nadia's Reviews (587)

I think it's unavoidable. I have to say it: This was such a fun book to read. Honestly! Despite so many cringe-inducing moments and trying to keep track of who was who in the large secondary cast of characters...

While the book does make you think a lot about racism, stereotyping, white privilege, and more, I was hoping for a far more character growth and development from some of the main characters within the story itself. But maybe that's expecting too much and just not how it works in real life, ya know?

Such A Fun Age is certainly worth reading, even if just to reflect on our own day-to-day interactions and where we can do better.  And it is, on the whole, a fun page-turner, so if you're remotely curious by the premise of this book, definitely pick it up! :-D

This was my first time reading a full-length novel by Margaret Atwood that had nothing to do with The Handmaid's Tale series!

Although a slow novel, it was one where I was eager to keep turning the pages. It's a big book, but I got through it surprisingly quickly. 

I LOVED the narrative structure of it: we had a mix between the past and the present day, stories within stories, and newspaper and magazine articles. It was such a clever way for me to feel immersed in the memories.

If you're interested in modern historical fiction stories about challenging sibling relationships, especially of two women, then I wholeheartedly encourage you to check this out.

I'm so excited to discover what else Atwood has to offer!

What a weird and wonderful book this was! In a good, challenging way!

In this book, Sayaka Murata explores very similar themes to the ones she did in Convenience Store Woman: society and its expectations, especially where women are involved, and how far people are willing to go in order to fit in. This books gets real dark and twisted at times too — it's definitely not for the squeamish.

If you're an adventurous reader, open to exploring common themes against quirky ideas and concepts, then this book is perfect for you. It's sad at times and good fun at others.

A couple of my friends described this book as 'wild', and I can see why. I'd have to agree with them!

This books is truly incredible!! I've wanted to read it for the longest time, knowing how highly regarded it was. It's sometimes really fun to go into books knowing nothing about them — so I didn't even read the blurb and stayed away from reviews. So for those of you who have read this one, you can tell what a surprise I was in for.

It's challenging in parts to understand exactly what's going on — and I think the point is that you're never meant to fully grasp exactly what's going on. Hell, even the characters don't always seem to know what's going on. (A minor nitpick — I didn’t mind that I didn’t understand everything, but I did struggle to visualise a handful of things, and that’s typically a pain point for me when reading.)

If you love fantasy or science fiction, with rich, complex world-building, and you're prepared to put in a little bit of work to get to grips with it all — just a little extra effort, mind. Jemisin's writing is oh so great — then you'll probably love this one.

I'm a huge fan of the range of storytelling techniques Jemisin used, including the different POVs, and the clever concepts this fantasy world is built on. I can't wait for Book 2! This is definitely a contender to be one of my favourite series ever!

The Vanishing Half was a real pleasure to read. Smoothly spanning decades and flitting between multiple POVs, Brit Bennett kept me turning the pages. Her writing is my favourite sort of writing: straightforward and succinct, with a lyrical, poetic tone. I felt immersed in the different settings and I never had the feeling of: "oh, I don’t like this viewpoint. I just want to get back to this other character".

If you love books about sibling relationships, motherhood, or racial identity, then this is a story that I reckon will captivate you!

This is a book that I wish everyone would read — black and non-black people alike.

I knew I was in for an informative, enlightening experience, but this book was far richer, and the scope a lot broader (trust me, I don't think you'll see it coming!), than I had envisaged. 

Dabiri takes us on an incredible tour of black history, always tying it back to the importance of black hair, and interweaves personal experience and humour. (Those asides — so great!)

Personally, there was a lot of hard reflection going on whilst I read this book: I've always known there was an issue around using westernised beauty standards as a marker for how I, or my hair, should look, and that was something to continually fight against, but Dabiri has also made me check myself on how I speak about getting my hair done: I shouldn't complain about its texture, especially after I've done a workout or it's been caught in the rain. I shouldn't begrudge how long it takes to get done. That's how my hair is. That's how black hair is.  Our hair is part of who we are. How long it takes to look after it is a deep part of our culture. And it's something we should celebrate every day.

And if you are someone who thinks "it's just hair",  doesn't understand why people get upset about non-black people flaunting black hairstyles, or who has an urge to touch (or ask to touch) their black friend's hair, see if you still feel the same way after reading this book.

One minor niggle: I sometimes felt a little lost with regards to the narrative thread of the book. Dabiri does an excellent job of tying it all together, but at times I couldn't always see what lead us from one idea to the next, and that made me pause at times to try and retrace or recollect the steps.

One bigger niggle: I was disappointed that a key part of the plot was spoiled for Toni Morrison's book 'Song of Solomon'. I've been wanting to read that book for the longest time and think that Dabiri's point could have been made without alluding to certain details so explicitly.

Just niggles though. Still excellent.

I can’t remember the last time I read (or if I have ever done so) anything as epic as Assassin’s Quest.

Yes, it was a fantastic book, but it was ‘epic’ in every sense of the word: the ‘quest’ aforementioned in the title, the development of characters we’ve followed for the previous two books, the scope of the story and its rich layers, the length (over 800 pages of tightly-packed, tiny font) —and slow pace (only Hobb is allowed to put me through that) — of the book...

It was a tad too long and too slow at points, I'd say, and there were a few minor plot-point frustrations or story/magic concepts that I struggled to confidently grasp, which prevents this from being an all-time fave.

Despite that, what an incredible adventure packed with soo many feels. 

Can’t wait to see what Hobb has in store in her Liveship Traders trilogy!

I loved the balance of humour and quirkiness, and quiet, sometimes emotional, reflection in this fun book.

If you enjoy reading stories about what it means to be human, what it means to love, and how we might approach living life to the fullest, then this is a book for you!

I'm not one to collect quotes, but there were a few brilliant passages about the human condition that I reread so I could savour and reflect upon them.  

I chuckled to myself a handful of times as well as Matt Haig cleverly uses the concept of aliens to help highlight all the ways in which we humans are weird and wonderful, but also how we might think about doing better each day.

I don't think I've ever been so simultaneously chilled to the bone but also gripped by a book.

I'd heard of the name Ted Bundy, but I knew nothing of his horrific crimes. The Stranger Beside Me comes highly recommended by True Crime fans and I was intrigued by the fact that the author had a close friendship with Ted and was a crime reporter hired to document the investigations into his murders (before they knew who the killer was).

This is a terrifying, tense book that spans many decades. I appreciated the mix of storytelling, factual detail, and Ann Rule's own personal reflections as she grappled with her friendship to Bundy. 

There are now a lot of addendums (since the book's original publication in 1980), which I liked, the latest one having been written in 2008. However, the structure was a bit off for someone coming into the case for the first time (we start with the 2008 addendum) and throughout the book I did get a little lost between all of the names and locations — which, to be honest, is incredibly sad, as that's not really Ann Rule's fault. It's more of a testament to just how broad and devastating Ted Bundy's reach was.

This is one of those stories that gets you thinking about how little you may really know about the friends and acquaintances around you. Is that a wise thing to even mull over? Not too sure about that. 😅

What I am sure about is that this book is incredible and it's going to be an extremely tall order for anything else in this genre to top it for me.

Really?? Really??

😩