Sahi
Definitely a 4.5 and I'm rounding up.
CW: physical and emotional child abuse, trauma, ptsd, therapy sessions
I knew going in that this was a book about complex PTSD and childhood trauma, and the author's experiences of growing up with it and her process of healing. I decided to again pick up the audiobook because no way I was gonna be able to read it. And wow was this an experience.
Listening to the author telling the story of her abuse was harrowing, so I can't even imagine growing up like that. But the author also balances out her life story with moments of joy and friendships and times when she felt like she was able to get out of the shadow of her trauma. And the way she researched and tried to find all available/ working therapeutic options for her C-PTSD felt very similar to the experiences of author Meghan in her memoir about chronic illness The Invisible Kingdom.
But more than being just a book about trauma and therapy, the author also does a brilliant job explaining her findings about childhood abuse - specially in the Asian American community, the effects of generational trauma and how it can affect future genetics, how experiences with racism can alter brain chemistry, and so much more. The audiobook also features some of her sessions with her therapist, and it was very enlightening to see how both of them analyzed her thoughts and feelings and what it meant about her stage of healing.
I know my review may feel very bland but I really don't think I can write a review worthy of the book. This memoir is brilliantly written, with so much openness and vulnerability, and giving us immense knowledge about trauma and healing and how it affects communities across generations. It's definitely an important book and I would highly recommend it, especially the audiobook because the format adds so much more value to the narrative.
This was one of those rare instances where I went into the book not knowing anything because Sorcery of Thorns was a favorite, and I was just excited to be back in this world.
This is a cozy, warm, full of love novella that's perfect to read while snug in your blanket and a hot chocolate in hand. This is domestic slice of life at its best, with lovely, charming, witty conversations between our favorite characters. And interspersed within it are moments full of exploring a magical house, discovering its hidden depths, and trying to bring some wayward grimoires to chill. Nathaniel is being his grumpy but witty self, Elisabeth is full of love and joy but also trying to find a way for her to use her skills more, and Silas is mysterious as ever but also just such an important part of this little found family. Mercy made a lovely new addition to this group. Everyone had their highlight moments and I just loved breezing through this audiobook in a single sitting.
Overall, I'm so glad we got a little glimpse into this world again and I can only hope that we might get more stories with these characters, because they are such fun to spend some time with. And if you loved the first book, you really can't give this a miss.
Most probably a 3.5 but I'm rounding up.
Ofcourse I'm vain and get enamored with gorgeous things, so when I first saw this stunning cover, I knew I had to read it. I was quite excited when I got the opportunity to participate in this blog tour. And it turned out to be quite a complicated read.
Firstly, I have been having a tough time reading for months now, so I had to take it slow with reading this one and maybe my health issues have affected the joy I otherwise might have felt while reading this book. But I still hope I'm able to do justice to it. This book had some great plot, interwoven with the world, horrific murder mystery elements seamlessly written into this fantasy. I can't say it totally surprised me but I do enjoy some predictability sometimes, so this was a cool read.
The world building is a bit complicated though and it took me a while to get into the groove and understand what was going on. I still don't think I remember all the saints and their respective powers, or who signifies what in their disciples minds - but it was an interesting secondary world religion, exploring ideas like the perils of extremism especially towards the end, which felt very relevant to our current world scenario and the issues we seem to be facing everyday with religious extremism.
But ultimately it's what the author tells through the characters is I feel the beating heart of the story. Roz is powerful and angry at the world and hates what power has done to the society, how oppression is ingrained and no one questions that faith. Damian on the other hand is a soft boy with immense faith in his saints and believes in his duty as a guard(or cop) but is disillusioned by his experiences in war, and has to grapple with the actual ground reality of his faith and duty. Their past relationship in the story leads to a lot of yearning but I still think I appreciated them more as individuals than feeling invested in their relationship. I also think they both sometimes felt like archetypes present to further explore the themes in this story than individuals with more personal motivations.
However, in the end, this was a fun YA fantasy with a bit of a rough start but a pretty cool ending. Roz's unbending anger, Damian's internal struggles and the world full of forgotten saints whose disciples don't necessarily engage in any saintly endeavors - this is an enjoyable book you can try, especially if you are looking for a YA fantasy which you can read quickly. And it'll look gorgeous on your bookshelf too.
