2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion
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Challenges1. Let's Turn Pages : 6,992 / 5,000 pages
2. Genre Bingo : 11 / 10 books ; 2 / 1 bingos
3. Serial Reader : 8 / 7 books
4. A - Z: Character Edition : 10 / 9 characters
ALL CHALLENGES COMPLETED
I hope you go beyond your 10 book resolution! Best of Luck! 
Thank you, Blagica! I was just being conservative with my goal, but I do hope to read much more than 10.
BOOK 1 of 22
Don’t Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Jonathan Maberry
Date Completed: January 2nd 2021
Pages: 416
My Rating: ★★★
This tribute to Schwartz's seminal Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Trilogy diverges quite a bit from the original. The tone and style of the narration is different, dispensing with the whimsy and creepy charm of its source to present tales aimed at a slightly older audience. They're longer too, and there are very few of the ditties and storytelling prompts which made the former unique. Some are also unabashedly contemporary, dealing with current technologies like SMS and emails. One spirit even terrorized its targets via social media.
The art actually hews closer to the base, and technically I believe it can hold its own against Gammell. However, it doesn't always depict the actual monsters in their full eerie glory, which was a huge part of the appeal and efficacy of Scary Stories.
The thing is, taken on its own terms it's still competently amusing. While the original trumps it in terms of the compact unity behind its concept and in the nostalgia it evokes in the hordes of kids who enjoyed it over time, I think adults who haven't been exposed to it would most likely appreciate this one more. With a total of thirty-five stories, it has all the terrorific firepower you might require to sate your appetite for juvenile horror.
The most memorable stories here are:
The Golden Peacock - why you shouldn't stick a revered family heirloom in a child's room.
Jingle Jangle - for a short tale, it has all the gory goodness of the best local folk legends.
The Neighbor - sinister ghost story with a twist.
The Painted Skin - a helpful young man invites a preternaturally beautiful beggar into his house.
The Skelly-Horse, The Umbrella Man, and In Stitches - stays truest to the spirit of the Schwartz trilogy, which is not totally surprising since two of the authors penned children's books before.
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board - a popular pyjama party game doubles as a revenge mechanism.
7/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 1 of 22 (4.55%)
Total Pages: 416 of 5,000 (8.32%)
BOOK 2 of 22
Morgan Greer Tarot by Lloyd Morgan
Date Completed: January 22nd 2021
Pages: 78
My Rating: ★★★★★
You can never go wrong with a classic. This deck proves that adage with panache. It serves some authentic 70's vibe in spades, though the old-timey images of knights errant, damsels, nobles and monarchs remind me of the historical epics that made a huge mark in the cinema scene of that period.
It is one of the first decks that are originally borderless, and thankfully so. I have the recent Italy printing, and it is full-bleed. The cardstock is pleasingly matte. Its thickness suggests durability, though even brand new my copy is slightly vertically curved. There is a recent pocket edition that's available in a tin but really, something this beautiful should only be enjoyed at its fullest extent.
It has one of the richest, most piquant palettes I've ever encountered in a deck. Seriously, it looks effortlessly stunning in a spread. It follows the Paul Foster Case color scheme so I'm not surprised. I do wish that the images were sharper, the linework more defined. Somehow though, the reduced clarity does evoke a nostalgic, wistful air of otherworldly impermanence so I don't really mind it as it is.
The cards depict scenes from the Age of Chivalry while still adhering faithfully to the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. It presents close-up views of the characters in each card though, so while using them it feels like you have a more immediate and personal connection to the featured arcana.
The LWB has both upright and reversed keywords along with instructions for the ubiquitous Celtic Cross. I do have the short companion book by Susan Gerulskis-Estes, and while very helpful and apt, I think it would be difficult to source. The Morgan-Greer does not deviate much from the Anglo school though, so even Tarotists with a middling facility would not have a hard time reading it.
9/10; 5 stars.
Total Books: 2 of 22 (9.09%)
Total Pages: 494 of 5,000 (9.88%)
BOOK 3 of 22
Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice by Christopher Pike
Date Completed: February 8th 2021
Pages: 624
My Rating: ★★★★
I have read almost all of Pike's YA books before but his magnum opus, The Last Vampire series, has somehow eluded me. I remember reading only the second of the original sextet and liking it a lot, but aside from that, nada. A few years ago I came upon an even more updated set repackaged as the Thirst series, complete with three more books that Pike wrote during the resurgence of the vampire craze in the late noughties. I thought I'd save it for when I have more leisure time to savor the entire thing.
Recently I came across the iconic white covers while browsing my shelf and thought: well, the start of a new decade is as good a time as any to devour the whole lot. After finishing this very first volume, I realized that I shouldn't have waited too long.
I'm glad that the vampires here are not inordinately hyperpowered or it won't be much fun. Yes they are very strong, graced with preternatural healing, lethal reflexes and inhuman speed. They're not crippled by many of the traditional vampire weaknesses and although sunlight does drain them, they can still function and sometimes even fight in daylight. However their hearts are vulnerable to stakes, and remarkable trauma in that region will usually kill them. Decapitation also works, which would explain Sita's abhorrence of Madame Guillotine, and I surmise bazookas and grenade launchers would also get the job done. They're highly formidable, but strategic concerted action by trained mortals who are apprised of their weaknesses can finish them off.
