i have mixed feelings on books from the perspective of a child (children have a tendency to be annoying, which is their right, growing up, am i right.
i have mixed feelings on books from the perspective of a child (children have a tendency to be annoying, which is their right, and the only thing more annoying than them is a weird adult doing a long saccharine literary impression of them for several hundred pages), but this was a thoughtful look at coming of age.
honestly i wish it was longer! in this glimpse (and i do mean glimpse, as this is like 7 pages long) we got very little of our protagonist's mother or his grandmother, or his life really at all, but maybe that was the point.
and as far as criticisms go, "i wish it was longer" is not a bad one.
You know how in children's content, there's always some kind of message like "you can't always get what you want, and even if you did you wouldn't likYou know how in children's content, there's always some kind of message like "you can't always get what you want, and even if you did you wouldn't like it"? Like when Coraline gets to eat all that birthday cake and have the fun school uniform in the Other Mother's house, but the Other Mother is a big ol' beetle-y freak, or like every episode of the Fairly Oddparents, or that one song.
But I never bought it. I am very good at 11:11 wishes and strategizing for potential genie encounters, and I think I could handle it.
Until now.
Because this is a perfect combination of two books I really like, possibly even LOVE, and...I thought it was just okay.
If I could have designed a combination of Days of Distraction and Joan is Okay in a lab (science pun lol) I would have jumped at the chance.
But this perfect mix felt a little more soulless, a little less thematically significant, and in truth unsatisfying in comparison.
I feel like a regular ol' Timmy Turner.
Bottom line: I'll be careful what I wish for, I promise!!
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i liked a book too much and now i can only read books by that author.
I am going to take legal action against the entire world.
For YEARS, I disliked tons of books. My resting state was neutrality, at best. When I four-sI am going to take legal action against the entire world.
For YEARS, I disliked tons of books. My resting state was neutrality, at best. When I four-starred a book, people cheered in the streets and small nations declared the day a bank holiday.
And people would always say, "emma, you need to figure out what books you like and stick with it."
And I did it. I stopped reading YA contemporaries (kinda), sci fi (with the kind of relief small children experience on the last day of school), and historical fiction (ditto). I picked up tons of literary fiction about horrible women (my favorite). I made myself read more classics (also like a small child, in that it felt assigned).
And it worked! My average is above 3 stars for the first time in approximately a lifetime. People yell at me less. (I stopped checking comments on old reviews to make that true.)
But here we are.
This is a work of historical fiction that does not sound like something I would like AT ALL. And yet. Four stars.
Cue the parades.
This made me very emotional. Somehow not much happens but it remains very captivating!! Borderline unputdownable!! And the reason I usually hate historical fiction (I cannot stand fake old-timey writing) didn't bug me at all here.
What to do.
Bottom line: This is so good it will make you betray yourself!
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I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO BE SAD. I WANT TO SUE SOMEONE. OR EAT A LOT OF ICE CREAM. OR CRY.
which, if you have the misfortune of having encountered me before, you know happens precisely never.
this book is so beautifullyi am almost speechless.
which, if you have the misfortune of having encountered me before, you know happens precisely never.
this book is so beautifully written, so emotive, and so brilliant. i initially gave it 5 stars, and i would have kept it there, except i have since read bluets and found it a slightly more satisfying (for me) version of this.
even still, it has to be 4.5.
han kang hive stays winning.
bottom line: wow wow wow.
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holy f*cking moley.
review to come / 4.5 stars
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i have loyalty to two things in life: brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and han kang
not just because of that, but also because i don't like sad/sick this book is sweet and nice.
i am not sweet or nice.
we were destined not to get along.
not just because of that, but also because i don't like sad/sick kid finds happiness type books. they make me sad at the beginning but they don't make me happy at the end - things always wrap up too neatly, like if deus ex machina involved less cool greek god vengeance, so i'm left thinking about all the real-world sad and suffering children who don't have a random happily ever after following 280ish pages.
which is the type of thought i use books to escape from.
a lose / lose situation.
bottom line: not a bad book! just a very, very not-for-me book.
Not just because of that title (although, sheesh), but because the most interesting parts of it are actually from other stories and This book is odd.
Not just because of that title (although, sheesh), but because the most interesting parts of it are actually from other stories and books. The original content here: Meh. The analyses of other works and summaries of folktales: Cool, fun, I love em.
I mean, it's not that crazy, and actually I am forced to find it very Relatable, because I too am most interesting for my commentaries (in that the coolest / most unique thing about me is that I write reviews that people read).
