oswaldo
I want to preface by saying I love Yudin and her work, I bought all of her books on paperback and really stuck around her channel for awhile now. But with this book in particular, while it had me roped in immensely in the beginning, I suppose due to life and such not I eventually lost interest in the book around pg. 200. I'd say it's more on me then anything else and when this happens its just hard for me to get back into a book.
For the beginning however I will definitely rate it a four! And I'd recommend the book to anyone honestly.
A nice time-killer and a window into the past of when companies were still getting used to the rise in mobile traffic and switching over to responsive designs. The book was interesting in revealing how teams worked, strategies they would evaluate, test and the challenges they would go up against — and for that I value the book's insights rather well. I think it is essential every web developer understands how we evolved from one practice to another and in that I almost want to call this essential reading.
It was a fairly well put collection and it was more than refreshing seeing stories take place in a different perspective and cultural background than what I'm normally exposed to. My favorite by far was Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller and Wingless by Marcie R. Rendon. I wasn't a fan of every story in the book especially because some just didn't really leave me an impact such as Quantum by Nick Medina but they do pose interesting questions about heritage and there's a fair shock and unsettling factor involved that I can appreciate. Would visit this book again in the future for a select reading.
I definitely recommend this book if you're looking to get into horror books and would want to see which authors would pique your interest, these short stories are pretty friendly and diverse as well. And I'll definitely look into more writing by my favorite authors here.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a strongly well written novel that I feel does the war justice in every sense of the word and that's a tall order given the gravity of the era but all too important to perform because the youth, including I. I feel like it is almost a must-read for every student in America currently going over WWI. I was first introduced to the novel by my little sister who saw the movie and remarked to me how “different”, “scary” and “traumatizing” the film was. I also admit I am sentimental in a way to the book because I own a used paperback with annotated notes from a stranger and coming upon them gives me a strange uneasiness yet one of common ship.
I love this book's pacing and the slow dread feeling that overcomes you as you realize just how far gone our ensemble becomes after the first chapter which is fairly lighthearted compared to the ending. The ending will be by far my favorite out of any book I've read thus far, and the tie-in back to the title was clever.
My favorite excerpt to which I had shivers reading.
“These voices, these quiet words, these footsteps in the trench behind me recall me at a bound from the terrible loneliness and fear of death by which I had been almost destroyed. They are more to me than life, these voices, they are more than motherliness and more than fear; they are the strongest, most comforting thing is anywhere: they are the voices of my comrades. I am no longer a shuddering speck of existence, alone in the darkness;—I belong to them and they to me; we all share the same fear and the same life, we are nearer than lovers, in a simpler, a harder way; I could bury my face in them, in these voices, these words that have saved me and will stand by me.”
This is my second attempt at giving poetry books a try and I do have to say some of the poems are really interesting reads. Some were really visceral and made me–in a way–meditate on the page and I haven't really experienced that before. It also made me interested in a lot in other people's interpretations which again, I didn't expect a book to actually make me ask that question. Some are really tender and sweet, some made me pause and reread and I admit some I couldn't get but nonetheless this is a collection I definitely hope to revisit.
Also I NEED to geek out about this line but
“a seagull–wings swallowing wings–I
learned
that a miracle is anything that God forgot to forbid”
If you're debating on whether to give it a try, I recommend going through a list of my personal favorites down below. I'm also honestly leaving this in for a revisit later on.
Saccadic Masking
The Moment I Saw A Pelican Devour
You be You, And I'll Be Busy
St. Francis Disrobes
Diorama of Ghosts
You Can Take Off Your Sweater, I've Made Today Warm
It's nice because you can see the whole experience of a teacher in the wake of the pandemic and I really love that because I don't think you see that a lot, especially for me who's interested in becoming a teacher one day. But it didn't really... feel like it was for me. Perhaps I just read and went through too much pandemic in my time and I do see the sort of appeal the whole slice-of-life this book goes through but it isn't really for me at all.
I should say that this was my real first time listening to an audiobook so maybe I would like this book better if I read through each page but I wasn't drawn enough into it to give it another shot. But I do really love (paradoxically) the fact that the writing feels fun, and nice to sort of breeze along to. The prose is something I hope I get to read more Linden someday.
While this book isn't for me and I felt really alienated and put off by the constant dirty jokes in the beginning which could've and should have been toned down a bit–I do think this book is important to those in the LGBTQ and the part I appreciate most is definitely its authenticity. In body image, in self image and in image in relation to others. I know it's a small thing but seeing it said from a third person perspective and you really start to ask yourself if it even is all that, and I believe that's incredibly important for those that are alike Aiden.
I was really gearing towards a three but the ending and the message it sent was too wholesome to not give it at least a four. Especially with the contrast with black and white versus red which is beautiful on paper and I really love feeling the page whenever I'm on a panel like it. It's a fair read, and I think that does it enough justice.
This is my first poetry boook and I'm not sure I think I just was hoping for something different. I can tell the author really put their best in this so I feel a bit sad that I can only say I like this book so much. It is definitely full of self-love centered poems but I don't think I am the target demographic at all and while it is no fault of the author, there were some poems that I just felt alienated by. I was hoping for poems that'd really set my mind afire with an elegant interweaving of nature and the cosmic space. Something that's more akin to being “drunk on air”.
