Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers: This was my first Sayers, and while I enjoyed it, if this is her best I don't think I'll read more. The mystery was interesting enough (though I'm left with some unanswered questions) but I had a hard time caring about the romantic subplot.
The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind by Michio Kaku: As a summary of our current understanding of the brain and the directions of future research, this was great. However, the author's confidence in his own predictions about the future drove me up the wall and took up too much of the book.
Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle: This is a collection of three interconnected novellas written by three YA authors, all set in the same location around Christmastime. They were, unfortunately, in reverse order of quality, so the book started out strong and then got on my nerves by the end.
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut: I think this book set the record for the number of notes I made on Kindle that said, "WTF." I'm sure that plenty of people would say I'm missing the point, or I'm just not bright enough to get the genius of the book, to which I say: If you enjoyed it, good for you. In the end, I thought it was pretty dumb.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis: This was a reread for a buddy read of the series I'm doing this year. I enjoyed the audiobook narrator. Without having read this as a child I don't have the nostalgia factor, so while I appreciate the charm of this as a classic fantasy story for children, there were definitely some moments that made me raise an eyebrow (like Father Christmas giving weapons to children and then telling the girls not to use theirs).
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson: If you can past the insta-love in this interracial Romeo-and-Juliet retelling and appreciate the quiet, understated tone of this slim book, it's a sweet, beautiful, sad story.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: Lee is great at developing characters and writing interesting plots, and I learned a lot about the history of Koreans in Japan. As with most multi-generational family sagas, though, this skipped around and ahead too much so I never could feel fully invested.
What have you been reading this month? Share over at Modern Mrs. Darcy!
Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: A Kiss Before Dying and The Stand
Five years ago I was reading: Against the Gods, The Goldfinch, and War and Peace
Ten years ago I was reading: Copyediting
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