A Southpaw Sidewinder All-Time Favourite Recent Reads (& One Or Two I Just Did Not Get)

[@deborajohnson5717]

It is nice to see you back!

[@SpringboardThought]

Thank you!! Very kind of you :)

[@justjuanreader]

Very pumped for Perdido Street Station!

[@SpringboardThought]

I’m very curious what you’ll make of it; so much of it is so odd it’s hard to describe lol new weird is such a good moniker to assign works like this.

[@MsReadsAlot]

Great description of into thin air. I don’t think I would ever climb a mountain like Everest!

[@SpringboardThought]

Thanks! Yes, just… wild. I don’t know why I’d assume it’d be like a military operation every time. Of course it’s just a bunch of rich, selfish tool bags

[@bmaei5]

You’re enthusiasm got me. Put fake accounts on hold.

[@SpringboardThought]

I hope you like it too!!

[@myreadinglife8816]

Loved your rant on Into Thin Air. Have not read the book but I think I would feel similarly.

[@SpringboardThought]

It is soooo frustrating. He actually talks about so many people similarly being incensed by the original publication of his story in a… magazine? I think? Wildly disparate opinions on it but many found the whole venture deplorable as well.

[@CharlieBrookReads]

I missed your videos, it’s nice to see you back😊 I hope all is well your end xx Fake Accounts sounds like a good read, it’s good you found a five star 📚⭐️

[@SpringboardThought]

Thanks so much! I am just really low energy so have been struggling to make content and what not. Hopefully on the upswing now though, thanks for the kind words. I loved Fake Accounts so much!

[@CestKevvie]

Interesting to hear that about the Thursday Murder Club series. I've yet to read any of them. Telegraph Club has been high up on my list. Fake Accounts sounds pretty great!

[@SpringboardThought]

I love that series so much! Really depends on how much you like the characters though. Otherwise it’d be pretty grating. I love Fake Accounts so much ^^!

[@HardcoverHearts]

I love it when you read it first and then I can just wait to see if I want to follow based on your review- specifically the next Osmond and the Moshfegh! I really liked Last Night at the Telegraph Club but it’s also a very San Francisco book but I can see what you mean. I have Eileen and mean to read it sometime soonish.

[@SpringboardThought]

Hah! Happy to be of service! Have you liked the Thursday Murder Club books so far? Love that series. Telegraph Club did have a good sense of time and place, I was just like okay fffffinnaly this stuff with the parents is coming to a head and she just gets packed off and it ends with a small coda.

[@HardcoverHearts]

@@SpringboardThought I loved the first of the Thursday Murder Club but the second one lost me. I thought the main mystery went way further than I enjoyed with the spy plot. So what do you think- would I like it? Is it more like the first than the second?

[@SpringboardThought]

@@HardcoverHearts mmm the third has a lot going on, way more moving parts. And there’s more spy stuff, in particular. So, it depends. I’d say it’s more fun and gonzo?

[@HardcoverHearts]

@@SpringboardThought that’s it- I think the gonzo aspect threw me off with the second. So that’s great to know. Thank you

[@EntertheBook]

Nice to see you- I have been away as well. Into Thin Air sounds good but stressful to read- not sure when I would be up for it but I am interested in it. Fake Accounts sounds very interesting as well. Glad you enjoyed it so much- I love when we find a solid five star read!

[@SpringboardThought]

It is very stressful!! All these rich people endangering each other blah! Thank you!! :)

[@ReadBecca]

Good to see you rambling again! I've had Into Thin Air on my shelves for a long time but haven't picked it up for basically the same reason, I know its going to be so well written, but cringe to read. Excited to get to Perform Street myself

[@ReadBecca]

Perdido even.

[@SpringboardThought]

Thanks! I too like perform street 😎 hehe Yeah into thin air is infuriating lol oiii

[@ThatsSoPoe]

My hold on The Bullet That Missed is almost ready, but I'm glad to get the heads up about the plotting. The plotting in the second one was very much more my style, so I'll be prepared for this one to be a bit more twisty. Too bad Last Night at the Telegraph Club didn't work so well for you! Glad you got to try it, though.

