Wulf's Book Reviews

Beach Read , by Emily Henry My rating: 3 of 5 stars When I decided to read this book, I was expecting a light, funny romance before going back to more “serious” books. I basically wanted what the title promised - an early “Beach Read”. Unfortunately, this was obviously not to be. First of all, January, our heroine, is annoyingly insecure. Her mother got cheated on by her late father and both the cheating and the dying entirely shattered a 28-year-old’s world. Right. Gus, our brooding, “evil sexy” (repeated ad nauseam throughout the book!) hero is not only an embodiment of male clichés but pretty much behaves like an arse: he keeps pushing January away for no discernable reason, keeps alternating between giving obvious signals and pretty much kicking her out. At times I thought we’d get to the funny, light beach parts but then they interview former cultists, visit the scene of mass suicide/murder (where they quickly proceed to entirely different kinds of “investigations”) a...

Paul Auster, for me one of the greatest contemporary authors, a vigorous and active champion for a liberal, progressive America and world, passed away yesterday, April 30, 2024, at the age of 77. An immense loss for us all. (Photo by David Shankbone, licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en)

Trunk Music by Michael Connelly » “Still the same old Bosch. Your way or the highway.” « In this instalment, Bosch is back from his involuntary leave and investigates a case of the eponymous “trunk music” - a murdered man in the trunk of his own car. Bosch himself is pretty much as he always was but around him, things changed: His lieutenant, Pounds, is on another kind of involuntary and permanent “leave” and was replaced by Grace Billets. Bosch: » I’d heard that you didn’t have any actual time on a homicide table while you were coming up,” he said to her. Billets: “That’s true. My only job as an actual detective was working sexual crimes in Valley Bureau.” Bosch: “Well, for what it’s worth, I would have assigned things just the way you just did.” Billets: “But did it annoy you that I did it instead of you?” Bosch thought a moment. Bosch: “I’ll get over it.” « I liked this exchange - which is indicative of their entire relationship in this book - because, yes, he’s still “sa...

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin My rating: 1 of 5 stars I’m not sure what this was supposed to be: A mystery? There’s nothing really mysterious here apart from the fact who Westing and his ex-wife might be. The “bomber” (whose motives I never fully understood)? That’s just plainly revealed at some point. The writing itself might be a mystery because at times I felt like I read in some truly foreign language because the story as told by the narrator was interspersed with thoughts of the respective person we’re told about. It made for an immensely confusing and rather annoying reading experience. The perspectives change all the time between the way-too-large cast of 16 (!) characters whom the author instils with the depth of a cardboard cut-out. If at least one or two of these had been likeable, interesting or at least relatable in some way but, no, they all remain shadowy at best. In addition, there’s latent racism, defamation of people with disabilities and many other is...

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith My rating: 5 of 5 stars To get one thing out of the way right at the beginning: It’s just a disguise. Creed himself says so. Nevertheless, I’ve been informed by my daughter - who tends to be right (woe be me!) - the author proudly presents views the Dark Ages are rightly about to reclaim . Those views of the author are deeply offensive to many - me as well. And, yet, they do not diminish the greatness of this piece of art. 2021 starts out well, reading-wise. I’ve liked Robert Galbraith ’s “Strike” novels from the beginning because Galbraith’s characters were so relatable. The eponymous Cormoran Strike, former soldier, now a detective, who lost one of his legs in war. Robin, who starts out as a temporary worker at Strike’s then-struggling agency as a secretary, but who becomes Strike’s business partner and confidante. Then there’s Strike’s glamorous ex-fiancee, Charlotte, his estranged rockstar father Johnny Rokeby and Leda Strike, Corm...

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh My rating: 5 of 5 stars In 2014, I came across Allie Brosh’s first book “ Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened ”. Apart from funny stories from Allie’s life, it contained the story of her experiences with depression. Reading about that in what amounts to a crude comic was a singular experience for me - despite suffering from depressions myself at the time. Soon after I had read “Hyperbole”, Allie disappeared from the net. We, her fans, hoped she was well but we rarely got any (reliable) information. Six years later, in September 2020, Allie “resurfaced” and announced her new book “Solutions and Other Problems”. Needless to say, I immediately read it - and initially, I was very slightly disappointed. Allie still did her quirky, charming, weird comic - about a balloon, her stalking her neighbour as a kid and other issues. These panels in the first few chapt...

Der blaue Lotos von Hergé My rating: 3 of 5 stars “Der Blaue Lotus” entstand im Jahr 1934 und wurde bereits 1946 erneut überarbeitet und es wurden wiederum auch inhaltliche Änderungen vorgenommen. Auch hier versucht Hergé wieder eine “runde” Geschichte zu erzählen, doch leider mißlingt ihm das gründlich: Die Story besteht in wesentlichen Teilen aus Tims fortgesetzter Flucht und Wieder-Inhaftierung. Ein Entkommen ist dabei absurder als das Vorangegangene. Erstmals allerdings – und das spürt man wohltuend – hat Hergé sich nicht mehr einzig auf “Erlesenes” oder ihm Berichtetes verlassen, sondern hat sich – obschon nicht ganz ohne Druck – mit seiner Materie beschäftigt. War also bisher der Kolonialismus und Imperialismus uneingeschränkt gut und allenfalls die “edlen Wilden” als Relikte einer im Untergehen begriffenen und “minderwertigen” Kultur geduldet, schlägt das Pendel nun mehr in die andere Richtung aus - Hergé versucht sich mit Hilfe seines Freundes Zhang Chongre...