ladybug
My love for this book knows no bounds. The world building was complex enough for an eight book series and yet the author originally wrote this 800 page masterpiece as a standalone story. Shannon drew inspiration from western and eastern tales of dragons, weaving together cultures that are fascinating and magical. The multiple perspectives in the book let us see a disaster that had befallen in the book from different angles, turning a simple fantasy novel about evil dragons into an exploration of western and eastern mythical creatures & religion.
he stranger to acquaintance to friends to close friends to lovers arc was a slow-burn but it was so worth it.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of fantasy, lgbtq+ stories and a good slow-burn. Through this book and Crier’s War, I found what I love more than a good fantasy story– a fantasy story with sapphic characters (and dragons, of course).
"...Because wherever I sat– on the deck of a ship or at a street cafe in Paris or Bangkok– I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.”
I find it difficult to review this book. While it's objectively a beautifully-written modern classic, it's not the kind of good you feel good reading. I find the subject matter it discusses meant I needed to take long breaks in between finishing the book. Read it if you’re doing well mentally but if you’re not, skip it.
Esther is a complex main characters with ideas well ahead of her time. Her fierce intellect and ideals only made her conditions more tragic. It made me especially sad to know that although Esther survives her attempts and the book ended on a brighter note, Sylvia Plath herself ultimately was not able to recover from her illness.
“ ‘A little girl shouldn’t have to worry about her entire family,’ Grandpa says to me one afternoon….
‘What?’ I ask, not because I didn’t hear what he said, but because I’m confused. Of course a little girl should worry about her entire family. That’s what little girls do.”
McCurdy’s memoir was heartbreaking and vulnerable, detailing her experience as a child actress with a narcissistic mother and working with creepy producers. It really exposed me to true evils in the world, aka her mother, who basically gave her a lifelong struggle with eating disorders. Despite the depressing content, the memoir was also filled with humour and a fascinating insight to the workings of tv productions.
I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by McCurdy herself, and I cannot recommend it more. Her reading it added a layer of emotions and reflection to the writing.
The three star is attributed to how although I had a good time listening to it, ultimately, it was a forgettable book.
“I am not afraid of the nuns anymore, I have been in Eden all summer long, I know divinity better than they ever will.”
I knew when I read this quote a few pages in that this will be a crazy book:
“I think, I would be the microbes in the beef that her body seeks and destroys if it meant she would be paying me even the slightest bit of attention. The warmth and the wet of her mouth.”
Lucy grew up in a small, religious town in Ireland. Her community and family are all she’s ever known. I was frustrated while reading the book, angry at Lucy for being unable to stand up for the woman she loved but also pitied her deeply for her circumstances. I think it’s easy to criticise her for her lack of agency but it’s also a realistic depiction of what happens to the majority of queer people in the past, often forced to blend in and mask forever.
The book sometimes gets a bit slow but the writing style was beautiful. Reading the book gave me a kind of sad, suffocating feeling. It also reminded me of what it was to be young and scared and having a big crush on your best friend. LGBTQ+ canon event I guess.
“If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully.”
I don’t think I’ve ever read any book quite like this one. Based on the story of Dinah from the Old Testament of the Holy Book, Diamant took a paragraph from the story of Jacob and gave her life, love, and suffering.
To say I was surprised by the climax of the book is an understatement. I know, I know– the Old Testament was written more than 2000 years ago. I just never got around to reading it.
Diamant gave the setting such vivid descriptions I wondered if perhaps she was there. The writing was beautiful and I found myself connecting with the characters. I especially love the themes of community and motherhood. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to everyone.
The only shortcoming of the book for me was the third part, which dragged on for way too long. However, I do enjoy Dinah’s happy ending– it’s everything she deserves.
“A day well spent is a life well lived.”
This is one of those books that I read at the time of my life when I needed it most, at a crossroad between continuing my studies and going into the workforce, between moving away and staying home. It explores what it means to be successful, to live a good life in the intense capitalist society in South Korea.
