Wow, WOW, W O W. This book definitely lived up to the hype and punched me right in the heart with its awesomeness. Celeste Ng combines tight and thrilling storytelling with a beautifully lyrical writing style. The way she shifts from character to character and past to present seamlessly is beyond remarkable. I can’t believe this is a debut novel. It’s the kind of story that seems effortless when you’re reading it, but in hindsight you can see just how complicated it must have been […]
Unpretentious poetry I actually liked
It’s an understatement to say that poetry is very much not my thing, but friends kept telling me that I HAD to read Brown Girl Dreaming and now I’m telling everyone here that they HAVE to read it. Well, no one’s going to make you, but you won’t regret it if you do. A book in verse sounds ominously pretentious, but Brown Girl Dreaming ended up being a refreshing and honest coming-of-age tale, simple enough for middle schoolers to understand and complex enough for adults […]
I See Dead People
This review is a few weeks late, but I originally chose this book as an antidote to tax season stress. And it worked! Thank god for books. I’ve read (and enjoyed) a few of Maureen Johnson’s books in the past and this one didn’t disappoint. Rory Deveaux leaves Louisiana for a London boarding school, Wexford Academy, while her parents work in Bristol. In London, she’s greeted with Rippermania. There’s been a murder near the school, closely mimicking Jack the Ripper’s first victim. As the victims […]
We could have had it all
Americanah centers on a love story between Ifemelu, beautiful and outspoken, and Obinze, self-assured and thoughtful. They fall head over heals for each other as teenagers in troubled Nigeria, still under military dictatorship. Constant strikes put strain on the educational system so Ifemelu heads to college in the United States while Obinze stays in Africa. In the States, Ifemelu deals with culture shock, isolation, and depression. Eventually she starts a successful blog where she writes about race from the perspective of a non-American black person. […]
Bee-lieve Me, This Buzzed About Book Is Bee-autiful
I love this book so much that I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk about it without breaking down into the incoherent fangirl I am in my heart of hearts. I’m going to try though because this was one of the most unique books I’ve read in years. One to put on my shelf of favorites, push into the hands of friends (or strangers), and revisit for yearly rereads. But don’t take my word for it, take Margaret Atwood’s, who called it a […]
High Quality Fluff
I needed a fun and fluffy palate cleanser so I decided to pick up these young adult novels by the women behind the Go Fug Yourself blog. They were just what I needed—a few hours of enjoyable escapism. In Spoiled, sixteen-year-old Molly Dix finds out right before her mother dies that she’s the daughter of famous actor Brick Berlin. In an attempt to connect with her movie star dad and spoiled half-sister, Brooke Berlin, she leaves Indiana for Beverly Hills. Things don’t go as smoothly […]