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Feb. 3rd, 2018 08:02 amDecided to go out of my comfort zone yesterday and read a couple of books I got for free that I haven't been crazy about reading--white authors, no POC characters--but I figure I should give them a shot. They were... okay?
Couch is about three dudes in Portland who have to get rid of a couch that appears to have magical properties--it gets heavier when they try dragging it a certain direction. The three dudes comprise of a failed computer hacker (we spent most of the time in his head), a bad con man, and some sort of clairvoyant type. It's got long meandering passages where the author describes in detail what's happening and dives right into the psychology of the main character, who isn't exactly unlikable (and to his credit the author doesn't substitute "asshole" for "interesting"), but also not that relatable to me. There are a few moments where I did laugh out loud, because the whole concept is bonkers, and they take a detour, on the couch which apparently floats, down to South America, where the story turns into a bit of a chase of some shadowy figures coming for the couch because of its provenance, and they have to restore the couch to someplace, but overall, if there was a larger point to be made, I didn't hear it, and it's Not For Me.
Archivist Wasp is about a girl in a far future where in her village, the Archivist hunts ghosts to "archive" their existence and snuff them out, and it's one of those "kids stuck in a fucked up situation which involves killing each other with no easy way out." Wasp meets the first ghost she can talk to, who needs her help finding another ghost, and she's desperate enough to help. The denouement is a bit satisfying but it also has one of those Spark of the Revolution tropes and I feel with the way it ends, you could insert in a different quest and still get the same result. Maybe I don't understand novels anymore.
Anyway I'm going to spend the whole weekend reading like this, I think. Too many books over the years that I haven't had time to read and it's time to trim that physical TBR shelf.
Couch is about three dudes in Portland who have to get rid of a couch that appears to have magical properties--it gets heavier when they try dragging it a certain direction. The three dudes comprise of a failed computer hacker (we spent most of the time in his head), a bad con man, and some sort of clairvoyant type. It's got long meandering passages where the author describes in detail what's happening and dives right into the psychology of the main character, who isn't exactly unlikable (and to his credit the author doesn't substitute "asshole" for "interesting"), but also not that relatable to me. There are a few moments where I did laugh out loud, because the whole concept is bonkers, and they take a detour, on the couch which apparently floats, down to South America, where the story turns into a bit of a chase of some shadowy figures coming for the couch because of its provenance, and they have to restore the couch to someplace, but overall, if there was a larger point to be made, I didn't hear it, and it's Not For Me.
Archivist Wasp is about a girl in a far future where in her village, the Archivist hunts ghosts to "archive" their existence and snuff them out, and it's one of those "kids stuck in a fucked up situation which involves killing each other with no easy way out." Wasp meets the first ghost she can talk to, who needs her help finding another ghost, and she's desperate enough to help. The denouement is a bit satisfying but it also has one of those Spark of the Revolution tropes and I feel with the way it ends, you could insert in a different quest and still get the same result. Maybe I don't understand novels anymore.
Anyway I'm going to spend the whole weekend reading like this, I think. Too many books over the years that I haven't had time to read and it's time to trim that physical TBR shelf.