Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (review)

 

Blurb:

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans--though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the "Transition." Now, eating human meat--"special meat"--is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he's given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he's aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost--and what might still be saved.

My Thoughts:

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I felt really unsettled whilst reading it. It's not a happy book. There's not really any warm and fuzzies going on here. The world kind of sucks. The characters are all kind of sucky and the thought of eating human flesh just makes me nauseous...and I get it. That's the whole point. I think the author was trying to highlight how complacent humans can be when the majority chooses to do something, the few will go along with it. 

I couldn't help but hope that the main character would break free, do the right thing and live with the consequences of his actions but alas...it didn't work that way. (I'm trying to be as spoiler free as possible here). My main thought through this whole story was HAS NO ONE HEARD OF VEGETARIANISM OR VEGANISM? There are so many meat substitutes why go to that extreme? That was the part that lost me and kept me from slipping into this world completely. 

Honestly, it's a decently written book. There was sufficient world building that I could picture this society pretty well. A few little points kept it from being REAL REAL and the main character was just pretty boring. There were several gory scenes in the book that made me squeamish. Several non-gory scenes that made me squirm in an unpleasant way and then the ending made me grrrrr. 

I didn't exactly hate it, but I didn't exactly love it. It was a quick read however, so there's that. 

What did you think of this book?  

My 75 Soft Challenge

 

So I am starting this challenge today and it will continue the challenge until April 17th (unless I mess up and have to restart from day 1). 

I am going to be following the Keto diet, so very low carb for the entirety of the challenge. 

I will be using my treadmill, stepper machine and walking outside as my exercise daily. 

I have a 40oz water bottle that I will refill 3 times a day. 

Obviously I will be reading, probably more than just the 10 pages per day. 

My update posts will probably not be daily but I will do a progress report each week, probably on Sunday. 

I'm not exactly keen on taking progress pics but I will take them for personal reference, but I will be honest about my weight. 

If I mess up, I'll fess up. If I have to restart I'll self report. This is me being accountable. 

You can join me if you like or just maybe cheer me on. 

Starting Weight: 145.2lbs at 5'0 

Winter's Respite Readathon

 

Well I am going to be working my way through my TBR this month! I have a nice stack going and I am still on track to hit my goals!

I'm currently reading Fourth Wing, and hope to be finished by tomorrow (Sunday 2nd) and easing my way into Iron Flame, and then into Onyx Storm. So those are the first 3 books on my TBR. 

Here's the rest of the books on my to read list:

• The Borgias by Michael Mallet
• Murderland by Caroline Fraser
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

So that's 7 books by the end of February. I don't know if I can do that but it's what I'm aiming for. I don't think I'll be able to participate in the readathon on the 22nd, as I will have a work shift at night but I might could participate halfway and extend it into Sunday? I don't know yet. 

Other things I'm focusing on this month is the 75 Soft Challenge, it's a fitness thing that I'm starting Sunday 2nd. 

I'm debating on posting my progress for that here on my blog, even though I know it's not a fitness/health blog. It is part of my life and my goals for the year too. 

So let's get reading ya'll! 

The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (Double Quick Reviews)

 

The quick and dirty:
This is sci-fi at it's best! I am almost done with the last book in the trilogy and I am loving it! These books are absolutely must reads if you are into this genre! I got interested in it by the Netflix series (of course!) but the books blow the show out of the water! 

The Review: 

So the basic premise, and it is dumbed down because the science-y stuff is super dense (don't let that scare you please!). The Earth learns that in 4 centuries (or so) an alien species is going to "visit" Earth. Are they evil or are they going to be friendly? That's the question that really drives the first book through. We sent a signal into space to see if anyone answers, and they do. We aren't sure who they are or what they want, so different factions start to form. Those that welcome the new visitors and those that see them as a threat. Can you guess which group the government falls into? 

There's much more to the story, but that's basically the gist of it. Humanity is no longer alone. The first book, though very science heavy is showing how the human characters are all struggling with so many of the  "human" experiences that would be involved around this new knowledge. It's (in my opinion) both science driven and character driven. 

You learn about the aliens, you learn about why they are in space and responding to our signal. You learn about the people that interact with them and you get a good look at how people would react to such knowledge. It's both interesting and horrifying. 

The Three-Body Problem is an excellent read and a great start to a series. 

Then we get into The Dark Forest, the 2nd book in the series. 