I was thrilled by the brazen audacity of the methods with which Sita dispatches superior opponents. Crates of dynamites, high-powered ordnance, exploding oil trucks, exploding helicopters, the requisite axe in a freezer - oh my. Some of her schemes do seem so unfeasible as to be unbelievable, but by the time you get to that point you're just there for the ride.
I also like how Sita in her usual droll voice recounts various anecdotes of her extremely long life. Fifty centuries, imagine that. The Ancient Greek lecher-doctor who accepted her for who she was; her noble Scotch lover, an ugly thane who loved painting her in the nude; a 13th century Florentine Franciscan priest whose mastery of alchemy led innocents to doom; diverse unpleasant experiences with the French aristocracy including during the Reign of Terror; etc. These are woven seamlessly in the narrative so they seem neither awkward nor irrelevant.
Religiously devout people may have some problems with the text. I mean, most readers do enjoy reading about the pantheon of different mythologies. Who has read the Homeric hymns and failed to thrill at the shenanigans of the immortals of Olympus? But when a text, however fictional, theorizes how another deity, like Krishna in this book, may actually be the one true God with a capital G, then I see how some might be put off. There are also some outspoken views on the Catholic Church of early Renaissance Italy so be forewarned.
8.5/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 3 of 22 (13.64%)
Total Pages: 1,118 of 5,000 (22.36%)
BOOK 4 of 22
Thirst No. 2: Phantom, Evil Thirst, Creatures of Forever by Christopher Pike
Date Completed: February 14th 2021
Pages: 624
My Rating: ★★★★
Well! Sita's back, and this time as a mortal human through her Renaissance paramour's alchemic genius. What's more, she finds out that the love of her ultra-long life has escaped what was then an almost-certain death. It seems like after all the trials and agonies of the first book she was finally given the breather that she so deserved, achieving that which her heart has subconsciously yearned for in the span of fifty centuries. She's now ready to start a family, be a wife and mother again, to relive the idyllic life that was mercilessly wrenched from her by her demon swain Yaksha. And yet - we don't really think it will all just turn out roses, do we?
There's a lesson here about how the granting of boons, which is a staple trope in Indian mythology, is not all that it's cracked up to be. Sita's maternal desires were so intense that she willingly sacrificed her immortality to have a shot of fulfilling them again. She was vouchsafed this wish, but at a truly terrible price.
Now listen to my song. It dispels all illusions . . . When you feel lost remember me, and you will see that the things you desire most are the very things that bring you the greatest sorrow.
As is the case with its predecessor, this has action in spades (or backhoes, more like). Killing rape-murderey drunks in one chapter; going straight from the initial trimester of pregnancy to full-blown childbirth in less than a week; etc. It still doesn't feel rushed though - her life just marches furiously, inexorably, to fulfill a bitter karmic fate that the murderess of tens of thousands deserves.
I noticed that in all of the six parts making up this book and the first, Sita either turns a human into a vampire or hybrid, unwittingly or not, technically upending her very oath to Krishna time and time again. And yeah, I don't really buy that "love" clause because it's such a cop out. By that reasoning she should have been allowed to turn the hundreds of lovers she amassed over time, which should go very much against Krishna's admonition. I'm willing to make an exception for Ray, but the others were quite ridiculous.
No wonder that for the first time in her long history, she seems to have lost Krishna's grace and protection. She always ends up in these terrible scrapes, which do admittedly make for some great reading. She has faced her demon sire, a crazed vampire thug, and even the full might of a secret military base. But nothing quite prepared her for the challenges she faces now. Because what she'll come up against are beings far more ancient and wily than those three. There will also be an encore of a battle against a powerful sorcerer that she's supposed to have beaten in the past. Time travel, anyone?
Sita is growing on me by the page. I like her spunk and the way she gives attitude instead of whining/mewling when the going gets tough. I guess you can't be an apex predator for millennia without developing this much confidence. At least she has humor and sass to alleviate her bloodthirstiness.
Pike's works almost always have a spirituality to them that has a distinct Hindu flavor, but I feel like I must warn strict Christians about certain passages here that may smack of blasphemy. A scholar character here posits that Christ has been born before, with one of his first incarnations being the Lord Krishna. That sounds pretty strange seeing how Vedic scriptures state the latter as just one of the nine avatars of Vishnu the Preserver, the second of the prime trinity of the Hindu pantheon. The same academic also declares that He has been reborn again at the time of the book's events in California. Even if one is reminded that this is a merely fictional book, these plot points/ideas are bound to ruffle some feathers. To be fair though, in his books Pike has nothing but the most positive things to say about Jesus, so at least there's that. He's quite sympathetic towards Christianity, and views it as a force for good, overall.
This is a worthy read with a deeply resonant ending. Guess some wishes do come true after all.
9/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 4 of 22 (18.18%)
Total Pages: 1,742 of 5,000 (34.84%)
BOOK 5 of 22
Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn by Christopher Pike
Date Completed: February 20th 2021
Pages: 512
My Rating: ★★★
I admire how adroitly Pike shook off the neat bow he previously wrapped this series in. (view spoiler) Pike wove a highly believable and creative ruse to get out of this. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised - this should be peanuts to anyone who can imbue his heroine with the necessary cunning to survive the considerable scrapes he put her through.
