Fangirl

This is one of those books that's difficult for me to wrap my head around. It doesn't follow the traditional rise and fall of stories I like to read. There's no real building up to the climax and then coming back down for the resolution. It's more like a book of evens that just take place during the novel's time line. Come to to think of it, First Test did the same thing.

Cath is the biggest Simon Snow fan ever. She embarks on her first year of college, dealing with boys, classes, and her family. In many ways, I loved this book. Cath is me in so many ways. My social anxiety is nowhere near as bad, but it's enough that I understood hers. Her experiences as the fandom she loves just breaths through her ... I get it. And her uncertainty with her fiction classes ... is she really cut out to be a writer or does she just want to write fanfic for the rest of her life? I've been there. There's a lot in this book I relate to.

But, taking a step back and looking at this in terms of a story ... For one, the book just kind of ends. There's not much of a resolution to anything other than Cath's boy anxiety. She does finally turn in the fiction story she's been procrastinating about the whole year, but we don't get anything about how she felt writing it or how she felt after. Does she still think fanfic is only for her, or is she more confident in her abilities now? Does she want to keep trying with original work? What about the fanfic she's been working so hard on for the past two years? Did she finally finish it? What are her thoughts and feelings about that? How does she envision Simon and Baz in her life now that the series and her project is final over?

I just feel like Cath had a lot of questions and a lot of struggles during her first year, and I know a lot of them can't be resolved realistically in one year of school. But I also feel like a story has to have some kind of resolution, not just end. And that's how I felt finishing this book, like, "Wait a minute? This is the end of it? What happened to all this stuff?"

I liked the book, it was enjoyable. And I related to a giant chunk of it on a deeply personal level. I just would have liked there to be more a resolution to the story. I prefer it when a book has a more solid story arch. That's just me.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

This is an interesting novel. Each chapter begins with a short story that usually relates to the chapter. The characters talk about books or reference them in conversation. There's book clubs formed, books that are stolen, a baby that's left in the bookstore A.J. runs ... it's a book about books.

I would definitely say that I enjoyed this book. It's witty at times. Other times the references go over my head because they are talking about something I haven't read. But it was still a good read and I could find no major fault with it. That said, I have nothing particularly stirring about it to say either. It was what it was, and it was enjoyable.

Another fascinating three-star review, at your service.