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Book Mini-Reviews
Before You Leap by Keith Houghton - A Kindle First book obviously intended to appeal to fans of Fight Club, featuring a main character so up his own ass that he could brush his teeth from back there. As this is told from the first-person viewpoint of that character (and the prose is almost Lovecraftian in its purpleness), it’s hard to believe that the author isn’t just as much up his own ass, prone to sweeping pronouncements about the nature of all men or all women, and why despite his crippling deficiencies (the character is prone to stress-induced blackouts) he’s a cut above them. The ending, by the way, decides to skip the obvious buildup and claim it was a double-twist, which makes significantly less sense than Kyle being Tyler Durden. Eve, on the other hand, is exactly what you’d expect. Meh.
Rewinder by Brett Battles - A cute little YA time-travel adventure, so long as a) you don’t think about it too hard and b) you don’t mind a little America, Fuck Yeah! Denny is a low-caste citizen of the North America British Empire in 2015, until he’s recruited into the time-traveling Upjohn Institute and accidentally screws up all of history. He then proceeds to bounce around our world’s present until he decides which world deserves saving. (No guesses which he eventually picks.) I don’t think I’ll hunt down the sequel, but I was entertained.
Why Me? by Sarah Burleton - A memoir by a child abuse survivor best described as misery porn. It made me sick to my stomach and made me want to just hug ARR for hours. I have no idea why I thought reading this would be a good idea.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Creepy yet adorable, a trademark Gaiman blend of terrifying things and childlike innocence. I suspect that if I read this to ARR in a couple of years, he wouldn’t find it particularly frightening at all—it isn’t presented as frightening, for the most part it’s presented with childlike wonder. But the same story in a different tone, or to an adult who understands all of what’s going on? The stuff of nightmares. Like most things Gaiman has written, this is highly recommended.
Rewinder by Brett Battles - A cute little YA time-travel adventure, so long as a) you don’t think about it too hard and b) you don’t mind a little America, Fuck Yeah! Denny is a low-caste citizen of the North America British Empire in 2015, until he’s recruited into the time-traveling Upjohn Institute and accidentally screws up all of history. He then proceeds to bounce around our world’s present until he decides which world deserves saving. (No guesses which he eventually picks.) I don’t think I’ll hunt down the sequel, but I was entertained.
Why Me? by Sarah Burleton - A memoir by a child abuse survivor best described as misery porn. It made me sick to my stomach and made me want to just hug ARR for hours. I have no idea why I thought reading this would be a good idea.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - Creepy yet adorable, a trademark Gaiman blend of terrifying things and childlike innocence. I suspect that if I read this to ARR in a couple of years, he wouldn’t find it particularly frightening at all—it isn’t presented as frightening, for the most part it’s presented with childlike wonder. But the same story in a different tone, or to an adult who understands all of what’s going on? The stuff of nightmares. Like most things Gaiman has written, this is highly recommended.