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What I've been reading: Books No. 49-50
Oct. 9th, 2020 01:15 pmBook No. 49 was "Through the Woods" by Emily Carroll. I felt a little bit bad giving this book 3/5 stars on GoodReads. I didn't hate it. In fact, I thought the illustrations were impeccable, and if I were judging it only on the art, I'd give it a 5-star rating. But the writing left me a little under-whelmed.
I felt like especially the first two stories were pretty derivative, like Carroll took some bits and pieces from other scary stories and folk tales and did some mix and matching, but they didn't feel very original. I will say that it picked up with the third story, and the last two were pretty good. I found "My Friend Janna" unsettling, and "The nesting place" was extra disturbing. If you like spooky tales and illustrations that practically jump off the page, maybe you'll like this better than I did. Recommended, but with caveats.
Book No. 50 was "Heavy: An American Memoir" by Kiese Laymon. The word "Heavy" does double-duty in this memoir, as Laymon struggles with his weight and dieting for much of his life, but it's also a reference to heavy topics, conversations with weight.
Another word plagued me for about the first quarter of this book, though, and that was UNCOMFORTABLE. This memoir made me deeply uncomfortable, almost throughout, even though it also made me laugh at times. Laymon vows to tell the truth and not lie in this book, written as a letter to his mother. And so he does, about ALL the things you're not *supposed* to talk about, like noticing your own body or your parent's body shape, about getting so hungry from weight loss dieting that you pass out, or end up stealing your colleague's lunch from the work fridge. About being molested and beaten. About gambling addiction, about soothing your raw feelings with food. This was a hugely uncomfortable read, but in the best of ways. Highly recommended.
*Warning: If you have struggled with eating disorders or even just yo-yo dieting, you might find his references to exact figures on the scale and body fat percentages and calorie counts to be triggering.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
I felt like especially the first two stories were pretty derivative, like Carroll took some bits and pieces from other scary stories and folk tales and did some mix and matching, but they didn't feel very original. I will say that it picked up with the third story, and the last two were pretty good. I found "My Friend Janna" unsettling, and "The nesting place" was extra disturbing. If you like spooky tales and illustrations that practically jump off the page, maybe you'll like this better than I did. Recommended, but with caveats.
Book No. 50 was "Heavy: An American Memoir" by Kiese Laymon. The word "Heavy" does double-duty in this memoir, as Laymon struggles with his weight and dieting for much of his life, but it's also a reference to heavy topics, conversations with weight.
Another word plagued me for about the first quarter of this book, though, and that was UNCOMFORTABLE. This memoir made me deeply uncomfortable, almost throughout, even though it also made me laugh at times. Laymon vows to tell the truth and not lie in this book, written as a letter to his mother. And so he does, about ALL the things you're not *supposed* to talk about, like noticing your own body or your parent's body shape, about getting so hungry from weight loss dieting that you pass out, or end up stealing your colleague's lunch from the work fridge. About being molested and beaten. About gambling addiction, about soothing your raw feelings with food. This was a hugely uncomfortable read, but in the best of ways. Highly recommended.
*Warning: If you have struggled with eating disorders or even just yo-yo dieting, you might find his references to exact figures on the scale and body fat percentages and calorie counts to be triggering.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
