Read and review with me :)

A little life

Hanya Yanagihara

★★★★★

A book that will leave you in tears. The novel follows 4 young male friends Jude, Wilhelm, JB and Malcolm, and how their relationship changes and evolves from their young adult days to their oldhood. It explores important heavy subjects and the creation of a family among friends. It is an absolute stunning book but MUST be read with caution. It is an important book that is eye opening to the result of trauma but it is also a very heavy book that is not for everyone -especially if you are in a bad mental state at the moment. Noelle Gallagher who is a part of the book tube community emphasises how this book should be recommended with caution: “My trouble is why so many people highly recommend this novel. I had gotten hundreds of messages telling me to read this and then by the end I wondered why so many people want others to feel the pain of this novel” (from good reads) I think her comment on the book and how it was so heavily recommended i the book community is important, as a book like this with very heavy subjects must be recommended with caution. 

Soul of the Fire

Terry Goodkind

★★★★☆

A great fantasy novel. It is the 5th book of a fantasy series called The sword of Truth. It follows the newly wedded couple Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell and their journey to bring democracy and to ensure that magic does not disappear. They need to ensure that the world does not fall upon a murderous dictator. Their journey keeps you hooked despite its 700 page length. It as an interesting story that combines the power of magic and its connection to democracy. 

Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk

★★★☆☆

Fight club is a raw and absurd story of a guy struggling with depression and insomnia and who finds himself joining an underground fight club. He gets introduced to the fight club by Tyler Durden, who he befriends. The members of the fight club are men who desperately seeks adrenaline and needs an escape from their mundane lives. 

The books is filled with raw vocabulary and mysterious events that keeps the reader interested throughout the novel. It is an interesting novel that critiques Capitalist America, as well as exploring toxic masculinity. It is an interesting tale of how violence in some cases can bond men together. 

The Kiss quotient 

Helen Hoang

★★★☆☆

The kiss quotient is a unique romance novel that opens your perspective on intimacy. Stella a woman with autism has succeeded in the majority parts of her life. She is super intelligent and works as a successful tech company. However, one aspect of her life that she struggles with is romantic relationship. As a solution she hires a male escort to help her overcome her fears of intimacy and touch. It is an insightful romance story that adds a different perspective on the struggles of romantic relationships. I found the novel to be very educating on people with autism. It has made me understand autistic better. 

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead 

★★★★★

An amazing book that explores the destruction of America’s history towards Black people in the 18th century. Absolute favourite quote: “And America, too, is a delusion-believes with all its heart-that it is their right to take land. To kill indians. Make war. Enslave their brothers. This nation shouldn’t exist, if there is any justice in the world, for its foundations are murder, theft, and cruelty. Yet here we are” (341). The novel follows Cora who attempts to escape slavery, and her journey. The novel shows the constant move former slaves have to endure to escape the sinister slaveholders.  The novel explores many topics in America’s history. It is a horrifying story that brings the reader into the reality of slaves as well as informing the reader about historical events. I learned a lot from the book about events that I have not hear about, such as how black women were forced to be sterile. 

KILLING COMMENDATORE

Haruki Murakami

★★★★☆

_______________________________________________________________________

Soundtrack for reading the book:

Magnolia by J.J Cale

The firebird (version for piano) by Igor Stravinsky 

Astral travelling by Phararoah Sanders

All My shades of blue by Ruen brothers 

_______________________________________________________________________

My thoughts 

This is definitely one of my most favourite book of all time. I always say to anyone who have never read Murakami before that they should read ‘Killing Commendatore’ as their first book because it is the most ‘Murakami’ story ever -if that makes any sense. Killing Commendatore is the name of the painting that the protagonists discover in the mountain house he is renting from a famous painter called Tomohiko Amada. The unnamed protagonists move away from Tokyo after his wife Tuzu leaves him after 6 years of marriage. The protagonist is a professional painter who is known for his good portrait work. The painting ‘Killing commendatore’ initiates a series of strange and mysterious events. Like with the other work that I have reviewed ‘Norwegian wood’ Murakami is amazing at story telling. One of my most favourite aspects is how he is able to smoothly make the plot seem realistic but at the same time incorporate supernatural elements. One thing that stood out to be was the way he describes painting as the protagonists spends a lot of time painting portraits. I never thought the description and the process of painting would be interesting but in this case it is. However, there are a few aspects which I didn’t like as much. Firstly, the book is around 500 pages and tend to be a bit repetitive, which I personally didn’t mind but if you do read it you have been warned. Another element is the odd description of every female character’s breast. This is something I have noticed have happened in a lot of Murakami’s work. Seriously, almost every female character that is introduced in all of his works he always describes the way that their boobs look. Which I guess is fine, but in this book he describes the breasts of a young girl and there are number of scenes where the young girl talks to the protagonists about when her breasts will grow. I just found this so unnecessary as it doesn’t add anything to the plot and could be left out. However, other than that I really enjoyed the novel, like I said it is one of my personal faves but the novel do lose some points due to the repitition and the breast element.