Hwang focused on the lives of the different characters of the book who are so different yet had one thing in common– they are taking a break, allowing themselves to live slowly and deliberately, and explore what it’ts like to live a different life from the one they’ve been taught to strive for.
It’s a slow kind of book you can pick up and put down for a chapter whenever you have the time. It’s quite popular right now, and I think it’s worth every bit of hype it’s getting.
“There is a poverty that makes us all cruel.”
The NYT best book of the century follows the lives and friendships of two girls– Lenu and Lena– who came from a small, impoverished town in Naples. The first book details their lives as children in school from ages 6–17.
The friendship between the two girls are complex. There is fierce competitiveness and jealousy between them but also, a tender, enduring kind of love and care. Most of all, I think this book is an exploration of what happens when children grow up in a cycle of violence and poverty, how kind little boys are made into raging misogynists and intelligent little girls are made into victims.
I can see why this book was named the best book of the century. I finished it quickly and I plan on reading the rest of the series this year. Kind of a spoiler but the last line of the book made me so impossibly sad I had to sit in a long, solemn contemplation after it ended.
Not to pitch baddies against each other but as an avid Austen reader, I think this is her very best. This books captures the pain of longing and the bittersweet taste of a complicated reunion perfectly. To quote a certain Frederick Wentworth, I was “half agony, half hope” while reading Persuasion.
I love the introverted and introspective Anne Elliot. She is quiet, watching from the sidelines, but any characters in the book who is worth a dime can see the kindness and love spilling out from her. Frederick Wentworth is handsome and charismatic, but is as flawed as any other human being. Frederick and Anne did not have a full conversation until halfway into the book but the way they speak around each other, loudly enough for the other to hear, softly enough to let them know they care, makes my heart feels like it’s being squished. Her characters abilities to interact without words best exemplifies Austen’s talents in observing feelings and how they manifest into actions. I love Anne Elliot so much and I wanted nothing more than the happiest ending for her.
I am unreasonably attached to this book. It has been ages since I finished this book but I still revel in the warmth and understanding I felt while reading it.
Although the main character’s life was quite literally falling apart, there are many parts of her life that she still enjoyed– her bond with her tight-knit group of coworkers/friends, the connection she had with her late mother that inspired her novel. I especially love the emphasis on how lively and supportive Casey’s mother was, which explained why the loss of her was so devastating. It reminds me of the Winnie the Pooh quote “how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” I finished the book feeling more hopeful about my own life.
The exploration of what it was like to be a woman is # relatable.
I have two complaints on the book, the first being that we did not get to spend much time with Silas. We spend most of the book reading about her dating Oscar (male manipulator no1) and Silas was “on a trip” for like 2/3 of it. I don’t disagree with her pick of man but I wish we had the time to get to know him better. I also think we’re introduced to too many characters in the book, especially the names of Casey’s coworkers. I couldn’t keep track of them and had to constantly search them up in the search bar to remember where we know them from.
“The dirty street urchin who eats dogs and cats and bats raw. the communist spy who wants to kill Americans, the virgin in the schoolgirl skirt that will seduce him and ruin his life.”
This book takes place during the COVID pandemic, our main character a half-Chinese woman living in New York. Her sister dies in the first chapter being pushed in front of the subway, which was something that happened often enough during the pandemic to Asian women that when I moved to Europe I was terrified of standing too close to the tracks and big men who stood too close to me while waiting for the metro. Still, I was surprised to read about it in the book, I thought we’ve collectively decided to forget about that and I am the only person still afraid.
I think this book is an important one. It captures the rage and fear Asian people– especially East Asian women, for whom fetishisation and degradation is two sides of the same coin– felt during and post-pandemic.
Ultimately though, I think the writing fell a little too short for me. All the examples of racism are too explicit and I wish there was more nuances and exploration of more subtle, implicit ways racism can affect an Asian person.
