Weird, surreal, creepy, amazing book.

This is such a warm representation of friendship and motherhood. I really liked the way Obaro builds up her characters through the way they are loved by their significant people. For example, we learn that a fussy and controlling character is actually the person her friends trust to give them grace when they’ve been messy. The reunion of the three university friends is really rich and complicated. We see what it means to love people and be tired of them at the same time. All the main characters are well-drawn and individual and somehow they’re friendship feels long-formed and deep. I just wish I knew them.

I am neither a fan of dark academia nor familiar with any other books by R.F. Kuang, so this review is for us.

I really liked Babel, which follows for new students at an Oxford Institute of languages. The plot reveals the applications and motivations of the work being done at this institute and how the students feel and interact with that work. I went into reading this book knowing less than the summary I’ve just given and they don’t want to provide any more information because I think it’s more enjoyable with less context. The romance around and passion for language that comes through this book is really beautiful. I particularly enjoyed the interactions between the academic life and the action sides of the plot. I think that the author handles topics including racism, colonialism, and empire sensitively without ever sparing the feelings  of people who are frequently protected around these themes.

For some people, the pacing of the first third of this book will be too slow. The set up of the characters and the world building takes time. I also think that if you don’t care about academia, Oxford,  collegial life, or languages, the opening chapters will feel a little pondering. That is in extreme contrast to the pace of the last quarter of the book in which we are almost entirely presented with action. I felt that the action/drama was the focus of the book more than the personalities. Therefore, I think that all four of the main protagonists could’ve been more richly developed but were also sufficiently well rounded to serve our interests.

For me, this is a four star or 4.5 star read because of the inconsistencies in passing and also because I think that there were sections where I disengaged even though I was very emotionally and intellectually invested. I hope Babel gets all the love and attention it deserves. For someone who used to be a fan of Wilkie Collins, it was very exciting to access a new kind of book that allows people of colour like me to take up the story line rather than be accessories to it.

This is an experimental short story collection, in which the author is semi-present and also a narrator. I learned a lot about the Black diaspora in Canada and thought a lot about colonial abuses and the reality of living while Black there.   Although I enjoyed hearing the author’s voice,

I think that the audiobook confuses the distinctions between characters and timelines, especially as there is some character overlap.

Definitely worth time and attention with content notes about enslavement, racist violence, and racial profiling.

This is a lovely book and I really appreciated the narrator on the audiobook who gave the different characters such definition. If Becky Chambers and Enid Blyton wrote a witchy romance, this would be it. It’s wholesome and sweet and completely not what I expected in a good way. The quote on the cover describes it as cosy and I think that’s very accurate. I really liked the main character and I thought her relationship with Primrose and the three girls was really strong. 

Flags for some people: About 75% through, we suddenly get a lot of plot in comparison to the middle 50% so that’s worth being aware of. There is also a lot of children/child-rearing in this book which I really enjoyed but was not really anticipating. 

This is a bind-up of two short stories written by Japanese author, Banana Yoshimoto.  I’ll be honest that I bought the book entirely for the cover and then, for the title, because I love cooking, eating and food writing.

Funny, bittersweet, sad. A book-long collection of fuckery? This is a book about patriarchy and relationships in lots of different contexts. I loved that, although the women have experiences in common, the different stories flow and accumulate impact. Outstanding opening line that I keep sending to people.

The best bits in this short story collection are weird, gory, and uncomfortable. I LOVE Murata’s writing so I was very excited to read this e-ARC and the first chapter and the titular chapter are absolutely what I hoped for. Visceral, nasty, and full of sharp, dystopian insights about how our societies might twist and turns. I’d love to use the cannibalism and body horror chapters to discuss environmentalism, death, and waste in my classes. 

Some chapters were less exciting and the pace and tone felt a bit uneven. Overall, I think this is the perfect one sit read if you can enjoy the gross surreal sections.

This is a warm and enjoyable book about our main character Xelle who goes on a (sort of) quest. I saw that E.D.E Bell described Night Ivy as not quite having a plot and I think that’s a really good way to characterise the book and test if it is for you or not. When I describe it to my friends, I liken it to a mixture of Dark Crystal and episodes of a wholesome children’s tv show that operates episodically. The anxiety and neurodivergent representation is really good and I absolutely loved the style of the first half. As the book focused a little more on the mystery, I found it less engaging. That said, I would recommended Night Ivy for lots of people.. It is ideal for readers who enjoy magic, fantasy, and going on gentle adventures with libraries and hostels and new people in each chapter. Also, dragons!