The events here occur fifteen years after the conclusion of the previous book. If you haven't read the prequels then do yourself a favor and gobble those up before digging into this. While they are not exactly necessary to make a coherent story out of this one, the context they provide will guarantee that you'll enjoy it more. They're also better reads than this book, though that's like saying rich truffle torte is better than dark chocolate. All three are mucho satisfying.
Here, we get to be acquainted with new characters who are likable enough, but are just not as fun as the old gang. The latter are still here of course, but I miss the parts when Sita was more or less a lone wolf figure, relying only on Seymour for tactical advice and Krishna for spiritual guidance. Right now, she is facing two monolithic institutions who can't decide whether to strong-arm her into joining their side or simply dispatching her, so I guess she will need all of the support she can get.
The distractions from the main story are quite puzzling though. I mean, delaying Sita's looming confrontation with the Telars by segueing into Teri's Olympic venture seems quite unnecessary, though it does move the action forward.
It also seems strange that in this series, male vampires can beget children but female ones are always barren. I think the first point was introduced only in this book while the second has been established since the very first. Maybe the author just wants to be consistent?
One thing that I found very interesting are the plots of the stories that Alisa authored (!). That he made them win the Hugo and Nebula awards were pure chutzpah on Pike's part. They are somehow reminiscent of the pieces in his Tales of Terror anthologies.
I take back some of my religious criticisms in the previous book. Here, even if Sita sometimes surmises that Krishna and Jesus may be reincarnations of the same person, she's not 100% certain of it even though that idea was confirmed by the Suzama texts. She also states time and again that she isn't even sure if Krishna is God, so I guess those with Christian leanings won't fault it with blasphemy now. For what it's worth, Pike has a very positive view of the Catholic faith and especially of Jesus.
But really: that ending was just whack. Ugh. It's a good thing that the blurb of the next book was able to block any spoilers, though I still plain dislike it. I guess we should just see how Pike would run with it.
I was initially wary of this series revival because I thought that the original Last Vampire sextet already did a bang-up job in closing Sita's story. This is a step in the right direction though, and I can't wait to read the rest. I feel like we have barely scratched the surface here.
7/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 5 of 22 (22.73%)
Total Pages: 2,254 of 5,000 (45.08%)
BOOK 6 of 22
Thirst No. 4: The Shadow of Death by Christopher Pike
Date Completed: February 26th 2021
Pages: 530
My Rating: ★★★
While I did enjoy the previous book, I still thought that it won't have mattered that much if the original sextet has never been extended. It is only with this volume that Pike made a great case for the resumption of his Thirst saga.
Don't fret if it seemed to plod initially. At first I was mighty discouraged that the whole affair will end up a sentimental, by-the-numbers Manichean war, but oh how wrong I was. The plot began to rev up after the first third, and aside for a couple of chapters, it goes full throttle after that.
The battles here are freakin' blockbuster. At its heart is a fight to the death between two powerful monolithic organizations, one ancient and genocidal, the other maverick and just as ruthless. But even this all-out war pales in comparison to the real game being played, where Sita locks horns with the most worthy opponent she has ever challenged.
I dont know how Pike manages to keep upping the ante as this series progresses. It's like a coloratura soprano who awes you with the high notes she can reach, and then jolts you when she goes even higher, then leaves you even more thunder-struck as she barrels up glory notes you never new existed. I can only lick my lips in anticipation of the finale in the next book.
I relished the Hindu mythological influences in the first three volumes, but for the first time the author dips into an age-old Christian legend - (view spoiler). The thing is, Pike managed to include all these disparate religious lore in a melange that works really well. He's such a good storyteller that he managed to create a gem where others would have ended up with some messy claptrap. As I previously pointed out, yes there may be some conceptual contradictions here, but would you really be bothered by these while you're held utterly spellbound?
But well - some of them are admittedly rather strange. Like: isn't the idea of a final place of judgement, of ending up either in heaven or hell depending on your virtues and vices, contradictory to the notion of reincarnation? The latter presupposes that you'll keep being reborn in an endless cycle until you reach enlightenment, at which point you can either ascend or return back to the earth as a bodhisattva to guide other souls. How can both co-exist in the Thirst universe?
On this note, I was puzzled at how Sita's katabasis seemed a tad overlong. Pike plopped it in the thick of intense action near the climax, so its length and ill-advisedly ponderous pace did dampen the excitement. That the series's idea of the afterlife is modeled on those of ancient Egyptians/Greeks with its Charon-like guides and Maat-ish scale is just to be expected. Again, this book seemed like a roll call of the most outré subjects that, slathered together, somehow made a most appetizing stew. Ouija boards, scientific astrology, life after death, body snatching, ESP, mind control, demons and alien familiars who delight in torture and gore, fallen angels, transcendental meditation that leads to communion with heavenly powers - did I miss anything?
With a potent storyline and gripping high-octane action, this book merits a strong five stars. However, in its climax it featured (view spoiler) I was just plain sickened. So yeah I'm dropping two stars. Yeah, it's just how I roll. I'm still going to read the next book though, where hopefully the author won't spring that sort of tripe again.