I was pretty excited for this book when I requested an arc, but then I saw many negative reviews and kept wondering if I should read it or not. It didn't help that my health isn't cooperating with reading much these days, and if not for the audiobook that Macmillan Audio sent me, this might have been languishing on my kindle shelf forever. But some good weather out, and me listening to the audio on my walks really made for a very unexpected and interesting experience.
I don't wanna give away too much about the book but I have to say that the concepts and themes the author tries to talk about here are very intriguing, and somewhat relatable too. The story might be taking place tens of thousands of years in the future on a terraformed planet called Sask-E, but all the discussions about biodiversity, keeping carbon footprints low, working together with all the species on the planet, the ethics of bioengineering humanoids and talking animals and robots and more but also limiting their rights and controlling their actions, the forever clash between democracy vs complete corporatization - they all are very much in line with the kinds of issues we are facing today on our planet and it felt fascinating to read them from a secondary world perspective.
And it was so amazing to meet so many interesting characters including multiple species of humans - both augmented and decanted - and many different animals with different levels of forced intelligences. But the bonds and friendships they shared with each other as well as the dedication they had to preserve their way of life on Sask-E as well as make it better for other persons was admirable. The only problem was that the book takes place in three parts, each with a time gap of thousands of years, and hardly any characters remains from one part to the other. So we always feel a bit dissatisfied because we never get a full picture of these wonderful characters' lives and what more they did in their lives. But it was also lovely to see the impacts they had on future generations centuries later, especially someone like Destry as well as the idea of creating the flying trains.
The production of this audiobook also definitely helped in keeping my interest. There are many sounds as per the context in the story, as well as music perfectly encapsulating what the characters are feeling. It's really a great audio, very well narrated by Emily Lawrence. Because no other cast is mentioned, I assume she did all the voices including the robots and animals and it's a phenomenal job.
While I did mention my dissatisfaction with not getting enough of the characters, I think it works well with the ideas in the book. It's about how individual people might contribute for a bigger movement and influence generations to come, but it's not always their names that stay behind but what they did. It's optimistic in its approach but also cautious, reminding us how easy it is to go with the flow and the status quo without fighting until it's too late. This book may not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it a lot. If you've enjoyed Ruthanna Emrys's A Half-Built Garden, I'm sure you'll like this too - they are very different books right from their setting, but the ideas and optimism in them are very similar and I'm excited to explore more sci-fi books like this in the future.
Probably more of a 3.5.
This was definitely interesting to listen to, except ofcourse the parts where torturing the accused to elicit confessions is the norm which made me pretty uncomfortable. But Judge Di and his band of detectives are quite fun to follow and see how they might have investigated cases in that era. I wouldn't mind reading more of Robert van Gulik's fictional stories of Judge Di, if I can find them.
I went into this not knowing much about the book except it being recommended by some trusted intellectuals I follow on Twitter. And I still don't think I can put into words after finishing what it was actually about.
This can probably called a love letter to the American South, by an author who is from Alabama, who is not afraid to show both the beautiful and brutal things about the South, both in the past and present. It's an intimate chronicling of a journey across various important cities and states which we may know a little about, but there is so much more to say about these places, especially through the eyes of the Black people who have lived there for generations amidst turmoil and survived or thrived, creating their own vibrant communities.
At the end though, this was both eye opening but also fleeting in the sense that I don't know how much of these stories impacted me. But I can feel the sentiment and love with which the author wrote this book. And listening to the audiobook in her own voice felt like she was narrating a journey as she was traveling and it was very interesting. I will definitely recommend the audiobook but I think it's better if you don't go in expecting a straightforward and stereotypical history book about the American South.
More of a 3.5 but maybe I can round up.
This book turned out to be nothing like I expected but I also didn't go in with too many ideas about it. I was also excited to listen to the audiobook because Soneela is one of my favorite narrators.
I found it quite easy to get into the headspace of Menaka - whose journey to India sparks off this story - because I've lived in the US for almost a similar amount of time as her and share quite a few experiences in common. The awe, wonder and maybe even the skepticism she feels at a very rapidly changing India is something I've felt too in my recent travels and it was interesting to see that reflected in the book. We also get many other POVs in the book, each somehow tangentially related to Menaka, as well as under construction Trump Towers which somehow feel metaphorical to our lives.
