Review:: The Victorian Internet, by Tom Standage

Title: The Victorian Internet

Author: Tom Standage

Format: eBook

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

While The Victorian Internet has some great info, it reads like a school essay. Minus good citations. I learned quite a bit, but if you're writing nonfic, you should cite, not just put sources at the end, and if you're making a point, trust your reader.

Review:: Permanent Present Tense, by Suzanne Corkin

Title: Permanent Present Tense

Author: Suzanne Corkin

Format: Hardcover

Rating: ★★★★☆

This round, my book club on Habitica (previously called HabitRPG) selected from a set of non-fiction books. I was hoping that this (or The Victorian Internet) would be chosen. And I got my wish! While I definitely enjoyed it, as you can see from the rating, it wasn't a book without issues. It certainly felt "split," as if Suzanne Corkin couldn't decide if she wanted to write about H.M.'s life or his contributions to science.

Review:: Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

Title: The Complete Persepolis

Author: Marjane Satrapi

Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★☆

This month, my bookclub on HabitRPG (soon to be remaned Habitica) voted on reading Persepolis. If you want to check out our further discussion on it, join Habit, check out the guild "Legendary Bookclub of Habitica" and you'll find a link to our Goodreads group. Anyway, now that that's covered, my review:

Persepolis was almost everything I ever wanted from it. And it would have been, if it had only quit whilst ahead. Instead, there was a point where it lost its footing for a bit. While that's sometimes not enough to knock off a star, in this case it was... partially because of how strong the book is at the start.

Review:: Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk

Title: Fight Club

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Format: Trade Paperback

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Confession time: I have (had) never seen or read Fight Club. The only problem with reading it now, though, is that it's so heavily saturated into pop culture that it kind of destroys the book's charm. I feel like it would have been a lot better if I'd gone in without knowing some things I already did. As it was, it felt very much like Catcher in the Rye 2.0. Spoilers in the review that probably aren't spoilers for anyone.

Review:: The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling

Title: The Casual Vacancy

Author: J.K. Rowling

Format: Hardcover

Rating: ★★★☆☆

The Casual Vacancy suffers from some of the same problems Deathly Hallows did, which isn't surprising, all things considered. I also felt at times like J.K. Rowling was trying to pull at my heartstrings with obvious manipulation, rather than actually writing something heart-wrenching. All of that considered, though, it was an interesting take on small-town politics (literal and not), class warfare, and coming of age in screwed up families.

Review:: Signal to Noise, by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

Title: Signal to Noise

Author: Neil Gaiman

Artist: Dave McKean

 Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I'm not entirely sure what turned me off of Signal to Noise. Maybe it was the fact that it was a couple of artists waxing on about how important art is to artists. (Yes, I know how factual this drive is personally, but it's such a tired subject for art.) Or maybe it was the fact that the art style really didn't add anything to the story for me. If anything, it pushed me away. I don't know. It felt pretentious.

Review:: Exit Wounds, by Rutu Modan

Title: Exit Wounds

Author: Rutu Modan

Format: Graphic Novel

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I really don't have that much to say about Exit Wounds. I really didn't find it that impactful. And it's not that Israel is too far away; I've read plenty of Israeli stories that hit me really hard. It's just kind of meh.

Review:: Hyperbole and a Half, by Allie Brosh

Title: Hyperbole and a Half

Author: Allie Brosh

Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

Allie Brosh has a remarkable ability to make me laugh out loud, whether she's covering light topics, like her dogs, or serious topics, like depression. And the best part is, even though it's humor, she never takes the easy crack and makes things seem less important or serious than they really are.

Review:: Portrait in Sepia, by Isabel Allende

Title: Portrait in Sepia

Author: Isabel Allende

Format: Hardcover

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

With ties to Daughter of Fortune and The House of the Spirits, Portrait in Sepia had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it's never lived up to. With most of the magical realism thrown to the wayside and a meandering narrative, Portrait in Sepia doesn't manage the attain the sting of Allende's other works.

Review:: Shakespeare Saved My Life, by Laura Bates

 Title: Shakespeare Saved My Life

Author: Laura Bates

Format: eBook

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Memoirs should be allowed to be a bit self-absorbed, but in this case, it feels kind of inappropriate. Especially considering it feels like Laura Bates didn't actualize a lot of what she was seeing. However, it's impossible to say that she didn't have a very good impact on some folks.

Review:: Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell

Title: Gone With the Wind

Author: Margaret Mitchell

Format: eBook

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is a Great American Novel, a novel of manners, a bildungsroman, a romance, historical fiction, and very, very long. It is a tale of the inevitable fall of the status quo, a tale of rebuilding, and a tale of loss once again. But mostly, it's very, very long.