Lazarus the Flocked Match
It's a new year and I ... read some books, I guess
Happy 2025!
I know the idea about joy for a new year is rather passe with the general nature of the world but I’m going to try and keep my head high for a little bit, at least. I hope the beginnings of January have treated you all well.
What I Read in December
I’d been reading some heavy stuff and I wanted a light and airy break. Rom com where a girl who trains service dogs falls for a single dad getting one for his daughter? Perfect. I loved the set up for this and thought it would be fun and it was … fine? I don’t know, the writing style just didn’t hit for me. Each plot beat was what it needed to be, I liked where it was going, but I just couldn’t find myself properly caring enough about either of the main characters. Also, for getting point of view chapters from both of them, their character voices were incredibly similar. I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did, alas.
At least two different people/places that I trust recommendations from had loved this book and the premise (an apartment complex in Harlem collapses out of the blue and this follows four people tangentially related to it) sounded very much up my alley. It’s been getting on all these lists, people seem to love it. My rating? Meh. It was fine! It had some good moments. For the most part, I enjoyed being in the heads of the various characters. But when it ended, I felt like I hadn’t actually gone anywhere with anyone. Other than some very obvious relationship changes in the last twenty or so pages, it all just kind of felt like things that were happening rather than a story I was being told. I wish I had enjoyed it more.
This was recommended to me by my tablemate at a con this summer as we talked about our shared love of graphic memoirs. We were talking about the messiness of growing up in a faith community, how people tend to view faith in extremes, either extremely pro or extremely anti and how we wished there was more reflection on the grey area in-between. And she recommended this memoir which really hits the nail on the head with it. Our protagonist struggles with growing up in a faith that demonized homosexuality but uplifted them and how it was hard for them to contextualize their own experience of God with what people around them were preaching. As a graphic memoir, I don’t know if it was the most effective, I might have enjoyed it more as prose to really dig into their feelings more, but I think the message and idea is enough to make this book worthwhile.
![The Christmas Appeal: A Novella [Book]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3dc096a5-075f-4861-bf5b-5bb94c298752_1400x2137.jpeg "The Christmas Appeal: A Novella [Book]")
The Christmas Appeal - Janice Hallett
What better time to read the little Christmas-set novella sequel to my beloved The Appeal than right before Christmas? Of course, I started it and quickly realized that it had been enough years since I read the original that I needed a quick re-read (which was delightful and fun to see what I remembered and what I didn’t) before I could tackle this one. And this one was fun! It follows most of the characters from The Appeal (well, the ones that didn’t die or end up in jail, etc) as they put on another show four or so years after the events of the first novel. Seeing the way that kind of community group morphs after scandal was very fun and just having it be a short novella helped it not get bogged down too much. I wouldn’t say it’s a must read but if you’ve read The Appeal, definitely pick it up.
The Astrology House - Carinn Jade
Sometimes you just need a nonsense thriller. In this one, four couples head out for a weekend retreat based around astrology and, of course, secrets are revealed, people make horrible choices, etc etc. It was fun, though. Some of the characters are super messy. Some of the plot threads don’t get perfectly wrapped up. It was fairly twisty-turny and a fun weekend read, like a delicious bar of chocolate after dinner. Plus, it gave me this delightful pictures of my cats.
![Bellevue [Book]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ecd84cd-7819-4a11-9680-6c0e1debcf12_1700x2560.jpeg "Bellevue [Book]")
I don’t think I’ve ever included a book on a roundup that I didn’t finish reading. To be fair, I rarely DNF a book! I like to stick it out, see if it has any redeeming qualities. But this book, you guys. Robin Cook is known for being a surgeon who began writing medical thrillers in the 70s and has published 40something since then. And my question is: how? Oh my god, the writing is terrible. I spent a week trying to read past chapter six before I finally had to give up. A medical resident starting at a prestigious hospital only to be haunted by a ghost of a young girl. That sounded fun! And it is painful to read. I never even got to the ghost! I just couldn’t handle one more stifled conversation between two paper thin “characters” who didn’t talk like people. Chapter five begins like this:
Mitt looked up at the institutional clock on the wall of OR #12 and could see that he’d been in the operating room for almost two hours.
Chapter six begins like this:
Mitt raised his eyes to look at the wall clock and marveled at the position of the hour hand.
Did I mention that each chapter begins with the date and time?
OH MY GOD, SOMEONE EDIT THIS MAN.
Though, I fear, there is no worthwhile prose to edit. The idea may be great but it just felt like reading a novel written by one of those surgical robots. I’m sorry Robin Cook but WOOF.
Happy January, loves! This month marks a big change for me as I’ll be moving to Washington DC in the next month or so! I’m flying out the last week of January to apartment hunt and hopefully will be fully moved by March (fingers crossed!) I’m really looking forward to the change, to being closer to friends, and to just seeing what the future has in store for me. I’ve been applying for jobs and taking as many freelance projects as possible in the meantime. If anyone has any leads, feel free to send them to me. 😉
Apologies for the lack of horror dispatch last month; it’s not that I didn’t see any movies but more that life got extremely busy so it still sits, half-written, in my drafts. You’ll just be getting a much longer version in January.
That’s all for now! Everyone cross your fingers I figure out how to get myself and two cats cross-country without losing our minds. And again, if you want to support me, you can become a paid subscriber for $5/month or $35/year which lets you pick a book for me to read and devote a whole, bonus newsletter to. You could make me actually read a Robin Cook novel! My pain is your gain! Either way, thank you for reading and I’ll check in again with you soon!