Does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Here it does. Let’s discuss your favorite reads — or listens.
Expectation: A novel that will keep you laughing through tears as you experience the “living funerals” of our five lifelong friends.
Reality: Some paper-thin characters and melodrama masquerading as legitimate emotion overshadow the few bright spots in the story.
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 modern retelling of Hansel and Greta but with PTSD being the villain.
Reality: An engrossing and complex story about forgiveness and self-love. It’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but it’s worth the read.
Expectation: An unflinching queer coming of age story.
Reality: Darker and more disturbing than I imagined but also oddly captivating.
Expectation: A story about the forbidden love between two soldiers in World War I.
Reality: Half of the novel is filler, but Boyne delivers some shocking revelations and a satisfying conclusion.
Expectation: A sweet but slight coming of age tale set amidst the backdrop of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City in the late-1980s.
Reality: While there’s a lot of melodrama and the plot is stale, it’s a great introduction to this era in queer history, and the importance of having a gay Iranian lead character cannot be understated.
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.
Not every act of defiance requires a protest. In fact, one of the most radical things you can do to support and honor the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month is to read.
Reading this collection was a damn delight and a nostalgic serotonin boost that transported me back to high school when I devoured my first classic King novels in mass market paperbacks. As my mini-reviews show, this was a mostly solid top-to-bottom collection that got better as the stories progressed. It showcased King at the top of his game - observant, reflective, emotional and downright scary.
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 race around the clock thriller that taps into shared anxieties about control and opportunity from different experiences on the class spectrum.
Reality: Often ridiculous but frequently entertaining, the good outweighed the bad thanks to strong character development.
bell hooks’ essays on love were exactly what I was expecting and not what I expected at all given the authors’ reputation. While delivering her famous explorations of intersectionality – in this case the internal and external factors that influence how we love ourselves and others – it was also deeply religious and more self-help in nature than expected.
