frillish

A recent read...

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Notes on a Nervous Planet

Matt Haig

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Genre: Nonfiction, Mental Health

Summary Thoughts on how to live a better life when modern society brings us constant anxiety

Opening Line A conversation about a year ago: I was stressed out. I was walking around in circles, trying to win an argument on the internet.

This was one of the available audiobooks that I borrowed blindly as nonfiction reading material between other little stories I like to read. Apparently, the author does many of these essay books on different sets of topics, so this one is on an anxious society

There are lots of gem statements here and there that are nice to file away that I really enjoyed. I wanted to share a few here but I’m sure there’s more than could resonate with other readers, too. (I transcribed these from audio so I might’ve misplaced a word or two)

A quote from Ray Bradbury - Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get.

Being kind to yourself and being kind to the planet is the same thing.

Reading isn’t important because it helps to get you a job. It’s important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given. It is how humans merge. How minds connect. Dreams. Empathy. Understanding. Escape. Reading is love in action.

We often find ourselves wishing for more hours in the day, but that wouldn’t help anything. The problem, clearly, isn’t that we have a shortage of time. It’s more that we have an overload of everything else.

(On an observation of society’s values.) Happiness is not good for the economy. We are encouraged, continually, to be a little bit dissatisfied with ourselves.

All a writer can do is provide a match, and hopefully a dry one. The reader has to strike the flame into being.

I enjoyed this read a lot, though I think at times it felt a little disjointed and I would lose track of where I was following along. I’d recommend it as a lightweight read (or listen) though since, despite the anxious undertone, it still tries to be hopeful.

We Spread

Iain Reid

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Genre: Horror

Summary Penny, a painter struggling with the realities of aging, moves in to a care residence that doesn't quite seem right. Or maybe, she's just losing her grip on herself and the world.

Opening Line He was an artist. A prolific painter of merit and distinction. He impressed with his boldness and ingenuity. He liked to shock, and bewilder.

This book was very strange and disorienting, which was what I expected after reading the author’s other work, I’m Thinking of Ending Things. That story is really hypnotic and eerie, and this one also continues a sense of creepiness and something being just a bit wrong. It’s not as extreme as his earlier book, but still a fun read

I liked how you can draw a lot of the book’s material back to the themes of aging and fears of how the aging process affects us, but with a horrifying interpretation. I spent some time thinking about this story after finishing it…

Bad Blood

John Carreyrou

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Nonfiction, Business, Crime

Summary Follow the story of Silicon Valley scammer Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos...

Opening Line Elizabeth Ann Holmes knew she wanted to be a successful entrepreneur from a young age. When she was 7, she set out to design a time machine and filled up a notebook detailed engineering drawings. When she was 9 or 10, one of her relatives asked her at a family gathering the question every boy or girl is asked sooner or later: What do you want to do when you grow up? Without skipping a beat, Elizabeth replied: I want to be a billionare.

Once in a while, I picked up a random book on one of those bestseller or highly recommended lists if they’re available as audiobooks so I can listen to something a little bit different than my usual. This one really surprised me by how captivating the author wrote the account of this crime.

I never typically read this kind of book since I’m not really into business and often get confused by similar topics, but I couldn’t stop listening to it. The whole story is wild and the Carreyrou did such a good job reporting it in a page-turning style. In short, even if this isn’t your usual read, I really recommend reading it if you’re fascinated by the workings of true crime without the murders and gore (but still heartbreaking in its own ways)

The Spite House

Johnny Compton

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Genre: Horror

Summary Eric Ross moves in to Masson House with his two daughters, soon becoming the caretaker of the haunted house, but his own past hasn't stopped haunting him yet.

Opening Line The Masson House in Degener, Texas was like a corpse of an old monster, too strange and feared for most to approach it, much less attempt to bury it. After all, it might be feigning death, or dormant.

I love a haunted “haunted house” story! Apparently, this book is the author’s debut novel, so I would consider reading more from them. The ambiance of this story is eerie! I had a little trouble following the different perspectives of all the characters that it kept swapping between, but I thought the way the author laid out the motives of characters was interesting You keep learning more, especially about a mystery that hides from the beginning. Personally, I think it didn’t quite work out for me, but I still think it was a good read.

(House of Leaves lovers, it’s a little different from that kind of haunted house story, sadly. Still a haunted house story though!)

Holly

Stephen King

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Crime Thriller/Horror

Summary When Holly is called out from her detective agency's break to investigate the disappearance of a young woman, she soon finds herself deep in a gruesome, disturbing case with a growing number of missing bodies...

Opening Line It's an old city, and no longer in very good shape, nor is the lake beside which it has been built, but there are parts of it that are still pretty nice.

HOLLY… I was so excited for this book when I first heard it was announced, and I was not disappointed!

Like the other books in the Bill Hodges/Finders Keepers series (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch, The Outsider, and If It Bleeds), I think the genre is closer to detective thriller rather than horror, but horror elements are definitely present. It actually got darker than I expected, but I would say The Outsider is the “worst” in terms of difficult to digest (I had to skip certain descriptions/parts in that one).

Since it’s set in 2020, there’s also a heavy political theme and strong effects of how the pandemic affected America and its citizens. The extremely shy and hypochondriacal Holly was actually quite an interesting character choice in the setting of COVID… and her character continues to grow on me from the first book she appeared. I also just loved the recurring characters who appeared and want to give them hugs!

If you like dark crime thriller and enjoyed any of the previous Bill Hodges/Finders Keepers books, Holly is right in line with them. I really couldn’t put it down

A recent read...

• reads

Hello! I wanted to share with you my thoughts about a book I read recently Or, I listened to it on audiobook, but I guess whether you hear it or read it it’s still a story.

Flight 171

Amy Christine Parker

Goodreads

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Genre: Horror, Thriller, YA

Summary Plane flight is overcome by supernatural entity with one malicious request: save everyone by sacrificing one. Also, your sister's killer might be on this plane.

Opening Line So, class trip poll: if you had to choose between dying in a plane crash or a car accident, which would you pick?

I was a bit torn on giving a rating - I think I’d settle on 3.5, as it’s a bit predictable and I didn’t exactly look forward to continue reading it, but the read through was thrilling and I couldn’t put it down. Quite a few of the characters (including the main character) wasn’t really my type of character, but I guess they’re depicted as flawed teenagers. I also felt like there were plot holes here and there, but I’m generally more okay with things not being explained as long as it feels complete as a story I had a hard time keeping track of who was who since there were quite a few characters, so when some of the twists and reveals happened, I couldn’t remember why those characters were important.

Overall, the story reminded me of the movie Devil (2010) (five individuals are trapped in a high-rise elevator with one devil-possessed) and the “sacrifice one to save all” trope It always stresses me quite a lot to read these since it’s tense the entire way through. The slow build up to “what happened on Halloween night” (the mystery around the death of the main character’s sister) was weaved in with everyone involved on the flight. I liked how those connected in even if there wasn’t exactly unique twists. I did think the overall message the book tried to convey left me with a good feeling.

Anyway, what are you reading recently?

I’m waiting eagerly for Stephen King’s Holly to fall into my Libby basket; I’ve been on hold for so many weeks so I’m excited to read it. I couldn’t finish his last new book (Billy Summers) because it made me too anxious at the time, but I’d like to finish it eventually. With the holiday season coming up, I would recommend NOS4A2 by Joe Hill as an suitable holiday read (note: it’s very heavy on some disturbing topics, so be sure to look up content warnings as well)