This was a bit more dense with the science and a bit more of a slow read. We find out that the aliens have decided that we aren't worth it, so they plan on taking us out. The chaos that ensues from this is wild! The government tries to prepare and plan their counter-attack. Scientists try to ramp up the development of Earth's technologies. The general public tries to cope with the knowledge that there's a ticking time bomb headed straight for them. It's madness, and it's also pretty compelling. 

The Dark Forest is more about the aliens. You get more knowledge about them, their planet and their plans. It's not revealed completely, but you start to understand just a bit more. This book has almost completely new characters from the first, but they too are also well written and interesting to meet. 

I did find that the middle section (the more science-y heavy ones) did drag just a bit, it was tough getting through but once you made it the last 200 or so pages are explosive! So it is definitely worth it to push through. 

I am loving the 3rd book in the series so look out for my review coming soon. 

So for the first two books, I can say that they are very solid sci-fi reads. They are translated and sometimes I felt like the meaning was lost in the translation, but mostly it was easy to follow the plot (though as I've said a few times already the science-y bits can be a bit heavy) the world building and characters are all well developed and interesting. 

I'm not going to do star reviews, but I will say that is sci-fi is your jam and you haven't already read this series I would say go for it!  

Readathon Updates With Snow Pictures! FINISHED

 

Welp, I woke up later than I wanted to so I didn't get started at 7am BUT I am sitting here ready to start at 8am. I had my alarm set for 6:30 am so I could get up and get my morning stuff done before I started, but I might have hit snooze whilst still asleep or something. (I worked last night until Midnight then had to do a few things before I could go to bed) I don't know. But I am awake, coffee made, book chosen and heating blankie initiated. 

Oh and this is what the outside looks like today:

Which is the reason for the heating blankie. Anyways, I will update this is chunks, perhaps every 4 hours or so? We shall see. 

1st Book

First Block 

Starting Page: 45

Ending Page: 120 pages 

Snack/Beverage: Coffee and water. Oatmeal and toast. 

Time Started: 8am CST

Time Ended: 12pm CST 

Second Block

Starting Page: 165

Ending Page: 209

Snack/Beverage: Grilled cheese sandwich and noodles. 

Time started: 12:30pm

Time Ended: 3:30pm

NOTE: I ended up taking a little nap in the middle of this block. 

Third Block-Still Reading Death's End

Starting Page: 209

Ending Page: 319

Snack/Beverage: Water, burger

Time started: 4:00pm

Time Ended: 8:00pm

Note: I am really enjoying this book. I'm still reading Death's End. 

Fourth Block

Starting Page: 319

Ending Page: 387

Snack/Beverage: Chips 

Time started: 8:30pm

Time Ended: ??

Note: Okay, so I flubbed this one super hard. I had such good intentions. I laid back and had my heating blanket on, my doggo gave me some snuggles and all was right in the world. Then I closed my eyes and..well that was that! 

I am going to continue reading until I have to get up and do things this afternoon. 

So all in all, I read about 342 pages. I didn't finish my book, but I am pleased. I think next read-a-thon I might focus on shorter books because while I am thoroughly enjoying Death's End, it's a chonker. 

Here's a cute pic to end this post

Weekend Readathon

 

I have this Saturday off and no plans thanks to Mother Nature and the ice/snow that she's supposed to dump on us. So as long as we aren't frozen solid and the power stays on, I'm going to use this off day wisely! 

I'm going to spend all of the day (minus a few mini-breaks) reading! I plan on getting up at 7am and reading until 7am Sunday. I do have to work later in the day, otherwise I would say it would be longer...I will have to nap sometime in there but otherwise it's a book day! 

I hopefully will be able to get some snacks and foods delivered Friday, but we will see. This is going to be fun! 

Watch for updates and such, I will probably do them in chunks instead of hourly, but I will be posting my progress and TBR stack tomorrow. 

You can join me if you want! 

**Update: It snowed quite nicely and as such, people freaked. There were no delivery slots available for grocery orders until Monday so I will not have readathon snackos but I am still going to do my thing! 

Books I'm Reading Now

 

I'm going with a different approach with how I discuss my TBR stack this year. I won't be doing my normal Monday post, but occasional lil updates on what I have going on. 

Right now I've got my attention on 3 books, and are currently reading 2 out of the 3. These books are going to be my first reads of the year. 

The only one of the 3 that I haven't started yet is Extasia, but I do want to get into that one soon! 

I've been plowing through the Three-Body Problem, and am very much into the third and last book in the series, Death's End. 

I'm about 100 something pages into To Ride Hell's Chasm, and it's not pulling me in as much as I had hoped. I won't DNF it yet, but it's shaping up to be my first of the year unfortunately. 

What are you reading?