Completed Books and Replacements

Completed Titles

The Woman in the Window – I’m not sure what to make of this book. I was excited to get it because it was one of the big thrillers of the season, but now I feel annoyed with it. For one thing, I knew one of the major twists within a couple of pages. For another, the narrator’s wealth and privilege annoyed me; regular people do not get to retire from the world and drink expensive wine when they experience trauma. (I experienced a similar twinge of irritation when I read Neil Peart’s Ghost Rider. I love Neil and I sympathized with him, but I would have liked an acknowledgement that most people do not have the money to make extensive travel into a coping mechanism.) The end also felt manufactured. I didn’t believe that the character behind the twist was intelligent enough to have pulled off all of the machinations they were accused of. Finally, the narrator lost serious points with me when she neglected her cat. I know, I know – it’s a fictional cat. But animals are our most helpless citizens. We bring them into our lives, and we ought to care for them – even in print. On the other hand, I did enjoy the depiction of agoraphobia and the salute to classic films. 

The Astonishing Thing – I just stood up from finishing this book. It took time to draw me in, but I didn’t see its twists coming and I appreciate that it managed an animal narrator without getting treacly. The ending was especially powerful – a look at human failure, but grace, too. It was a good book to finish this week; I’ve been feeling whirled up by emotions and achy from pneumonia. As I added it to my GoodReads account, I came across this quote by Kafka: “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” This book was a good axe. It hit once – hard – and woke me up to a host of emotions. But, best of all, it’s a book about a cat – and I got to read it with Razzle purring on my shoulder and other cats nearby! 

Thief of Time – The concluding book of the Death arc of Discworld was, regrettably, only a middling sort of read. The final quarter of the book was the most interesting part, with Susan receiving some character development, an Auditor becoming an entity, and literal death by chocolate. Death, himself, didn’t play all that much of a role, and the humor felt flatter than some other Pratchett works. 

Entering the Rotation: New Titles

As I complete titles, new titles enter the list (which sounds a bit like jousting, really…). These are the newbies:

Night Film

The Oyster Thief

Anatomy of a Scandal

Scent of a Game

Guards! Guards!