Does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Here it does. Let’s discuss your favorite reads — or listens.
All in Audiobook
Expectation: A depressing exploration of life for an underemployed immigrant during the Great Recession.
Reality: Buoyed by the charm of the main character and a fantastic audiobook performance by Rossmery Almonte, this was far more entertaining than anticipated.
Expectation: Honestly, I’m not sure but it wasn’t a short story collection masquerading as a novel.
Reality: Interesting concepts overshadowed by unlikable characters and absolutely zero plot. While a step forward in writing for the author, this was a dull read.
Expectation: A smart, timely commentary on celebrity culture and self-esteem.
Reality: All of that plus laugh out loud funny. I was compulsively entertained from start-to-finish.
Expectation: A classic retelling of David and Goliath but set in a mental institution in the 1960s.
Reality: It has not aged well, and I barely finished it.
Expectation: A timely and highly literary story about plagiarism and diversity set against the backdrop of the publishing industry.
Reality: A dark, shocking and highly engrossing novel that dismantles so many hot button issues in less than 400-pages. Unfortunately the last third lost steam.
This is largely a Cliff’s Notes view of the American Revolution and fledgling democracy, which is honestly the right amount for most readers, while focusing on subjects often overlooked - Washington’s propaganda machine, political enemies, women and slaves.
Expectation: A gut-punch queer love story set within the backdrop of World War I trenches.
Reality: Stilted dialogue, a ping-pong narrative structure and an unbelievable connection between the two main characters made this rather disappointing.
Expectation: A based on true events murder mystery set in the privileged world of 1980s Los Angeles teens.
Reality: A hedonistic cat and mouse story that will have you second guessing everything the narrator (a fictionalized version of the author) has told you.
Expectation: A horror-tinged murder mystery that celebrates queer love.
Reality: Fantasy-heavy and a bit convoluted, as a non-genre fan it became too much, but the fantastic audiobook kept me enthralled.
Expectation: A ripped-from-the-headlines story of monied greed and comeuppance.
Reality: A nuanced and contained story that proved to be my favorite of the author’s even though it’s less beloved than “Station Eleven” and “Sea of Tranquility.”
Expectation: An immersive and exceptional story about a dark period of American history.
Reality: Needlessly long and a little boring, I was completely turned off by Scarlett and Rhett and struggled to see why the characters are so popular.
Expectation: A sullen “Parent Trap”-esque young adult novel about two half sisters learning about one another through tragedy.
Reality: A gorgeously understated book-in-verse that delivered strong character development and real emotion without pandering to YA trends.
I adored the premise of this book, and in many ways it is a love letter to journalism in its purest form. Weingarten is a gifted writer and researcher who was able to find marvel in both the mundane and monumental aspects of life on that day. Yet, as the chapters went on, the whole exercise began to feel tawdry and voyeuristic.
Expectation: My enthusiasm was off the charts for this book, my most anticipated read of the year.
Reality: While not as strong as Stradal's previous novels, it was still highly entertaining and he took a few risks that mostly paid off.
Expectation: A quasi-retelling of the classic film but with a May-December friendship and some lower (i.e. not deadly) stakes.
Reality: Absolutely garbage.
This is a wisp of a book that could be considered a primer on the subject, but it never goes deep enough to make you feel like you’re learning something versus reading a listicle.
Expectation: A family mystery-thriller akin to Alice Sebold’s “Lovely Bones.”
Reality: Not so much a mystery, but a slowburn exploration of the Lee family dynamics, which have a solid foundation of secrecy.
Expectation: A gory, nature-themed horror/fantasy centered around a fictional upstate New York urban legend.
Reality: An incredibly boring mishmash of genre tropes that overshadowed the few thrilling scenes and a likable main character.
While there’s a lot to unpack, Moore keeps things focused and entertaining - insomuch topics like this can be - with well-placed curse words and anecdotes. Often nonfiction books of this nature bog the reader down with deep history and details that detract from the broader message, but that’s not the case here.
Expectation: A collection of stories exploring different facets of American history that were misrepresented.
Reality: A top-to-bottom solid collection that takes you on several intriguing and understated journeys that force the reader to question “what would you do?”
