Keerthi
I loved this book. I'm really glad I read it.
The Midnight Library shows you that you can be anything you want to be, because identity is whatever you tell yourself it is. Nora could have been a pop star, a swimmer, a glaciologist, a teacher, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a pub owner. She could be anything and everything, and in a way she is all of them, a bit of everything.
it shows that regrets are mostly in your head.
“What sometimes feels like a trap is actually just a trick of the mind.”
You are as grateful and as satisfied with your life as you decide to be. When you decide.
You could be rich, “successful,” fit, have everything and still be unhappy. So when does it ever end? Where is the finish line?
Love is what Nora discovers. No matter how perfect a life looks, the moment she doesn't have her brother, or her mother, or her father or someone she loves and loves her back, that perfect life fades. That's what matters.
“To fear love is to fear life.”
So many good quotes. A really powerful reminder that life is about possibility, perspective, and choosing to live the one that's yours.
“She was complete without me, I was incomplete without her.”
I think this book is a big, fat, emotional love letter to her mom. It is less of a memoir and more of a love letter. And even when her mom is not really with her, she is always with her. A very interesting complicated relationship with her mother and how the love, fear shaped her and her experiences.
The book feels incredibly real, so much vulnerability. And yes, I also learned that a very famous book can earn you shitloads of money.
Roy is like her mom in so many ways. She is brave, does what she wants, forges her own path. They make you think about all the things you wish you had done. Meanwhile, she just does them. She doesn't wish. She does. She just does it.
Her writing is poetic, sarcastic, funny, mysterious, but not so mysterious. Always, always carries some kind of intense emotion, which I appreciate. Relatable, real, descriptive, Roy just leaves me, thinking about a lot of things, every time.
Reading this made me want to reread The God of Small Things and then read everything else she's ever written. I forgot how much I enjoyed that book, despite the ending. And now, after reading Mother Mary Comes to Me, I see where so many of those characters came from, what inspired them. They make sense in a new way.
She's shot movies, written movies, acted in them. She writes articles, she's an activist. She has opinions and she tells the whole world her opinions. And honestly, that's the kind of person I think I would want to be someday.
Also love the cover! The pictures. The red. The moth.
I loved reading this book.
A common theme between both of Meller's books seem to be lingering effects of childhood wounds, how they shape people throughout their lives, how they destroy and repair themselves over time. This book is full of complicated, messy characters, relationships, and trauma.
Eleanor's chapters are the best. They really stand out. As soon as you start reading one, you know it's her, her voice is so distinct. I loved that you could tell each character apart.
Everyone in this book is dealing with something: alcoholism, binge eating, being young and broke, living in a foreign country, identity crises, drugs, depression, exploring art as a career, messy relationships, divorce, beauty and insecurity, abuse, judgment from others... there's a lot. I'm still not sure if it's too much, but it's definitely a lot.
Still, there are so many good lines. My book is full of highlights. I love Mellors' writing, it's sharp, emotional, and addictive. I thought I liked Blue Sisters better, but by the end of this one, I wasn't so sure.
I don't know if it was the book itself or the long flight I was on, but I finished Blue Sisters in almost a single day. The writing is so good,it kept me hooked and made me pause to wonder: is this what too much love feels like?
At its heart, this book is about trauma, about how your upbringing shapes the rest of your life. Reading it made me realize how lucky I am to have grown up in good circumstances, surrounded by a good family. It also kept pulling my thoughts back to my own sister and how, no matter what, family is something you always return to. It really underscored how important family is, in every sense.
That's what I love about reading fiction. Even if it doesn't always sound “intellectual” when you tell people what you're reading, stories like this open up new ways of thinking and feeling. They make you reflect.
Ahh such wonderful stories. This book is not about time travel rather all about relationships. Kind of makes you realise how short the time spent is with people and how you should tell the things you want to, because what if you don't get another moment. Just one moment with someone you love is precious when you know they are gone or would be gone.
The way it's written, the flat descriptions did not keep me engaged. It makes sense I guess since it was written for plays. The last story might be the best. The stories become progressively better from 1 to 4. I like the way the characters are connected throughout the 4 stories.
I don't want to say anything negative about this book, because overall I appreciated it. At first, it felt very realistic, and I was really engaged. I enjoyed learning more about the Vietnam War, the way it affected not just those who fought but also those who served in other roles, the people living through it, and everyone touched by it once they came back home. The political climate, the ripple effects, the anger it stirred in me about wars in general, all of that was powerful. The butterfly effect of war really stood out.
That said, I found it harder to stay connected about midway through. Maybe it was some disconnect with the main character, or maybe the middle sections felt a bit repetitive. I wasn't sure how I felt about certain characters being brought back. Also, the suffering was drawn out for a very long time, while the recovery felt almost too quick in comparison.
Still, there's a lot I loved: the history, the courage of the women, the female friendships, the complexities of family and love, and the sense of rising modernity among women.
