imagine if you lived in the 1700s and this was like...the most fun book available.
screaming and crying.
so grateful to live in a time when the only reaimagine if you lived in the 1700s and this was like...the most fun book available.
screaming and crying.
so grateful to live in a time when the only reason i read this book is because its cover is pretty, and not because i live a life of suffering and no running water and my idea of a raging good time is...this.
deciding to read a classic because i found the penguin clothbound edition on sale again.
works every time.
this, again, like so many classics, made me deciding to read a classic because i found the penguin clothbound edition on sale again.
works every time.
this, again, like so many classics, made me so grateful that i live NOW and not in a time when everything i read would be somewhere on the spectrum of boring, not to mention incredibly holy...
but this was pretty!
bottom line: i love being a 21st century reader, but this would have been top tier for 1600s me.
the problem with setting a book in one of the coolest places in the world is that real life is going to be better than the story.
and the problem with the problem with setting a book in one of the coolest places in the world is that real life is going to be better than the story.
and the problem with the word "cloisters" is that i hate it.
it's worse than moist.
i didn't hate this book, on the other hand, but i would 200% have rather just gone to the museum, and 100% have rather read about the museum itself, than whatever confusing hijinks and love triangle bullsh*ttery happened here.
i'm filing this with The Woman in the Library as part of a burgeoning subgenre i call Actual Places Are More Interesting Than The Stuff You Made Up, Even Though You Had The Power Of Imagination On Your Side.
rolls off the tongue.
bottom line: meh!
2.5
---------------- tbr review
committing a huge act of bravery (reading this even though it contains one of the worst sounding words in the english language)
it's hard for a book this short to be way too much. but here we are.
this was goofy and fun and then it was less goofy and fun and then there was a 3 pit's hard for a book this short to be way too much. but here we are.
this was goofy and fun and then it was less goofy and fun and then there was a 3 paragraph description of poop and then it was unadulterated suffering for every remaining page.
i truly believe, from the bottom of my heart, that at any given time i could make a fortune via heists and scams.
i also believe i could do it with a hi truly believe, from the bottom of my heart, that at any given time i could make a fortune via heists and scams.
i also believe i could do it with a hell of a lot of more charm and likability than every character in this book combined.
welcome to the fraud squad, a work of fiction following the lives of the worst people in the world.
i was excited for this book because i love schemes and misadventures and i hate capitalism, but these people are the worst. and not even the worst due to the usual character crimes, like "they annoy me" or "i personally do not care for them," which are, as we all know, unforgivable. the worst for their actual behavior!
in all honesty none of the so-called "villains," who are uniformly shunned / condemned / thrown into an old-timey cellar to perish by the end of the book, do anything worse than the main characters. you know, the ones we're supposed to support and root for and like.
and honestly i think they actually are better! they have, at least, traceable motivations, and sometimes even show regret or a hint of character development, something none of our main characters can even begin to claim. our protagonist in particular got off unbearably easy for lying to everyone, being very shallow, using her boyfriend, being entitled, treating her mom terribly, and actively competing in the world's worst friend competition.
but what do i know.
bottom line: this wasn't what i expected. or what it said it would be.
this book was incredibly dark, bordering on gruesome, and absolutely eerie in how much it stuck with me. in a word it waoof.
this might have killed me.
this book was incredibly dark, bordering on gruesome, and absolutely eerie in how much it stuck with me. in a word it was stunning.
the writing hit me hard, as did the characters and their stories.
this book is not for the faint of heart, and now i am questioning whether my ol' cardiac system is insert-antonym-for-faint or not!
it wouldn't be an emma review if i didn't throw a complaint or two in, and true to form there were moments in this book that felt weaker than others: (view spoiler)[the twist, which felt trite and out of place, even unnecessary, and the mother's diary, which felt...also those (hide spoiler)].
but overall this was striking and powerful, and i can't wait to read the author's other book.
bottom line: the fact that i barely indulged in my usual focusing on the negative says it all!
------------------ tbr review
i don't have anything to say about this beyond how excited i am to read it.
(and also thanks to the author for the arc)...more
and not just because it's february. tragically, they have remained low since december 14, a time when the hearts of each christmas spirit levels: low.
and not just because it's february. tragically, they have remained low since december 14, a time when the hearts of each and every person should dance with ideas of baking an inedible number of cookies and feeling capable of smiling somehow, even though it's winter and that should be physically impossible.
because december 14 is the day i read this book.
i would have preferred more festive fun, less people being so terrible and annoying, but we take what we can get i suppose.
and this book - the rough equivalent of a stocking full of coal - is what i got.
bottom line: i did not know i was on the naughty list, but it seems obvious in hindsight.
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beginning to plan how i will christmas harder than anyone has ever christmas'd before
honestly the only reason i wanted to read this book is because it was included in a really pretty edition of Mrs. Dalloway.
also, because i read this ihonestly the only reason i wanted to read this book is because it was included in a really pretty edition of Mrs. Dalloway.
also, because i read this immediately after reading Mrs. Dalloway, and in fact in the exact same book as i had read Mrs. Dalloway in, i feel pretty confident in saying that just about everything good about this is pretty much Mrs. Dalloway.
have i said Mrs. Dalloway enough yet?
bottom line: the tragedy of retellings. the best bits are always just the source material....more
is there any better feeling than picking up a book for almost no reason and falling in love with it?
i bought this solely because it was on the remaindis there any better feeling than picking up a book for almost no reason and falling in love with it?
i bought this solely because it was on the remainder sale table at my very favorite bookstore in the world, and because i liked the title. i hadn't yet read a sigrid nunez book and figured i might as well start.
what i got was an immersive and emotive story, a beautiful capturing of some of life's most difficult to render themes, an evocative and eloquent rendering of a friendship and what we owe to each other. this book carries across what i think the world is and what i want it to be. it's gorgeous and it hurt me to read in more ways than one.
i'll be rereading, and it seems like pure luck i even read it in the first place. what a gift!
bottom line: might be 5 stars.
