Month: September 2020

Book Review | Beach House by R. L. Stine

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Title: Beach House
Author: R. L. Stine
Publication date: 1992
Length: 210 pages
Genre: ya, horror
TW: Violence, blood, body/corpse, life-altering injury, death, murder, abduction, jealous/ potentially abusive relationship, bullying, possible classism

Beach House is the story of two sets of teens, and the murders/disappearances that reach across forty years, connecting their summers. Normally, when writing a summary or book review, I feel like I have trouble condensing the story down into a few sentences. That’s certainly not the case with this book. Take from that what you will.  

The plot utilized is an interesting premise, not a revolutionary one but certainly with the potential to make a good story. And the author does make some attempt to ground the story in its respective time-frames – making the distance between the two time-periods felt well enough, while also showing the similarities between the two. It was actually the shifting between settings that caught my interest, initially. Split between a contemporary setting in the 1950s, there’s room to play around with parallels between the two sets of characters and events. I know what can be done with non-linear storytelling, so I had hopes for the story.

Unfortunately the execution (pun not completely intended) leaves a lot to be desired. In this case, that nonlinear structure actually weakens the story significantly. The problem largely lies in the fact that the length of the book is still fairly average, thus each set of characters really gets about half the amount of time as they would if the story were completely devoted to them. While the stories are connected, they’re also largely separate until the end of the book, so there are two individual stories that never fully have the time to come together with much in the way of detail.

This not only affects the plot, however, but the character as well. With at least ten of them it’s difficult to set many of them apart, and they all sort of bleed into each other- simply displaying various shades of jerk. Speaking of, there’s little in the way of sympathetic characters in this book, running the gamut from  mean to jealous and borderline abusive at times- and that’s without mentioning the murderer. Unfortunately, this is one of those books where the girls are all afraid of their boyfriends/potential boyfriends but just keep going back anyway. I actually can’t think of any male characters who didn’t get the ‘suddenly dangerous and looming’ treatment. 

In addition, there’s so much that’s either implausible or made no sense whatsoever. This includes everything from small details (a literal torch used in the house, having never heard of Elvis Presley) to the entire plot twist at the end of the story, which went far beyond the normal suspension of disbelief required by a teen thriller/slasher novel. it was out there, even for an R. L. Stine book,  and I remember some doozies from my time reading Goosebumps.

Overall, I had hopes but Beach House just ended up being a super-flawed story that totally went off the rails at the end.

Thankful Thursday – Hello Again

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So, I haven’t made one of these posts in a while, despite saying I was gonna because the whole, ya know ‘it’s really great for my mental health and I like being positive and talking about my week’ thing – sending a massive side-eye to my past self. Reason #1- all those things my past self said were all very true; reason #2- it’s fall and thus the whole thankful thing is actually kinda relevant outside of my own head; and reason #3- why the heck not.

Beautiful Fall Days
So, the temperatures have really dipped lately, and although the leaves are still mostly green- just a few yellows and reds popping out in a few rare trees- it’s really starting to feel like Fall. And with that has come the clear blue skies I’ve come to associate with Autumn in my area. The lack of rain can become a problem eventually, but for the time being I’m not missing the humidity. I took the opportunity to take a drive the other day and the blue was so rich, without a single cloud, stretching out in front of me.

A Day Off
I’ve been subbing at the local high schools again this year, and thankfully, I’ve managed to get a fairly steady run of days. Still, it is nice to be able to get caught up on the stuff around the house sometimes. I didn’t get called in on Tuesday, so I had time to tackle the pit of chaos my house sometimes devolves into, plus makes some recipes that need a bit more energy and time to prep for than a normal work-day allows.

Yummy Food
The Autumn Equinox was Tuesday, incidentally the day I had off, so I decided to take advantage of it and cook some fall stuff. I had forgotten how much I love sweet potatoes! I added some to my brussels sprouts and topped with a bit of bacon and it was so good! Plus I made my family’s Cheese Apple Crisp- one of my favorite deserts ever and one that the diabetes doesn’t get too much in the way off. Eventually I’ll get that recipe up on my other blog.

