“It does not matter that you do not understand the reason. You are the Beloved Child of the House. Be comforted. And I am comforted.�
Residing in a wor“It does not matter that you do not understand the reason. You are the Beloved Child of the House. Be comforted. And I am comforted.�
Residing in a world of interlocking halls bedecked with marble statues is Piranesi, the protagonist. The narrative is told through his journal entries and the story is expertly crafted - teasing the reader with the captivating mystery of the House and keeping us turning pages in the hope of understanding more about the strange realm and the many mysteries it contains.
While the ending felt a little abrupt and hurried to me, overall it was an absolute effortless pleasure and I genuinely looked forward to picking it up - a welcome breath of fresh air after struggling through the past few books I've read. A solid 4.5 (which I've rounded up to 5, because, yanno, ŷ). ...more
Linus Baker is a lonely office worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's good at his job and has spent 17 years solidly plugging away Linus Baker is a lonely office worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's good at his job and has spent 17 years solidly plugging away at it without incident - until one day he's summoned to the Extremely Upper Management and given the task of reporting on a mysterious orphanage for magical children housing, among others, the 6 year-old Antichrist.
Sounds pretty cool, right? I thought so too. And I enjoyed the first 25%, it was pretty funny and had some neat ideas. But then, the novelty began to wear off. I was waiting for the world to gradually become more fleshed out, for the characters to unearth some kind of hidden depth. It never happened.
The children at said orphanage are pretty cute and interesting when they're first introduced. They all have funny quirks too - Lucy (Lucifer) likes to smile sweetly and tell everyone he's going to eat their souls, Theodore the Wyvern really likes collecting buttons, Chauncey the blob really wants to become a bell hop, Talia the gnome humorously tells Linus she's going to hit him on the head with a spade and bury him in the garden. But after reading, for the fifth time, how Theodore loves buttons, and that Lucy has once more entered a scene by telling everyone he's the devourer of worlds, it gets a bit repetitive.
But my biggest gripe, which I've seen other reviewers point to, is that the book throws up potentially huge, fascinating questions which are just wasted. Lucy is the SON OF THE DEVIL - so does that mean God is real? That he came from Hell? At one point he describes his soul as 'ancient' - cool, tell us more please! But there's really little there. It's the same with the other characters too.
I really, really, really wanted to like this book. It started off so well but there just wasn't enough to keep me coming back. ...more
"In the drone of the aeroplane the voice of the summer sky murmured its fierce soul."
Ah, wistful sigh. Kew Gardens, a short story, centres on a flower"In the drone of the aeroplane the voice of the summer sky murmured its fierce soul."
Ah, wistful sigh. Kew Gardens, a short story, centres on a flowerbed in Kew Gardens, and the fragments of conversations overheard from the people who pass its vicinity. It's very Woolfian and very good....more
A surprisingly readable (considering how dense it is) biography of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. This book does a good job of painting the compleA surprisingly readable (considering how dense it is) biography of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. This book does a good job of painting the complexity of Augustus's character, and did away with some of my assumptions of what a man who paved the way for turning the Republic into a monarchy would be like.
It starts with a lot of context, painting the scene of the Rome Augustus grew up in - one ravaged by a series of vicious civil wars, and which he in turn partook in when he sailed against Antony and Cleopatra. At this stage, he's essentially a warlord - able to exert huge influence by the (illegal) acquisition of a private army after Julius Caesar's murder.
Once all the threats are eliminated, Augustus shows himself to be an adept politician and propagandist, delicately maintaining the appearance of an independent Senate whilst increasingly consolidating his power. Over time, his military dominance of the empire brought a peace Rome hadn't experienced in decades.
This book, although limited by the sources, does a good job of bringing the complex man to life too. His reign was marked by many personal tragedies, including the loss of close family members, heirs and friends. One letters to his grandson, a favoured successor who died at the age of 23, is especially moving, where he affectionately calls him "my dear Gaius, my dearest little donkey". But, on the other hand, he harshly exiles his only daughter Julia for adultery and never sees her again, giving express orders for her not to be buried in the grand family mausoleum he had built. There are many contradictions like this - clear-headed statesman prone to fits of petulant rage, murderous warlord likely to grant you clemency, insanely rich while maintaining a humbler lifestyle (relative to the standards of later emperors of course) - and Goldsworthy draws them out, making Augustus feel more realised than I was expecting for a such a historic figure from our distant past. ...more
"This is perhaps why people get together in the first place. The sharing of time. The sharing of the responsibility of anchoring oneself in the world."This is perhaps why people get together in the first place. The sharing of time. The sharing of the responsibility of anchoring oneself in the world."
