Eva
I was a big fan of Sittenfeld's debut ([b:Prep 9844 Prep Curtis Sittenfeld https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386925666l/9844.SY75.jpg 2317177]), apparently didn't think much of her first romance novel as I rated it one star ([b:The Man of My Dreams 72622 The Man of My Dreams Curtis Sittenfeld https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924531l/72622.SY75.jpg 978325]), and then thought her other one was fun but rather silly ([b:Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice 25852870 Eligible A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice Curtis Sittenfeld https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1460477855l/25852870.SY75.jpg 26428236]). But now she totally won me back with this book. I absorbed it within 24hours, and thought it funny, warm and really excellently written. There seem to be so many romance novels out there were character's insecurities are the unrealistic roadblocks thrown into the narrative to elongate the angst. Yet they are constructed so feebly all you do is roll your eyes. Sally and Noah - the protagonists of this novel - also come with insecurities that pose obstacles, but they at all times feel genuine and realistic. So, is it all just in the quality of the writing? The protagonist at one point proclaims she wants to write “non-condescending, ragingly feminist screenplays for romantic comedies”, which she would achieve mainly by the quality of the writing, and the character development. No cutesy female characters with flour on their nose from baking cookies, no messy disaster characters. She wants to write about people who aren't flawless but aren't ridiculous or incompetent at life. Well, mission achieved. And some. I also really enjoyed learning about the day-to-day mechanics of the SNL-like sketch show, even without being a fan of SNL. And I might have cried some tears about Jerry.
A fantastic graphic novel about an alternate world with an established and complicated wish economy. I thought the middle wish story - and how it integrated those mood-graphs - was a great depiction of depression. 5 stars for the entertainment, even though it could have been edited down a bit. So many words!
All stories are constructions, but there was something about this one that made me constantly aware of the author constructing the reader experience.
[b:Every Summer After 58014893 Every Summer After Carley Fortune https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630101647l/58014893.SX50.jpg 90914930] meets Sweet Home Alabama. Very formulaic, and it missed some of the humor of her last one, but enjoyable.
The Canadian scientist tells of the magical (observing the bird with the biggest wingspan - the albatross - on a cruise to Antarctica) and the mundane (dutifully observing and logging minute bird breeding activities all day) activities of her life as a seabird biologist. How an early love for nature and animals leads to a job with the Canadian Wildlife association. And how climate change and plastic pollution effect the oceans and their inhabitants.
A good mix of personal stories and big picture issues.
All in on awe and this book. At first I was a bit hesitative as the author is a hippie-offspring from California hiking Joshua Tree and trying ayahuasca, using his brother's death as a red string throughout the book, but, in the end, I loved it.
The chills, the tingles, the amazement, that causes our body to release oxytocin and dopamine, that causes us to be open, to connect, to explore. Biology wants us to be amazed by the vastness and beauty of life, in order to be better humans.
He structures awe experiences into 8 main groups:
- moral beauty
- collective effervescence
- nature
- religious experiences
- art
- music
- birth
- death
While I found my beloved [b:Kristin Lavransdatter 6217 Kristin Lavransdatter (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1-3) Sigrid Undset https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388289230l/6217.SY75.jpg 1370150] highly immersive and it had me entirely absorbed by plot and heroine, my reading experience of Jenny was different in that I was constantly aware of its cultural context. At first, it's the portrayal of an independent woman living in Europe's early 1900s, and we get an interesting perspective on the freedoms and shackles that existed for women at that time. And second, Undset actually published this in 1911 which is impressive, considering that some of what the characters think/feel/do was definitely considered amoral at that time. Both those aspects raise my appreciation of the novel. It's a psychological study of a young artist, who's freespirited and adventerous while also holding on to high morals. Jenny's torn between what society tells her to want from life, and her own inability to love the right way, or find a love that's right for her. It's heartbreaking, and I really wished for her to find her fulfillment in the end. May in be in her artistic practice or in another person. I was rooting for Gunnar there, at the end. Especially considering how the two other men in her life were such wusses. But when I read about Gunnar's regrets of never having *possessed* her, I knew it was for the best. That whole coda about him romantically shaping his life around his grief for her, was incredibly poignant and definitely made fun of men, right?And how deeply distrubing and sad was that scene of Helge overwhelming her that last night? Self-absorbed and completely unaware of her state or the fact that she had refused him. Horrifying. And incredibly courageous of Undset, this harsh portrayal of misogynistic behavior by men who otherwise come of as gentle and harmless. This book leaves a lot of thoughts.
