Sonja's Updates

Sonja added 'Freshwater'

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 13:33:32 -0700

Sonja gave 5 stars to Freshwater (Paperback) by Akwaeke Emezi
bookshelves: queer, debut, read-for-uni, diverse-books, magical-realism, contemporary, coming-of-age, magical-writing, psychological
I have never before in my life given a book 3 stars initially, and then later raised it to 5 stars. Freshwater is the first book to have that honour lol

Akwaeke Emezi's prose is so stunning. I need to read all of her books!!!

I definitely want to write a more thorough review of this book, so full review to come, hopefully hehe

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pre-review

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This was very different from what I was expecting! I don't really know how to feel about it to be honest, I'm going to need a few days to let it marinate...

My rating might go up later (or down, who knows at this point lol)

Sonja added 'You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty'

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 09:19:47 -0700

Sonja gave 5 stars to You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty (Kindle Edition) by Akwaeke Emezi
bookshelves: queer, steamy, romance, diverse-books, love-this-so-much, magical-writing, that-plot-twist-though, adult, too-many-feels, contemporary
I loved this book so much!!!! There is honestly nothing I did not enjoy about this book. This was just f*cking excellent.

The manner in which Akwaeke Emezi gave life to all of the characters felt so incredibly nuanced and realistic; they all felt so real, like you're not convincing me that Feyi is a fictional character, because she is very much alive in my mind. The characterisation was just stunning.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty truly lived up to its beautiful title (and cover!!) for me. The book has been categorised as a romance, and while that is not wrong, I would say it is more of a literary fiction novel with romance (the distinction really only matters for your expectations going in).

Needless to say, I highly recommend this book!!

[longer review to come]

Sonja added 'The Sense of an Ending'

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 14:28:17 -0800

Sonja gave 3 stars to The Sense of an Ending (Kindle Edition) by Julian Barnes
bookshelves: read-for-uni, that-plot-twist-though, adult, disappointing
this was an interesting read, for the most part, though it was not mind-blowing in any way. how did this win the booker prize???????

Sonja added 'Lost Children Archive'

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 09:32:28 -0800

Sonja gave 2 stars to Lost Children Archive (Kindle Edition) by Valeria Luiselli
bookshelves: read-for-uni, boring, disappointing, contemporary, adult
this book truly felt never-ending 😭😭

giving it 2 stars is honestly being generous...

conceptually, this book is interesting, but the execution left a lot to be desired. this is one of those books that is way more interesting to analyse than to actually read 💀

Sonja added 'Happening'

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:57:48 -0800

Sonja gave 5 stars to Happening (Paperback) by Annie Ernaux
bookshelves: read-for-uni, non-fiction, memoir
What a book!!!!

Sonja added '2024 on ŷ��'

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 06:26:18 -0800

Sonja marked as year-in-review 2024 on ŷ�� (Unknown Binding) by Various
bookshelves: year-in-review
Wishing all of you a very happy new year with many amazing reads and joyful moments! 🥰

I read 54 books in total last year, and these are the ones I loved the most:

1. The Art of Flying by Antonio Altarriba and Kim

2. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

3. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

4. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

5. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh

6. Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman

The Art of Flying easily took the top spot of the year for me. It is, without a single doubt, the best graphic novel I have ever read.

I had to read it for uni, and honestly my expectations weren't that high �� because I'd never heard of it before, and I'm not a huge graphic novel reader, but it truly blew me away.

The Art of Flying is an adult non-fiction graphic novel following the life of an ordinary man (named Antonio) in Franco's Spain, as he is forced to deal with poverty, fascism, and eventually exile.

It was such a moving and interesting read, especially because I didn't know a whole lot about Spain's history prior to reading this book.

Books 4, 5, and 6 were also books I had to read for university. Sometimes I discover new faves because of uni, and sometimes I have to read the most boring book imaginable lmao

Here's to another great reading year!! 🥂🫶

Sonja added 'Beach Read'

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 05:13:35 -0800

Sonja gave 5 stars to Beach Read (Paperback) by Emily Henry
bookshelves: steamy, contemporary, adult, romance, love-this-so-much
THIS WAS SOOOO GOODDD

my first five star read of 2025, and it's all thanks to Queen Emily Henry 🥹💗

review to come ~

Sonja added 'Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter'

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 09:00:03 -0800

Sonja gave 4 stars to Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter (Kindle Edition) by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner
bookshelves: read-for-uni, poetry, diverse-books
4.5 out of 5 stars.

A truly beautiful poetry collection written by an indigenous Marshallese author.

rtc.

Sonja added 'A Prayer for the Crown-Shy'

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 16:05:09 -0800

Sonja gave 4 stars to A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2) by Becky Chambers
bookshelves: queer, diverse-books, science-fiction, fantasy, novella, adult, feel-good
4.25 out of 5 stars.

❝What if it’s enough to just be…❞

Mosscap might actually have become my favourite fictional robot (sorry Murderbot <33)

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy was a really enjoyable and beautifully written read! Having this as my last read of 2024 was truly a great way to close off the year 🥰

❝[W]elcome comfort, for without it, you cannot stay strong.��

It was really interesting to learn more about the book's futuristic setting and society, and how it functions �� especially when it comes to money. I also enjoyed how the book touched on entropy and the question of consciousness, it was all very interesting.

Honestly, it would be interesting to discuss and dissect this duology at uni in the context of ecocriticism and utopian thinking. Maybe I should write my thesis about these books haha

Overall, I highly recommend checking out the Monk & Robot duology! It was a delight to read.

❝They headed back down the dock together, drawing closer with each step. The lights of the party flickered on the water, and the stars answered them above.��

1.) A Psalm for the Wild-Built �� 4 stars