American War
Omar El Akkad
-An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle--a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its mos...
Parsed comments
Comment from [Reddit user] with 10 upvotes on /r/books/
I am reading Tales of King Arthur, by Henry Gilbert to my son.
I'm almost finished the audiobook American War, by Omar El Akkad and I'm starting on Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City, by Tanya Talaga.
I'm working on Hidden Empire, by Kevin J Anderson.
Comment from [Reddit user] with 10 upvotes on /r/books/
I forgot to post last week so I have 2 weeks worth of stuff today.
I finished NOS4R2, by Joe Hill. Overall I enjoyed this, but it wasn't as scary as I had hoped it would be.
I read The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell. I really liked this short story. I'd definitely be interested in reading similar stories.
I read American War, by Omar El Akkad. Overall a good read. I can understand why some people struggled with parts of this, especially the timeline of world powers completely shifting.
I read The Penguin Lessons, by Tom Michell and absolutely adored it. I'd recommend this to anyone.
Finally, I started reading The Terror, by Dan Simmons. I'm only about 10% of the way through this so far but I'm finding it very interesting.
Comment from [Reddit user] with 6 upvotes on /r/books/
This week I finished reading:
American War, by Omar El Akkad. 4/5. Well written and fascinating, I left with a lot of question and weird thoughts about how war works, and how it affects us. I found the character of Sarat absolutely fascinating. She's big, she's angry, she's absolutely broken. I can't even call her an anti-hero. She's more of a very sad villain. Lost a star because it was hard to follow at times. I wish there was a timeline because the whole time I thought this big plague had already happened when it actually happened at the end of the book. It was also really slow and overly flowy at points.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, by Meg Ellison. 5/5. Holy shit this book!! I honestly can't believe I read something as amazing as this novel. Gruesome and lonely, so very lonely. I think what I liked most about this was that it wasn't about survival of self, but survival of humanity itself. I cannot wait to pick up The Book of Etta.
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. Okay technically I haven't finished this yet but I have like half an hour left so I definitely will today. Great book, rounded out my dystopia/post-apocalyptic week.
I am still reading/started reading:
Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo. Honestly I'm not super interested in the plot of this book but people won't stop telling me to read it so here I am. I'm one chapter in and it hasn't caught my attention yet but I have hope. Started this after finishing Book of the Unnamed Midwife.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. So far, I'm loving this book and I am loving Dr. Chef so much.
Comment from [Reddit user] with 4 upvotes on /r/books/
This week I finished:
The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin. Definitely loved this novel, it was super compelling and heartbreaking. Well, 3/4ths of it. Each of the main siblings get a part that's focused on their life (and death), and three were super fun and interesting but one was incredibly lackluster. But the rest make up for it.
The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. I wasn't as interested in this as I hoped I would be, and I partially blame how I read it (I started this, then read the entirety of The Immortalists, then finished this). Gruesome, but interesting look at the lives of African Americans in all parts of America during slave times.
Still started and Still Reading:
American War, by Omar El Akkad. The writing in this is beautiful, the topic haunting and sinister. Seeing refugee camps in America, half of the world underwater... Feels too timely.
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. I definitely want to read a physical copy of this and I am a little confused as to where one of the main characters vanished too but it's a lovely book. At the end of the world, what is art worth?
Comment from [Reddit user] with 3 upvotes on /r/books/
Finished:
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
It was a really enjoyable fantasy YA book. There's a cliff hanger at the end and now I need to read "Crooked Kingdom".
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
It was okay. It felt like a lot of the story she was trying to be edgy especially with the whole sexbot story line. It fell a bit flat and the ending was a bit confusing.
Reading:
American War by Omar El Akkad
Really enjoying this so far.
Comment from [Reddit user] with 3 upvotes on /r/books/
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
First read this in my mid-teens and am re-reading it for the first time in my mid-twenties. The first go around I remember liking it but it had no real lasting impact for me...this time I'm coming at it as much more of a fan of Salinger's writing (I read and loved Franny and Zooey last year) and I'm appreciating a lot more. What an excellent character sketch this is, Holden is such a strong personality and your heart breaks for him even as he behaves like a jerk. You just know he's broken and lost inside, and Salinger is great at showing us the cracks in his facade of humour and irreverence.
American War, by Omar el Akkad
Very early into this one, but I'm enjoying the details of the dystopian, balkanized future America. Not much depth to the story or characters yet though.
Comment from [Reddit user] with 2 upvotes on /r/books/
I finished American War by Omar El Akkad I really enjoyed it, although the ending felt extremely rushed. Probably the last quarter or so of the book it just felt like the author had gotten sick of the whole thing and just banged out an ending to have one. But up until then it was an excellent book, and I don't feel like the iffy ending detracted too much from the overall book.
I started This Is The Way The World Ends by Keith Taylor but I doubt I'm going to finish this one. I showed up for zombies and folks getting eaten, but instead the author thinks that I really care about his opinions on Trump and Brexit and what not. I really, really don't.
Comment from [Reddit user] with 2 upvotes on /r/books/
Finished American War, by Omar El Akkad. Not my favorite, I thought the plot was far-fetched (if you want to write about a second American civil war there are other, far more likely reasons for rebellion) and the dialogue was kinda weird. However, this was also my first go at an audiobook and I'll say that it's definitely a good way to passively read a book. Would I have liked it better had I physically read it? Hard to say but likely not.
Reading The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas. It's easy to feel close to the characters. I was never really into swordsmen stories as a kid but this one is entertaining and endearing.
Comment from [Reddit user] with 1 upvotes on /r/books/
I finished American War, by Omar El Akkad. I enjoyed the book and the fact that it took itself seriously. The ending stuck with me for the rest of the day as I thought about the main characters decision.
I started Artemis, by Andy Weir. I am enjoying the book so far but find it bizarre that Kenya is the country that made the moon base. I hope to find out why further in the book why that is.