Tag: Books

January ’21 Recap

~ Mr Geek ~ Leave a comment

Well, it’s hard to believe that January is already over! I can’t believe how fast this month flew by. Unfortunately, 2021 still is looking a lot like 2020, but hopefully we’ll be on the upswing in the next few months! I had a relatively good reading month and managed to finish 4 books this month (and completely blew up my planned TBR).

I kicked off the month reading Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare. This is the second entry in the Dark Artifices series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I absolutely loved Lady Midnight! It was hands down one of my favorite reads last year and probably my favorite Shadowhunter book to date. Lord of Shadows was also a great book! I got to rejoin all of the characters from Lady Midnight. This was also an incredibly fast paced book that flew by at breakneck speeds.

Next up I read Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline. I had seen a lot of questionable and negative reviews leading up to reading this. I won’t spend a lot of time rehashing those thoughts since I dedicated a whole blog post to those feelings already! Long story, short – I really enjoyed this a lot! It had a much strong pop culture trend this time around (vs the more video game centric first novel). If you are at ALL on the fence about giving this book a try – DO IT. I don’t think any of the negativity directed at this book is warranted at all.

I was planning on tackling Queen of Air & Darkness by Cassandra Clare next but decided to deviate and listen to Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo while also reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I managed to get an Amazon Kindle deal on The Midnight Library and have been DYING to read this since last year, so I had to read this ASAP! Everything is Figureoutable was a really great book to kick off January! Marie was the narrator and that really added another element of relatable. The content in this book wasn’t necessarily new or groundbreaking information but it was presented in a fun and engaging way. Marie’s stories and anecdotes really struck a chord with me. I also found most of the advice extremely applicable – like when you are stressing or worrying over a project or problem, the best way to get over that is action. Thinking back after hearing this, she is 100% right. I have always felt better when I took action on a problem I was facing. Hearing this feedback really just brought the whole concept together.

I am still in the process of finishing up The Midnight Library (but I’ll hopefully be finished by the time this post goes up). This is also another stellar read! Very life lesson-y and philosophical. One thing I’m not crazy about is how the novel romanticizes suicide a bit. I do really like the story, how it’s written and the overall life lesson, though. Probably leaning towards a 5 star read!

Wrapping up, I HIGHLY recommend all of the books included in this recap. I loved them all. I’ll be having a nice February TBR coming tomorrow that will be featuring my Black History Month reads, so be on the look out for that! If you enjoyed this post, take a look at my archive (I’ve written others like this) or follow me here / on Twitter (@ItsMrGeekToYou) for more reading updates!

Until Next Time,
Mr Geek

Ready Player Two, A Rant

~ Mr Geek ~ 3 Comments

This was not a blog post that I was expecting to be writing! Ready Player Two was one of my most anticipated 2020 releases and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it… which I thought was going to be awhile since I wasn’t willing to pay $15 for the Kindle edition. After the book was released, it received less than stellar reviews from Bloggers, BookTubers and Reviewers. I was baffled by this backlash but the negativity didn’t impact my desire to read this book! Fast-forward to December. A couple of friends got me a copy of Ready Player Two for Christmas (as part of an AMAZING “retro” themed gift that perfectly aligned with the novel’s Pop Culture laden plot). I couldn’t wait to get started and decided it was going to be one of the first books I read in January! Now that the background has been established, let the rant begin…

I want to start off by saying: Get the F**K OFF ERNEST CLINE’S BACK. For the love of God. For probably a solid month I saw all these tweets, blog posts and BookTube videos that were completely TRASHING this book. I didn’t fully watch most of these for fear of spoilers, since I hadn’t read the book. The biggest complaints were about how “Wade changed and was no longer recognizable.” Ummmm, hello. Repeat after me, “That’s what happens when people suddenly come into an ass load of money.” This scenario is shown time and time again. People win a lot of money and become jerks. They fall out with their friends, they end up fighting with their families and they use their money as a crutch. Wade’s behavior early on in this book doesn’t surprise me the least! Mild spoilers: He does redeem himself.

