or how he affects others. He doesn’t even have the courtesy to pay for him own stuff. There are plenty of manipulative (on his account) behaviors and boundary issues (on both the main character’s part) in this book. The writer just can’t say no. As the reader, I can see it plain as day and I did not like it. There were also a couple discrepancies that bothered me and the common phrase in these novels that popped up, “I should have stopped.” There was one other characteristic that made me despise the detective, which I won’t mention so you can find out for yourself. Overall, it had some really good aspects and some aspects that really got under my skin. I will see what the next book in the series brings though.
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Intrigue, Codes, and Fun at Bletchley!
The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a very fun read! I do start out a little annoyed by one of the characters. I get the typical precocious young person character, but I did find myself saying shut up and listen in my head once or twice. Maybe it is because I am getting older or something. She did grow on me, and I definitely found myself on her side through the remainder of the book though. The mystery of finding out the truth and following clues/riddles is a genre I like. Can I figure it out? Do I want to figure it out? Code breaking and the intelligence aspect is intriguing. It is a quick and enjoyable read. It kept me engaged and I wanted to keep going to find out what happens. I finished it within a day. The bones of the setting and story are based in truth including Bletchley Park and Alan Turing with World War II going on. I love when books do that. They add fictionalized elements to something historical that is interesting already. There were many topics I had to look up and get some more real-life information on including buildings and people. I love learning which is one reason I love to read. The sibling relationship was relatable and believable. There were several supporting characters who I enjoyed such as Colin, the local boy, and his mom. The author created a couple characters to create obstacles and it helped create tension. It is definitely a young reader novel but it is still worth it as an adult. It is easy and entertaining.
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The Charred Corpse Of An Overwritten Novel
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I found this book to be overwritten, long, and convoluted. It was over complicated for no reason and it could be about 200 pages shorter. The writing should be more concise as the subject of a sentence was hard to identify in places. There were many connections made throughout the novel, harkening back to earlier moments but a majority didn’t have the impact that maybe the author thought they would. It was an ok cool reveal but many times I did not really care. There were several nods and winks to real world things which was cute as well as some phrases that struck me as thought provoking. I did take note of several while I was reading including “an ocean of knowledge is apt to drown you long before it educates you. The art of learning was in selection.” Many caused me to smile while reading. I also think there was too much left open and unresolved. There were too many things that didn’t have clear explanation, and it left me unsatisfied while reading. I like world building books but if they are drastically different than ours then some things need to pointed out directly. There was just too much that was invented that was left unsaid. I did like many of the characters and there were well developed as the main ones each felt distinct. I did like the little quotes before each chapter as well. There was a light pull to see what would happen next but I think it was more to do with searching for a reason why I was reading this tome versus dying to know what happened. Yes, this novel was about books and a library (which drew me to it) but I don’t think I would call it literary. The overall theme and concept was not clear and I don’t think I could really explain the point of the book. It wasn’t that big words were used but that the sentences were, at times, needlessly unclear. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was a monumental undertaking that collapsed under its own weight. There was like this cloud was hanging around in my brain the entire time I was reading and I couldn’t get into it. While reading, I was not hit by any strong emotions including any reaction to what was pushed as a love story. It was almost like reading a textbook.
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This Is Not A Shipwreck Of A Novel
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. David Grann is a great author and really knows how to tell a story. He interweaves facts & quotes well and brings the characters to life. He has this awesome ability to pick riveting subject matter and animate it. I cannot wait to see what he comes out with next. I absolutely loved Killers of the Flower Moon. The Wager was something that caught my eye at Barnes and I had to pick it up. It was a monthly pick and one of the best books of 2023 plus I love history. The drama and characters kept this book tied to my hand until I had to finish. The way the story was structured and the viewpoints that were used helped to give different perspectives. The added information sprinkled through the storytelling on how life on a ship looked and the struggles was flavorful. The pictures and maps added something as well. I am a person who must have his phone next to him when he reads as I am constantly looking things up. If there is a location, figure, or topic mentioned that sounds remotely interesting I pull up the search engine. I like to learn a little more about what I am reading. I did this a ton with this book. The way that history connects is fascinating. I also do this with words I don’t know or think I know but want confirmation and the true, full definition. Now I was unsatisfied by the ending and the imperialism angered me, but this is hardly the fault of the author. He is bringing a story to life and the fact that I had a strong reaction strengthens my thoughts on Mr. Grann as an author. The follow-up, research, and commentary were top-notch. Pick this up and read it.
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