Review: DEAD MOUNTAIN: THE UNTOLD TRUE STORY OF THE DYATLOV PASS INCIDENT by Donnie Eichar

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

When I initially heard about the Dyatlov Pass Incident, I couldn’t get my hands on this book fast enough. The story is this: nine experienced hikers are all found dead, buried in the snow near their tent in the northern Ural Mountains during a winter hiking trip, some having experienced blunt force trauma, some with traces of radiation on their clothing, one who’s missing a tongue, and all without shoes on in the subzero temperatures. But the strangest thing is their tent was cut at multiple times with a knife, producing a huge hole in the backside. What would lead these nine hikers to destroy and flee their only form of shelter, improperly clothed, in freezing weather?

The book starts off by talking about the nature of the hike and the background of each of the hikers. The author also talks about his personal obsession with this unsolved mystery and why he flew to Russia to uncover more details. I really enjoyed the nature of which Eichar told the story by jumping to different time periods. We read about the group of hikers preparing for and taking the trip in January 1959, the investigative efforts from February to May 1959, and the author’s own trip to Russia and subsequent research in 2012 and 2013. Telling the story this way really added to the mystery and suspense, and it kept me reading late into the night to uncover the next important detail.

There are some details Eichar discusses for longer than I thought necessary because I didn’t see how they pertained to the investigation. Such details were about the political climate in Russia and what Russian life was like back in the 1950s. It probably helped to set the scene for when the incident took place, but I was so focused on finding out the answer to the mystery that I felt like these tangents slowed down the reading. However, in the second half of the book, I felt like every detail mattered, and the pace really picked up for me.

Eichar told this story using photographs and diary entries from each day of the hikers’ journey up to the night the tragedy occurred, and this was a huge asset to the book. Readers were put in their shoes, and these records were crucial in determining when and where the hikers died. He also includes interviews with various people involved with the case, as well as the thoughts of some family members of the deceased hikers, starting with leader Igor Dyatlov’s younger sister informing the university that their hike was three days late and then being upset that the school didn’t seem to care.

The best part of this book, in my opinion, was toward the end when Eichar discusses in depth each theory that has been proposed over the decades of what happened that fateful night. He tackles all the popular theories as well as some of his own to conclude what he believes to be the most accurate explanation of the hikers’ deaths. Then he recreates the story of that night according to that “truth.” It really was fascinating to read about why he accepted or dismissed each theory according to his years of research, including interviews with top scientists, to support his decision.

I would highly recommend this book if you’re interested in a nonfiction mystery. I hadn’t even heard of the incident until the day before I started the book, but now I can say that this book and the story it tells will stick with me for the rest of my life.

Review: THE ORPHANED ANYTHING'S by Stephen Christian

Rating: 4/5 stars

This writing in this book deserves all the stars it can get, but I gave the book only four stars for a reason I'll explain at the end of my review.

I originally picked up this book because Stephen Christian, the author, is also the lead singer in my favorite band Anberlin. The lyrics he writes for Anberlin's songs are so exquisite and beautiful, and that same writing style comes across in this book as well.

The Orphaned Anything's (I'm aware that apostrophe is wrong) is essentially a journal that chronicles a small part of Ayden Kosacov's life as he struggles to find meaning or purpose in his day-to-day activities. It is funny, witty, heartbreaking, artistic, philosophical, and beautiful. I think all of us can relate to Ayden in one way or another because of how raw and honest his thoughts and descriptions are throughout this story.

Although this is a rather short novel, it is full of so much emotion. It also is abundant with quotable lines that I just want to hang on my walls. I really can't explain the kind of impact this book had on me, but I can guarantee this is a book I will be purchasing and reading again and again.

The reason I docked a star is for the very apparent lack of editing. This book is written entirely in lowercase letters, which is unique and adds to its idea of it being a journal, and this wouldn't bother me at all if it were the only nonconventional decision. However, on top of no capital letters there were rampant misspellings all throughout the book, wrong words being used in place of the obviously intended words, apostrophes where there should be none (note the title) and no apostrophes where there should be some, other egregious punctuation mistakes, and many other writing and editing errors that are too minute to list. As an editor, I was not only bothered but also downright distracted by the visual presentation of the book. Even one quick round through an editor would have fixed over 95% of the errors and made for a more seamless reading experience. So I am subtracting a star for how distracting it is to read this book, but this subtracted star in no way impacts the masterful writing displayed on every page of the story.