But hey! That's just me. This book at least inspired me to continue poetry so I'll pick that hope I had. Being “drunk on air”.
My favorite poem here was definitely by far the Bodies of Water to which I absolutely love, I can feel it, I can taste it, I can see it and while I never really reviewed poetry before–I definitely recommend it to anyone who's interested in this collection to really just let this seep into your soul.
1. Bodies of Water
2. Visual audio
3. If love were food
I'm sure there are others I like but when writing this review, these are the ones that came to mind.
I didn't enjoy the writing style since it felt like it got repetitive at certain points. And I am not sure if I'm giving the book too much credit as I had to conduct small research to find some satisfaction after the ending had left me a bit mouth agape. But, the more I reflected and pondered on the book—a mere two hours later—the more I came around to loving it.
I think I spoiled myself a bit in reading this in two sittings, and the summary of the book in advance because it is a book that is perhaps best read in increments to allow you some time to take in what's going on. But perhaps that's what the author intended for you to do.
I was too captured in wanting to learn more about the Bedouin girl and what happened to the criminal soldiers afterwards that I let some things escape me. I wanted to learn some story of justice, or to know more about the girl herself and her story to give this unnamed and largely unseen character some form.
But I got none of that.
Instead, the book made me feel like I was almost there, and in a way—as if I was reincarnated to find answers to a previous life that I lived but clearly hadn't.
. . .
The reoccurrence of small details like the smell of gasoline, the endless roads/sand, the bars of soap, the barking dog and the girl's head peering out of the desolate hut village... are all small details but is what the book excels at. You may not pounce on them at first, but you must certainly begin to draw connections almost as if it were déjà vu because you already experienced it before through the first half of the book. And it makes me appreciate and love with how intentional the decision was to switch from a third-person to first-person perspective for both halves.
With the distance the third-person had in relation to the Bedouin girl was a brilliant choice I didn't see until after finishing the book. Throughout reading, all I cared about was the girl. I leapt at any mention and kept my eye lining each passage closely when it concerned about the Bedouin girl. I thought there were questions I could find answers to in between the lines (and perhaps I very well could on a second reading).
I just didn't care about the incessant details Sgt. Moshe (our first protagonist) had to offer but it is precisely why I felt so drawn to smaller details like the bar of soap and the uniforms at the museum. Even though there was nothing to be found there in relation to the crime itself.
. . .
My favorite part about the second half was how empty and isolate the second protagonist had been living. “Working” alone in the kitchen, and being awoken by this loud dog every night and not afforded any kind of sleep. It was as if her life had been kept on the edge, as if everyday she was awoken in a cold sweat without knowing.
Waiting for the particular day, of the particular hour, of the particular second that she would find this one particular detail among a newspaper filled with so much more.
Perhaps waiting for us, the reader, to come across this book, read through all the pages until we finally come upon her's—to give her life some meaning and mission. And it is through our shared desire to find out about what happened to the Bedouin girl that we cross borders together.
The passage about spotting fly shit in a painting rather than the painting itself comes to mind.
When we finally switch perspective's, it makes me feel like I was somehow given the life of the second protagonist. The decision to keep the second protagonist unnamed and largely unexplored is brilliant and feels beyond intentional.
It makes the second protagonist's obsession almost natural and understandable as to how they could be so enthralled by something so quiet in a newspaper because we ourselves are experiencing the same thing. We all know that these things happen, and that unfortunately nothing special stands out about this very evil crime that was committed—yet I was on the edge of my seat of wanting to learn more.
I wanted what the character wanted and after such a long journey (both within the book and actually reading so much incessant detail)...
Shots fired.
The ending had happened so fast that I didn't expect it, I was so lost in the protagonist's thoughts that when it all happened—it was like I was actually shot and was only starting to realize the blood fleeing my body. It was then until I saw how quickly life can dissipate.
. . .
I've been writing this review for awhile now, I was going to give it two stars at first because I was upset I was given no answers. But I clearly came around very quickly. I wanted to learn more about the crime, and even to this day—I could only find so much but it was through that emptiness that I found myself re-reading passages again and pondering what I had just experienced.
My only gripe with the book was perhaps how formless the Bedouin girl's story ended up being. And how we never got to learn more and perhaps find her legacy and remember her in the way she would've wanted or perhaps her family. To think that this is the only way we will remember her, through a crime she had no control over.
But that is outside the author's control and our own. I feel a bit sad and almost guilty at how much I enjoyed this book because of the writing I ended up loving and the small bits here and there but in the end something very terrible happened.
This may not be the legacy the girl would've wanted but perhaps it can be a legacy for advocacy, awareness and action. The events in this book can, will and have repeated themselves. The dead cannot come back to life, but it is up to the living to ensure such things never happen again. And while the soldiers involved in the case were largely left scott-free (most were sentenced 1-3 years for negligence, only the Sgt. Moshe was sentenced fifteen years for murder—not rape) we can try offering justice and retribution to what happened by remembering her story and the countless living it now and do our best to change the course of history from repeating itself.