The author does an interesting job giving us these various perspectives which show a reflection of the huge class divide in modern Indian society - where while the rich become more Americanized, the poor struggle just for daily survival, the middle class wants to be more and always striving to move up the strata, the politicians use existing tensions to rile up more hate and extremism - as things rapidly change, it also feels like nothing changes at all. It's a dichotomy that feels very desi and I thought it was well depicted in the book.
Ultimately though, this is more like a slice of life story and there's not much going on here. I also did not see that ending coming and it was a bit of a shock. So while I did feel very comfortable with the setting and themes explored, this was just an intriguing read, and maybe not something I'll remember a lot. I'm sure Soneela's narration definitely helped me consume it so quickly and not feel too bored with the meandering style of storytelling.
This was a fun reread. I remember reading the fan translation of this book more than a year ago and it was an instant addiction to my best of the year lists. So when I realized it was getting an official English translation published, I had to preorder it. And they are just such gorgeous copies.
This translation is really done well. There are so many beautiful and poetic lines which I wanted to highlight but I haven't been feeling well, so didn't have the energy to annotate. But it's been months since I've actually picked up a book or kindle (without an audiobook), so even the fact that I picked this book and read it in 2 days despite not feeling not too well health wise shows how much I love this story and the YanFu couple.
This first volume is mostly about us getting to know the characters and them getting married and falling in love, and it's all very very romantic and beautiful and it's easy for us readers to just not want to stop reading about them. The political machinations haven't really started in full gear yet but we see the setup going on and I'm frankly dreading reading the second volume despite this being a reread. It's gonna be full on political maneuvering and I just hate my favorite characters facing hardships. But I'll probably read it next because I don't think I am yet prepared to tackle new fantasy worlds.
Probably more of a 3.5 but I'm rounding up.
I may be anti-monarchy as an institution but I'm also one of many who was fascinated by Princess Diana, so I was definitely very interested to read this book. Meghan and Harry's Netflix documentary had also primed me for this.
And while there are parts from the documentary which are told here again and it can get repetitive, but there's also a lot of new information. I guess most of it just felt very surprising because the royal family, their dynamics, the way they do things, what they believe in - it almost feels like they aren't from our world and there were many instances where I felt incredulous. The middle portion of the memoir which is about Harry's experiences in the military and the war made me a lot uncomfortable, and I'm frankly astonished he was so candid about everything. This is definitely a book which felt like he was venting everything that he had never been able to talk about, and all I can hope is that it was therapeutic for him.
Reading it may feel a bit tedious though, because it's very stream of consciousness style of writing and the chapters sometimes were very small and ended abruptly. But he narrates the audiobook himself and that was definitely a better way to consume this memoir. I'm definitely feeling quite sympathetic towards him after finishing this and I can only hope he can find peace in his life in America, away from the fish bowl.
I have been waiting to read this novelette since it started getting acclaimed and nominated for all the top SFF awards, but I just never got around to it. I'm glad I'm finally reading it before the end of the year.
I love the Dominion of the Fallen trilogy, so this felt like a fun addition to it but slightly different. The awe for the City, the despair of the Fallen and their hope to get a glimpse of it once more - this story might be a murder mystery but it's the emotional connect that keeps one going. I loved Sam and O'Connor and how they kept their conviction to help solve the problems despite knowing that they are just humans meddling in Fallen affairs. As always, I'm in awe of Aliette's writing and how much magic she creates even in such few pages. The ending is heartbreaking but also maybe hopeful and it definitely left me feeling a lot. Definitely deserves all the accolades.
Merged review:
I have been waiting to read this novelette since it started getting acclaimed and nominated for all the top SFF awards, but I just never got around to it. I'm glad I'm finally reading it before the end of the year.
I love the Dominion of the Fallen trilogy, so this felt like a fun addition to it but slightly different. The awe for the City, the despair of the Fallen and their hope to get a glimpse of it once more - this story might be a murder mystery but it's the emotional connect that keeps one going. I loved Sam and O'Connor and how they kept their conviction to help solve the problems despite knowing that they are just humans meddling in Fallen affairs. As always, I'm in awe of Aliette's writing and how much magic she creates even in such few pages. The ending is heartbreaking but also maybe hopeful and it definitely left me feeling a lot. Definitely deserves all the accolades.
