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Shortest Book
12
pages
Longest Book
912
pages
Average book length in
2025
75
pages
Most Shelved
3,320,085
people
also shelved
Least Shelved
6
people
also shelved
Jayson’s
average rating for
2025
3.2
3.2
Highest Rated on Goodreads
4.62
average
Jayson’s first review of the year
really liked it
(A-) 81% | Very Good
Notes: Much complicating/fate-awaiting, quite Lolita-lite, emotion flows (devotion throes), though could've been more tight.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/07/2024 - Preamble
(1) Contrary to popular belief, I will on occasion read books other people might be interested in and/or have actually heard of.
(2) I'm reading this now because one of my goals for 2024 is to read at (A-) 81% | Very Good
Notes: Much complicating/fate-awaiting, quite Lolita-lite, emotion flows (devotion throes), though could've been more tight.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/07/2024 - Preamble
(1) Contrary to popular belief, I will on occasion read books other people might be interested in and/or have actually heard of.
(2) I'm reading this now because one of my goals for 2024 is to read at least one 500+ page book.
- Lucky enough, after being on hold forever, this eBook just became available at my library.
- I don't expect to have a problem finishing before the return date, but the clock's ticking!
12/16/2024 - 10%
(1) There's an awful lot of nudity talk in the prologue, as if to constantly underscore, and drill into your head, at the outset what time travel here entails.
- In this case, it's waking up naked and vulnerable.
- On the plus side, probably not "Naked and Afraid" (like that TV show), since I suppose you'd get used to the feeling pretty quick. I mean, there'd be no fear of the unknown.
(2) So, it took me ten whole days to get the ball rolling on this, but I've finally managed enough momentum to move forward with it.
- I wish I had a paper copy of this instead of an eBook. Staring at an electronic screen will never not feel like work to me.
(3) I always have difficulty processing time travel in fiction. Getting the timeline straightened out and getting my mind around the mechanics of it has always given me a headache.
- From first impressions, this doesn't seem any different.
(4) When Clare and Henry meet at the start of this, she tells him she's tried many times to get him to sleep with her over the years but that he's always refused.
- She's 20 years old here, so that gets any worries about potential underaged sex or statutory rape squared away at the very start.
- It's a natural concern given the concept. You know, an adult having a romantic history with a child: knowing they'll be married in the future.
(5) It's interesting that there isn't a time when Clare and Henry meet that one doesn't already know the other. There's no meeting for the first time.
- One of them always knows they'll be together, so it's fated from the very beginning. Neither one of them initiates the relationship from square-one, they just take it as a fait accompli upon hearing it.
(6) The first date at the Thai restaurant gives us a bit of a preview of events, as Clare fills-in a heretofore unknowing Henry of things they've been through.
(7) A lot of this book involves libraries, books and museums, and very detailed talk thereof.
- Aspects, I'm sure, that will endear the main characters to the naturally bookish reading audience.
(8) Henry explains time travel to Clare by using a cassette tape as a metaphor. You will often rewind or fast-forward past where you intend to go.
- I have my doubts that Gen-Z readers will fully appreciate this, if they comprehend it at all.
12/21/2024 - 20%
(1) Apparently, Ouija boards actually work in this universe! To her own surprise, Clare's childhood friends divine that Henry's her "husband."
- This suggests some omniscient being or spirit is guiding the rollers, an agent of fate unconcerned with disclosing the future.
- It also suggests time travel here isn't strictly science fiction, but more than likely supernatural/magic as well.
(2) You can add the art gallery to libraries and museums as settings in this novel that appeal to bookish people.
- Presuming people who read recreationally are more inclined toward fine arts and learning in general.
(3) "I'm in my bedroom with my self. He's here from next March. We are doing what we often do when we have a little privacy, when it's cold out, when both of us are past puberty and haven't quite gotten around to actual girls yet. I think most people would do this, if they had the sort of opportunities I have. I mean, I'm not gay or anything."
- Uh, no, I'm not sure most people would if they had the sort of "opportunities" you have.
- Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. That line at the end about not being gay spells it out crystal clear that Henry's engaged in homosexual acts with himself. What that exactly entails is left entirely to the imagination.
- It does bring up a philosophical question about whether it counts as sexual relations if it only involves you, not a twin nor some ghost or spirit. I mean, what makes a person a separate individual? a separate body? Presumably, they share the same soul or animating spirit.
- Probably how Henry perceives it is that this is literally sexual self-gratification and therefore no different than when he's on his own and unaccompanied by himself.