[@SpringboardThought]

Yeah this third one has a LOT going on. I didn’t dislike Telegraph Club, I think it really was just me thinking it was going to be about more. The ending felt very jarring, I must have just misjudged what the author was interested in.

[@adayofsmallthings]

Interesting to hear your thoughts on Sappho. I plan to read her work next year. Everyone seems to think she's amazing, good to hear from someone who doesn't think so - so I don't feel too pressured!

[@SpringboardThought]

I haven’t read much poetry, so I think it’s more like for advanced poetry people, maybe!

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I didn't dislike Eileen but I knew after that that she was not an author for me and have happily just consumed reviews of her book from then on and consistently feel validated in my decisions haha

[@SpringboardThought]

Haha yeah, that sounds like the right move. I wanted to like her. I typically love unhinged women in fiction, but I don’t know. It never quite seems to be great, for me.

[@AnneEWilliamson]

I've been meaning to read Last Night at the Telegraph Club (mostly because I love the cover and I've heard so many good things about it). Pity you didn't love it, but it sounds really interesting.

[@SpringboardThought]

Most people like it more than me, and it is great at a few things. I’m just surprised at where it ended, for some reason.

[@lindysmagpiereads]

I’ve read others by Mieville that I’ve given 5 stars (City in the City and Embassytown) so thanks for reminding me to pick up Perdido Station. I DNFed Eileen, gave Lapvona 2 stars and loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I think I’m done with Moshfegh. I’m not sure why I don’t have Carson’s If Not Winter in my Goodreads list. I know I’ve read it through twice and it gives me a good feeling just seeing the book on my shelf. Love the sense of loss and melancholy in all the empty space on the pages. Next time I read it, I will be sure to give it 5 stars.

[@SpringboardThought]

I hope you like Perdido too! It is really out there hah I think I have Embassytown! I’ll have to give that a go. Yeah, on paper I should like Moshfegh quite a bit but I don’t think anything of hers has been 5 stars. I keep wanting to like her. I did like My Year of Rest and Relaxation, but didn’t love it. I haven’t developed my poetry brain at all. Most of the time it’s mystifying to me, so I wasn’t surprised I didn’t get on with If Not, Winter.

[@pensivelyreading]

I like your observation about The Bullet That Missed being movie-like. I guess the first two were written around the same time and then there was a gap in his writing, so the third one having a different feeling makes sense. I’m really curious about how the Spielberg film will be whenever that comes out. Apparently, Osman is also writing a separate series about a retired private investigator and his daughter- should be interesting. I’m torn about trying Moshvegh- I keep hearing mixed reviews so I guess I just need to try her writing and see. Great reviews!

[@SpringboardThought]

The cool thing about the audiobooks is that at least two of them have short interviews with Osman at the end (maybe all of them?) and he talked about having more pieces on the board to really go all out for the third one, and challenging himself more, with an intricate plot. Yes! It’ll be interesting to see what the movie adaptation ends up like. I can imagine some pretty amazing old actors in the roles already, but I’m particularly curious about the aesthetic. Because it almost feels like a Wes Anderson flicks at times to me. Moshfegh is pretty marmite-like indeed! I usually really like unhinged women in books, if they’ve got a purpose, so I’m surprised they don’t ever really fully land for me.

[@BookTubewithAmy]

I have Thursday Murder Club on my shelves to read. I've heard mixed reviews but I think it sounds like it could be my kind off fun.

[@SpringboardThought]

It’s pretty… quirky, that’s for sure. Always hard to pull off something cozy and funny with murder involved.

[@novelideea]

I loved, LOVED, the writing of Perdido St. but could not make it to the end. It all got to be too much. Now that I hear from you that the end was especially brutal I am so happy I DNFd it!