Probably more of a 3.5.
The first book was an absolute favorite of mine because it came at a time in my life when I was very depressed and I felt that it really spoke to me. While this sequel did continue in the same vein, it kinda failed at evoking similar emotions in me. While it's still a chill and soothing ride with Brother Dex and Mooscap - I adored Mosscap and it's interactions with humans and animals; the kind of questions it asked them; and how all these interactions turned into contemplation about it's own purpose as a robot. It was enjoyable and I liked listening to the audiobook, but I guess I just don't have more to say about it. But if the series continues, there's no doubt I will surely read the next.
Definitely more of a 4.5.
It's a new year and I have many arcs to read but as usual I'm in a horrible mood and don't wanna judge them harshly because I wasn't in the right headspace. So I turn to nonfiction because that seems to be the only genre I'm able to read these days. I've made a specific nonfiction tbr for this year with varied kinds of books, and this just happens to be the first one I managed to get from my library from that list. And it was as amazing as I thought it would be.
I remember getting it from the library once before, maybe a year or so ago but never did manage to get to it. But this time when I started it, I just couldn't stop. The author does a tremendous job making her points and in a way I wasn't expecting. From the title, I assumed that this book would be mostly contemporaneous but it's not just that.
The author starts off giving context why she wrote this book. But then the book details the historical origins of many racist/sexist tropes that have been used to always oppress women of color like Jezebels, Exotic orientals, angry sapphires, black velvets, dragon ladies and more. It was very eye opening to see how these historical terms still persist and are used to discriminate, if not by using the same words, atleast in the same spirit. And the author is very informative about how these harmful tropes are rooted both in white supremacy and patriarchy and how they can't be separated. We also get to know how femininity itself has been constructed over centuries in a way to put white women on a pedestal as damsels in distress and pure/innocent, while any woman of color was impure and not feminine and deserved to be
While the historical origins were interesting to know, it's how white women weaponize their tears and fears and femininity to silence Black and Brown women when any woman of color tries to talk about the oppression they are facing, was a very important revelation. The author lays out example after example of experiences of many women who have reached out to her, and incidents in the author's own life which show clearly how a white woman's pain at being maybe incidentally called a racist or oppressor is given more credence than the actual harm being perpetrated at women of color. It's a very clear throughline from the days of slavery to today and it's unbelievable but also inevitable in some ways.
Ultimately, what I appreciated was how the author lays out that any feminist movement or labor rights movement against classism will not work if race is not considered. Because race has been historically constructed for the explicit purpose of discrimination, and to divorce race from any conversations about misogyny or classism or rights of individuals is being disingenuous. It's a purposeful maneuver to ensure that racial discrimination continues and white supremacy cements its legacy. This is a very important book, especially if you are interested in what intersectional feminism actually means, and about how just using the words are not enough. It takes work to understand the role racial discrimination plays in every form of oppression and how it is about upholding white supremacy, and we are still just at beginning of understanding all this.
Maybe more of a 3.5 though.
I've only read the author's Black Sun and a couple of short stories but they've always been fun, so I thought it'll be interesting to checkout this little novella. And it's been a while since I've read a fantasy novel (been quite a few slumpy weeks), so I wanted to ease myself in the new year with a shorter read.
And this was both interesting but dissatisfactory. The author creates a very cool world with familiar elements like the angels and the fallen, but also imbues it with some parallels from Old West and the mining towns of America and the lives of those who worked the mines - marginalized people who were only trying to survive amidst discrimination. But everything is just only implied and we hardly get any details because the book is too short.
Even the characters are barely introduced to us and we don't get enough time to get invested in their lives, but I still thought the author did a very good job creating a connect with them, especially Celeste. We can see that these people are morally grey and aren't just closed with each other, but are also lying to themselves. It's a quick chance to peer into these dynamics but I was mostly left wanting more, because ultimately it's a murder mystery and it gets solved too quickly. I wouldn't mind though if the author decides to set more stories in this world.
