Dainey’s Comments (group member since Dec 11, 2017)

Dainey’s comments from the 2022 ONTD Reading Challenge group.

I read The Shadow of the Wind, which I'd hear good things about, and ended up with a complicated opinion about it.

It gripped me from the start, and then it sort of plateaued for about 200 pages that took me forever to get through, where the main character is Stupid About Women with little exposition interspersed throughout to remind you that there's a mystery to solve. About halfway through it picks up again, only to end up in a massive exposition dump.

The mystery was very lukewarm and easily guessable.

I also wasn't really a fan of the way most women are portrayed very one dimensionally as opposed to even the most bit part men being complex and well described.

And yet I can't bring myself to hate the thing, because the atmosphere is so good, the worldbuilding, and the way the beautiful language just drew me into the story.

Going for The Shadow of the Wind since it's got a lot of hype from my friends with similar tastes.

For this month, I read The Psychology of Time Travel and really enjoyed it. Nicely diverse cast of awesome women, and the book really does what it says on the tin; explores not the world-changing consequences of time travel but actually focuses on what it can do to a person.

The murder mystery is just a bonus, and what I feel is the weakness of the book. The author didn't quite find that balance between letting the reader try to work it out and twisting the plot.

Going for The Psychology of Time Travel this month at least.

Might give 22/11/63 a shot, since it's in the family library. I tried watching the tv show, but just couldn't get into it, so maybe the book is better?

I had a blast clearing out my tbr list and grabbing a couple of extra ones along the way.

Last Chance To See was a very enjoyable read with Douglas Adams's narration, although it's impossible to get through without getting sad, as only 30 years onwards some of the animals, for whose conservation they were campaigning, didn't make it. I'll probably check out the sequel at some point, when I can put up with Stephen Fry.

Body Worlds: The Anatomy of Animals was a souvenir from the exhibit itself a few years ago, that I somehow never got around to reading before. It gave a nice explanation of the plastination process, and was a nice refresher on things that I saw and a looksie at the things not up at the exhibit at the time. My only gripe is that the pictures just don't do the elephant justice, it's impossible to realise just how massive it is without seeing it in person.

Kings, Bishops, Knights, And Pawns; Life In A Feudal Society was just okay. It's a nice primer for people whose idea of medieval times is burning witches and knights riding around on curtained horses, but it's just not that deep or engagingly written.

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain was a very thought-provoking read. This is probably the only place where I can say that one of the main reasons I loved it was because it's clearly a book only a woman could've written. A lot of the proposed results make a lot of sense, and when she gets to the parts where society constructs men and women's emotions differently and treats them differently (especially in her "emotions and the law" chapter) because of it, I fistbumped the air.

Black and British: A Forgotten History I'm still in the middle of, and it's a very strong book. It's well researched and written, and does the world good to see what's under the generally accepted, PR'd and rugswept, (white) history.

Sweet, another month I'm well prepared for, with Last Chance To See, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain and Black and British: A Forgotten History.

Lea wrote: "Dainey wrote: "I read The Princess Bride and ended up with so many conflicted feelings along the way.

Some scenes were better in the movie, some were better in the book, and I did ..."

Aye, I'm aware, but there's only so much "my son is so utterly terribly fat" and "I'm being inexplicably seduced by young women" I'm willing to humour before getting to what I picked up the book for, y'know?

I read The Princess Bride and ended up with so many conflicted feelings along the way.

Some scenes were better in the movie, some were better in the book, and I did like that all the characters got a bit more depth to them (even if that did Buttercup zero favours).

But mostly it's this specific edition I have a beef with. Almost 20% of the book are either author forewords and afterwords, although we do get the first chapter of the sequel (which I quickly decided not to look up properly because it was some deus ex machina bull with a twist that pushed some Twilight-primed "run the eff away" buttons, lol).

The Princess Bride totally counts as romance, right? Although I tend to steer well clear of the more soppier books, the stars aligned and told me to read it.

No, really. When Goldman passed away, I realised I'd never read the book, even though I absolutely love the movie. Then I forgot about that stray thought, until over the holidays the kindle edition was going for 0.99£, and before I could read it, this year's monthly themes were out and I just knew.

I read Pet Sematary for the first time a minor forever.

