I usually like to start my reviews with the good aspects of a book before moving on to the bad, but for 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, the good is rather miniscule and only qualitative in comparison to the boring, brainless, repetitive nonsense of the rest of the book. All I can say is that the […]
Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney
I can totally understand the hype surrounding Normal People by Sally Rooney now. I did watch the hulu series a couple of years ago with some friends, which I regrettably thought was influencing my reading when I started the book, but before I got halfway through, the novel was standing on its own two feet. […]
Book Haul: Some More Used Bookstore Fun
Howdy! It’s been a month. I’ve been busy since I recently moved. The weekend before last, I felt like I needed to get out of the apartment to do something I love. So, I went to a coffee shop to write a little bit and get some other work done while drinking a coffee that […]
2022: A Bookish Year in Review
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 […]
Book Review: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
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 […]
Book Review: Dracula by Bram Stoker
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 […]
Top 5 Contemporary YA Books
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 […]
Book Review: Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story by Rachel Kadish
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 […]
Book Review: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
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 […]
Book Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon
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 […]