the book that i should have dnf'ed and other reads | wrap-up

[00:00:00]Hello, welcome. Ignore the stray hairs.

[00:00:02]We're not getting into that today. I am here to do a mini wrap-up. And I say mini wrap-up because I haven't really been reading. So, I have four books that I've read that I want to talk to you about quickly. I don't think I'm going to get too in-depth in these probably because I'm going to rant a little bit about one of them that's going to take up most of the time, but I wanted to share them with you nonetheless just so you know what I've been reading, what I've been enjoying, what I haven't been enjoying. So, the first one I want to talk to you about is The Setting Sun by Da. This is my second Darai. I read No Longer Human last year or very early on this year. I can't remember. I think it might have been last year. I am a massive fan of Japanese literature. And although I've only read two of his novels, I absolutely love Dari. I think he has something so simple in his writing but so perfect in the way that he delves into human [snorts] psychology. I think Japanese and Russian literature have that in common their ability to show you the human condition to put it on display. This book I can't say that I liked it more than No Longer Human, but I can't say that I liked No Longer Human more than this one. So this story really is about the decline I think of Japanese values uh traditional Japanese values after World War II of the aristocracy and everything. So we follow a family, three main family members. We have the mom, the daughter Kazuko and her brother and it's them losing their status, their power, their possessions, their money after World War II while Japan is kind of like in this transition period. So I think that's the main story and you can you can hear it in some of the narration the more western influences that are coming into things. We have our main character Kazuko who is suffering kind of loss after loss. So they've had to move because you know they've lost everything. But her mother is also really ill and she's declining. And Kazuko is kind of trying to come to terms with everything that she had, everything that she's lost. I think you can view this from a feminist lens as well because she doesn't really exhibit some of the more traditional, I suppose, behaviors, expectations of women, especially in this time period in Japan.

[00:02:30]She works in the field. She kind of takes control over her own sexuality.

[00:02:35]She doesn't mind being a single mother at the end. But I think out of everything I really related to her character. I related to her character a lot more than I did in Novel Human obviously. Um but I think it's also that element of grief. So she's grieving for everything. Like I said, she's suffering loss after loss and you suffer it with her and there are these moments of hopefulness which I do think is true. I think that's a true representation of depression. and you hope for her, but then you realize that more is coming, that she's going to lose, and it's kind of like a cycle. And I just really loved it. I thought it was so simple, so beautifully written, so engaging, so sad, so hopeful, and I just really loved this one. Like I said, is it my favorite Dai? I don't know. They're kind of together for different reasons, I think.

[00:03:29]But I did really, really like this. So, I can take that off my list for Japanese literature that I need to read because I've read it. Go me. I need to read more. Okay, second, The Black Tulip. I really enjoyed this one. I won't say it's become a new favorite, but I did really enjoy this one. So, the main plot of it is a man who has been convicted as kind of like I suppose aiding some traitors. Uh, he's innocent, but he's been convicted for it. And he is a florist, I suppose. That's the only word that's coming into my brain right now.

[00:04:00]with a specialty in tulips. And what he's been doing is he's been trying to grow specifically jet black tulips to win like this grand prize at this tulip festival. But he gets arrested. He has his three bulbs, his three bowls of tulips. He took them into the prison. He hid them on his person uh which is against the law, but he's innocent and he's in prison, so I forgive him. and the relationship that he builds with the woman there, the daughter of his jailer, Rosa. Um, and them growing this tulip together, trying to get one of these bulbs to blossom. And then we also have the thread of a very, very jealous, very, very hateful man, Cornelius.

[00:04:38]That's the main character. I didn't even say his name. Cornelius's neighbor, who is also a lover of tulips who also wants to grow this black tulip. and his goal is to obviously steal this and pretend that it's his own. And he goes through everything to try and do that. There's a lot of emotion in here. I think we go from hatred, we go from jealousy, we go from obsession, we have love, we have greed, we have loyalty, and I really enjoyed going through all of those emotions. I will say they're very quickly done. This isn't a very long book. It's 200 and something pages. So, you do kind of get them very quick in succession, but I still really enjoyed reading them. I think the romance was a little bit rushed, but I am a fan of Snowburn, so I mean, he needed to get it in. It's only 200 and something pages.