Overall, this book can be described in one word that doesn't quite do it justice: beautiful.

Review: MINIMALISM: LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE by The Minimalists

Rating: 3/5 stars

I think this book is important, but my guess is that there are probably others out there that are much better.

I liked learning about the life story of Joshua and Ryan and how they got to where they are today as minimalists. Their situations played deeply into how this book came to be.

I think the five aspects of their book (health, relationships, passions, growth, and contributions) are important things to consider when leading a minimalistic lifestyle. I especially like that this book focuses on those specific areas of your life when it comes to minimalism besides just saying "get rid of excess material possessions." Each of those areas talks about an abstract aspect of life that shouldn't be neglected when looking for lifelong fulfillment.

The biggest issue I had with this book was the constant repetition. Every chapter was repeating the same things (while, yes, also touching on new ideas), especially about the two authors' background and situation. I was seriously rolling my eyes with how many times I had to read how they left their "big corporate jobs in pursuit of a happier lifestyle."

Despite how short this book is, it could have been even shorter had all the repetitions been removed prepublication. Likewise, it also could have been longer had they added more details on exactly how to accomplish these minimalistic goals. The book was full of questions to ask yourself to gauge what you need to do to achieve these goals, but I do think a lot was left out. I was left with many questions and wanting more details.

The book is written in a casual tone that is open and friendly to the readers, but it reads like an essay, which wasn't very enjoyable for me.

I personally think I already lead a rather minimalistic life, but I am struggling with what more I can do. This book addressed ending goals for me but didn't address how I could reach those goals. It explained how the authors reached those goals, but their methods didn't always work for me. They even said that people can claim minimalism is "easier said than done," and explained how that isn't true, but in some cases, it is if the pathway to the goal isn't detailed clearly.

Overall I think this book is a good introduction to minimalism, but I am still searching for something more comprehensive and more relatable. And possibly something edited a little better.

Review: PHANTOMS ON THE BOOKSHELVES by Jacques Bonnet

Rating: 2/5 stars

I originally picked this up because it is a book about books, written by a man who owns 40,000 books in his private collection, and that really intrigued me.

After reading, I think this book would be good for a specific audience, and I'm sure that doesn't include me. For example, if you own thousands or tens of thousands of books, you will probably like this book and really connect with the author. If you are familiar with authors and literature from all times and from all countries, especially France, you will probably like this book (and understand all the references). If you are highly obsessive about the collection and organization of your books, you will probably like this book.

Honestly, this book was just way too much for me. I love books, but his obsession with them and how he explains anything related to books was just making my eyes roll.

Even though this book was only 123 pages, I found it very hard to get through. This book is basically made of tangents. There were pages and pages of Bonnet describing specific books in his book collection and how they're organized and where he collected them from and how that led him to discover other books. He included passages and quotations from dozens of books and talked about characters as if they're real and authors as if they're imaginary. I'm normally very interested in reading about any topics regarding books, but Bonnet's biography of his library is just too pedantic for my taste.

One nice thing about this book, though, is that there are a handful of very quotable and relatable phrases. Also, there are many recommendations for other books about books, which I found pleasing, although I most likely won't read any of them.

Overall, I would skip this book unless you fit into one of the categories I listed above and also really feel inclined to read it. It was a somewhat interesting read but very slow and one I could have done without.

Review: UNDERDOGS by Markus Zusak

Rating: 2/5 stars

I never would have picked up this book if it wasn't written by the same author who wrote my very favourite book. The synopsis of Underdogs didn't really interest me, but I love Zusak's writing style in The Book Thief, so I thought I'd give this book a chance too.

If I didn't know better, I'd say the books were written by two different people. The elegant prose and beautiful descriptions in The Book Thief are not present in this book. Underdogs feels, to me, like any other unmemorable story about two brothers who get themselves into trouble. I really couldn't feel Zusak's special touch in it.

