September Wrap Up # 2

Since my last update, I've read 5 things.

I'm not a huge thriller reader typically but in the autumn, I sometimes enjoy one. I heard about The Chain by Adrian McKinty and decided to pick it up. The premise is that a woman gets a call that her daughter has been kidnapped. She must do two things in order to ensure her child's safe return; she must pay a ransom, and she must kidnap another child to continue to chain. Similarly to the last thriller I read, this was a bit far-fetched but held me captive. I read the book in just two days. I did feel the ending was a bit rushed but overall, a good read. I gave the book 4 stars.

I then picked up The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa translated by Stephen Snyder. This was a Japanese dystopian that I had been hearing a lot of buzz about. The characters live on an island and things keep disappearing. The people then forget the things and destroy any remnants that exist. There are some people who don't forget and they are taken away by the Memory Police. It was very reminiscent of the book 1984 in which a society is being controlled by a group at the top, but what fell flat for me is the citizens didn't do much to protest or rebel. Overall, disappointing and something that will quickly fade from my memory. I gave it 3 stars.

I only have two more challenges for my Book Riot Read Harder challenge so I decided to use this next book to cross off one more task. I read Under the Painted Sky by Stacey Lee as my historical romance by an author of color. This was a YA western/romance so not in my wheel-house at all but it was fairly enjoyable. A young woman of Chinese descent runs away with a slave in the 1800s to find freedom, safety, and love on the Oregon Trail. The book was fast-paced, with minimal cringe-y scenes. I gave the book 3 stars.

Afterwards, I picked up George Takei's graphic memoir called They Called Us Enemy which documents his time in a Japanese internment camp in the 1940's. This was a period of history I knew little about and felt that the story was informative and interesting. I found it especially poignant when he compared his time being unlawfully detained to the border camps that are currently detaining incoming immigrants. While not the same thing, it's important to learn from our mistakes and I felt this information was crucial to current day events. I gave the book 3.5 stars.

The last book I finished was Almost Love by Louise O'Neill. This book was described as a book about an unhealthy relationship, an obsessive love, and possibly abuse. It definitely wasn't quite how I expected. A woman does get in an unhealthy relationship with a man 20 years her senior but he makes it clear from the start that he just wants no-strings sex. She agrees to that but then keeps wanting more. When he's clear that he has nothing more to offer her, she goes back and forth wanting him but being afraid to ask since she knows what he'll say. She was an extremely unlikable character with very little growth. I didn't connect to her and felt she was whiny and in a situation completely of her own making. I gave the book 2.5 stars.