I was thinking about you and your parents--I couldn't remember where in Floriday they live. Hope you don't get too much nasty weather there. At least you should be safe from the surge and flooding? I've been interested in Black Butterflies. I'm glad you enjoyed The God of the Woods. I really loved the character Judyta. My favorite of hers in Unseen World. will definitely have to check out The Most--I hadn't heard anything about it!
They are by St. Augustine so we were totally fine. Didn't get much rain or wind at all. I think you'd enjoy The Most. I would not prioritize Black Butterflies. It does the job, but Doubt I'll remember much about it. However, I'm curious to read Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian authors writing about that period. I feel like those books must be out there since the war is increasingly in the past.
Hi Sarah, the God of the Woods did not work for me. Many of the plot points did not connect and I had a letdown feeling at the end, not only by the ending, but the lack of nuance, the bad guys were all bad. Thank you for the always thorough book reviews. Aloha friend.
You are so right about the bad guys! I was thinking of Judita, Louise and TJ as more nuanced. I just got wrapped up in their stories, I sort of ignored the one dimensional characters. I have waaaaay less experience with crime/thrillers than you, so I'll be easier to impress. Good to hear from you.
“Muggy”…. The sort of weather I dread ( thankfully rare in Ireland) . It plays havoc with my asthma. The nebuliser becomes my friend. Two weeks ago we had to say goodbye to our cat Pebbles. Since then I’ve found it very hard to read anything “heavy”. I’m using romance and happy endings to not feel sad.
I remember hunting for Black Butterflies when the announcement of the longlist came out because I was interested in it - but apparently it has not really "arrived" yet where I live. Bummer (at that time)... You are bookfluencing me with The Most. I tend to be a bit cynical about book prizes these days lol, but I haven't read The Most or learn about anything related to its release to comment about its rating phenomenon you saw, but lurking around book Instagram provides me with some clue on the influencing power of book prizes.
I dont think you are missing much by not having access to Black Butterflies. I have stayed out of the Bookstagram world. Booktube is enough! I will be curious to see more people's take on that book. I think she packs quite a bit into ~150 pages.
I hope you and your parents made it through Helene okay! It sounds like it was a pretty devastating storm! I had no idea that The Most was a novella...that actually makes it more interesting to me!
Interesting observation about the way book prize recognition might affect reader reaction to literature. 🤔 It may be that an average reader gives insufficient thought necessary to realize the depth of a particular work, and if a book is on a prize list there is simply more consideration given to its merits. Another possibility is that some of the early readers, of ARCs for example, aren’t the target audience, so they have less appreciation. People who love literary fiction may not discover a book until it’s on a prize list; they then read it and rate it more highly than the earlier readers.
You bring up all valid possibilities and I suspect there's a bit of truth to all of them. Interesting how prize lists influence things. We can definitely agree they boost sales of a title. I suspect bookstores look forward to the fall book prize season.
I was thinking about you and your parents--I couldn't remember where in Floriday they live. Hope you don't get too much nasty weather there. At least you should be safe from the surge and flooding? I've been interested in Black Butterflies. I'm glad you enjoyed The God of the Woods. I really loved the character Judyta. My favorite of hers in Unseen World. will definitely have to check out The Most--I hadn't heard anything about it!
They are by St. Augustine so we were totally fine. Didn't get much rain or wind at all. I think you'd enjoy The Most. I would not prioritize Black Butterflies. It does the job, but Doubt I'll remember much about it. However, I'm curious to read Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian authors writing about that period. I feel like those books must be out there since the war is increasingly in the past.
Hi Sarah, the God of the Woods did not work for me. Many of the plot points did not connect and I had a letdown feeling at the end, not only by the ending, but the lack of nuance, the bad guys were all bad.
Thank you for the always thorough book reviews. Aloha friend.
You are so right about the bad guys! I was thinking of Judita, Louise and TJ as more nuanced. I just got wrapped up in their stories, I sort of ignored the one dimensional characters. I have waaaaay less experience with crime/thrillers than you, so I'll be easier to impress. Good to hear from you.
“Muggy”…. The sort of weather I dread ( thankfully rare in Ireland) . It plays havoc with my asthma. The nebuliser becomes my friend.
Two weeks ago we had to say goodbye to our cat Pebbles. Since then I’ve found it very hard to read anything “heavy”. I’m using romance and happy endings to not feel sad.
Oh, I'm so sorry about your cat. I know I would need books that don't require much thought. Romance sounds perfect.
I remember hunting for Black Butterflies when the announcement of the longlist came out because I was interested in it - but apparently it has not really "arrived" yet where I live. Bummer (at that time)...
You are bookfluencing me with The Most. I tend to be a bit cynical about book prizes these days lol, but I haven't read The Most or learn about anything related to its release to comment about its rating phenomenon you saw, but lurking around book Instagram provides me with some clue on the influencing power of book prizes.
I dont think you are missing much by not having access to Black Butterflies. I have stayed out of the Bookstagram world. Booktube is enough! I will be curious to see more people's take on that book. I think she packs quite a bit into ~150 pages.
I hope you and your parents made it through Helene okay! It sounds like it was a pretty devastating storm!
I had no idea that The Most was a novella...that actually makes it more interesting to me!
We were just fine being on the Atlantic side. Thanks for asking. She packs a bunch into The Most. Do check it out.
Interesting observation about the way book prize recognition might affect reader reaction to literature. 🤔 It may be that an average reader gives insufficient thought necessary to realize the depth of a particular work, and if a book is on a prize list there is simply more consideration given to its merits. Another possibility is that some of the early readers, of ARCs for example, aren’t the target audience, so they have less appreciation. People who love literary fiction may not discover a book until it’s on a prize list; they then read it and rate it more highly than the earlier readers.
You bring up all valid possibilities and I suspect there's a bit of truth to all of them. Interesting how prize lists influence things. We can definitely agree they boost sales of a title. I suspect bookstores look forward to the fall book prize season.
@@sarah-roadworthy I popped into Munro’s Books earlier this week and saw various prize-related displays.
@@lindysmagpiereads Hah!