#decent book

[pitch-0420]

Fucking wrecked that used books store. 16 books for about 175? Good shit. Reading Huckleberry Fin

[screamingaboutliterature]

Artemis - Andy Weir

I enjoyed this book in a kind of trashy, easy-to-read way. Jazz is a protagonist that I entirely don't understand, and never really do, even though I completed the book. She feels like she was originally written as a teenage boy, and then the author just swapped the name and pronouns. The author attempts to add diversity through the Muslim and gay characters, but they're played up to such an extent and tie into common stereotypes in a way that makes it much less enjoyable, and completely breaks down any sense of relatability for people from those groups reading them. This is kind of reinforced by the fact that she's the only significant female character in the novel. A decent amount of the subplots never really go anywhere and are slightly shallow and unnecessary. As a whole, it reads pretty much like a first or second draft before its been sent to the editor. But to be completely fair, I did enjoy it, and read the whole thing. I was invested pretty much the whole time I read it and I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and the setting of the moon. The book kind of encompasses both the best bits of Weir's humour and the worst.  Hence the 3 stars rather than lower.

[akiraofthefour]

If there is a lesson here, it is to cling to the wonder, to the possibilities, without allowing your doubt to become its own certainty. The goal should never be to narrow the world, but to enlarge it.

Colin Dickey, The Unexplained

[inked-up-devil-doc-blog]

Heroes. I’ll never see them that way again. I’ve seen who real heroes are. And they don’t wear cleats on game day.

Sean Parnell, Outlaw Platoon

[bitchesbereading-blog-blog]

Brooklyn - A Book Review

Hey guys! Today I'm going to review Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín. I bought this book by chance for my mam on Mother's Day a few years ago, and last week I had a three hour train journey and nothing particularly interesting to read, so I thought I would give this book a go. It's about a young woman named Eilis Lacey in 1950's Ireland.

As far as I remember, there are very few chapter breaks in this book, only about four, which I found very difficult, because I feel obliged to read an entire chapter in a single sitting. However, upon reading the first few pages I was just "not bothered" with the book. I didn't feel any connection to the characters, I felt so distant from them. Which, I found to be a little ironic seeing as we both share a name (different spelling) and we're both Irish. So I finished the book anyway, as I always do. Eilis travels to Brooklyn to find a job, gets a job and has a great time. Meanwhile her older sister and mother stay in Ireland. Eilis feels pretty miserable for the first while in Brooklyn, but with the help of the SUPER creepy priest, she goes to classes in the evening and she meets a guy. They fall in love, etc. Then there is the best plot twist I'd read in a long, long time. Seriously, this was so out of the blue I couldn't believe it. I think I was in more shock than Eilis was. So Eilis is forced to go home, leaving her now-fiancé.  Although the beginning and most of the middle, for me, felt boring and uninteresting, the novel definitely picked up towards the late-middle of the book.  I didn't particularly like Tóibín's style of writing, I have no specific points to criticise him on, it was just pretty plain. It was a good book overall. As per usual, I'm going to discuss the ending (and other spoilers) as a read more! Have a great day and happy reading!