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erinreadstheworld
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny is a mostly lighthearted, slow moving, slice of life book. We spend years following Jane's life, seeing small town life through her eyes.
She's an early primary school teacher and the scenes with her students always made me laugh. They reminded me of things my kids would do.
The story starts after Jane moves and falls in love with the Casanova of her town, Duncan. While the book spans several years, not a lot happens in it. And the big moments in the characters lives tend to be skipped over or mentioned only in passing.
The characters are all a bit quirky - one friend brings (and plays) her mandolin everywhere, another can barely follow a conversation but excels at Jeopardy. Most of the side characters are reminiscent of those in Gilmore Girls. Sure they're entertaining and you can't help but get attached to them, but do people like them actually exist?
Early Morning Riser was a feel-good, easy read. It's best described as the kind of booked you find on a 'summer reading' list. I liked it but it didn't blow me away.
She's an early primary school teacher and the scenes with her students always made me laugh. They reminded me of things my kids would do.
The story starts after Jane moves and falls in love with the Casanova of her town, Duncan. While the book spans several years, not a lot happens in it. And the big moments in the characters lives tend to be skipped over or mentioned only in passing.
The characters are all a bit quirky - one friend brings (and plays) her mandolin everywhere, another can barely follow a conversation but excels at Jeopardy. Most of the side characters are reminiscent of those in Gilmore Girls. Sure they're entertaining and you can't help but get attached to them, but do people like them actually exist?
Early Morning Riser was a feel-good, easy read. It's best described as the kind of booked you find on a 'summer reading' list. I liked it but it didn't blow me away.
As human beings, walking defines us. We're walkers and we're talkers. Walking can be both a social and introspective pursuit. I know I'm not alone in saying that I get some of my best thinking in while walking.
Walking is something both men and women can do. Yet there's so many things that can prohibit women from walking. That doesn't stop many of us though;; we walk the trails or pound the pavement. But, if you look at the literature of walking, women's experiences are vastly underrepresented.
This is where Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews comes in. It's attempting to fill some of the gaps. In Wanderers we gain an insight into the lives of ten women who walked and wrote it. Kerri Andrews also peppers the book with our own experiences walking in the UK, often the same places as our ten women, who span back to Dorothy Wordsworth in the 18th Century to Linda Cracknell in the present day.
Some of the chapters read like an academic text. Which given Kerri Andrews is a university lecturer, and this is a non-fiction book that frequently references other written works, I guess it's just part and parcel. Some of the chapters though, buzzed and the trodden landscapes brimmed with life. I especially liked the chapters on Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd and Anaïs Nin.
I know the book is not trying to represent the history of every woman walker, but the women in the book are all very noticeably white and are mostly British. It does discuss the privileges that allow women to walk (namely money, social privileges and a lack of familial responsibilities - especially in the 18th and 19th) and the fact that the women included in the book are all known for their writing is a privilege in itself. But I would have liked to have heard about more women who weren't from the UK.
I adored the insight into walking and the human experience of walking from the female perspective. I had hoped to like this book more than I did, but some bits felt a little bit too academic for me. Although it did further ignite my love of a long walk in the mountains.
Walking is something both men and women can do. Yet there's so many things that can prohibit women from walking. That doesn't stop many of us though;; we walk the trails or pound the pavement. But, if you look at the literature of walking, women's experiences are vastly underrepresented.
This is where Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews comes in. It's attempting to fill some of the gaps. In Wanderers we gain an insight into the lives of ten women who walked and wrote it. Kerri Andrews also peppers the book with our own experiences walking in the UK, often the same places as our ten women, who span back to Dorothy Wordsworth in the 18th Century to Linda Cracknell in the present day.
Some of the chapters read like an academic text. Which given Kerri Andrews is a university lecturer, and this is a non-fiction book that frequently references other written works, I guess it's just part and parcel. Some of the chapters though, buzzed and the trodden landscapes brimmed with life. I especially liked the chapters on Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd and Anaïs Nin.
I know the book is not trying to represent the history of every woman walker, but the women in the book are all very noticeably white and are mostly British. It does discuss the privileges that allow women to walk (namely money, social privileges and a lack of familial responsibilities - especially in the 18th and 19th) and the fact that the women included in the book are all known for their writing is a privilege in itself. But I would have liked to have heard about more women who weren't from the UK.
