Indira Pranabudi

This book made me both mad and sad, but mostly mad. In a good way though!

I love that it's fiction but also kind of non-fiction (the author interweaves some statistics throughout the book), and I absolutely love that it's feminist. It's a pretty short book so I think it would also make for a good book club kind of book.

4.5/5

It was little dull compared to the first novel; not a lot of action but felt like more of a backstory for what's to come next. Or at least I hope so!

It was generally a good book, but honestly, I don't think I would've found this book as interesting if I wasn't already invested in Paul Muad'Dib and the rest of the Dune universe.

Good book, but slightly underwhelmed (especially after all the hype).

I liked that the main characters were relatable (and likeable to a certain extent), and it did almost make me cry... but it just didn't feel “wow” enough for 5 stars.

Homo Deus is an engaging and thought-provoking read that explores the evolution of Homo Sapiens into the god-like Homo Deus. I would say that it's not necessarily an “easy read” as there were multiple points in the book where I had to stop to really digest the content. Overall, very provocative.

Read this cause it was recommended by Ali Abdaal, but it was just OK. A lot of it felt like general advice, a lot of it felt like common sense, some of it felt just random advice that I'm not sure would apply (e.g. “Hire your friends” is cool and all but diversity is also cool!)

My first thought after finishing this book: “Did anything actually happen?”

The prose was beautiful and it wasn't necessarily boring, but it honestly felt like nothing of importance happened. I can't figure out what exactly I'm supposed to take away from this book and I just have mixed emotions having finished reading it.

Wow, what an incredible book. Incredibly informative and thought-provoking yet easy to read. I love how Kolbert starts each chapter off with an animal and uses the history of that animal to ease the reader into the greater arc of the story. I like how Kolbert makes her point in a matter-of-fact and non-judgemental way whereas I feel that some other climate-change-oriented literature tend to be rather sassy in a “we're screwed, this is XYZ's fault” kind of way.

Overall, such a great book and an essential read for everyone.

This book is so strange and unique, but at the same time it was such a drag to read... like honestly, what did I just read lol.

The fact that almost everyone had the same name added to the strangeness of the story, but at the same time, I had to stop multiple times in the book to look back at the family tree and remind myself which Aureliano he was talking about. It was also filled with so much sex, and more than once it happened between family members... which is just gross. It also happened between people with massive age gaps (e.g. old man with teenage girl), which is also gross. And let's not forget about the 17 Aurelianos.

García Márquez's personal style of writing definitely shines through this book, and it's what makes it really interesting to read. The writing is beautiful. But also, why did you have to make each paragraph are so long?! It's not uncommon to find paragraphs that are 2 pages long. Heck, there was an entire sentence that spanned 2 pages!

Overall it was an interesting read, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I hadn't found it in the “English books” isle of a bookstore of Mexico City. I've also read 3 García Márquez books in the past month alone, and I think that's enough García Márquez for me lol.

Olga Dies Dreaming had all the necessary ingredients for a great book in my eyes: a unique backdrop, complex characters and strong political/cultural themes. It's generally an entertaining read, although some of the things that took place in the book did feel a little forced and far-fetched.

I was going to give this a 4/5 but dropped it down to a 3/5 because the ending for me was just disappointing. There was a lot of build up that wasn't fully resolved.

Such a well-written book on race, religion, and identity in America that's extremely relevant in the current climate. I loved hearing bits and pieces of Lalami's background too as there were quite a few things that I was able to relate to from my personal experience of living here in the US.

Perhaps not as relevant unless you live in the US since most of the examples are US-specific, but I do think that a lot of the themes discussed in this book apply outside of the US as well.

Touching and honest memoir on Ashley C. Ford's childhood, growing up with an incarcerated father and an emotionally absent (and often physically abusive) mother. I consumed this as an audiobook, and Ford as a narrator did not disappoint.

I was originally going to give this a 4/5 but it's been a week since I finished reading it and I already started to forget some of the things I read in this book... which probably means it wasn't as memorable for me? 3/5 it is!

It was alright. The storytelling was interesting — there are a lot of gaps here and there so oftentimes you have to fill in the details for yourself. I enjoyed the setting (a small town in South Korea called Sokcho). The ending felt anticlimactic, but I guess that's the point? Not sure, maybe I'm too dumb to enjoy this book lmao

Love the book cover though!

