Category: Literature

I’m really glad I decided to write this 2022 Bookish Year in Review, because I’d kind of forgotten all the books I read this year. It feels like a new perspective to synthesize my year through the books I read, and going through the reviews I wrote reminded me of my adoration I had directly […]

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is an incredibly short novel; it’s divided into three chapters, and I read it in three days, one part per night before I went to bed. So it’s a quick read if you want a short classic between chunky, hunky classics.  The best part of the book is arguably […]

I’m finding it easier to describe the cons of Dracula, but I wouldn’t say that they encompass the novel. The book isn’t bad; it’s mediocrely enjoyable. But the pros aren’t glaring. I guess I liked the format; it’s a blend of journals and newspaper articles. It did occasionally give away who survived after a dangerous […]

It’s been a while since I was an avid reader of Young Adult fiction, so this list is more or less based on books that have stuck in my memory or books I’ve reread more recently. And none of them are new releases. But there is something to be said about the fact that I’ve […]

Well, I’m not disappointed. That’s the most important takeaway, I suppose. The novel is not nearly as good as The Weight of Ink, but I wasn’t expecting it to be, and I could still see the budding skill and voice that bloomed in her later book.  In Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story, you can definitely […]

To discuss this book, I feel like I have to separate my experience of reading the novel and the objective aesthetics of the novel. I get the impression from reading reviews and literary scholarship that fans of the book find their reading experience is influenced by the aesthetics of the novel—that the writing style and […]

Entwined by Heather Dixon is a YA retelling of the fairy tale, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.” This is another one that I read in middle school, but it has stuck with me since, so I wanted to read it again. And I wasn’t disappointed. I read it in two days. I love the twists on […]

I might be finally adding a book to my favorite books of all time. I was absolutely enthralled with Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I didn’t want to put the book down. First of all, the writing was near perfection. It was a magnificent blend of descriptive and subtle. Immediately on the first page, you […]

So I know I’ve done a book haul recently, but that was a targeted book haul from ThriftBooks.com, and it is only a coincidence that it so closely coincided with my being in Greensboro over the weekend, where I visited McKAY’s used bookstore.  The bookstore is wonderfully huge. I probably spent close to three hours […]