Weirdly marginal

This  month, I read;  memory serves,  Lee Maracle (review to follow) The Beasts of Belmont Park   (Kindly given to me by the  publisher  in exchange for  an honest review)   (short review to follow) and Embed with Games. (short review) below.  I have been  listening to the following podcasts;  the  Fantasticast,  Rachel and Miles X-plain the X-men,  Galactic Suburbia, Coode Street,  Verity podcast,  and the writer and the critic.   I have been watching;  on YouTube;  Jeans Bookish thoughts,  Mercy’s  bookish musings,  Jen Campbell,  We  Live for Books,  Jason Purcell ,   and  C.A  DuBois.  Check the out for Brilliant content.

The beast  of  Belmont Park by Hud Saunders,  given to me by  the publisher in exchange for an honest review, concerns a middle aged,  married couple.  The husband, an out of work actor who is currently acting as house husband and sole carer to their two children, resents his wife’s career and is bored.  His wife, a successful writer, is dissatisfied with her marriage and their lack of sexual activity. This book follows them through; affairs, drug taking and self-analysis.  The book was a pleasant enough read.  It follows a similar path to many current and past works.  There’s not much ground breaking stuff here but it makes for an easy, commute, read.  Pigeonhole’s  publishing model  should work well for this book.  (See my  other reviews for more details of the way that this publishing house works https://vikzwrites.wordpress.com/2015/06/16/fable-review/).  Their serialised manner of publishing would make this book take on the feel of a soap opera.  It would make it a great read for that commute to work. 

Embed with Games  follows the writer through a journey into games;  “In 2014 games critic Cara Ellison pledged to the internet she'd leave home, become itinerant, and travel around the world to live with and write about some of the most interesting game developers and their cultural outlook.”   It is an interesting read.  Once again, this would make a great commute read.   Since, it is better read in chunks.  Read in a binge, it may feel disjointed and overwhelming.

Overall, I have had a sluggish reading month.  Many of the books have been uninspiring.  Many books were unfinished.  The only book that really blew me away was ‘memory serves’ - review to follow.