katiedreads's reviews
515 reviews

Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS by Myeongseok Kang, BTS

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.25

Firstly I think for readers it’s important to understand that this is not a autobiography (which is what I thought it would be) it’s exactly what it says on the tin, a record of BTS music career.  It goes through the last 10 years of BTS career and plots the highlights, lowlights and the milestones along the way.  While this inevitably includes some personal antic-dotes and emotional reflections it’s not an in-depth analysis of the member’s histories, experience or motivations.  It makes this distinction quite clearly by referring to the members by their stage names and has a interview style writing of each of their thoughts, combined with a narrative written by the author which plots BTS trajectory over the past 10 years.  It also only briefly touches on solo work, one or two sentences per member.

What did surprise me throughout this was how verbose V and Jin were.  Their comments seemed to carry most of the book, with their memories, details and reflections.  It also surprised me that considering RM and Suga are both writers (song writers) and heavy readers, RM especially, that they didn’t seem to be as heavily involved as V and Jin.  This was just surprising not a negative, I suppose considering how dominant RM and Suga are in interviews or Festas and how quiet  or superficial Jin and V can be in these situations it was nice to hear what they had to say in detail and with such reflection.

I think the real strength of this book is the organisation and detail in which the author and translator wrote the book.  I was able to read this quickly without confusion and with great interest.  It was also lovely to read either new information or old information that didn’t seem like a rehash of BTS origin stories that I had heard multiple times before.  It was also amazing to see what BTS felt were milestones in their career vrs what has been the ARMY narrative.  

Overall this was informative and enjoyable and I knew I was in safe hands with Anton Hur as an exceptional translator.  This is a 4 star and not a 5 star for me because I would have loved more information on the behind the scenes of the music writing, motivation, structure, struggles and creation or recording of the music.  It did touch on it but not in explicit detail and for me that is very much a part of why BTS is successful.  

But I do hope one day to get a BTS or individual biography I thought this was.

Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I picked this up after enjoying the first in the series so much.  However this one didn’t engage me as much as the first.  While the island as a atmospheric setting and the characters ranged from mad to sad to silly to murderous I just wasn’t feeling the mystery and couldn’t wait to find out who the killer was so I could move on.  I think this is due to the book having a slower pace than the first, this author could have maybe done better if he had 50-75 fewer pages to make the novel move.  However I did still enjoy the main character detective kosuke and his deductions and reasonings about the murders.  

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Sequel to boyfriend material and not worth it to me, this was 2.75 star.  For the first 3/4 of the book it dragged and was difficult for me to care much.  It continues the story of opposites attract sweet but complex characters stumbling along trying to make it work, however we have fallen into the humdrum life of a settled couple which is not particularly exciting to read about.  The author tried to spice this up with manufactured drama of a friends fiancé possibly cheating and the re-introduction of an ex, but it was not very believable or interesting.  The messiness of the characters and the banter that was funny and interesting in the first book was overdone and boring in this one.  It only started to pick up in the last 1/4, where some real issues and complexities to the characters emerged dealing with grief, eating disorder, family relationships and personal struggles and character growth.  I think the author missed the opportunity to take these flawed characters and really look more in depth into their character and relationship development between the two especially as they had it all set up with the therapist mentioned.  Also I hated and predicted the ending.  

Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman by Alan Rickman

reflective slow-paced

3.0

When I picked this up I assumed that Alan had approved the release of his diaries, to find out he didn’t when I started reading this made me very uncomfortable.  It is obvious that it had been edited but how and why it had been edited is unclear.   As although there is times when Alan’s witty comments and observations leave you laughing, I found it quite uncomfortable to read the sometimes rude and mean thoughts he probably never intended to share with anyone, why they were left I have no idea.  It’s also obvious the diary was snippets of Alan’s life and made sense to him but they were not edited in a way to allow a reader’s understanding, while there are sometimes footnotes more often then not there aren’t which leaves you wondering what the passage was about.  The lack of contextual editing leaves the diary feeling choppy and surface level, whereas the obvious editing of certain people makes you question what had been missed out, there is very little commentary about his wife, and family barley mentioned, and when they were it was very surface level.  Which does not make you think he didn’t write about them, but a decision to exclude those parts, maybe for kindness or privacy but why done for his wife and family and not others??  Overall while interested to hear some inner wit, thoughts and points of view from Alan overall I’m not sure it really was anything more than a money making opportunity.  However the physical book which shows some beautiful images of his hand written and hand drawn diary entries certainly are interesting, it makes me think this was the lost opportunity.  Instead of this huge tomb, maybe a smaller selected interesting selection, full colour and in his handwriting would have been a more interesting read. 

Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I’m continuing my journey with Japanese Police Procedural novels, this one is a debut novel and modern classic from the 1950’s.  I think this has multiple names and also known as Points and Lines.  This was a vey interesting novel, with the book written around two main character detectives.  One detective that was suspicious of the crime being more than it appeared and the second detective who actually does most of the leg work and some of their communications during the investigation.  But what gives this book interest is not really the plot but the tone and atmosphere.  This book is very much about corruption and the people who are unwilling to accept it, and their desire to solve the case but with a written with a tone of pessimistic acceptance that catching one bad guy doesn’t solve the culture of corruption.  I also loved how the detectives really had to work to find clues that supported their gut feeling.  Overall would recommend but if the plot was more engaging it would have been a five star from me.

I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is a very strong debut book, that pacts a lot into a very small page count.  The vignette style of writing transports you between reading about the every day experiences of the unnamed narrator and then her thoughts and feelings on … well everything racism, misogyny, capitalism, colonialism, cheating, cultural appropriation, social media etc etc. what is interesting is all these huge concepts are talked about through the eyes and lived experiences of the narrator, this hugely adds to your understanding of the character while knowing very little about her other than her obsessive destructive behaviours.  This duplicity is very apparent throughout the book and the author doesn’t shy away from expressing the narrators criticism of these themes all the while sharing her self normalising thoughts on her own participation of online stalking, adultery, toxic behaviour towards her partner.  Overall beautifully written, self aware and gritty narrative of our current world.  However for me this is not a five star as too many of the characters are 2d and unlikable, with very little shared of the emotional growth, which is where the author looses me, even the most awful people you know have redeeming qualities and feel guilt and pain and regret.  The author touched on this slightly when talking about the main character and her boyfriend’s relationship, but didn’t use this more.  This made the reading experience feel like the rants and thoughts of the narrator was more important for the author to express than a true character study.  That for me would have made this 5 star if by the end of the book you recognise how hypocritical the narrator is but still felt empathy for them. 

The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.5

3.5 star for me, I tried to physically read this book a few times but DNF it.  However audible came through and I finished and enjoyed the book that way.  For me this read completely like fiction and had very little evidence to convince me for the truth.  At times some of the descriptions and narrative read like it was straight from a script and other times you could tell these incidents were created into movies.  Overall creepy enjoyable time but not amazing. 

No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Passionate and emotional, this is a book of speeches from Greta that pack a punch.  This is a record of speeches given by Greta but not a book in of itself.  I think for what it is, is impactful for those who read it, to give a sense of urgency and motivation to complete your own research and possibly political rebellion.  But it is just a summary of spearhead it has not been written as a book, as it is repetitive, lacks narrative and lacks actionable steps.  I also think it will not be picked up by anyone who is not already sympathetic with Greta or the cause which means this will have little impact.  However I think this or a few of her speeches in general could be great to give as readings to schools/colleges and businesses to motivate a change in attitude.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

An unusual combination of horror, body horror, possession and portal fiction.  The museum was an amazing setting, with a great atmosphere that acted as a backdrop to a interesting supernatural horror plot.  With a very limited number of characters that supported the deeper development of the main character.  I loved how the author addressed a lot of those plot holes you see in other horror stories and movies, such as investigating weird holes and noises etc they created human and relatable reasons for the chapters actions which added dark humour and pulled you into the story even more.  My only complaint and it’s difficult to explain is that it seemed to lack subtlety and a sophistication, it seemed brash.  

The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.0

This was a great follow up to the salt path.  I think the author did a great job of capturing the sadness and confusion that comes with change.  Even though Ray and Moth are in a better place financially and they are no longer homeless their is still grief and reminiscing of both their previous life and their homeless life.  Moth is a great counterbalance to Rays rose tinted glasses view of the salt path and their previous life.  I loved the respect and awe shown in this book for nature the writing lures you into their world of hardship and new discovery of nature in their farm and their new walk in Iceland.  But I do understand some of the other readers issues with book around the pace and the emotional tone, I think the audio book is the best way to experience this one.