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海のふた [Umi no futa] by Banana Yoshimoto
海のふた (The Sea’s Lid?) is very much a typical Banana Yoshimoto novel. We have the quintessentially Yoshimoto-esque narrator (usually a quiet young woman who is grieving someone or longing for something), a slice-of-life storyline and a small-town setting. This novel takes place during the summer months and Mari has just moved back to her hometown…
1st pov, 2000s, 3.5 STARS, Adult, Banana Yoshimoto, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, coming of age, Contemporary, favourite authors, female authors, female friendships, friendships, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, loneliness, melancholy, My reviews, navel gazing, published in 2004, re-reads, READ IN 2019, reading, sea, SLICE OF LIFE, SMALL TOWN, The Sea’s Lid, TRANSLATED FICTION, Umi No Futa, 海のふた -
Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare, Vol. 1 by Yuhki Kamatani
Ever since reading Nabari No Ou back in the early 2010s I have been a huge fan of Yuhki Kamatani. To call Nabari No Ou my favourite series ever doesn’t convey just how much it means to me. Our Dreams at Dusk boasts Kamatani’s beautiful artwork and storytelling. Once again Kamatani provides some wonderful platonic…
4 STARS, bullying, coming of age, f/f side, favourite authors, first love, found family, friendships, gay, gender identity, HIGH SCHOOL, identity, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, MAGICAL REALISM, manga, mental health, My reviews, Our Dreams at Dusk, queer, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2021, reading, SEXUALITY, Shimanami Tasogare, SLICE OF LIFE, trans side characters -
Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto
There is something idiosyncratic about Yoshimoto’s novels. Every time I read something of hers I feel almost comforted by how familiar it all is. Her narrators sound very much like the same person: they are young women prone to navel-gazing yet attuned to their environment (especially nature or their hometown). Moshi Moshi follows Yoshie after…
1st pov, 2000s, 2010s, 3 STARS, affairs, age gap, Banana Yoshimoto, Dreams, existentialism, family, fathers & daughters, favourite authors, female authors, food & cooking, GRIEF, incest-y, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, Moshi Moshi, mothers & daughters, mumblecore, navel gazing, problematic romance, published in 2010, READ IN 2019, ROMANCE, SLICE OF LIFE, suicide, tokyo, TRANSLATED FICTION, work culture -
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
Her Royal Highness is the book equivalent of cotton candy: fluffy and sweet. This was an exceedingly cute, occasionally silly, and thoroughly enjoyable f/f romance. Her Royal Highness is escapist fiction at its finest. Her Royal Highness is an easy read that delivers a sweet romance between two very different girls: we have Millie, an…
1st pov, 3.5 STARS, academia, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, ENEMIES TO LOVERS, f/f, female authors, FLUFFY READ, Her Royal Highness, HUMOR, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, light reads, published in 2019, queer, Rachel Hawkins, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2021, ROMANCE, royals, sapphic, scotland, texas, uplifting reads, YOUNG ADULT -
The Sundial by Shirley Jackson — book review
“I mean, why should I figure I’m so special, the world is going to end while I’m around?” In The Sundial, perhaps Shirley Jackson’s most comical novel, twelve rather disagreeable individuals are cooped together in a mansion waiting for the end of the world. “The house would be guarded during the night of destruction and…
1950s, 20th century, 4 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, american classics, apocalyptic, CLASSICS, creepy setting, dark humor, family, favourite authors, female authors, House As Character, Kafkaesque, madness, manor/big house, modern classics, modern gothic, paranoia, psychological, published in 1958, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2020, SHIRLEY JACKSON, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, surreal, SUSPENSE, The Sundial -
Night Music by Jenn Marie Thorne — book review
A delightful and thoughtful summer romance meets the classical music world in Jenn Marie Thorne’s criminally underrated Night Music. Ruby, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the renowned composer Martin Chertok, has always felt the pressure of her name. However, unlike her older siblings, who have all embarked on successful musical careers, Ruby messes up her audition…
4.25 stars, academia, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, class, coming of age, Contemporary, family, fathers & daughters, female authors, identity, Jenn Marie Thorne, music, musicians, Night Music, published in 2019, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2020, ROMANCE, social issues, Summer, summer reads, uplifting reads, YOUNG ADULT -
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 -
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones — book review
“I’m dying of boredom,” Howl said pathetically. “Or maybe just dying.” Like many, I fell in love with Studio Ghibli’s adaptation of this novel. I consider it a personal favourite and have watched it many times. So once I learnt that it was ‘loosely’ based on a book, I was eager to get my hands…
3.5 STARS, adventure, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, British author, british classics, CHILDHOOD, CLASSICS, curses, Diana Wynne Jones, FAIRY TALES, FANTASY, Howl’s Moving Castle, HUMOR, MAGIC, MAGICAL DOORS, modern classics, playful style, portal fantasy, published in 1986, READ IN 2019, ROMANCE, studio ghibli, Wales, WARLOCKS/WIZARDS, witchcraft, WITCHES -
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor — book review
Strange the Dreamer is a wonderfully imaginative novel. Meditations and discussions on storytelling, dreams, and myths are not only embedded in the narrative but shape the very way in which the two main characters view their world and themselves. “Lazlo owned nothing, not one single thing, but from the first, the stories felt like his…
3.75 stars, 3rd pov, adventure, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, dreamers, Dreams, FAIRY TALES, fairytalesque prose, FANTASY, ghosts/spirits, gods, high fantasy, insta love, Laini Taylor, MAGIC, myths, PUBLISHED IN 2017, purply prose, READ IN 2019, ROMANCE, Strange the Dreamer, YOUNG ADULT -
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier — book review
Rebecca is a work of Gothic suspense that is told in a mesmerising prose and makes for an enthralling and evocative read. “Colour and scent and sound, rain and the lapping of water, even the mists of autumn and the smell of the flood tide, these are memories of Manderley that will not be denied.”…
1930S, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, Adult, age gap, beautiful prose, bluebeard, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier, domestic thriller, england, female authors, first love, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, House As Character, introspective, jane eyre, madness, manor/big house, MARRIAGE, Monte Carlo, MURDER, MYSTERY, psychological, published in 1938, READ IN 2019, Rebecca, ROMANCE, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, unnamed narrator
luce [is reading] 