Expectation: A unique journey into the mind of a Midwest housewife and baker.
Reality: A 1,000+ page run on sentence with no plot, or seemingly, purpose outside of threading random topics together.
Does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Here it does. Let’s discuss your favorite reads — or listens.
All tagged midwest
Expectation: A unique journey into the mind of a Midwest housewife and baker.
Reality: A 1,000+ page run on sentence with no plot, or seemingly, purpose outside of threading random topics together.
Expectation: To be wowed by this stalwart of American literature.
Reality: A bit let down, and not just because of the terrible racism. Essentially this is a story of vignettes with a very loose plot.
Derf Backderf's "Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio" takes readers beyond the iconic photograph, offering a meticulously researched and haunting graphic novel about the events that occurred on May 4, 1970, between students at Kent State University and the Ohio National Guard.
Expectation: A “city as the sole connection” collection that reads more like a wannabe novel.
Reality: A sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreak collection about the new American experience that succeeds thanks to its subtlety. There are no bad apples in the bunch.
Expectation: A powerful story about the human/nature connection and how an ever-accelerating eco-calamity will destroy us all.
Reality: Bloated and boring, there was far too much happening and very little of it was interesting. I’m struggling to see how this won the Pulitzer Prize.
Expectation: Another twisty supernatural thriller from a rather reliable author.
Reality: St. James delivered a lazy, convoluted plot that asked more from the reader than should’ve been allowed.
Expectation: A richly-layered tearjerker that tracks the ups and downs of four sisters and the people in their orbit.
Reality: Too many characters without development and repetitive sections showed the author couldn’t scale her storytelling ambition.
Paced like a thriller – there’s short chapters and each has a clear focus – Egan stays rooted in basics and not minutiae. There’s detail on the inner workings of the KKK, state and national politics, “Roaring 20s” culture and immigration panic to provide a contextual foundation, but the author keeps everything aligned to his thesis: how Indiana served as a microcosm for a growing wave of racism in northern states, and the resisters who fought it.
Expectation: The author’s best character in recent years tackles another supernatural mystery.
Reality: Somewhat sidelined by an infusion of current events, it still represents a satisfying entry into King’s recent forays into crime procedurals.
Expectation: The lauded writer swapping complex family dramas for a gauzy faux-Hollywood story.
Reality: Sentimental and affecting, it felt like a warm hug every time I revisited Lara’s past, even though not every memory is rose-colored.
Expectation: An anthology of loosely connected stories all set in the Halloween Capital of the World.
Reality: The setting isn’t leveraged as much as anticipated (although there are a few nice winks for locals) but Shane Hawk showed promise with this somewhat even horror collection.
Expectation: Honestly, I’m not sure but it wasn’t a short story collection masquerading as a novel.
Reality: Interesting concepts overshadowed by unlikable characters and absolutely zero plot. While a step forward in writing for the author, this was a dull read.
Expectation: A horror-tinged murder mystery that celebrates queer love.
Reality: Fantasy-heavy and a bit convoluted, as a non-genre fan it became too much, but the fantastic audiobook kept me enthralled.
I adored the premise of this book, and in many ways it is a love letter to journalism in its purest form. Weingarten is a gifted writer and researcher who was able to find marvel in both the mundane and monumental aspects of life on that day. Yet, as the chapters went on, the whole exercise began to feel tawdry and voyeuristic.
Expectation: My enthusiasm was off the charts for this book, my most anticipated read of the year.
Reality: While not as strong as Stradal's previous novels, it was still highly entertaining and he took a few risks that mostly paid off.
Expectation: A family mystery-thriller akin to Alice Sebold’s “Lovely Bones.”
Reality: Not so much a mystery, but a slowburn exploration of the Lee family dynamics, which have a solid foundation of secrecy.
While there’s a lot to unpack, Moore keeps things focused and entertaining - insomuch topics like this can be - with well-placed curse words and anecdotes. Often nonfiction books of this nature bog the reader down with deep history and details that detract from the broader message, but that’s not the case here.
Expectation: A story about three middle-aged friends heading on a vacation to reconnect and lick wounds from failed relationships.
Reality: There’s no vacation, but there is a lot of humor and heart in this lighter read about reconnecting, re-envisioning and reclaiming one's future.
Expectation: An engrossing retrospective of the not-too-distant past with an Indigenous perspective.
Reality: Meandering plots, ancillary characters and terrible narration by the author all overshadowed the strongest parts of the story.
Expectation: A “sports bro” book full of men suppressing emotions.
Reality: A contender for the modern “Great American Novel,” I was surprised by the depth of character development and the queer subplot.