It's an inspiring and optimistic take on climate change, but to be honest I don't feel that I learned anything new from this book. There were some interesting scientific tidbits in this book, but it was definitely more of a motivational “yes we can tackle climate change!” kind of book. Nothing bad about that, but I think I would've liked more substance. It was a nice and easy read though (unlike some other climate books that are very dense and difficult to read).

The writing itself is great, but honestly the story is creepy AF. Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza met as teenagers and Florentino quickly falls in love with Fermina. After a few years of “dating”, Fermina realizes that Florentino is not the man for her, and rejects him. Up to this part of the story, everything seems fine. But then it all goes downhill from here...

Fermina eventually marries Dr Juvenal Urbino, a wealthy doctor. Florentino on the other hand wants to remain “faithful” to Fermina and decides not to marry anyone. He does, however, end up sleepy with a myriad of different women, including América Vicuña, a 14-year-old girl who is sent to live with him. For a 70-something year old man to be intimate with a 14-year old girl is one thing, and add to that the fact that she eventually kills himself after he rejects her in the end!

Finally, after 50 years of marriage, Dr Urbino dies after falling from a ladder while trying to rescue his parrot. Florentino learns of this news and decides to re-confess his love to Fermina all these years. She initially outright rejects him, but after his consistent advanves, he wears her down and they become intimate.

So is the moral of the story here that you can be a creep and still get what you want?

Honestly, such a wholesome book! The premise is so interesting and unique yet it touches on aspects of life that almost everyone can relate to. Made me tear up at the end too

Dune is a great book, and the cultural impact it has had is immense. I loved the world building and I thought the underlying themes touched on issues that are still relevant to this day (e.g. oppression of indigenous peoples such as the Fremen).

I really wanted to love it enough to give it a 5 star rating but although this book was engaging, it wasn't necessarily a can't-put-down book for me. The ending also felt a little anticlimactic for me and though I love the Middle Eastern and Islamic undertones, is it just me or does it also feel like appropriation?

As a developer, I'm not the intended audience for this book but I thought it was still good to understand more about the PM role. I also enjoyed the examples of successful PMs at different organizations. Some parts felt a bit repetitive and/or obvious for me (but I suppose a lot of things make more sense in hindsight), but overall I thought this book was interesting and helpful!

I really like the concept of this book! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in YA Fantasy.

This book is so unique; I almost struggle to find the words to describe it because it's so different from any other book I've ever read. It's a great book, but definitely somewhat haunting, and I'm not sure I would recommend this book to everyone.

Some other thoughts about this book:
* The main storyline was hands down “unputdownable” to me but I didn't enjoy Lude's story nearly as much
* The typography and page layout in general is so peculiar... there were parts that I blazed through and some other parts I didn't even know how to read. But I guess that's the point of the book?
* Big book fear prevented me from picking this up sooner but I'm glad I finally did because it's definitely one of those books you don't really stop thinking about

This was a quick and enjoyable read! The writing is beautiful (as expected). It's also interesting to learn a bit about life in Colombia (or at least how Garcia Marquez portrays it); the fact that one of the main characters is Arab is not something I expected.

I absolutely love Adichie, I absolutely love books on feminism and I loved this book too! Very concise and straight to the point.

Giving this a 4/5 instead of 5/5 cause I felt that it completely ignored the fact that gender and sex are different, and it was very focused hetero relationships. These are things that are top of mind for me (esp in 2021), though I understand it might not have been as common to talk about in 2014.

Show Your Work is a quick and easy read that left me feeling motivated. I decided to get this book after Ali Abdaal recommended it in his video titled “How Writing Online Made me a Millionaire”, and managed to finish it all in one sitting. I'd highly recommend this for anyone who needs an extra nudge to get yourself out there!

I was reading this book on the T when a girl came up to me and said that The Song of Achilles was one of her favourite books; she liked it so much that she even got a tattoo of it!

I was hesitant to read it at first because I read Madeline Miller's Circe and thought it was kinda meh, but I'm glad I finally read this because this turned out to be such a wonderfully written re-telling of the Iliad. 10/10 would recommend!