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Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
That was what Lethe and the societies demanded. Secrecy. Loyalty. Well, fuck them. In Hell Bent, the long-awaited sequel to the high-octane Ninth House, we are reunited with the danger-prone and dangerous Alex Stern. Still recovering from her several near-death experiences, and attempting to keep up with her coursework and maintain the facade of being…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, academia, Adult, adventure, alex stern, alex stern #2, ambiguous protagonist, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, autumn, California, campus, Contemporary, curses, dark academia, dark fantasy, DEATH, DEMONS, FANTASY, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, ghosts/spirits, gritty aesthetics, hell, Hell Bent, HORROR, it’s about the *aesthetics*, it’s about the *yearning*, Leigh Bardugo, lgbtq+ side, MAGIC, morality, MURDER, MYSTERY, NEW ADULT, New Haven, Ninth House, occult, PARANORMAL, place as character, PRIVILEGE, published in 2023, quests, read in 2023, rich people, secret societies, secretiveness, she is dangerous, strong sense of place, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, URBAN FANTASY, VAMPIRES, violence, Yale -
A Carnivore’s Inquiry by Sabina Murray
βThis is what exploration had opened up the door to. Not only widespread slaughter, but the necessary accompaniment of gorging.β Unapologetically solipsistic and deeply manipulative, Katherine, the central character of A Carnivore’s Inquiry, makes for an awful human being and a deeply entertaining narrator. A predecessor to Ottessa Moshfegh and Mona Awadβs protagonists, and many…
1st pov, 2000s, 4 STARS, A Carnivore's Inquiry, A Carnivore's Inquiry by Sabina Murray, Adult, affairs, age gap, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, ART/CREATIVITY, books about writers, cannibalism, cheating, class, cold tone, colonialism, Contemporary, dark, dark humor, desire, ennui, female authors, feverish, filipino american author, GOTHIC, history, HORROR, introspective, Italy, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, madness, maine, Mexico, modern gothic, MURDER, MYSTERY, navel gazing, NEW YORK, no plot just vibes, otherness, PRIVILEGE, psychological, Psychological thriller, psychopaths, published in 2004, read in 2023, rich people, road trip, Sabina Murray, satire, self-destructive, serial killers, she is dangerous, she is not feeling good at all, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the female malaise, travel, unreliable narrators, violence, womanhood/femininity -
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
βI think a lot of people would elect to be dead if they didnt have to die.β By turns, blunt and meandering The Passenger presents its readers with an unsparing tale permeated by existential angst. Cormac McCarthyβs prose is uncompromising: much of the narrative consists of dialogues: rambling conversations, mystifying backwards and forwards, sharp repartees,…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 3rd pov, 4 STARS, addiction, ageing, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, atmospheric, bad love, bars & restaurants, Cormac McCarthy, dead girls, DEATH, desire, dialogue heavy, endless monologues, existentialism, experimental, feverish, FLORIDA, GRIEF, grit lit, GUILT, hallucinations, hauntings, history, i donβt think happiness is for me, Ibiza, Idaho, incest, introspective, ISLAND, Kafkaesque, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, Longing, Louisiana, madness, MEMORY, mental health, Mississippi, morality, MYSTERY, nature, New Orleans, no plot just vibes, no quotations marks, obsession, paranoia, philosophical, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, psychology, published in 2022, read in 2022, road trip, schizophrenia, science, scientists & co, sea, siblings, Southern America, spain, suicide, survival, terrific prose, The Passenger, tragedy, trans side characters, war, western -
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
βHorrorβs not a symptom, itβs a love affair.β My Heart Is a Chainsaw is a magnificently chaotic ode to slasher, one that demonstrates an unparalleled knowledge of the genre, its logic & tropes. I saw quite a lot of reviews describing this as a slow burner, and sΓ¬, in some ways Stephen Graham Jones withholds…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, addiction, adrenaline fuelled reads, Adult, ALIENATION, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, Blackfoot, blackfoot author, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, creepy setting, dark, dark humor, female friendships, films, friendships, gore, graphic content, HIGH SCHOOL, Idaho, incest, indigenous, indigenous author, loneliness, male authors, meta, MURDER, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, MYSTERY, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, obsession, playful style, Poverty, psychological, published in 2021, queer undercurrents, read in 2022, reading, revenge, sexual assault/abuse/rape, she is dangerous, slasher, Stephen Graham Jones, strong sense of place, SUPERNATURAL, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the female malaise, THRILLER, trauma, violence -
Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang
βLanguages arenβt just made of words. Theyβre modes of looking at the world. Theyβre the keys to civilization. And thatβs knowledge worth killing for.β Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution is an fierce indictment against colonialism. Within this superbly written slow-burner of a bildungsroman, R.F. Kuang presents her…
1820s, 1830s, 19TH CENTURY, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, 4 STARS, abuse, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, alternate history, anxiety-inducing reads, atmospheric, babel, Babel or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, belonging, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, brothers, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, China, chinese american author, class, cliques, colonialism, coming of age, cultural dissonance, dark academia, DEATH, england, FANTASY, fathers & sons, female authors, friendships, great storytelling, growing up, GUILT, HISTORICAL FICTION, history, identity, India, language, lgbtq+, LONDON, loneliness, Longing, MAGIC, morality, MURDER, muslim side characters, My reviews, MYSTERY, orphans, oxford, philosophical, politics, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2022, queer undercurrents, R.F. Kuang, RACE, read in 2022, reading, revenge, secret societies, secretiveness, ship, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, strong sense of place, SUSPENSE, teachers, terrific prose, tragedy, travel, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, URBAN FANTASY, war -
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
ββHow do you feel?β βAll right.β But I didnβt. I felt terrible.β I feel incredibly conflicted over Sylvia Plathβs The Bell Jar. On the one hand, I found it to be an ingenious and striking read, one that immortalizes in exacting detail a young womanβs slow descent into psychosis and offers a piercing commentary on…
1950s, 1st pov, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, american classics, ASYLUM, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, BOSTON, CLASSICS, DEPRESSION, doctors, ennui, female authors, feminism, feverish, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, introspective, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Massachusetts, MEMORY, mental health, modern classics, NEW YORK, paranoia, problematic, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, published in 1963, read in 2021, reading, self-destructive, self-harming, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, suicide, sylvia plath, terrific prose, The Bell Jar, unreliable narrators -
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 Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
And so my latest TRC re-read has come to an end. What an outstanding series. Truly. I cannot even begin to articulate how much this series means to me and how much I love it. In this finale, the stakes are higher than ever and a lot of things Stiefvater has hinted at in the…
3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, adventure, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, class, cliques, coming of age, Contemporary, curses, dark academia, DEATH, DEMONS, dreamers, Dreams, fairytalesque prose, FANTASY, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, gay, ghosts/spirits, growing up, henrietta, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, loneliness, Longing, m/m, Maggie Stiefvater, MAGIC, MAGICAL REALISM, My reviews, nature, occult, PRIVILEGE, queer, reading, rich people, SMALL TOWN, tarots, terrific prose, the raven cycle, the raven king, virginia, YOUNG ADULT -
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
aaaand Cosby’s done it again! βTears ran from his eyes and stung his cheeks. Tears for his son. Tears for his wife. Tears for the little girl they had to raise. Tears for who they were and what they all had lost. Each drop felt like it was slicing his face open like a razorblade.β…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, CRIME, DEATH, fathers & sons, favourite authors, forgiveness, gay side characters, GRIEF, grit lit, GUILT, lgbtq+ side, m/m side, male authors, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, Poverty, prison, published in 2021, RACE, read in 2021, reading, revenge, S.A. Cosby, social issues, Southern America, summer reads, terrific prose, THRILLER, trans side characters, violence, virginia -
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
βTo 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.β 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
luce [is reading] 