Lightning Round Reviews: January and February 2025

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While I started doing some full reviews on here this year, not every book needs a full review. I just don’t always have that much to say about everything, and that’s ok. Enter: Lightning Reviews!

I’ll do one of these every month or two and just share the books I read with very minimal thoughts on them. Some of them (especially DNFs) you can find more details from me on Goodreads (we can be friends, too, if you want!).

I would say the year has started off well (overall but especially reading-wise). Here are some quick stats, including the books I did full reviews for, for January and February:

Total books read: 26

Rating breakdown: I think this breakdown mostly shows that I’m reading a lot less of things that I’m not enjoying, hence so many DNFs and so few 2 and 3 stars. I’m also pretty generous with 5 stars I think but that’s ok.
5/5: 9
4/5: 8
3/5: 1
2/5: 1
1/5/DNF/no rating: 7 (possibly a record)

Best: Maeve Fly

Worst (that I finished): Our Last Resort

Author I’m most excited to read more from: Stephen Graham Jones

Thrift Books is one of the places I check when I’m looking for a book (old ones especially) and want it cheap. It’s great if you like buying used books. With this you can get a free book after spending $30!
Pango is one of my go-to’s for finding secondhand books affordably, sold by other readers! If you’re a new user, you can use HEYIMREADING at checkout for $5 off your first $10 purchase! Check out Pango Books here!
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If you want to listen to some of these, consider trying Audible! You can get your first month free (one free book). Get that Audible deal here.
If you want to read more on your Kindle but don’t want to buy books, Kindle Unlimited is a good option, especially if you read a lot of indie authors. Get Kindle Unlimited here!
Shop my book lists here! You can find every book list I have on Bookshop.org (except my monthly round-ups) and I add everything I can but they occasionally won’t have some. I do occasionally add extras though. If any lists are empty, they’ll be filled in..eventually! Shop my bookshop.org book lists here.

Exercises in Style

Author: Raymond Queneau

Format: Physical

Rating: 4/5

Quick thoughts: Repetitive (on purpose) but very fun.

DallerGut Dream Department Store

Author: Mi Ye Lee

Format: Physical

Rating: 1/5 DNF

Quick thoughts: I wanted to love this SO bad but i didn’t love the writing (probably more of a translation issue) and the world itself made no sense and I couldn’t get over that.

Autobiography of Red

Author: Anne Carson

Format: Physical

Rating: 5/5

Quick thoughts: A little weird, told in verse, I loved it.

The Sluts

Author: Dennis Cooper

Format: Physical

Rating: 5/5

Quick thoughts: I loved this! It was weird and a little gross but well written. If you don’t want to read about violent encounters with gay escorts told via convoluted Internet drama, skip it.

Tell Me What You Did

Author: Carter Wilson

Format: Physical

Rating: 5/5

Quick thoughts: This was so good! I was sucked in right away and didn’t want to put it down (I did but didn’t want to) and was intrigued the whole time.

Darling Girls

Author: Sally Hepworth

Format: Kindle

Rating: 5/5

Quick thoughts: This is sad but in a good way. I think its more mystery than thriller but knowing that going in, I love it.

Root Rot and Other Grim Tales

Author: Sarah Read

Format: Physical

Rating: None, early DNF

Quick thoughts: I got this in a book box and didn’t realize it was short stories (I would have skipped it then). I don’t love short stories. Gave it a shot but they just weren’t doing it for me.

Almond

Author: Won-Pyung Sohn

Format: Audio

Rating: 4/5

Quick thoughts: This was really interesting and I enjoyed the writing. I ended up buying a copy.

The Trunk

Author: Kim Ryeo-ryeong

Format: Physical (library)

Rating: None, early DNF

Quick thoughts: This was boring.

Deadly Companions: How Microbes Shaped Our History

Author: Dorothy H. Crawford

Format: Audio

Rating: 4/5

Quick thoughts: I like diseases so I liked this. I knew some of it already but also learned other things. Like that there are over 3500 species of mosquitos.

Graveyard Shift

Author: M.L. Rio

Format: Physical

Rating: 4/5

Quick thoughts: I expected to hate this based on other things I heard, but I loved it. It was fun and felt a little Scooby Doo.

The Employees

Author: Olga Ravn

Format: Physical

Rating: 5/5

Quick thoughts: Just weird enough. I love the format it’s told in.

Tales From the Cafe

Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Format: Audio

Rating: 4/5

Quick thoughts: Like the first one, it’s cozy and Japanese and I love it.

Strange Pictures

Author: Uketsu

Format: Physical

Rating: 4/5

Quick thoughts: I was a little bored for parts of this but overall I enjoyed it and liked how everything tied together. I liked the pictures too.

little scratch

Author: Rebecca Watson

Format: Audio

Rating: 5/5

Quick thoughts: I LOVED this so much I bought a copy. I loved listening to it and like the weird way it was written. This isn’t a typical narrative but I love this kind of thing.

Apartment Women

Author: Gu Byeong-mo

Format: Physical (library)

Rating: 1/5 DNF

Quick thoughts: I was sort of intrigued but also pretty bored, and I was confused a lot on who’s perspective I was reading from, but I really loved the idea of this. And the cover.