- Personally, I disagree. The fact that Henry says "He's here from next March" instead of "I'm here from next March" indicates that slightly-younger Henry considers slightly-older Henry a separate person from himself.
- Anyway, this book continues to be surprisingly edgy with sexual morality. The author makes a point to mention that both Henry's are past puberty.
(4) "'He's so... beautiful,' Clare says. There's something about the way she says it that makes me feel strange ... It dawns on me that I am jealous [of Paul McCartney]. Jesus. I can't believe I'm feeling jealous of a multimillionaire rock star geezer old enough to be Clare's dad."
- Says the guy who, at this point in time, is old enough to be Clare's dad.
(5) Henry and Clare play chess, as she probes for more information about the future while he struggles with how much to tell her.
- Chess here is a metaphor or physical expression of their mental duel.
(6) "I scrutinize Clare. Is twelve too young? I'm sure twelve is really too young."
- Yes, Henry! Twelve is definitely too young!
(7) Things start getting really weird and strays into iffy sexual territory once Clare turns 12.
- Up until Clare's 17, Henry is continually struggling with himself about what lines shouldn't be crossed as she goes through puberty and her inevitable sexual awareness.
- I had no idea going into this book that it would be quite so much like Lolita.
(8) "'Kiss,' I demand, and he kisses me."
- By my count, we get three separate kisses between 16 year-old Clare and 30-something Henry.
- I'd hoped this was just on the cheek or forehead, but it mentions how Henry avoids touching the blood on her nose, which implies that third kiss, at least, is full-on the mouth.
- The author does make clear that these kisses are always at Clare's request or insistence, as if to assuage the idea that Henry's in any way predatory.
(9) It's interesting how we're essentially going chronologically through Claire's timeline, whereas Henry's age is irregular and constantly jumping around.
- It underscores his inherent instability.
- Possibly highlighting how this is Clare's story not Henry's. After all, the book is called The Time Traveler's Wife and not The Time Traveler nor The Time Traveler and His Wife.
12/23/2024 - 30%
(1) "It occurs to me that Clare might prefer to be with this later edition of me, since after all they do know each other better."
- While she clearly has no problems with older men, the smaller the age difference the better. I mean, the bare minimum's already eight years.
- Turns out, Henry's right. Side-by-side, Clare does prefer older Henry. Young Henry's like domesticating a stray.
(2) One thing this book does often is lull you into a kind of routine mundanity before it slaps you across the face.
- Decapitation was not on my bingo card for this book!
(3) Henry: "I have an urge to go to the symphony, now, but there's no evening program."
- Granted, he's the son of two classical musicians, but what 25 year-old has an urge to go to the symphony? It's not exactly the stuff urges are made of.
(4) I may be reading too much into it, but it seems like what time travel does to Henry's body accelerates alcohol poisoning.
- Either that, or it is simply that he didn't eat enough beforehand.
- Mia the bartender seems to think he's perfectly fine until he isn't.
(5) Henry and Clare reveal their secret to two people, Clare's blind grandmother and Clare's roommate's boyfriend Gomez.
- You'd think there'd be a common denominator between the two, but it appears to be exactly the opposite.
- They reveal the secret together to the grandmother but each separately to Gomez.
- The grandmother seems undisturbed by the whole thing (except to suggest Henry's a demon), while Gomez freaks out and insists Clare break things off.
- While both are present when Henry vanishes, the grandmother is blind and can only feel the disappearance of his presence, whereas Gomez is a kind of Doubting Thomas where seeing is ultimately believing.
- The grandmother knows Henry's much older after she feels his face, whereas Gomez sees he's older and cannot understand why that is... maybe he should have felt his face?
(6) I tell you, hands-down the worst part of this novel so far is the dinner conversation between Henry, Clare, Charisse and Gomez.
- It feels positively Hallmark, all inauthentic, hokey and tiring. There are much more interesting ways to say Gomez is a smug champagne socialist.
- A seemingly never-ending dialogue about cannibalism was not on my bingo card!
- On the bright side, it does make me hate Gomez from the start. Presuming that's the desired response.
(7) Gomez isn't Gomez' actual name. His real name is Jan Gomolinski, and is only called Gomez because his girlfriend's a Filipina and it rolls off the tongue better than Gomolinski.
- It kind of bothers me because Gomez was my school nickname, and for the nearly-identical reasons that I'm from the Philippines and it's less complicated than my actual name.
(8) Gomez gets fairly handsy with Clare, of whom we feel naturally protective of because we've known her since she was a kid.
- It's a feeling that is absent from this current, younger, iteration of Henry.
