Megan

I still don't know what to think. I still don't think I like the art style. I was more interested in the plot this time, but the characters mean almost nothing to me. There's something about the writing, art style, or both that's making my entire reading experience extremely distant and unemotional. At this point, I'm just using this series to fill in the gaps.

I thought I had read this as a kid, but I'm not convinced this was the same book. That in itself was disappointing but no fault of the author or the book. It was a cute story and one I might have liked in elementary school. It was missing something though, and I found the end to send the wrong message. Jeremy never learns to handle his grief, it's just magically eliminated.

I picked this up in December because of the title, and I really wish I hadn't because I wanted something Christmasy. Murder, yes, but Christmas murder. This was not that. It wasn't bad, I actually enjoyed the writing style. I felt the message was a tad heavy-handed but not the worst by far. Overall it was okay but kind of forgettable in the grand scheme of what I read in December because of what types of books I was reading... meaning fully set at, on, and around, about Christmas books.

Incredible documentation of first-hand accounts.

Quotes:

“Of course it was not the best of the white race that created the hellish situation in Tulsa. But none the less, the best of the white race is responsible. The leadership of a community is responsible for the deeds of the community.”

“The elements that contributed to the disaster—the view of Black equality as anathema to the natural social order, official complicity in mob violence, and weaponization of legislation in service to monied interests—still animate the American landscape we inhabit today.”

“The freedom that is promised to all Americans is conditional for Black Americans, driven by arbitrary measures of whether they are intelligent enough, industrious enough, humble enough, nonthreatening enough, innocent enough, patriotic enough, and so on.”

“The hardship that generations of his family carried from the trauma of being hated by their own government and fellow citizens remains a burden.”

“So when the Capitol insurrection unfolded, I recognized what I was seeing. It was the culmination of four years of an administration that had terrified me from its inception for its promise of cruelty. But the worst part was the sense of normalcy that was being thrust on us by leaders who deliberately and determinedly refused to acknowledge the danger of the worst public health crisis in generations and who downplayed the justness of community outrage and protests in the face of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a uniformed police officer. Instead, these two defining circumstances of 2020 were weaponized in furtherance of a regressive, racist agenda, in the face of which the public was bombarded with messaging that ran counter to objective reality and moral norms. The U.S. president downplayed the lethality of a pandemic, the likes of which had not affected humanity since 1918, when he knew of the widespread disease and death that would result. While the country was reeling from COVID-19, mass public protests in reaction to Floyd's murder were mischaracterized as evidence that the Black Lives Matter movement was a violent antigovernment movement committed to anarchy.”

“In the current era of historic firsts by African Americans, we must recall that the firsts are not overdue because Black people weren't ready—it is the country that wasn't ready.”

This was a fairly goofy early YA sci-fi that I'd say is perfect for middle grade readers who are interested in reading more difficult topics but maybe aren't quite ready for everything in YA books. It's fun sci-fi that doesn't feel at all like it's set on a spaceship, which some people may really like (it wasn't for me unfortunately), and goes completely off the rails as the story progresses. Don't look too closely at the plot. Don't take any of it too seriously. Just enjoy it for the adventure and look at it with tweens and younger teens in mind. That being said, my enjoyment was minimal. It wasn't bad but it really lost me in the last third or so.

I saw that ending coming in the first ten pages, but I can't understand the relationship dynamic at all. I knew I was right but it seemed so weird given how the main character was waiting for the bf to invite her to an event... Anyway, this mystery was good! Probably my favorite. The relationship is gettting slightly annoying and distracting, but overall it's a good Christmas time. None of the Christmas stuff feels repetitive either, which is awesome.

Was not a fan of the writing voice or jumping around. Just as I'd get invested in a part of the story or time line, the writing jumped to a different person and place in time. It was frustrating.

Cullen makes some leaps that I think are a bit overboard, such as detailing inner thoughts of the killers that he could not have known, or motivations behind actions that were never voiced or penned. It creates a fictionalized story that is aggressively sold as 100% true, as the most thorough and correct of all the books on the subject. Much of it is speculation and should be very clearly presented that way. Honestly, it's an excellent persuasive essay aimed to convince the audience of a specific view point. It's accomplishing that goal superbly.

The biggest issue I have is with how much blame Cullen shifts from Dylan to Eric. It's uncomfortable how much he favors Dylan and seems to almost defend him compared to Eric. Cullen left out or didn't explore some pretty terrible things Dylan did and said. He frequently brushes off some of the things Dylan wrote and said as parroting Eric, because of Eric, or even going as far as to say Dylan didn't really mean or believe it. There's just no way to know that, and it's confusing why he doesn't take Dylan's words seriously but claims Eric meant every word he said and wrote.

I absolutely agree that Eric could potentially be a psychopath, but we will never know for sure. However, it sure as hell doesn't mean Dylan wasn't just as sadistic and monstrous simply because he was also depressed and suicidal. Hell, Dylan talked about doing “NBK” with a female student months before Eric referenced NBK himself. Dylan referred to himself as god, talked about going on killing sprees, and laughed while killing students. Why Cullen didn't address these things or didn't feel they give us a real window into who Dylan is, I'll never understand. He went aggressively after Eric, and rightfully so. I can't fathom why he took almost the exact opposite stance on Dylan.

