calebph's reviews
97 reviews

The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World by Malcolm Gaskill

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

It was pretty cool to learn about how New Englanders lived outside of the major cities. The case was wacky, but feel like it was a lot of buildup for a case that kinda just fizzled out. Gaskill’s writing is interesting. His research appears to be super in depth, but so much of the book felt like a novel, that I couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was based on evidence and how much was Gaskill filling in the blanks. 

Hugh getting accused of witchcraft because he’s up to his eyeballs in debt and his whole world is falling apart around him is totally a relatable post. 17th century New England would’ve blown— too many rules imo!

The Damnation Game by Clive Barker

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Loved it a lot! Intro to Clive Barker’s non-film writing and it was very fun! Right off the dome, can’t think of another horror author whose prose I loved immediately. The man really can write, which really shocked me! All the Barkerisms were  present— he gave his little monsters cute little names, some extremely graphic and shocking descriptions that grossed me out, and was mad horny the whole time he did it. Bravo!

Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife by Bart D. Ehrman

informative slow-paced

3.75

Very interesting! Learned a lot! The pre-Christianity stuff is super fascinating. Ehrman seems to be a very smart guy. Loved the info he presents in a rather clinical way. Was afraid once he started talking about Jesus it might start reading like a sermon, but he held it together. Started reading this a while ago as my book between books. Was kinda a slog to get through the first half of it. The pacing didn’t really improve, I just powered through the second half so I could be done with it!

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

adventurous lighthearted mysterious relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Really wanted to love this a lot, but it was kinda a slog to get through. Feels like it almost tossed me into a reading slump, but I’m gonna try to fight it.

First off, extremely good vibes. I feel like me reading this gave us a week of autumn weather in Tennessee, but now it’s hot again. Absolutely love Bradbury’s other work I’ve read. His prose is god tier, BUT I had a tough time following what was actually happening at a few points in this one— but I persisted!

Fine book! Slow first 100 pages, but once it starts cookin’, it’s good!

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

An absolute Buster. Very fun. Very excited to read the next in the series. I <3 Kaladin, it’s true. Absolute baller. Read that this is like a whole book of set-up for way cooler stuff.  

 I’m gonna power through some short books for a month or two to reset after this behemoth. 

Night's Master by Tanith Lee

adventurous medium-paced

3.75

Really only read this while I was waiting for The Way of Kings to get here. Some reviewers are upset about the underage— uh, relationship(?) in the first chapter. One guy is 16, the other guy is an ageless demon who burns cities and steals the souls of men. He literally raised the kid from birth to pretty much be a sex toy (had no idea it was that kind of book lol). Not sure if moral age gaps are of major concern to him!

Book was fine! I do like Lee’s prose quite a bit, something about it felt particularly Old Testament. Wanna read Birthgrave at some point. 

Beloved by Toni Morrison

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I like to think I typically read some mildly challenging books, but this is the first book I’ve ever read where I felt dumb as a sack of rocks for the first 100 pages. Nothing about the prose or story was very difficult, but I found myself confused by this was going to be. Toni Morrison sure knew how to write ‘em down. Read the last sentence and a single tear rolled down my cheek. 

Heart of Darkness by Chinua Achebe, Joseph Conrad

adventurous dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I read a lot of reviews lambasting this book as “racist”. I assumed it was mostly just zoomers whining about a book that was written in a time before they were born. Nope. There’s some passages in here that made me crinkle my nose and think, “ah, that’s the racism they mentioned”. It’s hard to decouple the racism from a book inherently about colonialism from the POV of the white guys doing the colonizing. A lot of folks have derided the book as being just another one of those ol’ things, but baby, Joseph Conrad wrote the book(s) on the matter…

 I was about to yap about this book for paragraphs, but I’m suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to not to. Good book. Fun Congo river adventure with lots of colonialism. Norton edition had some great essays too. Only read a few of them, but they were fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Very fun. Love the ways it was different than the movie. Would not have taken as long to get through, but got busy once I got to the last 50 pages and didn’t get a chance to finish it. Honestly wanna read some more Michael Crichton. It’s fun to just read a fun book about dinosaurs instead of some tome about the human condition. 

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The anti-Huck Finn. The most beautiful (and pitch black dark, but also funny) novel about some very busy homeless people in Knoxville. Started off rather slow and meandering, but could’ve read another 400 pages by the end of it. The last 100 pages or so really got me. 

Blood Meridian is still on top, but this one has quickly powered through to the top 3 McCarthy novels I’ve read. Have quite a few more to get through, but gonna take a break from his work and read some dumber stuff for a while. Love the guy to death, his work is endlessly entertaining to me, but it also feels like my brain is bench pressing and I need a break!

Got really busy as soon as I started this and didn’t have time to read it as much as I wanted to. Suddenly, my schedule freed up and I powered through the last 250 pages over the weekend.