12/26/2024 - 41%
(1) Clare: "You're corrupting a minor."
Henry: "Oh, he would get there anyway, without me. Wouldn't you?"
Bobby: "I've been trying, but it ain't easy, here."
- I know they're joking about exposing a kid to punk music, but Clare may as well be referring to herself.
(2) "'You do have a record player, right?' 'My parents have one,' Bobby says. Henry winces."
- I react the same to CD talk.
(3) Henry has long hair in 1991, which doesn't strike me as a very early-90s thing. That is, until I realize that practically every grunge and alt-rock front man had long hair, which sort of blows my mind that I'd never noticed before.
- Though, Henry here is a self-described punk fan, so you'd think it'd be more spiky.
(4) "[Henry] puts it back on the shelf and says, 'Does that door lock?' and I flip the lock and we're late for lunch."
- Presumably, the reason they're late for lunch is because they have sex in Clare's childhood bedroom.
- Niffenegger does this a lot, where she conveys sexual situations through pure implication. Though, I don't know why. It's not like she's shy about just saying these things matter-of-factly other times. Possibly, sex in a child's bedroom is just too inappropriate to suggest.
(5) I'm a fair bit annoyed how back-and-forth dialogue isn't separated by paragraphs.
- It's clear in most cases, but I don't want to have to guess.
(6) Clare's family treats Henry much better once they find out he's the son of a celebrity singer.
- How fortunate for him that they happen to be opera fans. Even Clare's brother Mark is awed by it.
- But then, the whole book is built on the idea of fate, so I'm not sure how much that negates or displaces serendipity.
(7) First cannibalism, now shooting up heroin. The jokey dinner conversations in this book are just plain weird.
- Possibly it suggests something about Clare's family and friends?
(8) Turns out Clare's little sister Alicia saw Henry naked when she was just twelve.
- It's meant to be shocking, until you realize that Clare's been seeing Henry naked on the regular since she was six.
- History repeats itself and Alicia sees Henry naked again, though no one's horrified this time, they just laugh it off. Though, if Alicia was twelve the first time, and that was five years ago, she'd still only be seventeen now. Doesn't seem like something to be so casual about.
- Eh, by now, Henry's probably used to everyone seeing him naked.
(9) Helen: "Hmpf. So what was the deal?"
Clare: "Well, he's eight years older than me."
Helen: "So what?"
Clare: '"So when I was twelve and he was twenty, that was a problem." Not to mention when I was six and he was forty.'
- Well, at least she admits that there's a problem (or that their relationship is inherently problematic), she never has before.
(10) Helen: "I mean, I can see you not wanting your parents to know you were playing Lolita to his Humbert Humbert, but I don't get why you couldn't tell us. We would have been totally into it."
- Would you though? would you be "totally into it"? I'm getting the feeling this Helen's a bad influence on our Clare.
- It's been hanging in the air since the very beginning, but they finally made the Lolita comparison. Ergo, Niffenegger knows the romance she's writing is pretty gross and skirting taboos, and she's leaning into it. I mean, "wrong" is the one word that comes to mind when most anyone thinks about Lolita.
(11) Clare loses her virginity to Henry on her 18th birthday.
- How convenient that Henry would randomly appear at exactly that moment. Wonder how old he was then?
(12) We get our second Lévi-Strauss reference in the book. Somebody was an anthropology major! or took a course at least.
- Probably should have called him Claude Lévi-Strauss. I'm sure nearly everyone would assume they're talking about Levi Strauss, the jeans guy.
(13) There's not really any time travel during this whole Christmas with Clare's family. Only a quick there-and-back-again.
- Really, this whole section is more to do with references to time travels' past. People recalling Henry (or someone who looked like him) from before and certain scenes repeating.
(14) Both Henry's dad and the landlord Mrs. Kim know about his ability to time travel.
- There's never been any hint of people knowing outside of scenes where the secret's dramatically divulged. Though, it does make sense. Mrs. Kim's whole thing is that she pretty much raised Henry and knows everything about him. I'm sure he's vanished in front of them on the regular.
- I don't know if it makes Henry's father stumbling in on him having sex with himself any more understandable though.
*character limit
Click here for the rest
(hide spoiler)] ...more
Notes: Much complicating/fate-awaiting, quite Lolita-lite, emotion flows (devotion throes), though could've been more tight.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/07/2024 - Preamble
(1) Contrary to popular belief, I will on occasion read books other people might be interested in and/or have actually heard of.
