A Day in Bookland

  I enjoyed this because Thomas focuses mostly on the internal conflicts of the main character and how her decisions affect her and everybody around her and still deals with a lot of racial issues that Black (and Brown) young people have to deal with in the US, especially in poor neighbourhoods. Bri is a teen going through a difficult time. She can seem hot-headed, opinionated and, at times, selfish, but she is just trying to be herself, help those she loves and pursue her dreams of becoming a rapper. I was reminded though of why I rarely read YA contemporary fiction these days: one, dramatic teens (don't get me wrong, I get where they are coming from but still makes my eyes roll) and two, intentional lack of communication between adults and kids which drives me up the wall. Follow

  Encuentros con libros  by Stefan Zweig is an essay collection and it was my very first time reading him and I have to say it won't be my last. I really enjoyed his writing style and you can tell how much he loved books and reading. However, I would point out that there is not a single essay here dedicated to a female writer although I am unsure if it is because the editor of the collection didn't include one or Zweig simply didn't write any. And you can also tell from the very beginning that the author comes from a very privilege background - in one of the essays he is surprised by the fact that an Italian man he has met during his travels can't read nor write... as if he couldn't fathom that illiterate people were a reality. As I said above though, what I take from this collection is Zweig's passion for books and literature. Follow

The Burning God is the last book in the trilogy so not going to talk much about plot and there won't be any spoilers. I just want to give my general thoughts. I think this was a fitting conclusion. Heartbreaking but fitting... and dare I say, unavoidable. It is not an easy journey to go through. There is not a moment to breathe. It is all relentless destruction with this one. And page by page, Rin unravels. The trauma, devastation and betrayal she has suffered throughout is impossible to escape. One complain I have is that it felt like Kuang sacrificed character-driven moments (which were more present in the previous two books) for the sake of the plot. All in all though, an impressive trilogy but not for the faint-hearted. Follow

  In All Boys Aren't Blue, George M. Johnson explores their identity as a Black Queer man while sharing their experiences growing up. Some chapters, I felt, were better thought-out than others and in general the writing was simple and easy to get through. I would have preferred a more mature writing style but since this is targeted towards teens/young people - which I have to say I didn't know prior - I kinda understand. Some things though felt repetitive. All in all, I enjoyed it as a whole and as the author said if one person in helped by them sharing their story then all will be worth it.  Follow

Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp is a fresh and light comedy with a deep critique of English social conventions of the 1930s. We follow Cluny, a girl who, according to the people around her, doesn't know what her place in the world is. However, she is not about to let others tell her what that place should be. She does what she wants even when her actions might be seen as outrageous and of course she always gets in trouble.  I found the story to be very endearing and I enjoyed the tone and rhythm throughout. The final chapters, in which we get both the peak of the tension and the resolution of the story, are absolutely fantastic.

Plain Bad Heroines by emily m. danforth. I truly thought I would love this and I didn't. I enjoyed it and I am glad I read it but I will be lying if I said I am not disappointed. What I loved about this book was the first part of the story and Libby's storyline during the second part, as well as the atmosphere danforth managed to create throughout; but all in all, I expected more. Something was missing for me and I found the last chapter very underwhelming: I was expecting the two storylines (the present one and the past one) to fully merge but it felt like they never did so what was the point really? However, concerning my overall enjoyment of the story, I do think I am to blame, partially, for not giving it my full attention and instead reading it here and there. My enjoyment - and especially my engagement with the novel - would have been greater had I read it more consistently. Maybe it is one to reread in the future.

  Territorio de luz by Yuko Tsushima (translated into Spanish by Tana Oshima). Enjoyed this one as a whole and appreciated how raw the portrayal of single motherhood was and how both mother and daughter were affected by it.  It is a very disjointed narrative mainly because it was published, monthly, as a series of 12 stories in a magazine between 1978 and 1979, so there were chapters that I enjoyed more than others. Sometimes I was very invested and other times I was a tad bored. Despite its narrative structure not being completely to my taste, I have to say it was an interesting read - probably one which will get richer with a reread. Follow

  Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson . This one was tough and upsetting to read. Made me extremely uncomfortable, angry and furious. Enchanted is an aspiring singer and in a singing competition she meets Korey Fields, and R&B superstar. He is immediately into her and promises her a career in the music industry. He is 28 and Chant, 17. He knows. After they meet, they start texting each other and a relationship that could be described as mentor-apprentice turns romantic. Things don't feel right though. We know he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, we know he is grooming her but Chant doesn't realise what he is doing; how could she? She believes he's her fairytale. But the fairytale soon enough becomes a nightmare. Tiffany D. Jackson doesn't shy away from showing the horror of what Chant goes through and she goes through a lot. And the worst of it all is that what she is exploring is not really fiction and it was just a difficult read overall. Trigger warnings for grooming, ...