The other feedback I’ve seen is how “unnecessary” (imagine me saying that in my most pretentious, condescending voice possible) this book is. Was this book necessary? Nope. Was it an insanely fun, pop-culture roller coaster that was completely entertaining? You bet your ass it was! I am an avid videogamer, so obviously I really connected with Ready Player One. Ready Player Two was chock full of pop culture references that were also enjoyable in a different way. The premise of this book revolved around collecting seven shard of the Siern’s Soul. I can already hear the naysayers… “But Mr Geekkkkkkk…. The FIRST book had a quest.” WELL NEWS FLASH – so can this one, it did and I loved it!

Now, don’t get me wrong, this book wasn’t perfect. The early chapters definitely dragged a bit to really establish the story while also giving the read a refresher on Ready Player One (which I appreciated, since I didn’t re-read it prior). Once the quest begins, things really start to flow. Overall, I was satisfied with the ending but it did have a quirky wrap up.

I feel so much better getting all of these feelings out. So. My advice to you, my dear reader, is that if you were / are interested in reading Ready Player Two, read Ready Player Two. To hell with what everyone else thinks. Give it a go, see what you think and judge the book for yourself. I’d also like to thank Mollie and Christi for gifting me a copy of Ready Player Two as part of an amazing Retro Christmas gift!

Until Next Time,
Mr Geek

Tome Topple Round 13: Announcement + TBR

~ Mr Geek ~ Leave a comment

Hello my fellow readers!

I am happy to announce that I am going to be helping to co-host the upcoming Tome Topple Read-A-Thon (Round 13)! For those of you who aren’t familiar, Tome Topple is a read-a-thon created by Sam from Thoughts On Tomes. The object is simple, read some chunky books that are over 500 pages! Throughout these 2 weeks, there’s a team of great people who will be hosting reading sprints, Instagram challenges and they even introduced a Discord channel this year for live chatting! Another fun element of this read-a-thon is the “bingo” card they adopted earlier this year! The object isn’t to get bingo but an organized way to track your reading prompts!

The prompts for Round 13 are as follows:
– Tome on your TBR the longest
– Tome you started in another round (of Tome Topple)
– Tome in a series you haven’t read in awhile (“awhile” is subjective and completely up to you)
– Tome in a genre you don’t normally read
– Read 1 tome
– Read a seasonally colored tome
– Read an audiobook tome
– Most recently acquired tome
– Tome by an indigenous author*

*I’m going to include a list of books by indigenous authors at the end of this post, for those who are interested!

My Tome Topple TBR

With each round of Tome Topple, I get progressively better – making more and more progress on my TBR! I am going to set the bar high this round to help motivate me to read more. One day, I hope to hit Scholar status but for now, I’m going to work for Sage!

I’m going to start off with The Toll by Neal Schusterman. This is the third and final book in the Arc of a Scythe trilogy. Scythe (Book 1) was the first book I read this year and I absolutely loved it. It was interesting, fast paced and an absolutely fantastic read! I picked up Thunderhead (Book 2) in April and also thoroughly enjoyed that entry. I wanted to read the entire trilogy this year and I’m going to accomplish that goal! Next up, I am going to give Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. Legendborn has been getting RAVE reviews lately and I’ve heard that it’s an absolutely fantastic read. I’ve read the summary and the premise seems right up my alley! My last book that I hope to tackle is The Last Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I’ve been wanting to read Sanderson’s The Starlight Archive for quite awhile. The recommended reading order has always been to start with Mistborn trilogy before flipping over to The Stormlight Archives. I thought now would be the perfect time to get started. Plus, I can continue the next 2 books in this series in December or early next year!

So there you have! A quick breakdown of Tome Topple and all of the books I hope to read this round! I’m really looking forward to co-hosting and reading all of the big books. Make sure to follow me on Twitter (@ItsMrGeekToYou) + @Tome_Topple and all of the other co-hosts! Are you planning to join in? What books are on your TBR?

Until Next Time,
Mr Geek

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NATIVE AMERICAN/INDIGENOUS TOMES
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Benang: From the Heart by Kim Scott
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978-2008 by Louise Erdrich
The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

October ’20 Recap

~ Mr Geek ~ 2 Comments

It feels like just yesterday that I was writing my October TBR post and here we are, at the end of the month! October was a complete blur but it also gave me the much needed taste of normalcy that I’ve been wanting! I was able to finally reconnect with some friends and managed to take a couple little day trips. One of my other highlights this month was co-hosting Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-A-Thon (but I’ll touch on that more later). I read some great books this month and some not-so-great books. Let’s dive in!

