trilobooks

[trilobooks]

'Death in Her Hands' - Ottessa Moshfegh

A murder mystery where the mystery isn't really about a murder. or maybe it is. Maybe an unhappy marriage is a murder. Maybe a betrayal is a murder. Can there be a murder without a dead body? If a girl dies in the woods, but no one is around to see it, is she dead? Was she ever alive? Can you solve a murder if the victim is only real in your head? Is it really in your head if everything else in your head becomes real? Well, at least you have your dog. Read this book!

[trilobooks]

'Homesick for Another World' - Ottessa Moshfegh

A short story collection that left me wanting more. In the good way. I loved these stories so much that I immediately picked up a novel by Moshfegh which I'm reading now. These stories are inhabited by dark, messy, cruel, and real people. The stories are captivating and suspenseful, the only drawback is the length of the stories, I would have liked more time given to each ending. But I'm glad that she has a few novels so hopefully that one point is solved in a longer story.

[trilobooks]

'Drinking Coffee Elsewhere' - ZZ Packer

A collection of short stories about race, gender, sexuality, religion, and morals. I love the way that Packer writes her characters, each with layers of desires and histories. The stories ranged from good to great and I found them moving. Would recommend.

[trilobooks]

'The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man' - James Weldon Johnson

Well written and interesting. The book focuses on the narrative, beat by beat, while character and theme come out naturally.

[trilobooks]

'City of Saints and Madmen' - Jeff Vandermeer

A collection of a few short stories all existing within the world, the city, of Ambergris. A dark but colorful city with a rich history and exciting characters. Vandermeer's writing brings this fantastical city to life. The stories are interesting, funny, suspenseful, and very imaginative. I will be reading the next book in the series.

[trilobooks]

'All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, - Robert Fulghum

Bite-sized essays about life and living. Its an easy read. Nothing incredibly enlightening but I had a nice time.

[trilobooks]

'Novelist as a Vocation' - Haruki Murakami

A collection of essays on different aspects of Murakami's life as a writer. Enjoyable but not too enlightening or deep. I always like reading about how writers operate and this wasn't an exception.

[trilobooks]

'The Bathysphere Book' - Brad Fox

A biography of early nineteenth century ocean explorers Gloria Hollister and William Beebe. The book feels like a complete look at the lives of these people and the events surrounding them but many of the moments talked about feel disconnected and distracted.

[trilobooks]

'The Unwritten Book' - Samantha Hunt

Hunt writes about uncovering her late father's unfinished manuscript, a story about flying without wings, found in scattered pieces across drawers and computer files. This book is about death, dead people, ghosts, making meaning of it all, learning to stop looking for meaning, searching anyway. There's a lot of family history, stories passed down and through loved ones, history of places and things, it's largely about books in the broadest sense. I didn't love this book but I liked it a lot. It's one of those books that makes you look at the world around you a little differently.

[trilobooks]

'Giovanni's Room' - James Baldwin

tragic. beautiful. i want to live in Baldwin's words. reminder that if you try to exist between two worlds, never showing either your true self, you'll lose both.

[trilobooks]

'The Epic of Gilgamesh' -penguin classics N.K Sandars translation

I'm not going to try to review the epic of gilgamesh. it was interesting and I would like like to read other translations of the story.

[trilobooks]

'Lab Girl'- Hope Jahren

A memoir about trees and a life of science and friendship. Jahren describes her interesting and life of plant research spent with her eclectic friend Bill. This book touches a lot of different emotional strings from sadness to humor. Would recommend.

[trilobooks]

'How Far the Light Reaches' - Sabrina Imbler

A memoir and a book about sea life. Imbler describes her life in seamless parallels to ocean creatures. A chapter on queer community is intertwined with tiny clear clones called salps. A chapter about processing an old relationship is linked with the the history of whale hunting and the nature of whale falls. A great read that made me cry. I love marine life and it's always amazing to hear about the lives of other queer people told by queer people. 100% recommend

[trilobooks]

'Stiff' - Mary Roach

An in depth look at what happens to our bodies after we die. Really learned a lot and liked Roach's writing. Not every chapter kept my interest as it bounces between different topics. Overall, would recommend and am interested in reading more of her work.

[trilobooks]

'Loaners' - Ben Hodgson + Laura Moulton

The story of a bike powered library for the homeless told in alternating perspectives by the creator and one of the patrons. A really interesting concept with lots of potential insights into the life of the houseless but it ultimately left me wanting more, not in the good way. I would have loved if the stories and entries went deeper than just anecdotal.

[trilobooks]

My toxic trait is that I want every book I read to change my life and am disappointed if one doesn’t

[trilobooks]

‘The Origins of Creativity’ - Edward O. WIlson

Underwhelming and un-enlightening. I like E.O Wilson and the writing isn’t bad or anything but I wouldn’t recommend this book. I was searching for something that would link science and art in a way that I would find satisfying and this book did not meet my expectations.