Terri

I really loved this book. I somehow found it comforting, and the narration style was easy to read and enjoyable to listen to. It reminded me of Dorian Gray in a way, and I felt myself drawn to the character and sympathizing with him even in his darkest moments.

I read this book recently, without ever having seen any film adaptation, and I'm glad I did. It allowed me to form an untarnished image of the setting and the characters, which is hard to do with so many film adaptations of novels floating about nowadays.

The writing style is approachable and enjoyable, the ending was satisfying and sufficiently romantic in my opinion. I felt connected to each of the characters (although my dislike for Amy never changed), and invested in their happiness.

Curious to read the follow-up novels.

Would like to seek out a different translation of this.

I sincerely tried to enjoy this book, and am giving it 2 stars only because there were a few moments of detailed scenery or pleasant quotes. That being said, I had a few thoughts:

1) Nothing about this is romantic. Both Heathcliff and Cathy are toxic, cruel, and manipulative people. I will never be able to find romance in the narrative of a man who abuses women, children, and animals. He's not “misunderstood” - he's an asshole.

2) There are too many people with the same name, which results in a feeling of confusion and fogginess while reading. I felt the same feverishness that the characters were experiencing while trying to decipher the plot.

3) There are no likable characters. The narrator is weak, nosy, and bland. Everyone else is cruel, spiteful, manipulative, and violent.

I may re-read this in the future as a second attempt. Hopefully knowing that this is in no way romantic will improve the experience.

One of my childhood favorites. I don't think a review is really necessary simply because the story is familiar to so many people. Sometimes books don't need reviews.

I did not like this, but I'm going to keep my thoughts to myself on this one.

Thrown off by the incest.

After falling in love with The Secret History I was eager to give this book a read. Unfortunately, it didn't quite capture me the way TSH did. While I appreciated the themes of grief, especially as they applied to my own situation, I just didn't connect with Theo. I felt as though I was floating above him the entire time, rather than experiencing the story with him.

On that note, I often felt disconnected from the plot itself. I had a hard time following along with certain chapters, mainly because I felt so many of them were unnecessary (particularly the long stretch of time in Vegas).

The book is long, very long, and I stuck with it through the end in the hopes that I'd gain some quotable nugget or profound truth. Sadly, I was left disappointed.

There was just something missing from The Goldfinch that was present in The Secret History .

I enjoyed the first essay, but lost interest in the rest.

I read this one after I read the second, Women at Work , and while this one was enjoyable I found it less relatable and enthralling. This is not the author's fault, of course, but I found the women's routines to be more interesting, as they had more daily responsibilities to juggle and more obstacles and challenges to face. So many of the male creatives in this book could have their chapters swapped around without anyone noticing - their routines were all so similar. Wake up, have breakfast brought to them by their servant/wife. Then they create, socialize, drink while someone else does their daily work. The only exception to this seemed to be Glenn Gould who was framed as some type of aberration and misanthrope, due to his antisocial night-time errands, despite a full page detailing his lengthy calls to his many friends.

I was also surprised and disturbed by how many of the authors and composers seemed to have a routine that involved nudity for no apparent reason. Not to mention the one guy who literally wrote while groping himself for “creative stimulation”.

One thing I did find unnecessary was the inclusion of Woody Allen. Not only was his chapter utterly boring, but I didn't think that there was any point in including a pedophile's daily routines.

Of course, all of this is just a reflection on the routines themselves, not the author's skill. His books are engaging and entertaining and I find no fault in this book.

If you like stories featuring vengeful mothers, perverted priests, lying gods, giant cannibals, and (my personal favorite) a snake that's really sick of his family's shit - then you'll enjoy this book. That is, if you can keep track of literally hundreds of named characters (each with multiple names), not to mention the over-the-top translation work.

Honestly, I think I made the book sound way more interesting than it really is (at least in the beginning).

I'm not one to shy away from ancient literature, and I've enjoyed Indian literature before (the Panchatantra was surprisingly comedic) - so I'm not sure if the Mahabharata itself was dry, confusing, and dull, or if the translation was just lacking. The translation was all over the place, with the names of characters changing on a whim (as if they weren't difficult enough to keep track of), and word usage that was oddly out of place for the context.

All of the interesting imagery and mythical storylines happened near the end - though I know this is no fault of the translator - with the first 80% of the story being dedicated to various gods convincing women that they'd remain chaste and virginal after sleeping with them (yeah, sure buddy). Once you get past the fact that the story is literally told in reverse while the audience continuously asks the storyteller to explain how the hell the characters of each story got there in the first place, things will make more sense.

Or will they?

I tried committing the names of the characters of the first few tales to memory, but after realizing that the translator didn't give a shit about consistency, I gave up and just accepted the fact that everyone in the story had five names, and some weren't even human/gods despite there being no reference to the contrary.

Oh, sorry, were you imagining this guy as a warrior? Whoops, he's a snake.

I'm not sure if it's comforting or disturbing that the frustrations of a woman from over a hundred years ago are still relatable and relevant today. I enjoyed this in the same way I enjoy The Bell Jar - it makes me feel understood.

