sneha
DNF-ing it after 63% because I would have killed soneone if I carried on.
The title and the premise is as misleading as the main characters ability to write a novel. I haven't seen a “cosy crime” book this bad in a long long time. maybe things drastically get better in the last few chapters but honestly you couldn't pay me to push through the rest of the book. skip it, please. and someone compensate me for the emotional damage caused by it.
Ladies and gentlemen, she does it again. (it took me a while to finish it but worth it as always)
This is the second “hot, popular white woman kills men because ...” book in the last two months. This is definitely >> How to kill men just based on the main character being more refined and not constantly having to defend a shoddy “I kill men because of moral reasons other won't understand” angle. she was crazy homicidal maniac and I loved that book was fully committed to that. I had fun reading this man.
What a lovely little tale of two young people of coming of age, tackling personal tragedies and growing together and apart.
Medium : Audiobook
This Harper Audio product of Coraline is hands down the best audiobook I have heard, ever!
Neil Gaiman is such a fantastic writer and an even better storyteller. :')
I'm an adult and not the intended audience for this story but boy, did I enjoy this journey. Spanning a little over three hours, Coraline is an adventure, a scary one, but a story that reminds you to be brave in face of adversity and face it head on! A lesson that is as applicable to me today as any five year old reading the book elsewhere.
As Gaiman quotes in the beginning of the book, fairytales are important not because they tell us dragons exist but because they tell us that they can be defeated!
If Coraline can endure the evil ways of her capture and win again all odds in getting freedom, fight till the very end: I can finish my dissertation xD
I saw it coming.
Not as engaging as the previous Poirot books I read. Hastings, you were missed, mate.
Oh lol, I completely forgot that I had read this book before.
* maybe the only Agatha Christie book I didn't completely hate (so far) *
I found a free audiobook of The ABC Murders on YouTube. The cast and their voices indeed added a certain charm to the story. Even if it meant, playing to the stereotypes, it was intelligent and entertaining. If you have read my previous Agatha Christie review, you'd know that I am not the biggest fan of her work and often find myself annoyed by her brand of “murder mystery”. In my constant search to understand the hype around her writing and stories, I am exposing myself to various “Christie Classics” (is that a real thing?). I am happy to report that my findings on this #13 by Poirot were mostly pleasant, this AG murder mystery experience was the best so far.
The story didn't pack unnecessary fluff; the ending didn't peak its head early on. The characters and their motives were fleshed out well over time, and I enjoyed the general tone and vibe of Poirot in this one. Crisp writing overshadowed your garden-variety murder cliches and kept me entertained for its duration.
On to, and then there were none .
uhm ... so what do I do with my life now?!
Anthony said that he has 7 more books planned in this series. And I am grateful for that.
- I guess this is what therapy would feel like *
It took me almost two months to finish this 240 page book. Why? Because it was bloody intense!
all about love as the name suggests talks about all of our ideas, preconceptions, practises and biases around love. It doesn't focus only on romantic love or do a weird sexist gimmicky thing on ‘men are from mars and women are from venus' BS.
Bell Hooks talks us through her ideas, while also quotes various other philosophers and thinkers, discussing various dimensions and ideas around both the concept and practise of love. Her writing is deeply personal and empathetic, making the book feel like a great storyteller and a listener. It's weird because I never felt that way with a “self bettering” book before. I never felt like it was listening to my thoughts and reactions to the words printed on the paper.
Bell Hooks, being a feminist thinker, also brings forward our societies naturalisation of various misogynistic behaviour associated with the act of loving and nurturing. While also suggesting how to alter certain toxic behaviours and ideas to live (and love) your best self.
This book also gave one of the most accurate and precise definition of love that I have learned to adapt and add to my personal dictionary. It goes, “Affection is only one ingredient of love. To truly love we must learn to mix various ingredients—care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as honest and open communication.”
Personally, this book did feel a little too idealistic in some parts. Certain aspects felt unrealistic to implement or experience in the long term. Nonetheless the ideas and learnings from this are something I see myself revisiting.
My highlights and notes with this one are dense, hoping to convert it as a blog post soon.
okay, I didn't quite see the end coming for this one
writing these reviews is like shouting in space. but I don't mind. this is just an elaborate journal entry for stuff I have read. these flash reviews help me think about what I have just read and go beyond superficial engagement, or at least that's the hope. this one is mostly me ranting about the way Christie writes her female characters. might have some spoilers, kinda.
I bought this book because the cover looked pretty. I reallyyyy liked the blue, the font and a little yellow at the bottom. So I bought it. Thankfully, the story wasn't too bad either and I had a good time reading it. Another breeze (pre?)murder mystery ft. our fav Belgian fella who is painfully not modest. Sometimes I wonder how Poirot's characters even work out because he often caricaturises himself. Is that suppose to add to his mystic and mad genius aura?
Another burning question is, why does Christie have a general anti-woman stance? Someone let me know, am I reading too much into this? Because so far every book I have read has a massive “women are evil manipulative creatures” vibe to it. And a “good woman” is often a dull, Christian, docile lady who isn't “fun” or “attractive”. Is it a common theme for all her books?
I know a lot of judgements on women are from the men in the book and those dialogues are a product of the time it is set in but must Christie fit all her female characters in pre-decided blocks? Was the common recurring theme of female killers new in her time? Did she want to prove “it's 1920s dammit, women can also kill!”. Why couldn't she have more female characters who are smart, shrewd but also not bitchy gold-diggers?