Writers & Lovers by Lily King . I ended up enjoying this novel although at the beginning I had issues with the writing style and wasn't particularly keen on the main character. However, page by page she got under my skin and I learnt to care for her. She is not only dealing with grief but also trying to find her place in the world alongside navigating life, making mistakes and being unable to understand fully your own self. It's not a book for everybody but I am glad I read it. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr . This is the first in the Penguin Modern boxset - I am attempting to make my way through all 50 titles - and contains as well the sermon 'The Three Dimensions of Complete Life'. I will say I enjoyed the first one more than the second one mainly because is more religious-focused which is not something I connect with. However, the issues he raised in both essays are very important and I do recommend reading this one. SLAY by Brittney Morr...

Summerwater by Sarah Moss . Okay, so here is what I liked: one, the interior monologue; it was so interesting to read what each character was thinking and how we are all morally compromised one way or another. We follow quite a few characters and each and every one of them had a distinctive voice. This is probably the most impressive element of the story in my opinion as there is so much to unpack throughout and two, the dark atmosphere accomplished. Now onto my main problem: the rushed ending; what was the point of it all? Not just the rushing per se but what the actual ending was. It was such a big contrast to how the story was being built and how atmospheric everything was to then boom, done... and I don't know, it felt flat for me and not at all impactful. I am pretty sure Moss intended the ending to be as it is but whereas it might work for some readers, it didn't for me. As a whole it reads more like a connected short story collection than a novel. The Year of the Witchi...

"Hamnet, here, on this stage, is two people, the young man, alive, and the father, dead. He is both alive and dead. Her husband has brought him back to life, in the only way he can. As the ghost talks, she sees that her husband, in writing this, in taking the role of the ghost, has changed places with his son. He has taken his son's dead and made it his own: he has put himself in death's clutches, resurrecting the boy in his place [...] He has, Agnes sees, done what any father would wish to do, to exchange his child's suffering for his own, to take his place, to offer himself up in his child's stead so that the boy might live." You better believe I got emotional typing that quote. Maggie O'Farrell has destroyed my heart but also mended it at the same time. Her writing is gorgeous, so fluid, so lyrical. Hamnet  is divided into two parts. The first one we have alternating chapters going from the time Hamnet and Judith get sick, to when Agnes and her soon-to-...

  This book has been on my shelves since last year but I always felt extremely intimidated by it; not just in terms of size but also in regards to the writing. Heavy academic non-fiction is always the hardest to pick up in my case. However I decided to join the readathon going on during june and july. It took me two months to read it completely but it is one of the best books I've read this year, one that I will go back to: to my notes and the pages and pages of highlighted paragraphs. There is not a single page that remains untouched. And it was a tough reading experience for sure. I thought I knew about racism in American and turns out I knew some things but not enough, or I didn't know the whole picture. A fitting example is Lincoln and the Civil War. We studied it at school but I can tell you, not in the right way. It was all simplified. North vs South. Good vs Evil. Lincoln and the North fighting to end slavery and free the enslaved. And one can say: well, he indeed accomp...

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud [tw: homophobia, domestic violence & self-harm]. This novel is beautifully written and devastatingly, yet hopeful. We follow three main characters and all of them got under my skin. They go through so much and it's nearly impossible not to care for them, even when their actions and decisions frustrated me due to lack of communication. If only they had sat down to talk things through... but alas, that is also life. Love and its multiple representations are done so well. I was an emotional mess by the end and it's gonna take awhile before I can say goodbye to Betty, Chetan and Solo. Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert. I adored this. It had me rolling from page 1 and it's such an addictive story - it plays with the fake relationship trope which I love - that it was almost impossible to put down. Dani and Zafir were absolutely adorable and their banter was *chef's kiss*. Despite its light tone, Hibbert deals once again with ser...

Akelarre en Nueva York by M. H. Gorostiza follows Lilith, an immortal witch who wakes up in present day New York to help British spy Benjamin Solomon to bring down a criminal organisation. I had a lot of fun with this one. It is true that it's a debut and as such it has some faults - for me, the most noteworthy is the excessive repetition of the same details throughout the novel - but the plot is intriguing from the get go and the author's writing style reminded me of Victoria Álvarez's. As a whole, the mix of fantasy (Basque mythology) and history is probably the element I loved the most; in fact, I wish there were more chapters focused on 1610's Navarre, the witches and Lilith's past - which it's something I hope is explored in the next installments as well as the rest of the character's backstories. Akelarre was sent to me by the author but all opinions are my own. Beach Read by Emily Henry . I really enjoyed this novel. It wasn't cheesy ...

