Thought Train to Pusan

“Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting.” I hadn’t actually heard of this novel before, but saw it was a new offering on my library app, along with a comparison to One of Us Is Lying , a book that I reasonably enjoyed, coupled with a juicy-sounding concept. And given that I recently binged the Netflix Series, Elite , you might say I enjoy soapy teen dramas involving murder, secrets, the whole shebang from time to time. Yet, despite a really intriguing premise that could result in a range of focuses for the characters, I ultimately didn’t love this one, and felt myself heading towards what I suspected was a disappointing conclusion throughout the back-half of the story. This novel really wants to have some teeth to it, and while it presents a lot of serious topics (murder, drug use, bullying, suicide, abusive families, etc), the need for a surprise twist, along with a collection of characters that behave repetitively as little-m...

This was my first choice for reading out of the options of June’s The Future is Queer #CannonBookClub, though to be honest all of the 4 possible books for the book club sounded right up my alley! A group of so-called disasters having to come together to save themselves and the universe? A found family that comes together through their shared factor of being outcasts in one way or another? I love to see it. The Disasters opens with a group of 4 young people (largely centered on the POV of one boy named Nax) as they are being kicked out of an elite space academy called Ellis Station for various reasons. This space station trains people to take on important roles on newly established colony planets in space, as Earth grows increasingly populated. However, despite what should be a one-way trip back to earth for all of these academy rejects, the group witnesses a terrorist attack on the space station, and barely escape. Now they are on the run from authorities as the small crew is turne...

As I continue my journey with audiobooks (a new development for me over the past couple of months), my enjoyment of them has varied considerably depending on the narrator. In this case, it was a mixed bag: for the most part it was good but as the reading went on it’s as if more quirky inflections and voices were being out on to differentiate characters and moods, and honestly I’m learning that I hate the addition of silly voices to distinguish the characters. I can follow fine without it! Or even if it’s just a slight difference in speech, but without all the added flourish which I have heard coming from a number of readers at this point. In any case, let’s not get too tied up in my personal preferences of reading vs listening: Spellbound (the first of the Magic in Manhattan series by Allie Therin) introduces us to Rory Brodigan, a young man with the magical ability to scry the past life of an object, working in an antiques shop as an appraiser in New York in 1925. This work c...