(2) I'm reading this now because one of my goals for 2024 is to read at (A-) 81% | Very Good
Notes: Much complicating/fate-awaiting, quite Lolita-lite, emotion flows (devotion throes), though could've been more tight.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/07/2024 - Preamble
(1) Contrary to popular belief, I will on occasion read books other people might be interested in and/or have actually heard of.
(2) I'm reading this now because one of my goals for 2024 is to read at least one 500+ page book.
- Lucky enough, after being on hold forever, this eBook just became available at my library.
- I don't expect to have a problem finishing before the return date, but the clock's ticking!
12/16/2024 - 10%
(1) There's an awful lot of nudity talk in the prologue, as if to constantly underscore, and drill into your head, at the outset what time travel here entails.
- In this case, it's waking up naked and vulnerable.
- On the plus side, probably not "Naked and Afraid" (like that TV show), since I suppose you'd get used to the feeling pretty quick. I mean, there'd be no fear of the unknown.
(2) So, it took me ten whole days to get the ball rolling on this, but I've finally managed enough momentum to move forward with it.
- I wish I had a paper copy of this instead of an eBook. Staring at an electronic screen will never not feel like work to me.
(3) I always have difficulty processing time travel in fiction. Getting the timeline straightened out and getting my mind around the mechanics of it has always given me a headache.
- From first impressions, this doesn't seem any different.
(4) When Clare and Henry meet at the start of this, she tells him she's tried many times to get him to sleep with her over the years but that he's always refused.
- She's 20 years old here, so that gets any worries about potential underaged sex or statutory rape squared away at the very start.
- It's a natural concern given the concept. You know, an adult having a romantic history with a child: knowing they'll be married in the future.
(5) It's interesting that there isn't a time when Clare and Henry meet that one doesn't already know the other. There's no meeting for the first time.
- One of them always knows they'll be together, so it's fated from the very beginning. Neither one of them initiates the relationship from square-one, they just take it as a fait accompli upon hearing it.
(6) The first date at the Thai restaurant gives us a bit of a preview of events, as Clare fills-in a heretofore unknowing Henry of things they've been through.
(7) A lot of this book involves libraries, books and museums, and very detailed talk thereof.
- Aspects, I'm sure, that will endear the main characters to the naturally bookish reading audience.
(8) Henry explains time travel to Clare by using a cassette tape as a metaphor. You will often rewind or fast-forward past where you intend to go.
- I have my doubts that Gen-Z readers will fully appreciate this, if they comprehend it at all.
12/21/2024 - 20%
(1) Apparently, Ouija boards actually work in this universe! To her own surprise, Clare's childhood friends divine that Henry's her "husband."
- This suggests some omniscient being or spirit is guiding the rollers, an agent of fate unconcerned with disclosing the future.
- It also suggests time travel here isn't strictly science fiction, but more than likely supernatural/magic as well.
(2) You can add the art gallery to libraries and museums as settings in this novel that appeal to bookish people.
- Presuming people who read recreationally are more inclined toward fine arts and learning in general.
(3) "I'm in my bedroom with my self. He's here from next March. We are doing what we often do when we have a little privacy, when it's cold out, when both of us are past puberty and haven't quite gotten around to actual girls yet. I think most people would do this, if they had the sort of opportunities I have. I mean, I'm not gay or anything."
- Uh, no, I'm not sure most people would if they had the sort of "opportunities" you have.
- Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. That line at the end about not being gay spells it out crystal clear that Henry's engaged in homosexual acts with himself. What that exactly entails is left entirely to the imagination.
- It does bring up a philosophical question about whether it counts as sexual relations if it only involves you, not a twin nor some ghost or spirit. I mean, what makes a person a separate individual? a separate body? Presumably, they share the same soul or animating spirit.
- Probably how Henry perceives it is that this is literally sexual self-gratification and therefore no different than when he's on his own and unaccompanied by himself.
- Personally, I disagree. The fact that Henry says "He's here from next March" instead of "I'm here from next March" indicates that slightly-younger Henry considers slightly-older Henry a separate person from himself.
- Anyway, this book continues to be surprisingly edgy with sexual morality. The author makes a point to mention that both Henry's are past puberty.
(4) "'He's so... beautiful,' Clare says. There's something about the way she says it that makes me feel strange ... It dawns on me that I am jealous [of Paul McCartney]. Jesus. I can't believe I'm feeling jealous of a multimillionaire rock star geezer old enough to be Clare's dad."
- Says the guy who, at this point in time, is old enough to be Clare's dad.
(5) Henry and Clare play chess, as she probes for more information about the future while he struggles with how much to tell her.