[00:05:28]At the beginning, we follow a couple of characters who aren't, you know, our main characters. Um, which kind of threw me off a little bit when the story started to to continue. It's very harrowing. There is a very very harrowing dark scene and that is Cornelius's godfather and his brother, the godfather's brother, not Cornelius's brother, although they're the they're called the same thing. That's why I'm saying it like I am. Cornelius's godfather and the godfather's brother.

[00:05:57]Cornelius's godfather is now being exiled. He was in prison for being a traitor. He is now being exiled, but nobody wants him to be exiled. Everybody wants him to be executed. So we kind of have this mob that go after them. Rosa help tries to help them as well. That's like a nice little thing that we see her try to help his godfather and then she helps him. And the scene is when the mob reach them and completely tear them apart. It is brutal. I really was honestly I was not expecting that brutality. I understand it because it's a mob and I loved it because I am so interested in kind of human psychology as a group like how the individual becomes part of a group and then what that group pushes them to do whether or not they still retain any individuality whether or not they still retain any guilt I suppose kind of guilt on it any autonomy on their choices once they're a part of this mob um so I loved that it was more brutal than I thought than I expected going into this because obviously the back talks about like love, jealousy, obsession. So, I was not expecting that. We also at the beginning for about 15 pages, it did feel a little bit longer than that, I will say. But we did get something that I think is quite similar to what is in Moby Dick, which is this author just for 15 pages, although it felt longer, just explaining tulips, explaining growing flowers, just explaining tulips. And I loved it because I'm such a fan of people just writing about their passions, talking about their passions, explaining their passions. And you can you can hear it in the narrative that this person must have loved tulips to some degree. And I loved reading that. But again, like I'm saying, I'm saying these specific scenes because that might put some people off.

[00:07:50]But I did really enjoy it. I loved Rose's character. She was my favorite character in the entire thing. She was such a lovely, loyal person. There was some conflict there about her competing for Cornelius's love, competing with these tulips. We had her bravery. She was so brave. Her father was horrible, evil man uh who abused the prisoners he was tasked to look after. She braved him. Every night she went to meet Cornelius. She put his dream above herself. She helped him grow this tulip even when she thought he loved them more than her. And she is the one who saved the tulip when it was stolen. I love her character so so much. She is such a beautiful character. I think just pure and loyal and brave, so brave and so smart and I really enjoyed her character. I liked Cornelius as well, not as much obviously, but I liked him as well. I liked his bravery um trying to bring this dream to life even though he was locked in a cell. What is the ability of someone who is isolated, who has no freedom of movement, have has no freedom of anything really? Um, so I liked seeing how that all came together, but again, without Rosa, nothing would have happened. So yeah, so I really enjoyed this one. The cover is absolutely beautiful. You still give it a read. There is a happy ending, and I'm so happy I read it. I'm so happy I read this one. So the next one is Virginia Wolf. It's the Penguin Archive. It's the new dress. It's a collection of short stories. Uh, this is the first Virginia Wolf that I've read. Um, I thought start with her short stories. You know, my sister has Orlando, so I think I might pick that up because I do really enjoy her writing style. I believe it's closer to stream of consciousness, but there are some really beautiful passages and I've tabbed a few of the stories with the bits of pros that I like. In one called the lady in the looking glass, a reflection, it says, "Meanwhile, since all the doors and windows were open in heat, there was a perpetual sighing and ceasing sound. The voice of the transient and the perishing it seemed coming and going like a human breath while in the looking glass things had ceased to breathe and they still in a trance of immortality. She writes beautifully. That was one of my favorite stories I think about the magic of a looking glass. The way that reality alters changes but does not change at all with a slightly different perspective. I really loved that one. The other two that I loved that were my favorites were the mark on the wall and Lapin and Lapanova. So Lapin and Lapanova is about a woman married to a man and they build this I don't know like kind of escapist world together like this little kind of inside world about rabbits. So she says that he reminds her of a rabbit by the way that his nose twitches when he eats.

[00:10:50]And she calls him Lapin king of the rabbits. She then becomes Lapanova, queen of the rabbits. and it's about them having this and them losing this.

[00:11:00]And the second one has a similar I think these were my favorite ones because they have similar themes. The Mark on the Wall, which is about someone who is not obsessed but intrigued by a mark on the wall and they are um using that to question certain things in their life in reality in like the grander scheme of things. They're philosophizing over this mark on the wall. So it says, "And what is knowledge? What are our learned men?