I got my hands on the new epilogue, written years after the book was originally published, and Cullen directly addresses his bias without calling it that. He says, “I realized later that I was grieving for Dylan, too. What a sweet, loving kid. Most of his life. That shocked me, but I didn't grasp how it tormented me. Lost boy, we could have saved him. I see now that I always felt that way, even when I hated him—I just didn't know.” He wrote his book while grieving for Dylan. It's almost like he views who Dylan became as something Dylan didn't choose for himself, but something Eric did. It clearly affects how he interpreted the worst of Dylan's writings and actions.

Cullen also takes issue with people who still push the bullying theory. I understand his frustration. People want to say Eric and Dylan specifically targeted bullies, that Columbine only happened as retaliation against people who relentlessly tormented Eric and Dylan. We know it's highly unlikely to be the only or primary contributing factor. It's pretty well known that they were bullied, but the extent is not well understood by anyone, including Cullen. Both mention retaliating against people who treated them badly (in their minds), and I think that's all we have to go on, since survivor recollections conflict. What is clear is that they hated everyone in the end. Understanding how their life experiences shaped that hatred is just as important as understanding their mental health issues. They work in conjunction with one another, and they always will. We need that to be the focus of the conversation, not the argument over if they were bullied/how much/did they even care. Cullen stamps on that argument and goes full speed to the other end of the spectrum. As with most things, my guess is the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I found the most interesting part of this book to be how the entire massacre and subsequent years affected Cullen. I wish he had written from a first person perspective the whole time, not just in the epilogue, and included his own thoughts and journey in chronological order as he learned the facts. It would have been extremely interesting.

I don't know how to rate this book. It's interesting, heart-wrenching, and thorough. It's an easy read in the sense that Cullen uses very simple sentences and language. Your average reader will find it very accessible. However, I feel so uncomfortable with the things I mentioned and didn't enjoy the writing voice (half due to the audiobook narrator, half due to Cullen's word choice) or frequent jumping around. I don't recommend this book to anyone who won't read it with a critical eye for bias. For now, I'm leaving it unrated.

The Titan's Curse follows the same tired formula as the first two books, but with a dash of attempted girl power thrown in. While I appreciate the effort, I think Riordan totally screwed up the message I assume he was trying to convey (strong, independent female characters who don't need men). It came across very much like feminism is good but ladies must remember that it's #notallmen. A female character literally says not all men like she's learned the error of her ways. It really rubbed me the wrong way.

I agree with another review I saw that this is quite cozy yet still realistic in terms of the cost of war, politics, and the like on your average citizen. It was really good but dragged a little bit around the 3/4 mark for me. I definitely enjoyed the writing style though and am interested to try more from this author.

This was a childhood favorite of mine that I really wanted to reread, mainly because I couldn't remember anything other than how much I loved it. After finishing it, I totally know why I loved Amber Brown more than any other character in the other books I had read. Not only did I identify with her on a ton of different levels, but this book also explored emotions that I had many times growing up in a military family. The feeling of loss when people move is a difficult thing for a grade-schooler to understand and cope with. I definitely didn't realize that as a kid, but I can very much appreciate the accessibility and openness of this book with dealing with those emotions. It felt very real.

This was simply too abstract for me to enjoy it. On top of that everything was held at an arm's length from the reader so I couldn't even try to feel invested in anything. It's typical sci-fi ponderings of what it means to be human, done in a somewhat interesting way but that's where the interest ended for me.

Stephen King wanted us to hate both these characters, right? Well I did, which is totally fine, but I also felt guilty about it because Annie is obviously seriously mentally ill. I'm not sure I'd even consider her competent to stand trial for her crimes. She's delusional and needs help.

I was annoyed by the comparison of CPR to rape. A few men have tried to explain to me what King meant by the comparison... I know what he meant. I don't need anyone to explain it to me. The comparison was inappropriate.

I didn't find Misery to be frightening in the least. It was just slightly gory and a sad depiction of unmanaged serious mental illness. I had to make myself pick the book up so I could finish it because it was almost boring at times. I did not care in the slightest about the book the main character was writing. The inclusion of so much text of the fictional story within the fictional story was mind-numbing.

King should not use the n-word in his books, ever. It was completely unnecessary and, again, inappropriate. Annie didn't need to say the n-word for the reader to know she's racist, unlikable, untrustworthy, and deranged. Trust me, we already knew.

Finally, I found King's writing to be really repetitive. He'd find a phrase or word he liked and beat it to death for a chapter or two, sometimes bringing it back for a cameo or two later on.

This was my first time reading a Stephen King book as an adult. As a high schooler, I wasn't a fan of Four Past Midnight and didn't get the intense love for The Long Walk among dystopian fans. Based on this recent read, I still don't get the collective obsession readers around the world have for his books. I still plan to read The Stand (my dad's all time favorite book) and The Green Mile since they're on my shelves, so I'm hoping they'll change my mind a little bit.

I did not know that this book would be funny. I expected a dry, overly descriptive, dense classic about not being a stingy jerk. But I laughed out loud and found the writing to be super accessible. I tend to struggle with classic writing, but this was great. It was heartwarming too, but everyone knows that.

Any book that helps me keep my bees alive is a winner. I was struggling for a bit to want to pick this up, mostly because I had read a lot of nonfiction this year, but once the author starting talking animal behavior I was hooked. It's like a huge chunk of it was written specifically for me. Fungi are fascinating though and I think this book taught me a lot and scared the crap out of me as well.