Literary Olympics: The best literary fiction books of 2020-2021
Book Reviews / Opinion Pieces / reading / The Latest

Literary Olympics: The best literary fiction books of 2020-2021

The Olympics just finished up in Tokyo, Japan. It has been, to say the very least, a very strange time. On the one hand, my brain can’t seem to comprehend that we even had an Olympics given the current state of the world right now, and then, on the other hand, I also understand the importance of having something ‘normal’.

With all that said, I wanted to have some light-hearted fun and do the 2020-2021 Book Olympics! Continue reading

Review of “The Last Children of Tokyo”: dystopias as social commentary
Book Reviews / Japanese / The Latest / translation

Review of “The Last Children of Tokyo”: dystopias as social commentary

In Tawada’s world, the old don’t age or die, and the young are cursed with ill-health and short life-spans. Learn more about why this dystopian novel haunted me for months after I read it. Continue reading

A Review of Ottessa Moshfegh’s “Eileen”: An Ode to Daphne Du Maurier’s “Rebecca”?
American / Book Reviews / British / feminism / The Latest

A Review of Ottessa Moshfegh’s “Eileen”: An Ode to Daphne Du Maurier’s “Rebecca”?

I am a big fan of Ottessa Moshfegh’s writing. I have also reviewed her novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation which you can check out by clicking on the title. Moshfegh has an amazing way of writing perfectly awful characters in such a nuanced and special way. I feel like you love to hate … Continue reading

A Review of “The Lie Tree”: the power of a lie
Book Reviews / British / crime / fantasy / The Latest

A Review of “The Lie Tree”: the power of a lie

Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree was the perfect read for my summer holidays in Catania last week. The book is fast paced with some good suspense and plot development. At the core of the narrative is a scientific discovery: a tree that will give you truth and knowledge through its fruits if you feed it … Continue reading

Millennials and Money: a review of Sally Rooney’s “Conversations With Friends”
Book Reviews / Irish / The Latest

Millennials and Money: a review of Sally Rooney’s “Conversations With Friends”

Conversations With Friends was Sally Rooney’s debut novel published in 2017. Set in Ireland, the story follows the closely-knit and complicated relationships of Frances and Bobbi, who are both university students in their early 20s, and Melissa and Nick, a married couple in their early 30s. With these two couples, Rooney already offers up a … Continue reading

Goodreads Winners Are In: Who were my favourites for 2018?
American / Book Reviews / British / comedy / crime / fantasy / nonfiction / Opinion Pieces / poetry / The Latest / YA

Goodreads Winners Are In: Who were my favourites for 2018?

The wait is over! Goodreads has announced its winners for 2018, which also marks the ten-year anniversary of the book awards. Readers get the chance to vote for their favourite books based on different popular categories like fiction, sci-fi, and Romance. It is basically the Oscars for books. This year, Goodreads recorded over five million … Continue reading

25 years since Jeffrey Eugenides’ debut novel: “The Virgin Suicides”
American / Book Reviews / Classic / The Latest

25 years since Jeffrey Eugenides’ debut novel: “The Virgin Suicides”

TRIGGER WARNING: This review deals with death by suicide. The Virgin Suicides were first published in 1993 and it was Jeffrey Eugenides’ breakout debut novel. It was received with critical acclaim and some reviewers at the time called his novel a modern Greek tragedy. It has captured readers since its release and was turned into … Continue reading

Books I cannot wait to read!
Opinion Pieces / reading / The Latest

Books I cannot wait to read!

I love books. I love reading them, reviewing them, talking about them, and even being photographed next to them in a book-coordinated outfit (see above)! I feel like I have been doing a lot of really interesting and thought-provoking book reviews recently, but I also feel that they have been heavy. So to bring some … Continue reading

“Middlesex” a review: gender identity
American / Book Reviews / Opinion Pieces / queer / The Latest

“Middlesex” a review: gender identity

Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel Middlesex is a breathtaking inter-generational novel that addresses issues of the complex history of Eastern Europe, Greek identity, Greek-American identity, growing up in the U.S., and intersex and other LGBTQA identities. It would be easy to talk all day about the complexities of this novel as well as Eugenides’ exquisite prose writing, … Continue reading

Interview fail: Han Kang author event at the Kaufleuten in Zurich
Opinion Pieces / reading / The Latest

Interview fail: Han Kang author event at the Kaufleuten in Zurich

I have been attending author events at the Kaufleuten in Zurich since I moved to Switzerland. They are great things for the community and I think they can encourage reading, multilingual boarder-crossing, and intellectual discussions about literature from around the world. I recently went to Han Kang’s talk/interview about her book, The Vegetarian. I have … Continue reading