- Chess here is a metaphor or physical expression of their mental duel.
(6) "I scrutinize Clare. Is twelve too young? I'm sure twelve is really too young."
- Yes, Henry! Twelve is definitely too young!
(7) Things start getting really weird and strays into iffy sexual territory once Clare turns 12.
- Up until Clare's 17, Henry is continually struggling with himself about what lines shouldn't be crossed as she goes through puberty and her inevitable sexual awareness.
- I had no idea going into this book that it would be quite so much like Lolita.
(8) "'Kiss,' I demand, and he kisses me."
- By my count, we get three separate kisses between 16 year-old Clare and 30-something Henry.
- I'd hoped this was just on the cheek or forehead, but it mentions how Henry avoids touching the blood on her nose, which implies that third kiss, at least, is full-on the mouth.
- The author does make clear that these kisses are always at Clare's request or insistence, as if to assuage the idea that Henry's in any way predatory.
(9) It's interesting how we're essentially going chronologically through Claire's timeline, whereas Henry's age is irregular and constantly jumping around.
- It underscores his inherent instability.
- Possibly highlighting how this is Clare's story not Henry's. After all, the book is called The Time Traveler's Wife and not The Time Traveler nor The Time Traveler and His Wife.
12/23/2024 - 30%
(1) "It occurs to me that Clare might prefer to be with this later edition of me, since after all they do know each other better."
- While she clearly has no problems with older men, the smaller the age difference the better. I mean, the bare minimum's already eight years.
- Turns out, Henry's right. Side-by-side, Clare does prefer older Henry. Young Henry's like domesticating a stray.
(2) One thing this book does often is lull you into a kind of routine mundanity before it slaps you across the face.
- Decapitation was not on my bingo card for this book!
(3) Henry: "I have an urge to go to the symphony, now, but there's no evening program."
- Granted, he's the son of two classical musicians, but what 25 year-old has an urge to go to the symphony? It's not exactly the stuff urges are made of.
(4) I may be reading too much into it, but it seems like what time travel does to Henry's body accelerates alcohol poisoning.
- Either that, or it is simply that he didn't eat enough beforehand.
- Mia the bartender seems to think he's perfectly fine until he isn't.
(5) Henry and Clare reveal their secret to two people, Clare's blind grandmother and Clare's roommate's boyfriend Gomez.
- You'd think there'd be a common denominator between the two, but it appears to be exactly the opposite.
- They reveal the secret together to the grandmother but each separately to Gomez.
- The grandmother seems undisturbed by the whole thing (except to suggest Henry's a demon), while Gomez freaks out and insists Clare break things off.
- While both are present when Henry vanishes, the grandmother is blind and can only feel the disappearance of his presence, whereas Gomez is a kind of Doubting Thomas where seeing is ultimately believing.
- The grandmother knows Henry's much older after she feels his face, whereas Gomez sees he's older and cannot understand why that is... maybe he should have felt his face?
(6) I tell you, hands-down the worst part of this novel so far is the dinner conversation between Henry, Clare, Charisse and Gomez.
- It feels positively Hallmark, all inauthentic, hokey and tiring. There are much more interesting ways to say Gomez is a smug champagne socialist.
- A seemingly never-ending dialogue about cannibalism was not on my bingo card!
- On the bright side, it does make me hate Gomez from the start. Presuming that's the desired response.
(7) Gomez isn't Gomez' actual name. His real name is Jan Gomolinski, and is only called Gomez because his girlfriend's a Filipina and it rolls off the tongue better than Gomolinski.
- It kind of bothers me because Gomez was my school nickname, and for the nearly-identical reasons that I'm from the Philippines and it's less complicated than my actual name.
(8) Gomez gets fairly handsy with Clare, of whom we feel naturally protective of because we've known her since she was a kid.
- It's a feeling that is absent from this current, younger, iteration of Henry.
12/26/2024 - 41%
(1) Clare: "You're corrupting a minor."
Henry: "Oh, he would get there anyway, without me. Wouldn't you?"
Bobby: "I've been trying, but it ain't easy, here."
- I know they're joking about exposing a kid to punk music, but Clare may as well be referring to herself.
(2) "'You do have a record player, right?' 'My parents have one,' Bobby says. Henry winces."
- I react the same to CD talk.
(3) Henry has long hair in 1991, which doesn't strike me as a very early-90s thing. That is, until I realize that practically every grunge and alt-rock front man had long hair, which sort of blows my mind that I'd never noticed before.
- Though, Henry here is a self-described punk fan, so you'd think it'd be more spiky.