So I don't know how much credit to give either the book or myself.
I do like the footnotes and I usually do not, so that's a win, and while often even when I am paying a book the highest compliment I can (writing down quotes from it), I also wrote thoughts I had while reading this one.
the classic story: boy meets girl, boy is actually elderly man who was once girl's teacher but girl doesn't remember his name, boy and girl embark on the classic story: boy meets girl, boy is actually elderly man who was once girl's teacher but girl doesn't remember his name, boy and girl embark on mutual alcoholism
this book does capture what it means to be lonely, and how it feels, but also it just didn't hit me at the right time? i'm much closer to being in school in age than i am to this former student or her elderly teacher, and the dynamic between them kept taking me out.
overall it felt more like a traditional romance than i wanted it to - i was hoping for lit fic or something experimental - and the circumstances made me uncomfy.
and i'm not sorry about it!
but i like this author and i'll keep reading her and i'm not sorry about that either!
i once again accidentally picked up a companion novel to a book i didn't read.
this time, against the odds, i liked it anyway. honestly......i liked iti once again accidentally picked up a companion novel to a book i didn't read.
this time, against the odds, i liked it anyway. honestly......i liked it more than the book it's a spinoff from, once i finally got around to that thing.
as a contextless, short lil read, this is fairytale-esque. it's very kind and lovely and i enjoyed it a lot!
it's basically a fairytale. just very kind and lovely.
bottom line: ignorance really is bliss!
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i have to stop picking up novellas. my average read this year is going to be approx 19 pages
Usually, reviews have a central point that's about "plot" or "characters" or "writing." You know, one of the core cGuys, I have to tell you something.
Usually, reviews have a central point that's about "plot" or "characters" or "writing." You know, one of the core components of a book. Something that would do what we like to call make sense.
And this book is good, and it's not a cancelable offense, and in fact it's just something amusing and weird, but I can't stop thinking about it all the same.
Because the thing is, in the first 50ish pages of this alone, our protagonist is knocked or bumped into by another person no less than FIVE TIMES.
And also multiple other times after that.
I can't think of why this happens so often, other than to take the place that characterization normally would.
Sorry! That was mean. I don't even think that, necessarily, maybe.
This has a lot in common with Ace of Spades, but centers around the recent spate of hate crimes against Asian-Americans. The writing isn't quiiite as good as AoS, but this is entertaining and packs a real punch. It's important reading that also manages to be readable, even if its conclusion ultimately is a bit over the top.
And includes a lot of falling over, for some reason.
Bottom line: Go ahead and fall...into this book? I don't know.
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always promising when i forget to mark a book as read.
review to come / 3.5 stars
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hopefully these lies will be more interesting than mine (which mostly center around how many cookies i eat)
would you look at that. turns out i have a heart after all.
this is a magic book, in that it is about magic, but also in that it granted me a wish: thiwould you look at that. turns out i have a heart after all.
this is a magic book, in that it is about magic, but also in that it granted me a wish: this is what i wanted the house on the cerulean sea to be. mixed with eva ibbotson.
in other words, a dream.
the first quarter is extremely cute and perfect, and then we go off the rails a little bit - please less sex and romance and swearing and more witch children who want to commit murder - and the end is like the cutesy happy ending version of happily ever after, but overall...this is sweet and fun!
i would say no complaints, but i'm a hateful gremlin! and i liked the world of this.
bottom line: a book so good it made me speak in marketing copy!
the real romance in this book is between the protagonist and desserts.
and that's a love story i can get behind.
there are such insanely, wildly yummy fthe real romance in this book is between the protagonist and desserts.
and that's a love story i can get behind.
there are such insanely, wildly yummy food descriptions in this book that it's almost impossible to focus on anything else. and i am double not complaining, because 1) food is the best thing about being alive, and it isn't close, and 2) ...i didn't like a few of the other aspects.
this book was, to put it simply, very silly, both in good ways and bad! it's light magical realism about matchmakers who can see connections (literally), and our protagonist is cute and goofy and (dare i say it) quirky and spends most of the book befriending septuagenarians. it's fun.
but the same unrealistic vibe was brought to other, more serious storylines? our main character's relationship with her parents was almost surreal in how non-negotiably awful and almost cartoonish it was, to the point of being out of tune with the rest of the book. a subplot involving said protagonist's financial status was nearly absurd. there was a nightmarish third-act plot point that i felt did nothing but detract from the rest of the story.
and yet...the lighthearted parts were completely adorable?
i untagged this as romance (because it really isn't one!) but it's a very sweet contemporary, with bonus fun magical realism components, and i'll try this author again for sure!
bottom line: a very fun time, except for when it wasn't!
