“Heartstopper” vol. 1-4 by Alice Oseman started as a webcomic and has by now become a phenomenon with four graphic novels and a Netflix series (season 2 is on the way).
The story follows teenagers Nick and Charlie, who meet while attending a British grammar school and fall in love. In many ways, the story of Nick and Charlie is your typical teenager-falling-in-love story, but it is so much more than that.
Continue reading “Book Review: Heartstopper Vol. 1-4. – Heart-stoppingly beautiful “Guess who won Book Bingo this year. I will attribute my victory to, on the one hand, the fact that one of the first books I read was Offline, which made me change some of my internet habits, and thus gave me more time to read. On the other hand, I really wanted to win this year, so I made a dedicated effort not to get too distracted by other books. Now, I better get started on the reviews. (No spoilers below)
An Asian novel – Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
It is really four “short stories” which weave together into a greater narrative. The story takes place in a small back-alley café in Tokyo, where if the circumstances are just right, you can travel back in time, but only as long as it will take your coffee to grow cold. It is interesting to see how differently the various character uses this opportunity to go back to the past, knowing that they cannot change it or the present. It’s a very emotional story/stories and I found myself tearing up a couple of times. I would recommend it, if you are looking for heart-warming and heart-wrenching stories, and want to feel Emotions.
Continue reading “Book Bingo Reviews 2022”I have read and re-read His Dark Materials a number of times, so I admit it was with some trepidation that I sat down to read La Belle Sauvage, because I really didn’t want it to be a disappointment. (Some spoilers below)
Circe by Madeline Miller is a retelling of Greek myths from the perspective of the titular character Circe. She is the daughter of Helios and Perse. And she does not fit in among the gods, being neither powerful like her father nor beautiful like her mother. She has no patience or interest in the games of the nymphs and gods but finds her own niche in discovering witchcraft, for which she is immediately banished to the island Aiaia by Zeus. On Aiaia she makes a home for herself and hones her abilities and throughout the story, she crosses paths with many recognizable figures from the Greek myths from Daedalus and the Minotaur to Medea and later Odysseus.
Continue reading “Book Review: Circe”
I don’t know how I feel about Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. On one hand, I’m glad I’ve read it. On the other hand, I probably wouldn’t have read it, if I had known more about it. And on the third hand, I can’t really see how it could be improved, so I have very mixed feelings about it. I’ll be working through my feelings below (so medium spoilers)
Continue reading “Book Review: Piranesi”
Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire was amazing, and it broke the formula for the series. Instead of exploring one of the worlds behind the doors, the “normal” world was expanded, and we got to see the dark mirror to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children in the Whitethorn Institute (minor spoilers and trigger warnings below)
Continue reading “Book Review: Where the Drowned Girls Go”
It has been a couple of months, since I read the book, but I’m grateful that it has taken me this long to write the review of it, as it has given me time to reflect on the book. After finishing the book, my immediate first impression was that there was a really interesting adventure that could have happened, but somehow hadn’t. It seemed somehow lacking or perhaps boring compared to the other books. It made me wonder, considering Seanan McGuire has also written Middlegame which is one of the most mindbendingly complex stories I have ever read, I figure there was more to the story than my first impression, so I stewed over it for a while, and now I think the adventure that didn’t happen serves to highlight one of the main points of the story (summary and some spoilers below).
Continue reading “Book Review: Across the Green Grass Fields”I didn’t win, so next year will be the tie breaker. I’m not exactly surprised, because I cannot finish a book without starting three others. I guess I’m just not a one book person. Anyway, the reviews are below.
A Classical Science Fiction Novel
En verdensomsejling under havet [eng: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea] by Jules Verne is the story of how professor Ignores-all-the-red-flags-for-SCIENCE! Aronnax together with his two companions, his assistant Must-categorise-everything Conseil and the Canadian Only-sane-man-here-why-don’t-anyone-listen-to-him? Ned Land are kidnapped (or saved from drowning, it’s debatable) by Captain All-the-red-flags Nemo. I loved it. It’s been a couple of years, since I’ve last read Jules Verne, so I knew I’d probably like it if it was like the other books, I had read. Jules Verne is a hard science fiction writer, so there tends to be lot of science stuff and calculation and in this case marine biology in his books. If that’s not your thing, you should probably read an abridged version. I’ll admit, I got a little tired of Conseil categorizing everything all the time, and there was many description of the food they ate, so I got hungry every time I was reading. However, I did really appreciate the lifelike descriptions of the Nautilus and the sea. Originally, I planned on reading Asimov for this category, but unfortunately there were no digitally available copies of his books at the library. Once I had finished the book, I discovered that there is a sequel, where the mysterious past of captain Nemo is revealed, I briefly considered reading it, but decided that I like my Captain Nemo as a mysterious crazy person. I would definitely recommend Jules Verne, if you want to read some classic science fiction, or an abrigded version if you want to skip some of the longwinded science.
A Book from NPR’s Book Concierge 2020
Continue reading “Book Bingo Reviews 2021: I Guess There is Always Next Year”The Subtle Knife is the second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, it introduces Will Parry our second protagonist. Unlike The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife is not conveniently split into three parts. However, in The Subtle Knife Lyra is no longer the only POV character, so to (hopefully) make it as cohesive as possible, I’ll make a post for every time the POV shifts. This will mean that some of the posts will be rather short, I imagine, since they will only be covering a single chapter, but I might also post them more rapidly or perhaps in clusters (maybe, I’m not making any promises, because if I do, I bet something will happen). Following the rules I just made for myself, this post covers chapter one “The Cat and the Hornbeam Trees.” Spoiler warning.
Summary
Continue reading “The Subtle Knife Reread: Introducing Will”The final advent post is here. So, that’s it for The Golden Compass, I’ll be starting on The Subtle Knife in the new year, which I’ll probably divide into smaller chunks, and after that The Amber Spyglass. As before, I recommend that you read the book because I’m summarizing it, so every spoiler will be below.
Our Thoughts in Transit 