Over the summer, I always have grand reading plans that seldom come to fruition. You would think, with abundant free time, one would read constantly. But between the end of March and the beginning of September, I’d read a grand, shameful total of three books.
In returning to school, I was determined to get off my ass and work! I’m exceedingly lacking in extracurriculars this semester, so I’ve filled my time by contributing to my Goodreads goal. Here’s a little overview of my thoughts on the books I finished in September and October.
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I read Malibu Rising in 2022 and immediately needed Reid’s next book about Carrie Soto. I love an unabashedly angry woman, especially if she has the badass talent to back it up, but I’m glad I saved this novel for when I was in a slump. Carrie is a force of nature, an inspiration with her obsessive dedication to tennis and, more specifically, to winning. It’s predictable, but still incredibly emotional to witness her overcome her losses, both on and off the court. I laughed, I cried, I flew through it. I couldn’t get enough of her.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Kafka’s Metamorphosis has been talked to death, and I figured this short story would piss me off with its pretension. However, I was very quickly charmed by the humorous wording of a deeply unfortunate situation. I don’t think I’ve read anything so nightmarish in execution. Nothing has felt more like a terrifying yet confounding dream than Kafka’s prose. I’m not entirely sure, but I’d assume there are parts I missed in a translation, so I wish I was fluent in Czech just to understand Kafka better.
By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie
I bought this book last year from a tiny store because I’ve never read an Agatha Christie novel, and this one had a beautiful cover with pink printed edges. It was short and a good murder mystery is perfect for October and building up my Halloween spirit. The first 50 pages were some of the best I’d read in a long time - the characters were so entertaining and Christie’s writing had the comforting style of Roald Dahl books I grew up with. It got a lot slower in the middle but picked back up again with a great ending that I didn’t see coming at all.
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
The book has been on my TBR shelf practically since it came out in 2017, so it was about time for me to read it. Since it’s a young adult book, it only took me a day to finish it and I had forgotten how much I missed a narrative about teenagers. It wasn’t anything special – a Breakfast Club cast of characters in the middle of a murder mystery – and I was able to guess the ending pretty early on, but the pacing is fast enough that it doesn’t really matter; it’s just pure fun.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Maybe I should be examined because I loved this book. It’s a near-perfect portrayal of incessant greed and bigotry, how one breeds the other and vice versa. It’s hilarious and disgusting, to the point where I literally gagged at certain scenes towards the end. Patrick Bateman is an awfully brilliant protagonist. I’d have to put the book down every once in a while because I couldn’t spend that much time inside his mind without feeling as depraved as him, but that just speaks to the power of Ellis’s writing. I love never knowing if he’s really committing these acts or just imagining everything in his drug-addled mind. The story’s as good as the film, but Bateman is so much more odious on paper.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
This was majorly disappointing. Wilde is incredibly talented, but I think I wasn’t in the mood for a classic while reading this because the writing felt too dense for such a short book. The characters were all annoying and I know that’s sort of the point, but unlikable and annoying are very different. I should be able to dislike Dorian Gray without getting aggravated with him. He’s a child that cannot grow, which is simply impossible for me to root for. I just wanted it to be over once I hit the halfway mark. There’s lots to take away from this story but it’s difficult when I’m bored to sleep (seriously, I took many-a-nap with the book covering my face).
Yellowface by R.F. Kaung
This book is like a persistent anxiety attack in the best way possible. The story is about a white woman who steals her Asian friend’s manuscript after she dies. Our protagonist is drowning in her lies and you can feel all the stress that comes with it. You want her to get caught, you don’t want her to reap the benefits of her friend’s work, but you also don’t want to be in her shoes when she’s finally brought down. I love a satire, and this one was delightfully witty and accurate to so many real-world scenarios.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Occasionally gave me chills, occasionally made me snort water out of my nose from laughing so hard, and sometimes it even made me tear up. Weeks after reading this, I still haven’t fully wrapped my head around the enormity of this book, still haven’t reckoned with its many meanings, even if it’s less than 300 pages. Vonnegut has more insight in his fingernail than most people have in their entire beings. I’m so excited that I have a whole catalog of his stories in front of me to be read.