For the fans of the author’s “A Little Life” (I sure was one of them 🙋🏻♀️) the waiting finally had an end on the 11th of January 2022, when a new long awaited book of hers was released – “To Paradise”. I instantly started reading it once I picked up a copy at my local…
Tag: american authors
“My Body” – Emily Ratajkowski
This book has taken me by surprise. I somehow ended up pre-ordering it without planning to, simply because I was curious about Emily’s writing after having read her article “Buying Myself Back” (Ratajkowski, 2020) on The Cut website. And luckily, I wasn’t disappointed! 239 pages long, comprised of 12 essays, this was quite a short…
“Das Licht” – T. C. Boyle
Es scheint so, als ob mir dieses Buch über den Weg gelaufen ist, um mir eine Lektion zu erteilen… Dass ich endlich aufhören sollte, in Airbnbs hinterlassene Bücher zu lesen, mit der Hoffnung dadurch über einen verborgenen 5/5 ★ Schatz zu stolpern. Es ist das zweite Buch, das ich von T. C. Boyle gelesen habe…
“The One Thing Worth Doing” – John Pope
Having come across John Pope’s novel thanks to the Paris Anglophone Book Club, it was an extremely interesting insight into the finished product of a self-published book. Even though there were little bits & pieces of the narrative that were a bit less appealing to me, in general it was a pleasant read. There was…
“Greenlights” – Matthew McConaughey
Reading Matthew McConaughey’s memoir is comparable with the experience of sitting down with a good friend and simply having a chat about life. Having a laugh with each other, shedding some tears and sharing some little life lessons. It’s especially ideal as an end of start of the year read, as it manages to round…
“The Queen’s Gambit” – Walter Tevis
Having decided to read this book before watching the Netflix series, I was more than positively surprised by it! I would even say that it ended up being one of the favourite discoveries of the year for me. My biggest hesitation (as I can imagine it being for a lot of other readers), was the…
“Know My Name” – Chanel Miller
Going into this book I wasn’t expecting too much besides that the personal story that the author would tell to be really impactful. A story that got a lot of media attention in the US about how a young girl got assaulted by a Stanford student on campus grounds. What I wasn’t prepared for, was…
“Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” – Lori Gottlieb
This book was everything I was hoping for and so much more! Just as its subtitle says – “A therapist, her therapist, and our lives revealed”, this book will give you an insight into the world of therapy while most importantly diving into the topic of therapists having their own therapists too. It’s extremely satisfying…
“Future Crimes” – Marc Goodman
Did you know that the technology to simply control gadgets (like your Google Glass) with your thoughts already exists? Did you hear about the 2013 story of electronic teakettles and irons manufactured in China that spread a virus to all your electronic devices through WiFi? 😀 Or that we’ll be able to literally “bring back…
“Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed” – Meghan Daum
This book was an incredibly impactful one for me and that’s surely because its topic is of immense interest at this certain time in my life. I’ve never liked kids and have never felt any longing to give birth to some of my own ones. There was a moment in my life when I felt…
“The Fire Next Time” – James Baldwin
Diving into my first James Baldwin book, I was simply blown away by how elegant and impactful his writing was. I was glad to have an introduction to his works with “The Fire Next Time” since it’s such a personal account, allowing you to get to know the author better. The way he tackles the…
“Small Fry” – Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Picking up this memoir that I bought almost a year ago during an event with the author at the Shakespeare & Co shop in Paris, I’ve got to say that I was a bit disappointed… I have picked up the book on 8 different days to get through it, which was proof that it simply…
“Kindred” – Octavia E. Butler
Going into a novel identified within the sci-fi genre written in the 1970s, I didn’t have any expectations since it’s not my typical kind of read. The last sci-fi I had to struggle my way through was Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and I still feel traumatised by it to this…
“Everything I Never Told You” – Celeste Ng
Celeste Ng’s novel “Little Fires Everywhere” was the book I rated the highest during the month of June 2020, so that’s why I was curious to tackle her debut novel. With “Everything I Never Told You”, I wasn’t disappointed either and settled on a 4/5 ★ rating, just like for the other book. The first…
“Where the Crawdads Sing” – Delia Owens
4 reasons why “Where the Crawdads Sing” isn’t as amazing as the huge hype around it is suggesting. 1. First things first, why the 2/5 ★ rating? I didn’t necessarily hate the book but all in all, I didn’t particularly enjoy it either. It took me two full weeks to finish it & even though…
“The Honeymoon Effect” – Bruce Lipton