Time Capsule Cooking
Yes, I have another blog. I started a retro food blog a few years ago over on blogger, but getting the diabetes diagnoses kinda took the wind out of my sails- food wasn’t so fun to think about for a while- and my camera was really sucky, besides. Now, I’m used to my dietary restrictions, and I’ve got a new phone, so I decided to bring the blog over here to wordpress. It’s been really fun to play around with a new site again, and go through my recipes. It’s not much right now- just a recipe or two that I’ve managed to transfer over, but I’ll be adding more to it soon.

The Magnus Archives
And yeah, this thing is a little not like the others, but I just found out that The Magnus Archives is back off of hiatus, and I am so looking forward to sitting down and listening to all of the horrible, terrifying things that some of my favorite characters are dealing with. Right in time for fall creepiness.

Book Review | The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

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Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Publication Date: 1999
Length: 206 pages
Genre: Epistolary, Diary Fiction, YA, coming-of-age
TW: Depictions of sex, rape, child abuse (molestation), mention of violence that led to death, violence, strong language, smoking, alchohol, non-consensual drugging, discussion of death (close family member), mental illness, ptsd, hospitalization, slurs (homophobic, sexist), homophobia, racism

The things about being one of the ‘weird kids’ is that reading a book with one as a protagonist will forever feel awkward and uncomfortable. Sometimes, the better the book the stronger the discomfort. And boy did this book leave me suffering from second-hand embarrassment. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower introduces us to Charlie as he begins his freshman year, coming out of a year in which a close friend killed himself and navigating the strange and treacherous world of high school- befriending a group of seniors that open up a whole new world for him. He tells his story to an anonymous reader, through a series of ongoing letters. 

I loved the structure that this book took, something riding the line between epistolary fiction and a diary. We, as a reader, don’t know who Charlie is, and neither does the recipient of his letters. The two never meet and the communication is solely one-way, so the writing acts more as a self-exploration, even more so than an obvious attempt to connect with the outside world. 

Thankfully, the author doesn’t shy away from the consequences that come with this structure. Charlie is an awkward character, and this comes out in his naivete and his at-times-surprising oversharing. Additionally, his writing is stiff and clumsy at first, sounding exactly like a novice writer. It makes the beginning of the novel a little difficult at times, but it really does allow the reader to see just how much he grows through the course of the book. 

A lot of this growth is due to the group of seniors that he befriends. They’re an interesting mix of characters (with lgbt rep) and I appreciated the fact that none of them felt like character ‘types’. Chbosky is very good at capturing that strange mixture of wisdom and immaturity that comes from being a teenager, and applying that to his characters. They are people, warts and beauty marks and all. 

If there’s one thing that I might complain about, it’s that the realism was at times set aside for whatever reason. Charlie’s family feels fairly normal- yet in some respects his parents are the epitome of hands-off. Evidently there is no such thing as a curfew for this kid, as going out to a party at nine oclock on a school night, and being out of the house at any given point in time is no biggie. This interaction with the older group of kids was vital to the book and Charlie’s maturation in a lot of ways, but Charlie’s strange hours are never addressed at all, where I would expect it to at least cause some level of parental tension. And that part felt like a stretch, especially in a book that is so grounded in realistic depictions of topics. 

Despite this problem however, and the second-hand embarrassment Charlie kept putting me through all week, I really liked the book. It was one that stuck with me for a few days, pulling at my thoughts. I always know I’ve found a possible favorite when the book refuses to be put down even after the last page.

Book Review | Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

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Title: Norse Mythology
Author: Neil Gaiman
Publication Date: 2017
Length: 299 pages
Genre: mythology, religion, fantasy, short stories, retellings
TW: (I’m not sure this is complete- my bad for not putting this together until finishing the book) sexism, violence, death, blood, cannibalism? (blood used to make mead), loss of limb, end of the world 

Okay, to be honest, until about ten years ago, mythology never held much interest for me. I mean, the stories were fine, but I could never get past the typically dry writing style and the lack of dialogue (or lack of interesting dialogue at least). Plus, while there was, seemingly, a glut of info about the Greek and Roman gods, finding the tales from other cultures wasn’t so easy.

Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, essentially a short story collection spanning the Norse story of creation to Ragnarok (the end of the world…ish), is for me, a remedy to all of those issues. 

