We almost made it to the end of the year! And before I start taking a final look at my reading year 2022 and select the best of the year, I thought I'd squeeze in my last reads, tie up loose ends so I can make a fresh start with fresh reads in the new year. So, here we are. Enjoy!
Uzumaki by Juni Ito
The spiral is haunting the town of Kurouzo-Cho and
everything turns into spirals: people, hair, weather, water... Over a
certain period of time the town completely deconstructs itself to form
something else and it's not letting anyone out, and only a few one in.
The young couple Kirie and Shuichi are among of the few who have missed the
chance to leave on time. And now they have come a long way to unveil the town's
secret and fetch a second chance, but is that even possible?
Uzumaki is a graphic novel I had in my shelf for a very long time and I finally took the time to read it this year. It was a good thing I did too, because this really is the treat that everybody says it is. Although I'm not a regular graphic novel reader I have grown up reading satirical cartoon magazines and this was kind of a throwback to those days. Love the art, loved reading this and devoured it in no time.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
There really is nothing to "review" in the classical sense here anymore - everything about Douglas Adams' humor-SF classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has already been said and said again. But still, there is always a joy in the story of Arthur Dent unsurprisingly hitchhiking through the Galaxy with his mate the formerly hidden alien researcher Ford Prefect, discovering life isn't limited to Earth.
I have at home the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide which is a collection of all Hitchhiker books and I have to admit that despite having had it right under my nose all this time, I have never read further than the third book. I want to change that! So I re-read the first book for a start, which was as delightful on second reading it was on the first, and while reading, my first New Year's Resolution for 2023 formed in my head: I will finally read all the Ultimate Guide.
Grab your towels, chug that pan galactic gargle blaster, we have a collection to finish!
Sign Here by Claudia Lux
Peyote Trip works for Hell, like literally. He
worked his way up from the torture conveyor belt to a contractor for
souls who closes deals with humans ready to gain things in exchange for
their souls. He’s good at his job but he has the feeling there is more
to him – he actually cares for people and isn’t as ruthless as the job
requires. When Callie joins his team, the two of them start endeavors he
never ever would have dared or dreamed doing before, but there’s still
the question of whatever happened on Earth for them to end up here,
since in Hell you can’t remember. Or can you?
Parallel to
Peyote’s story we follow the Harrisons, who have not one but many a big
family secret and the agents of Hell working on them ceaselessly. You
see, Peyote can get a promotion if only he succeeded in convincing one
more member of the Harrisons to sell their soul...
Sign Here
was quite the surprise book of the year and I loved reading it! It is
quirky, it is fast paced, it is touching. I would criticize that it
could be a touch darker and the chapters, which alternate between
different POVs are very short, so that I didn’t really have the feeling I
got enough time with the different characters. Other than that, this
was a sweet, great, entertaining read, I’d definitely recommend.
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
We follow Joanna, who is a modern woman of the 70s, interested in the Women’s Liberation movement, politics, feminist theory and photography. Scattered throughout those really suspenseful moments in the lives of Joanna and her husband Walter moving to the idyllic suburban town Stepford to escape the stress of the city, thanks to Joanna’s interests there is a variety of early feminist namedrops, ideas and examples from the lives of different women. But once they move to Stepford, Joanna first slightly and progressively more intensely senses that things are off here. All women become perfect and pretty and give up their own hobbies and professions and think of nothing but housework – they become bland caricatures of their former selves. Their husbands and children love the changes in these women and everything is great for them, but what about the women? Is this a natural process or is there a plot, a conspiracy against women orchestrated from the anachronistic Gentleman’s Club?
I loved reading
this – the writing was awesome, the characters interesting to follow,
useful literary references… Up until the ending which could have been a little more upbeat and clearer.
Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone by Sequoia Nagamatsu
It is probably not fair to compare an author's
books to each other, but how can you do that following something as powerful and great as How High We Go in the Dark? Many of the short stories in this
collection have the same dreamy quality as Nagamatsu's better-known work but at the same time there is more
quirkiness here: a universe where Godzilla and his fellow Kaijus are
real, where a man who can stretch his neck to impossible lengths tries
to save his marriage, a never-ending dance competition exhausts aliens
and humans alike...
I think these stories are even more
fantastical and optimistic but still maintain melancholia and heart and I'm still really
enjoying the writing of Sequioa Nagamatsu immensely.
Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfit
Tell Me I'm Worthless follows the lives
of three young people and a traumatic thing that happened to the them
when they went to squat a haunted house some time ago. They decide to go
back there to get to the root of what happened since the recollections
of their respective horrors vary and once there, they go through even
more traumatic shit.
I haven't read such an honest, angry,
bitterly funny, complex book in a long time, wow. I don't even know how
to review this, the story, the horrors, the writing was insane and for me very ravishing. I understand the unflinching and very raw writing is not everybody's cup of tea, but I liked it a lot.
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