Loved it! The Norwegian epic - written by Undset in 1920 and for which she received the Nobel price in 1928 - about the life of Kristin Lavransdatter, a kind and devout yet headstrong woman living in 14th century Norway. The 1100+ pages tell the saga of Kristin's life from early childhood to forbidden loves to marriage and motherhood to old age and up until her death. The thread running through is how our heroine and those surrounding her grapple with sin in a society that is deeply Christian and strict in its established morals and rule-sets.
The intertwining of Kristin's path with Erlend makes for the perfect epic romance, of two people who can't live with nor without each other. They are constantly battling and condemning each other, despite being eternally devoted to each other, yet in old age, when Kristin looks back at her life filled with joy and sorrow and also self-inflicted suffering, she wouldn't change a thing about it.
The book pulled me in immediately, as its storytelling has a magical gentleness to it, with its descriptions of nature and the simplicity of life, and its protagonists pleasure and joy in family and motherhood and small moments. It is a heavy volume, and it takes a while to get through it, but now that I finished, I almost wish I could begin again.
This was an entertaining listen. Jealousy, cultural appropriation and capitalism in a (thriller) satire set in the literary world. There are a few of similarities with [b:Identitti 55754513 Identitti Mithu M. Sanyal https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603283779l/55754513.SY75.jpg 86952806], just this time we're in the head of the self-justifying and ruthless instigator.
I absorbed this book pretty much in one sitting. It combines my love of chess and chess stories with my love of (female) stories of dedication to a skill. And it's masterfully written, and pulls you right along, like a thriller. Like a smart chess game, i felt the novel set plot traps along the way, that felt like the moves a typical story would take, yet like a smart player the novel parried them and confidentely headed towards the endgame.
Adding this to my favorites now.
I'm gonna sort this with [b:Dark Matter 27833670 Dark Matter Blake Crouch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1472119680l/27833670.SY75.jpg 43161998] into the category “Scifi books for the masses that make proper scifi lovers mad”. It didn't take its own metaphysical mysterious seriously, added melodramatic character back stories that felt out of place, and then took some really goofy turns in the end. My original grievance with the book was that it chose to tell its story in the form of letters. We are to believe that someone in the middle of the most dangerous and mindblowing and sleep-depriving adventure of his lifetime, sits down while freezing in a tent on snowy cliffs to write hours and hours of polished detailed prose???
Everyone else probably found that group of friends really annoying. But Emily Henry does her thing. I prefer her stories more if there's work-related bickering involved.
Rich kid boarding schools of the late aughts means facebook stalking, vodka in vitamin bottles, mean girls, bisexual insecurities, secret blogspot diaries, the pleasures of English lit, spending way too much time worrying, drowning out worries with various drugs, kissing the right girl, but at the wrong moment, getting bullied, causing a huge scandal, expulsions, death.
Love me a good boarding school novel, so I enjoyed this. But the narrative level above the actual story - the journalist's voice - really took me out of the story, because of its borderline pretentious tone (you had to slow down your reading every time to adjust to grasp all the pompous sentences), and because it made you question what's real and what's made up.
Lock your doors, lock your blogs, don't do drugs, kids!
An attempt at subverting the genre by peeking behind the scenes of a dating show. Very UnREAL, but not as good. I could blame the protagonist who - even though it's made clear she's the perfectly malleable girl for the producers - felt too zombie on occasions. It was hard to root for her to break out of her own prison. Still, some of the wording, the subtle digs at the industry, were worth it.
