book reviews
Reviews of books by relationship gurus, dating experts, and cautionary tale-tellers.
The Muse, The Last Stop and The Slow Road to Deadhorse - books worth reading
As a book reviewer and avid reader, I am fortunate enough to be given access to books for free as long as I write a frank and honest assessment of the book in return. This is no hardship as I have written book reviews for a long time, after having discovered that I was losing track of what I was reading and was, occasionally, picking up the same book to read again without realising that I had discovered and enjoyed it already until some pages in. This log has morphed into something that means my words are published far and wide with the added bonus of reading material to which I would not be exposed as well as indulging in a passion whilst spending no money to do it.
By Rachel Deeming4 years ago in Humans
Book Review: "Rhyming Life and Death" by Amos Oz
Now, if you do not already know, I have been reading Amos Oz books for a while and I just want to start by saying how amazing they all are. Amos Oz's writing style has always been a great mixture between the mundane and descriptive, blended with the extreme emotions that we encounter in our everyday lives. I love it when Amos Oz chooses to write about topics that are more naturalistic, such as the writing he did in Scenes from Village Life - which is probably my favourite book by him. In his book Rhyming Life and Death Amos Oz attempts a little bit of poetry as well as his prose, and gives us something brilliant. He gives us one night in Tel Aviv, in the 1980s.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Humans
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen Book Review
I recently finished Jonathan Franzen's sixth novel, Crossroads, and I'm pleased to report that it's a brilliant plot with plenty of heart and ideas. I'm also impressed by Franzen's careful interweaving of story and theme. The author's professional distinction is in the meticulous interweaving of story and theme, and his prose can be a real turn-off to some readers. Nonetheless, if you're a fan of Franzen's work, you're likely to enjoy it more than hate it.
By Henry L. Mosley4 years ago in Humans
Why You Should Start A Blog
It has been a few months since writing anything for my blog. But everyday that I haven't written anything, I've been thinking about it. Thinking about ideas and schedules, all the fun little details (or at least I find them fun). And I've been meaning to get back to writing, I mean I have about seven different articles started in my drafts, all at varying lengths of started-ness, but it wasn't until today that I've purposefully sat down and started to write something, and that is all thanks to a book I read for my book club.
By The Austen Shelf4 years ago in Humans
Book Review: "Love, etc" by Julian Barnes
If I've said it once, I've said it tons of times, Julian Barnes is one of my favourite authors of all time. When I was younger, I read his book Arthur and George and during my teens, I was absolutely hooked on his works. His book The Man in the Red Coat became my favourite book by him and since, I have read tons and tons of stories, books, articles and whatever I can lay my hands on really when it comes to Julian Barnes. Definitely one of the greatest writers of the 20th and 21st centuries, I have always been sure that Barnes will be remembered as a 'classic author' about 100-200 years from now because he deserves it. It's some serious talent he's got and his characters are always really developed, interesting and yet, they are troubled with dissatisfaction.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Humans
Diary of an Oxygen Thief: Inside the Mind of a Narcissist
Facebook introduced me to Diary of an Oxygen Thief While scrolling through Facebook, there was this photo of a page from a book, it said: “I liked hurting girls. Mentally, not physically, I never hit a girl in my life. Well, once. But that was a mistake. I’ll tell you about it later. The thing is, I got off on it. I really enjoyed it. It’s like when you hear serial killers say they feel no regret, no remorse for all the people they killed. I was like that. Loved it. I didn’t care how long it took either, because I was in no hurry. I’d wait until they were totally in love with me. Till the big saucer eyes were looking at me. I loved the shock on their faces. Then the glaze as they tried to hide how much I was hurting them. And it was legal. I think I killed a few of them. Their souls, I mean. It was their souls I was after.” Immediately after reading that, I said to myself that I needed to purchase this book. I was amazed by the brutal honesty of the narrator. Not only that, but I wanted to read a book in which for the first time the protagonist is not always a good person, I wanted to read about someone who would tell their story but not be a good person. Typically, the protagonist is a good person, but in this book, the narrator is a narcissist by breaking the hearts of women because he does not want to experience being heart broken.
By Diani Alvarenga4 years ago in Humans
“The Alchemist “ by Paulo Coelho
*The book I read was an English version of O Alquimisa, the Portuguese original edition, published in Brazil. For me, books have been often the window of knowledge, the catalyst, and the answer to many questions that no one can provide. They often come in as gifts from friends or members of family. Other times they get my attention, and invoke an urge to obtain them at the perfect timing to give me a hint or guidance on how I handle challenges and obstacles at that time.
By Ayumi Hino Gerads4 years ago in Humans
