la-luz-mala
Cryptid's Reading Nook
34 / F / Argentina
FrontEnd dev, gamer, reader
This is where I back up my book reviews & where I post the mean ones.
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2023 Reading Wrap Up
Hiya everyone!
So 2023 happened, huh? Pretty chill year, nestled between COVID years and the wild start of 2024 we had in Argentina. So I completely forgot about Tumblrs existence except for Astarion fan edits! Here’s to a better year, productivity wise and every-other-aspect-wise.
Reading wise 2023 was fantastic for me. I read more books by more diverse folks and stepped outside my genre comfort zone (with good results!). So here are the details, with graphs!
2023 Goal Vs. 2023 Reality
Woah woah woah! This year I exceeded my goal courtesy of reading comics. I debated whether to add them to the list or not but in the end I decided that yes, I’d count them, seeing as:
I actually read them and they’re a book-adjacent media (are picture books still books? are graphic novels still books? yea they are)
I’m not competing with anybody so who cares
I don’t want to end up not reading comics because they won’t count towards my goal. Am I an idiot? Yes, a bit.
While on it, my average to finish a book is 6 days - averages are lies, some books I read within the day and one specific fantasy book took the entirety of November!
2023 Ratings
Look at all those 5 stars! Lucky me, enjoying stuff so much lol
It’s rare that I pick up a book without reading the blurb and reviews to figure out if it’s actually a fit for me, and on top of that I’m a positive reader: if the book has anything that works for me it’s likely I’ll enjoy it despite any defects, at most dropping it to a 4. Lastly, like in all things in life, having the bar reasonably low allows me to enjoy most things and not be disappointed all that often.
2023 Genres read
Whenever I pop into a bookstore I’ll beeline to the SciFi, fantasy or horror shelves. In 2022 I decided to diversify my reading by choosing either the winner or one of the runner ups of each genre in Goodreads Choice Awards, but kinda forgot about this in 2023 - still, my 2022 plan clearly made an impact as it’s not a 3 wedges pie chart!
2023 Part of a Series Vs. Standalone
Pretty balanced, but the real question is: did I finish any series? How many of those did I just start and abandon? At a quick glance… I only finished one series (ACOTAR), continued a bunch and started some others. I might have trouble committing.
2023 Author stats
These stats might be irrelevant for some people, but as a lifelong horror fan I realized I was reading mostly white men - decided to widen the pool a bit and it’s a smidge better - still have a ways to go.
2024 Goals
Based on these stats, I set some goals for this year:
Read more books: This one is basic, I’ve been increasing my goal by 10 every year so I’d have to set it to 60 but as I’m now tracking both manga and graphic novels I’m setting it to 90 books. Wish me luck!
Read more books by women and LGBT authors: my favourite genres are unfortunately dominated by white men, so this requires some legwork - for now I already have some women authors I’m interested in and will have to do some more research on authors before purchasing.
Read more BIPOC and non-global-north white authors: I swear I’m not trying to be complicated, it’s just that whiteness is a complicated term when including LATAM - would you say Borges was white or Latin American? Because he was definitely both. So what I’ll try is to include BIPOC or non-global-north white authors. This will also require legwork - small indie books don’t really hit the shelves here in Argentina, so I’ll have to both purchase more local authors and request more BIPOC authored books in NetGalley.
Finish a series: Self-explanatory - I’ll pick one or more of the series I started last year and finish it before starting a new one.
Read more manga & graphic novels: Already started on this one!
If you're still reading, thank you for bearing with me this far! In any case, I hope to use this posts as some form of track record and for accountability :) Wish me luck for this 2024!
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{June 2022} Annihilation
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 34/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Pages: 210
Main genre: SciFi - Horror
Serial?: Southern Reach #1
Release date: 2014
Saw an amazing movie at Netflix that led to this amazing book which led to following the author in Twitter and enjoying since then daily updates on his back yard wildlife reservation. Honestly couldn't be happier.
The book itself is pretty great - especially if you enjoy twisted nature horror.
