Ninett

I never read crime, so the genre will feel fresh to me every time, even if laden with tropes. I loved the characters of the two monks, and the way that the setting was written. It felt very real and alive. The only reason I couldn't rate it five stars is because I was immediately able to guess who the perpetrator was as soon as they were introduced, and the weird side-line about the kid who comes to harass the main after being questioned by him was an obvious ploy to throw the reader off the scent of the real killer.

Reading this is more like dropping into a beautifuly crafted ideal world in the future than reading a novel. Nothing much really happens, and I did miss the presence of a storyline. But the world Chambers wrote is worth getting into, it feels like a warm hug to soothe anxieties about the modern world. So, all in all this book is an immersive experience rather than a story.

I had high hopes for this because it has been recommended by a few people whose opinions I respect, but for me it fell flat other than a few good points. It opened my eyes to the true extent of the problems that could arise from use of AI by bad actors, and it is interesting to read the perspective of someone who is so intimately involved in the development of the tech. But it was also dry and repetitive to me, and the chapter headings weren't very linked to the content in them. Overall could have been executed a lot better and didn't really need to be this long as all the points were made early on.

Can't fault the memoir, really. I was interested to read about the early days of personal computing in particular, and I enjoy media set in that era immensely in general. The enthusiasm of everyone involved is palpable from the writing. I learned a lot about the timeline and the tech, as well as the origins of many of the companies who are now the absolute foundations of modern life. I tend to enjoy Gates' writing, this was no exception.

The idea that certain types of stress trigger a repair process wasn’t new to me—I’d read Exercised by Daniel Lieberman, which discusses how exercise acts as a stressor that prompts more repair than damage. This book went further, listing various stressors that can induce similar repair responses: exposure to uncomfortable temperatures, calorie restriction, fasting, and exercise, among others. It also dives into a fair amount of biology, which I expected from a scientist leading a Harvard lab. The content strikes a good balance—detailed enough to satisfy a fellow scientist’s need for rigour, yet clear enough for non-biologists like me to follow. I was somewhat sceptical about certain points, but the author does a good job of distinguishing between conjecture and established facts.

I loved the Victorian Edinburgh setting, which feels very authentic—unsurprising, as the authors are from the Central Belt of Scotland. The writing is impeccable, and the narrative flows well with well-thought-out pacing.

I've never really wondered about how abortions were handled when they weren't well developed as a medical intervention, but this novel got me thinking about it. I shudder to imagine what I would have done without contraceptives or a way to abort an unwanted pregnancy.

For me, this novel was a bit of pure, somewhat gruesome Victorian escapism, though some elements remain to be cleaned up—perhaps in the next instalment.

Brief, to the point, and varied enough to remain interesting. In 2025 I doubt that anyone is going into reading a book like this without knowledge of the attention economy and how this is viciously exploited by attention engineers at social media companies, so some parts are more review of what I think everyone already is aware of. It did teach me new things, though, and I have been able to more critically evaluate my phone use as a result of reading this (I deleted two book and time tracking apps because they were gateway distractions and the information isn't really THAT useful). I haven't been on social media for a long time anyway, so the focus on persuading the reader to use less of it did not hit home for me, but I still think it's an important cause and don't resent having that part in the book.

I got this from the library as an experiment to see how well graphic novels read on a tablet. It turns out they fare very well, but I found the graphics here to be somewhat disappointing. I didn't enjoy the art style, which I felt was at times very chaotic. The writing left a bit to be desired as well, but I think the work originally having been written to be performed on air probably caused jankiness in writing. I wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters either. The ending was at least nice enough.

Exactly what I expected having seen the series first. I really enjoyed the author's note at the front which essentially tells the reader that this is going to go on for a very long time in order to avoid an ending. There were some elements of the story that I liked more in the version of events as written here rather than in the series, but there were some that I liked better in the series (tank). The artwork is class and the writing is top notch.