This approach is a bit annoying for me but I am hoping to find some explanation for this trope. Perhaps the target audience for her books (white upper-class women in the war?) liked to see women kill and that was badass for them? I don't know. I just don't enjoy every thinking, empowered women to be painted as an evil vamp about to get you in every single story.
medium: audiobook
this book is shelf-help at its corniest. This book has been so hyped and talked around but apart from the “edgy” title, it is quite hollow. It covers everything under the sun with the optimism and style of a motivational cat poster and that's where it ends. The book has no actionable steps, no indication of any research to support certain claims and hardly any case study that isn't anecdotal or taken from personal life.
There is only one central theme: if you hate your life and it sucks only you can make it better. Not bad but some of the “self-focused” things she suggested is downright inconsiderate and mean.
Skip this and pick up Atomic Habit or Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and you're better off.
this is not a kid's book but a book for the child that grown-ups forgot they once were.
** Dan Ariely, I'm in love with you, okay?**
another sexy sexy book by Prof. Ariely.
The hypothesis is intriguing, the intuition is on point, the methods are bulletproof, the studies are fun, conclusions are insightful and his humour is just a giant cheery on top of this big fat juicy cake. if you're going to write book on research and new up and coming ideas, use this as a model, please. not only does he get you involved in this field of Behavioural Economics, he makes you feel the excitement that he carries for the science and joy of research. lucky people who have him as his prof :')
also, absolutely love the fact that he concludes the book with a short biography of all the collaborators of his study. in the cut throat world of academia, this respect for fellow students and colleagues was just so nice :)
my only complaint (I'm nitpicking here) is that I felt two chapters repetitive from his other books but that's prolly because I read the second book before this.
GO READ THIS! relevant for everyone, no matter what field you're in.
HOLYY SH*T THAT WAS SOME TWIST.
but, uhm, that does not cover for the painfully annoying style of prose. also, a mild spoiler but she kept saying she is in love, a love so grand it must endure. but where's the love? make me see it? build it up?
there were a few tells about the final “plot twist psyche” moment but overall this would make for a nice beach read.
the book makes you realised how fcked the routines for “classical masters” were. the amount of booze and cigars and whut not. one key takeaway was, popular to the current hustle culture messaging – you don't need to wake up super early to be “successful” or “creative”. this book also shares story that reinforce the idea of “working deligently day in day out” >> “random bursts of creative genuis” love that!
what a sexy sexy book!
The writing is smooth, the narrative is driven from empirical studies, all the collaborators are credited for their work and contribution. It is anecdotal and academic in an interesting proportion.
if this is the last book of the year, I am happy it is this :)
the learnings are very real-world and will impact/affect every single one of you who picks it up.
an urge for markets to traffic in morality.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Yet another crisp yet introspective book by Sandel. This book covers various aspects of human life and social order that have suddenly opened up to market places and become a tradeable commodity. It raises several points of morality, political philosophy and ethics through various anecdotes while referring to various peer-reviewed studies to support his thesis. My two major takeaways were;
1. the question of unfairness and coercion - corruption and degradation that commercialization of things like the human body, relationships, death and life causes.
2. It also raises important points of distinction between fees and fines when discussion different methods of incentivization.
While these books covered a bunch of interesting case-studies and anecdotes to provide both sides to the story before him discussion his opinion, the narrative does become a bit repetitive. But Sandel's adept writing style keeps you engaged in this 200-page long book and doesn't make you want to leave midway.
also, a bit random but the copy I issued from the library (by Penguin Books) has fantastic print and paper quality and that just aided the reading experience so much. I genuinely wish more publishers made this a priority.
Overall, if you want to know more about the importance of applied ethics, organisational behaviour, applied psychology, the role of morality in economics and political philosophy - this book is a great pick. It is accessible, well written and thoroughly captivating.
** Medium : Audiobook **
F451 is a cult classic. A sharp critique of the erosion of knowledge and attack on arts and culture. Bradbury's book in the 1950s was a response against the violent subduction of liberal voices rising against the Cold War by the American government. As good books often prove, they stay relevant beyond their time, often for decades and centuries to come. Funny enough, Bradbury wrote a book so significant and timeless that its protagonist in the third act would memorize its content.
The book is full of iconic dialogues. It features less than ten characters panning 200-odd pages, and yet, in such limited space and time, the book forces the reader to ruminate on the words spoken.
Having said this, this book felt a little weird, like it shouldn't have been a book but rather a play. (I later found out that F451 has been adapted as a play with a screenplay written by the author himself) Bradbury doesn't spend much time building characters, introducing the setting, or setting the space. You're kicked right into the dystopic future of Guy Montage and its life.
The book made me a little sad, forcing me to rethink the current media landscape and how the forces of social media are furthering us away from long-form, introspective sources of knowledge. Even tho the style wasn't something I particularly enjoyed, I am glad I read it. What a book, I feel better reading it.
I was quite smitten by the idea of Italy and Rome for most of 2022. I got this book much later in the year and read this quite slowly, almost savouring it. With my general “must get tasks done” approach to life, I find myself trying to “finish” books.
But this book was a mindful necessary pause to that nasty approach I have developed. I read it with no rush. Two pages a day, weeks without touching it, laying down in the park and reading an author talk about parenthood while struggling to order fruits in Italian. I think books like this really make you say, “I'd read their grocery list” but I am sure Anthony would make that the most engaging piece ever.
I somehow enjoyed this far more than “All The Light We Cannot See”. His writing is flowy as Tiber with absolutely heart-wrenching prose sprinkled in middle. Really enjoyed it one. <3