5/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 6 of 22 (27.27%)
Total Pages: 2,784 of 5,000 (55.68%)
BOOK 7 of 22
Thirst No. 5: The Sacred Veil by Christopher Pike
Date Completed: March 6th 2021
Pages: 512
My Rating: ★★★
The series's engagement with Christian themes continues in this book, as Sita and friends search for the eponymous veil that Veronica ostensibly used to wipe Jesus's face during His Passion. The book offers an alternative narrative to this, and that is not the only thing that may raise many a Christian eyebrow. There's a whole chapter that actually features Jesus as a character, and while his portrayal is not orthodox, I can't say that it's awful. Yep, there are religious depictions here that might shake strict Catholics to the core. But I've always felt that if your faith is redoubtable, you shouldn't mind encountering divergent renditions of church tenets since it won't affect you anyways. Except maybe if you're an evangelist who worries about impressionable folk.
This volume mirrors the last third of Thirst 2, which was the final book in the original series. In no way does this story supersede it, although some events there were passed off as Seymour's faulty "recollections" of Sita's adventures. Still, there are many similar elements that thankfully didn't give the game away: extraterrestrial spiritual guides, legendary Christian artifacts, the use of time travel to redress history-changing mistakes, monstrous evil assuming human guise to partake in unholy tortures, etc.
But the greatest of these are the epilogues. What an ending this book could have had! I was frustrated by how it winded up on such an inconclusive note. It's the shortest volume in the series, but even if the main conflict in the story was resolved, it shouldn't have ended in that cliffhanger. Especially since it's been eight years since this book was written, with no sequel in sight. Make no mistake, the author already has plans for the final books in the series. In his Facebook page, he did say that he already has a draft for Thirst 6 and knows how the entire saga would end with Thirst 7, so there's that. Unfortunately, with other projects on his plate, he admitted that he has no idea as to when they are going to be published.
Anyway, the previous volume was so action-packed that even with the de rigeur jet hijackings, kidnap+torture scenes, and daring rescues, this one seemed positively unruffled. This may be due to the frequent use of lengthy flashbacks, which naturally impeded any momentum the current storyline tried to gather. It's still an enjoyable read, even if the drop in the pace was noticeable. I did relish the portrayal of historical characters like General Patton; General Grant, who was supposed to be his past incarnation; and Reichsführer Himmler, who also figured in another Pike book - The Wicked Heart.
The Thirst series is something fans of retro YA horror absolutely should not do without. It's obvious why so many regard this as Pike's masterpiece. One doesn't have to wait until he finishes writing the entire thing before taking the plunge - it's solidly entertaining and satisfying enough as is. I'm looking forward to re-gobbling the whole enchilada once the final volume hits the shelves.
6.5/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 7 of 22 (31.82%)
Total Pages: 3,296 of 5,000 (65.92%)
BOOK 8 of 22
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women by Stephen Jones
Date Completed: March 10th 2021
Pages: 624
My Rating: ★★★
This is the first horror anthology I've encountered that features such a rich number of Asian influences. Ancient Chinese statuary, Balinese puppets, Japanese Typhoid Marys, Turkish corruptors, and Canaanite child vampires prowl these pages, looking for the most opportune moment to strike. Aside from these, the diverse locations of the other stories are notable, with some taking place in France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Ecuador, and of course the usual trifecta of England, Canada, and the United States. This lends a cosmopolitan flavor to this collection, made even more impressive by the fact that almost all of the contributors are Anglo-Saxon women.
As is the norm with books like these, a majority of the stories are serviceable and not especially noteworthy. A few did catch my eye though:
The Raven Bound - a frustrated scion enjoins a vampire to kill his father before the latter disinherits him for falling in love with a lowly servant. Of course it ends with the inevitable ménage a quatre.
Prince of Flowers - with botanical fervor, the eponymous Indonesian spirit doll invades the life of a light-fingered museum inventorist.
Services Rendered - an unstable wife pays a vampiress to turn her dying husband.
Venus Rising on Water - an elegant sci-fi homage to Venus, replete with erudite allusions to the Roman goddess of love.
Year Zero - an oft-used socio-historical metaphor infused with fresh blood, presenting an ancien régime aristocrat as a literal vampire pitted against a hopelessly ensnared citizen of the Committee.
Lunch At Charon's - an incredibly vain energy vampire partakes of the life force of her friends to maintain her cherished youth.
7/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 8 of 22 (36.36%)
Total Pages: 3,920 of 5,000 (78.40%)
BOOK 9 of 22
The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (The New Hercule Poirot Mystery, #4). by Sophie Hannah
Date Completed: April 2nd 2021
Pages: 400
My Rating: ★★★
The first few pages plodded like a weary donkey, but after the middle of the first chapter, the action roared at a furious clip and never looked back. I finished it in one afternoon, that's how darned engrossing it is. This is precisely how it is with Christie mysteries - I remember gobbling up two or even three of her novels in one lazy day.
Hannah has finally come into her element with this installment. I recall the first in this series as a rather fraught affair, and the second as being not much of a step up. I was surprised with the third as having shown a vast improvement. This one proves that it was not at all a fluke.
