alexandra black

Category: Reading

  • I have enough: Books

    I grew up around books. Some of my fondest childhood memories are leafing through art encyclopedias in my grandfather’s study, or poking through the illustrations in the volumes of Russian classics, or sitting in my ‘under-the-table’ fort, reading for hours.

    A book purchase has never really been frowned upon in this house. I remember a spell of being quite poor when I was a kid, and I really wanted the entire series of The Wizard of Emerald City. I saw it in the shop, but knew I couldn’t get it, and it was never available in the library. Even in the book shops back then it was a rarity. Somehow, I don’t know how, my parents conspired and got the entire series for me. I still have it.

    I know that I will never fully stop getting more books. But for now I am content with significantly slowing down and enjoying what I have.

    My instagram bio says I have 150 shelves of books, and it’s not a lie, nor even an exaggeration. I have a full room lined with shelves, aptly called “library”, and I have more in my bedroom, and yet more in the hall, the entrance area, the living room. Some shelves have double rows. Some deeper and wider cupboards have towers of vertically stacked books in them, because that way we could fit more. The entire house is a library. Some of these books I’ll likely never read, or at least not in full, but in my book (forgive the pun) that’s not an incentive to part with them. Books are memories, good and bad, and I haven’t got any inclination to erase memories.

    I never wanted to put a significant limit to my book purchases, because I am a mood reader, and trying to follow a pre-existing TBR usually puts me in a reading slump. But I do have enough books in my library, both physical and electronical, to suit any fancy I might fall into. So one lovely winter morning I decided to stop using this excuse and put a limit to my book purchases for now. There are releases that I know I will want to get, and they’re on a special list, but apart from that, my shelves are full, and my wallet is guarded.

    I know I would not be able to adhere to a complete book no-buy, so I’m on a low-buy, and the rule is: 3 out, 1 in. Meaning, when I finish 3 books, I can buy one new. I’m not the fastest of readers, so this has slowed down my purchases significantly. So far I’ve only got 1 ebook, 2 physical, 1 audio with an Audible credit, and one other ebook that’s been free on kindle (yet undecided if I’m going to count it against my book low-buy bank; likely I won’t). It’s not a perfect system, but if I didn’t have it in place, I would’ve got much more, so it will stay unchanged for now.

    If you’d like to take a look at my book tracker, you can easily do it here. I usually update it once a month, or whenever I buy something new.

  • Triptych by Karin Slaughter — book review

    This is the first book I’m reviewing from my pile of “whoops I forgot to finish these”. Please note, that much like my ratings, this should not really tell you anything about the book’s merits. I am a seriously heavy mood reader, so a lot of the time I would drop the book in the middle of an exceptional gripping plot simply because ✨the vibe✨ is off. So the fact that it took me nearly three years to finish this excellent thriller doesn’t make it any less excellent. It just makes me appear odd in the head. (I am.)

    I started reading Triptych by Karin Slaughter on my way home from visiting a friend in Germany. I made a stop-over in Iasi (that’s in Romania) before heading to my hometown by train. I bought the book there in a secondhand book shop, and dived into it on the train. It certainly made the 4 hour trip seem way shorter.

    It’s hard to talk about this book without giving away any details that might point at the twist, so I am going to resort to the Amazon blurb.

    When Atlanta police detective Michael Ormewood is called out to a murder scene, he finds himself faced with one of the most brutal murders of his career.

    As a one-off killing it is shocking, but it soon becomes clear Aleesha Monroe is just the latest victim in a series of similar attacks.

    Twenty-four hours later, the violence Michael sees every day explodes in his own back yard.

    And it seems the mystery surrounding Monroe’s death is inextricably entangled with a past that refuses to stay buried…

    I gotta say, I WAS a bit disappointed by ✨The Twist✨ in this book, though, but only because I saw it coming. However I’m not taking out any stars as I just love Karin Slaughter’s thrillers. Subtle social commentary that doesn’t at all feel dictated by an agenda or ‘the current thing’. The way her writing is descriptive yet simple. She doesn’t shy away from gore, but doesn’t make a feast out of it either. And her characters and plot lines get developed layer by layer, moved not by the formulaic understanding of ‘show don’t tell’, but by the subtlety that’s part of her talent. The pace is great, and the characters are compelling yet flawed – or maybe because they’re flawed.

    I was thinking of taking out one star because of some mixed feelings I had somewhere there in the middle, inspired by the twist or not, I can no longer remember. But the moment I closed the book, I immediately realised it’s a five-star.

    Have you read Karin Slaughter’s books? If you love crime fiction and haven’t yet read anything by her, please pick up Triptych. It’s the first one in the Will Trent series.