Luis Ramos

Summary, Thoughts and Notes

'Wyrd Sisters' by Terry Pratchett manages to combine Shakespeare and the over-the-top setting of Discworld in a single, fun, loud story centered around the Lancre witch coven. The plot manages to be a satire of Macbeth, King Lear, and other Shakespeare classics while managing to be its own separate story with its own intricacies and personality that sets it apart enough that even if you haven't read the material it's based on (like me), you'll still enjoy it. I've been reading the Discworld novels in chronological release order (to the chagrin of most people on the internet), but with this book I feel like Terry Pratchett really started hitting his stride. My enjoyment of this book compared to the previous entry in the Discworld (Sourcery) and even compared to the first Witches book (Equal Rites) is on a different level. Pratchett manages to have a interesting story while keeping the jokes rolling.

The character work on this book is great, Granny Weatherwax is much more fleshed out compared to the previous Witches book, and the addition of Nanny Ogg and Magrat as the "Wyrd Sisters" from Macbeth make for some great interactions between them. Despite it being a very on the nose satire/parody of Shakespeare's work, this is still a great story that is able to stand on its own.

What Worked, What Didn't

This is the first Discworld I've read where the comedy really worked for me, this definitely upped my enjoyment a ton. Despite there being humor and tons of jokes all throughout the book it never felt like it was annoying or too "in your face", it somehow always felt like a literary device to even help the plot. However, there is something I should note, since I've not read the "source" material, I do feel like there were references I didn't get due to my limited knowledge on the topic. I will definitely add Shakespeare to my TBR and do a re-read of this after having more context, I'm sure it'll only improve an already great experience.

The story itself is solid, you'd even say it's tried and true since it's mostly based on Macbeth, but it does feel overtly simple at times, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it did make certain sections feel a little slow for me in certain sections. I understand it can't be all full throttle 100% of the time, and this is a minor nitpick, but it is important for me to lay it all out there with my honest opinion and experience.

Finally, the character work is by far my favorite part of the novel, the witches, like I mentioned, are fantastic: witty, funny, and full of sass. But even other characters like the king, the new duke and his wife, the theater troupe, they all have great personalities that make for some great scenes that were just a joy to read.

Personal Recommendation

I think this works as a really good starting point for Discworld, even though it's Granny's second appearance as a main character, she has so much more personality this go around and there aren't any reference to the previous book anyway. If you're looking for a good fun time filled with humor, this is it.

I'll be chronicling my journey through the rest of the Discworld books on my blog in case you want to follow along!

One-Sentence book review
Insightful book that makes you think about your being while unraveling an interesting mystery throughout the book's story.

Summary, thoughts and notesThe book's narrative is told through a series of journal entries from the main character, Piranesi spends his days wandering through a house made up of a labyrinth of an endless amount of rooms, these rooms are usually filled with statues, all of them different, as well as some wildlife like birds. The basement of the house itself has an ocean with rising tides which on high tide floods the upper, main floors.Piranesi writes on his journal about his daily life, as well as meeting another person twice a week, a person he only calls "the Other", until one day, the Other tells Piranesi to be wary of another person that might get in contact with him. This makes Piranesi very excited, but also doesn't want to make the Other upset, since he's his only acquaintance. The third person manages to get in contact with Piranesi, and gives him clues that lead him to his oldest kept journals, where he documented how he got to where he currently is and the mystery starts unraveling while at the same time Piranesi starts struggling with coming to terms with who he really is.This book really resonated with me, I am definitely in the group of people who love this book, and it's frankly hard to put into words all of my thoughts on it, but suffice it to say that what I've read as points against the book, the repetitive descriptions, boring first half of the book, were not a problem for me. I found the descriptions interesting, they were mostly about statues, sure, but they were interesting. Additionally, I didn't think it was that slow, the second half definitely picks up the pace, but the first half is not really what I would consider slow paced. I love that it's on the shorter side, (< 300 pages in length), the author had a story in mind and didn't add any unnecessary fluff, that plus the themes that really resonated with me, make this one of my favorite reads of the last few years.I thought the book was fantastic, rarely do I read books and still think about them months after finishing them. It feels weird to say that the philosophical themes of the book have stayed with me, but they have. Thinking about who I am, and what makes me... me? Is something I've been thinking since I read this book, and I still think about it.I think the idea of pondering what defines you as a person is the main driving force of the story. Piranesi all throughout the book is enamored with the house, despite acknowledging he doesn't remember anything before the last few years. The author managed to make me think about who I am, and what makes me, me. This is something I hadn't really thought about before, and the fact that it's now been over a week since I read the book and I'm still thinking about it, is a testament to the author's success in transmitting this idea.I've read a few reviews of this book, opinions are very divided in both extremes, most either love it or absolutely hate it. For me, personally, this is a fantastic book, which I'm sure I will re-read in the future and whenever I do so, I'll probably ponder about the same things, although with a new point of view given an older age/more experience, and that's something I'm really looking forward to.I think I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone looking for a straight up mystery book, this is not it, the mystery is not the focus of the book, more an instrument that's used to delve deep into its themes, which are more psychological/philosophical in nature. Similarly, I think that anyone not too keen on somewhat repetitive descriptions will fall short for people who the book isn't "clicking with" either.

One-Sentence book review
Like other early Discworld books, it's a little rough around the edges, but you can see how Pratchett was beginning to find the identity of the series as a whole.