This book is a prime example of the category of books “I would never have bought myself”. It has presented itself as a lesson of the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, throwing in an additional one on “Don’t judge a book by its title”. It looks cheesy, it sounds cheesy, which it…
“Little Fires Everywhere” – Celeste Ng
Diving into my first Celeste Ng book, I luckily wasn’t disappointed! I devoured up “Little Fires Everywhere” in just about a day & a half & I now completely understand why Reese Witherspoon jumped on the opportunity of getting the rights to film a series based on this book. It’s all you could wish for…
“Trick Mirror” – Jia Tolentino
My first reaction upon finishing the book was – what the hell did I just read??!! The 9 chapters that make up the book felt so much all over the place that it felt like I’ve read 9 short different books. The topics ranged from the author’s personal stories about her disinterest towards marriage, her…
“Three Women” – Lisa Taddeo
After reading “Normal People“, I decided to move on to the next hyped book I constantly kept hearing about – “Three Women”. Unfortunately, in this case, it didn’t turn out that well… The lesson I have learned here is to mind the upvoted ratings about the book on goodreads. Even though this book doesn’t have…
“Unorthodox” – Deborah Feldman
Having been too impatient & having watched the Netflix series of “Unorthodox” first, I was definitely in for a positive surprise with this book. After overcoming the annoying fact that I wouldn’t be able to get a copy with a different cover than the one with the actress Shira Haas on it, I finally gave…
“Educated” – Tara Westover
“The past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, & thus we don’t have to complete emotions about the present, only about the past.” – Virginia Woolf That’s the quote the book starts with & it’s definitely my favourite one out of the entire reading experience. I came…
“How To Do Nothing” – Jenny Odell
Ever since reading “Talking to Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell, I have learned to not expect anything from a book by its title. This has proven to be helpful in the case of “How To Do Nothing” since the content of the book is not based on the literal meaning of the title. It’s catchy, it…
“Vox” – Christina Dalcher
This novel can unfortunately be shoved off to an imaginary list of disappointing bestsellers which apparently appeal to the masses. If you don’t want to fall into that trap, I’d suggest you to skip this book & rather read Margaret Atwood’s “Handmaid’s Tale”, if you’re looking for a dystopian feminist story. I accidentally bought the…
“American Dirt” – Jeanine Cummins
This book was selected for a book club I’ll be attending & I now completely understand all the polarising opinions about it. Even to simply support the critical voices, I would’ve liked to give it 1/5 stars, but it did have 2 positive points to it, so I decided to settle on the total of…
“What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About” – Michele Filgate
This is the perfect example of a book to prove why I love reading so much over watching series or movies. Just like one of the authors mentions, “As a child I dipped into books, and everything around me, including my body, faded away. It was a very conscious act. I am very lucky that early…
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” – Philip K. Dick
This book probably wasn’t as bad as some other 1/5 star rated ones that I have read, I still found zero enjoyment in it, so I couldn’t rate it any higher (another reasoning for the grade was that it surely didn’t measure up to Olga Tokarczuk’s “Flights”, which I read a couple of weeks ago,…
“Talking as Fast as I Can” – Lauren Graham
If you have picked this book up because you are or used to be a fan of the Gilmore Girls, I’ve got 2 suggestions for you: Just toss it right now. Unless you’re a notorious “book-finisher” like I am, who gets through any & every book that they start, at all costs, simply in order…
“Stoner” – John Williams
This book left a really strong impression on me, even though it is once again one of those that I wouldn’t have picked up myself. I stayed awake until 2am finishing the last 100 pages & that’s a sure sign of a well written book for me. One of the most striking things to me…
“The Catcher in the Rye” – J. D. Salinger
There was something very Woody Allen-like about the book. So if you enjoy his movies & the way the dialogues flow, you’ll surely like this story. It simply reads like the screenplay of the movie “Wonder Wheel”. Nevertheless, the main character is hardly able to build up relateability & there’s not much happening throughout the…
“M Train” – Patti Smith
Finishing up “M Train”, I still feel enveloped in a trance & dream-like state. The reading experience has been like taking a seat on Patti Smith’s train of thought, a comfortable window seat, watching passing by landscapes, cities, people. Like gently floating on waves from one image to the next, I felt transported to a…
“Havana” – Mark Kurlansky
I absolutely adored this book & couldn’t have wished to stumble upon a better intro to Cuba before my upcoming trip! The biggest tip I could give, is to read it with Cuban music in the background & you’ll feel directly immersed into the story & the country. What others criticised, I actually enjoyed a…