[00:11:32]Save the descendants of witches and hermits who crouched in caves and in woods brewing herbs, interrogating shrew mice and writing down the language of the stars. And the less we honor them as our superstitions dwindle and our respect for beauty and health of mind increases. Yes, one could imagine a very pleasant world, a world which one could slice with one's force, as a fish slices the water with his fin. And that is broken. That kind of spell is broken at the end when someone who I assume is her husband or his wife. No, it must be a female. This this is definitely a woman.

[00:12:08]I think maybe must be I'm interpreting it as that is a woman narrator when her husband I'm saying I don't know for sure I might have missed something comes in and tells her what the mark is the snail mark right and I love those two because I think it speaks to kind of like especially around this time period the kind of control that men had over women and over their dreams over their imagination over their creativity I don't think women were expected to be creative men were so the fact that both of these worlds both both These kind of quiet moments of thinking, of reflecting, of being creative, indulging in their creativity were shattered by men. I really liked that theme and both of them have it. The first one definitely, the rabbit one, definitely.

[00:12:56]The marks on the wall, I'm going to say it does. I'm going to say I'm correct on that. That it is a woman narrator and it is in fact her husband or someone at the end that shutters it. might need to read that one again because I don't know if I've Let me know if you've read that one. If you've read that little short story, let me know because I might have lied. But yeah, because the themes are so closely aligned, I think that's why I picked those two. And then obviously the um the looking glass one just I thought the reflections were so interesting and just the pros of that one specifically was so beautiful. So beautiful. I understand now uh Virginia Wolf like her writing style it is like a breath. It is holding a breath. It is releasing a breath. And I loved that. So, I really want to read what she does with an extended narrative. So, I think I may have to pick up one of her novels soon.

[00:13:47]And that is my first dip into Virginia Wolf. It's taken me a while. Honestly, I'm really surprised I haven't read her before, but I'm really excited now because I have so much of her left to read. And now for what you've all been waiting for. The book that put me in a reading slump now. Okay. I don't know what's happening. My phone listens to me. Ranting to my sister about this, but if I'm scrolling through Reddit, which I don't do that often, but if I'm scrolling through Reddit or any book related thing, everybody loves this book. For some reason, it keeps popping up. I haven't searched it, but everybody loves this book. And I cannot understand why. I can't understand why. And that is The Black Tongue Thief by Christopher Bulman.

[00:14:31]If you loved it, I'm really honestly happy for you. I'm a little bit jealous that I couldn't see past the things in this that made me not like it enough to love it with you. Where do I start?

[00:14:43]Where do I start? Okay. One, I thought it was relatively boring for a fantasy book. For a second world fantasy book, it was boring. I don't have a reason other than that. Like I can't explain to you why it was boring. Just know that just know that I personally thought it was extremely boring. Two, the relationship I didn't believe it. Honestly, it wasn't built up properly. I don't think I think it would have been so much in more interesting if we had gotten a lot more a lot more of the main character's interiority about his own life, his own love, his own family, his love for his family, his loneliness. There is some before anybody who loves this book comes at me in the comments and says, "Did you even read it?" I did read it. There isn't enough for me to believe that he attached himself to this woman as quickly and as deeply as he did. That's all I'm saying on because I didn't believe it. So absolutely nothing that happened within that relationship, any of the crises, any of the conflict within that relationship, I cared about nothing because I didn't care about the relationship because I don't think it was built properly. Third, and I think this is the main reason why I didn't like it. The world building is great. I can tell he's put a lot of time and a lot of effort into making this world into making it his own. The issue that I have is most of the world building added is not relevant to the plot. And the bits of world building that we would need the most relevant to the plot, I don't feel like are in there. That's what I mean. I think that's that's my biggest gripe with this. One example of this is an entire chapter near the end. I'm I'm actually proud of myself that I finished this book cuz I got about 60 pages into it and I was like, I really honestly think I'm going to have to DNF this. And I don't DNF books. I've DNFED one book in my entire life. And that was that Lucy Foley one. What was it called? The wedding one on the island. That one. And apart from that, I just read through them. This one I very nearly did. I very very nearly DNFed. I just thought I don't have the time for this. But before I go on even greater tangent, the scene near the end where they were just playing a card game, I skipped it. I was like, "No." I started reading it and I was like, "Okay, they're playing a card game." Then I was explaining the rules because he did this earlier on in the book uh quite close to the beginning. I think explaining the rules of a card game. Actually, I think he was explaining the cards in the card game.