I'm including my ratings of the individual books:
Underdog: 2/5 stars
Fighting Ruben Wolfe: 1/5 stars
Getting the Girl: 3/5 stars

This trilogy took me so long to read, mostly because I was bored with the story and rather uninterested in how the plot progressed. The third book was by far the most interesting, and I can see now why it has the most ratings on Goodreads of the three books. It also has a writing style that is most similar to that present in The Book Thief, although the similarities are still only slight.

This is a trilogy that I will never reread, but I am glad that I read it this once. If you are a Zusak fan, I can safely say that you are not missing out by skipping these books.

Review: CITY OF LOST SOULS by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 4/5 stars

*This review contains spoilers for the first four books in The Mortal Instruments series, but not for this book, City of Lost Souls.*

I read a lot of reviews where people said this book was really slow, but I didn’t see that. I enjoyed the whole thing; although, I was listening to the audiobook so that might have contributed to my enjoyment. Also, I was slugging through Clockwork Prince right before I started this book but decided to put it down out of boredom and because I just really wanted to get back into this story instead. Because of that, I don’t know how that book connects to this book, but I really wish I did because I bet there are tons of crossover details.

First, let’s talk about the characters. I’m irritated with Jace again. Why is it always Jace who’s in trouble? What happened with him in City of Fallen Angels and this book reminded me of City of Ashes where he almost trusted Valentine and got in trouble with the Clave. Like why can’t someone else be in the hot seat for a change? Jace hasn’t been himself for the last two books for certain reasons, but it just feels like Clare is picking on his character because it seems he’s always the one to get the short end of the stick. I get that it’s because of what happened at the end of City of Glass, but I still feel like she turned a main character on us for a few hundred pages there.

Anyway, I’m still loving Simon. He was the first character I like backed in City of Bones, and he remains my favorite character of this series. I just love watching him grow as a vampire. He faces real struggles when it comes to his family, and it’s nice to see characters work through their problems and emerge stronger, which he does. I’m glad he was able to work out some of the tension in his family. He has been instrumental to the lives of the Shadowhunters in this whole series, and I think he’s a living testament that Downworlders and Shadowhunters are supposed to work together to fight demons and villains, that there never should have been animosity between the two races.

Clary really showed her loyalty to Jace in this book. Up until now I considered their relationship to be like any other teenage relationship that you think is going to last forever until it ends abruptly over something stupid. But now I realize how invested Clary is, and I have to give her credit for what she endured for Jace during this book. I bet she learned a lot about herself, too, in how far she was willing to go for him. Also, I’m glad Clary finally used her charm to summon the Seelie Queen because when we found out about that back in City of Fallen Angels, I’d been wondering when it was going to show up again. I hate when authors introduce an important artifact or a piece of crucial information and then it never gets mentioned again. I also loved the rings that Clary acquired and their properties. All of the magical items in this series—and there are quite a few—are my favorite things to read about.

Jordan and Maia grew on me during this book too. I kept blowing them off as disposable side characters but after this book, I started to like them, Jordan especially.

I really enjoyed Alec and Magnus’s relationship for most of this book. (I’m hoping what happened at the end will be solved in the final book.) The bounds were tested, and I think they both learned what their relationship was worth to each of them. I was also kind of excited to see Alec keeping secrets from the rest of the crew because that’s so unlike him and it really stretched his character.

And lastly, Sebastian. What’s to like? I’m a bit upset that he’s back in this series because he was supposed to be dead. . . . But here he is anyhow, and I don’t like him. He actually seemed pretty charming and normal for most of the book, which was an interesting change of character for him, but I still never trusted him for a second. What I did like, though, was his house that could teleport anywhere. I want a house like that.

After five books, I’ve spent a lot of time with these characters and have really grown to love them all. I remember hating Isabelle and Jace in the first book, but now Isabelle is one of my favorite characters, and Jace is good when he can finally think for himself. This book had a great deal of character development in it for all the characters, and that might be why some people think it’s slow, because of the lack of action for a few hundred pages. However, while there is no action in the beginning, the events that do take place are just as important.

