Ahhhh…Nostalgia. Plus pretty colours. And I’m going to say that I’m not grown up yet, because I requested 101 Video Games to Play Before You Grow Up from Netgalley for me rather than Tesfa, although when Tesfa looked over my shoulder last night and saw me reading it, she demanded that she get to read it too to make sure Zelda was in there (the book intrigued its actual target audience rather than me — success!) Plus Katamari was in there (first thing I checked). No Nethack though. And as shiny and pretty and colourful as this book is, it can’t change the fact that it’s basically a list of one hundred and one games of male protagonists (obviously there are a few females tossed in, like Samus, but that’s hardly enough). It’s not Bertoli’s fault that video games skew male, but it does put a damper on my reading off all the little video game facts/synopses, especially with Tesfa super-eager to see what video games she might want to play next. So then I ended up sad, instead of cheerfully inspired. Boo patriarchy.

101 Video Games to Play Before You Grow Up by Ben Bertoli went on sale October 1, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve slacked on this review. I finished this book ages ago. Conclusion: the book exists. You get the feeling that it’s meant to be read as a physical copy, poorly bound, in a café, with a cigarette, and other literati around, reading the same or other slim novellas. A few of them are Marxists. Coffee is black and strong. Everything is in black-and-white. There may be berets. Someone should pound their fist on the table.

I, on the other hand, read this book on a kobo on an airplane. So … yeah …

Nothing much happens. I mean, obviously a lot happens if you just list all the things that happen (her parents own a store, they sell their store, they buy another store, they buy a hotel, they move to the country, she goes to university, etc.) but it’s still a nothing happens sort of book. The conflicts are petty (overbearing father, ineffective mother, dismissive sister, loser boyfriend) and unsubstantial. It’s all sort of abstractly interesting, like an art house film. I like some art house films, but I also tend to forget stories without strong plots, and I think The Four Roads Hotel is going to be one of those ones I end up forgetting I even read it.

The Four Roads Hotel by France Théoret went on sale October 1, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.