#26: The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
I have such a massive backlog of physical books that I’ve either bought or picked up from a little free library that I rarely let myself by books to read on my Kindle. The one exception? Going on vacation. Because it’s so much easier and more convenient to have my Kindle than to carry a physical book (or several)!
This month I took the vacation of all vacations, aka MY HONEYMOON!!! Bobby and I got married in DC and took off for a week-long trip around the northeast, which meant lots and lots of time on the train, which meant lots and lots of time for reading! I used that time to get through this massive hunk of a horror story and it was so worth the time. I really enjoyed the characters created and even though Wendig’s writing style isn’t my favorite to read (it’s a little too conversational, and came across as gimmicky in places), the plot moves so well that I never wanted to put it down. Also, short chapters! Yay for short chapters so I can take quick breaks or squeeze in one more before Bobby drags me off the train to go do other things!
While this book is billed as horror, I think it would be a good entry-point for anyone looking for a slightly scarier book that won’t fuck you up for life. It does have some truly grizzly descriptions though, so be prepared for that. My biggest issue with horror as a genre is that too often I feel like creators come up with this amazing twisted problem, and develop such awesome terrifying events, and then it just… ends. And they don’t really give you the why. This book has a nice why, and it provides a satisfying ending that makes the page count worth it.