en-US Sat, 26 Apr 2025 13:27:09 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7520958589 Sat, 26 Apr 2025 13:27:09 -0700 /review/show/7520958589 matt gave 3 stars to John Dies at the End (Paperback) by David Wong
Darn it. I really thought I would like this more. I tore through the Zoey Ashe trilogy - and so I was excited to read his first book that has been so influential.
Well
I thought it was exhausting.
There’s lots of cool stuff - but it all seems overworked and pretty rambling.
It’s true that the Ashe books were also built on one dramatic catastrophe after another - but they had more focus, more sense of risk, and they were all leading towards an important point of the story.
With JDATE - it didn’t feel at all like that. It was just chaos after chaos. A couple of nice twists at the end - but overall, not a big fan.
Don’t think I will read the others in this series - but I will definitely try other books from this author. ]]> Review7194671750 Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:06:51 -0700 /review/show/7194671750 matt gave 3 stars to The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Hardcover) by David Grann
bookshelves: history
This book suffered in comparison to another recent shipwreck book that I just read.
“The Endurance� did a better job overall.
This book was not as successful relaying a connection between the reader and the experiences portrayed in the book.
]]> ReadStatus9320106814 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 11:04:25 -0700 /review/show/7496388201 matt wants to read Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
]]> ReadStatus9313397715 Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:54:13 -0700 /review/show/7491745156 matt wants to read Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
]]> Review7490494002 Tue, 15 Apr 2025 07:06:23 -0700 /review/show/7490494002 matt gave 4 stars to This Is How You Lose the Time War (ebook) by Amal El-Mohtar
Reading this book reminds me of learning a new language.
If you are someone who thinks you have to understand everything all at once - you will never “get� this book - but if you can let knowledge and understanding grow as you read the story - it will make sense and you will be charmed.
]]> Review22088072 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:16:47 -0700 /review/show/22088072 matt gave 4 stars to Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth (Mass Market Paperback) by Hermann Hesse
I'm not sure if this would hold up well on re-reading it. There was something about Hesse's books that led me to read every one while I was in high school, but I cannot remember this one very well --- I'm giving it four stars b/c they were all so important to me at a certain age. It seems to me more and more that after about year 20 or so, these books all seem less important - trite even. I don't know why, but they speak almost exclusively to teens.


Re-read on 4/9/2025

It does hold up well! Hesse is a super weird writer - I love how his books always have a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on. A good twin and a more complicated twin struggling for dominance - sometimes its external, but more often it is a struggle with one’s own will or soul.
I still think his work speaks directly to teens who are discovering the truth and cruelty of the world, and the best parts of this book are when before the protagonist is of college age.
Definitely worth a read and the 4 star review is accurate. ]]> ReadStatus9289276786 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 06:36:49 -0700 /review/show/7475078804 matt wants to read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
]]> ReadStatus9289247396 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 06:25:53 -0700 /review/show/7475057726 matt wants to read Crooked Tree by Robert C. Wilson
]]> ReadStatus9285802868 Tue, 08 Apr 2025 09:00:51 -0700 /review/show/7472739767 matt wants to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck
]]> ReadStatus9285759656 Tue, 08 Apr 2025 08:46:47 -0700 /review/show/7472709280 matt wants to read Jesus� Son by Denis Johnson
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