u/LiteratureDrifter

I've read most of Franz Kafka's major works like The Castle, The Trial, and his Complete Stories, but I wasn't aware of this book till a few months ago and got myself a copy. And I would say that its okay or solid at best, but in my opinion, doesn't really hold up to his later works. Which should be the case as this was technically his first unfinished novel that he wrote.

There are the Franz Kafka weird traits still here like how Amerika is portrayed in a more surreal and somewhat dreamlike architecture as Kafka himself never visited America, but read about the country in books. The statue of liberty instead of holding a torch is holding a sword and New York and Boston are connected to each other by a large bridge. Giving it that distorted style to the writing and descriptions. And I wished that the book focused more on these odd surreal qualities to America as these oddities are few and far between and is more focused on the somewhat humorous adventures of a German immigrant through the states. Which got a little boring and repetitive after a while.

As with most of Kafka's written works, the novel is unfinished and the ending chapters are written in fragments, which was fine as I knew going into it that it wasn't complete. But did wish there was some closure towards the end after not getting much in return towards the second half of the book. A solid book that, if your a Kafka completionist, then it's worth a read, but I don't reccomend it as a first read to the average reader whose never read Kafka.

Enjoyed this book more than I was expecting as it was my first read under King's pseudonym of Richard Bachman. The style of writing is very similar to the traditional King novel I felt, but the characters weren't as easy to root for and the overall tone of the book had a darker and more cynical view of everything happening. While still being a fun and entertaining read. I wouldn't say I was scared at any point, but I did get uncomfortable at times when details of the body horror elements were more apparent. Reading about a curse that causes a character to slowly lose weight overtime like a disease was tough to read at times when your with that character throughout the book. But then there were times where there was a bit more humor than I was expecting and made me a laugh a good amount of times. An enjoyable read that makes me look forward to reading more of Bachman's (King's) work in the future.

Managed to grab some good deals and spent just a buck on the four books. Last really long Stephen King book I read was The Stand and curious to know how the under the dome plays out if its too long winded or keeps me engaged the whole time. Also Thinner was one of my better personal finds as its one of the first Richard Bauchman books (Stephen King) I'll read and want to see if his writing style is any different under an alias. Heard good things about Louis L'Amour in terms of the defining western genre and will be my first book of his. Last haul I got the midnight garden by John Berendt, hadn't read it yet, but I figured might as well get another book of his.

Finally found Gerald's Game to go along with Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King. And came across a Tabitha King book, wife of Stephen King, as I knew she wrote books but never really seen her books out on display till this week. I've also heard good things about the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berdt but dont know much about it other than the high praises. And Salt by Jeremy Page was really a book I got for the cover art alone as it caught my eye, really know nothing about it or the author other than the dust jacket synopsis.

A book I went into with no experience in the mystery thriller genre and came out a bit disappointed. Now I did like the first 150 pages of the book as it did have an engaging gothic premise, setting, and the characters were interesting enough for me to want know what secrets they're hiding. However, the second half started to fall apart for me as the amount of twists and turns became a bit ridiculous and convoluted towards the end. It seems to me the author didn't know how to keep the reader engaged in this second half that he needed to keep putting plot twist after plot twist to keep the reader's attention, but it just became a bit much in my opinion. I enjoy a good twist in a story if its maybe one or two and the story warranted it, but these ones felt too out of place and didn't give me time to think or digest one twist before another popped up right away almost every chapter towards the end, ruining the mystery element for me. I wouldn't mind to try another Riley Sager book as I did like the first half of this book quite a bit. But to read one that isn't so stuffed with unwarranted plot twists and keeps a more grounded structure to the overall plot.

I heard of Treasure Island for quite some time, whether it was referenced in shows, movies, and other books. I never gave it a chance because, the little I've known about it, I always considered it a kids book and something I wouldn't really enjoy. But had an itch to read something that had to do with pirates and the sea and decided to give this classic treasure adventure a read and I'm glad I did.

Now I wouldn't really consider this book an all time great in the genre, even if it heavily influenced future adventure stories as its pretty basic at the core of it with a very predictable outline of how things will play out. With characters that are a little one note and fit into a specific archetype who don't really change all that much throughout. And that was fine as I didn't need a complex story of a fun treasure hunt.

What did surprise me a little was how violent the book actually was. With descriptions of death, hanging, rum poisoning, shooting, cutting, and all out brawls. These violent scenes only have a little bit of detail to where its not wording every wound or death in overly gross detail. But just enough info to get an image playing in the reader's mind. Which made me question if this was ever intended for kids or more of a general audience?

It was an overall solid read that I had fun with and was an easy read to relax to and not think too deeply on.

It's been awhile since I read anything by Toni Morrison, but I remember loving Beloved and Song of Solomon when I read those. And I never heard of Paradise and excited to dive into another Toni Morrison masterpiece.