[00:17:11]He did explain the cards and the rules of a card game in this chapter. Well, from what I read of it, and I just I just knocked out on that. I was like, "No, that's not relevant. You have created a card game that you're very proud of, so you wanted it in your book, but it means nothing for the book. It means nothing for the plot. It doesn't mean anything for the characters." I don't believe it does. If you had taken out the card game and just replaced it with something else, it would have worked better, I think. Now, I love the idea of an author creating their own card game, right? But if you're going to do that, make it relevant to the world.

[00:17:44]Make it relevant to the world or at least the character cuz he's a thief.

[00:17:47]like make him a gambler instead. Maybe, you know, make him really heavily in debt, not because of the lessons that he took from the guild, but because he was gambling with the guild and he lost all of his money to the guild. There's one thing, the magic system wasn't really explained. I really liked it. It's tattoos. Okay, I'm pretty sure. I think cuz again, it wasn't explained. And I think some people have magic without having tattoos like the the witches, but the guilds people had tattoos for magic.

[00:18:20]I don't know. It wasn't explained. I love the idea of magic tattoos or magic that waits within a tattoo that is dormant within a tattoo until you call upon it. If you wanted your card game, how about making the magic based on cards? That could be something that could work with the gambler thing, you know, because it's guts. How about making your card game the magic? Maybe they can draw people or elements of the different cards because you made up your own cards out into the real world. Maybe they can siphon some of their power.

[00:18:53]Maybe they have to play a game to top up some kind of I don't know. I'm not the writer of this book. Just that's my biggest gripe, I think. Especially the card game because I was like this I skipped it. I never skip chapters. I never skip anything in the book. I read the prologus. I read the epilogs. I read the notes. I read the epigraphs. I read the introductions. I read the godamn glosseries. I skipped it. I couldn't I was already not having a fun time. That I think that just threw me over the edge. The most interesting part in all of it, the most interesting scene was him getting the t the cat tattoo. I really enjoyed that. I actually really enjoyed that scene. That was a really fun scene for me. I liked what he did with goblins. I liked that they became something that I view more like a fantasy evil creature. I think in this like they weren't just funny goblins.

[00:19:43]They were like actually an antagonist. I really liked what he did with goblins. I liked the fact that in the world there are no horses because of the war with the goblins. So it see I loved that.

[00:19:56]That world building aspect was so good, so well done, so interesting because that means that these characters have no choice but to find other means of transportation, which normally means walking or sometimes a donkey. But that perfect that was such an interesting point in his world. I absolutely loved that. So, there are things in this book, there are elements in this book that I did really enjoy, but I think overall it wasn't good. Like, it wasn't There was also one bit like right at the end when they're having like the grand fight or whatever um where the giant's like there and stuff and this lady uses a clock tattoo to turn back time and um obviously once she uses it disappears right now. The character has a sense of deja vu after this happens, but he doesn't remember the intricacies of what happened. And I'm pretty sure he only first saw that clock tattoo when she revealed it to use it. But then he comments, "Where is her clock tattoo or something similar? How would he how would he have known that there was a clock tattoo?" Because he doesn't remember the intricacies. He has no idea that she'd turn back time. That's one of the questions I had. That was one of the questions I had. The other question is I absolutely am so confused by his luck.

[00:21:16]You can't say that character has a power of luck and have him be not lucky. Like his luck was only there when it was plot relevant. Like that's literally the only time. Any other time that he needed luck didn't have any luck. And I understand that it's something that like needs to refill, you know, need to re-energize his luck or whatever. It doesn't make sense because you need to be able to give him some luck in some situations like That as a power confuses me. Okay.

[00:21:43]I didn't understand his power of luck.

[00:21:45]It was only there when it needed to be there. Actually, reverse that. It wasn't there only when it didn't need to be there. Because another gripe, oh my god, I'm just remembering things because I've kind of blanked everything of this book.

[00:21:58]Like I've just kind of thrown it away in my head. There are more important things that I need to put in there, you know, like these three like these three books.

[00:22:06]But one of the another issue that I have with it is and this is why I wanted to DNF it at the beginning of all the card stuff. Okay, this was this was at the beginning. It's because you couldn't get a break especially at the beginning.