“Slaughterhouse-Five” – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Having read this book during a beach vacation, “Slaughterhouse Five” has been a perfectly short, yet impactful read. The writing style is one of a kind, which leaves you perplexed in the beginning & wondering what kind of a book you have stumbled across & whether it’s worth getting through it or not… As the…
“To Kill a Mockingbird” – Harper Lee
As much as I’ve always heard about “To Kill a Mockingbird” as an absolute must-read, I haven’t been convinced into loving it. Writing the review 2 months after finishing the book, I can’t go into as many details anymore, but I do know that I’ve waited a while, hoping that I might find some better…
“The Giver” – Lois Lowry
I have stumbled across this book through a list of “highly rated books” here on goodreads, but I’ve got to say, that its target audience is & stays young adults (if not even kids & young teenagers). The story has an interesting idea, though it lacks in execution. It reminds a bit of “Brave New…
“Speed Reading with the Right Brain” – David Butler
I’d give the book 3 out of 5 stars for its idea, whereas purely based on the content of it, it would barely measure up to 1-2 stars. What the author does manage, is to give you a proper understanding of what “speed reading” is supposed to be about, with a focus on comprehension rather…
“In Cold Blood” – Truman Capote
Having had this book suggested by a friend, I had high expectations for it, which unfortunately haven’t been met. My biggest issue with the book was the fact that it only picked up pace & became more or less captivating 150-170 pages into the story. Compared with the total length of the book, being about…
“Who Moved My Cheese?” – Spencer Johnson
You can’t even call this a book, a simple story bound in a soft cover.It’s short, it’s foolproof, it’s understandable to each & everybody. Is there any literary effort given to it? Wouldn’t say so.Yes, it’s a brief & fun story to read through in probably less than 2 hours.Might it help you to perceive…
“The Help” – Kathryn Stockett
“The Help” is an incredibly touching, deep kind of story, for which I found that it’s even more of a pity that it ended up being one of those books that you’d need to read in as close to 1 sitting as possible. The way it is written is bustling with character, each chapter written…
“S” – J. J. Abrams
Even a couple of weeks after having finished this book, I’m still at a loss for words to describe it… And not in a positive sense…I wish I could give it a higher rating, but it’s absolutely impossible, after having struggled through this “thing” for almost 2 months, dragging its weight along everywhere that I…
“A Little Life” – Hanya Yanagihara
This is one of the best books I’ve read in the last couple of years & it has definitely made it onto my favourites list!!! Yanagihara’s style seems to be absolutely effortless, the story flowing so easily from chapter to chapter that you don’t even notice yourself flipping over the pages. To sum it up,…
“House of Leaves” – Mark Z. Danielewski
Even weeks after I’ve finished this book, I haven’t gotten around to the review, since I couldn’t really manage to phrase what I thought about it. What I can definitely confirm now – after getting the book suggested, I was warned that it would be “an experience” rather than a simple read & I can…
“Wonder” – R. J. Palacio
There are few words that can describe the impression “Wonder” leaves after reading it & I think you would see best by making your own opinion of it. It’s sweet, enchanting, heart warming, extremely emotionally touching (leaving you laughing out loud or even getting teary-eyed at times) & besides all that, so so well written….
“Read Bottom Up” – Neel Shah, Skye Chatham
A super quick read (just about 1 & a half hours) which I have become suspicious about while skimming through a couple of reviews here on goodreads before starting the book. It just seemed to have potential to be in the style of one of those cheesy rom-coms – a typical & predictable boy-meets-girl story….
“Confessions of a Sociopath” – M. E. Thomas
I would have given the book a 4 out of 5 rating, but unfortunately it is too noticeable that the author absolutely isn’t a professional writer. I just started with “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer & the difference couldn’t have been bigger, the 2 books seem like 2 absolutely different worlds judging by the…
“Influence” – Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen
As far as the format of this book goes – it’s much better than what I’ve expected it to be. What I’ve thought would just be a narrative about the lives of the Olsen twins, led on by their portraits embellishing the cover, turned out to be something completely different. A gorgeous book full of…
“Sharp Objects” – Gillian Flynn
After reading Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” I couldn’t wait to get my hands on another book of hers. Unfortunately the expectations couldn’t measure up to “Sharp Objects”. Though you did finally feel a bit entertained and enveloped in the events of the book upon arriving somewhere towards the middle of the story, there were too…
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