Real Life is about Wallace, a black, gay biochemist attending graduate school in a never-named American university town. It's about his deeply-felt loneliness and self-loathing which comes from his traumatic childhood and the casual, myriad, racist micro-aggressions (or outright aggressions) of his white friends, fellow students and teachers.
There were moments I really liked about this book. The writing, when focused on Wallace's inner thoughts and conflict, is often really powerful.
But for the most part, I didn't particularly enjoy it or find it very satisfying. The interactions between characters often felt artificial and weirdly clunky to me. I wanted it to go deeper into these complicated, messy relationships. Wallace's friends are so deeply irritating, it made it difficult to invest in those relationships - I wanted Wallace just to walk off and out of there.
I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the type of gay male relationships I find depicted in some contemporary fiction too, and Real Life was no exception. So often they're violent and unmooring, so steeped in shame and loathing. Granted, that's a lot of people's experience, and that's horrendous. But I'd love to read a serious, literary book which deals with a supportive, hopeful gay relationship too....more
"Finding sanctuary gave us the means necessary to dream again, but these dreams were deeply attached to the mourning of all that had been lost ... On "Finding sanctuary gave us the means necessary to dream again, but these dreams were deeply attached to the mourning of all that had been lost ... On lands far from our ancestral home, the profundity of remembering through food would bind us."
I read a lot of cookbooks and never usually add them to ŷ, but this one felt different.
Parwana is a restaurant in Australia run by a refugee family from Afghanistan. The book is beautifully put together and a visual feast to leaf through. But it's more than a cookbook - it tells the history of Afghanistan, the personal history of the author's family, and how they use food to keep the memory of their country alive from overseas....more
“You see, loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egoistical selves.�
D“You see, loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egoistical selves.�
Divided into three parts, this book tells the story of a university student in Tokyo at the end of the Meiji era, his relationship with his family in the countryside, and his friendship with 'Sensei' - an educated and >severely depressed< older man. All three are living different lives, with different outlooks on life, and represent conflicting versions of Japan torn between old and new, countryside and city.
It's an interesting read, but I personally didn't really enjoy it. The characters weren't particularly relatable or likeable. Indicative of the time it was written in, the attitudes to women haven't aged well and make for uncomfortable reading ((view spoiler)[one character wishes they had the 'courage' to kill his wife to save her from suffering - like, what?? (hide spoiler)])....more
”Oh my Soho, was there ever an invulnerable queer body?�
This was hit and miss for me. It focuses a lot on the links between gay sex, shame and violenc”Oh my Soho, was there ever an invulnerable queer body?�
This was hit and miss for me. It focuses a lot on the links between gay sex, shame and violence/self-violence which got a little repetitive, not going to lie. The poems I liked best were about queer people searching for their own history - like the first one, where the narrator draws genitals in old library books, queerifying dusty tomes....more
The beauty and simplicity of these poems are so lovely, tenderly sad and calming. I'm sure in their origFriends part Forever - wild geese Lost in cloud.
The beauty and simplicity of these poems are so lovely, tenderly sad and calming. I'm sure in their original Japanese they're even more beautiful. Basho's haikus are deceptively simple, at their best linking evocative vignettes of the natural world to the poet's inner life in just three short lines....more
This was, for the most part, a very interesting travelogue-come-food-essay on China and it's many different regional cuisines. It spends most of its tThis was, for the most part, a very interesting travelogue-come-food-essay on China and it's many different regional cuisines. It spends most of its time in Sichuan, where Fuchsia spent a term at the university, home to fiery cuisine and the lip-numbing Sichuan pepper, but also covers various other regions of China. I especially enjoyed the book's sojourn in Yangzhou, an ancient city of salt merchants with a highly-refined culture which seemingly has survived the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. Food is universal and, in writing about food, this book also covers Chinese history, social structures, environment, its many different cultures etc . It's really fascinating.
Not going to lie, there were parts which grated on me. In the early parts of the book, there's sometimes a reckless to Fuchsia's actions which don't tally with the fact that she's living in an authoritarian state. Like when she decides to travel to forbidden zones in Tibet, because she's sure she'll be safe as a foreigner. While that might be the case, what about the Chinese people helping her on her escapades who might have faced repercussions?
As the book goes on, Fuchsia begins to have qualms about her beloved China and some of her earlier eagerness to eat everything without paying heed to the moral and environmental ethics of doing so. She grapples with these later in the book, and I certainly enjoyed these well-rounded chapters more....more
"The persistence of beauty, in fragility of all places!, in a dewdrop at daybreak, a thing that will end, and in moments, and in a garden, and in Ghan"The persistence of beauty, in fragility of all places!, in a dewdrop at daybreak, a thing that will end, and in moments, and in a garden, and in Ghana, lush Ghana, soft Ghana, verdant Ghana, where fragile things die."
