My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 7/10 Author: Toshikazu KawaguchiGenres: Magical Realism, Contemporary Fiction Originally Published: December 2015 Number of pages: 213 This was my first time reading a Japanese writer. It happened almost by accident. I was heading into a vacation and wanted something light, something meaningful, something…
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 8/10 Author: Tillie ColeGenres: Romance novel, Young adult literature, Young adult romance literatureOriginally Published: 2016Number of pages: 352 “A Thousand Boy Kisses” is dedicated to those who believe in true and epic love. I do, and I have never given up on love. But did I like the book?…
My Rating: ★7/10. When I first read “The Alchemist” at twenty years old, I was so driven by it. I thought it was teaching me so much – entirely new perspectives and ideas. At that time, it felt genuinely transformative. When I decided to write a summary, I wanted to be honest with my readers, so I reread it – especially since it’s a relatively short book. I was also curious: how would I feel reading it now, at thirty-four.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 7/10 Author: Shelby Van PeltGenres: Mystery, Drama, Domestic FictionOriginally Published: 2022, May 3Number of pages: 500 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is one of the few contemporary books that I really enjoyed, although the ending could have been more revealing. The…
If you enjoy mystery, intrigue, and investigation, this might be the book for you. I first came across The Last Thing He Told Me when I saw the poster for its movie adaptation. Since the film received such widespread attention, I decided to read the book before watching it.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 8/10 In the novel, Shafak tells two parallel stories centered around two families: the Turkish Kazanchis and the Armenian Chachmakhchians. What I found especially interesting is that even the surnames carry meaning. Kazanchi and Chachmakhchian are both common surnames found among Armenians and Turks.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 9/10I don’t remember another Turkish writer becoming as famous in Armenia as Elif Shafak, especially considering the historically complex and often strained Armenian-Turkish relationship. So, you can imagine my skepticism when I first started reading The Forty Rules of Love.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 7/10, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is a story about expectations and the illusions that ultimately destroy us. It feels surprisingly contemporary, even though it was written in the 19th century.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2/10 This was the first book I picked up in the Practical Magic series. I decided to read it because I’d heard so much about the classic movie with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman and wanted to read the original story.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2/10 Honestly, I don’t even know what made me pick up the second book in this trilogy, since I didn’t enjoy the first one enough to write about it. I barely remembered any details from it. I found the second book a little more engaging, though it still took me over a month to finish.