nigmatillium

I cannot express how I feel about this novel. I keep looking for words, but I can't seem to be able to grab the right ones.

I had some sort of an idea of what to expect when I picked up this novel, as we all do, but my idea and the reality 'His Quiet Agent' is, have nothing in common. Not by far.

Very well written, 'His Quiet Agent' is a surprising read. The two main characters are so great, I loved Arthur's perseverance and the silent encouragements he got from others. Martin is a quiet person, but his subtle reactions show us a glimpse of what's inside and luckily for everyone, Arthur was paying attention.

I was surprised by everything that happened, and I loved how their relationship developed. They are both really great and it makes me feel warm and content knowing they have each other.

Usually I have at least a couple complaints, something I didn't quite like, when I read a book, but when it comes to this novel, my complaints list is blank, there's none. 'His Quiet Agent' is such a nice, smooth read.

I like Trevor Noah. I randomly watched him a while ago and I thought he was really funny, so I watched some more and I really liked him, but I can't say I'm a fan. I don't follow him and I just found out he's hosting a show after I started reading this book. It's also unusual for me to read this book, I attempted reading memoirs before, but I couldn't get into them, so when I saw this book and thought 'yeah, I want to read that' it was uncharacteristic.

I was expecting, based on Trevor Noah's stand-up, to enjoy this book, but I was not expecting to find things I can relate to. I'm from the other side of the world so being able to relate to some aspects of life in South Africa was quite a surprise.

I liked the narration a lot, I didn't feel at any point that it was being made light of the situations or dramatising them, but simply relating things as they happened. I liked the format a lot too, various things that were properly told about later in the book were mentioned in earlier chapters, before we got the whole picture. I read this book the same way I would listen to someone tell me about their life and I think that was the intended way for this autobiography to be read.

I could go ahead and write about the things I liked, the ones I related to, the ones that made me sad, but then I would do this book no justice. 'Born a Crime' is an experience and I feel like finding out about what's in it by reading a review rather than picking up the book and reading it yourself takes away from how good reading it actually is.

The audiobook, narrated by Trevor Noah himself, is getting a lot of praise too and I agree. I listened to a bit of it and the narration is great, it also helps with unfamiliar words and names that I wouldn't know how to pronounce.

'Born a Crime' is a fantastic book and so worth picking up. Apart from Trevor Noah's life story (which, in a way, is a more his mother's story) we also get a good history lesson.

Like usual, Agatha Christie's book kept me on the edge of my seat, but this time I actually lost my interest towards the end of the book. I went ahead and took a guess on what the murder is all about, who did it and why, at the start of the book, and when it turned out I was half-right, I lost some interest. Of course, everything was way more complicated than I assumed, but that also made it feel a bit over the top, just a tad.

Do not think I did not enjoy the book, because I did, a lot. I like Agatha Christie's writing style and I absolutely love Hercule Poirot. There were some instances, some remarks, of the great detective that actually made me laugh. The humour is great in this book and I am a big fan of it.

Hastings, on the other hand, is just as insufferable as I remembered him. Luckily for me, I felt like I had to put up with him for only about three chapters before the murder plot took over and he remained just a narrator. I wonder if he'll grow on me, because I do plan on reading more of Hercule Poirot's adventures, not necessarily in order, though.

I don't think there's much else to be said about the book. It's a classic, it's just as enjoyable now as it probably was when it was first published. Highly recommend it.

Also, while reading the book, I thought I'd do a simple pixel art portrait of Hercule Poirot, so since this book kind of inspired it, I'll link it here.

I was a little sceptical about this book, didn't think I would like it. I mean, it's a John Grisham book and the main character is not a lawyer? None of the side characters either? I wasn't convinced I should read it, but I thought it might be an interesting change. And, oh, it was!

Skipping Christmas sounds like a great thing to do, I was cheering for Luther and Nora, what a terrific idea! Spending the holidays away from the madness, relaxing, enjoying yourself, it sounded so good. What followed was a really funny story, I enjoyed it and I had a blast reading it. Like usual when it comes to John Grisham (leaving aside that this is not a legal thriller) I liked how real Luther and Nora's relationship felt. How natural the conversations flew, how they felt like actual people. John Grisham manages to have actual people in his books and I don't know how he does it. Now, after reading some of the other reviews, I agree the main characters and the side characters weren't the best kind of people, that's not my point, good or bad, they felt real.

About the plot, yeah, improvements could be made here and there, but I think the book reached its goal, meaning to point out the wasteful spending during the holidays. I really liked that. I see why other readers might not like this story and I actually tend to agree with the negative comments, but ultimately I enjoyed it. I mean, I don't go into reading a Christmas story without expecting a bunch of clichés, but they can be written well or not, and this one's really good. And funny.

I don't even know what I was expecting when I started reading this, but what I got is definitely not it. 'Sweet Bean Paste' is a very interesting book while keeping that mild, heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time, quality that I got used to in Japanese books.

I liked the plot, I got to read about a subject I did not read about before. And I liked the characters, I liked them from the first meeting.

There is something about Japanese arts that's very specific, but very hard to explain. For me at least. This is valid here too, in this book. I got a specific vibe from it that I can't get from a book written by any other author besides Japanese. But enough about that, this book is simply great and I recommend it.