Alex Cabe finished reading Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards
Mira needs to get home for the holidays. Badly. But when an incoming blizzard results …
Listened to in one sitting on a long car trip.
Reviews and Comments
It's not like I'm a preachy crybaby who can't resist giving overemotional speeches about hope all the time.
This link opens in a pop-up window
Alex Cabe reviewed Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiaverini
Relatable Military Historical Fiction
5 stars
I picked this because I'm a Signal Corps vet and the book felt like it was written just for me. The characters were well-drawn. The real program was very selective, so every point-of-view character was an Amity Blight-style high achiever, which I enjoyed. They were different enough to give variety, but they shared the same dedication and optimism. I enjoyed spending time with them and going through their ups and downs. Grace felt the most relatable, but they all had their charms.
This took a long time to read because I had a busy month, but it never felt slow or dragged. I liked that it carried through the whole war, and would have been willing to stick around to read a dramatization of the soldiers getting their benefits.
As to the downsides, I wondered if the author had a background in advertising. Sometimes the descriptions were a little purple …
I picked this because I'm a Signal Corps vet and the book felt like it was written just for me. The characters were well-drawn. The real program was very selective, so every point-of-view character was an Amity Blight-style high achiever, which I enjoyed. They were different enough to give variety, but they shared the same dedication and optimism. I enjoyed spending time with them and going through their ups and downs. Grace felt the most relatable, but they all had their charms.
This took a long time to read because I had a busy month, but it never felt slow or dragged. I liked that it carried through the whole war, and would have been willing to stick around to read a dramatization of the soldiers getting their benefits.
As to the downsides, I wondered if the author had a background in advertising. Sometimes the descriptions were a little purple and sounded like ad copy or a thank you note. There were a few editing mistakes that felt basic for a prominent author, such as the same character's rank changing within a couple of pages.
Not precisely a downside, but there was some funny presentism. All the characters had basically modern racial attitude and thought wearing masks during a pandemic was very important.
I'm not sure I'd rate it so high if it didn't feel tailored to me, but it does and I did.
Alex Cabe reviewed I am Legend by Richard Matheson
Introduces a Lot of New Concepts that Later Authors Used Better
3 stars
This was primarily interesting to me because it showed me the early versions of tropes that have become familiar in the sci-fi and horror genres. It doesn't achieve greatness but sets the framework for later works by other authors that do.
It's kind of difficult to judge a book like this because things that were novel or big reveals have since become familiar tropes. The central concept of I Am Legend is rock solid, but it sometimes drags or goes on tangents, even with the short length, and I never found the scientific explanations either easy to follow or convincing.
Witch War was my favorite of the short stories, and I'd love to see someone adapt it or expand it into a larger book. From Shadowed Places had obviously outdated and questionable racial elements.
A lot of these felt like spec scripts for The Twilight Zone, so I wasn't surprised …
This was primarily interesting to me because it showed me the early versions of tropes that have become familiar in the sci-fi and horror genres. It doesn't achieve greatness but sets the framework for later works by other authors that do.
It's kind of difficult to judge a book like this because things that were novel or big reveals have since become familiar tropes. The central concept of I Am Legend is rock solid, but it sometimes drags or goes on tangents, even with the short length, and I never found the scientific explanations either easy to follow or convincing.
Witch War was my favorite of the short stories, and I'd love to see someone adapt it or expand it into a larger book. From Shadowed Places had obviously outdated and questionable racial elements.
A lot of these felt like spec scripts for The Twilight Zone, so I wasn't surprised to find out after reading the the author wrote a lot of Twilight Zone episodes.
The audiobook narrators tried a little to hard to do funny voices, and neither was any good at women's voices.
Alex Cabe started reading Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiaverini
Especially interested in this as a Signal Corps alum. Making this my 51st book on Bookwyrm because I was in 51st Signal.
Alex Cabe reviewed Nothing Burns As Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk
From New York Times bestselling author Ashley Woodfolk, Nothing Burns as Bright as You is …
Poetically emotional
3 stars
The poetry was more effective than prose at describing emotion and less at describing events. This was a short snapshot of a book that showed a single moment in time.
The events toward the end of the book re-framed the rest in a clever way.
