rudyreads's Notes
2025
Horror Movie
By Paul TremblayVery suspenseful and I liked the behind-the-scenes look at movie making. Splicing the story-telling of the production of the films (both original and the reboot) with the script of the original film allows truth and fiction to get a little muddled. The idea of victim/perpetrator is also quite fuzzy...and with the cast and crew pushing the limits on the movie set, it's hard to distinguish how much they are at fault when things go south and how much it's just acting. Especially when the main character, who takes the brunt of the abuse, seems to be playing along for his own mysterious motivations.
Katabasis (Standard Edition)
By R F KuangA journey into the bowels of hell and plotting the way according to the philosophers and magicians of yore just to learn that idolizing the teacher with MWM syndrome wasn't worth it.
If only we didn't need to learn this lesson the hard way, where we suffer and torment ourselves. Maybe the more books we read like this, the more we learn we can skip that part and just know that we don't need their approval or permission to be enough in the world. We already are.
*Tip: don't listen to the audiobook version. The narrators aren't very good and one slips into a British accent on occasion for the American character. We don't eat "pizzar" in the U.S.
2024
Human Acts
By Han KangHaunting, devastating. Highly recommend.