I thought a book about dinosaurs from the Victorian age would be right up my alley—and for the most part, it would have been, if not for the gross racism and sexism, which tainted the whole thing for me. I was also chilled by the way the characters treated a supposedly pristine, untampered-with biological system they had discovered: killing things, trampling over everything, causing the extinction of an intelligent species (!!!), and stealing baby animals from their parents. I dunno, just not for me. I'm just not the type who can enjoy this mindset, even as fiction. I like dinosaurs, but this was too much of a bravado story from the peak of the 'man dominates world' epoch.

As with the first book, the characters are enjoyable, and the magic system is actually pretty unique. It feels weird to say, but I do really love the buildings in these books, both Il Bastone and Black Elm are beautifully described and atmospheric.

I am just still not captured by the main character. She's not lacking traits and personality, but I think I just don't click with her. I think also that there are some loopholes in the plotting of this one, but I am not invested enough to take proper note of them. I read the second one because I wanted to see if Darlington is finally rescued, but I can't see myself continuing the series when more come out.

Succint, to the point, and clear explanation of all of the groundwork that an individual investor needs to lay in order to get started in the world of personal finance. It doesn't cut corners and tells the reader all that she needs to understand. There are quite a few points it skates over, and this is a good thing, because the reader is assumed to be a beginner (which I am). I loved the language Pete used in this to make it completely accessible, and the fact that he did not condescend to the reader either with layers of metaphors posing as simple explanations.

There are actionable points at the end of every chapter, and for once I did not find these to be gimmicky like I sometimes do with self-help style books.

Solid work. I somehow didn't realise there would be a romance element to this novel and didn't find it very convincing. People do not start touching each other's face and hair upon first meeting. There were lots of good ideas and unique settings/ situations in the novel, but I did feel like the work was a repository of these great ideas essentially just cobbled together. More of a patchwork than a seamless story.

That said, the characters were interesting and there were enough twists to keep me reading, so I can't rate it badly :)

I think I was just not the right audience for this book. For me it did not live up to the hype, and I can't really see why it is so highly praised. It is about middling, a bog standard relationship novel, really. I didn't dislike it and it wasn't bad, but it doesn't have anything new in it for me.

I do love games and play many genres of game, though, so to see games coming through to literature is fun, though the games were just a backdrop to a love story (and I am not into the latter)

I reserved this online at the library and was so surprised when I received it - it's TINY! I read it in 16 minutes, with time included for perusing the beautiful illustrations. It isn't bad at all, but given that the book costs as much as a novel on amazon, I feel that the cost-benefit scale doesn't favour a higher rating for it. I may just not be in the know about the lore around Susanna Clarke's fantasy universe, but I found this to be only a very small story, without much content.

The entirety of the story can be summed up as: girl goes to the woods and adopts a bear cub selflessly, knowing she faces death. With fantastical elements.

My expectation was too high for what I actually got out. The illustrations saved it.

The categorisation at the back of the book is business, and a lot of the advice is about how to be successful in the business sphere. I'm not in danger of becoming a businesswoman any time soon, since I still have years left on my degree, so I did skim those parts. The personal development chapters at the start of the book taught me a few new things about self-actualisation and productivity, so I did enjoy those parts. My sister said she wishes Steven Bartlett wasn't such an ass, and I think I echo this sentiment in general, but the ass-ness doesn't come across in this book :)

Nothing brings it down, really, I just didn't have an application for the advice in half the book. I think I'm the wrong audience.

PS I am aware I chose a business book and then found fault in it being a business book. Bite me.

An incredibly emotive collection of personal accounts from the Chernobyl disaster. There are testimonies from people of all walks of life: scientists, rural grandmothers, wives of first responders, communist loyalists, doctors, resettlers, politicians, and those who came in to do damage control (risking their lives in the process).

The story unfolds piece by piece, and each voice adds to the rich tapestry. The author does not shy away from including perspectives that are distasteful to us in the west and in the 21st century, and I think this is necessary and good. This tragedy was the result of human tensions - to brush tensions under the rug and write a single sided story would do it a disservice.

Quite rarely does a book affect me on such a deep level emotionally. I cried while reading some parts. But maybe not the parts you would imagine. Certainly, this is a sad story, but for me the sharp portrayal of what eastern european culture is like was the catalyst for the tears. It's very rare for me to think well of my homeland, but repeatedly throughout the book there were little snippets of scenes of life that gave me a sense of loss at having left. I will never move back, but this is the first sliver of homesickness I've felt in a long time.

