eugenics – Cannonball Read 17

A Journey to the Center of Life

Gen: Perjalanan Menuju Pusat Kehidupan by Siddharta Mukherjee; Damaring Tyas W Palar

July 17, 2025 by LittlePlat Leave a Comment

Another (daft) reading challenge! A few years back I took the best part of 8 months to read through an Indonesian translation of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (Kanker Biografi Suatu Penyakit.) I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue with the rest of the translations of Mukherjee’s books. But Google Play was nothing but persistent. So there we have it; it was a little less laborious this time, but I have managed to make my way though the translation […]

Something’s a Bit Fishy

Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

December 30, 2023 by LittlePlat Leave a Comment

This was one of the books that was kindly sent to me by andtheIToldYouSos for Book Exchange last year, and I am rather sorry that I have waited until the last minute to review it—it has been a busy year. Lulu Miller’s Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life is a biography of a rather complex character I had not come across before, and why she sometimes connected with him. I perhaps should have heard of him […]

“Here it is possible to be instantly and completely happy.”

A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson

July 22, 2022 by GentleRain Leave a Comment

CBR14Bingo: Bird — in the sense that the main character is in flight first from the Russian Revolution and then is in a more metaphorical flight through her feelings This was such a wonderful book, I absolutely loved it! I had read Eva Ibbotson’s children’s books when I was younger, in particular The Secret of Platform 13, but I missed that she also did young adult historical romances, which was a huge oversight on my part. Based off how much I loved this book, I […]

An excellent book but not my cup of tea

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

May 31, 2021 by Mobius_Walker Leave a Comment

I read Gods of Jade and Shadow and thought it was enjoyable, so I was excited to read Mexican Gothic. I’m not sure my expectations were met. Noemi is a socialite in the upper-class of 1950s Mexico City. She goes to parties, she flirts, she wears beautiful gowns because she actually enjoys them, and she wants to go university against her family’s wishes. Noemi’s life gets upended when her father asks her to go check on her cousin Catalina who has written a strange and disturbing […]

Things are looking up.

August 25, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads Leave a Comment

OK, I’m not really sure where to start with this. Eutopia by David Nickel* is genuinely one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read (in a good way). Thematically it’s about eugenics and creating a super race, but writing that out doesn’t at all capture the story in which those themes are explored. Because this story is just freaking crazy. In 1911, Jason Thistledown’s life is turned upside down when his hometown of Cracked Wheel, Montana is decimated by a nameless plague. Because it’s winter, he has to keep […]

In America the quirk was that people were things.

February 19, 2017 by borisanne Leave a Comment

Social justice warrior alert: this was a really tough one, and also should be mandatory reading. I grew up in Canada, and stories about the American Civil War and the Underground Railroad have always been fairly romantic to me: good and caring citizens resisted the status quo and helped shuttle slaves from town to town until they were safely out of harm’s way in the North, often fabulous Canada where we were the cooler (haha) neighbor, and where former slaves could habeas their own damn […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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