I liked the first book so much that I had to read the second one.
I wasn't disappointed, exactly, but it didn't feel quite as magical to me as the first maybe because this one carries a sadder tone. It still has the same love of books, the cozy old bookshop, and a touch of romance, which I really enjoyed.
There are storylines like Tomo and Tokano, the mouse-colored sweater man, Sabu (what does he even do for work?), and Wada #2 but they felt a little abrupt, and I was left wondering what actually happened with them.
Even so, I still liked it. It's a warm, cozy, and slightly sad book.
Reading it also made me realize how much I enjoy slice-of-life stories. They make me feel like, somehow, things always get better.
“You already have what it takes to succeed”
This is the last line of the book and everything the book is trying to teach you.
While there was not a lot of new information or anything groundbreaking I read because I studied/had to study all this. If you did not, its a brilliant book. Lot of blunt, no BS, practical business advice with no big business jargon.
The framework is good too. Love me some frameworks.(or not) Forces you to see the things you already have and dont but not in a discouraging way but in a “ so what if you dont have this, you can get it or you can do this instead”
I liked reading it even if I dont have a big idea for a big hyper growth tech startup it was still a good read. Makes you feel hopeful, encourages you to try and do it even if you do not have everything you think you need to start a start up cause you dont need to have.
Another cute and comforting read. There's something about Japanese books, so realistic yet carries a soft kind of magic.
I found it especially relatable because, like Takako, I feel lost too. The story is a gentle reminder that bad phases are just small moments in a much bigger picture sometimes maybe its a break you needed. It doesn't really matter as much as it feels in the moment. you'll eventually find your way.
And of course, books are at the heart of it all, they bring her love, connection, and community. What begins with loneliness slowly transforms into belonging. That journey from isolation to finding “her people” was very cute and very hopeful.
A sweet little reminder that life has its seasons, and even in the hard ones, the right books, the right people and the right place will find you.
Sucha cute cover and book!
Agree with the description on the cover about it being a warm hug.
It is a very cute story of finding love in more ways than one, it's almost like she finds a replacement of every member of family she did not have—a husband, children, parental figures, grandparents. And also her love for magic, potions and how to channel her love for magic into “work”. She also seems to have started loving her sort of parent, deals with “trauma”, works on it in ways. Some trauma needs to be visited, Jamie says, I guess it applies to Mika as well.
The writing is easy to read and flows well.
All the characters are likeable in their own way, and they each bring something warm or funny or heartfelt to the story.
Wanted to read this book for years now and finally got around to it, thanks to YouTube Shorts haha.
And I'm so glad I did. I really liked the book! Love a strong female character centric book. She's tough, direct, smart, determined, and always finds her way. It's a cute love story, and I especially loved the parenting moments with mad. Mad and Six-Thirty are such adorable characters.
Ahhhh so underwhelming and disappointing. The high ratings and being nominated as the best thriller book of the year only added to expectations unnecessarily.
The one who killed Mr. Black was barely ever mentioned through the book. Didn't like just revealing the killer in the last when they barely had 2 lines mentioning them.
Sometimes I found few scenes over descriptive which bored me a little.
Molly seems stereotypically autistic of sorts. Glad lot of people could see that even if it isn't explicitly mentioned in the book.
I don't know what to feel about the cliche quotes throughout the book that her granma says and she keeps recollecting. Though the idea is cute.
Isn't it bad on her part though to pin it all on Randey even though she knows the truth? The book does not mention how the case goes whether Randey is found guilty or not though it does leads us to think he is.
Phew. Read it for 4 hours straight.
Love the storytelling and the metaphors she uses everywhere. Here's a few of many I liked but I can't remember exactly.
His hair was shorter, his face rougher, almost as if it had been buffed with sandpaper or rubbed against the concrete until it scarred.
A steady sheet of rain erupts outside, and the house is filled with the sound of millions of fingers tapping on the roof, eager to get in.
Many detailed, very descriptive lines or parts of the story might seem redundant or unnecessary,resulting in the initial slow pace and what might seem like all we get is the mind voice of this drugged psychologist. But they all add to the suspense and the story taking turns which picks up the pace as it goes on and in turn keeps you going on. Overall, I liked it.
Wow. The last 80-90 pages. The way ending ties it altogether.. pheww. Great writing. It's like you're inside the head of an early teen. Love how the theme is mental health of children, something that is very overlooked?
Just read it. My only complaint would be how prolonged the middle part of the story is. It kinda seems too slow paced for me but then the ending makes up for it.
I kind of did guess the reason for their meeting plan not going as planned but okay.
Its a great read. Often found beutiful lines I related to or want to remeber for long. I also found myself believing that all these characters are real and even googled Evelyn Hugo. The writing was that convincing. The plot did not let me put the book down until I finished because I wanted to know how Evelyn'sand Celia's lives progressed. I loved Evelyn.