March 14, 2024

Long books that would be 5 stars if they were shorter

I just finished reading two long books, each over 800 pages in length. Both books are good but would have been better if they were shorter. The stories were great, I liked the characters, and I liked the writing. It just felt like a chore sometimes to wade through all the pages.

I have nothing against long books. Some of my favorite books ever are over 500 pages long, but they were books that managed to hold my attention throughout. The challenge with long books is that there are bound to be sections that are less engaging than others, and in some cases, those parts of the book drag me out of the story.

Curious about which books would have been 5 stars if not for their length, I looked at the 4-star books I read in the past three years to see if length was the main reason any of them didn't receive a 5-star rating. For purposes of this post, I define a long book as one greater than 500 pages in length. That's an arbitrary number since some people consider anything longer than 300 pages to be long, and others devour 500-page novels without blinking.

I've rated 128 books as 4 stars since the beginning of 2021, and here are the ones that could have been 5 stars if they were shorter:

  • Gilded by Marissa Meyer - The description on the book jacket was interesting, and I wanted to read about the premise, but it took a long time for me to become invested in the protagonists.
  • Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore - I found it interesting that the first two books in the Graceling Realm series were under 500 pages long, and I rated them 5 stars, while the last three books were over 500 pages, and I rated them 4 stars. Correlation? Causation? You be the judge.
  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - the first 100 pages or so of this book were great, but by about page 200, it felt repetitive. If the book ended at less than 300 pages, I would have likely given it 5 stars. 
  • Gunmetal Gray by Mark Greaney - I started reading the Gray Man series after the first book (which was less than 500 pages long) got me hooked. Gunmetal Gray is an example of an entry in the series that was still good but felt repetitive after a while.
  • The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan - I've read the first three books in the Wheel of Time series, and I feel like they're all too long, but I'm choosing The Dragon Reborn because this could have been 5 stars if it were shorter.
  • The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - This is the book that got me thinking about the topic. Whenever I sat down to read it, I would be engrossed for a while, and then it felt like a chore to continue reading. It took me longer than normal to finish this book, but I'm glad I did.

Obviously, length is not the primary concern when I rate a book, but this exercise reminds me that a book of any length needs to capture and maintain a reader's attention throughout, no matter how many pages it is. It's just a lot harder to do so when a book is long.

 

February 4, 2024

Forget romantasy, what about romantorror?


Romantasy, or romantic fantasy, is huge nowadays. The bookish part of the internet is flooded by posts showcasing books by Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, and others. Last year, Romantasy even became a category in the Goodreads Choice Awards. (The winner, not surprisingly, was Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.)

The popularity of this genre that mixes romance with fantasy made me wonder if I've been missing the boat on other genres that are combined with romance? What about romance and horror (romantorror?) Romance and science fiction?

To learn about other Romance+ genres, I searched for Goodreads lists that contain books with romance and another genre. Some other Romance+ genres I found include:

Judging by the small sample size provided by these lists, other Romance+ genres exist, but they aren't nearly as popular as romantasy. For example, I've only read two books from the Romance Horror list, two from the Romance Science Fiction list, four from Romance Mystery, and three from Romance Thriller. Perhaps Romantasy's popularity will result in greater interest in these other genres, or maybe romance+fantasy is unique to itself. It's hard to say, but I think I'll try out more romantorror.



January 4, 2024

Re-reading five-star books

With the number of unread books out there, I rarely get to re-read the ones I love. This year, I want to change that by turning re-reading into a reading challenge. This is partly because I want to revisit some of my favorite books, but another reason is that, after 2023's Year of Sanderson, I want to refresh my memory of the Cosmere. It will also be a good way for me to prepare myself for the release of Stormlight Archive #5 in December. 

