This left me a bit cold. I didn't really like any of the characters and never really connected to them either. Would have liked it more if the book was written from May's perspective, who although portrayed as insipid followed her husband's view of her, seems like the character with most insight. Thanks to @BarkingMadRead and the #hashtagbrigade for doing this read a bit more entertaining

I'm going to do this from a different perspective... Louisa May Alcott for rocking my childhood with Jo March; Jane Austen for inspiring me with Elizabeth Bennett in my 20s; Virginia Woolf for blowing my mind with A room of ones own in my 30s; George Sand for writing wonderful women and advocating for women's rights; Margaret Atwood for scaring me with her very real dystopian society into never stop fighting; Ursula Le Guin for showing me ⬇️

A story about the victims of the Gwangju student uprising in 1980. I didn't know anything about South Korean history so had no idea about how the military slaughtered the students. A very tough read, specially the parts of the torture and treatment of the corpses, very graphic but I understand the necessity when the cruelties committed were denied for such a long time. The writing is amazing, I'll definitely read more from the author. ⬇️

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is amazing, the poem portrays how prisoners feel on those days when one of them is going to be executed, it really transports you to prison life. The other poems where a meh for me, a bit of his impressions on Italy, some about mythology, just didn't really do it for me, I guess I found them a bit sterile after the Ballad

My little one "reading" Mr Tickle to her friend ❤️❤️

Full disclosure, I don't usually like modern Romance novels, there are too many descriptions of how people look in different outfits; but for the first time in my life music doesn't help me to lose myself in thought making my runs very challenging, I needed something easy to listen to distract me that it wouldn't matter if I lost concentration, and this had good reviews. I hated every minute. The sisters are not fully functioning adults ⬇️

Time to tackle this giant 📚💪🏻

A story of a romance between an Irish scullery maid and the heir of the cruel English landlord who lives in the big house and owns the property where she lives with her family. It's set during the Irish famine and written in verse. Each page is so beautiful, written with so much care and it's such a great reflection of what happened at the time. How I cried! My favourite of the year so far. So happy I was gifted this copy signed by the author ❤️

I hated this. It has the weirdness and cruelty of old fairy tales without any of the wit of Oscar Wilde. They are weirdly dark, I know old fairytales usually are, but there's a lesson to be learn from them: don't walk alone in the forest, beware of the big bad wolf, don't go into the witches house even if she gives you candy, don't steal the bear's porridge (?)... Whatever, they could be cruel but they were aimed to keep the children alive. ⬇️

I studied Ancient Greek in High School and I remember translating the Illiad and commenting how in love Achilles was with Patroclus, so this book is the nerd fanfic that I've been waiting for since my teenage years. I like that it's told from Patroclus point of view, it gives depth to his character, but also allows us to see Achilles from the point of view of the person who loved him most (forgive me Tethis).The different events of Achilles life⬇️

The true story of Mokhtar, a Yemeni American, that decides to resurrect the coffee production in Yemen after discovering it's the place of origin. Without previous experience or capital to fund it, he decides to learn everything about coffee and travel to Yemen to improve the way coffee is produced there and the working conditions, but leaving the country with the coffee in the middle of a civil war it's not an easy feat. Loved the beginning ⬇️

A nice collection of Oscar Wilde's plays. The Importance of being Earnest is so funny, I laughed out loud more than once, the concept of Bunburying absolutely brilliant.Lady Windermere's fan was probably my favourite, less funny but the characters have a bit more flesh. Some characters and dialogues of A woman of no importance reminded me a bit too much of The Picture of Dorian Gray and felt like a re-read at times, but I really enjoyed the plot⬇️

My baby enjoying Pride in Dublin 🏳️‍🌈

Declan and Carol live happily together but when he is diagnosed with dementia his sons from a previous marriage decide to put him in a nursing home and sell the family home, leaving Carol homeless. Her mom is not willing to let the matters rest and is determined to investigate the dark secrets of Declan's past. A mystery with charming characters peppered with Graham Norton's humor. An easy enjoyable read that kept me hooked until the end. 🧶 📚

I bought this for my dad's girlfriend and she loved it so much that she lent it to me and I really struggled with it 🫣It just feels like the author wants to share her views on running a library, share quotes from her favourite books and recommend movies and series. There's a bit of philosophy buried there about how the harmful capitalist views on work ethics make us unhappy, but it's all thrown there without much of a story or characters ⬇️

My 3 year old is obsessed with this series, for the past couple of months we've been reading 3 books of the series for bedtime. It's about 2 robbers who turn into bakers, all the books rhyme and they are packed with humor and action. So of course we had to bake some cupcakes to be like them! We had so much fun being Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam ❤️ (and eating them). If you have toddlers I recommend the series

I'm usually a fan of Le Guin, but this just didn't do it for me.I found that the story suffered in the long explanations of the Aka world and philosophy.In retrospect, perhaps other people feel the same way about The Left Hand of Darkness, which I think is a masterpiece and I can't understand why anybody would think it's boring; but I find a world where no genders exist incredibly interesting and this world where there's spirituality but no ⬇️

A book about nice people trying to make their way into the world. Leonard and Hungry Paul are two friends that live their lives in a simpler kind of way, they are not very experienced in the world, but they have a clarity about how they see it that benefits everyone in their lives and the reader. Very funny and easy read.

