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Paris Is a Party, Paris Is a Ghost by David Hoon Kim
While I can recognise that Paris Is a Party, Paris Is a Ghost is far from a terrible novel, I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about it. Personally, I don’t think the world needed yet another novel about a modern-day (wannabe) flâneur (who happens to be, you guessed it, an intellectual…
2.5 STARS, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, cultural dissonance, David Hoon Kim, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), ennui, existentialism, FRANCE, identity, introspective, Italy, korean american author, language, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, male authors, metaphysical, My reviews, navel gazing, Paris Is a Party Paris is a Ghost, philosophical, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, Rome, style over character, stylised prose, suicide -
Aftershocks: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Identity by Nadia Owusu
“To heal, I would need to look inward as well as outward. I would need to examine my memories. I would need to interrogate the stories I told myself—about myself, about my family, about the world.” Unflinching and elegant Aftershocks is an impressive, engrossing, and deeply moving memoir by a promising author. In her memoir,…
1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, ALIENATION, America, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CHILDHOOD, cultural dissonance, dislocation, england, Ethiopia, family, fathers & daughters, female authors, Ghana, Ghanian Armenian American author, GRIEF, growing up, history, identity, illness, introspective, Italy, madness, MEMOIR, MEMORY, mental health, mothers & daughters, Nadia Owusu, NEW YORK, Nonfiction, published in 2021, RACE, read in 2021, Rome, sexual assault/abuse/rape, Tanzania, terrific prose, trauma, travel, Uganda -
How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi — book review
DISCLAIMER: having just come across a 5-star review that says negative reviews should not remark on how this book doesn’t really explore Amir’s faith and/or heritage I felt the need to better articulate my thoughts about this book:1) I’m not saying this book doesn’t have great Muslim rep because I found it unbelievable that a…
2 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANGST, arc, Arvin Ahmadi, coming of age, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), drama, family, gay, horrible friends, How It All Blew, Islam, Italy, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, netgalley, published in 2020, read in 2020, Religion, Rome, travel, weak prose, YOUNG ADULT -
The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu — book review
“Romance was a lot of work.” The Red Scrolls of Magic is a fun throwback to Cassandra Clare’s TMI in which Magnus and Alec finally get the stage for themselves. After the Mortal War the couple takes a well-earned romantic getaway in Europe. Once in Paris however an ‘old friend’ of Magnus breaks some bad…
3rd pov, 4.25 stars, adventure, AMERICAN AUTHOR, balls, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Cassandra Clare, co-authored, curses, DEMONS, FANTASY, female authors, FRANCE, gay, Italy, lgbtq+, light reads, m/m, MAGIC, male authors, PARANORMAL, Paris, queer, read in 2020, Rome, shadowhunters, Taiwanese American Author, The Eldest Curses, The Eldest Curses #1, The Red Scrolls of Magic, uplifting reads, URBAN FANTASY, Venice, WARLOCKS/WIZARDS, Wesley Chu, YOUNG ADULT -
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James — book review
“A large fortune means freedom, and I’m afraid of that. It’s such a fine thing, and one should make such a good use of it. If one shouldn’t one would be ashamed. And one must keep thinking; it’s a constant effort. I’m not sure it’s not a greater happiness to be powerless.” The Portrait of…
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A Room with a View by E.M. Forster — book review
A Room with a View evokes a gentle Edwardian idyll: we follow the story’s characters through their paced long walks, their wanderings through Italy (in Florence there is the lovely view of the River Arno, Basilica of Santa Croce, Piazza della Signoria, and later on in Fiesole’s high fields Lucy, our main character, will undergo…
1900s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 4 STARS, A Room with a View, aristocracy, ART/CREATIVITY, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, british classics, class, CLASSICS, drama, E.M. Forster, Edwardian era, england, Florence, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, Italy, LGBTQ+ Author, male authors, MARRIAGE, READ IN 2019, ROMANCE, Rome, satire, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, summer reads, travel
luce [is reading] 