Probably more of a 3.5 but I'm rounding up.
I just picked this up on a whim because I've been hearing about the author a lot, but I really don't have much place on my tbr for more fiction novels. So I wanted to give the short nonfiction one a try and I also found the audiobook.
While I feel one can appreciate this book more if one has already read any of the author's previous books, I still liked this one. It's the author's journey told in 3 lectures and an essay about when she realized she wanted to become a writer, who influenced her since childhood, how difficult it was for her to find her own voice because all she could find was male author's works, and her struggles with writing once she started. It felt like a really unique and rare dive into the process of a legendary writer.
Maybe I should read a couple of the author's works and then revisit this one to better understand and appreciate it more.
Probably more of a 3.5.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this book because it felt like a self help book and that's one genre I stay away from. But I also couldn't resist listening to Michelle Obama's narration. Turns out it's a bit of self help and some of those parts really went over my head but there were other parts where she talks about her own experiences and friendships and relationships, and that felt more like Becoming which I really enjoyed. So overall, I don't think I would have finished this if it wasn't for the audio because the former First Lady is an excellent narrator. And ofcourse I'll be checking out whatever she writes next.
I haven't read these sisters' first book but I have enjoyed watching Amber's show and wanted to check this book out when it came onto my radar.
And I know this is funny. The whole book is satirical yes, but it is also the truth and it's just hilarious as well as despairing to read about the numerous big and small racist experiences these sisters, their families and friends have been through. It's a harsh reality that we may be able to process through making fun of it but the reality is still horrific. And the worst part is I'm sure they'll be able to write more books because looking at the way things are going, I don't see how they'll run out of racist stories to tell.
Great book to have a laugh at first glance but definitely leaves you with a lot to think about.
I've been pretty put off by big name lawyers in America in the first time I read She Said and Catch and Kill and saw how Harvey Weinstein was able to intimidate and threaten his victims, any witnesses and the journalists wanting to uncover his crimes - by employing high powered lawyers and using their full legal apparatus against those who possibly couldn't afford costly legal challenges.
And this book only increases my ire and makes me more pessimistic because nothing is going to change. Big law and politics and multibillion dollar corporations are all deeply intertwined and nothing's gonna separate them. Corporations will continue to spend significant amounts of money on their lawyers so that they can do whatever they want with impunity and as less government oversight as possible; the big law firms will throw all their power at the government lawyers who probably will never have enough budgets to confront big corporations; and lawyers and high level government officials will just keep changing their jobs from law firm to government to lobbying to law firm ... till it's just a vicious circle, where all these people with money and power get what they want, and the public is left with nothing.
Jones Day is just one part of this big corrupt enterprise, which the author goes deep into explaining the origins of and how as the firm grew, it changed from a principled midwestern law firm to a right wing legal organization where power is prime and there is no ethical boundary while serving a client. I don't know why I keep reading these books which just make me despair more, but I guess atleast knowing a bit about the reality of our world is much better than being totally ignorant.
I didn't think I was gonna read more books about the 45th President and his term because even the few I already have felt like enough, and there's more coup related revelations coming out everyday these days. But the title and the cover instantly drew me in when I first saw it in a bookstore and I was glad to get an audiobook from my library.
This turned out to be interesting because its not focused entirely on 45 but on the Republicans around him who knew what a disaster he was but still sucked up to him because being in power is their main goal, and who cares what havoc he creates in the meantime as long as it helps them win. While there's nothing truly revelatory in the book itself because we've seen this shit show play in front of our eyes, it felt worse to see it all consolidated in one place.
The way proximity to power will make politicians give up any of their principles and just cling to anyone who will let them win is not a new concept to me - I grew up in India and we've had our very fair share of huge corruption scandals but also numerous politicians who jump parties before and after elections based on what will profit them most. So I find this kind of behavior in politicians mostly par for the course. But the USA which touts itself as the best in the world was always better in my head, and it wasn't until I came to live here that I realized that lust for power is the same everywhere, probably even more in a country like America because of the money involved and the kind of influence anything that happens here can have on the rest of the world. And maybe it was more behind closed doors before, but the 45th President's term and everyone who enabled him brought it all out into the open.