This was a beautiful book. Every page is full of beautiful poetry and searing insights into the inner lives of a complex, unhappy family.
It's about a Ghanian/Nigerian family who move to America, fracture apart, and some of them move back to Ghana. The 4 children, mother, and father are all deeply lost in some way, trying to cope with the absence of 'home' and each other, and each trying - in their own totally unique ways - to bring themselves back together, or to protect themselves from further loss. It's really great, and even more impressive considering this is Selasi's first book!...more
“The dead can forgive. The dead can be forgiven. The rest of us have better things to do."
Best Served Cold tells the story of the mercenary Murcatto, “The dead can forgive. The dead can be forgiven. The rest of us have better things to do."
Best Served Cold tells the story of the mercenary Murcatto, the Serpent of Talins, on her quest across war-torn Styria to avenge her murdered brother. It's a tale of revenge, murder, greed, hubris and ruthless ambition.
This is the perfect kind of book to read on a beach. Sadly, under present circumstances, I had to settle for my living room. But it's everything you'd want for a holiday read - great writing, pure escapism, page-turning cliff-hangers and action-filled cinematic episodes. It's really fantastic....more
“The deep Chile of the fascists had always been there, beneath the surface, just waiting to emerge. It was the triumph of the arrogant Right, the defe“The deep Chile of the fascists had always been there, beneath the surface, just waiting to emerge. It was the triumph of the arrogant Right, the defeat of the people who believed in that utopian revolution.�
One family, torn apart by the brutal Spanish Civil War, set up a new life in Chile thanks to the progressive government of the time chartering boats to ferry the refugees across the Atlantic into the welcoming arms of the country.
I feel like some of this book's power must have been lost in translation. Moments of it are thoroughly enjoyable and readable, but other times it feels too thin, too fleeting. Because this book spans many decades, parts of it can feel rushed and sometimes characters suffer from a lack of development.
That being said, this was great historical fiction - it entertained but also taught me about the Spanish Civil War, Chilean politics, and the horrors of Franco/Pinochet....more
I had to give up on this one. It's a huge book filled with really dense type, minute details, and convoluted sentences with lots of clauses. I was tryI had to give up on this one. It's a huge book filled with really dense type, minute details, and convoluted sentences with lots of clauses. I was trying to chip away at this for the past three months but I didn't find it enjoyable to read. It's a real shame because Fraser clearly knows her stuff and I'm really interested in Cromwell - we're hardly taught about him at school for obvious reasons - but I couldn't solider on with it. Think I'll have to go read the Wikipedia page instead....more
“She was a stranger because something essential was shielded, released in tiny bursts until it became a flood - a flood of what I realized I did not k“She was a stranger because something essential was shielded, released in tiny bursts until it became a flood - a flood of what I realized I did not know. Afterwards, I would mourn her as if she'd died, because something had: someone we had created together.�
This was an absolute sucker punch of a book. It's Carmen Maria Machado's memoir of being in an abusive relationship, and also a potted history of queer female relationships and domestic abuse. Its chapters are mostly very short, like a paper-chain of interlocking vignettes. It's gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, and incredibly sad. But it's also uplifting, about strength - queer strength - and resilience and life after trauma. Honestly, everyone should read it.
I also always get this weird sense of satisfaction when I'm reading something written by someone who you can tell is a truly fantastic writer, and I got the same feeling from this book. Machado's writing is beautiful, sometimes feeling almost like poetry. I love the deft connections she makes between things - like the stoning of a woman on a beach in France by her girlfriend, stoning as homophobic punishment, Stonewall, D-Day landings. It sounds trite when I write it out like this but it's not in the book, it's done so masterfully....more
It was okay. It was fun to read for a bit but overstayed it's welcome
I was disappointed by the treatment of Brother Gabriel, (view spoiler)[another hiIt was okay. It was fun to read for a bit but overstayed it's welcome
I was disappointed by the treatment of Brother Gabriel, (view spoiler)[another historical gay character who's twisted with his 'perversions' and literally gets crushed to death by THE VIRGIN MARY as soon as it's unveiled just how gay he is - I mean, honestly, eye-roll. (hide spoiler)] I thought the pacing was a bit off too as Shardlake plods back and forth a bit between suspects, and then the final quarter unravels very quickly and was full of literally pages of expository conversation as the killers explain their motives, how they did it, etc. etc.
I'll probably read another in the series as it was still good fun, but it's not quite what I hoped it would be....more
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