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{June 2022} Los peligros de fumar en la cama
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 33/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Mariana Enríquez
Pages: 221
Main genre: Horror
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 2009
A compilation of short horror stories - with noticeable influence from master of horror Horacio Quiroga. Honestly an amazing book, definitely recommended if you're looking for Argentine (or just non-american) horror authors.
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{June 2022} The Shunned House
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 32/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: H. P. Lovecraft
Pages: 48
Main genre: Horror
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 1937
{Woops! No review here due to: I'm lazy.
Also: was Lovecraft a horrible racist creep? Yes. Was he also the father of cosmic horror and a huge influence in all my media likes and dislikes? Also yes.}
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{June 2022} Pyramids
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 31/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Terry Pratchett
Pages: 341
Main genre: Fantasy, Humor
Serial?: Discworld #7
Release date: 1989
{Woops! No review here due to: I'm lazy. But if you like fantasy & haven't read the Discworld books go ahead and do it! They're amazing.}
#2022#2022 reading challenge#fantasy#sir terry pratchett#pyramids#discworld#bookish#boolkr#favs#books recommendations
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{May 2022} Eye Bleach
{May 2022 - Originally published on Goodreads}
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 30/40}
★ (1/5)
Author: Paul E. Creasy
Pages: 347
Main genre: Horror (not really)
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 2018
🚨🚨Spoilers ahead🚨🚨
(not that you should care, this book is terrible and I advise avoiding it)
I'm honestly surprised this book has so many good reviews, it was a real struggle to finish it. What stood out, among other issues:
- The story is only barely related to the blurb - UVid is just an excuse to take the main character out of NY and to tell the reader about her controversial methods, and it stops being relevant right after.
- Dialogue is unrealistic and unnecessarily long-winded - when people chat it's usually not a monologue with quick quips from the other person that only serve as footholds to continue the rant. There's also something to say about how people actually talk to strangers - a priest who is probably in his 60s enters a crystal & ¿wicca? shop and the clerk proceeds to tell him in a husky tone about the things she could do to him, and about the shop being his "competition". Nobody talks like that.
- Asides from Sylvia, who has some depth, all other characters are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts with unrealistic dialogue. I.e. the horny goth coworker who is written like a complete caricature - a mix of media & prejudices, like the author saw The Craft's trailer once. While doing something else. During a thunderstorm. Or the mexican pastor who eats, I kid you not, burritos and churros. Or the idiot brosky gamer boss who cheats on his girlfriend and has the character depth of a kiddie pool. I could go on and on but you get the point.
- Sylvia's "controversial method" wouldn't be out of place in a fantasy book as a magic power. Basically, she can help the person lock memories deep inside their subconscious mind. Another psychologist who is a family friend and treated her during her childhood (don't ask me to remember the name) can also rewrite the subject's entire memory, creating all childhood memories for a 10-year-old Sylvia and entirely fabricating love for her new adoptive parents. I think that if this actually existed and worked as well as it does in the book, the academia would be in upheaval, not just consider it a fringe and discredited method.
- I had to skip at least two entire conversations - Sylvia & the pastor and the two cops near the end- because it was basically the author Bible-thumping. I don't mind reading about Christianity (hell, I read the entire Caballo de Troya series and loved it) but (1) that's not what I came for and (2) the dialogue is obviously a thinly veiled attempt by the author to show how atheism is wrong and bad. If anything, this had the opposite effect and made me dislike pretty much everyone, from the Satanists to the priest & his police altar boys.
If the book's blurb was honest I would have never read this book, and this review (and the nagging feeling of wasted time) could have been avoided.