I mostly just felt horrified reading this book. But what kept me going was the author's very good sarcasm and snark, and you could really feel how horrified he himself when he was having some of those conversations with the republicans. Despite all this sycophancy, we somehow averted catastrophe in 2020 but who knows what's next. The same gop politicians who became yes men to the president in those years have now gone full maga and qanon, and until the next presidential election actually happens, and everyone's votes are truly counted properly without interferences from right wing legislatures and courts, we have to keep our eyes open. Or who knows, maybe we can all just give up based on whatever the judgement will be in Moore v. Harper.
Probably just about a 3.5 but I'm still rounding up coz I feel it's an important issue to talk about.
I think my slightly lower rating of a collection I thought I'll be blown away by is more of an expectations problem because I did go into this hoping to find atleast a few essays which deeply spoke to me, and it disappointed me when there was hardly one where I could find parts of myself in, that too written by a man (Geoff Dyer), whose societal expectations of fatherhood are in no way similar to the expectations put upon me as a married woman to have a child. There was also one essay by Lionel Shriver at the halfway point which came across as condescending and smug, with its racist tone of lament that the population with superior European genes will be in the minority in western countries in a few decades.
The other essays were ofcourse good in the sense that I could empathize with all the writers' dilemmas and choices that made them ultimately decide to not be a parent. But most of them had at one point or the other, seriously contemplated having a child (especially most of the women); many even tried and it didn't happen due to other life circumstances; a couple got abortions or had miscarriages which later cemented their idea to not have kids; or some happened upon this decision due to childhood trauma. But there wasn't one essay where I could find a woman deciding not to be a mother just because she didn't want to, and not because she was past her age of fertility and didn't regret not having a child in hindsight.
But this collection is still valuable because the topic is being talked about. Many individuals and couples are contemplating not being parents as a legitimate choice to make in this day and age, and I think we should be able to listen to all those voices and not stigmatize such choices, nor put parenthood (and particularly motherhood) on a pedestal, calling it the ultimate purpose of human existence.
CW: compulsion, mind control, mild substance abuse pertaining to the world
This is a book that has been high up on my tbr since it was announced because Winter's Orbit was my most favorite romance book of last year and I had high expectations from this one when I realized it was gonna be set in the same world. I'm still trying to compile my thoughts but I think having too many expectations can sometimes be an unnecessary hindrance.
I started reading this quite a while ago but stopped about a quarter in coz I was just not in the right mood for it and I wanted to love it. And there's much to enjoy here. It maybe set in the world as it's predecessor but we are dealing with completely different planets here along with chaotic space and neuromodified individuals called architects and readers - and it was fun to explore these new ideas. But there's also familiar themes from the first one like forced proximity of the main characters, a planet in flux, possibilities of a coup/ civil war/ revolution, and the antagonists using the alien remnants to alter people's thoughts and actions. I think there's a fine line between being familiar and being repetitive, and maybe I found it a tad bit repetitive thematically. But the pacing is super quick and things happen so fast that we don't even get time to process everything before the characters are thrust into more dangerous situations. And the author is definitely very accomplished at writing characters successfully getting out of tricky situations through their wit and quick thinking.
The fun characters definitely help. Tennal is a chaotic disaster and I just can't imagine being in his head. He is actively causing destruction to his own life coz he can't catch up with his ever spinning thoughts, and is then forcibly conscripted into the military to straighten him out. He is to be brain synced with Surit, a very proper soldier who breathes rules and regulations and just wants a promotion so that he can financially support his parent. They together make for a very satisfying couple because they complement each other almost perfectly. I liked that this is an extremely slow burn romance because there is immense power imbalance in one being able to literally mind control the other, and the author navigates these tricky waters quite well. We also get some interesting side characters and antagonists but definitely loved Istara and Basavi for being so loyal and doing the right thing even when they are in danger.
While controlling other's thoughts and compelling them to do things has been a common action of the antagonists across both the novels, the author is also quite subtle in showing us how power - and especially military power - is used to garner more of it, do harm in the name of research or security, and justify it later by force or manipulation. Almost everyone in a position of power feels corrupted in some way here and it's hard to even take them at their word when they strive to make changes or right their wrongs. And now I'm not sure where I was going with this paragraph