I kicked off October reading Pet Sematary by Stephen King. Everyone raves about this being one of King’s best books. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, I felt like I might’ve gone into this with a little too much hype. I found the story to be engrossing and atmospheric but the “horror” elements just didn’t really do it for me. The ending was a little too open for my tastes. I tend to a like a little more closure (unless there’s going to be a sequel). I also watched the original Pet Sematary movie from the 1980’s and the 2019 remake. Surprisingly, I like the 2019 remake more than the original. I felt that the small changes they made to the plot resulted in a better flow overall. After Pet Sematary, I grabbed Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell. This was a fall-themed, graphic novel that I scooped up for $3 on Kindle. I’m not really a graphic novel person, so this was really outside of my comfort zone but I really enjoyed it! The story follows the 2 main characters, Deja and Josiah, High School Seniors who have spent the last several years working together at a Pumpkin Patch. The story takes place during their last night working together before the patch closes for the year (and they head off to college the following Fall). This was a light hearted story and a nice break from my more scary reads.

My month started off strong and then I hit a rough patch which came in the form of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Garcia-Moreno and The Shadows by Alex North. I really enjoyed the first 50 pages (or so) of Mexican Gothic. I was intrigued by the story and was captivated initially but the story sort of bottomed out after that. It turned into an epic slough-fest until the last ~100 pages. At that point, everything started to come together but it was too little, too late for me. While I was reading Mexican Gothic, I also decided to listen to The Shadows by Alex North. Last year, I read his debut, The Whisper Man, which I enjoyed. There were some paranormal elements at the end that were a little cringey and I didn’t love. I almost had the opposite problem with The Shadows, the pacing seemed way too fast and I didn’t really get how everything came together. The overall plot felt a little rushed and, not being an extremely long book, I think it could’ve used another 50 pages to flesh out the plot and really pull everything together. I did enjoy the twist towards the end. It was unexpected and meshed nicely with the overall theme of the book.

As I slid into the latter half of the month, news broke that Showtime was going to be revising the Dexter TV series, bringing it back in the Fall of 2021 for one more additional season. I was a HUGE Dexter fan but the series finale in 2013 really left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I started the books but never pursued them further than the first book. Once I heard they were bringing Dexter back, I thought what better way to continue my reading theme than with a re-read of Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. I opted for the audiobook, since I originally read this… probably 10 years ago. It was a nice refresher and I’m definitely going to continue the book series now to help prepare for the TV premiere next year!

This past week, I read City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab. It. Was. Fantastic! I love Victoria Schwab’s writing so much and have no idea why I put this off as long as I did. The story was entertaining, engaging and eerie. The story revolves around a teenager, Cassidy Blake, who has a near-death experience that results in her being able to see ghosts. I tore through this book and couldn’t put it down (literally finished it minutes before starting to write this post). It’s Halloween, so I thought what better way to end the month than by reading The Witches by Roald Dahl. This book is extremely short and I’m hoping to knock it out today (I’ll be starting that shortly after finishing this post). HBO Max recently released a movie version of The Witches and I thought it would be worth giving it a quick re-read before watching the movie (I probably read this 25 years ago… queue feeling old).

Overall, I had a VERY successful reading month. I’m still on track to hit 52 books by the end of the year. I needed to read at least 6 this month and I’ve read 7 (if I include The Witches). I also have an audiobook currently in progress that I’ll probably finish in the next couple of days and another book that I started back in April and just can’t motivate myself to finish (The Shadowhunter’s Codex, it’s a supplement book to Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter Chronicles – it reads like a textbook and isn’t required to understand any of her other books). I’ve already been thinking about what books I want to read for November and have a nice TBR already set! Stop back tomorrow to check out that post!

How was your October? Read any good books or have thoughts / questions about my reads? Do any fun, non-book related activities? Leave me a comment – you know how much I love to chat!

Until Next Time,
Mr Geek

Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-A-Thon Mini-Challenge: Hour 13!

