Jake

Very cool and very normal world

‘This Place Is Love’: A Prison Unit for the Dying — in Pictures In this prison hospice unit in California, incarcerated people tend to their dying peers so no one dies alone.

In 1996, a 17-bed, state-licensed hospice began caring for dying incarcerated men at California Medical Facility in Vacaville. At that time, the hospice unit mainly took care of patients dying of AIDS. Today, many of the patients housed there are dying of cancer.

Book: Our Souls at Night
Rating: 4

Revisiting Holt, Colorado and Kent Haruf’s writing. This is a sparse, beautiful, melancholy/wistful story. Plainsong is his masterpiece, but this was Haruf’s final work, written while dying, and has serious power despite its simplicity.

Book: Plainsong
Rating: 5

Wow. Kent Haruf is a phenomenal writer. The McPheron brothers are some of the best characters ever. What a beautiful book.

Book: My Side of the Mountain
Rating: 3

Cute and hits the spot. A children’s adventure book about running away and living in the wilderness — what isn’t to like? What it lacks in plot it makes up for in warmth. Read it in the mountains, too — which seemed fitting!

Book: Bird by Bird
Rating: 2.5

Meh. It was a trudge. I like Anne Lamott and she’s a very talented writer, but so much was a slog.

I think there’s some good stuff contained within, but it isn’t for me. The best thing I can say is that she knows not everything is for everyone, and that’s okay too!

Book: James
Rating: 4

Percival Everett is one of my favs — this book hits a lot of notes his other work does, but reimagining Huck Finn from Jim’s perspective is a perfect fit for him. Didn’t get the Huck origin piece, felt it cheapened it a bit, but overall really powerful.

Book: A Long Long Way
Rating: 4

Beginning to recognize Barry’s voice — reminiscent of Cormac in some ways? Willy Dunne wasn’t the strongest character but carried a great story/look at a fascinating time in Irish history.

Book: This Is How You Lose The Time War
Rating: 4

A captivating an altogether unique story that makes you feel you are floating outside of time. Love captured through vignettes and letters throughout the eons. Time loop shenanigans. Just delightfully its own tale.

Book: Days Without End
Rating: 4

My introduction to Sebastian Barry, and boy did I enjoy it. Very Cormac at times, but (marginally) less bleak and infused with an Irish wit. It made me buy two more Barry books, so that’s a pretty good endorsement, I think!

Book: Martyr!
Rating: 3.5

Really beautiful prose. Interesting story concept. Pretentious in a good(?) way, sometimes. I didn’t feel like it was the greatest book I’ve ever read, but it was a well-written rumination that, humbly, I’d say was art about art.

Book: God’s Country
Rating: 4

Hilarious, witty satire of westerns. Percival Everett hooked me with this, and I can’t wait to read more. Curt Marder is the most funny, pathetic antihero. It’s a quick read that hits on themes most westerns gloss over, bringing them into focus without losing the fun.

Book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Rating: 2.5

I dunno. Magical realism just isn’t my thing, and I don’t have the requisite knowledge of Colombian history to appreciate the allegory. Simply wasn’t for me, but I at least kind of appreciated what it does. Just ain’t my thing.

Book: The War of the End Of The World
Rating: 4

Sublime. Tolstoy-esque novel, but Latin American. Parts 1-3 are among the best I’ve ever read. Part 4 lost steam, but it was a truly great experience. Deserves its place in the pantheon of Spanish-language literature, if you ask this English-speaker.

Book: Playground
Rating: 3

Richard Powers wrote The Overstory, my favorite novel ever. This felt like it hit too many of the same notes to feel fresh and original, but still was beautiful and, at times, rose to the level Powers has shown he is capable of reaching. I wanted more, ultimately.

I may work my way back through last year (18 books) as well

Book: Prophet Song
Rating: 4.5

It feels like Eilish wears leaden boots the whole story and weighs me down and make me feel that her plight is happening to me. Prescient and challenging. What does everyday life look like when everyday becomes a nightmare? I think it would look a lot like this.

Book: Morning Star
Rating: 4

A wonderful ending to a delightful series. The pacing has some breaths, but full of action. The dumb “Bye, Felicia” joke was maybe the worst thing I’ve ever seen in a book I genuinely liked, and I have to mention it. Yikes.

Awesome series which delivers the whole way.

Book: Golden Son
Rating: 4

Red Rising’s sequel was even more fast paced and gave me way more of the world building that had been so good in the first. Absolutely gratifying in that it earns every major plot point. Made me very excited for the trilogy’s end…

Book: Red Rising
Rating: 3.5

Read based on recommendations I trust. Kinda hokey, very similar to the hunger games. The world building was cool and the pace was break-neck. It was a lot of fun, and though it seemed to be full of tropes, had enough to keep me engaged and enjoying myself.

My goal is to read 18 books this year; I’m at 8 so far. Here are my reviews.

I’m going to post book reviews for myself.

Scale: 1-5, with .5s allowed

5 - All time favorite
4 - highly recommend
3 - good, enjoyed and may recommend to people
2 - not preferred
1 - DNF or did not like