(4) "[Henry] puts it back on the shelf and says, 'Does that door lock?' and I flip the lock and we're late for lunch."
- Presumably, the reason they're late for lunch is because they have sex in Clare's childhood bedroom.
- Niffenegger does this a lot, where she conveys sexual situations through pure implication. Though, I don't know why. It's not like she's shy about just saying these things matter-of-factly other times. Possibly, sex in a child's bedroom is just too inappropriate to suggest.
(5) I'm a fair bit annoyed how back-and-forth dialogue isn't separated by paragraphs.
- It's clear in most cases, but I don't want to have to guess.
(6) Clare's family treats Henry much better once they find out he's the son of a celebrity singer.
- How fortunate for him that they happen to be opera fans. Even Clare's brother Mark is awed by it.
- But then, the whole book is built on the idea of fate, so I'm not sure how much that negates or displaces serendipity.
(7) First cannibalism, now shooting up heroin. The jokey dinner conversations in this book are just plain weird.
- Possibly it suggests something about Clare's family and friends?
(8) Turns out Clare's little sister Alicia saw Henry naked when she was just twelve.
- It's meant to be shocking, until you realize that Clare's been seeing Henry naked on the regular since she was six.
- History repeats itself and Alicia sees Henry naked again, though no one's horrified this time, they just laugh it off. Though, if Alicia was twelve the first time, and that was five years ago, she'd still only be seventeen now. Doesn't seem like something to be so casual about.
- Eh, by now, Henry's probably used to everyone seeing him naked.
(9) Helen: "Hmpf. So what was the deal?"
Clare: "Well, he's eight years older than me."
Helen: "So what?"
Clare: '"So when I was twelve and he was twenty, that was a problem." Not to mention when I was six and he was forty.'
- Well, at least she admits that there's a problem (or that their relationship is inherently problematic), she never has before.
(10) Helen: "I mean, I can see you not wanting your parents to know you were playing Lolita to his Humbert Humbert, but I don't get why you couldn't tell us. We would have been totally into it."
- Would you though? would you be "totally into it"? I'm getting the feeling this Helen's a bad influence on our Clare.
- It's been hanging in the air since the very beginning, but they finally made the Lolita comparison. Ergo, Niffenegger knows the romance she's writing is pretty gross and skirting taboos, and she's leaning into it. I mean, "wrong" is the one word that comes to mind when most anyone thinks about Lolita.
(11) Clare loses her virginity to Henry on her 18th birthday.
- How convenient that Henry would randomly appear at exactly that moment. Wonder how old he was then?
(12) We get our second Lévi-Strauss reference in the book. Somebody was an anthropology major! or took a course at least.
- Probably should have called him Claude Lévi-Strauss. I'm sure nearly everyone would assume they're talking about Levi Strauss, the jeans guy.
(13) There's not really any time travel during this whole Christmas with Clare's family. Only a quick there-and-back-again.
- Really, this whole section is more to do with references to time travels' past. People recalling Henry (or someone who looked like him) from before and certain scenes repeating.
(14) Both Henry's dad and the landlord Mrs. Kim know about his ability to time travel.
- There's never been any hint of people knowing outside of scenes where the secret's dramatically divulged. Though, it does make sense. Mrs. Kim's whole thing is that she pretty much raised Henry and knows everything about him. I'm sure he's vanished in front of them on the regular.
- I don't know if it makes Henry's father stumbling in on him having sex with himself any more understandable though.
*character limit
Click here for the rest
(hide spoiler)] ...more
JAYSON’S
2025
BOOKS
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Jayson’s last review of the year
liked it
(B+) 76% | Good
Notes: All dorm-room drama, climax trauma, resolution-muddy, quite Vampire-ville (if cozy/'lil), where politics get bloody.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/22/2025 - Preamble
(1) If you've been enjoying my GIF updates for this series, I'm sorry to say I won't be doing them anymore. The fact is, I can't.
- I'd love to continue until the very end, but the last couple books have bee (B+) 76% | Good
Notes: All dorm-room drama, climax trauma, resolution-muddy, quite Vampire-ville (if cozy/'lil), where politics get bloody.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/22/2025 - Preamble
(1) If you've been enjoying my GIF updates for this series, I'm sorry to say I won't be doing them anymore. The fact is, I can't.
- I'd love to continue until the very end, but the last couple books have been a real stretch in terms of finding show clips that might in some way match what's going on in the book.
- I mean, I could conceivably go on like I have, but that'd just be posting GIFs for the sake of it.