I thought there were quite a few tropes in this book. Normally I don’t really notice or care about tropes but for some reason in this book I really noticed them, and it had me rolling my eyes at times. Something I hate in books that feels like a cop-out is dead people coming back to life. Simon coming back to life in the earlier books I liked because it wasn’t the typical resurrection spell and he was changed, but Sebastian, who was originally dead when the trilogy “ended” the first time, coming back in the second arc of this series seemed like a ploy just to create more content and sell more books. He is also so similar to Valentine that the end of this book felt too much like it was slipping into the plotline of the first three books. I know that Valentine and Sebastian have different ideas of a “utopia” that they’re trying to build, but it’s all the same concept.

Another trope that bothered me was the one where “the main character gets never-before-seen unnatural powers” that happened. This happened with Clary and her rune-creating abilities that happened in the first arc, and here it is happening again. I just don’t like when one person is more special than the entire rest of their race. Or “the super important artifact that is the key to everything goes missing so the whole plan is foiled” trope that happens to Clary.

I remember commending Cassandra Clare in my review of City of Bones for addressing all the questions in the plot that the reader would have, such as Why can’t the characters just use this spell instead? or Why can’t they solve the problem this simpler way? But after reading this book, I’ve noticed that technique doesn’t apply so much anymore. There were plenty of times I asked myself while reading City of Lost Souls, Why are they doing this? Why is it happening this way? Why didn’t this obvious idea work? It was a bit disappointing.

Once again, I love how the doctrine from the Bible is used to tell the history of Shadowhunters. Clare takes really interesting concepts from the Bible and uses them to make her world seem more realistic, and it’s great. It is curious, though, that it is mentioned multiple times in this series that Shadowhunters have no religion because they essentially worship the angel Raziel for creating them, but they base a lot of things on Christian scripture. I would be interested to learn more about this. Reading about religion in fantasy novels is one of my favorite aspects of any fantastical world.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed City of Lost Souls and all the character development and details it contributed to the world of the Shadowhunters. I was a little irritated with how the big battle happened at the end, but this book still had some surprises for me. I can’t wait to read the sixth and final book! I can’t say why it took me so long to finally read The Mortal Instruments, but I am glad I got to it this summer.

Review: THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: 5/5 stars

I have so much to say about this book, yet I also have no idea what to say. I think this is a masterpiece of literature, and I am immensely glad that I decided to read it.

My thoughts are all jumbled, but I really admired the portrait that Reid painted of what it was like to be a biracial, queer, sex symbol actress in the ’60s, of what it was like to be Evelyn Hugo. I felt like I really knew her throughout this story. We got to hear Evelyn tell her own story from her youth through her old age, adding in all the dirty bits and secrets about her life that she’s been keeping hidden from the world for decades. It felt realistic and so honest, and I could not stop listening to the audiobook because I just really wanted to know more about Evelyn Hugo’s life.

This story sounded a bit shallow to be at first, but it isn’t by any means. Evelyn Hugo really communicated a lot of emotions and concepts with the reader: what it’s like to be biracial in the ’60s, what it’s like to be queer in the ’60s, what it’s like to be a famous biracial and queer actress in the ’60s, how the media actually has no idea what the truth is and will tell you whatever story they want to sell you, how to fight for what you believe in, and why none of the fame and money really matters because family is the most important thing. Evelyn Hugo manipulates a lot of people to get what she wants. She plays her fans and her husbands and the reporters to construct the story she wants them to know in order to get more famous, to get a new role in a film, to make more money, or to save face. Evelyn Hugo knows that people only like the idea of her but don’t like the reality of who she is once they get to know her. And she uses this to her advantage. I feel like I would be mortified if I lived her life, yet she unashamedly stomps through life letting everyone know exactly who she is and that she’s not sorry for any of her actions. And somehow that made me really admire her. She’s someone who knows what she wants and is not afraid to go out there and get it. I wish I were more confident like that.