The writing here lacks the dryness I’ve encountered with many mythology collections. The writing style isn’t quite as colorful as Gaiman’s usual work, but he still describes the world of the Norse gods well, while in a conversational style. Those unfamiliar with Norse mythology won’t have any issue with accessing the stories, as the pieces are all set up and easily connected. Here, the stories themselves take center stage, as if they were being told around a fire at night. 

Additionally, the characters come alive on the page, largely due to the dialogue. Once again, Gaiman utilizes a more everyday tone, rather than the overly high-spoken or didactic lines that I’ve seen used when the writer’s trying to make the characters seem impressive. In doing so, the gods seem a bit more relatable, though the events are still at times bizarre, in the best way. 

That’s not to say that the book doesn’t have some issues of its own to deal with. I found the writing style to be almost too simplistic, Gaiman tending towards sentence saw structure that seems more fitting for a middle grade book, rather than one geared towards adults. I would have liked a bit more complexity. I also wished he had stretched himself a bit further concerning characterization. I must admit that at least one character (later in the book, at least) is a little short on motivation. I would have liked, if they’re going to bring about the ruin of everything, to  have a reason for it at least, instead of essentially getting stuck with a ‘because they’re evil’ sticker. 

Overall, I found the book enjoyable and a good introduction to Norse mythology, but had expected more from the author, given their other works.

Book Review | The Adventure Zone- Murder on the Rockport Limited! by McElroy and Pietsch

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Title: The Adventure Zone- Muder on the Rockport LImited!
Author: Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Carey Pietsch
Illustrator: Carey Pietsch
Publication Date: 2019
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Fantasy, humor, Graphic novel, mystery, adventure
TW: violence, death, murder, decapitation, dismemberment, corpse, blood, serious injury, near death experience, weapons, does killing a monster count as animal death?, minor in peril (kinda), alcohol

Okay, so normally I don’t hop straight into the second book of a series (despite my best friend’s insistence this is a good practice) but since I’ve listened to the whole of the TAZ balance arc at this point, I figured it would be fine. 

For those of you not so familiar with The Adventure Zone, here’s a quick run-down. The Adventure Zone (from which this book is adapted) is a real play D & D podcast created by the McElroy brothers and their dad. The campaign this story is based upon follows the (mid)adventures of the dwarf cleric (kinda) Merle Highchurch, Human fighter Magnus Burnsides, and Elf Wizard Taako as they join a mysterious organization called the Bureau of Balance and are sent around to collect ultra-powerful magical artifacts. This particular arc takes place on a train, as they try to solve a mystery, collect the artifact they’ve been sent after, and keep the people in charge from finding out none of them are named Leeman Kessler. 

I was hopeful, going into this book. After all, the story had become a favorite of mine this summer. I binged the second half of the Balance arc within the span of a few weeks. However, I know things can go awry during the adaptation process. I’ve been burned before. 

Thankfully, the book didn’t let me down. It kept the humor of the original, while managing to add in some of the elements relevant to the overarching plot. Heck, it even kept in the occasional commentary from Griffin, the DM, which was unexpected, in that you don’t normally have the ‘voice of god’ popping into the narrative. There’s certainly a breaking of the fourth wall here, in a fun way. 

I’ll be honest that ‘The Murder on the Rockport Limited’ was never my favorite arc of The Adventure Zone while listening to the podcast. It certainly had its good moments, but it didn’t really catch my interest as well as some of the other parts of the story, like the Crystal Kingdom and Eleventh Hour, but I genuinely got sucked in this time around.  The story is tighter in graphic novel form, and it overall definitely improved the story, allowing all the gems to show through- it’s actually a pretty good mystery, and who wouldn’t love the boy detective Angus McDonald.

One of the things I have to complement the book on the most, I think, though, is the art. It’s perfectly complementary to the story, the drawings lively and animated (not literally of course) enough to match the characters and the comedy, without feeling overly goofy.

There were times, however, that the pacing felt a little off, the shifts between scenes or panels a little abrupt. Those times were few, thankfully, but when the hit I found myself flipping back through to see if I’d missed a page somehow. 

All in all, I’ll definitely be getting the first and third volume of the series, and waiting anxiously for the rest of the story to be published.