A multi-generational family saga which begins in 1750 when Kintu Kidda, a clan elder and leader of the Kintu clan in the Buganda kingdom, unleashes upon himself and his descendants a terrible curse. I would describe Kintu as a compelling yet extremely complex novel. My only criticism is that I found the ending too abrupt. Throughout the novel we follow some of his descendants and how "the curse" has affected them. I found the way she uses said curse to explore different issues - from mental health problems to the HIV outbreak, but also parental abandonment and religion among others - and how it is the perfect excuse to justify certain problems the characters are facing absolutely fascinating. Most of the descendants are aware of the curse as well so it is interesting to read about how each of them deals with the different problems in their lives. I didn't find all storylines equally engaging and I wish some character's stories were longer than others but all...

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert . I really enjoyed this. For some weird reason I thought this was YA but no, definitely not YA considering all the steamy, graphic scenes. I will say I wish the story was longer so certain issues would have been explored a lot more since the problems both main characters were facing were incredibly important (Chloe has fibromyalgia and Red is dealing with the emotional/psychological consequences of a previous abusive relationship) but I also understand that despite all that, this book is meant to be about two people realising they are perfect for each other. It's supposed to be light-hearted, about the joys of finding the one, without forgetting that Chloe is dealing with a chronic illness and Red with psychological trauma. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston . I enjoyed it despite being cheesy and fluffy because all characters were adorable and I had a nice time reading it. It has its problems but as romance is not rea...

La acusación by Banti (translated by Héctor Bofill & Hye Young Yu). I normally don't read short story collections because they tend to be a hit or miss for me but I was intrigued by this one. As always, I enjoyed some stories more than others but, as a whole, the collection is a worthy read and it paints the very bleak reality for millions of people in North Korea. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh . This novel was a ride for sure! Very dark, somewhat vulgar and extremely compelling for sure; however, the ending threw me off completely and although it might have worked for some readers, it didn't for me. What I "liked" (for lack of a better word) the most was the depiction of depression through both the main character and her friend Reva - two different people dealing with the same malady in such different ways. Follow

After seeing a bunch of negative reviews and a lot of people dnfing this I was scared. But it also helped me to lower my expectations and just go into it with an open mind. And what can I say? I truly enjoyed this. I won't deny that it took me awhile to get into the story, the beginning can be confusing due to two elements: one, the story isn't told in a lineal way and two, there is a lot of information thrown at you from the start. These two elements, on their own, aren't confusing per se but put together? they could be. You have to pay attention and stay focused while reading, otherwise a lot of it will go over your head. Most people I know who dnfed it, did it before the 100 pages mark and I can see why. Not everybody is gonna enjoy that. In my case, I was intrigued from the start and all the information that Bardugo lays out, despite feeling a bit info-dumpy sometimes, was related to magic and the secret societies in Yale and I was like, yes please give me more. I...

I have mixed feeling about this. I love the setting but the pacing was off for me. It took too long for the story to set off and once you think it does, it goes to its slow-pacing again; for me it lost its momentum and I found myself not interested midway through. Thankfully it picked up again and I was in for a ride. What I loved the most was the setting and the gothic atmosphere Waters created. The entire story is written in a very subtle way, even the answers given - blink and you miss it kinda way. It's such a pity that although I cared for the characters, I also didn't fully connect with them. Meaning that I felt sorry for them but at the same time... I didn't? It's a weird thing to explain. I did feel sorry for Gyp though... However, the issues Waters discussed and how she did it was spot on. I loved the commentary on class and its decadency in post-war England, but also the frustration of those who try to raise above their status because despite bein...

The Overstory is divided in four parts. The first one introduces us, individually, to the entire cast of characters. In the consecutive parts of the novel their stories unravel and at the same time come together. This is not an easy read. It was quite tedious and repetitive at times in my opinion but the beautiful language (and here I have to shout out the impressive Spanish translation by Teresa Lanero) and the story that Powell wanted to tell made me turn the pages. I will be honest and say that I asked for the Spanish translation for my birthday because I felt very intimidated by the original text and I’m glad I did because I would’ve probably dnfed this if I had read it in English. The Overstory is a thoughtful novel and it demands from its reader. It is a novel to reflect on our reality. The trees do not need saving (“As if forests were waiting all these four hundred million years for us newcomers to come cure them.”) Nature knows best; she adapts and regenerates...