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alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)
I agree with the ideas but I didn’t like his writing style. Sorry, Ralph.
It's a good mystery! I liked the final 25% of the book because the pacing notched up and it had some thriller aspects; I guess I prefer thrillers over plain ol' mysteries. I do love how fresh and contemporary this series is and I plan to keep reading.
Metamorphosis and In the Penal Settlement are brilliant. A couple others are clearly thoughtful and talented. I hate The Burrow, and agree with Kafka that it should be burned.
Came for the thriller, stayed for the summer camp vibes. (btw it's not a thriller! this is decidedly in the mystery aisle). And even though I guessed the mystery from farther away than a bear smells a sandwich, I was enjoying the setting so much that I didn't mind.
Food pairing: sloppy joes, ants on a log, and smores, duh!
Food pairing: sloppy joes, ants on a log, and smores, duh!
Art:
- The character design is awesome, I loved seeing so many different types of bodies.
- I personally liked the art style, but the panels themselves often confused me—like there would be a jump cut in time from one panel to the next, not even at the end of a page. Other times I could follow the story from the writing but the panels were visually chaotic and didn’t align well with the writing. Maybe other people wouldn’t be as bothered by that.
Story:
- A good message about your worth not being found in how productive and useful you are.
- I wish it was just slice of life instead of intergalactic warfare. I'm sick of war being the background in so many sci-fi stories, ugh. Maybe I should start boycotting war like I'm boycotting superheroes haha.
- The science concepts were also cool, like AI existing in a quantum dimension.
- NOT A ROMANCE, idk why it was marketed that way?? It could have been marketed as a friendship just as easily.
- The character design is awesome, I loved seeing so many different types of bodies.
- I personally liked the art style, but the panels themselves often confused me—like there would be a jump cut in time from one panel to the next, not even at the end of a page. Other times I could follow the story from the writing but the panels were visually chaotic and didn’t align well with the writing. Maybe other people wouldn’t be as bothered by that.
Story:
- A good message about your worth not being found in how productive and useful you are.
- I wish it was just slice of life instead of intergalactic warfare. I'm sick of war being the background in so many sci-fi stories, ugh. Maybe I should start boycotting war like I'm boycotting superheroes haha.
- The science concepts were also cool, like AI existing in a quantum dimension.
- NOT A ROMANCE, idk why it was marketed that way?? It could have been marketed as a friendship just as easily.
This perfect book hit me at the perfect time. The message about life, purpose, vocation is exactly what I needed to hear. The best, coziest book I’ve read in ages.
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2022: liked it better this time 'round. Shirley's the goat.
2013: Lovely, creepy, and perfect for reading in the late fall when the nights are long and ghosts haunt neighborhoods. This just solidified my always saying yes to anything created by Shirley Jackson.
2013: Lovely, creepy, and perfect for reading in the late fall when the nights are long and ghosts haunt neighborhoods. This just solidified my always saying yes to anything created by Shirley Jackson.
I haven't read much by Chinese authors and the narrative construction is a different than a typical western format. Shifting perspectives and extended networks of characters were a bit hard to follow because it's not very familiar to me. But well worth it, and I enjoyed the prose. Moses on the Plain was my favorite of the three novellas because the murder mystery unfolding through the perspectives of so many people was expertly told.
It was lovely to revisit Shenyang--makes me want jiaozi and a glass of peanut milk!
It was lovely to revisit Shenyang--makes me want jiaozi and a glass of peanut milk!
I am bored to death of my go-to dishes and these fast, colorful bowls are gonna punch up my lunch game. All the recipes have ideas for alternatives and substitutions, beautiful full-color photos, and there’s a good mix of cool and warm dishes. Since bowls are grain or pasta based, it’s easy to make them all gluten free. If you wanted to swap out the meat for tofu, that would also be a seamless switch for the majority of recipes (which often already have a secondary protein source like beans or edamame).
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I think my expectations were a little too high for this one!
First of all, while I appreciate the encouragement to "go with the flow" while cooking dinner, there is a higher-order saying that should be applied here: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not listing measurements and all the little ingredients before the recipe instructions and then burying the measurements and surprise ingredients in the middle of the instructions isn't working. It's really annoying and anxiety inducing, actually ("wait, do I really have enough stuff to spontaneously make this recipe tonight?? I have soy sauce, but do I have enough??").
The category titles and page-long explanations of what they mean in the author's brain are trying very hard to be Alison Roman cutesy and lawd, that woman is *not* cute. They end up making it harder to understand what exactly is in that category. "The Anti-Marinade" is...... what, exactly? *squints* why is there a stew in the "Cook Fast and Hot" chapter? Any guesses for what kind of food "Let them slouch" encompasses?
Cookbooks are reference books, ideally the amount of time you need to spend looking at them is limited. I'm not a fan of forcing the reader to spend extra time with the book when they could be cooking or eating.
As for the recipes themselves, I tried a few. They were accessible and practical but nothing to write home about. They use ingredients that I keep on hand (perhaps not everyone does, but I do). That part lives up to the book's promise--don't think too hard about making dinner, you can probably find inspiration here.
First of all, while I appreciate the encouragement to "go with the flow" while cooking dinner, there is a higher-order saying that should be applied here: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not listing measurements and all the little ingredients before the recipe instructions and then burying the measurements and surprise ingredients in the middle of the instructions isn't working. It's really annoying and anxiety inducing, actually ("wait, do I really have enough stuff to spontaneously make this recipe tonight?? I have soy sauce, but do I have enough??").
The category titles and page-long explanations of what they mean in the author's brain are trying very hard to be Alison Roman cutesy and lawd, that woman is *not* cute. They end up making it harder to understand what exactly is in that category. "The Anti-Marinade" is...... what, exactly? *squints* why is there a stew in the "Cook Fast and Hot" chapter? Any guesses for what kind of food "Let them slouch" encompasses?
Cookbooks are reference books, ideally the amount of time you need to spend looking at them is limited. I'm not a fan of forcing the reader to spend extra time with the book when they could be cooking or eating.
As for the recipes themselves, I tried a few. They were accessible and practical but nothing to write home about. They use ingredients that I keep on hand (perhaps not everyone does, but I do). That part lives up to the book's promise--don't think too hard about making dinner, you can probably find inspiration here.