Read with Jenna: All the colors of the dark by Chris Whitaker

DNF – I immediately recognized that this is not a book I’m going to like. It follows the same pattern as his previous book “we begin at the end” which was a massive success as this book already is also, so don’t take my word for it.
But for me, the style of this author isn’t to my taste. It is too far-fetched and the story falls on the side of unbelievable. In his last book a young cowgirl was his protagonist and here it’s a young boy with one eye. These child heroes and far out twists that coil around itself becomes too much and I lose interest. I’m not even going to attempt finishing this, because I just know it isn’t for me.

Belletrist: Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Belletrist has been picking their books so late in the month these past few months, that I’ve been skipping. But I was already reading this when they announced it, so the stars aligned on this one.

A Long Island compromise is a term for anal sex if you’re a virgin who doesn’t want to lose your “virginity” – so if there is any question about how in your face this book is, it’s right there in the title. Set in the 80’s with a “Getty” type family at the center of a kidnapping and the aftershocks of it. I found this writing rambly and wonderful. I want to compare it to Franzen and the Corrections. Bleak, raw and fascinating. Did I like any of them? Absolutely not. It was almost like I hate read it, like how you would hate watch the Kardashians. Unfortunately it lost it’s appeal about half way through. ⭐⭐⭐

Reading prompt July – Interratial relationship: Dial A for aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Weekend at Bernie’s, but make it crazy rich asians with a mom and three aunties helping you with the dead guy. 

A fun and fresh Asian-American genre bending story. Is it murder? Is it romance? Is it black comedy? Is it a tale of multicultural struggles? All of the above! 

Meddy is a photographer, her mom is a florist and together with the aunties catering they run an allround wedding service. Right before the weekend of a billionaire wedding, Meddy accidentally kills the blind date her mom set her up on – the owner of the hotel where the wedding is being held.

This story was fun and unpredictable, whip smart, silly with depth and grace. I cannot express how much I loved this book! 

The only thing i didn’t like was that we’re naming “big auntie” while the others are “auntie two” and “auntie four”. Using physical attributes as naming points feel degrading to me. (I’m filipino – my family does it too and I hate it.) Not naming the aunties feels like we are avoiding giving them much of personalities or backgrounds of their own. They exist as the stereotypical auntie that we all know and have. I have about a hundred of them, so I get it. Maybe throughout the series they will start to develop more personalities and personal stories. I’ll definitely be reading the next book as soon as possible! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bear by Julia Phillips

On an island – one sister chooses bear, the other chooses man. You be the judge of which sister chose better…

Two sisters in the pacific northwest, living on an island and wanting to leave for a better life as their mom lay dying and the bills are piling up, is visited by a bear. Magical? Horrific? Mysterious? Scary? Accounts may vary. The younger sister is afraid of it and wants it gone. Elena, the older sister is fascinated by it. The department of fish and wildlife says it’s a harmless black bear that will leave if they leave it alone. The neighbor and his dog hasn’t even noticed the giant roaming around the neighborhood.
This goes on for weeks on end. My patience for repetition is short. And this book repeats and repeats; scenes, conversations, thoughts, feelings, and it became a little too repetitive for me.

I truly don’t know what to think about this, it was too slow, and at the same time intriguing in an odd and beautiful way. I see several reviews hated the ending, but I kinda liked it and hated it at the same time. I think it’s gonna stick with me, and what more can I ask for?

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺,” 𝘚𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵—𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘺-𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴’ 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.”⭐⭐⭐⭐

The God of The Woods by Liz Moore
If you haven’t read Liz Moore’s Long bright river, there’s no time like the present, because that is being made in to a series as we speak, with planned release sometime this year. Her writing is also phenomenal so there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to read this one. Also have you seen that cover?? It’s perfection!

Anyway, in the god of the woods we follow two parallel stories. Bear, who went missing in the sixties and his sister Barbara who goes missing while at summer camp in 1975 where the main story takes place. Their wealthy parents the owners of this summer camp and possible target of a serial killer that has escaped prison.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘌𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘸. 𝘐𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺, 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦.”

This book was so eerie and dark and perfect for my summer vacation in the woods! The writing is absolutely brilliant, but I would expect nothing less from Liz Moore.
Now, the plot does jump in time and between characters, so some attention needs to be paid here. But it’s easy to keep straight as the characters and times and conversations are very different. So while I usually don’t like a lot of jumping around, this didn’t bother me.

The best part about the book for me was the writing. It’s literary fiction at its finest! Reading was just so satisfying, the characters came to life and even smaller characters were given depth. I personally loved Barbara, the “problem child” punk kid who’s really just starved for attention and affection.

This summer seems to be packed with books set in the 70’s and 80’s about the ultra wealthy going missing. I am currently working my way through them, but this one already feels hard to beat!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A novel love story by Ashley Poston

Ashley Poston writes the best type of romance, the type that steps over into the paranormal in a brilliant way. The dead romantics being my absolute favorite. But this one just didn’t manage to capture that magic and I can’t even put my finger on why. 

Isn’t this what all we book girlies dream about? Living out our book fantasy? And yet, the magic was lacking and lost in minty green eyes. 

I honestly think this book is confusing because we think it’s a love story, but it’s literally as the title says “a novel love story” – a love story to books. If you read the book through this lens I think you’ll have a much better experience. 

BUT – as much as I love books, I find reading a love story about loving books, smelling books, opening bookstores, living in books – to be a bit overkill. Characters working in publishing is fine, but if it gets too mushy about it, I tend to roll my eyes. This was absolute eye roll material. ⭐⭐1/2

Cue the sun! by Emily Nussbaum

Cue the sun! – a line from “The Truman show” starring Jim Carrey as a man who is unknowingly the star of his own reality show. A movie that perhaps marks the beginning of a reality tv boom. But the book goes further back than that, tracing the reality shows back to the forties.