The mystery about the woman with the unformed face wasn't that difficult to work out. Aside from that, until the very last chapter the whole thing was a rather frightful tangle, and I meant that as a complement. The clues were pointing every which way and it was rather difficult to figure out what was really happening. I do feel like a sizable hint - that of the testimony of the doctor - has been left until the last moment, and that therefore, as an intellectual exercise this book has not been as sporting as I would have preferred it.
I still think it's worth a read. Familial dysfunction has rarely been this traumatizing for its victims, or this deadly. Forgiveness is the running thread in this narrative - about the unforeseen disasters its unwarranted withholding leads to, or the crimes that may ironically follow in its wake when it's given too readily. In the end, the Law still prevails, and while it may see mantithetical that virtue, at its most ideal it metes out justice as an acceptable recompense. At least in a dramatic aspect, the author might have the slightest edge over the Dame.
I'll be looking forward to the next entry in these new Poirot mysteries.
7/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 9 of 22 (40.91%)
Total Pages: 4,320 of 5,000 (86.40%)
BOOK 10 of 22
The Monster Club by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Date Completed: April 5th 2021
Pages: 188
My Rating: ★★★★
This book presents a highly entertaining world of monsters and their manifold hybrids. It's not just that werevamps (offspring of werewolves and vampires) and weregoos (get of werewolves and ghouls) beget toothless shaddies whose lick can scrape the flesh of your arm. Humans can also sire crossbreeds, like the humgoo and the humvamp. Also, in the way that vampiric prey eventually become bloodsuckers upon dying and a werewolf's bite turns its victim into a lycanthrope on the next full moon, a human exposed to a variety of monster attacks in a short time morphs into a hybrid himself, as happened to (view spoiler).
There's a clever bit of creative world-building here, and the strangely cozy atmosphere and good-natured humor make it a treat. Make no mistake about which side of the spiritual fence these monsters belong to - their swear words reference the Dark One and they most decidedly prey on humans. However, quite a few have become civilized enough that they no longer pose a deadly threat. Indeed some are quite amiable to humes, though of course rancor between the species is unavoidable.
The monsters here still suffer from their traditional weaknesses. Vampires and ghouls feel pain at the least sign of anything holy, and werewolves can still be obliterated by a silver bullet shot by someone who just thought of sin. But yes, while some of them have become more kind (but not more personable, alas!), as a general rule a hume should always be on guard when encountering them. As the book progresses, the stories grow darker, and the monsters, more vicious and sinister. The endings are neither particularly happy nor pleasant.
I've read many horror books, but I very rarely encounter honest-to-goodness ghouls in any of them so props to this one for including a right proper tale.
I wonder why Chetwynd-Hayes is not as popular as he should be. His tales are head and shoulders above bestselling authors of his ilk. Really, I only got to know about him due to the introductory tale here, which was much-anthologized in vampire collections, and which delighted me enough to send me a-hunting for his books. I'd definitely be looking for others.
7.5/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 10 of 22 (45.45%)
Total Pages: 4,508 of 5,000 (90.16%)
BOOK 11 of 22
Mrs Rosie and the Priest by Giovanni Boccaccio
Date Completed: April 6th 2021
Pages: 54
My Rating: ★★★★
This Penguin Little Black Classic is a sampler of The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, offering four stories from the original work.
For a classics book it is truly bare bones. There's no introduction or afterword, not even a single annotation on the text. It's all good though - you can enjoy these tales in the spirit in which they're made since the prose is approachable and the events don't require additional context to be appreciated. And yes: they're so much danged fun. (view spoiler)
I especially liked Boccaccio's waggish putdowns, as in the following passage:
She was called Bartolommea and she was one of the best-looking and most fanciable girls in Pisa, though admittedly there aren't many there who don't look like hairy spiders.
As expected, some rather racy situations are depicted here though they're far from being smutty. This isn't erotica at all.
I'm only suppressing a star because I believe that only the complete book should get full marks. Though maybe the tales included here are really the best bits and the rest would prove underwhelming? Let's see.
7.5/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 11 of 22 (50.00%)
Total Pages: 4,562 of 5,000 (91.24%)
BOOK 12 of 22
Galatea by Madeline Miller
Date Completed: April 8th 2021
Pages: 37
My Rating: ★★★
Short and bittersweet, this is the first Madeline Miller work I've read.
It diverges quite a bit from the myth that I remember from the seminal Hamilton book, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Even ancient sources vary in the particulars of certain legends, so this is not anathema.
It's more of an adaptation of the story, a continuation which imagines what could have transpired if Pygmalion's love for his creation didn't really quell his misogynistic propensities. While he may no longer view them as a useless, inferior species, he nevertheless still treats them as nothing more than vehicles for sating his pleasures. That he doesn't see Galatea and their get as autonomous beings precisely because he created them doesn't help his case any. In the end, the way his masterpiece turned against him, consigning him back to the metaphorical womb of the sea is reminiscent of the apposite/ironic punishments that Greek myths love doling out so much.
I really like the pleasing lilt and flow of the prose. I did hope that Miller dispensed with the F-words here not because I object to them on principle, but because the effect can be quite jarring on works like these.