Summary, thoughts and notesThe book is part of the Rincewind sub-series in Discworld, specifically dealing with the eight son of a wizard, who in this case is not a wizard, but a sorcerer. The plot circles around our sorcerer, a kid named Coin, being manipulated by his father, who transferred his consciousness to his son's staff, into infiltrating Unseen University, taking it over, and creating an army of wizards to do as he says and effectively rule all of Discworld. Coin himself doesn't really want any of that, but his dad is the stubborn kind, Rincewind has his own kind of side adventure as much of this is going on, and eventually sync his adventure with Coin's in the book's final act, ending with a happy ending for most, excepting those who die, of course.It's hard for me to give an opinion on this book. Most people say that the first two books in the Discworld series (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic), aren't a great place to start because they don't represent Discworld as a whole, and both the story, writing, jokes, and basically everything gets better as you go further along. I personally have found this book to be the weakest I've read so far, and I'm reading them in chronological order as the books were released, so I've read the first two books most people say to shy away from at first and honestly I liked them better.That's not to say I didn't like this book, it's just the one I've enjoyed the least, if that makes any sense. I thought the pacing was weird, it felt like there were long stretches where nothing happened, then a bunch of action and some pretty good jokes then back to a sort of lull in the story.Like always, Death absolutely steals the show every time he appears, with just the most incredible quotes, such as:“I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?" Death thought about it. CATS, he said eventually. CATS ARE NICE.”and“And what would humans be without love?" RARE, said Death.”The book itself satirizes a bunch of fantasy tropes we all know and love, epic scale plots, magical wars, men = natural barbarians and women = natural homebodies, among other things. I think the way Pratchett manages to put so much of himself and his ideologies in the books without it feeling too in your face is an incredible skill that even to this day, not many authors can replicate.All in all, I'd say this book was good, if just average. The pacing was weird, and the plot itself I wasn't too invested in, but that's been the case with the other Rincewind-centered books I've read so far, so maybe Rincewind just isn't for me. Regardless, it did have some high points that I think make it worth it for me to revisit this book sometime in the future, maybe when I'm finally done reading all of the series.If you want to read a good old fantasy satire with some witty humor, or, alternatively, if you want a story about how wizards think they're the toughest people in the block until a smaller bully comes along, I think you'll like this book.

One-Sentence book review

A fun murder mystery/whodunnit that acts as a good entry point to the genre.

Summary, thoughts and notes

Hercule Poirot returns to investigate the murder of a tween girl, Joyce Reynolds, who is drowned in a bucket of water used to bobble for apples. This marks the beginning of an interesting story with all the twists and turns you'd expect from a murder mystery. I haven't read that many books of this genre, so I've been making an effort to read more of them this year, this being the third I read, and honestly, it might be the weakest (not to say I didn't like it, though!). I feel like the story tried too hard to give/present red herrings to the reader, and, while I personally didn't figure out who the murderer was until the very end, I was kind of close, and can actually see how others might have guessed it from pretty early on. This is my first Agatha Christie read, and from other reviews I've read it seems that this might be one of her weaker novels. If that's the case, then I'm all in on her books, because I did like this quite a bit, so if it only gets better from here, sign me up.

What Worked, What Didn't

The book is super British, which might or might not work for you. It personally works for me, other than that, I really liked Christie's plot work and the mystery in general and how it was handled. I definitely don't think it was anything outstanding, but for what it is, it is a fun page turner, which is honestly all I look for in these types of books.

Personal Recommendation

I think this is one of those books where even if you're the slightest bit interested in it, just give it a chance, after a few chapters you'll either be hooked and keep going, or you won't and you'll drop it, you either like it or you don't. Don't expect the greatest mystery in the history of mankind, but a fun page turner and I think you'll be fine.

We all made tantrums and got upset at our parents & siblings for the dumbest things when we were kids, right? And it's ok, because deep down they're still our family and we learn to accept and love our family for who they are, knowing that at the end of the day, they're the only ones who really have our backs, support us, and love us unconditionally.

Well, in "Educated" - Tara Westover's memoir, she tells us her story, and how it doesn't fit the mold most of us grew up with. This book is equal parts horrifying, inspiring, stressful, and hopeful. Westover's childhood was marked by her survivalist parents, always preparing for an upcoming apocalypse (or the government raiding their home), they didn't believe in the government, much less on relying on public services. That means no medicine, much less hospitals or even doctors. Whenever Westover or any other member of her family got sick or hurt, they'd be tended to by her mother, a midwife who also dove into herbal medicine.

The book continues the story of the horrible things Westover lived through, violent, abusive siblings and equally abusive parents (though more psychological abuse rather than physical). All the way to her decision to quit that life and get a formal education by applying to college at BYU, and the path she took that eventually led to her earning a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

I come from a family of educators, so the subject matter of the book immediately appealed to me. I've always been very pro-education, and see ignorance as an opportunity to learn more rather than as a negative trait to have. But I wasn't ready for the first half of this book, it honestly read more like a horror story than a memoir. It's hard to believe the hardships Westover went through in her life and still end up a better person, free from the shackles her family put her in for so many years.

Then the second half hits us with her story of her struggles with going to an actual school, and how she had to learn how to learn, I found it truly fascinating how resilient Westover is and how no matter how much she herself doubted she was able to move forward, she constantly did, it made my problems feel like child's play.

There's not much I can say that others haven't said already, I really liked it, it is a hard read, abuse is not and easy subject matter to read, much less to have lived it and write about it for everyone to learn about. At the end of the day, this is a story about a woman who against all odds, managed to take the hardest road before her - letting go of her past (and family) for a better life, for her, and, as is usually the case, those hard roads are usually the best decisions we can make.

If you liked this review, you can find more them on my blog - forgedbyluis.com