Sethe is a runaway slave. Having sent her 3 kids before her, the youngest still breastfeeding, she gives birth to another daughter during her escape. A few months after reuniting with her family they find her, when she sees the dreaded white man approaching to capture them she kills one of her babies and tries to kill her other children to spare them the life of slavery. Years later the ghost of her daughter comes back in physical form and ⬇️

Maali, a war photographer, gambler and closeted gay wakes up in the afterlife after being murdered. He has seven moons to decide between going into the light or staying in this world with other ghosts who are trying to avenge their deaths. He is not as concerned with who killed him, all he wants is his photographs to see the light. I felt lost during certain parts, I knew nothing about Sri Lanka's history or culture and after reading the book ⬇️

It feels like two different books, one the trial of Maria for attempting to murder her abusive husband and the other the life of Lottie, one of the jurors that also lives with a controlling husband and starts to have feelings for Cameron, another member of the jury. Maria's part is a crime novel; Lottie's part seems like cheap romance novel, with too many descriptions about how Cameron's muscles look like in different clothes. ⬇️

First time doing embroidery, I feel like now I'm ready to twist my ankle and stay for a month in some neighbour's house that I happened to pass by at the time of the accident

Anybody else is reading Dracula in real time and imagining him like this cleaning and cooking every time Jonathan is not looking? #DraculaDaily

Like with all short story books, the review is a bit of a mix. I didn't enjoy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I loved Head and Shoulders; The Cut-Glass Bowl and most of all Bernice Bobs Her Hair, the ending was my favourite part. I hated O Russet Witch!... Overall a good collection and being written by F. Scott Fitzgerald you can always find moments of absolute brilliance.

Such an adorable read, no wonder it's a classic. I loved all the characters and their little homes and laughed out loud more than once. The illustrations in this edition took the pleasure of reading the novel to the next level.

"You've disregarded all the warmings we've given you, you're getting us animals a bad name in the district by your furious driving and your smashes and your rows with the police. But we never allow our friends to make fools of themselves beyond a certain limit; and that limit you've reached." ??

Overall I enjoy the story, and I have to confess I didn't know anything about the Cyprus civil war and it was really interesting, I'm sure I'll look more into it. Despite loving magic realism and the way Shafak writes, I often found the parts told from the fig tree's point of view quite boring and I felt myself disconnecting and having to re-read them sometimes. I didn't mind the parts of the fig tree when they were relevant to the story, it was⬇️

On second thoughts...I might be a mole 🤔😅

Turns out my spiritual animal is a Badger, who would have thought!

It took me a bit to warm up to this, the fear for the "Antichrist" seemed so unfounded when he's just a kid and the rest of the house didn't seem concerned at all about anyone's safety specially the kids. Just think that people who work with kids must be more used to how they act up, especially when scared. In the end I loved everyone, it is, as one of the critics said "like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket". Feel sad that I have to leave ⬇️

Frankie, an octogenarian that broke her leg and is in need of a carer, finds in Damian, a fellow expat from West Cork, the care that she needs, maybe not physically but emotionally. Loved to hear about Frankie's life as she tells it and about the gay scene in London and NY, and all the art... the book feels well researched and I love Graham Norton's style. Perhaps jumping to the present doesn't feel as necessary, but I don't like Epilogues and ⬇️

This was my least favourite Forster. I didn't feel attached to the characters. I read his exchange of letters with another author in this regard, and although I understand Forsters motivation to not fully show us Philip from the beginning, it does create a disconnection between the reader and the character and by the time I got to know him I didn't care much for him. The descriptions of the settings,where Forster usually thrives, ⬇️

It's a long book and I wouldn't say it's an easy read.We follow the life of one disfuntional family,each chapter told from the perspective of one of its members, each written in a different style, so it really feels like different voices telling the story.I know some people didn't like the end, but I thought it was brilliant, reading it felt like suddenly a lot of little pieces that didn't seem particularly important fell into place and revealed⬇️

When I picked up this book I thought it was going to be a crime novel, after all the plot is about a journalist following the story of a food blogger that was convicted for killing 3 of her lovers. As I started reading it I found it slow and weird and that it seemed to be more about food and flavours. Eventually I realised that it's really about how the patriarchal Japanese society's expectations on women's position in society and their extreme ⬇️

This was a page turner, really flew through it. Oliver, a famous children book's author beats his wife up until she ends up in a coma. Some people who know him are surprised, some not at all. With each chapter we get the picture of Oliver told by different people reminiscing their experiences with Oliver from his childhood until the accidet. It's clear that Oliver is an asshole, the mystery is how much of an asshole he is.

