Ceraphina

Meaningless side comment here but what is up with the US edition cover looking like all of those poor, sad hidden romance/erotica novels found tucked ruefully away in a corner at your local B&N in early 2010's? Lol.

If that cover is all you're able to buy/or borrow from your library this is the one time I feel like I can genuinely say: Don't trust a book by it's cover. If you're into more lighthearted mysteries with a plentiful cast of characters, this is worth a read.

Heti makes the reader put in work to wrap your mind around this one.

I didn't mind this, however.

The Summer Book is a great departure from my usual reads. It matches any sort of difficult conversations with lightheartedness and care. A sweet, almost lackadaisical kind of a read.

What was the point?

I listened to this one on audiobook and I think it greatly helped my enjoyment of the novel. It gave our main character a bit more of a personality vs from what I was reading physically.

For more than one obvious reason, this book won't be for everyone.

But I've never had a problem with “taboo” books. Maybe because of my upbringing was of various tortures that I have sort of an apathetic nature when consuming media that leans towards extremisms. Regardless, I picked up this novel knowing vaguely what it was going to be about and just dived in.

For me it was a great read and I look forward to picking up her other writings.

Once I picked this up I could not put it down. Fagan's prose and imagery had me captured and I loved the story, it complimented together perfectly.

While I understand the need for creators to take breaks, this long gap between the series to then read this one was ultimately disappointing for me. During the long break I had re-read the first few volumes to keep me engaged and excited for the upcoming releases but in the end I became dispassionate.

If we didn't end of the last volume cliffhanger (for lack of a better word) and instead fully wrapped up the death prior to the break I think I'd of handled this follow up better. But with the break in between and just aimlessly wondering what had happened after his death for a very long time to then try and get my mind back in the general crass tone this series has, just left me feeling angry and overall no joy to continue reading.

I've steered clear from “Mystery/Thriller” books as of late. But it feels so good to pick a couple of them up every now and again because its always just a joy to enter into some silly little scenario of a read. These books never require much brain power on my end and it really immerses me that way. And I love when I get pulled in and can't wait to turn over to the next page to see what happens.

Because I don't find myself reading much in this genre I do not have valuable critics regarding this one. I thought it was fun, with a great atmosphere.

I do not have the words to do this novel justice. There are plenty of perfect reviews for this book that sum up my feelings towards it.

This was my first book by Nabokov.

Always on the look out for eco strange/horror, or post/current apocalyptic stories.

This one didn't quite hit the mark for me, but I still enjoyed it overall.

Absolutely haunting read around war and its implications. If you're interested in reading this one I wouldn't wait. It is dark, depressing and will have a proper grip on your heart.

Whenever I genuinely pick up a book with a feeling of “Oh this is going to be perfect for me” I'm seemingly proved wrong more often than right.

I own “When I Hit You” and I wish I had known of the correlation between the two books as another reviewer had pointed out. That perhaps had some small affect on my appreciation for this novel. It is an experimental leap from how one typically consumes a book, but if you just let Kandasamy take you on the journey in this novel instead of fighting the writing structure it is easy to enjoy and keep you reading.

I look forward to reading her other book.

A novel where as soon as it was finished, I was itching to reread it all over again.

Slow, precise... A perfect book for those who love characters and exploring their depths.

If done right I can listen to any character complain honestly. I enjoyed this one.

I picked up Angel and a couple other of the authors works while at a used bookstore. I hadn't heard of her before and I just adored this. I'm excited to delve into more of her novels.

Loved the setting, loved the writing, loved the plot.

After reading the brilliant The Pisces by Melissa Broder, I've been almost desperate for weird/slightly unhinged literary writing on a “real-not real?” relationships with animals, or in the case of Pisces... fish?

While an outrageous concept, I think it opens up on something regarding emotions surrounding isolation, loneliness, grief, and our uncertainties for our brief human lives and the world we inhabit. Unconventional, unreal scenarios can open up a true vulnerability with an authors characters on these topics because usually even with our most beloved friends we can struggle to tap into a place of pure honesty. But when sharing with a ‘fish' or a bear, whats there to lose?

Bear succeeded in all the ways I was hoping for. Our main character is essentially alone in a cabin, in the wilderness when she meets a bear and there unfolds a strange descent of interactions with the animal. We touch on a good majority of the ideas I mentioned above, and Engel just gives. I could've read a thousand more pages in this story but the length in the end felt appropriate for our main characters life/story.

If you enjoyed the Pisces, Bear should be on your priority as a next read.

I try not to delve too much in how I “rate” books, but 3 seems appropriate. 3 for “I liked it.” Primarily for me a lot of how much I enjoy the book really does depend on the authors writing style. The voice they give to the characters and how they work with words to forward a story.

In my opinion, a good story was here and I enjoyed reading it till the end. But on other hand of my opinion is that the way it was presented wasn't my favorite.

I'd read more by this author in the future.

Everything that Charco Press releases I'm immensely drawn towards it.

I'm finally picking up some of these books that I have purchased from them and wow, what a strong start in the stories they are prioritizing for translations.

Ramifications is a beautifully woven story reflecting around memories, and deep dives into our main characters psyche on things left to be perceived in their life - and alas, circling back in to pull apart the ‘Ramifications' on things experienced by them, and ramifications onto others.

This is a slow novel and I don't mean for that to be a negative. Its winding and circular narrative really pulls you in and deserves the time for the reader to get involved in the words and the meaning for our main character.

Really beautiful all around.

Jung Yun's prior book Shelter absolutely wrecked me, so I picked up her new release O Beautiful without much thought. This was beautiful and heart wrenching but yet, the pacing was a bit off for me. Some parts felt more dry in the writing style and plot. Overall it didn't pact the ‘oomph' in the end for my reading tastes.

If you didn't get along with this one, I still highly recommend Shelter. If you've read Shelter and the premise of this book intrigues you, pick this one up as well as much of Jung Yun's writing talents show strong in this novel too.

Slim and enigmatic novel. Feels like a fever dream.

A fun and quick pace read.

The writing style just wasn't my favorite. Didn't feel strongly one way or another regarding this book.