7/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 12 of 22 (54.55%)
Total Pages: 4,599 of 5,000 (91.98%)
BOOK 13 of 22
Dance of Death by R.L. Stine
Date Completed: April 10th 2021
Pages: 150
My Rating: ★★★
I remember this as the very first of the Stine/Pike YA thrillers that I skipped from collecting when I was a preteen. At the time I regretted that I might have sacrificed something pivotal (and tempting!) just because I was getting too big for my britches. I mean really, look at that cover. But in retrospect I can see that I haven't really missed much.
It presents the same hackneyed tropes that bedevil more than a few of Stine's works. There's the conventionally pretty heroine who turns hysterical at the drop of a dime; the slightly sinister, handsome swain she so easily falls for; malignant relatives and/or neighbors with hidden designs on our poor protagonist; creatively gory deaths to spice things up some; etc. Stine did previously admit that he's not big on characterization because he wants the reader to be able to easily identify with the lead/s so there is that. There are also some of the expected Gothic touches here: crazy scarred Havishams still wearing their bridal finery, ghosts seeking revenge, young murdered wives buried beneath masses of roses, etc.
For what it's worth though, this is such a quick read that it didn't feel like I wasted my time. It's a silly nostalgic trip down memory lane, a reminder of all the 90s YA horror that I loved before. These books may be trite crock but hey, they did fuel many a young un's lifetime passion for reading, including yours truly. That's why I can never dismiss children's/YA lit - they do have their uses. Sadly though they have their proper place too, and as one's tastes mature one can't help but outgrow them.
5/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 13 of 22 (59.09%)
Total Pages: 4,749 of 5,000 (94.98%)
BOOK 14 of 22
One Last Kiss by R.L. Stine
Date Completed: April 12th 2021
Pages: 199
My Rating: ★★★★
It seems like a lot of the books from the Fear Street Sagas series were ghostwritten, which is understandable since Stine had to churn out multiple books monthly at the height of the retro YA horror craze in the mid-90's. It doesn't matter though: one doesn't read Stine for his scintillating prose anyway. At times they were even a definite improvement, as in the case of the mysterious Brandon Alexander, whose byline I recognize from among the better entries in the Sagas. I'm glad that he also wrote this one, which as expected turned out to be another diverting read.
I like how Eleanor comes across as a sensible heroine, not prone to the irrational behavior that plague many Gothic leads. She does make the occasional foolhardy decisions, but these are necessary devices that move the narrative forward. Overall the characters' actions and motivations (mostly) make sense. I certainly didn't feel like pulling my hair as I was reading this.
(view spoiler)
Like other Fear Street books, it neither has swearing nor the merest hint of sex, so it's safe for grade school kids. There are some gory deaths though, like hearts torn out of chests, but the author did not paint them in garish detail so I deem them acceptable.
There is also a neat twist in the end that I didn't see coming, concealed behind a pretty obvious one that I guess served as bait. Just as I was patting myself on the back that I had the whole thing figured out, down comes the surprise hammer, leaving me quite stunned. Overall this is an enjoyable read that's so much better, literarily and plotwise, than other books in its genre.
7/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 14 of 22 (63.64%)
Total Pages: 4,948 of 5,000 (98.96%)
BOOK 15 of 22
Witch by Christopher Pike
Date Completed: August 7th 2021
Pages: 225
My Rating: ★★★★
Barring the Witch World and Alosha series, I have read all of Pike's YA books. This one easily snags a spot in my top five.
I know that, as with most slasher flicks, retro YA horror routinely pop teenagers into its gory maw like so much candy. Characterization takes a back seat to the plot, which should feature creatively grisly deaths and unexpected twist/s in the climax. You'd know that a book is particularly bad when you wish to eliminate the entire dramatis personae through gruesome Goldbergian mechanisms as a way of punishing them for boring you.
Thankfully, Witch is anything but. I liked the leads a lot, even if they did make some pretty questionable choices. Being basically good-hearted kids who were thrust in extraordinary situations that challenge their moral codes, it's not hard to root for them.
I noticed that the most exceptional Pike books evoke a particular melancholy - that of promising youth cut off in its prime. As in Pike's best works, the interactions here give off a dreamy, halcyon vibe, which made the bitter ending all the more powerful.
It does have some faults, though none are deal-breakers. Maybe it's because I've read quite a bit from the genre, but some of the reveals didn't surprise me, seeing them coming from a mile away. Thankfully this does not apply to the ending, although I do wish the author presented a happier alternative. Our characters also made some head-scratchingly inane decisions. (view spoiler)
Even if you've read it before, it is very much worth another look. Though I'd like to flatter myself that my taste in books has improved over the years, I'm glad that at least for me, this one aged quite well.
8/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 15 of 22 (68.18%)
Total Pages: 5,173 of 5,000 (103.46%)
BOOK 16 of 22
Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Date Completed: August 16th 2021
Pages: 304
My Rating: ★★★
This is a highly informative book on the manifold ways a human body can be utilized, treated, processed, or just plain dispositioned (it somehow seems disrespectful to say disposed) after death. The huge strides in science and the resultant benefits derived from experimentation with cadavers were treated in detail. Some of these were interesting stuff that not a lot of readers would have heard before, like testing munitions that would neither permanently disable nor kill enemy combatants but just effectively maim them as a form of humane warfare. The oft-sordid history of the use of cadavers in medical schools was also recounted along with the unsavory practices that it spawned: grave-robbing that eventually led to outright murder, ethically-questionable experiments, etc.