#2022#2022 reading challenge#terrible books#1 star reviews#book review#horror#bookish#booklr#book blog#eye bleach#paul e. creasy
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{May 2022} Todos los fuegos el fuego
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 29/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Julio Cortázar
Pages: 136
Main genre: Magical Realism
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 1966
{Woops! No review here due to: I'm lazy.}
#2022#2022 reading challenge#Julio Cortazar#Todos los fuegos el fuego#magical realism#spanish books#libros#bookish#booklr#book blog#books
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{May 2022} A Magic Steeped in Poison
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 28/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Judy I. Lin
Pages: 384
Main genre: Fantasy
Serial?: The Book of Tea #1
Release date: 2022
{Woops! No review here due to: I'm lazy.}
#2022#2022 reading challenge#asian readathon#fantasy#bookish#booklr#book blog#boolkr#A Magic Steeped in Poison#judy i. lin
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{May 2022} The Palace of Illusions
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 27/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Pages: 360
Main genre: Fantasy
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 2008
{Woops! No review here due to: I'm lazy.}
I'd like to point out that the author got a lot of backlash mostly from Indian men due to this book being a retelling or fictionalization of a well known ¿religious? epic from India. I've never read the epic (I might in the future) but found this book entretaining and educational, a bit of an immersion in a culture and history extremely different from mine and an introduction to heroes & a pantheon completely unknown to me. Not being indian myself it's not my place to say if the retelling was or wasn't offensive, but I can tell you that I did like the book and would recommend it.
#2022#2022 reading challenge#asian readathon#palace of illusions#chitra banerjee divakaruni#fantasy#booklr#bookish#book blog#book review#controversial books
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{May 2022} A Tale for the Time Being
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 26/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Ruth Ozeki
Pages: 432
Main genre: Magical Realism
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 2013
{Woops! No review here due to: I'm lazy.}
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{May 2022} Iron Widow
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 25/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Pages: 394
Main genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Serial?: Iron Widow #1
Release date: 2021
Let me start with the obvious: that cover is so pretty! And this is a really strong debut novel. I won't write a long ass review because it's a very well known book and I'm writing this 7 months after reading it, but I will add an afterthought: although I really enjoyed it, reading some low rating reviews now I can see negative details I'd definitely notice in a second read. So I won't update the star rating, but if I re-read it today it would likely be lower.
Recommended for: people who loved Pacific Rim and prefers a (kind of) historical Chinese setting looking for a fun, fast paced read.
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{Apr 2022} Nothing But Blackened Teeth
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 24/40}
★★ (2/5)
Author: Cassandra Khaw
Pages: 128
Main genre: Horror
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 2021
U G H
I have so many problems with this book.
Let's go with the positives: it's short, and written well enough to read without suffering. I loved the cover too.
Now to the negatives: Everything between the front and back cover. Jesus fucking christ on a stick the characters are so infuriating!
They're a group of five "friends" that actually hate each other - all of them have either fought of fucked or both and all their interactions are exhausting. The conflicts are so childish, the kind they'd solve with a one minute conversation, and they drag through the story overshadowing any horror elements that the author might try to bring up. The main character especially is a whiny mess, clinging to explanations of mental illness and depression to excuse her shit behaviour. And she seems to believe she's way smarter than she actually is, all cryptic smiles and purple prose.
Onto the horror elements: they are tropey, cliched and boring. The ghost and its backstory seem plucked out of shittynosleep, and whatever tension the author manages to create gets destroyed when the gang conveniently finds a book that describes step by step how to get rid of the haunting. Gee, how lucky that in this dilapidated piece of shit unkempt mansion there is ONE BOOK that wasn't ruined, apparently written in english, with a recipe for ghost repellent! The horror ends up being a discolored backdrop for interpersonal drama and soap opera style narration.
#2022#2022 reading challenge#bookish#booklr#book blog#terrible books#horror#i mean it says horror but not really
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{Apr 2022} Piranesi
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 23/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Susanna Clarke
Pages: 246
Main genre: Fantasy, Liminal Spaces
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 2020
This book should be top of the list for anybody looking into liminal spaces fiction. It's kind of confusing at start but the payoff is gigantic. Definitely recommended - but be patient.
Who I'd recommend this to: people interested in liminal spaces that had no problem reading The Silmarillion.
