![luce [is reading]](https://wishfullyreading.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/9429655-1.jpeg){kind=small}
-
Caucasia by Danzy Senna
“It’s funny. When you leave your home and wander really far, you always think, ‘I want to go home.’ But then you come home, and of course it’s not the same. You can’t live with it, you can’t live away from it. And it seems like from then on there’s always this yearning for some…
1970s, 1980s, 1st pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, activism, Adult, ALIENATION, ambivalent mood, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, beautiful prose, belonging, bildungsroman, Black & Black heritage authors, Booklr, BOSTON, bullying, California, CHILDHOOD, class, coming of age, Danzy Senna, desire, divorce/separations, elementary school, family, favourite authors, female authors, gay side characters, girlhood, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, i don’t think happiness is for me, identity, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, Massachusetts, middle school, mothers & daughters, new hampshire, otherness, paranoia, passing, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 1998, queer side characters, queer subtext, queer undercurrents, RACE, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, read in 2023, road trip, school setting, SEXUALITY, SISTERS, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, strong sense of place, the body, the female malaise, toxic relationships, YOUNG ADULT -
Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy
Sweet Days of Discipline is a slim dagger of a novel. Written in a prose so sharp it will cut you, Sweet Days of Discipline is a work of startling and enigmatic beauty, a study in contradictions: order and chaos, sublimity and abjection, clarity and obfuscation, illusion and reality. Fleur Jaeggy is in absolute command…
1950s, 1st pov, 20th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, Adult, all girls school, ambiguous protagonist, atmospheric, beauty, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CLASSICS, cold tone, dark academia, Dreams, existentialism, favourite authors, female authors, first love, Fleur Jaeggy, girlhood, HISTORICAL FICTION, Italian classics, Italy, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, melancholy, modern classics, My reviews, nostalgic reads, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, obsession, psychological, published in 1989, queer, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2021, reading, sapphic, SEXUALITY, Sweet Days of Discipline, swiss italian author, Switzerland, terrific prose, unnamed narrator, unreliable narrators, unrequited love -
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
“To understand the world at all, sometimes you could only focus on a tiny bit of it, look very hard at what was close to hand and make it stand in for the whole.” The Goldfinch is an emotional rollercoaster spanning 700+ pages and proof that literary lightning can indeed strike twice. Fully deserving of…
1st pov, 2010s, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, anxiety-inducing reads, ART/CREATIVITY, beautiful prose, big books, bildungsroman, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, boyhood, CHILDHOOD, class, Contemporary, CRIME, DEATH, DEPRESSION, donna tartt, existentialism, fathers & sons, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, friendships, GRIEF, growing up, GUILT, introspective, las vegas, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, MEMORY, morality, mothers & sons, museums, My reviews, Netherlands, nevada, NEW YORK, orphans, paranoia, philosophical, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2013, Pulitzer Prize, pulitzer prize winners, queer undercurrents, re-reads, read in 2017, read in 2021, reading, rich people, strong sense of place, suicide, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the goldfinch, trauma, unrequited love -
Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
“Names have power. This is the fundamental principle of magic everywhere. Call out the name of a supernatural being, and you will have its instant and undivided attention in the same way that your lost toddler will have yours the second it calls your name.” First published in 2000 Monkey Beach is a deeply evocative…
1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 1st pov, 4 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, addiction, affairs, bildungsroman, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, british columbia, canada, canadian author, CHILDHOOD, coming of age, DEATH, Eden Robinson, family, female authors, ghosts/spirits, girlhood, GRIEF, growing up, haisla, haisla author, identity, indigenous, indigenous author, introspective, MAGICAL REALISM, MEMORY, monkey beach, My reviews, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, place as character, published in 2000, rape, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, reading, rural setting, sea, sexual assault/abuse/rape, siblings, social issues, YOUNG ADULT -
The Charioteer by Mary Renault — book review
“He was filled with a vast sense of the momentous, of unknown mysteries. He did not know what he should demand of himself, nor did it seem to matter, for he had not chosen this music he moved to, it had chosen him.” This is the fifth time I’ve read The Charioteer and once again I’ve been…