12/24/2025 - Chapters 1–2
(1) Sookie Voldemorting Bill (aka he who must not be named) is such an overreaction and makes me not like her so much.
- Even if Bill's cheating and subterfuge wasn't against his will, it's still taking ex-girlfriend vindictiveness to an extreme.
(2) While I appreciate that sex scenes (so far) are less explicit and more euphemistic than usual, I hate Quinn and would rather gross sex described than gross Quinn.
12/25/2025 (1) - Chapters 3–5
(1) "Bob ignored his kibble in favor of watching Quinn fry bacon … I liked a man who could cook."
- Don't get too impressed, Sookie. It's bacon.
- Sookie's grasping at straws, if you ask me, to like Quinn for more than "his length."
(2) Claudine: "Take a hike, witch."
Amelia: "Pointy-eared bitch."
Claudine: "Mate killer."
Amelia: "He's not dead! ... He's just—different!"
- I do love myself some catty repartee.
12/25/2025 (2) - Chapters 6–7
(1) "Pam was a little shorter than I."
- Well, Sookie's 5'6", so... 5'5"?
(2) Sookie: "How old were you, Pam?"
Pam: "When I died? I was nineteen."
- Presumably she still looks nineteen. I guess it's good they aged everyone up in the show... otherwise it'd be "The Vampire Diaries."
- I've really got to recalibrate my mental image of book Pam. She'd be more like a blonde British version of Jessica from the show.
12/26/2025 - Chapters 8–9
(1) Barry: "My real name is Barry Horowitz. Now I just call myself Barry Bellboy."
- "Barry Horowitz"? Someone's a pro-wrestling fan… or else Ms. Harris googled famous people named Barry.
(2) "I'd been expecting a woman like the fangbangers who hang around at Fangtasia, but Carla Danvers was another kind of creature entirely."
- "Danvers"? Someone's a comic book fan… I wonder if she's related to Carol or Kara?
12/27/2025 - Chapter 10
(1) "[Quinn] looked like a genie who'd just popped out of a really big bottle."
- By my count, this is the second time Quinn's been likened to "a genie," though the first time in this book. I guess it's his thing.
- Goofy or not, it's definitely a clear mental image.
(2) "Quinn ... was still in his Aladdin's genie outfit."
- Yup, definitely his thing.
- Apparently, Quinn is to "genie" as Sam is to being short.
12/28/2025 - Chapters 11–13
(1) "To me, vampires sort of glow, just a bit."
- Thank goodness they don't sparkle... glowing (just a bit) is silly enough!
(2) "It sounded like Henrik was talking about Kevin and Britney, rather than two ancient and crafty vampires."
- By my count, this is the second Britney Spears reference in this series… one for each husband—well, the first two at least.
- I wonder if Gen-Z readers even know who Kevin is?
12/29/2025 - Chapters 14–15
(1) "...residue of Kyle Perkins was bagged up and taken away, with one vampire remaining behind to wield a little handheld vacuum."
- Who knew decapitation's the cleanest way to kill a vampire? Relative, I know, but at least ash doesn't stain.
(2) "I felt sort of urban and glamorous, driving around such a large and famous city."
- "Large and famous"? It's at this point I realized Rhodes, Illinois is fictional.
12/30/2025 - Chapters 16–17
(1) What? No titular line this book? That's disappointing.
- Possibly that convention's put on pause after Ms. Harris went nuts with it last time.
(2) Sookie describes the book's climax as like the Twin Towers but "smaller and more contained."
- Really, it's almost exactly like the Gunpowder Plot—"Remember, remember, the fifth of November"—had it been successful... and if Guy Fawkes were a self-hating vampire.
12/31/2025 - Chapters 18–19
(1) "If I just stay away from the vampires for a while … and hang around with humans, and leave the Weres alone, I'll be okay."
- Yeah, sure, that'll happen. It's the least believable thing in this book... and this had people bobsledding coffins down the side of a pyramid!
(2) In sum, this bites off more than it can chew with multiple murder mysteries.
- Mysteries "solved" by speculation and conjecture. (hide spoiler)] ...more
Notes: All dorm-room drama, climax trauma, resolution-muddy, quite Vampire-ville (if cozy/'lil), where politics get bloody.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/22/2025 - Preamble
(1) If you've been enjoying my GIF updates for this series, I'm sorry to say I won't be doing them anymore. The fact is, I can't.
- I'd love to continue until the very end, but the last couple books have bee (B+) 76% | Good
Notes: All dorm-room drama, climax trauma, resolution-muddy, quite Vampire-ville (if cozy/'lil), where politics get bloody.
