If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
I’ll start by saying that If We Were Villains was not enjoyable for me, and I was so relieved once I finally finished it. Initially, the premise excited me, and I thought it would be a good read as we enter the spooky season. It certainly has a gothic feel with dark academia vibes. Scenes within the story are dramatic, especially since the characters are serious students studying theater, which naturally leads to a lot of competition and built-up turmoil.
Breasts and Eggs Book Review
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami revolves around a handful of working-class women navigating their experiences living within a patriarchal society. The story is told in two parts, each narrated by the protagonist Natsuko, a struggling writer who lives in Tokyo.
The Cat Who Saved Books Review
A lost and lonely high school student named Rintaro Natsuki is getting ready to move in with his aunt after the death of his grandfather. Instead of attending school, he decides to hide among the books in his grandfather’s bookshop, Natsuki Books. That is, until one day, he meets a talking tabby cat named Tiger, who implores Rintaro to help him save books. However unbelievable, Rintaro agrees to help Tiger and finds himself on a journey of self-discovery and healing. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa is a beautiful and engaging novel dedicated to the preservation of stories, no matter how old or difficult to read. Essentially it is a letter to readers imploring them not to give up on the power of books and the lessons that can be derived from them.
September Reading Wrap-Up
I read a total of five books this month, including War and Peace, The Priory of the Orange Tree, and Mickey7. One of my goals this year has been to branch out and read more genres, and this month as a little bit of everything: romance, sci-fi, classics, and fantasy. These are quick reviews of the books I read in September, but if you want a thorough review of any of them, please email me!
August Reading Wrap-Up
This month was okay, with a total of 6 books completed. I had one DNF, one comfort read, and one classic, so there was definitely a good mix here, but nothing earth-shattering! I’m currently trying to finish War and Peace, and I’m so close with only around 200 pages left! I can’t wait to finish, since it’s been a year-long journey. I’m also almost done with Crazy Rich Asians because I needed a romance to cope with the seriousness that is Tolstoy, but I’m enjoying it…kind of. I’m just not used to reading romance, but I would like to branch out and start reading more within the genre. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!
July Reading Wrap-Up
I read 15 books this month, which never happens, so I will happily pat myself on the back for this one. Here’s what I thought of Tender is the Flesh, No One is Talking About This, The Crooked Tree, After the Quake, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, The Book of Form and Emptiness, and the Flying Witch manga volumes 1-9.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
The year is 1714, and a young woman named Addie makes a deal with a sinister god named Luc, who frees her from the confines of her hometown in France. Addie becomes immortal, but as with any trade with the devil, there are consequences. Although Addie can go anywhere she wants, she is unable to leave a trace of her existence, and no one will remember who she is, not even her family. Unable to put down roots or form lasting relationships, Addie is determined to live a fulfilling existence, especially when her soul is at stake. Three hundred years later, she is still alive and living in New York City, only still living as a mere shadow.
Outline by Rachel Cusk
Faye is a novelist teaching a week-long writing workshop in Athens. She meets a man on the plane to Greece, which kickstarts a series of conversations that structure the entire narrative. These conversations are with other writers, students, acquaintances, and each conveys a snapshot of that person's life. We hardly get any context due to the brevity of character interactions, and we know very little about Faye. In fact, we only ever pick up on who Faye is through her conversations but never enough to wholly understand her in the way we might expect for a novel. Hence, she is only an outline of a woman/person, as are the people she converses with. Cusk's novel is then a series of brief and, at first, seemingly unconnected conversations.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Everything I Never Told You mostly takes place in the 1970’s and begins with the death of 15-16 year old Lydia and how her family essentially copes with her death. I enjoyed reading this book because I found the concepts of race, interracial marriage, and motherhood interesting with regards to how they unravel throughout the novel. Ng’s prose is beautiful and overall she writes about family conflict quite well, but I did have issues with some of her characters.
Milkman by Anna Burns
Reviews seem divided about Milkman, a lot of this attributed to the language of the novel. Anna Burns utilizes the voice of a female protagonist to discuss the political division, violence, and upheaval of a community in Northern Ireland. The best way I can describe the prose is an almost contained stream-of-consciousness with a hint of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Wild Rituals by Caitlin O’Connell
In Wild Rituals, elephant scientist Caitlin O'Connell examines 10 rituals non-human animals exhibit in the wild and how they relate to our own rituals, traditions, and experiences. Caitlin O'Connell uses her many years studying and observing elephants and other animals to provide a touching examination that details our connection with animals and how we can learn to become more self-aware and compassionate. From playful encounters to funerary practices, it becomes evident that we are not so different from other animals, especially in how we engage socially.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
I heard good things about the novel but ended up reading Earthlings first. Similar ideas run through both narratives, and Murata focuses heavily on the theme of society versus the individual. Although Earthlings takes a more gruesome twist, Convenience Store Woman focuses on a 36-year old convenience store worker’s everyday life and actions. The protagonist, Keiko, has worked at the same convenience store since she was 18. The shop allows her to feel valued and needed as she doesn't seem to fit in anywhere else within the bounds of society. Although Keiko loves working at the convenience store, her community looks down on her for being a woman in her 30’s with no children, no husband, and no "real" job. In this sense, Keiko rebels against the tenets of her community, even when it appears she wants to fit in with friends and family.