~ Mr Geek ~ 3 Comments

It’s Mr Geek coming at you with a mini challenge for the 13th hour of Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-A-Thon! How is your reading day going so far? Making good progress? Personally, I’m working to wrap up Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia today and potentially start City of Ghosts by V.E. Schwab. This month is all about the horror / spooky / creepy reads! If that sounds right up your alley, check out me October TBR. Ok, enough chit-chat, let’s down to business!

For this challenge, I thought it would be fun to track all of the “Fall / Autumn” references within your current book! This can be anything from pumpkin patches or chilly weather to apple cider or crisp autumn leaves!

At the end of the hour, be sure to stop back, or you can always Tweet me (@ItsMrGeekToYou), and let me know how many reference you found! The winner gets bragging rights from now until the next read-a-thon! Good luck to all my fellow readers and have fun!

Until Next Time,
Mr Geek

October ’20 TBR

~ Mr Geek ~ 2 Comments

It’s finally October and that means “Spooky SZN” is upon us! The weather is FINALLY starting to cool off in the northeast and all of the Autumn flavors are in full swing (I’m looking at you Pumpkin Spice and Apple). I typically don’t set a book “theme” for the month but I decided to give that a try for October. Since Halloween will be coming up, I thought this would be the perfect time to break out all of my horror / spooky books to binge all month long! I’m still on track to hit my stretch goal of 52 books by the end of the year. If I want to hit this goal, I need to read at least 6 books each month in October, November and December. I’ve set an aggressive TBR for October so, without further ado, let’s jump into the books!

I’m going to kick the month off with a classic horror story, Pet Semetary by Stephen King. I haven’t read many books by King but this seems to be a favorite! I actually don’t know a ton about this story other than there is some sort of cursed land that has the power to bring whatever is buried there back to life… but not quite the same. I actually have a paperback of this and will be listen to some of the audiobook. The audiobook is narrated by Michael C. Hall and it has received rave reviews. After Pet Semetary, I’m going to move on to Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Mexican Gothic has been described as a horror-thriller that seems to be right up my alley. When Noemi received a mysterious letter from her cousin, beginning someone to come save her from impending doom, she sets off to the High Place to investigate. Noemi is better suited for dresses and dinner parties than as a rescue but that won’t stop her. As Noemi dig deeper and deeper, she soon discovers a history of violence and madness that might be impossible to escape.

I’ve always been a big fan of Victoria Schwab and now seems like the perfect time to read City of Ghosts. Meet Cassidy Blake, an In-Between who can communicate with ghosts. When Cass meets Lara, a fellow In-Between, she explains that it’s Cass’ responsibility to send ghosts permanently across The Veil. When the Red Raven begins terrorizing her city, she quickly realizes it isn’t meant for this world. She’s soon pulled into an epic fight that stretches across the worlds of the living and the dead. I am purposely saving Home Before Dark by Riley Sager for closer to Halloween. This “haunted house” book seems like the perfect read as Halloween approaches! When Maggie Holt, a restorer of old homes, inherits her family home, she returns to restore it so it can be properly sold. Maggie is too young to remember the horror’s mentioned in her father’s book. Soon she begins experience strange occurrences, that seem to be right out of her father’s book. It’s up to Maggie to find out what secrets are within these walls before it’s too late!

In addition to these physical books, I’m also going to try to knock out 2 audiobooks. My first audiobook will be The Shadows by Alex North. The Shadows is the follow-up to North’s debut, The Whisper Man (which I read last year). The premise of this one sounds great and has a lot of promise. Paul Adams remembers the dark, imaginative and gruesome murder committed by Charlie Crabtree when he was a teenager. After the murder was committed, Crabtree disappeared and was never found. Fast-Forward 25 years later and a copycat killer has struck. As tensions rise around town, Paul can feel the past slowly starting to seep into the present. I haven’t decided on which audiobook I’ll read next. I have a couple Stephen King books queued up (Misery and If It Bleeds) and a couple by one of my favorite more niche authors, J.A. Konrath (Origin and The List). This last pick will definitely be based on my mood and whatever I’m feeling in the moment.

Hopefully I’m able to conquer this TBR and then some! What do you have planned for this month? Are you going to read anything creepy to celebrate Halloween? Leave me a comment, tweet me or add me on GoodReads (@ItsMrGeekToYou on both sites).

Until Next Time,
Mr Geek