*Check out progress updates for detailed commentary: (view spoiler)[
Progress updates:
12/22/2025 - Preamble
(1) If you've been enjoying my GIF updates for this series, I'm sorry to say I won't be doing them anymore. The fact is, I can't.
- I'd love to continue until the very end, but the last couple books have been a real stretch in terms of finding show clips that might in some way match what's going on in the book.
- I mean, I could conceivably go on like I have, but that'd just be posting GIFs for the sake of it.
12/24/2025 - Chapters 1–2
(1) Sookie Voldemorting Bill (aka he who must not be named) is such an overreaction and makes me not like her so much.
- Even if Bill's cheating and subterfuge wasn't against his will, it's still taking ex-girlfriend vindictiveness to an extreme.
(2) While I appreciate that sex scenes (so far) are less explicit and more euphemistic than usual, I hate Quinn and would rather gross sex described than gross Quinn.
12/25/2025 (1) - Chapters 3–5
(1) "Bob ignored his kibble in favor of watching Quinn fry bacon … I liked a man who could cook."
- Don't get too impressed, Sookie. It's bacon.
- Sookie's grasping at straws, if you ask me, to like Quinn for more than "his length."
(2) Claudine: "Take a hike, witch."
Amelia: "Pointy-eared bitch."
Claudine: "Mate killer."
Amelia: "He's not dead! ... He's just—different!"
- I do love myself some catty repartee.
12/25/2025 (2) - Chapters 6–7
(1) "Pam was a little shorter than I."
- Well, Sookie's 5'6", so... 5'5"?
(2) Sookie: "How old were you, Pam?"
Pam: "When I died? I was nineteen."
- Presumably she still looks nineteen. I guess it's good they aged everyone up in the show... otherwise it'd be "The Vampire Diaries."
- I've really got to recalibrate my mental image of book Pam. She'd be more like a blonde British version of Jessica from the show.
12/26/2025 - Chapters 8–9
(1) Barry: "My real name is Barry Horowitz. Now I just call myself Barry Bellboy."
- "Barry Horowitz"? Someone's a pro-wrestling fan… or else Ms. Harris googled famous people named Barry.
(2) "I'd been expecting a woman like the fangbangers who hang around at Fangtasia, but Carla Danvers was another kind of creature entirely."
- "Danvers"? Someone's a comic book fan… I wonder if she's related to Carol or Kara?
12/27/2025 - Chapter 10
(1) "[Quinn] looked like a genie who'd just popped out of a really big bottle."
- By my count, this is the second time Quinn's been likened to "a genie," though the first time in this book. I guess it's his thing.
- Goofy or not, it's definitely a clear mental image.
(2) "Quinn ... was still in his Aladdin's genie outfit."
- Yup, definitely his thing.
- Apparently, Quinn is to "genie" as Sam is to being short.
12/28/2025 - Chapters 11–13
(1) "To me, vampires sort of glow, just a bit."
- Thank goodness they don't sparkle... glowing (just a bit) is silly enough!
(2) "It sounded like Henrik was talking about Kevin and Britney, rather than two ancient and crafty vampires."
- By my count, this is the second Britney Spears reference in this series… one for each husband—well, the first two at least.
- I wonder if Gen-Z readers even know who Kevin is?
12/29/2025 - Chapters 14–15
(1) "...residue of Kyle Perkins was bagged up and taken away, with one vampire remaining behind to wield a little handheld vacuum."
- Who knew decapitation's the cleanest way to kill a vampire? Relative, I know, but at least ash doesn't stain.
(2) "I felt sort of urban and glamorous, driving around such a large and famous city."
- "Large and famous"? It's at this point I realized Rhodes, Illinois is fictional.
12/30/2025 - Chapters 16–17
(1) What? No titular line this book? That's disappointing.
- Possibly that convention's put on pause after Ms. Harris went nuts with it last time.
(2) Sookie describes the book's climax as like the Twin Towers but "smaller and more contained."
- Really, it's almost exactly like the Gunpowder Plot—"Remember, remember, the fifth of November"—had it been successful... and if Guy Fawkes were a self-hating vampire.
12/31/2025 - Chapters 18–19
(1) "If I just stay away from the vampires for a while … and hang around with humans, and leave the Weres alone, I'll be okay."
- Yeah, sure, that'll happen. It's the least believable thing in this book... and this had people bobsledding coffins down the side of a pyramid!
(2) In sum, this bites off more than it can chew with multiple murder mysteries.
- Mysteries "solved" by speculation and conjecture. (hide spoiler)] ...more
What did you read this year?