There were some very surprising trivia here too, like the fact that some subjects of canine head transplants actually survived for weeks, and that there is an actual process that enables a deceased body to be maintained in a nearly flawless state for millenia. The book also dips into some of the metaphysical-philosophical queries that have bedeviled even human rationalists since ancient times, like the location of the seat of the soul. Is it in the brain, the heart, the liver(!), or does it suffuse the entire body, like blood? The jury's still out on that one. Indeed, its very existence is not even a given, having been questioned time and time again.
The author has expressed her support for body donation numerous times, but if her aim is to persuade readers to do the same I'm not sure that the book succeeded. In recounting the various, distasteful indignities that the deceased body may be put through in the tireless pursuit of admittedly practicable knowledge, some potential volunteers straddling the fence may have jumped clear off it, scampering in the opposite direction. On the plus side, this means that inspite of her advocacy, she has been nothing but forthright in presenting the fruits of her research to the public, bolstering her credibility.
It's a good thing that the author kept an engaging but still reverent tone throughout the book, knowing how easily the clumsy handling of the subject matter may repel the casual reader. Her jokes sometimes fell flat and a few of her analogies were downright illogical, but as a whole it's an immensely illuminating read.
7/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 16 of 22 (72.73%)
Total Pages: 5,477 of 5,000 (109.54%)
BOOK 17 of 22
Misery by Stephen King
Date Completed: September 8th 2021
Pages: 433
My Rating: ★★★★
This is one helluva thriller from King at his peak. He seems to be on intimate terms with Pain - his prose comes truly alive when he details Paul's mental and corporeal torments. It does sometimes veer on the comically excessive though, and I fairly cackled when I pondered how apt it would have been if it was subtitled Paul's Passion and Punishment à la Alcott's dubious potboiler.
And Annie! Even in tawdry nailbiters, one rarely encounters such a sly, sadistic, serial-murdering strongwoman who is so thoroughly bonkers. It's almost caricaturish how evil she is, though King did try to give her some prosopographical background in the form of a nightmarish *Memory Lane* scrapbook. Compared to her, Paul comes across as a bland, insipid character whose most glorious artistic accomplishment is to serve as the martyr-slash-canvas upon which our blood-spattered stone goddess can exercise her iniquities. I felt that her reckoning was sorta lacking though, and that King missed out on a chance to indulge the readers with a more powerfully cathartic pound-of-flesh harvesting.
With this novel, one can see why became such a popular horror writer. One caveat though: it's never a good idea to follow his early oeuvre with his miserable recent efforts. Upon gobbling this up, I immediately jumped into Billy Summers. I was floored by the sheer drop in quality. I was so itching to give that pile of dreck one thoroughly deserved star that I almost trampled down my policy of never rating any book that I haven't yet finished. I did try reading Sleeping Beauties, and now that I think about it, maybe Annie should have exposed Paul to even more (ironic) literary tortures by making him read mass market kindling like those gruesome twosome. Now that would have upped this into a five-star read.
8/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 17 of 22 (77.27%)
Total Pages: 5,910 of 5,000 (118.20%)
BOOK 18 of 22
First Floor Room 16 by Maximo Kovak
Date Completed: September 12th 2021
Pages: 168
My Rating: ★★★
The book could do with some tighter editing. I spotted a lot of erroneous grammar, spelling, turns of phrases, etc. These were not enough to arrest the flow of the story though, as it was all very interesting. I can count on one hand the number of books that I've read about hustling, so the insights here were fascinating.
It's refreshing to read a book from the genre that didn't reek of depression and desperation but that nevertheless still felt raw and honest. The author did admit that he met many men plying the same trade who were pretty messed up, so I guess that's a prevalent occupational hazard as far as escorting goes. His sanguine "career" may also be due to him starting when he was already relatively mature, in his mid-thirties. He didn't state the specific age, but in the last chapter entitled "Exit 2012", he said that he was already escorting for five years, meaning that he started in 2007. In Chapter 4, he said that he was four years old in 1975, putting his age at around thirty-six when he began selling the salami, so to speak.
The Glossary at the end of the book is helpful to anyone who is new to the world of gay sex and is thereby stumped by some of the terms used in the text. While the meanings of a few of the words can stand to be more accurate/compact (e.g. a bukkake isn't limited to facials), for the most part they're instructive enough to be useful.
5.5/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 18 of 22 (81.82%)
Total Pages: 6,078 of 5,000 (121.56%)
BOOK 19 of 22
I've a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore by Ethan Mordden
Date Completed: September 20th 2021
Pages: 208
My Rating: ★★★★
This is a series of interesting vignettes about gay life in 70's New York. Drag queens taming insouciant hustlers, straight boys beginning to bat for the other team, queer bullies, perfect Galateas, these are only some of the amusing characters you'd meet here. I do think that Little Kiwi seems too much of an ingenu to be believable (or bearable, really) but the others are mostly alright.
To be honest I was a bit apprehensive of this book at first because I'm not much of a fan of vicious b*tchiness, no matter how fabulous the wielder. Turned out that it prizes witticisms more than putdowns although unsurprisingly enough, the twain doth blur at times. Even the cattiest have a soft spot for genuine sweetness, going so far as to protect the latter from eventual heartache.
