Sara Machado

My first contact with Howl's Moving Castle was through Miyazaki's movie, which is my favorite from him.
I have been delaying reading the book because I didn't want to be disappointed with either versions, and was kind of waiting to read it with my kids, which I did not.

Diana Wynne Jones book is wonderful, albeit different from the movie, it definitely gave me a new appreciation for it. Sophie is gentle and kind, and keeps unwillingly, and unintentionally, messing with Howl's life.
Howl's is, at surface, a spoiled brat and a womanizer, too powerful for his own good. Sophie obviously sees his gentle and benign ways, and it is through her that we fall for him too.

I loved both the movie and the book!

My heart leans more towards the movie regarding the love story bit. While Howl's and Sophie's love is quite abrupt in the book, the movie makes a wonderful job showing them falling in love and my heart always aches when he gives her the flowers field. I can see Miyazaki interpreted Howl as every girl wanted and I appreciate this very, very much.

On everything else, I think I prefer the magic of the book. I rewatched the movie yesterday and some things are much more clear now (e.g: Sophie being a witch and how she gives life to things, which makes her the only person able to break their curse without killing Calcifer). I don't know how I was interpreting this before... I should have rewatched before and after reading the book

I absolutely loved it and immediately became one of my favourite reads of the year. This is a story about a couple that despite believing they were meant to be forever, lost themselves in grief.

This is mostly a story about real life, family, healing, forgiveness (of others and ourselves) and second chances. About getting support to move forward, fighting for what we want and finding our new selves again.

It was very raw and it felt real. An emotional read that I can't recommend enough.

T.W - Death of family members (off page), still birth.

How can I even attempt to describe or review this book? I have no words! Golden Son is an exhilarating blend of political intrigue, intense action, violence and emotional depth, wrapped in twists and surprises from the beginning until the end. Even when I know something

And the pace? I haven't read anything like this! Each chapter is masterfully crafted to make you want to keep going, I could hardly breathe. So here I am, trying to write something after not having slept a minute because I couldn't stand not knowing what was going to happen to the characters.

I bloodydamn love this books and I bloodydamn love your writing Pierce Brown!

Also, a huge appreciation for all the fantastic female characters you've written. Reading these books made me understand how much of a disservice fantasy and sci-fi writers have been to women because I keep expecting certain things to happen and they never do.

There are no mentions of breasts, their bodies are described as much as any male body, they are not sexual magic entities, they are not one-dimensional, they are smart, confident and not socially awkward, they can be smart and not evil, and we can even find call outs for sexist behavior 😮

Whether they are female or male, antagonist or protagonist, Pierce writes characters based on their virtues and role in the story, not their identity. I'm half in love!

This is a must read sci-fi series but please, do not start this book without having Morning Star ready, you'll need it. (less)

It took me some time to start to read this book due to its many bad reviews. However, since it was not about Elio and Oliver I've decided to give it a chance.
I enjoy so much the way André Aciman writes that it becomes difficult to rate and analyze the story.
The book has 4 chapters, each one following the life of our beloved characters. As “Call me by your name” all of them are beautifully written.
I sort of enjoyed Elio's father and Elio/ Michael story, hence the 3 stars. I honestly don't care about Oliver, its attractions and life choices and felt tempted to quit the book.

There is one thing I strongly dislike regarding the book: The fact that the characters happiness is highly dependent of one and only person.
This was acceptable in “Call me by your name” since Elio was 17 years old and it was its first love. I think everyone has been here and felt this, being either in love or infatuated. However, as life goes on and we age, we grow, meet new people and CHANGE, and eventually, the person who was the first love is just that, someone who was part of our life.
Moreover, although love is an important part of our lives, do we need to be in love to be happy and enjoy living? I strongly believe that happiness should start in ourselves and not be dependent on others.
I do not find it believable that all of the book characters follow this same pattern.

The book follows the story of Less, an unsuccessful writer who is about to turn 50.
An invitation to the wedding of his ex-boyfriend of the last decade (which Less doesn't want to go to) causes him to accept invitations to events around the world.

Pros: I really enjoyed Andrew Sean Greer's writing and the way the different episodes of Less's life are told, interspersing the past and present to support the character's development.
I immediately sympathized with Less, empathized with many of his fears, and devoured the book to find out how the story would end.

Cons: Less is a privileged and shallow character. I didn't feel there was any real growth for Less throughout its journey, ending up becoming a series of interesting episodes to tell friends, without much of a personality transformation or development.

“You are the most absurd person I've ever met. You've bumbled through every moment and been a fool, you've misunderstood and misspoken and tripped over absolutely everything and everyone in your path, and you've won. And you don't even realize it”

“Arthur Less, you have the best life of anyone I know”. This is nonsense to Less

I believe this was the author's purpose since you can support it with several quotes but part of my enjoyment of the book was lost because I felt Less had no agency in his happy ending.

Overall it is a good story about love, relationships and accepting yourself and I realy enjoyed it.
I can't ignore the feeling that if this book had been written by a woman or followed the story of a female character, it would be classified as chick-lit and not be a pulitzer.

Literary value: 4 stars
Entertainment value: 5 stars