I was not expecting that ending. It was a light read at first, a bit cringe-inducing because the characters spoke in a stilted, unnatural way. They threw in quotes, and spoke as if from a script. I felt like the author was trying a little too hard to come across as “deep”.

The ending surprised me, and it was definitely sad. But I was also surprised by the lack of emotion the other characters seemed to feel. Violet just felt like a name on a page. I felt more emotion from Theo, but more manic energy than emotion. Nothing amazing, but not the worst thing I've read.

I binge-read this one in an afternoon after reading a copy from a Scribd free trial. While I did enjoy it as a light entertaining read, I don't think I'd pay money for this. There were some quotable moments (‘Now is the time to become a myth.'), and it was interesting to read about someone from an entirely different world as mine.

I don't judge Von Furstenberg for coming from a place of privilege - the book is not about how her life was a struggle. It read more like a memoir, a celebration of the places and people that shaped her. I never felt as if she was trying to garner sympathy or praise for anything and her professional accomplishments are surprisingly mentioned very few times.

Overall, I enjoyed it but I don't think I'd re-read it or recommend it to anyone I know. But if you want a beach read or something to tide you over during a flight, this is a good one.

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

There's a potential for coziness in this book, and something almost comforting about the repetition in Mortimer's diary entries. However, I was very close to not finishing this book. If I hadn't been reading it for Netgalley, I would have set it aside a few chapters in.

The narration style is verbose, the main character - Mortimer - is bland, pretentious, and unlikeable, and the supporting characters equally so. All of this would be easy to overlook or accept if there were a plot, yet nothing of note happens. I'm all for books where there's no real plot, where the atmosphere of the book is the whole experience, but this wasn't one of those.

That being said, it's likely that I was just not the target audience for this book.

This book completely changed the way I view language and language learning. As someone attempting to regain fluency in my once-native Spanish, I found the approach of assigning pictures to foreign words rather than English translations to be extremely useful. While it is a time-consuming process initially, the payoff is immense and it saves a lot of struggle in the long run.

I'm currently applying these methods to my attempts at learning French. This is the one language learning book that I recommend to friends over and over again, I definitely recommend it to anyone who is eager to learn a language but unsure where to begin.

While this did have some slow moments, and the romance still made me feel uncomfortable due to the age disparity, I still enjoyed the story and it kept me captivated enough to continue the series.

I really enjoyed this. It's a brief read, but it doesn't feel brief. The writing is calm, descriptive, and well-paced. The narrators alternate between chapters, which makes the story feel more full due to the variety of perspectives provided. It made me laugh, and feel inspired. I would recommend this to anyone.

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

If, like me, you love food but occasionally find yourself uninspired, this is the book for you. It's not a recipe book, though there are recipes described within the stories. Technically you could successfully follow them, but it's not always the focus of each piece. The food is a setting for the emotions and relationships of the characters described - and the narrator.

This is a book that will make you crave every dish you've never eaten and long for all the ones you have. It'll inspire you to seek out unique ingredients in your local supermarket and pay closer attention to every dish you prepare. It inspired me to make rice pudding in a new way, no regrets there.

I have no real criticism of the book, I read it over the course of a week which is rare for me, but these are the type of short stories that are meant to be savored. It's something that I would re-read, and recommend to a friend. Each of the stories is as unique as their recipe focal point. I laughed, got teary-eyed, and even had goosebumps at one point (another reading rarity for me).

Favorite stories included: ‘Dead Dove', ‘The Borscht of Mirra, Magda, and Mimi', ‘With Great Rage: How To Sorta Cook A Pot Roast', ‘Sweetbreads and Scams', ‘Faraway Scent of Pain', and ‘Amour de Poulet on Rye'.

du Marier's ability to build suspense is masterful, and by the end my eyes were comically wide thanks to that iconic plot twist. Atmospheric, thrilling, and worth re-reading. The type of book you stay up until dawn reading.

I enjoyed this book, and I understand why Malala Yousafzai is such an iconic and important figure. However, there were moments where I didn't feel as though she was the one writing - or telling - the story. Still, that doesn't make this memoir any less important or enjoyable.

The story is well-written, but I can't say that I enjoyed this book. It's definitely disturbing and grotesque, though not the most shocking thing I've ever read. Definitely wouldn't recommend this to anyone because of the subject matter, and not something I'd read if I knew what I know now.

One of my absolute favorites, and a classic for a reason. While a lot of the fables are repeated, just with variations on the species of the characters, they're brief enough for it not to matter.

If you're interested in folklore and ancient history, this is definitely a text to begin with.

An excellent translation of the epic poem. While it's not an easy read exactly, it's still approachable enough for anyone with an interest in mythology and history to enjoy.

This one was a bit anticlimactic. I was waiting for there to be a twist, maybe that Marnie had made it home after all and climbed into the box where she suffocated or something along those lines. I don't regret reading it - this was purely for entertainment - but it's becoming apparent that BA Paris is good at twists and not much else. The tone of every character is identical. They're indistinguishable and if it weren't for the chapter titles I would have no idea who is meant to be speaking next.

What's more is that the dialogue is very theatrical and feels scripted, not natural. I can't imagine people speaking this way in reality.