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

★★★★☆

_______________________________________________________________________

Soundtrack for reading the book:

Norwegian wood by the Beatles 

Here comes the sun by the Beatles

White room by Cream

Jumpin’ Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones

_______________________________________________________________________

My thoughts

“She told me she worked In the morning and started to laugh I told her I didn't And crawled off to sleep in the bathAnd when I awoke I was alone This bird had flown So I lit a fire Isn't it good Norwegian wood?”

- Norwegian wood by The Beatles We have to love a book recommendation by Harry Styles. I have to be honest the only reason I wanted to read this book was due to Styles. But after finishing the coming-of-age novel, I absolutely became obsessed with Murakami’s writing. The novel is about Toru Watanabe who reflects back to his days as a young college student in the 1960s. As a young man, Toru experiences the tragic loss of his best friend Kizuki who committed suicide in High School. When he starts college, he begins to fall in love with Kizuki’s girlfriend Naoko whose mental health is not doing so well. Naoko ends up in a mental hospital and Toru promises to wait for her until she comes back to the city. However, as he continues throughout college he falls in love with his classmate Midori and he falls into a dilemma of falling in love with two different women. But the novel is not just a simple love story as it uncovers a lot about depicting mental health. There is a lot of tragedy in the book. However, the plot is rather simple, not a lot happens. It doesn’t go for a dramatic climax nor does it focus on who Toru ends up with. The novel focuses more on the development of Toru and explores the confusion and the pain he feels of his friend’s loss and the process of trying to be there for Kizuki who falls into a deep depression. It uncovers self-discovery and gives the reader access to Toru’s emotions when he was younger.  What I love about this novel is that it shows how Toru deals with responsibility in his life -possibly for the first time in his life. At the beginning of the novel, Toru has casual sex and friendships with a lack of depth, however, throughout the novel, he slowly becomes more complex and his relationships become more complex. He is faced with difficult decisions which he is unsure how to deal with. Another element I love is the realistic depiction of mental health. Murakami seems to know how to describe struggles with mental health and makes the story a lot more compelling. 

The novel is one of my favourites and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in, first of all, Harry Styles but also mental health, nostalgia, and beautifully written piece of work.

FIND ME

André Aciman

★★★☆☆

_______________________________________________________________________

Soundtrack for reading the book:

Peach by Broods

How do you sleep by Sam Smith

Pink + White by Frank Ocean

_______________________________________________________________________

My thoughts

It is only appropriate that my second book review is the sequel to ‘call me by your name’. ‘Find me’ is an unexpected novel, in my opinion, as it starts with Elio’s father, samuel or sami as the narrator. The novel has 4 sections: Tempo, Cadenza, Capriccio, and Da Capo. The first section is about Sami’s romance, when he meets a young girl in the train on his way to meet Elio in Rome. Throughout the novel we are updated on the life of the characters after the summer of 1983. Elio moves to Paris, where he has a small affair. Oliver becomes a college professor in New England and now has kids and a wife. Elio reminisces about his love with a much older man Michel, whom he met a concert. The novel is mostly about Samuel -instead of the romance between Elio and Oliver. For me this is a huge disappointment as the reason why we loved the first book so much is due to the intimacy between the two men. However, in ‘find me’ there is rarely any moments between Elio and Oliver. That is why this book was a huge disappointment to me as I find it hard to comprehend that this was a sequel to ‘Call me by Your name’ as it felt like two completely different books. There is also a lot of things happening in the book which makes it confusing with all the different love stories and the stories of what has happened in each of the characters life after that summer. For me this makes it difficult to love this book as it no longer centres on the relationship between Oliver and Elio. However, I will say that André Aciman’s writing is still incredible. I also love the general question the novel is trying to answer: “how do you move on from life and how do you move on from someone you once considered to be the closets to? Throughout the novel there is a frustration because us the readers wants Elio and Oliver to spend the rest of their days together and they obviously don’t. But I think that the novel can also show that a love like the summer in 1983 was only meant to last for a short while, meaning that the romance between was real but that the love isn’t less significant because they didn’t end up together. Therefore, the novel has a melancholy tone to it because on one hand it shows that although you can end up being so close to someone doesn’t mean that it will lasts, and on the other hand is also shows how you deal with that memory throughout the rest of your life. Overall, I didn’t entirely love the plot but I do love the debates that it unfolds about how the feelings of love proceeds after it is over. But to be honest, if you love ‘Call me by your name’ as much as I do, I recommend not reading this sequel because it will kind of ruin reading the first one in my opinion. I don’t think CMBYN needed a sequel as it in-itself was just a beautiful story.

