"Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?"
Wow, you guys. This book made my jaw drop open MULTIPLE times while reading it. I had zero idea what a loaded, difficult, and traumatic childhood Trevor Noah experienced growing up.
Continue reading “Born A Crime – Trevor Noah”
A little late in reviewing, but this was one of my favorite reads last year! I’m a sucker for any kind of mythology so I had a feeling I would already like this, but it turned out even better than expected. Miller is so damn good at weaving together her story that I couldn’t put it down (I tore through it in 2 days!), and even though Circe wasn’t much of a character to me at first, I was thoroughly cheering for her by the end.
Continue reading “Circe – Madeline Miller”
Given all the hype this book got on Bookstagram, I thought it was going to be way better! But Bookstagram recs definitely been tossups for me, and it looks like this was another one of the disappointments. It wasn’t terrible, per se…just very underwhelming. I feel guilty for saying this, but the first thought I had after finishing was, “A decade of reporting and investigating for this?”
I can’t lie, guys – I kind of hated this book for how depressing it is. Don’t get me wrong, it’s objectively well-written and I’m impressed this is Ma’s debut novel, but on a more personal level, it made me want to scrub all memory of reading this from my brain because it’s just that depressing…not to mention it’s EERILY SIMILAR to the coronavirus pandemic breaking out right now!
Continue reading “Severance – Ling Ma”
What an insanely powerful book. When we think of Native Americans, we tend to think of 19th-century Cherokees on horseback and shooting arrows at bison, or perhaps something vague about moccasins and canoes and totem poles, maybe with colorful, feathered headdresses thrown in – all hopelessly dated stereotypes. Orange wrote this book to address this exact issue after noticing there’s next to nothing about modern-day Native American life in art/literature/general culture, and wanted to share what their lives really look like while putting it in the context of a novel. And the result is just devastating.
Continue reading “There There – Tommy Orange”
I was itching for a classic fantasy read so it only seemed natural to pick up one of the most classic books in the genre – Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. She gets a lot of love on /r/books so I figured it was as good a choice as any, but it turned out to be just meh for me.
What I liked:
What I didn’t like (and oh how much there is):
Continue reading “Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb”
I love this prompt since it forced me to go through my GIANT TBR shelf on Goodreads and really think about the books I added. More often than not, I’ve long forgotten why I added something, so if I rediscover and am still excited about it, there’s a good chance it really belongs! This week, I picked an action-filled classic, a natural history book, and finally a cult-favorite cookbook despite having no photographs.
Continue reading “Books From My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads”
Mossflower Cove 