Recent Reads

Hello I read some books recently since the last time I shared, so I am here to tell you about them!

Piranesi

Susanna Clarke

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house — a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

Oh my gosh… I utterly ADORED this book. My qtie friend recommended it to me as it is a little “strange” (the narrator, in particular, is rather whimsical), full of a mysterious house theme (my favourite novel still remains as House of Leaves), and, it’s a bit dark and left me feeling a lot of feelings I want to say it’s kind of a hidden gem since I’ve never heard of it, but it also came out quite recently at around September of last year!

Really, if you’re into whimsical worlds and a bit of mystery, this short book (only 250 pages) is highly recommended from me. Agh, I would love to spazz about it more but I don’t want to spoil anything. It has a special place in my heart for sure, immediately one of my favourites I think It’s been a while since I read it but I keep thinking about it!

The Only Good Indians

Stephen Graham Jones

A tale of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition.

The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

This book came out mid of last year and was highly hyped! It falls into Native horror which is a genre and subject that I’ve not actually immersed myself in, aside from folklore and myths when diving deep into some of the podcasts I listen to. I had complex feelings about this book but ultimately would recommend it, especially if you are into horror. It’s not a slasher exactly but it gave me that vibe at some point

Why I felt kind of mixed on it is that, the story and setup and atmosphere is done really well and is definitely creepy, but something in it didn’t do it for me, maybe that I didn’t like any of the characters that much except one but it’s hard to dislike that character, or the pacing is a little weird That said, I don’t think I’ll forget it for a while especially as the ending was really worth I think this will grow on me with some time, but I don’t know if it’s something I’d opt to reread personally.

Later

Stephen King

The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine - as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.

After I read 11/22/63 and Joyland, I was really blown away by how fun Stephen King’s non-horror novels are… so I definitely was anticipating this one to be fun, too. I really liked it and it wasn’t what I expected too. There’s a lot of modern themes in this book that I really appreciated reading about. Ahhhh I really liked the character of Jamie and the overall development of this story.

There’s something in the ending of this that is really… If just that one thing wasn’t there I think I’d have a final better impression. It’s not awful like the infamous part in IT, but, it’s more like totally out of nowhere and doesn’t have the effect I think it was intended to have. Anyway, I would still recommend reading it! It’s fairly short as well!

The next books I am looking forward to reading (but may not actually be the next books I read, haha) are Mexican Gothic (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) and Thinner (Stephen King). Actually, I’ve been reading Thinner since December but I haven’t gotten through it yet as it’s a physical book and I fall asleep much easier reading those

Recent Reads

Hi I finished reading a new-to-me book today! Non-spoiler impressions below…

Joyland

Stephen King

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

This book is not a usual Stephen King book, but I kept hearing good things about it and the whole nostalia feel, so I checked it out via Libby when I saw it was available! I ended up liking it more than I expected, actually! It’s kind of an easy read and very short as well.

It reads differently than his usual novels and I found that most of the characters were likeable, which is rare to me (following Cujo, that’s a nice feeling to have since I… didn’t like any characters in that story, even though normally I like a level of unlikeable characters). I really didn’t care for the romance parts but I rather enjoyed reading the rest of it, and I think Devin Jones especially is such a likeable character, and, Mike, of course Ahhh the ending had me a bit emotional… I think this would be a fun read for a summer beach lounge!

The Sun Down Motel

Simone St James

The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…

I read this book a few days before Joyland by audio. It’s a bit like a mystery thriller rather than a horror. Actually, I don’t think I’d describe it as horror really, but it is a bit dark (topics of violence on women). The narration style is interesting as you flash back between the two girls’s perspectives and watch as their stories unfold together. There were a lot of twists I didn’t expect as I thought it would be more of a typical mystery!

Also, it got quite thrilling at some parts and I almost wanted to not finish it (I’m not very good with suspense) I’m glad I finished it, though I kinda didn’t like the ending itself. Overall I had a thrill reading it even though it’s not exactly what I usually read!