Anyways...

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

★★★★★

_______________________________________________________________________

Soundtrack for reading the book:

Futile devices (doveman remix) by Sufjan Stevens 

Mystery of love by Sufjan Stevens 

Radio Varsavia by Franco Battiato

Visions of Gideon by Surfjan Stevens

_______________________________________________________________________

My thoughts

The coming-of-age novel ‘Call me by your name’ by André Aciman is one of my favourite books that I have read...TRULY! and there is many reasons for that that i’ll get into later (get it?) . In the novel we are introduced to 17 year old Elio who spends his summer at his parents summer house in Italy. Each summer his father Samuel Perlman invites a student over to their summer house to help them with their academic paper work in archaeology. In the summer of 1983 the 24-year old American Oliver is this years student that will be spending a summer in the beautiful little town in Italy. During his 6 week stay a romance sparks between him and Elio that will be later be remembered as a nostalgic summer love years later. The novel is narrated by  Elio in first person and told in past tense so throughout the novel we experience Elioøs thoughts about the whole experience from when they first met and when they departed that summer. What I love about the narration is that we are able to read about the thoughts of young Elio who experiences falling in love for the first time and through that the reader can relate to the familiar feelings of confusion, frustration and longing that romance brings to an adolescent. A place in the novel that stood the most out to me was Elio’s father’s speech to Elio when Oliver leaves at the end of the summer: “When you least expect it, nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot. Just remember I’m here. Right now, you may not want to feel anything. Maybe you’ll never want to feel anything. And, maybe it’s not to me you want to speak about these things, but I feel something you obviously did...Look, you had a beautiful friendship. Maybe more than a friendship. And I envy you.In my place, most parents would hope the whole thing goes away, or pray that their sons land on their feet. But I am not such a parent. We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster that we go bankrupt by the age of 30 and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything—what a waste!And I’ll say one more thing… it’ll clear the air. I may have come close, but I never have what you two have. Something always held me back or stood in the way. How you live your life is your business. Just remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once, and before you know it, your heart’s worn out. And as for your body, there comes a point when no one looks at it, much less wants to come near it. Right now, there’s sorrow, pain; don’t kill it, and with it, the joy you’ve felt.” When the summer comes to an end, Elio is left alone with the wonderful memories of the summer of 1983. His father gives him an important lesson about allowing Elio to experience the sorrow he is feeling because the kind of rare intimacy he experienced only a few will ever have the luck to experience. What I absolutely love about this novel is that there are no consequences for the romance between the two young men Elio and Oliver. Usually with gay romance books, there’s always some sort of consequences or sacrifices when two men are in love...they are either having an affair because the other one is married to a woman, or it is about hiding their romance because they don’t want others to know or hiding it because their relatives don’t approve. These are usually the plots for gay romance novels or movies. That is why I love this novel, because it is just simply about love between two people regardless of their gender and sexuality. It is a simple love story that combines a relaxing and beautiful setting in Italy and two young men who experiences a rare and wonderful summer together. Reason no. 2 on why I love this book is just simply how it makes me feel..I don’t know how else to describe it. André Acimen is incredible when it comes to describing the setting and atmosphere of the novel. When I read it it evokes the feelings and images of nostalgia, beautiful yellow-orange sunsets, swimming in a lakes, peaches and a beautiful small town in Italy. I definitely recommend reading this book to escape the cold and gray December weather!