One of those essay-books that makes your mind drift away while listening to the audiobook, and when you snap back to attention, you're wondering how the book now meandered into this direction. A lot of really interesting thoughts, some her own, lots borrowed, but I missed an overarching structure.
I love stories about women in STEM, but it would be nice if they would be the saviours for once. Ali H. building up her extended universe I see. Where all men and all women are basically the same ;)
Made it ~40% in the audiobook, but every time I see I still have ~10 hours ahead of me, my desire to finish crumbles. If only this was told a bit leaner.
A climate fiction told through 3 perspectives set in Canada's cold north, where the oil embargo left previous digging sites sitting empty. The world is ravaged by climate catastrophes, while the super wealthy huddle in smart cities floating in the ocean. But that life of luxury still needs rare earth metals.
A story about power dynamics and exploitation. A secret mission to infiltrate an architect's building sites of a new utopia in the north. Tech billionaires and visionaries who can buy everything including their women. A survivalist commune of women finding peace within yet who stop at nothing to get their necessary supplies.
I loved the White Alice parts, and how it all tied together. Rose has played too many roles and felt a bit empty. And there could have been less of Grant.
Change in society comes at a slow pace, and those first brave ones trying to argue for it, mostly have to fight an unwinnable uphill battle. This novel is about the illegality of homosexuality in the late 19th century in London. The “impossible love”, “Greek love”, or “sexual inversion” is repressed or hidden, as gay men fear prosecution. Largely based on real people and events, the novel is about two writers (John Addington Symonds and Havelock Ellis)who set out to write a scientific book that should help bring change to society. One of them is bold, the other is painfully shy, and as the Oscar Wilde trial throws oil on the fire, they each question, how far they are willing to go.
It took me a while to get into it, possible expecting a different kind of novel, but once I realised this was all based on reality, it became a lot more interesting!
A look at a New York one-percenter family where the younger generation grapples with life and love, while questioning their parents' money-above-all attitude. It's not really satire, as the characters are shown with great compassion, but there's a lot of dry wit and bite in portraying their ingrown elitism.
Goes down smoothly, the storytelling is good.
Looking at the today's economics of private prisons and the continuous escalation of media sensationalism, the book's premise of prisoner death matches, feels like a not-too-improbable future. It's Hunger Games meets American Gladiators meets Big Brother meets Battle Royal. Told through a kaleidoscope of maybe too many eyes.
There were a few instances where I wanted the book to just SPELL IT OUT instead of characters or the narration keeping things vague.
I also wanted more numbers! If every week or so almost half of the chain gangs die, there needs to be an intense supply chain of new fighters.
3.5 rounded down
An Argentinian family saga about a cult worshipping the god of Darkness. A father and his son, both very alluring to others and in possession of supernatural powers, try to escape the cult and their demands on them. Occasionally the book picks up and then there are mysterious, slightly gory rituals, but the rest is a meandering coming-of-age tale. I was okay with the story and the characters, but I can't understand why so many on here praise her writing. I found her style - hyper verbose, spelling everything out, even meaningless stuff - really maddening. So many passages could have just been edited down. The book is way too long. So long, I almost forgot how annoyed I was at her earlier on for including the phantom limb mirror therapy and David Bowie.
What an intriguing novel. A politician's daughter, our heroine is spoilt and restless in her Soviet satellite state of the early 80ies. Simultaneously pampered and surveilled, she and her friends try to make the best of the jet-set live they are offered within the communist limitations. After a tragedy, she follows a poor British poet and escapes to a new life and love in London. Yet the surveillance apparatus keeps track of her. And that new life of freedom in the west, is harder than expected. Especially when that one person you're hinging all your expectations on, turns out to be all charm and no practicality.
I liked all the small details that sometimes made you wonder if the novel would transform into a spy story. While that did not happen, it still left some of these possibilities open. And betrayal is betrayal, if in love or politics.