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| Book |
Author |
Read In |
Rating |
| Trick Mirror |
Jia Tolentino |
April |
5/5 |
| Normal People |
Sally Rooney |
March |
4/5 |
| Less |
Andrew Sean Greer |
April |
5/5 |
| The Idiot |
Elif Batuman |
June |
3/5 |
| Kafka on the Shore |
Haruki Murakami |
August |
5/5 |
In Depth Reviews
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino is a collection of essays on the experience of growing up in the digital age.
Tolentino examines her own experience with social media, reality television, and digital interaction. As someone who has also grown up
with technology, Tolentino's essays echoed many of the same feelings I have on the digital world. Also, for an essay collection,
Tolentino's work was incredibly acessible and easy to read for pleasure, which I appreciate as a humanities student who spends all
her time reading.
Normal People by Sally Rooney is a wonderful read. The front cover of my edition has a quote about how the book deserves to be read
breathlessly, in one sitting. That is exactly how I read this book and I adored every second. Warnings: Sally Rooney writes some unlikeable
characters, and she's not too heavy on the plot. But you will feel each emotion as your own, which makes it worth it to me.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer is one of my favorite novels of all time. It won a pullitzer, so I'm not unique in thinking it's good,
but I think that it's a special type of good. Pullitzer, to me at least, says pretentious, says Literature with a capital L. And Less is
literature! But at the same time, this book had me laughing out loud, and harder than I've ever laughed at a book. It's easy, it's fun, and yet
you know you're reading masterfully written literature. I recommend this to everyone I meet.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman is not a bad book, but it's not a great one either. I read this on my trip to NYC this summer, and it was a
lovely thing to take out and read on the subway. But was it lovely because it was a good book, or because I was excited to be on a subway in
NYC, reading a cool looking book? Honestly, not sure. Gains points for mentioning Hungary a lot though - as a hungarian I approve.
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami is another all time favorite. But lets make one thing clear: this man needs to learn how to write about
women. Every single scene in this novel that includes a woman makes my skin crawl. It's almost a shame that the rest of the book is so good, because if
it wasn't I would have simply stopped reading. If you can tolerate some messed up scenes, you will fall in love with the magical world Murakami
creates, and I can guarantee you will never forget it.