Mini Book Review Bonanza, Part 2!!

Since 2019 began, I’ve had lots of things popping up to create a week where little to no blogging happens. Work trips, my son’s break dancing competitions, performing in a play, and of course, Netflix and laziness.

I think the only thing that I didn’t slack on was reading. Which means I’ve read all kinds of books that I haven’t reviewed in the least. So here is the second of what might equal a few more MINI-REVIEW BONANZA posts!

Challenger Deep
by Neal Shusterman

While this isn’t a book that I would put at the top of my list, it seems like an important book that everyone should read. It’s a novel from the perspective of a boy with mental illness, and a glimpse into what it might be like.

I have no way of telling how accurate that look is, though considering it’s rooted in Shusterman’s own experience with his son, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teen, there’s some undeniable truths between the covers.

The End of the World Running Club
by Adrian J. Walker

In the spirit of novels like Station Eleven, this one is all about the journey. A husband and father desires nothing more than to return to his wife and children after being separated in a post-apocalyptic world.

Oddly enough, the part I found most interesting was before the world ended. That little slice that shows you the life of the characters before the main plot goes down. I know that seems weird, but I just liked it.

Our main character, Edgar Hill, isn’t a bad father, but he struggles with fatherhood. Thinks about what life would be like if he hadn’t settled down to have a family. He gets annoyed by his kids. He struggles with his temper. It was all very genuine, and something that I think most of us can relate to on the really rough days.

Here and Now and Then
by Mike Chen

I’m a sucker for a time travel tale (and alliteration.) And this one handles the old “guy trying in live in 2 different timelines” really well without it feeling old and tired.

Time travel is one of those things that doesn’t have a lot of rules. Who can prove whether details are true or not? This makes it very easy, and tempting, for authors to say things like, “they can change the future here, but not there because… reasons.”

This book gives logical reasons that, not knowing anything about quantum physics (or whatever leg of science could lead to time travel) makes sense.  

Survivor
by Chuck Palahniuk

Palahniuk is a unique author, and one that I always seem to enjoy. His characters  are real and surreal at the same time, if that’s possible. I suppose what I mean by that is you’ve probably never met people like his characters, but it’s also not hard to believe that those characters actually exist somewhere in the world.

The plot of Palahniuk’s books almost doesn’t matter because the characters are so interesting you’d watch them go to the grocery store and the dentist before turning into bed early.

An Ember in the Ashes
by Sabaa Tahir

I read this one based strictly on the series covers. Especially Reaper at the Gates. And there are a lot of fans of these books, but I found myself left wanting, just a little. 

I still enjoyed the book, and will most likely continue the series, but there were things that I thought would happen—and wanted to happen—that just didn’t come about. That usually leaves me feeling like the book made promises in the beginning that it didn’t deliver on. Maybe they will be as the series continues?

A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole

This one stuck with me for quite a while after I was done. The voice of Ignatius Reilly went with me everywhere.

This guy finds fault in everything that everyone does, and has no problem telling anyone how they should live their lives. Nothing much happens in the book, but to just watch this guy complain his way around New Orleans trying (and failing) at jobs that come his way is 110% entertaining. There’s nothing that doesn’t offend this guy. It’s like someone took all of the internet and stuffed it into a character, even though this book was written before the internet was a thing.

Fun fact about this post: Yup. I’ve been slacking enough to have more posts like this. At least one more.