I think I'm just the wrong demographic for it. While I enjoyed the descent into madness well enough, the main charcater rationalising all the horrible stuff he ends up doing, the "real life scary thoughts" just don't grip me, likely because I'm still not parent.

Also it was curious to see how progress marches on. Seeing two ableist slurs on one page actually gave me pause, when twenty years ago I can't remember even noticing (and I've never been one to embrace hurtful language).

I finished this a couple of days ago, and man, I have a burning need to rec it to everyone and their aunt!

How would you survive the apocalypse?

Defying Doomsday is an anthology of apocalypse fiction featuring disabled and chronically ill protagonists, proving it’s not always the “fittest” who survive – it’s the most tenacious, stubborn, enduring and innovative characters who have the best chance of adapting when everything is lost.

In stories of fear, hope and survival, this anthology gives new perspectives on the end of the world, from authors Corinne Duyvis, Janet Edwards, Seanan McGuire, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Stephanie Gunn, Elinor Caiman Sands, Rivqa Rafael, Bogi Takács, John Chu, Maree Kimberley, Octavia Cade, Lauren E Mitchell, Thoraiya Dyer, Samantha Rich, and K L Evangelista.

I picked up Pet Sematary as well. Will be interesting to reread after about twenty years or so, see if it strikes adult fears more than a sullen young teen's world.

I briefly thought about Artemis Fowl, but decided after seeing the casting call for Artemis that a refresher might not be the best for me if I intend to watch it.

I loved All Systems Red! It wasn't super heavy on the science fiction side, and for me the appeal was definitely Murderbot itself. It's definitely easy reading and worth checking out if you're curious.

I'd love to know how many of us on #TeamMurderbot are retail drones, because I can see that being a huge reason why I related to the character so much. Unfortunately I can't secretly watch daytime soaps while only pretending to pay attention.

This was not a smooth month. It took me ages to get started, and then I figured I might as well go for the grand daddy of all dystopias, and picked up 1984.

Then it took me ages to finish it, because I kept bumping into Poe's law regarding Winston's nasty little incel tendencies and Julia ever so proudly being not like the other girls.

Chalk up another victory for The Ballad of Black Tom. A whole new, winning twist on Lovecraft, and I loved it to bits. Recommended it to everyone and their dog, as soon as I finished reading!

Definitely gonna check out more of his works, too.

I had a proper go at it this month.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was every bit as good as its reputation as a classic says. A reread after ages, it was still very enjoyable.

The Mystery Of The Three Quarters: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery I know people are divided on the topic of new Poirot books, but I've liked them and this is the strongest yet, by far!

Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates was an impulse buy, discovered through the tv show. While it delves deeper into just how scandalous a figure Phryne is, the mystery itself is a bit meh, and the whole thing lacks the sheer vibrancy Essie Davis brings to the character.

Raven Black was another tv show find. Although the mystery aspect was peanuts, the book did a terrific job describing the bleak atmosphere and mentality in the Up North, not to mention a whole collection different, deeply flawed characters.

In the Woods I'm still in the middle of. Figured no better time to give it a try, since I've seen it recommended by everyone and their cousin. The plot keeps thickening, and there's a certain aspect of cultural familiarity that endears the story to me (Scandinavian engaged to Norn Iron, here), but at the same time, I find the main character absolutely insufferable. From what I've gathered, each book is narrated by a different squad member, so I'll probably pick up the next one at some point.

Ohhh, I'm all set for this one! I have The Murder of Roger Ackroyd left over from the unreliable narrator month, a shiny brand new The Mystery of Three Quarters in the mail on its way to me, and last night I impulse bought Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates because I adore the tv series and this was going for 0.99£.

And who knows how many others I end up grabbing from recs for this month; I love my mysteries!

Hmmm, I probably should've gone for a fiction book about a famous character, but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, so I picked the pointed out One on One.

Alas, that wasn't the best choice for me, I think. The writing wasn't very gripping, plus most of these encounters were a long time ago (presumably for lawsuit reasons...), so many of them I felt were already common knowledge even for a non-gossip buff.

There's still plenty of time, so I'll probably go for Night Film as well.

Gave Murder on the Orient Express a whirl.

I watch the Albert Finney film way more often than I read the book, so it's nice to give it a go to spot the subtle differences.

I'm definitely going to read Poirot and Me.

I'm a huge fan of the tv series, yet somehow only found out a couple of months ago that he'd written a book about it!