Does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Here it does. Let’s discuss your favorite reads — or listens.
“Indianapolis” is an exhaustive, sometimes tedious, but largely engrossing telling of the worst U.S. Naval disaster after Pearl Harbor that had largely vacated the public consciousness for 30 years until Robert Shaw’s Quint, the shark-obsessed fisherman in “Jaws” gave his bone-chilling monologue about surviving the USS Indianapolis sinking.
Expectation: A complex and layered story about family, regrets and moving forward.
Reality: A melodrama about terrible people, that think they are good people, getting a happy ending.
Expectation: A supernatural thriller centered around a new Stephen King classic character.
Reality: A crime mystery that goes down several rabbit holes, but it’s an overall rewarding return to form for King.
Expectation: An Olive Kitteridge-like main character that has the gumption and resolve to weather all of life’s seasons.
Reality: A story that ended up being more depressing than life-affirming and overall a little pointless.
Tracing her earliest memories through post-college, Ford presents a candid view of her life as a lower middle class Black kid in Fort Wayne, a mid-sized city in Indiana that is not economically or racially diverse.
Expectation: A science fiction snooze-fest.
Reality: A surprisingly funny and touching story about second chances and building community.
Expectation: A breezy romantic comedy.
Reality: A surprisingly funny and sentimental story of chosen family that had me questioning some of my own choices in life.
Expectation: A mediocre thriller featuring social media influencers.
Reality: A mostly surface-level execution that is strongly aided by the full cast audiobook narration.
Expectation: For some reason I thought this was a young adult read.
Reality: This is anything but young adult. It’s a raw and painful story that has a fair amount of hope sprinkled in.
“Best” is the kind of book that exists for a very specific type of person. You know, the person that has decades worth of inconsequential pop culture details stored away for no other reason than to be a ringer in bar trivia.
Expectation: An intimate portrayal of young love and learning how to grow as individuals and as a couple.
Reality: A bit scattershot from a plot perspective but just as well-written and affecting as the first book.
Brammer states early and often that he’s not a trained mental health professional, simply a person that stumbled into a career with the ability to help others. “¡Hola Papi!” is clear example that he’s succeeded.
There are multiple things I took umbrage with in this unfocused, pretentious, and boring historical memoir (is that a thing?) that I gave up at 34 percent read.
While “Good Talk” sound like a heavy, depressing read it is anything but. Jacob writes with humor and sharp clarity that roots the situations presented (even those that may not be universal) in shared pathos. It’s easily one of my favorite reads of the year.
From the blush inducing opening sentence to a first act that was equal parts “where is she going with this?” and “wow, that’s genius!” the story is a little all over the place, but Flynn mostly ties it all together. Mostly.
Mysterious worldwide gatherings devolve into the end of times in this short-story horrorfest.
Expectation: A good old fashioned ghost story told in radio serial style.
Reality: An intellectual ghost story that’s heavy on talking and light on action.
Expectation: Adventure story with a speculative fiction slant.
Reality: At times both horrific and hopeful, the cross-state settings help broaden the view from other, similar stories.
Krakauer kept my attention from the first page to the last, and I found myself wishing that there was more to the story. I know that many people have a love/hate relationship with this book - mainly because they either love or hate McCandless - but there is no denying that Krakauer is a gifted writer.
Expectation: An LGBTQIA+ story about unrequited love and finding yourself.
Reality: An engrossing character study that gives you a front row seat to how easily it is destroy yourself in the name of saving others.