Because this was so short, I read it as a chapter a day over a month. I think that helped me absorb each chapter more instead of speeding through it.
Alex Cabe reviewed Silence by Shūsaku Endō
Sustained by dreams of glorious martyrdom, a seventeenth-century Portuguese missionary in Japan administers to the …
Effective Character Study About a Time In History I Don't Know Much About
Overall I found this effective and a good companion piece to Shogun, and does not require the reader to be religious or Catholic to see the protagonist's point of view.
The character of Kichijiro was very interesting, and I tend to think the fumie came from Rodrigues' own mind, but that God was speaking to Rodrigues to Kichijiro. Kichijiro felt like the most fleshed-out Japanese character.
I thought it was kind of jarring to switch from Rodrigues perspective to third person, and I'm not sure I understand why Endo did it.
I thought the epilogue was effective in showing how the remainder of Rodrigues' life was just a footnote after the events of the novel.
Alex Cabe started reading Silence by Shūsaku Endō
Sustained by dreams of glorious martyrdom, a seventeenth-century Portuguese missionary in Japan administers to the …
Reading so I can watch the movie later.
Alex Cabe reviewed Erasure by Percival L. Everett
Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure …
I wasn't expecting the novel-within-a-novel
4 stars
After seeing the movie, I thought I knew what do expect, but I wasn't prepared for the entire My Pafology novella to be included in the book. It was similar to American Psycho where I saw what was happening and it was good and I got it, but that's still a lot of intentionally bad prose to wade through.
I found the family drama rang true.
I naturally found myself comparing the book to the movie, and one thing the movie didn't get across was that Monk's academic/serious writing was just as unreadable as My Pafology.
Alex Cabe reviewed The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Bertie and Jeeves do their best to help, and occasionally hinder, love-struck Bingo Little as …
Very Well Crafted, Had Trouble Clicking With It
4 stars
This is one of those books where me rating it highly is more a matter of recognizing it's well crafted that feeling fully bought in. The characters were funny and the language was very artfully crafted, but I still had trouble feeling excited about it for some reason.
I do enjoy that there's a little edge to the entire situation. Jeeves is a thousand times more competent than Wooster. Is the class system just so powerful that this is the best Jeeves can do, or is Jeeves in it just because it's easy and he enjoys messing with Bertie?
No big urge to jump into another one, but I will revisit when I'm in a different mood.
Alex Cabe rated The Inimitable Jeeves: 4 stars
The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Bertie and Jeeves do their best to help, and occasionally hinder, love-struck Bingo Little as he falls head over heels …
Alex Cabe started reading Nothing Burns As Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk
From New York Times bestselling author Ashley Woodfolk, Nothing Burns as Bright as You is …
Book club pick. Because of being written in verse and short chapters, I'll be reading one chapter a day.
Alex Cabe started reading The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Bertie and Jeeves do their best to help, and occasionally hinder, love-struck Bingo Little as …
Reading because a school friend loved P.G. Wodehouse and I've never tried it.
Alex Cabe reviewed Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
A whipsmart debut about three women--transgender and cisgender--whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces …
Bold and Ambitious
4 stars
It was clear how much joy the author had in having the platform and she grabbed it with both hands to make the most of it. She had no fear of going after tough issues.
I enjoyed the different characterization of Reese and Ames, and the contrast between their experiences.
I don't need everything spelled out, but I would have appreciated a little more closure with the ending, especially with the book seeming to slow down in the last quarter.
Alex Cabe started reading Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
A whipsmart debut about three women--transgender and cisgender--whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces …
Book club pick.
Alex Cabe reviewed The Legacy of Yangchen by Abrams Abrams Books
Avatar Yangchen has succeeded in bringing a measure of stability to Bin-Er, but her successes …
James Bond in the World of Avatar
3 stars
The author wanted to write a James Bond novel and did a pretty good, twisty job in the world of Avatar.
This very much relies on the events of the previous novel, and doesn't to a very good job recapping them in the text. These are written to be read back-to-back, rather than as they were released.
Something about Yee's writing just doesn't grab me the way other books do. Even when I like the story and am interested, I'm not eager to get to the next chapter and his books are generally a slow read.