Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

3/5

I wanted to really like this book, but I didn't. Not to say it was bad, it wasn't.  Vonnegut's dark humor and quick wit are very much present. The short chapters succeeded both in making the book fast to read, and a bit too easy to set aside.  Normally I appreciate dark humor and satire, but this one was a bit over the top and I felt more pessimism than was exactly good. The satire and absurdity of it all are definitely driven home.  This is definitely not a "feel good" story and at times I had trouble picking it back up.

The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro

4/5

A rare gem among fantasy novels.  Holding just a touch of magic, using it with a delicate touch rather than as the entire focal point.  As an odd forgetfulness inducing mist covers the land, we follow an elderly couple on their journey, not your typical knight in shining armor.  This story contains just enough of the classic "hero on a quest" to be comfortably familiar.  It also carries enough character to make it something all it's own.

A very pleasant read. I would highly recommend it.

Room - Emma Donoghue

3/5

This is not a book I'd normally choose to read for myself.  This one was for a book club of which I am a part. This is a story of a young woman and her son kept captive in a single room, far from public eyes, told from the viewpoint of the little boy.  For the first half of the book I just did not feel as appalled and disgusted as I felt I should given the nature of the character's situation.  I can't decide if that was intentional given the narrator's innocence or not.  At this point the book just did not draw me in and push me to keep reading even though the reading goes fairly fast.

Then the second half.  Things really pick up, I did not want to put it down.  The world opens up and the insight of the narrator, as a little boy isolated from the world, gives perhaps a more real picture of everything than many of us ever consider. 

This was a good book, I think the first section could have been trimmed a bit, but it does wrap up incredibly well.

Beginnings

Welcome to Snippits! The best way to find books, I think, is to talk to people who read them.  Unfortunately, "You'll love this one!" is usually followed by most of the content of the book.  I don't like that.  And trying to read reviews to determine if a book is something you want to read? More spoilers!

This is not that.

I like to read (mostly fantasy) and while I do like to have an idea of what a book will be like before I start, I want all of the magic of a new story as I immerse into it myself.

Ideally, Snippits is going to be just that, short reviews that give the idea and the feel of a book without giving it all away.  

Are you ready to take this journey with me?
If so, let's begin.