Even though I don’t know hardly anything about Marilyn Monroe, I kept thinking of her while reading this book. She and Evelyn Hugo were both highly famous, sex icon actresses in the mid-twentieth century (albeit one was real and one is fictional). I know people also compare Evelyn Hugo to Elizabeth Taylor because of the many husbands. I would be curious to know if Reid based her character off of either of these real actresses in any way.

I didn’t think I would love this book as much as I did. The more I sit and think about it after finishing it, the more I like it. I think this is one I will revisit in the future because I just loved the story and all the characters. My favorite character was Celia because she was just so sweet, and I also loved Harry, but there honestly weren’t any characters I disliked. Everyone had both redeeming qualities and vices, making them all seem very human; no one is completely good or completely bad but a mixture of the two. Each character developed and changed over the years, so someone I didn’t like at the start was different by the end and I couldn’t justify not liking them anymore. And many characters that I thought were just side characters there for no reason turned out to be some of the most dynamic and influential characters in the end (read: Celia).

As far as Monique, the interviewer, I loved how as Evelyn was telling her story, it directly impacted the decisions that Monique made day by day. Monique even makes the comment that had it not been for Evelyn, she wouldn’t have done this or said that, and I just loved seeing her grab life by the reigns and take control. And as far as the ending, I did not guess the connection between Evelyn and Monique. I had two theories, but neither seemed probable and I was hoping I was wrong anyway. Gladly, I was, and I was actually shocked to learn what the true connection was. I think it was very clever of Reid to not take a typical route but to write it how she did instead.

Reid’s writing ability really shone through in this story, in terms of both character development and plot, and I’d be interested to read more of her books in the future.

I would definitely recommend this book, but know that it is scandalous and probably would not be as enjoyable for more conservative audiences. I listened to the audiobook and I would highly recommend that as well. The voice actors were excellent, and it really aided the fact that Evelyn was telling her story in the book. I felt like I was directly listening to her instead of reading a transcript of the interview.

Overall, this is top-quality work.

Review: CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 4/5 stars

This book was the most interesting of the series so far. City of Bones was okay, I didn’t like City of Ashes, I liked City of Glass, and I really liked City of Fallen Angels. I think one of the reasons I liked this so much (when so many other people didn’t) is because I knew about it before I started book one. I didn’t read the series back in high school when they were initially being published, so I didn’t expect City of Glass to be the end of this world until this fourth book was published; I went in expecting more story than the original trilogy, and I ended up really liking this book.

I think I liked this book so much because the stakes were much higher and the plot was more intriguing here than in the original trilogy. I liked the idea of the villain here a lot more than I did Valentine for the first three books. It feels like the first three books were a preamble, or a backstory, and now we’re finally getting to the real story now that all that Valentine business is taken care of.

I loved that Simon was a huge part of this book. He is one of my favorite characters, so it was nice to see him have a bigger impact on the order of things and be one of the main perspectives. I love seeing him evolve as a character and become more comfortable with being a vampire.

At first I thought the “people” that attacked Simon were the “people” in Clockwork Angel. I thought there would be some connection, but I was wrong. I hope the books overlap more in the rest of the series because I am going through the effort of reading the Infernal Devices, even though I don’t really want to, just so I can enjoy the Mortal Instruments better. [Update a week after writing this review: I have decided not to continue on with the Infernal Devices because I was quite uninterested in the story and the characters that were historical photocopies of the characters from the Mortal Instruments. I am still interested in how the books overlap and connect, so I looked up a spoilery review for the last two books in the Infernal Devices.]

Jace really irritated me in this book, and I hate that he was punishing himself so much for what was going on with him and Clary. He really was just hurting Clary, and it was irritating how he couldn’t be reasoned with. I knew something was wrong with him, and I just wanted to figure out what that was. I had some guesses, but of course they were all wrong.

Overall, I thought this book was a nice addition to the original trilogy. City of Fallen Angels had more details about the Shadowhunter universe, which was helpful. We got to learn about more history and rituals for Shadowhunters, and I really appreciate having more details to build a fuller imaginative world. I am liking this series the longer I read it, and I’m glad I finally started it this year.