We get the inside scoop of all things reality, including dating shows, documentaries, game shows, talk shows, Cops, prank shows, competitions etc. Heavily researched and very well documented, it gives an objective view of the evolution of the genre. It’s admirable, the amount of research the author has done here, interviewing reality tv stars, producers and creators, some no longer with us and sharing inside information, behind the scenes happenings and the road from idea to cult classic, editing and union issues.

Some deep dives are perhaps more interesting than others, at least for me. An American family from the 70’s is before my time and not really relevant anymore, as they aren’t still known or in the spotlight.(However it does give insight to where future reality tv went!) The apprentice with Donald Trump however is much more interesting these days as Trump is running for president. The same for the background on the show Survivor – known as the Robinson Expedition in Scandinavia, and the beginning of the bachelor with interviews with the production and editing crew. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in pop culture. Perhaps even if you’re not, this is interesting regardless of interest.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I hope this finds you well by Natalie Sue

Work place romantic comedy is wildly entertaining for us office workers who can 100% relate to the absolute waste of time 90% of it is. Paired with our leading lady who has crippling anxiety that suddenly gets access to everybody’s emails and can see what everybody is emailing each other, a new HR hire who just so happens to be cute and live right next to our protagonist. Chaos ensues and it’s fun!

I thought this was a great debut, fresh and exciting, kind of “what if” scenario you love to get lost in. It was a little on the long side, but that just meant more to sink your teeth into. The MFC is persian and so is another employee at the company and they find kinship through mutual cultural understanding that’s very relatable and I absolutely loved this part. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Night of the living rez by Morgan Talty

I went into this thinking it was a regular novel and not short stories. (Not that it matters, I enjoy both! But my confusion started there!)
The format was the most confusing, and I didn’t feel that the stories were fully developed. I would rather call them vignettes that offer mere glimpses of life in young man in a Penobscot reservation in Maine. There’s drugs, grief and horror in what I can only to describe as a nightmarish surrounding, and the lives of these people straddles the border of horrible and just sad.
While the stories give new scenes, I think the characters are the same(?) I had a hard time following this and piecing it together.
Maybe a busy summer day wasn’t the right time to pick this up. The reason I did was because I wanted to read the authors new novel, but I decided to read his book from my tbr pile first. Maybe I’ll try his new book and then circle back to this again. But this time around I didn’t get it. The writing is good, it was just the material and format I didn’t really connect to. ⭐⭐

Why has nobody told me this before? by Dr. Julie Smith

Why does this book have the worst title ever? This isn’t a book filled with curiosities and oddities, it’s literally a psychology book by a clinical psychologist. And somebody had told me several of these things before – my psychologist!

That means to say, it is not a bad book, it has the tools to guide you through your own thoughts and emotions. And in an funny way it brings life to the meme – “How can psychology majors ever get depressed… like bro just look at your notes. ” Here they are – the notes! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marching powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America’s Strangest Jail by Rusty Young (Ghostwriter), Thomas McFadden

The story came about after Young visited the prison by recommendation of tourists as seen in the lonely planet travel guide. It’s the worlds strangest prison indeed.

I listened to this on audio because it was the only copy I could find. And starting with the introduction, we get a pretty level headed ghost writer telling us the story of how he came to meet his subject. He describes how McFadden tells a story with his whole being and everything around him as props to set the scene. And then as the story starts and McFadden takes over the narrating, you get to experience it yourself. At least partly. His voice is captivating and his storytelling is fantastic, because it feels very authentic. BUT it get tiresome to listen to after a while and the story begins to feel like a long story, long. I can imagine reading this is challenging because the language feels very much like it’s spoken, but it’s hard to know if the narrator has taken liberties or read it as is in the book. 

While I had a fun time listening to McFadden give me a lesson in drug smuggling for dummies, he rambles and it feels never ending. ⭐⭐⭐

Erasure by Percival Everett

“American fiction” was my favorite oscar nominated movie of last year. Adapted from this book, there was no doubt I was going to read this once I saw it on the NYT 100 best books of the 21st century. (I did not know it was adapted from a book before I saw the movie.)

The book, like the movie is brilliant.
In a few instances I’ve watched the movie first and then read the book and they feel like great companion pieces because the move differs enough from the book that it almost expands the story. (Silver linings playbook was also one where I loved both!)
The movie “American Fiction” spread an extra layer of coincidence on this story while in the book we get a full look into the story that Monk writes to mess with the industry.
There are many more differences here, but the most prominent one to me, was the ending, and there I really loved the movie ending. It comes full circle, it’s so meta that that I couldn’t help but squeal!

This is my second book by Everett, but so far he seems like a sturdy writer you can trust to deliver. He was just long listed for the booker prize for the second time for his newest book, so maybe that will be my next read.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Things we do not tell the people we love by Huma Qureshi

A collection of short stories that perfectly depicts the feeling of detachment from your surroudings and relationships, through secrets, misunderstandings, generation or personality.

I bought this book two years ago because I loved the cover, but after reading the first story I gave it up. This was a mistake, I was encouraged to read the second story and I absolutely fell in love and inhaled the rest of it. This is a beautiful book! I didn’t connect with the first story, but all the stories after had me eating out of the palm of it’s hand.

This is usually an issue with short story collections, it’s hard to rate a collection as a whole as some stories will most likely speak to you more than others. But as a whole, I love this book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