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juushikaTitle: The Birds & Don't Look Now
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Narrator: Peter Capaldi
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2014
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100 (a complete guess but whatever)
Total Page Count: 239,625
Text Number: 764
Read Because: fan of the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A pair of strong short stories with questionable audio direction--Capaldi's reading is fine but the music and exaggerated tone, while intended to compliment the suspense/horror, come off as corny. But the stories themselves hold up. "The Birds" is smaller than I anticipated, more intimate; it gets away with its premise because of the local focus. The pacing is superb, and it's an accessible, effective metaphor for the Blitz. "Don't Look Now" succeeds thanks to voice and atmosphere; the protagonist's deterioration, his increasingly paranoid mindset and the way it confronts the sexism implicit in his view of his wife, makes for an effective unreliable narrator and strong, claustrophobic atmosphere. I love how du Maurier engages genre; her stories are atmospheric, compelling, honestly a lot of fun, but what sells them is the artistry--the intimate minutia of the first story, the choice of narrator in the second. Great writing! So-so recording.
Title: The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth Book 1)
Author: N.K. Jemisin
Published: Orbit, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 460
Total Page Count: 240,085
Text Number: 765
Read Because: multiple recommendations, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Unstable landmass periodically triggers a cataclysmic season--but the one just beginning is the most destructive that the world has ever seen. There's a lot going on in this premise: a world in flux, a people with the power to sense and move earth, the relics of dead civilizations, dystopic society-building, a tripartite narrative, and devastating themes of power and social control. It's engaging and nightmarish--the social commentary manages to be both complex and unsubtle;
Jeminsin is not coy-- but not in all parts successful (the connections between the narratives feel simultaneously overbroadcasted and unconvincing; the social structure is a lot to track). But if it's sometimes, and often intentionally, unenjoyable to read, I still enjoyed this; it's distinctive and compelling and empowered. I would have enjoyed it more with a different ending--the world is large enough for sequels, but cliffhangers are cheap.
Title: Homecoming (Tillerman Cycle Book 1)
Author: Cynthia Voigt
Published: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013 (1981)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 390
Total Page Count: 240,475
Text Number: 766
Read Because: discovered via this review, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Abandoned by their mother, the Tillerman children begin an on-foot journey in search of a home. There are aspects of this which haven't aged well, casting a vague sense of "wouldn't happen in this way today" over the text; it's worst in interactions with non-family members. But Voigt has a knack for complex characterization--not subtlety so much as nuance: characters are flawed, messy, self-contradictory, but viewed with compassion by both Dicey and the narrative. And what atmosphere!
I love abandoned children as a premise, and Voigt fulfills it: the long treks, camping in parks and vacant lots, penny-pinching at the discount section of supermarkets, but with a sense of insular comfort and stubborn pride that keeps it from becoming too dreary. I didn't grow up with this (but with Izzy, Willy-Nilly instead) and don't have the nostalgia of other readers, but would have loved it then and still enjoy it now.
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Narrator: Peter Capaldi
Published: Macmillan Audio, 2014
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100 (a complete guess but whatever)
Total Page Count: 239,625
Text Number: 764
Read Because: fan of the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A pair of strong short stories with questionable audio direction--Capaldi's reading is fine but the music and exaggerated tone, while intended to compliment the suspense/horror, come off as corny. But the stories themselves hold up. "The Birds" is smaller than I anticipated, more intimate; it gets away with its premise because of the local focus. The pacing is superb, and it's an accessible, effective metaphor for the Blitz. "Don't Look Now" succeeds thanks to voice and atmosphere; the protagonist's deterioration, his increasingly paranoid mindset and the way it confronts the sexism implicit in his view of his wife, makes for an effective unreliable narrator and strong, claustrophobic atmosphere. I love how du Maurier engages genre; her stories are atmospheric, compelling, honestly a lot of fun, but what sells them is the artistry--the intimate minutia of the first story, the choice of narrator in the second. Great writing! So-so recording.
Title: The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth Book 1)
Author: N.K. Jemisin
Published: Orbit, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 460
Total Page Count: 240,085
Text Number: 765
Read Because: multiple recommendations, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Unstable landmass periodically triggers a cataclysmic season--but the one just beginning is the most destructive that the world has ever seen. There's a lot going on in this premise: a world in flux, a people with the power to sense and move earth, the relics of dead civilizations, dystopic society-building, a tripartite narrative, and devastating themes of power and social control. It's engaging and nightmarish--the social commentary manages to be both complex and unsubtle;
Jeminsin is not coy-- but not in all parts successful (the connections between the narratives feel simultaneously overbroadcasted and unconvincing; the social structure is a lot to track). But if it's sometimes, and often intentionally, unenjoyable to read, I still enjoyed this; it's distinctive and compelling and empowered. I would have enjoyed it more with a different ending--the world is large enough for sequels, but cliffhangers are cheap.
Title: Homecoming (Tillerman Cycle Book 1)
Author: Cynthia Voigt
Published: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013 (1981)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 390
Total Page Count: 240,475
Text Number: 766
Read Because: discovered via this review, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Abandoned by their mother, the Tillerman children begin an on-foot journey in search of a home. There are aspects of this which haven't aged well, casting a vague sense of "wouldn't happen in this way today" over the text; it's worst in interactions with non-family members. But Voigt has a knack for complex characterization--not subtlety so much as nuance: characters are flawed, messy, self-contradictory, but viewed with compassion by both Dicey and the narrative. And what atmosphere!
"Why do Tillermans always live alone?"
"We don’t. We live together."
"Together, but all alone together," James said.
"Maybe every family feels that way," Dicey said. "Maybe that’s what families are."
"I don’t know, James said. "I don’t think so."
I love abandoned children as a premise, and Voigt fulfills it: the long treks, camping in parks and vacant lots, penny-pinching at the discount section of supermarkets, but with a sense of insular comfort and stubborn pride that keeps it from becoming too dreary. I didn't grow up with this (but with Izzy, Willy-Nilly instead) and don't have the nostalgia of other readers, but would have loved it then and still enjoy it now.