I adored the insight into walking and the human experience of walking from the female perspective. I had hoped to like this book more than I did, but some bits felt a little bit too academic for me. Although it did further ignite my love of a long walk in the mountains.
The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent (translated by Ros Schwartz) is a quirky, sweet little book.
The book follows Guylain Vignolles, a man who hates his job working in a book pulping factory. He feels downtrodden by life and has one single pleasure in his day-to-day life - reading rescued, orphaned pages aloud on the morning train.
The story did not go where I expected it to go. It started off sounding quite depressing but ending up being a charming and delightful read.
The Reader on the 6.27 explores the power of literature, the way words can uplift and connect people. (This is a meaning I can definitely get behind). The story is tender and funny. The characters are all a little bit unusual but are delectably human.
It's got similar vibes to Amelie and would please fans of A Man Called Ove or The Rosie Project. It's the perfect book to slot in between heavy books - it's short, sweet and will leave you smiling.
The book follows Guylain Vignolles, a man who hates his job working in a book pulping factory. He feels downtrodden by life and has one single pleasure in his day-to-day life - reading rescued, orphaned pages aloud on the morning train.
The story did not go where I expected it to go. It started off sounding quite depressing but ending up being a charming and delightful read.
The Reader on the 6.27 explores the power of literature, the way words can uplift and connect people. (This is a meaning I can definitely get behind). The story is tender and funny. The characters are all a little bit unusual but are delectably human.
It's got similar vibes to Amelie and would please fans of A Man Called Ove or The Rosie Project. It's the perfect book to slot in between heavy books - it's short, sweet and will leave you smiling.
In If I Had Your Face we follow four young woman in Seoul, who are working demanding jobs, living with debt and surviving on their own with little family support, all while dealing with varying degrees of trauma from their childhood.
The book is told through the perspective of each character, in alternating chapters. I don't mind an alternating perspective (in fact, I quite like it), but I would have liked longer chapters for each character. While Ara and Kyuri were easily distinguishable, it took me longer to remember who was who between Miho and Wonna. Wonna also had fewer chapters than the other women and I would have loved to see more of the book devoted to her story.
Based on reviews I've read, I thought plastic surgery would be more of a focus of the book. While it is mentioned frequently, it wasn't the expose on plastic surgery in Korea that I was expecting. Instead we see how unattainable beauty standards seep into the thoughts and actions of the characters. We see how their self perceptions alter the way they act in different situations. And how it influences what they think they can achieve in their life.
I really enjoyed the friendships in the book and the different relationships that connected all of the women. I also liked the insights into South Korean culture (work, beauty, relationships, gender roles) and the way class impacts on nearly every aspect of the characters' lives.
This was a gripping book, that always had me wanting to know more. But I think the end was wrapped up too neatly and the characters not given enough depth for this to be a truly hard hitting book.
If you want a book on gender, class and friendship in your early 20s in South Korea this is a good place to start. I'd also recommend it if you were a fan of the show Girls, as it has similar vibes with friendships and finding your feet in a busy city.
The book is told through the perspective of each character, in alternating chapters. I don't mind an alternating perspective (in fact, I quite like it), but I would have liked longer chapters for each character. While Ara and Kyuri were easily distinguishable, it took me longer to remember who was who between Miho and Wonna. Wonna also had fewer chapters than the other women and I would have loved to see more of the book devoted to her story.
Based on reviews I've read, I thought plastic surgery would be more of a focus of the book. While it is mentioned frequently, it wasn't the expose on plastic surgery in Korea that I was expecting. Instead we see how unattainable beauty standards seep into the thoughts and actions of the characters. We see how their self perceptions alter the way they act in different situations. And how it influences what they think they can achieve in their life.
I really enjoyed the friendships in the book and the different relationships that connected all of the women. I also liked the insights into South Korean culture (work, beauty, relationships, gender roles) and the way class impacts on nearly every aspect of the characters' lives.
This was a gripping book, that always had me wanting to know more. But I think the end was wrapped up too neatly and the characters not given enough depth for this to be a truly hard hitting book.
If you want a book on gender, class and friendship in your early 20s in South Korea this is a good place to start. I'd also recommend it if you were a fan of the show Girls, as it has similar vibes with friendships and finding your feet in a busy city.