Benny's Book Review - Horror Movie
January 15, 2025
2024 was a big year for reading books for me. I log them on Goodreads, mainly to help prevent me from re-reading something that was forgettable.
I rate them, but I don't write reviews. I just did a quick search, and it looks like the last time I mentioned a book before this post might have been in 2015. And 2009 before that
One of the reasons I don't write my thoughts is that it takes me a while to digest a story. Most of the time, I enjoy them in the moment and start forgetting plot points almost immediately when I get to the last page. Reading a sequel can be painful. It's not uncommon for me to have to go to Wikipedia and refresh my memory on all that has happened up to that point.
But I have recently finished a book was so creepy that I'm going to go ahead and mention it.
Horror Movie, by Paul Tremblay
It bounces between three realities -- a current day look back at the making of an amateur horror move 20 years ago, the 20 years back POV, and the script from the movie itself. And features from one reality bleed into the others in a way that makes you tense the whole way through.
I'm still thinking about it a couple of weeks later, which is quite unusual.
I also still think of its first review on Goodreads, which is just so wonderful:
I've never ready anything else by Paul Tremblay, but I'll definitely pick another of his books sometime soon.
Getting back to my list of reads, there is a page where I dump my Goodreads onto this site, similar to the music link stuff I mentioned in the previous post. Here are some links:
Listing of the books I've logged
Blog posts tagged with "books"
While we're on the topic and toward the beginning of the year, I'll mention my favorite book that I read in 2004.
The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray
This one is more literary and less pulpy, but it's a non-linear story, told by different POV characters, that reveals itself by peeling layer after layer from the narrative onion. And holy shit, the ending. Don't read ahead.