Definitely made me cry to be honest. Even a year after reading it. It's a book that is still stuck in memory for me which is rare since I never remember anything from the books I read.
I don't think I was ever so heartbroken over a book halfway in than the Bell Jar. It is hauntingly beautiful, witty, intimate and a tragedy when you start to relate this a bit to the late Sylvia Plath. I also must say I appreciate how the book shows how proper care in mental health can be healing and that there is hope but devastating and regressive (Doctor Nolan v Doctor Gordon). Especially in the case of the ECT since there's a lot of stigma around that.
And the passage of time really did leave me disoriented once Esther came back from New York, I only wish we got more of a deeper and longer view of the sleeplessness she was experiencing since it sounded so horrifying to have to go through and at times I couldn't believe that it was the same character anymore, it felt like reading two different books but I think that was almost maybe intended–and it definitely hooked me a lot more in since the whole run through New York felt like a jungle.
My favorite passage which by far of maybe even of all time:
“I waved it, like a flag of truce, once, twice. . . . The breeze caught it, and I let go. A white flake floated out into the night, and began its slow descent. I wondered on what street or rooftop it would come to rest. I tugged at the bundle again. The wind made an effort, but failed, and a batlike shadow sank toward the roof garden of the penthouse opposite. Piece by piece, I fed my wardrobe to the night wind, and flutteringly, like a loved one's ashes, the gray scraps were ferried off, to settle here, there, exactly where I would never know, in the dark heart of New York.”
it was a fun read and it definitely expands a lot on IB 1 and some of IB 2. My favorite parts was definitely the banter with Isa and Siris, Sanderson knows how to leave you wanting for more and wishing along with Siris that things would “go back the way they were” in terms of their weird sort of partnership.
The only thing that slightly bothered me though but something I will admit I am not completely sure of is the reveal in the latter half of the book that Siris did indeed go in the basement to kill the prisoners. I'm sure it's likely that I maybe just didn't catch a mention of the true ending earlier but I didn't know it was canon until it became convenient for the “the infinity blade is not yet activated” subplot. It is rather small though.
I'm scared of finishing IB 2 fully someday and reading the next installment because I really love this universe. It's truly a shame IB went the way it did. Definitely recommend to play IB 1 before reading this–not necessary but it helps a lot.
“But the call of God is no siren song. It is a voice rising into the deepest part of our souls, an invitation uttered in our mother tongue reminding us that we need not be forever strangers in a strange land, that our family, our home awaits.”
If you are hungry, eager, to meet God or to at least connect with yourself on a deeper more personal level with the universe—this book is a good book to pray to. John J. Kirvan really pushes for you to pray and meditate essentially on each passing so I will be keeping this one on my person, I plan to revisit this book consistently overtime. At times I do not know what I have learned or experienced because it is hard to quantify. But I think it is good enough that I've taken the time to write this review, to let it stand as merit to the book's worth and the mystic's ideas.
A very dense read the more you go into the rabbit hole but perhaps that is a good thing, needless to say there were instances where I felt a bit lost in all of the language but that is frankly to be expected. This book raises really strong and interesting points and observations and stands to be my most surreal reading experience with any literature, whether that's due to the content itself or the experience of reading someone else's annotated paperback copy is up in the air but needless to say I liked this book.
Definitely one I plan on revisiting to cement a bit what I didn't grasp so strongly. A challenging read for sure but a rewarding one.
My favorite book was by far “To Walk the Night” the first chapter alone still remains in mind four years later to just how visceral and bone-chilling the first chapter was in describing the stadium. I hope to read this again since it's been a long time but it is a grand inspiration and I am beyond grateful I got a chance to read this book.
Reading this play again gave me a newfound appreciation and understanding of Emilia who plays a fantastic foil to Desdemonda, Othello and Iago. Sometimes I am bewildered by the clear feminism undertones from centuries ago only to look at the state of the world today and to see the wheel of change remain slow.
It is definitely timeless, like much of Shakespeare's works there are so many angles you can look at these plays and interpretations and head canons you can fit in that makes each visit worth it. Even though the language itself is still heavy for my eyes sometimes, it does help you appreciate the label of classic literature especially from someone who is passionate about reading but runs on little time.
I recently read a short story that had me thinking about “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and I remember feeling so distinctly disturbed and distraught on my commute home. The story is definitely a punch that takes its time, I read this like three times and read a dozen essays and watched too many videos on and while I didn't understand it at first... it is definitely my favorite short story of all time now.
It was so easy to close the book and go on with my life after reading this story, I simply forgot about it until I was reminded of it recently—reminded of the child in the basement. There are so many analogies and metaphors you can apply but simply living in America, a nation with great history in oppressing the weak, of war and crimes and imperialism and being able to enjoy life in a city as privileged as New York has me disturbed. I could've easily lost the lottery and have been born in Gaza for example, or in Vietnam during the late 20th century. I am grateful everyday of course but it is so easy to take things for granted, especially those suffering in the dark hidden from view.