Ryan
Pretty good book! It's a little simplistic plot-wise and doesn't break much new ground, but that's forgivable considering it's a pretty quick and easy to read book that doesn't take itself too seriously. If you're looking for something that heavily thinks about the ethics of cloning, this is not the book for you. But, if you lower your expectations, you'll find an interesting thought experiment that goes only skin deep but is fun along the way. I think you'll have a good time!
This book almost lost me about halfway through when Stephenson goes on and on about religious history, but I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did! There's a lot of interesting ideas that still holds up pretty well in 2025.
I wouldn't say many of the ideas are groundbreaking for this day and age, but considering it came out in the early 90s, it's very impressive and prophetic. I can see why it's a classic sci-fi novel, but I wouldn't blame you if you skimmed parts of it like I did to get to the main meat of it all.
This book has a very interesting premise, but honestly it just takes too long. I ended up reading the whole thing, but I feel like it could have been 500 or so pages instead of the gargantuan 700 some pages it turned out to be.
Joe's writing is enjoyable to read and things are well-described, but it just can't save the book from becoming boring when it's so long.
I think it's still worth reading (or skimming) the whole thing as the sequence of events are all interesting, but I don't know that everything that happened in the book needed to happen.
While the synopsis of this book makes it sound like it's action-packed, a large part of the novel is pretty mundane as our main character Charlie learns about his uncle's supervillain business. Despite this, Scalzi manages to find humor and entertainment in something that sounds very dull.
There is action at some point and it's worth getting through the beginning. Even better, the ending is surprisingly heartwarming for being about a guy inheriting a supervillain business.
Along the way, there are some small chuckles to be had and writing that is very easy to read.
Great book to pass the time and would recommend!
Hailsham seems like a normal English board school, but as details are revealed through the eyes of Kathy H., a former student there, we come to learn there's more to it than at first glance.
At thirty-one years old, Kathy, who has been a carer for 11 years, begins our story by boasting about how most of the donors she's overseen have done well but that she is also looking forward to being a donor soon herself.
While this is all revealed in the first few pages and gives away a lot of what is going to happen in the book, it doesn't ruin the suspense found in the pages inside. That's because Ishiguro instead chooses to focus on the journey and the relationships between Kathy and her two old friends and classmates from Hailsham, Tommy and Ruth.
Told over three parts, we learn about the history of Hailsham, what lays beyond that realm, and the true “outside” world everybody from Hailsham has to face, whether they like it or not.
Throughout the book is a big theme of trying to hold on to something for as long as possible – go figure for a book called Never Let Me Go. It's a simple theme when distilled to its core, but Ishiguro still manages to get your heartstrings with his masterful writing – though I will admit there is a time or two where it feels like we get off into the weeds a bit.
To me, the most memorable part comes about a quarter of the way in the book, when Kathy is describing a tape she got and what it means to her:
“What made the tape so special for me was this one particular song: track number three, “Never Let Me Go”
It's slow and late night and American, and there's a bit that keeps coming round when Judy sings: “Never let me go. baby, baby Oh Never let me go...” I was eleven then, and hadn't listened to much music, but this one song, it really got to me. I always tried to keep the tape wound to just that spot so I could play the song whenever a chance came by...
...What was so special about this song? Well, the thing was, I didn't used to listen properly to the words; I just waited for that bit that went: “Baby, baby, never let me go...” And what I'd imagine was a woman who'd been told she couldn't have babies, who'd really, really wanted them all her life. Then there's a sort of miracle and she has a baby, and she holds this baby very close to her and walks around singing: “Baby, never let me go...” partly because she's so happy, but also because she's so afraid something will happen, that the baby will get ill or be taken away from her. Even at the time, I realised this couldn't be right, that this interpretation didn't fit with the rest of the lyrics. But that wasn't an issue with me. The song was about what I said, and I used to listen to it again and again, on my own, whenever I got the chance.”