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i added this book to my tbr and then 2 days later the publisher sent it to me.
sometimes you find an author whose books you'll buy automatically.
sometimes you find an author who you just know isn't for you.
sometimes you find an asometimes you find an author whose books you'll buy automatically.
sometimes you find an author who you just know isn't for you.
sometimes you find an author and you're in awe of how their brain works.
mieko kawakami is the latter, for me.
i love a sad girl book at the worst of times (and especially anything that my screwed up brain can compare to sally rooney, which is...just about everything). even when i know a sad girl book is not, well, good, i still eat it up like ice cream.
but this is. wow.
it started off distant and slow for me, but by the last quarter was quite the opposite. i was wrapped up in it, consumed by it. what a treat, what a gift. the writing is subtle and wonderful, the connection between memory and light is so lovely.
it's a book so good it makes me write in comma splices.
bottom line: mieko forever!!!
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i only ever want to read lit fic about sad girls...more
i was so dazed by this book i forgot to write anything about it.
i'm still kind of at a loss.
i was once sent a marketing banner claiming the pictured bi was so dazed by this book i forgot to write anything about it.
i'm still kind of at a loss.
i was once sent a marketing banner claiming the pictured book to be a mix of severance and station eleven by a fellow enthusiast of both. that sounded like the exact type of PR jargon that's classically too good to be true, but if it was this book it was talking about (and i don't know that it was!) i have to agree. i don't know if this is that book, but it lives up to it.
a book being a mix of two five stars...pretty high praise!!
the MULTITUDINOUS perspectives at some points detracted - i don't always have time to connect to all these newbies! - but this book still managed to hurt my feelings and make me want to cry.
i didn't, though.
don't get it twisted. i'm still cool and edgy and unfeeling. like the book-reviewer equivalent of the leader of a biker gang.
this is one of those books that i thought would be 5 star and i loved like a 5 star but then something happened that prevented it from bAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
this is one of those books that i thought would be 5 star and i loved like a 5 star but then something happened that prevented it from being a 5 star but i still kind of feel about it like i would about a 5 star so 4.5 star it is?
there are stories i wanted concluded here, but life goes on without things tied up, so i guess that's fine for a book, but it still was very abrupt. i like a slice of life as much as the next girl but i also like a good ending.
still, i loved joan very much and i could have read a much longer book in her brain and this made me...feel things.
I Am Once Again Unable To Determine If I Loved A Book Or It Just Had A Perfect Ending.
i have a baby's sense of object permanence.
my brain also turns oI Am Once Again Unable To Determine If I Loved A Book Or It Just Had A Perfect Ending.
i have a baby's sense of object permanence.
my brain also turns off every time i encounter incest in any book at all. even when i know there's a deeper meaning there, i become completely unable to process words. where normally my thoughts at the time would be, you know, reading the sentences in front of me, instead it's like "no no no no no no no no no no no no no."
but i know that is on me. and i know this book was good?
this review is confusing. if it helps, i'm confused too.
so it's kind of an immersive experience in that way.
Reading books about working out counts as exercise, I'm pretty sure.
If it doesn't, do not tell me otherwise. This is all I have.
Prepare yourselves, beReading books about working out counts as exercise, I'm pretty sure.
If it doesn't, do not tell me otherwise. This is all I have.
Prepare yourselves, because this is going to sound familiar. I wish I knew anything about exercise, so that I could make a comparison that would be on theme. But then again, I don't really, because to know about exercise implies doing it, and that sounds horrible.
So, anyway, here it is, what has become basically my catchphrase:
My least favorite part of this romance novel was the romance.
I honestly loved these characters and their family (yes, family singular, their grandparents get married in what is a very normal and not at all uncomfortable and insane thing, apparently), and the body positivity plot, but I didn't care about the actual reason we all found ourselves gathered here like at all.
I don't think Crystal (our protagonist, an Instagram influencer) and Scott (our love interest, a firefighter) ARE that compatible. They are constantly doing stuff like calling each other boring, and not enjoying time they spend together, and also not really spending time together in general. Or if they are, we do not see it!
If I want to get into pacing things and sound smart (or as smart as it's currently possible for me to sound), instead of just saying the love story Wasn't For Me like usual: The first kiss came really early and I felt there were unresolved trust issues.