[00:22:18]Every single chapter conflict. Every single chapter. And I don't mean like internal conflict. Obviously, you need a lot of conflict in the story. I mean external conflict. They would run into someone who wanted to kill them. They would run into someone who wanted to stop them. they would run into someone who wanted to kill them again every single chapter. And some of these chapters are really short. Some of the chapters were really short. And it's just a bit like, why are you putting an obstacle, a physical obstacle, an external obstacle in every single moment of the book? Like every single movement they make, they don't even get far. And you've already given them another thing to overcome that's not internal. So if it was internal, you need the balance, right? It doesn't feel as though this author is just like, oh, plot, plot, plot, plot, plot, plot, action, action, action, action, action. It's a book.

[00:23:11]It's not a film, right? Oh, I really didn't like this book. It was exhausting. It was exhausting. It was unbelievable. Like, I didn't believe it.

[00:23:20]And this is a dark world. I'm pretty sure like this is grim dark, but I honestly I did not believe, especially with a power like luck. You tell me he has a power of luck and then every two pages, every two pages something else happens to make their journey or their quest harder externally. No, I don't believe it. I do not believe it. Like I said, it was exhausting to read because we had no internal like we had nothing internal. It was all just people in the way. New people in the way, new things in the way. new things to overcome physically and it just oh my god it was it was ex it was exhausting read and I can see why people like it like I said there was some elements of it that I really loved and I wish they were in a better book for me a better book for me these are the reasons some people love action some people that's all that's some people's bread and butter honestly that's what people read for action action action plot beat plot beat plot beat I love internity and atmosphere the atmosphere was good I will say The atmosphere in this was good because he built the world. Although didn't show us some of the relevant aspects of it, but I've already said that. But I want a character that I know, you know, like or that I come to know. I didn't come to know him. He was on this journey because he was in debt to the guild for his training. I don't know what he actually wants to get out of the guild, I think.

[00:24:48]But even that was just like put in there sometimes, just sometimes. I want character. I want internality. I want to see how this character changes and how he interacts with the world with the plot. I feel like it was chess and that's all I'm going to say about that.

[00:25:02]I I didn't mean to rant as much as I did, but I think it's because I was so excited to read I don't think this is recent 2022, so it's not that old. You could use it a comp if you were, you know, quering a manuscript right now.

[00:25:16]I've dropped off of reading a lot of recently released adult fantasy books because they leave me disappointed. Um, and I was so excited to pick up a recently released adult grim dark fantasy book. And I was disappointed.

[00:25:30]And I think that's probably why I have such visceral anger at this book. I don't think it's the book's fault because a lot of people love it. I think I'm just not the reader for this. It's just a matter of me finding which authors I jive with and which ones I don't, honestly. And sometimes I can tell you why and sometimes I can't. I didn't mean to rant as hard as I did on that. And I'm sure that's probably going to put a lot of you off. I'm just upset with myself for not liking this book or upset with this book for not being good.

[00:26:07]Although that is a very very subjective thing. That is that is not a fact at all. You could read that and you could absolutely adore it. A lot of people have. I just don't understand it because I don't have the same brain chemistry.

[00:26:18]Unfortunately, I don't actually when I did my TBR, I think I lied to you. This isn't what put me in a reading slump.

[00:26:26]Reading back toback Dungeon Crawler Carls put me in a reading slump, I think. Um cuz I think I was just in that world for too long, honestly. Like I enjoyed the books, but I was just I was just there for too long. And it was kind of like kind of the same where like things keep happening, you know? And then I got to this one. And then and maybe that's where my anger comes from because I was kind of in a slump and then I thought I would read something different and I don't know. I don't know. But it has kind of put me off reading a little bit. I think so. If you have any recently released fantasy books that you really enjoy, please let me know. That won't make me rant and cry.

[00:27:01]Um I'm very sorry about that. I think I needed to get that out of me. Honestly, I think I just needed it out in the world so that it can't fester, can't pollute any longer. That's me done.

[00:27:12]That's literally all I read in the month of June. I think I think I read like one more that I must have or a couple more that I must have told you about. I read the dungeon and calls, but those are in a different vlog. I will see you guys next week for a video. I don't know what video I might do. My book still haven't come, so I might do like a half like part one of a book haul. I might do that or I might put up the dungeon crawler car vlog, but I don't know if that's too close to the last one. Uh, you'll have to let me know what you want because again, I've been in the slump. So, um, I don't know how much I'll be able to read by next week. But I will see you then regardless with a video, whatever it is, whatever I decide. And I hope you guys have a nice rest of your week. Have a nice reading time. I hope you pick up some books that you really, really enjoy. Five now.