April Books

I didn't get much reading done in April! Something about flying across the world and seeing my family for the first time in half a year.... 

DECOY - Scott Mariani

Kate is in a desperate situation. Her son needs an operation, but there’s no way she can afford the cost of the procedure. As a single parent, there’s no one she can turn to for help. Until her friend suggests working as a female decoy. Worried wives would pay her to find out if their husbands were cheating. As reluctant as she is, she can’t ignore the benefits for her son. Business is soon good, and she’s on her way to reaching her money goal. Until she gets involved with a wealthy new client, and she realises too late how dangerous deception can be….

This was okay! It wasn’t great but I didn’t hate it. I read a few of the reviews on Goodreads and all of them seemed to think it was too short a story for the plot. I’d have to agree with that. It could have been a really interesting, meaty story and there could have been much more of a build up if it had been maybe twice as long. As it was, it kind of all happened at once and the build up was compromised slightly. But it was an easy read, all done with in an afternoon. 

4/10

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The Stand - Stephen King

“The glory of a good tale is that it is limitless and fluid; a good tale belongs to each reader in its own particular way.”

The world has ended. One small computer glitch, a million of casual human links, and all that is left is a handful of survivors. Survivors that have to choose sides - or have the sides chosen for them. The fate of the world is divided: the fate of the good rests on the frail shoulders of 108-year old Mother Abigail - the fate of evil lies with a man of unspeakable powers and nightmare thoughts, Randall Flagg. The Dark Man. The story follows the few survivors left as they join a fight most of them can’t believe exists, in a world that no longer does. 

Okay I have three main thoughts about this book:

1. I really enjoy Stephen King’s books. I’ve enjoyed all of the ones I’ve read so far (mainly for the writing and not necessarily the story: see point 3). Even when there’s major bits I don’t like, his writing is something I am becoming quite the fan of.
2. I’m learning that I really like the post-apocalyptic/dystopian genre. 
3. I felt like after all of the build up (maybe 85-90% of the book?) the ending was really disappointing. I was expecting so much more.  

Point 3 came up the last time I read one of King’s books (It) so it was disappointing it happened again. I was expecting so much more from the last 1/4 of that book. I read the extended version so maybe the original wouldn’t have seemed so bloated, but it felt like the ending deserved so much more after literally the entire book led up to it. 

And I knoooow that King is male but really, must all women feel like secondary characters in his books? It would be nice if I could read some more of his books and find that, actually, women aren’t all kept within the stereotypical confines of our gender, even in a world that has lost 99% of society.

So I really enjoyed the book but I wouldn’t say I loved it. I liked it a lot and then it got terrible and now I just like it a little. But I’ll definitely be reading more of King’s books, that’s for sure. 

7/10

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IT - Alexa Chung

I really don’t know what to write for the blurb of this. It’s kind of like a diary except it’s nothing like any diary I’ve ever kept. I’d say the best way to describe it is that it’s what I imagine a book version of someone’s tumblr would look like. It’s a mish mash of autobiographical facts, doodles, pictures, other random tidbits. 

Soph gave me this book as part of my ‘welcome home’ present, and I spent a weekend dipping in and out of it as I got settled back into my home routine. It’s not really a book like any of the others I’ve read so it’s weird trying to write about it. 

I definitely enjoyed it. I’ve always thought Alexa is cool and reading this reminded me so much of Soph it was weird. Plus it was fun reading something totally unlike anything I usually read!

6/10