The writing was utterly beautiful to me. Novic's prose glides smoothly. The events are portrayed with sensitivity, but without compromising the unflinching realism that this gruesome topic calls for. My only criticism is that the ending leaves so many threads unfinished that I had to check another copy to see if mine was truncated somehow on my kindle... I feel that at least the storylines with Brian and Marina should have been tied off properly.

At first I thought this would end up as a DNF, mainly because of a tight library deadline on it. The more I read, though, the more I realised that this is almost a kind of emotional education on others, as well as being (of course) about negotiation. It's often hard for me to understand and deal with the emotional lives of others if they're directed at me, and this book gives you some of the tools to be able to do that. I found myself having little revelations about human behaviour throughout, and the book has given me a lot to think about, both in terms of how I approach emotional conversations, and in terms of business and work. The stories did not get repetitive, and I'd venture to say that I'd even read a full hostage negotiation stories memoir by Chris Voss.

The reason it is dragged down a little is that for me it was a battle to get through this book for some reason. I was avoidant of it. Not really the book's fault, since the writing was engaging.

Not bad, just very slow. The finale is not what I expected, but I guess it is what the main characters deserved. I really thought that at least Asta Sollilja would end up with a brighter future, but her fate is bleak and broke my heart. Bjartur - nothing really could redeem this man who puts his silly pride before the lives of others. I disliked him from the start. Putting his selfish and rude demeanor down to an intense desire to be independent just did not cut it for me. Humans are made to be social and to survive together - no man is an island. I suppose the point of the novel is to prove this, and it does that well. It is very difficult to write a loathesome character and still elicit some shred of empathy for him by the reader, but when his house was taken away I felt a twang of pity.

The depth and the complexity of the writing kept me reading, the emotional lives of the characters often striking a chord within me that made me feel seen by the author, even as someone from a vastly different place and time than the characters. There is something universal about the human experience that was captured by Laxness in the lives of these miserable sheep farmers.

Thank you for inducting me into the world of Australian history. I learned a lot - both about the original custodians of the Australian land, and about the colonisers who displaced them, through the lens of someone who identifies as being of the former group. This conversation is valuable and the time is ripe for us all to take a step back and survey the wisdom of the ancients to help up live more in tune with nature.

Unfortunately, the author took an adversarial tone which put me off the book sometimes. I empathise with the emotion behind this and support the point of view presented, but I think combative language in a book aiming to raise awareness and enlighten is counterproductive.

Maybe a tad slow and some repetition.

This was a good book, just not aimed at me, someone who has already implemented a lot of the suggestions outlined within. Some of the internal triggers solutions we too vague to be put into practice, and I'm not sold on scheduling every moment (waking AND sleeping) of my day. I did put some of the advice to use though, especially the distraction tracker and the scheduling of the work day. 

I learned quite a bit from this book. It was informative and digestable, not to mention easily actionable, and I can definitely begin to see certain elements of my body in a new light now that I have been shown the tools to do so. What brings the score down is that I found the narrative stories a bit contrived and I got completely lost in all the metaphors (monitor, flock, garden, one ring, and so on). As a STEM girl myself I appreciate clarity over metaphorising everything, but I also understand some audiences may need the illustrative style. 

A good tour of some of the ways fungi are shaping us, whether those avenues are medical, culinary, or even social. The writing is entirely accessible and the personal narrative weaving its way through gives it life and brings the sometimes disparate topics together into a cohesive book. 
I have learned and thought a lot because of this book. The author seems like an intriguing personality. 
In spite of these favourable views, I did still find myself thinking about whether certain things were repeated too often, and I did miss the presence of some kind of mycological scientific primer.

A collection of short stories set in the universe of the original trilogy, featuring side characters from the original. It includes an origin story for Goddard. I'd say well worth reading to eke out a few more drops from the world built by Shusterman, and some of the short stories are really great in their own right, though some did fall a bit flat for me. I was comfortably able to read it in two train journeys and return to the library within a few days.

Good, simple fun.