1930S, 1940s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, coming of age, england, existentialism, family, favourite authors, female authors, first love, friendships, gay, greek myths, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, identity, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, love triangle, m/m, male friendships, Mary Renault, masculinity, modern classics, morality, mothers & sons, My reviews, philosophical, psychological, published in 1953, queer, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2017, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2021, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, The Charioteer, unrequited love, WWII -
Maurice by E.M. Forster — book review
“No tradition overawed the boys. No convention settled what was poetic, what absurd. They were concerned with a passion that few English minds have admitted, and so created untrammelled. Something of exquisite beauty arose in the mind of each at last, something unforgettable and eternal, but built of the humblest scraps of speech and from…
1900s, 1910s, 20th century, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, academia, bad love, bildungsroman, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, British author, british classics, Cambridge, campus, class, CLASSICS, coming of age, E.M. Forster, Edwardian era, england, first love, Forster, Greece, greek myths, HISTORICAL FICTION, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LONDON, Longing, m/m, male authors, masculinity, Maurice, morality, philosophical, published in 1971, queer, read in 2020, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, Southampton, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love -
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri — book review
“In so many ways, his family’s life feels like a string of accidents, unforeseen, unintended, one incident begetting another.” In the past few years I’ve read and fallen in love with Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories as well as her book on her relationship with the Italian language In Other Words. Although The Namesake…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 4.25 stars, Adult, America, asian diaspora, atmospheric, belonging, bildungsroman, BOSTON, cambridge (us), cheating, cold tone, cultural dissonance, divorce/separations, family, FAMILY SAGA, fathers & sons, favourite authors, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, India, indian american author, intergenerational, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kolkata, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, MARRIAGE, Massachusetts, migration/immigration, modern classics, mothers & sons, NEW YORK, published in 2003, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2022, restrained prose, The Namesake, trains -
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë — book review
“Who blames me? Many, no doubt; and I shall be called discontented. I could not help it: the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes.” Jane Eyre is not only considered a classic (if not the classic) in feminist literature, but an exemplary piece of Romantic Gothic literature. Personally, I view…
1830s, 1840s, 1st pov, 3.75 stars, age gap, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CHARLOTTE BRONTË, CHILDHOOD, class, CLASSICS, england, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, GOTHIC, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, introspective, jane eyre, madness, manor/big house, Mr. Rochester, orphans, psychological, published in 1847, READ IN 2019, Religion, sitter/au pair/governess, St. John Eyre Rivers, Thornfield, VICTORIAN, victorian madness -
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett — book review
“I was still at a point in my life when the house was the hero of every story, our lost and beloved country.” Not Quite a Review, More of an Ode to Ann Patchett: Usually I tend to post my reviews a couple of days after I’ve finished reading a book. With The Dutch House…
1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1st pov, 20th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANN PATCHETT, ART/CREATIVITY, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, CHILDHOOD, class, coming of age, divorce/separations, evil stepmother, family, fatherhood, fathers & sons, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, GRIEF, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, House As Character, identity, illness, introspective, LITERARY FICTION, manor/big house, MARRIAGE, mothers & sons, NEW YORK, nostalgic reads, orphans, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, place as character, published in 2019, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2021, restrained prose, siblings, strong sense of place, The Dutch House -
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
There is something incredibly endearing about this novel. From the very first line, Dickens draws us in, making us Pip’s confidantes, so that we eagerly follow him on his journey. The first section of this novel, revolves around Pip’s childhood, and Dickens manages to reflect the young age of his protagonist onto the narrative itself:…
1850s, 19TH CENTURY, 1st pov, 4 STARS, bildungsroman, British author, british classics, CHARLES DICKENS, CHILDHOOD, class, CLASSICS, coming of age, drama, england, friendships, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, illness, LONDON, male authors, read in 2017, ROMANCE, sensation fiction, unrequited love, VICTORIAN, victorian madness
luce [is reading] 