I also like the level of camp here: it's not so thin as to seem put on but it's not so overwhelming that it turns into a mockery of itself. Some of the passages made me straight out laugh. How could you not at snippets like this:
Dennis Savage, when he heard, was shocked silent for a good two minutes, an ideal condition for him. Our Mac—so he had become, for to befriend him was to own him—consorting with sex-show debris?
I had quite a lark learning a few of the period's vocab too. I may never think of trade as a mere exchange of goods again although come to think of it, that's exactly what these "merchandise" hint at.
My favorite here is the Christmas yarn set among Manhattan's uber rich which, strangely enough, is also the least flaming among the stories. It's as toasty and warm as the best yuletide specials, with not even the slightest cynicism rearing its unwelcome head.
The last and longest story is of a different mold from those that came before, veering close to paranormal horror. It deals with the ultimate queer fantasy: the protean power to change one's form into their ideal hot guy du jour. But of course, these gifts come with a price. And the bill, when it comes due, demand more than the poor dears are willing to pay.
7.5/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 19 of 22 (86.36%)
Total Pages: 6,286 of 5,000 (125.72%)
BOOK 20 of 22
How's Your Romance? by Ethan Mordden
Date Completed: December 10th 2021
Pages: 288
My Rating: ★★★
This is primarily about how gays, out of a sense of banishment or in a bid for self-realization, create intimate communities of their own. They focus on friends instead of family, on attending to people they genuinely like instead of those whom they are forced to tolerate. Many aim to free themselves from the dictates of a society that mandates conformity - from the grip of any form of authority, of the father foremost.
These boys get in the juiciest scrapes and affairs, and there seems to be so much fun to be had if you'll just fully commit to your desires and pursue them without any reservations. But beyond a celebratory sense of sexual freedom and satiation, there's still this undertone of intense longing, of a hankering for an ideal that could never be met.
There's some interesting, intelligent, and deep characters here, but because their predilections and preoccupations seem so facile, the fascination never lasts, and it just becomes an exhausting parade of lust and discontent. The objects of love/worship the book peddles can be morally repugnant, like the guy who violently bashed a madwoman out of frustration. I also find it strange that a guy whose family moved to America when he was six often publicly spouts all these German phrases, although maybe that's meant to make him colorful? I admire the author for his honesty regarding his cast, but in the back of my mind, I ask if this is really all there is to this - people as vibrant and fuzzy and thrilling, as easy to consume and thence forget, as downed champagne cocktails.
While they have grown older - discarded dead-end relationships, refashioned their opinions, outlook, or even their entire personalities - it seems like they haven't really matured in any significant sense. It's all vanity and posturing, an endless I stretching over ultimately tiresome trivialities, which with the author's wit might make for some captivating read, but which in the end seems awfully empty.
The penultimate chapter featured a "porn" story that was anything but. It's a highly risqué, absurdist romp set in the Wild West that was meant to elicit chuckles more than hard-ons. That this is the part that I enjoyed the most out of the whole book might not reflect well on the base narrative, but it is what it is.
5.5/10; 3 stars.
Total Books: 20 of 22 (90.91%)
Total Pages: 6,574 of 5,000 (128.12%)
BOOK 21 of 22
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
Date Completed: December 16th 2021
Pages: 106
My Rating: ★★★★
The first essay has become like a mirror to the very life it extols. Pithy and sagacious, it does not waste time and, like an arrow flung by a masterful hand, it goes straight to the point, buttressing it with reasonable arguments. Seneca may have failed to live up to many of his inspired teachings, but in On the Shortness of Life, at least, he has become equal to the virtues he espoused.
I'm not as enthused by his Consolations to Helvia though. Did he really think that his exile caused his mother more grief than the death of her grandkids? Maybe the Romans of old did not grieve too much about that kind of loss because of the high mortality of the young back then? In any case, to console her, he went on and on about how exile isn't all that inconvenient, how disgrace doesn't fluster men of wisdom like him, how being uprooted from their homeland is a reality for a considerable portion of humanity anyways, etc. before giving some actual practical advice to help her cope in the last fifth of the essay. Strange.
He returns to form in his On Tranquillity of Mind. There are quite a few exhortations here that I had to look sideways at since our good philosopher himself manifestly practised the opposite. I mean, Seneca as the right-hand man of a crazy spendthrift of an emperor has never been a byword for frugality and material renunciation. In general though, if one manages to see beyond his hypocrisy, many of his points are still sound and valid.
8/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 21 of 22 (95.45%)
Total Pages: 6,680 of 5,000 (133.60%)
BOOK 22 of 22
How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible Leaders by Suetonius
Date Completed: December 24th 2021
Pages: 312
My Rating: ★★★★
Well. At least I now know which mistakes to avoid when I finally ascend to the purple.
8.5/10; 4 stars.
Total Books: 22 of 22 (100.00%)
Total Pages: 6,992 of 5,000 (139.84%)
2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible Leaders (other topics)On the Shortness of Life (other topics)
How's Your Romance? (other topics)
I've a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore (other topics)
First Floor Room 16 (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Suetonius (other topics)Seneca (other topics)
Ethan Mordden (other topics)
Ethan Mordden (other topics)
Maximo Kovak (other topics)
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1022 books and 5,000 pages.