Kin ~ Tayari Jones

 

The South ~ Tash Aw

 

I finished this for 2 reasons :

It was very short and I loved Five Star Billionaire (and I guess because the previous two had been DNF books).

The only thing it had going for it was that it was short ...but a good edit of the rubbish in it could have made it shorter.

I guess the other good thing is that it is supposed to be the first of a set and it saved me having to buy the next ones

Tilt ~ Emma Pattee

Too ludicrous. Too much suspension of belief. Too poorly developed.

A "thrilling literary debut about how we confront disaster" (gawd, there is no hope for us) and from the " hotly anticipated" list (someone must know someone)

Very (VERY) pregnant woman wandering around Portland after a massive earthquake.  Utter unfeasible rubbish.

Malibu Rising ~ Taylor Jenkins Reid

 NO (make that NoNoNo)

What a load of shite writing.  Totally "tell not show". Just bland exposition storytelling, probably aiming for a tv takeup.  Shallow has too many letters in it to describe it.

Let Us Descend ~ Jesmyn Ward

 This really should have been a DNF.

What was meant to pass for magic realism was more like continuing dream-sequences followed by and-then-I-woke-up

Don't know wtf I kept reading

Good Night Irene ~ Luis Alberto Urrea

 A total bleh disappointment from one of my favourite authors.

Schmaltzy

The Unwedding ~ Ally Condie

 Nononononooooo

Reese's Bookclub Pick

Holy Shit ... what a cliched piece of vomit

The Night Tiger ~ Yangsze Choo

 X DNF

I have so enjoyed all the Reese Bookclub choices but couldn't finish this drivel.

Loved to location and the time period and only wish that it had been stronger in the historical fiction area instead of the mawkish romance and repetitive supernatural element 

The Suns Walks Down ~ Fiona McFarlane

 

*

Almost a DNF, only finished because we were heading to SA.

Wordage, more wordage and blah blah blah.

Story development is painfully slow and overloaded with characters.

Shrines of Gaiety ~ Kate Atkinson

 

X NO BLEH

Boring characters who had no life breathed into them.  

Very little sense of time.

Treacle Walker ~ Alan Garner

 

Not For Me

Any "deeper meaning" was overcoated in gobbledygook

Here Goes Nothing ~ Steve Toltz

*NO (nonono)

Here Is Nothing but Word Garbage

I only finished it because I skimmmmmmed.

My rating for this book is YH2BFJ or WALOD

You Have To Be Fucking Joking ... What A Lot Of Drivel

The Lincoln Highway ~ Amor Towles

X NO X

DID NOT FINISH

Surely this should be sold as YA.  The level of language, the Hardy Boys type boys-own-adventure.  Boring!  The storyline, though littered with gung-ho action, is plodding.  

Repetitive, tedious, banal ... 

 

Devotion ~ Hannah Kent

 

* NO

In my new coding system this would be a WOT or a WMLB

(Waste of Time or Want My Life Back)

Wordy drivel

What Lies Between Us ~ John Marr

 * NO

Drawn out unbelievable drivel

Verging on bloody ridiculous, mostly predictable

The Maid ~ Nita Prose

 

*NO*

Maid me gag

Simplistic characterisation and plotting

Dune Messiah ~ Frank Herbert

 

So little happens other than major Paul angst.  

All is clouded in mumbo jumbo deep-and-meaningfuls.

The Inland Sea ~ Madeline Watts

 

Black Narcissus ~ Rumer Godden

 

Klara and the Sun ~ Kazuo Ishiguro