Final readings of 2021

1. The Alienist, by Caleb Carr. This book took way too long for me to actually get through. I only picked up this book because I loved the TV show, which meant I already knew the story. And that was probably what shot me in the foot with this book, because I already knew everything. The story pacing is pretty slow and without the feeling of "I need to know what happens next!" this book becomes pretty tedious. Sara and Kreizler are the most interesting characters in the book, and the most intelligent, but for some reason the main character is Moore and the book is mostly about him being confused about things and Sara/Kreizler patiently waiting for him to catch up. Which is a drag, because the book is from his POV. If I hadn't known the whole story before-hand I would probably have enjoyed this book a whole lot more, since I really like the setting and the old-timey serial killer story (i.e. Jack the Ripper). And Sara is awesome.

2. The Angel of Darkness, by Caleb Carr. As with The Alienist I had watched the TV show before I read this book and so I expected to go into this book knowing exactly what would happen and how it'd turn out. Except nothing in this book matched the show. Nothing aside from names was the same, and once I realised that this book soon became a lot more interesting than the first one. This book is narrated by Stevie Taggert instead of John Schyler Moore, which is definitely in its favour. I didn't care for Moore in the first book or in this one, but Stevie is a sweetheart. Now knowing that Carr is originally a non-fiction history author makes the long-winding descriptions and explanations a little easier to bear, although they still were a drag to read through. Sara and Kreizler are still the best characters to grace these pages. Any time Moore opens his mouth I want to smack him. I enjoyed the roundabout feminism in this book and seeing clearly how the story protested against the common mold that all women were/are supposed to fit into. Not as much nowadays as in the past, I suspect, but the mold is still ever-present. Libby Hatch is a psychopath, but her case is a sad one. Monsters aren't born; they're made. A point this book and the previous firmly tries to prove. Kreizler's idea of context is the precursor of modern day profiling. Having finger-printing thrown out as an unproven and unreliable science in the courtroom made me laugh. Reading Lucius' claim that there's no way to differentiate one type of blood from another gave me much the same feeling as hearing Dana Scully talk about science that doesn't exist in 90s X-Files - a kind of smug "oh if you only knew" feeling while cosied up in my 21st century chair. It's certainly obious that Carr isn't first and foremost a fiction writer, but I did enjoy this book a lot more than the previous one. I kept waiting for that one death from the TV show to happen in the book, but it didn't and that made me very happy. Although I did shed a couple tears over the one death that did happen. All in all, I don't know why this book took me so long. 

In 2021 I read very few physical books and the ones I read took weeks or months for me to get through, but that's not to say I didn't read. I started to read ebooks via Radish and did a deep-dive into romance; a genre I never really cared for before. Most of the stories on there are pretty short, but there are some honourable mentions from that app. Off the top of my head there are four authors whose stories I just couldn't stop reading until they finished, and even then I wished they weren't done. The one person who caught my interest the most was Abigail Barnette. I loved her series The Boss and even though it has probably been a couple months now since I finished that story I still feel like I need more Sophie Scaife in my life. Amy Brent and Katee Robert became my go-to for short and fun stories. Just something light to read every now and then. And then we have Lexie Miers, whose story I now follow. Amy, Katee and Lexie are all good, but they pale in comparison with Abigail. The Boss encompasses eight volumes. I also read the spin-off, comprised of three volumes. Amy's and Katee's stories are all pretty short and what I've read from them would probably fit into a decent-sized short story compilation each. Lexie's story is ongoing, but that's sizing up to a pretty normal-sized book. 

I feel kind of bad reading ebooks on my phone when I have a bookcase full of unread books... I will try to read more physical books in 2022 :)