[@SpringboardThought]

Oh yes, it ramps up the tension and horror, and the ending is just gutting.

[@ameliareads589]

I've read all of Moshfegh's novels apart from Lapvona and I am done with her as well. I don't think Mc Glue is going to change your opinion. I've read Into the Wild by Krakauer and loved it, so I would definitely pick up more stuff by him. I was hesitant to read him for a long time, because of his "bestseller author" fame, so I didn't expect that I would like his writing that much. You actually made me curious to pick up Fake Accounts. I didn't feel really drawn to it so far.

[@SpringboardThought]

All of them! I didn’t know that. I would like to read something else by him that read more natural, and not more of just the event blow-by-blow stuff. Fake Accounts was my kind of humour, boy was it on the mark.

[@MarcNash]

Have you read "I Hate The Internet" Fraser? That so brilliantly dissects the position of People of Colo(u)r are placed in online. To me it leaves all other books about life online in its wake.

[@SpringboardThought]

I haven’t. I’m pretty sure my library has it, possibly the only one of his they do have. I’ll have to check that out. Is that the one he fooled people into thinking was traditionally published?

[@MarcNash]

@@SpringboardThought I didn't know about that, but yes it was initially self-published, thought it got picked up by a publisher after that, but maybe not

[@SpringboardThought]

@@MarcNash I saw an interview with him and Alan Moore, of all people, where he describes how he was black balled because he self published it in a way that made everyone think it wasn’t self published, initially, and then he did manage to sell the next book to a publisher - only it was about how crappy the publishing industry was, or something like that? And then after that they black balled him, which is why he’s self published since, I guess.

[@SpringboardThought]

@@MarcNash ah yes, the one that got him black balled was Only Americans Burn In Hell, if I remember correctly. It was an interesting interview. It’s for Motor Spirit, and why he published it the way he did. It was something KZbin recommended to me in my feed, a rare home run for the algorithm

[@avolynfisher]

Lapvona is satirical which doesn't work for everyone but I definitely don't think it's a proponent of the behavior. I loved it but at one point I pictured the king as Mel Brooks, and couldn't unsee that, and so the entire book took on the form of a Mel Brooks film and that's the lens I read it. And you have to like a certain amount of depravity I suppose.

[@SpringboardThought]

I’m aware it’s satire. I think I was clear about it interrogating patriarchy and faith, etc. I really dislike Mel Brooks movies, so that probably further explains why it didn’t do anything for me. I think the only effective satire, for me, is stuff with a lot more whit, and not emotion and shock. Any type of comedy rarely land with me though, so it’s not surprising.

[@avolynfisher]

@@SpringboardThought fair I really love your channel, and your take on books. So hopefully this didn't come off as combative. Lol and glad to see you back from your slight pause (and backlog you explained) looking forward to catching up on what you've been reading lately!

[@SpringboardThought]

@@avolynfisher thank you and no worries I’m sure people disagree with what I think all the time! Hopefully I’ll be more consistent going forward now.

[@bookinwithdebra]

I don't understand why you would change a narrator for the last book in a series 🤔 It seems very inconsistent. I appreciated hearing your thoughts on Last Night at the Telegraph Club. I have it on my list for my Read Around the World Challenge. Fake Accounts sounds very relevant to today. I really struggle to read books where the focus is unlikeable characters. I think this would be just really irritate and annoy me 😂

[@SpringboardThought]

I think a lot of people have that problem with Fake Accounts haha!! She’s Very unlikable, buuuut you’re laughing at her, for being like that lol it’s a tough mix

[@Shellyish]

“If you want to get into someone head on something you’d never like ever.” Ha! Yup. I spy M! I really want to read Mieville! 😊 Except for the brutal ending. 🫣 Sapph-O! *shakes fist* Fake accounts! I’m not sure about that one. Glad to see you back, Fraser. 😊

[@SpringboardThought]

Mieville is a wild wild ride! Fake Accounts is so good thoughhhh!!!