Earthlings By Sayaka Murata
After finishing Earthlings, all I could think was, "what the heck did I just read??" It was definitely not what I was expecting, especially with the cute cover of a hedgehog! I don't want to give anything away because it's a novel where readers are meant to be shocked and surprised; however, I will include content warnings at the bottom of the review because of the nature of the content.
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Franny Stone is more than just a woman with a past; there is a wildness in her that she cannot tame. This wildness has led her on a harrowing journey tracking the migration of the last arctic terns. Franny will do anything to follow these beloved birds, especially when all wildlife has become extinct. If you are into eco-fiction, then this is probably the book for you. Migrations takes place in the not-so-distant future, making it difficult to read. If you suffer from climate anxiety, you may not take solace in Franny's story.
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
I usually don’t gravitate toward nonfiction, but since World of Wonders is Barnes and Nobel's Book of the Year for 2020, I decided to give it a go. It's a quick and easy read, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. Aimee takes moments of her life and juxtaposes them with passages that recall the beauty of animals and plants. Beautiful illustrations done by Fumi Mini Nakamura accompany the essays, creating an organic visual tie. Aimee's intent seems to implore readers to take more moments to acknowledge the outside world’s beauty. By doing so, we can form more significant connections to our environments and other creatures. There are sections of the memoir where Aimee also touches on the importance of protecting species in their natural habitats and how this is becoming more difficult with habitat destruction.
Then She Was Gone By Lisa Jewell
Ellie Mack is beautiful, caring, intelligent, and according to her mother, the “ideal” daughter. On an average morning, Ellie heads to the library to study for her GCSE’s but never returns. No one expects Ellie to have run away, especially not her mother, Laurel Mack, who is determined to find out the mystery of Ellie’s disappearance.
After Laurel’s daughter goes missing, her life falls apart. Laurel pushes her loving husband into the arms of another woman, her son Jake moves away, and she has a tense relationship with her eldest child Hanna. Heartbroken and entirely consumed by the loss of Ellie, Laurel sabotages her connections with the only family that remains.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
“He sees the world as it is and he looks back thousands of years to see how it all come about. He watches the slow agglutination of capital and power and he sees its pinnacle today. He sees America as a crazy house. He sees how men have to rob their brothers in order to live. He sees children starving and women working sixty hours a week to get to eat. He sees a whole damn army of unemployed and billions of dollars and thousands of miles of land wasted. He sees war coming. He sees how when people suffer just so much they get mean and ugly and something dies in them. But the main thing he sees is that the whole system of the world is built on a lie. And although it’s as plain as the shining sun -- the don’t-knows have lived with that lie so long they just can’t see it.”
Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
In the second book of The Southern Reach Trilogy, VanderMeer’s protagonist, John Rodriguez aka “Control,” becomes the new director of The Southern Reach, an organization studying the abnormal stretch of land known as Area X. Control essentially takes on the role of investigator and tries to unravel the mysterious behavior of his new colleagues in hopes it will shed light on the anomalies in Area X. As he tries to get a sense of Area X and the hidden motives of the previous director, Control becomes more confused and uncertain, not only about the institution’s future but his as well. Rodriguez even develops an uncanny fascination with the biologist from the first book in the series, Annihilation.
The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
I want to start by saying that this novel is brutal and definitely not for sensitive readers. *I will include some trigger warnings below if you are undecided about reading.* Many violent scenes are depicted within the novel as readers follow a sordid bunch of perverse characters. None are, by any means, likable, but while some act out of pure evil, others are motivated by desperation or loneliness. Arvin’s father Willard being one of them, as he creates a sacrificial prayer log in a desperate attempt to save his dying wife, Charlotte. An introduction of veteran Willard and his haunting memory of World War II becomes the foundation for malicious and foul intent, which creates a ripple of violence throughout the story. The “hero” of the novel is the son of Willard, Arvin, who adopts violent tendencies to survive his rural settings and the wicked people he encounters.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
The Memory Police was originally published in 1994 with the release of the English translation in 2019. The novel is set up in a dystopian setting and is written in the vein of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and George Orwell’s 1984. It is an intimate portrayal of love and communal trauma due to strange forces that wreak havoc on the residents of an island.
The community begins witnessing the disappearance of common objects. Birds, roses, and hats are among the first to disappear, but people’s memories of the disappeared also start to vanish. The novel’s protagonist is a young novelist who tries to preserve her fading memories. When she realizes her editor R is in trouble, she concocts a plan to hide him from a mysterious agency called The Memory Police. As more disappearances occur and life on the island becomes increasingly worse, the novelist desperately clings to her writing and R as a way of preserving her existence.