The Only One Left by Riley Sager was one I've seen talked about online when it came out and was always interested in getting it, but never did until now. Just in time to as I've been looking to read another book in the Gothic genre.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is the one book I'm least familiar with. But I've seen it at the top of the best fiction books lists from the early 2000s and decided to give it a try.

The Wager by David Grann I'm sure I'll enjoy as I really liked Killers of the Flower Moon and the way that Grann is able to weave journalistic writing with engaging storytelling was satisfying to read overall in his past book.

Got through my second read of this satirical dystopian classic and enjoyed it just as much as the first time I read it a few years ago. I respect it a little more now as this specific edition has some extras like an indepth introduction of Anthony Burgess himself and the events in his life that inspired the creation of a Clockwork Orange. Also including a funny epilogue that supposedly was never printed in any books before of where Anthony Burgess is having a funny discussion/debate with his created violent loving psycho narrator, Alex.

The Nadsat language in the book, a mix between English and Russian slang, was still tricky to get a hang on at first, but after a little bit, it really started to flow nicely. Even if I didn't fully grasp the slang used, I was able to grasp the context of it and knew what was being said most of the time.

Alex the narrator is a bit of a fifty-fifty for me where I do think he's a well written character and made me laugh a good amount of times with the things he says and some of his more goofy actions. But other times I was disgusted with him with how violent he is towards people, children, and animals. And how unempathic he is towards the things he does and the pain he causes. But I do think that a character like Alex had to be the way he is for the message of the book to work of what happens when taking away the free will of someone whose awful and changing them into a brainwashed experiment causes more damage than good.

The philosophy and message of the book did get me thinking again as much as the first time I read it. I would like to read Earthly Powers, also by Anthony Burgess, that delves further into the Catholicism and religious morality themes that were only slightly brought up in the Clockwork Orange.

Carmilla is the foundational vampire novel where, told in the first-person perspective, the narrator relates to the reader what had transpired with her and her father when encountering a young beautiful girl at their castle. Where the beautiful girl is more than she originally seems and the classic vampire tropes are played out form there. The plot isn't anything super deep or complex, but it gets the job done well enough if you just want a classic vampire story without any major twist or turns.

And I think originally having my expectations a little too high going into it might've left me a little cold towards the end of the book towards the end. Being the novel that inspired Dracula by Bram Stoker and any other vampire classics well after it was published. But thinking back on it, I did enjoy the atmosphere and the gothic tropes surrounding every line well enough to say they I enjoyed it, even if it didn't blow me away or anything in terms of the classical side of literature. With the characters themselves being interesting enough as to wanting to see if they survive or not, while the narrator herself came off as a little bland or generic.

Though I will say the main negative for me is that the ending was a little unsatisfying, as the major events are told to the narrator by another person. The narrator doesn't get to see or go through the climax of everything that happened and just hid away till someone told her the aftermath. Which was a little lame to me and left the ending as just a big exposition dump. However, overall, still a solid read for anyone into vampires or the gothic side of literature.

Only classic vampire novel I'm familiar with is Dracula by Bram Stoker and came across this book after reading about how this book came before Dracula and was the inspiration for it. Not really expecting it to be as much as a classic, to me, as Dracula was, but looking forward to seeing where the origins of the vampire literature got their ideas from in Carmilla.

Only paid $3 and actually got a set that I've been wanting to read for awhile.

Heard good things about this trilogy when it comes down to the weird and unexplainable in terms of the horror genre. Over the years I've seen clips of the movie thats based on the first book of the series as well. And I was interested in the alien/parasiitc like world that the movie and the book explores to give this trilogy a try finally. Don't know what to expect and how difficult it'll be to follow whats going on, but will probably be an interesting reading experience regardless.

Never read any Carson McCuller's work before and my only experience in the southern gothic genre was from William Faulkner. Looking forward to reading how McCuller's writing compares and differentiates from Faulkner's. And how sad and character driven this book truly is from what I heard other people say about it over the years.

Found these two finds while out book shopping today and couldn't be happier. I've known Clive Barker for his grotesque gore horror for years, but never really read any of his fantasical/surreal weird fantasy books. Also with Harlan Ellison where I know the least amount of any of his writings outside of the "I have no mouth and I must scream" story. Never actually read the full story and only watched videos on it. Excited to dive into both of these weird works of art and see how I end up feeling about these two books overall in the future.

I dont think I've ever laughed or chuckled as much reading a book before. Every paragraph or so has a least some kind of joke, sarcasm, or cynical dry humor that never gets in the way of the cool sci-fi elements and instead adds to them. Where the book can go into a factual scientific explanation of the universe, to a crude joke that wraps around into the plot was pretty entertaining and interesting to read.

Rating 5/5