----------------- tbr review
more books should have titles that sound like an invitation for me to rant...more
when you read a lot, you build up a barrier over time without trying. it's hard for me to have an intense emotional response to any book.
not this timewhen you read a lot, you build up a barrier over time without trying. it's hard for me to have an intense emotional response to any book.
not this time!
i think there's worthy criticism about a lot about this book, including and maybe especially the decision to use broken english as the narrative voice, but i can't not give this book a solid rating because it broke me down.
bottom line: immersive and horrific.
-------------- tbr review
my short book addiction is getting out of hand...more
before this, i didn't know much about constance wu, beyond that she is the star of my sister's favorione of the most important skills a woman can have
before this, i didn't know much about constance wu, beyond that she is the star of my sister's favorite movie which i have therefore seen too many times and also vague concepts surrounding her cancelation via tweet.
but now i love constance wu. and i thought this was truthful and funny and real and just a very good memoir.
and oftentimes memoirs are not good memoirs at all.
this is a book that is really excellent in its generalities and totally unreadable in its specifics.
or, to be more...specific:
it makes such beautiful this is a book that is really excellent in its generalities and totally unreadable in its specifics.
or, to be more...specific:
it makes such beautiful and intricate arguments in its characters, but it can't resist stating them obviously in terms of ham-fisted inclusion of current events in the kind of sardonic holier-than-thou tone that has broken world records for fastest lit fic trend to become cliché.
to be less personal-pet-peeve: i thought this book was very lovely and very allegorical and very successful in caring across messages without trying to beat you over the head with them, and then it engaged in one of my new least favorite things about literary fiction: speaking about politics with the kind of raised-eyebrow attempt at wit favored by late-night talk show hosts.
like probably every reader of this book, i'm roughly in political agreement with the author. but when, your audience is all on your side, this is not brave — it's bad writing. and it's not going to age well, either.
anyway. excellent writing. i can't wait for spring. on multiple levels.
bottom line: i love ranting about books i didn't even hate.
----------------- pre-review
seasonally appropriate reading
review to come / 3 stars
----------------- tbr review
a book about my least favorite season is one of my most anticipated reads. ain't life strange...more
every book should be 100 pages long and about weird magic kids.
sure, i've been a bit disenchanted with the last few books in this series, but that's oevery book should be 100 pages long and about weird magic kids.
sure, i've been a bit disenchanted with the last few books in this series, but that's one reason to love it - you may always love the next one.
there's always some kind of a balance here between tragic backstory and magic, and good and evil, and this struck it perfectly for me- and i had missed the magic school and here we glimpsed it.
i loved antsy and i loved her world and the only downside (which is the best and worst downside of this series) is that i want more of her story!
this book made me hungry (literally, because there is so much discussion of yummy sounding food and also the very mention of france is usually enough this book made me hungry (literally, because there is so much discussion of yummy sounding food and also the very mention of france is usually enough to make me crave soup / steak frites / macarons / fries / crêpes of the savory or sweet variety, etc.) and hungry (figuratively, because i was left wanting more).
it was silly and cute, but it wasn't really my cup of tea, which is a nice way of saying i didn't like it.
it had the vibe of a cozy mystery more than a romance, and while i WANT to like cozy mysteries, i have a similar relationship to them as i have to oysters, or to blazers — being the type of person who enjoys them seems elegant and fun and totally out of my reach.
they rarely align with my sense of humor, or my reading preferences. i felt like i wanted more from these characters and their stories, even as everything from emotions to instalove to menu building felt bizarrely over the top.
astrid parker and i have at least 1 thing in common.
i didn't love the first book in this series, and in fact i didn't really like it at all, but hereastrid parker and i have at least 1 thing in common.
i didn't love the first book in this series, and in fact i didn't really like it at all, but here i am anyway. with a gift basket of unreasonable expectations and the enduring human will to hope.
and i liked this!
i don't think it's going to be super memorable for me, and in fact because i read it approx two months ago i can fully confirm it is not, but what it was is cute and fun. and that is my only requirement.
this is not the same magic / charm / perfectness/ joy / banter / love / perfection as talia hibbert normally is...and i don't loall i ever want to be.
this is not the same magic / charm / perfectness/ joy / banter / love / perfection as talia hibbert normally is...and i don't love this as YA either.
it just all felt a little flat for me - there wasn't enough of anything i wanted! and i love to complain but there were like 99 things that would have satisfied the "things i am looking for" box here.
i was interested in friends to enemies to lovers, and in the romance, and in these two characters and their backstories, and in the other friends in the story, and in their academic rivals thing, but i don't feel like i got much of any of it!
so i don't really know what happened!
but i'm going to blame it on it being YA for no reason. (and before you come for me, I LOVE YA ROMANCES. it's the one exception to my dark and hateful heart.)
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