M’s Comments (group member since May 31, 2022)

M’s comments from the 2025 Reading Challenge group.

Lorraine wrote: "I just bought House of Leaves. I am a bit anxious about it. Looks like it wont be an easy read. Some advise?"

Ohboy, where do I begin lol. I read it about 20 years ago and it took me almost a year to complete it.
Take your time.
I don't know if I would even call it a book you just...read. The word "read" sounds to simple for it. Lol
I do remember mostly moving through it front to back - including the notes/footnotes/references even if the page ended mid sentence. It was erratic and confusing but I think that was part of the fun, the struggle. I eventually filled in the blanks as it came along or I jumped around when it felt like the right thing to do. I used a LOT of bookmarks, haha.
I put it down often and only picked it up when I was by myself and uninterrupted.

You'll find your own way through it :)

A few years ago I read Migrations and cried SO HARD. I absolutely loved it.
Then I read Once There Were Wolves, thinking surely, I'd love it more....nope. HATED it lol. It made me unreasonably mad.
This is your last chance Charlotte -_-
Don't let me down.
Please.


Happy reading ya'll

Valerie wrote: "[spoilers removed]
A beautifully written and very original novel."

(view spoiler)[When I think about this book, I'm solely in the camp of allowing myself to believe in the magic, let it be fantasy. Let the kindness and beauty he saw be real for our sweet Piranesi.
“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its kindness infinite."
The house, immediately reminding me of the house in House of Leaves hooked me completely. Only Piranesi's house, is not scary or unnerving. It is comforting! :)
(hide spoiler)]

Oh nice, haha. You zipped right through it! :)
I've read a few chapters the other night and am enjoying how the atmosphere is building.

I can't believe we're already so close to May.
Thank you SarahKat!

My Libby hold just came through so I'm going to pop into this one tomorrow :)

I agree with your review SarahKat, although I think I'm overall a little less impressed with Doughty's writings.
(view spoiler)[I was ready to read all about the beauty of a "good death" from places around the world. Colorado's open air pyre...yo SIGN ME UP. It felt like a really strong start but for me, it got less interesting as the sections continued. (hide spoiler)]
I'm not mad that I took the time to read it but I am glad that I borrowed it from the library instead of purchasing it.

SarahKat wrote: "My hold still isn't ready. If the audio doesn't come through soon I'll go get the physical this week."

No rush :) We've got a lot of month left!

Indonesia.
"I realized that they don't need to inquire with a mortician about the state of their mother's body. They know perfectly well what Mom is up to, even eleven years after her death. Seeing Mom again, even in this altered state, might be less frightening than the specters of the human imagination."

It's so fascinating.
Off to Mexico next!

Well it's a beautiful Sunday here in Southern California. The sun is shining and it feels like the perfect afternoon to start this.
If you're like me and need a good playlist that matches the book vibe while you read...
https://youtu.be/lvbN65P5J8M?si=n4XEm...
Enjoy reader friends.

I have a physical copy of this but my Libby hold should come through in the next week or two, so once I have that, I'll jump into this one.
I honestly don't really remember what this is supposed to be about but seeing historical fiction/gothic/set in Scotland with an introduction by Maggie O'Farrell and that was all I needed to snag it off the shelf :)

Welp, look at me thinking last month I was gonna start this early, lol. Ah well.
Starting today :)

Finished!
Ended up giving it a 2.5 rounded up and for me, that ain't that bad, haha. I had a good time reading this even if by the end I was left feeling how I felt when the show LOST ended.
(view spoiler)[Obviously we're supposed to have loose ends and more questions than answers with a story like this, but I'm most confused by why Baron, Fatman, etc all die? Maybe I missed it somewhere.. and I'm also leaning towards believing that K and Emily being together was just a distraction/made to throw K off kinda timeline...
The creepy darkness here reminded me of the smoke monster of LOST and it made me chuckle. (hide spoiler)]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one. I think I may need to sit on it a while :)

SarahKat wrote: "Also just finished 23: ."

(view spoiler)[The tv room - I can agree with that. It definitely wasn't totally original or really that surprising. (hide spoiler)]

I'm not that much further along (work has been hectic this week) but I hope to get a chunk more read tonight.

Glad to have you with us Dominique! I hope you're enjoying it so far :)
(view spoiler)[I thought that too about where K started the game. Made sense to me that it started that night in the car accident. (hide spoiler)]

I am digging this. I just finished chapter 23
(view spoiler)[This was my favorite part so far. Simply for the David Axelrod mention, haha. I have not heard that name mentioned by anyone, anywhere in well over 20 years. I squealed with delight, immediately taken back to when I was in junior college and this wacky teacher of mine was jammin' to David freakin' Axelrod after every class. Man, what a memory. lol. I'm gonna throw on the whole The Song of Innocence album and just keep reading. How fun!
In case you've never heard the track:
https://youtu.be/jMakYKVKqIc?si=iuczC...
Or the album:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7cILxV...
(hide spoiler)]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it Lorraine! If you continue with this author I hope A Gentleman in Moscow is a winner for you also :)
The only other novel that I own from him is The Lincoln Highway and it's a thiiick one with hit and miss reviews so I'm almost nervous to read it, haha.
A Table for Two sounds interesting also but I'm with Karin, I haven't really connected to short stories since my younger years.

Karin wrote: "However, bear in mind that it's easy to be disappointed by over-expectation :). I've had that happen to me before when I might have liked the book better if I hadn't had such high hopes for it.

Ok. Maybe the use of an exclamation mark gave the impression that I had overly high expectations. I don't but thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

July is great! 😁

Suggesting The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty for June or July
(just the first book for now :))

I just finished chapter 7 and I'm digging this so far. If it wasn't 12:40am right now I'd keep going.
(view spoiler)[I'm really enjoying the pacing so far too. From the 1999 car accident where Anne died, to K's parents also getting killed in an accident...they had to be using K to get into the game right? Is that what killed them? -
Telling K to tell Alan to call home definitely felt like a misdirection to me. I didn't get wifey vibes either. Assistant? Mistress? Handler? (hide spoiler)]