My current plan is to re-read a past five-star book during each month of 2024. Some of these will be Cosmere books, and others will be favorites that I want to read again. The biggest problem I foresee will be deciding which of these great books to include since I'm constraining myself to just twelve in 2024 because, after all, there are still a LOT of new books to read. :-)

These are the Cosmere books I'm contemplating:

  1. Elantris - Brandon Sanderson
  2. Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson
  3. The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson
  4. The Alloy of Law - Brandon Sanderson
  5. The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
  6. Arcanum Unbounded - Brandon Sanderson
  7. Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson
  8. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson

 The other favorites I'm thinking of reading this year are:

  1. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
  2. Wool - Hugh Howey
  3. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
  4. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - V.E. Schwab
  5. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell 
  6. Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor
  7. Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child
  8. Find Her - Lisa Gardner
  9. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
  10. The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pakkanen

Since these books are among my favorites, I anticipate that this reading challenge will be one I'm guaranteed to enjoy. Depending on how it inspires me, I can see myself doing the same challenge again in the years to come so that I can re-read the five-star books I couldn't get to this year.


January 1, 2024

Favorite reads of 2023

 

 

2023 was truly the year of Brandon Sanderson for me. Not only did I receive four Secret Project novels (and a surprise short story) and other monthly swag from his record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, but four of his books ended up on my list of favorite reads of 2023. 

Without further ado, here are my top 10 books read in 2023:

1. The Lost Metal - Brandon Sanderson 

My favorite book from 2023 was the only Brandon Sanderson novel I read that wasn't a Secret Project. Just as The Hero of Ages was a great conclusion to the first era of Mistborn, The Lost Metal was an awesome way to end the second era. All of the usual elements of a super Brandon Sanderson book were present in this one. More than any Sanderson book I've read, however, The Lost Metal referenced other parts of the Cosmere, something that any Sanderson fan will appreciate. I know it'll be a few years before we'll see Mistborn's third era, but I'm already looking forward to it!


2. The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes 

The conclusion to the Inheritance Games series and winner of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction was as good if not better than the first two books (both of which made my list of top ten favorites of 2022). Once again, the puzzles and mysteries in this novel were what set it apart from other YA books I've liked, and the whole story of Avery and the Hawthorne family was truly engaging. I recommend this series to all YA fans.


3. Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree

Who knew that a fantasy tale about opening a coffee shop would be so fun to read? I never thought a fantasy novel could feel warm and cozy, but that's how this book left me. I breezed through Legends & Lattes because I was so absorbed in its simple story about a tough orc who hangs up her sword to open a coffee shop, discovering menu items like iced coffee and cinnamon rolls along the way. This was a refreshing escape from the real world, and it's no wonder the book was a 2022 finalist in the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy.


4. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson 

Brandon Sanderson is known for his world building, and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter has some of the best world building I've read in any book. It was a hard call which of the Secret Project books was my favorite, but Yumi just edged out Tress because of the world building reveal near the end of the book. I liked both Yumi and Painter as characters, and the way their relationship grew seemed natural if predictable. It was fun trying to figure out what was happening in the book, and when some of the big reveals came, it reminded me of one of my favorite movies of all time. (I won't spoil it by naming the movie, but I'm curious if anyone else felt the same way.)


5. Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson 

What do you get when Brandon Sanderson writes a fairy tale narrated by Hoid? Answer: Tress of the Emerald Sea, the first of his four Secret Projects. Although this book is unlike his other Cosmere novels in tone, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and Tress has become one of my favorite Brandon Sanderson characters. Sanderson said that he was inspired by "The Princess Bride" when he wrote this story, and I can see the similarities. Whether you're a fan of Sanderson, "The Princess Bride," or a good fairy tale in general, this book is for you.


6. The Grace of Kings - Ken Liu 

I may have found the next fantasy series to rave about. I've heard that The Grace of Kings is a retelling of the founding of the Han Dynasty, but since that is a period in China's history I'm unfamiliar with, I read the book like any other work of fiction. In that respect, I enjoyed it greatly. It took some time for me to get to know the characters, but once I did, I found it fascinating the way they were all portrayed as well-developed individuals with their own desires and moral codes. This was also one of the most thought-provoking books I read in 2023, as it made me ask myself what I considered right and wrong and what I would do in the shoes of the characters. I definitely want to continue reading the rest of The Dandelion Dynasty series.


7. Upgrade - Black Crouch 

As with other Blake Crouch books I've read (Dark Matter and Recursion), Upgrade blends intriguing science concepts with a fast-paced plot that held my interest throughout the book. The topic is particularly timely, given the COVID pandemic and climate change. Without giving away more than what's in the book's description, I'll leave you with this quote from the book: "If nothing changes, we will die off for the stupidest reason imaginable--because we refused, for so many childish reasons, to do the obvious things that would save us." If that resonates with you, you should read Upgrade.


8. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus 

In 2022, I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, even though I didn't think it'd be my cup of tea, because of great things I heard about it, and it turned out that I enjoyed the book immensely and became a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid. In 2023, the same thing happened with Lessons in Chemistry. Despite the praise from book bloggers, I didn't have high expectations before I started reading the book, but it sucked me in right away. Elizabeth Zott was a protagonist I immediately related to, and the story itself was thought-provoking, insightful, and entertaining. I really appreciated the way it tackled the injustices of the 1950s and 1960s (many of which are sadly still present today) in a serious yet entertaining way, while weaving a gripping story about Elizabeth Zott's life. I understand now why so many people loved this book.


9. The Sunlit Man - Brandon Sanderson 

It's a testament to how great the Year of Sanderson Secret Project books were that my third favorite of the four books still made my top ten list. The Sunlit Man is the Secret Project book with the most direct tie to the Cosmere, and it was a joy to read it. As a standalone novel, it worked well, and it made me consider re-reading some of Sanderson's prior books so that I can remember the full background. Sounds like a good idea for a reading challenge in 2024. :-)


10. Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid 

Speaking of Taylor Jenkins Reid (see #8 above), she is a master at characterization. I've now read four books written by her, and with each one, I feel like I know the characters as well as I know any fictional character. They are complex and flawed, but I can't help rooting for them, and I miss them when I finish the books. The winner of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction, Carrie Soto is Back is my second favorite book by Taylor Jenkins Reid (after The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo), but that still makes it better than most other books I've read. I highly recommend it.

 

December 30, 2023

What I read in 2023


We've reached the end of another year, so it's time to review the books I read in 2023. At the start of the year, I set a goal to read at least 100 books, and I finished the year with 102, the same number of books I read in 2022.

The average rating for the books I read was 4.01 stars, slightly lower than the 4.04 average from 2022's books read. The breakdown by star rating was:

  • 5 stars - 31 books
  • 4 stars - 41 books
  • 3 stars - 30 books
As I mentioned in my last post, the reading challenge I undertook this year (to read classics that everyone "should" read before they die) did not go as well as my previous reading challenges. The 3.58-star average rating from those twelve books dragged down my overall average for the year. Without the books from the reading challenge, the other books I read this year came in at 4.07 stars, which is higher than 2022's average rating.

In my next post, I'll list my top ten reads of 2023. Stay tuned!


December 17, 2023

Reading challenge recap - books to read before I die

The reading challenge I selected for 2023 was to read a dozen of the "classics" that everyone should read before they die. As I mentioned less than halfway through the year, it turns out the classics are not for me. For the sake of formally closing out the challenge, here are the books I read (listed alphabetically by title):

  • The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 
  • Catch-22 - Jospeh Heller 
  • The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
  • Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 
  • Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
  • Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
  • Moby Dick - Herman Melville
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
  • Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
  • Ulysses - James Joyce
  • Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Not one of the books on the list received a 5-star rating from me. Seven of them were 4-star reads, and the remaining five received 3 stars, for an average of 3.58.

As far as reading challenges goes, this one didn't produce any great books that I enjoyed very much, but I still feel a sense of accomplishment in having read some of these "classic" works of literature.


November 18, 2023

After Z-Day #1 and #2 ebooks are 99 cents on Black Friday

On Friday, November 24, starting at 8:00 am PST, the Kindle versions of Book 1 and Book 2 of the After Z-Day series will be only 99 cents. While you can always get Book 1, Hopeless, for 99 cents, this is a 75% savings on Book 2, Relentless

If you miss the Black Friday price, Relentless will be $1.99 on Saturday, November 25, a 50% savings. The price increases to $2.99 on Sunday, November 26, and reverts to its normal price of $3.99 on Monday, November 27, which is still a bargain!

For all fans of zombie apocalypses, check out the After Z-Day series!

 

Get Hopeless here.

Get Relentless here.

Get Soulless, the newly released Book 3 in the After Z-Day series, here.