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{Apr 2022} The Fireman
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 22/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Joe Hill
Pages: 744
Main genre: Horror
Serial?: Standalone
Release date: 2016
Loved this one: a female protagonist that's not hard as nails nor a damsel in distress; equally complex side characters; a believable response to a pandemic so severe that causes the collapse of civilization…
It's a divisive title (reviews are mostly either 2 stars or 5 stars) and at 700+ pages it's definitely a big chonker, so tread with caution. I'd recommend it to people who already read & liked other titles by the author, Stephen King fans and people looking for a good apocalyptic tale.
#bookish#boolkr#book blog#2022#2022 reading challenge#horror#post apocalyptic books#book review#joe hill#the fireman
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{Apr 2022} The Devil’s Noose
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 21/40}
★★★★★ (5/5)
Author: Michael Angel
Pages: 310
Main genre: Thriller, Medical thriller
Serial?: Plague Walker #1
Release date: 2019
Would you look at that, a pandemic book writter prior to COVID!
Honestly, really liked it. The characters and their motivations all felt real enough and the reading itself is easy so it was a breeze. I don't know if I'll move on with the rest of the series - it might feel a bit repetitive if the MC has to save the world yet again from a global pandemic, but it's pretty nice as a standalone.
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{Apr 2022} Skinwalker Ranch: Facing the Unknown Force that Haunts the Uinta Basin
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 20/40}
★★★ (3/5)
Author: Conrad Bauer
Pages: 86
Main genre: Mystery
Serial?: Paranormal and Unexplained Phenomena #1
Release date: 2018
Too short - introductory almost. Narration is a bit stilted. Would have liked it much less if I had actually paid for it but alas - got it free from Amazon. A good enough read for zero dollars.
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{Apr 2022} Bad Luck Charlie
{2022 Reading Challenge: book 19/40}
{Review originally posted on Goodreads}
★★★ (3/5)
Author: Scott Baron
Pages: 392
Main genre: Sci Fi, Fantasy
Serial?: 1The Dragon Mage #1
Release date: 2019
🚨🚨Spoilers ahead🚨🚨
Bad Luck Charlie is a story about a space engineer forced to join the maiden voyage of his rich employer's new ship and dragged down a path of slavery, piracy, and magic due to a malfunction of his ship that lands him somewhere far, far away from home.
I liked it enough (hence the 3 stars and having finished it), but there are enough issues to drop a couple points. Among them:
Charlie is apparently an excellent engineer, head of his team (or in a similar position of authority), however as soon as he's abducted by aliens he completely forgets everything scientific. I get it, this new world runs by magic, but that doesn't mean basic math and physics stop working! The most technical thing he puts his skills towards is disassembling a toilet. That's it. He knows this galaxy has subpar tech, even acknowledging they haven’t discovered the wheel yet, but doesn’t even think about capitalizing on all that knowledge to improve his situation. He could have been replaced by just any buff military dude with zero engineering background and it would have actually made more sense.
Re. the alien civilization(s?): what a great coincidence that in a galaxy light-years away evolution has seen fit to develop intelligent species all humanoid-like! The weirder alien we see is almost human, except for having his eyes on stalks. Asides from that they’re pretty much pantone humans. Charlie talks about some of them having different physiology but there is no proof of different functioning – we actually get tidbits that point the other way: all cells have toilets (so no strange eating or evacuating habits a la Project Hail Mary), all male slaves that work for women are castrated (so they have testicles, therefore reproduce sexually in a way similar to humans). Also, Charlie is abducted but his race and origin are never questioned, which points to him looking kinda the same as all other aliens.
Lastly: there are a couple of named women in the book (4? 5? versus a ton of named men), of which: one shows up for less than one chapter and is a horny idiot (she’s porking a co-worker during work hours and her “sex-addled brain” causes faulty chips to end up in the ship), two more die pretty soon, one is a servant (last chapter), and one is actually a pretty capable and cool character but ends up being lobotomized for mysterious reasons – apparently she “couldn’t be tamed”, but Charlie couldn’t either so why doesn’t he get the same treatment? A whole new civilization eons away with dozens of strange races and we still can’t escape sexism, lol
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