Also, a love interest whose tragic backstory is being kinda bullied one time in middle school...no.
Especially if his girlfriend is being doxxed and ruthlessly mocked on Instagram by hundreds of people, and he's like "this is the same as that one time 20 years ago."
Classic men stuff.
Bottom line: Can we get more contemporaries with like...100% family, 0% romance? Maybe that's what I need.
I don't think it should be - for example, you can make brown-butter chocolate chip cookies with sea salt on top anytime you wLife is about compromise.
I don't think it should be - for example, you can make brown-butter chocolate chip cookies with sea salt on top anytime you want, and there is absolutely no compromise on deliciousness there - but apparently, it is.
And for me, this book is about compromise, seeing as it'ss half a kind of book I hate (detailed and long-winded renditions of the suffering of innocent people, in this case children) and half a kind of book I love (philosophical musings).
What it results in, instead of an unholy level of yum that you can replace your dinner with if you're determined, is an extremely absurd collection of conversations between kids where they are mouthpieces for mature and complete worldviews on good vs evil, innocence, morality, nihilism, and the meaning of life.
I didn't hate it but that's the nicest thing I can say. Oh wait - the ending was lovely. That's the nicest thing.
Bottom line: Odd! But most things are.
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i hate books with plots like this one, but i love mieko kawakami...let's find out which will win!
STORY 1: THE HEAD i am a weak person, but...i am physically incapable of having any opinions on this story beshort lil tiny lil reviews for each story!
STORY 1: THE HEAD i am a weak person, but...i am physically incapable of having any opinions on this story beyond how disgusting it is.
i was trying to eat a Delicious Treat while reading it between conference calls, and i was delivered a cosmic punishment i do not feel i deserved.
however, i know this is the point of it, so... rating: 3
STORY 2: THE EMBODIMENT ok...this is badass. rating: 4
STORY 3: CURSED BUNNY title story title story title story!!!
in the bunny versus capitalism battle, my money is on bunny every time. rating: 4
STORY 4: THE FROZEN FINGER goddamn this one was so scary and good. rating: 4.5
STORY 5: SNARE okay extremely dark...
the real monster is capitalist greed!!! rating: 4
STORY 6: GOODBYE, MY LOVE like the movie her if i liked it. rating: 4
STORY 7: SCARS i love fairytales, but i can't stand myths.
i don't know if that makes sense, but it has to add up at least a little, because i didn't like this one much. rating: 3
STORY 8: HOME SWEET HOME i have trouble sympathizing with landlords. rating: 3
STORY 9: RULER OF THE WINDS AND SANDS i said i love fairytales and bora chung gave me a fairytale. rating: 4
STORY 10: REUNION a bunch of my favorite subjects in one: ghosts, sadness, the meaning of life, people-watching, lovers.
all wrapped up excellently. rating: 4.5
OVERALL this feels like it was made for me. rating: 4
interests may change, people may grow, things may shift, but one thing is for certain: i will always love mindy kaling.
this is shorter and more rushedinterests may change, people may grow, things may shift, but one thing is for certain: i will always love mindy kaling.
this is shorter and more rushed / less personal than her other two (amazing, generation-changing, genre-defining) memoirs, but it's still nice to have New Mindy Content.
also very impressive that her babies are publicly faceless and yet still very cute. i, too, am a publicly faceless person but i don't think i pull it off with that level of pizzazz.
I feel like I wanna sign a petition. Or set something on fire.
Usually I read as an escape (this is another way of saying I dread being alone with my tI feel like I wanna sign a petition. Or set something on fire.
Usually I read as an escape (this is another way of saying I dread being alone with my thoughts), and therefore my feelings about or surrounding what I read is more relevant to the fictional world I just left than the real world I am returning to. One exception to this is my favorite theme ever (people are lovely and everyday life is filled with heart-wrenching beauty), but otherwise it's almost what I look for.
This book was the opposite.
Honestly, as a story, I didn't find this that compelling. The writing didn't do much for me, I already forget the characters, and there was no real plot to speak of.
But for what it exemplifies, and for what it has accomplished, it's easily 4 stars.
While this is a work of fiction, in my consumption of it and in the role it plays (for me and generally) it's more, in effect, like an article.
And I love a longform article.
Bottom line: One of a kind! I think.
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my new thing is getting my book recommendations from cool girls on instagram who call them stuff like "sad girl reads"...more
![Nothing Like I Imagined [Except For Sometimes]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601998649l/55581591._SY75_.jpg)
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