As you can tell from this passage, there's fear about good things being taken away without warning. And this feeling of fear permeates throughout the whole book, making for a somber and heartbreaking read.
But amongst the fear is also a sense of accepting, producing an interesting combination that feels relatable in a world full of scary things just waiting to happen. It's an important reminder that, while things have the potential to be lost, it's important to remember the good times, to count our blessings for what we have now, and to enjoy the present moment.
While originally written in 2016 by Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami, Under the Eye of the Big Bird hit western shelves in 2024. But despite that, the book feels almost like it was written for 2024, in a time when climate change is causing real-time changes, fascism is on the rise, and humanity is still recovering from a global pandemic.
While the book doesn't speak on these issues specifically, it focuses on the thing we fear most as a result of them:
“What happens when we go extinct?”
Told over the course of 14 interconnected stories about humans on the verge of extinction, I found myself a little confused and skeptical in the first 2–3 stories as I was thrown into a world set hundreds of years from now. But as more was revealed to me, confusion was replaced with a very specific sadness that is summed up perfectly in the penultimate story, through the eyes of an AI character:
“You often talk about feeling lonely. I'm unable to experience that emotion, but I do have the ability to internally simulate an analogous response. For some reason, that is the response that arises whenever I tell your story. It's not something I can explain. It never happens when I talk about other things.”
But this book is more than just an act of doomscrolling in book form, and that's what makes it so refreshing.
Instead, the final chapter caught me by surprise, leaving me in tears as our tale ends not on a note of despair, but one of hope. Kawakami ends her book with a brave tale of how, even at the lowest point of human history, there is still the possibility to face the abyss and ask:
“Is this really the end?”
This book is a strange one, that's for sure. With an odd plot and an even odder cast of characters, you never quite know where things will go next. Murakami does an amazing job at building tension, creating action, and somehow raising the stakes even more. I was worried I was going to be grossed out by the plot, but it's surprisingly tasteful for what it is. Overall the book made me go “huh” and was a rollercoaster of a ride. It's a fairly quick read so I'd give it a go if you're looking for something quick and exhilarating!
A wonderfully different book with a refreshing plot. You can tell it's a young adult book as it's fairly simple, but there's nothing wrong with that as the story is still well-told. I wish I got to learn a little more about Thandi, one of the characters we first meet, but otherwise I really liked how this book put a fun spin on the afterlife.
As a big fan of Newski, I had to pick this book up as soon as I heard about it. And I'm happy to report I wasn't disappointed. This book chronicles Newski's disenchantment with the corporate world and his decision to do what any normal human being would do: leave the country and go to Vietnam.
Along the way, Newski buys a used guitar, meets all sorts of characters, and learns that maybe his way out of the rat race is through writing his own songs.
Part memoir, part travel journal, Newski's book is written in a casual and honest tone that both amuses and inspires. Each entry is short enough to read in a few minutes, making it a perfect companion for your daily life – or maybe even your own travels!
Be forewarned though: once you pick it up, you might not want to put it back down!
A great look into what good self-talk looks like while you're out running and how a positive attitude can make all the difference.
I really liked the book at first, but the ending came a bit out of left field. There were also a lot of red herrings that never really got resolved and didn't seem to add much to the plot. The writing was well done and the first half of the book was interesting though!
While these short stories surrounding the Vietnam War are fictional, Tim O'Brien's previous experience as a soldier makes them feel real. And that's part of the point of the book; in the short story “How to Tell a True War Story”, O'Brien explores verisimilitude, or how something can both be fiction but seem true:
“In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way... ...The pictures get jumbled; you tend to miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed.”
seems
“What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again.”
Loved this book! It was a little bit of a morbid story, but I felt like the author did a great job of tying together all of the characters and had some great twists that were surprisingly but also didn't feel completely unpredictable. Would definitely recommend this one!
Loved this book as I'm getting into running. It showed me that it's not about being the best at a sport; it's about enjoying it.