#*reckless

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Not gonna lie, I go into almost every book I read totally blind, so in some ways, every book surprises me, and in others, very few do.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray was such a singularly unpleasant reading experience for the entire first 25.5 hours of reading it that, in the last forty minutes that it finally became clear how it was gonna end, I was honestly shocked at how well it did wrap things up.

I was only able to hold out hope the entire 32 hours of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt because last year I'd read The Secret History by her and I had absolute blind faith in my girl. It was such a long book that felt so meandering (Fun! But meandering, with no evident goal in sight.), I truly could not figure out what on earth message she might have that would make it all worth it, that would make all 32 hours meaningful. And then, in the last five minutes of the book, the trap emerged so beautifully from beneath the foliage, and I was knocked on my ass by how incredibly she cinched it all together. She did that.

Africa is Not a Country by Dipo Faloyin didn't surprise me with its quality so much as it surprised me how well I would enjoy reading a non-fiction book. Historically, non-fiction had always been a bit of a drudge for me to get through, and despite Amanda Montell's Cultish: the Language of Fanatacism before it (which was an AMAZING and very compelling read, read it mid-December 2023 in a single evening), I still assumed that was more a fluke than something that might consistently be true for well-written non-fiction.

No, no. You don't understand. I'll tell them the whole story. Everything that happened. I'll tell them it's my fault, not yours. That you did it for me. I'll tell them that. They'll understand when I tell them everything.

I never did a decent thing in all my life. I never even wanted to until you came along. And I began to think, if only I could turn back and start over. So what happens? As soon as I try to turn back, I find myself with this on my hands.