Not as good as the first one because being a sequel it can't be as innovative, Gilead has already been invented. But a great sequel nevertheless. Although not as brilliant, it's easier to read than the Handmaid's tale, feels more like a novel. Follows the story of three different women: an Aunt; a girl that was raised in Gilead; and a girl that was raised in Canada, so we get to experience the fictitious estate from three different perspectives.⬇️

Alice is a brilliant Harvard Professor, wife and mother that has to face life with early onset Alzheimer diseased when she's diagnosed at only fifty years old. Alice's curse is the reader's blessing, there's no rush to move through the pages, to know what happens next, because sadly Alzheimer doesn't have a cure, doesn't have hope, you just have to enjoy every minute of consciousness until the darkness arrives. ⬇️

As always with Dostoyevsky a bit of an uncomfortable read, where the author makes you hate everyone, but this time I couldn't feel that I was empathising with any character, perhaps I'm now too old to relate to raw youths. At times it felt like the story was wandering aimlessly, but I flew through the last chapters. It is probably my least favourite Dostoevsky so far, but his worst work is still better than many other author's best.

Dickens is always such a comfort read, the way he writes just transports you to a different world where you feel that you really get to know the characters as if they were old friends. This book is the Christmas spirit in itself. My edition, a beautiful replica of the first print, recommends to read it out loud, and how great Dickens sounds! It really does make a difference, it's a story that was clearly written to be told.

This was awful. It's supposed to be a mystery, but I kept forgetting what Phryne was supposed to investigate. It's all muddled in non stop descriptions of her clothes, sex (without any eroticism) and comments of people admiring her? I'm surprised it has so many books in the series and even made it to the tv. I wonder if the whole book is just an introduction to the character and then the series improves...but let's be honest, I'll never find out⬇️

Amir and his father fled Afghanistan after the Russian invasion. Behind, they leave a comfortable life...and Hassan, the son of one of their servants. Amir and him were best friends, almost like brothers, despite Amir's frequent jealousy. One day their lives get shattered and both will have to learn how to live with what happened. Years later Amir receives a call and will have to decide if he can go back and find redemption.
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Re-reading Persuasion for the million time and my mind still gets like that every time Wentworth and Anne interact

It took me a while to go through this one, I only stuck with it because it was so small, but after finishing it, I don't think I learnt anything about the 1798 Rebellion. It just felt like a list of dates, names and battles. It could have benefited from explaining a bit more than with one line about who the characters were. I guess now I know how people who didn't have a good history teacher must feel during the classes.

Li-yan is part of the Ahka minority in China, they live in the mountains, harvesting tea and following their old traditions. As Li-yan grows up she ventures into the outside world,just as the outside world enters her village.

The theme sounded a bit heavy so I kept posponing starting the book but it turned out to be one of my favourite of the year.I loved it from the first page,the descriptions of the scenery left such beautiful vivid pictures⬇️

Like every collection of works there is a bit of everything, some are great, some are meh, but being one-act only even the ones that are not good don't drag for too long. The introduction to the book outlining the history of one-act plays as well as the introduction to each play were great; and I appreciate the fact that each play is a different genre to show how versatile one-act plays can be in so little words.

One of my #24in2024 with @Jas16

Finally managed to find a pretty enough edition of In Search of Lost Time. Definitely going to be one of my 2025 reading projects 🥰

I read this thriller as a teenager, found it in my parents bookshelf one summer and couldn't put it down. I lent it to someone never to see him or the book again, my parents couldn't remember reading or buying the book and I forgot the title. A couple of years ago in a second hand bookshop in the middle of nowhere in Patagonia I recognised the cover and bought it. ⬇️

A fictionalised story of one of the school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. I knew this was going to be a difficult read, but I really struggled. The fist third of the book feels like a collection of gruesome stories about what extreme misogyny and religious fanaticism can take us. It makes difficult to connect with the character since there's no personal details outside the horrors that she's enduring. ⬇️⬇️

The novel follows three spheres that are intertwined: Mr Grandgrind is deep down a good man, but he only believes in facts and not feelings and tries to raise his kids accordingly...with totally forseeable consequences; his friend Mr Bounderby is a banker and manufacturer devoid of feelings who has problems with Unions and recognising employment rights; and Stephen Blackpool is on of Bounderby's employees that has a difficult life. ⬇️

Just keep in mind these fairytale retellings are not for kids, they are the stories of a survivor that sees them through the prisma of abuse. They tell stories of domestic abuse, rape, alcoholic parents, eating disorders... Let the evil that abusive men throw into the world come back to hunt them, in the form of a princess warrior that defeats them, or in the form of a villain that has been broken too many times and seeks revenge. ⬇️