(Warcross #1)
by Marie Lu
I didn’t know I needed this book in my life till I started it. It’s populated with my personal wish fulfilment characters in a rainbow of representation.
Category archives: notes
Picture Us in the Light
by Kelly Loy Gilbert
** spoiler alert **
1100 Words You Need to Know
by Murray Bromberg, Melvin Gordon
The format of a page a day is superb, not overwhelming. The words are well-chosen, usefully balanced between not too common and not too obscure, but the paragraphs that are supposed to introduce the words in context are so awkward and unnatural.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil
A peripheral impression from this vital autobiography is of Clemantine’s sister Claire not seeing her as a full person in their experiences together, and how most adults don’t treat children with recognition, of having the universal capacity for pain and insecurity and dreams, and as equally … Read more
Practice Makes Perfect: French Conversation
by Eliane Kurbegov
It’s excellent to have grammar, vocabulary, and idiomatic phrases in context. Well-formatted and easy to breeze through.
Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist
by Franchesca Ramsey
The parts that are memoir are effortlessly readable. Franchesca is open and self-deprecating about the lifelong process of learning. The activist content is as titled, mostly introductory. There are some odd moments, regarding possible obsessions. Overall, it’s relatable, light-hearted, and revealingly bold.
Alter ego + 4 : Méthode de français
by Marine Antier, Joëlle Bonenfant, Gabrielle Chort, Catherine Dollez, Michel Guilloux, Sylvie Pons
Although the formatting/layout of each page is generally way too busy, it has engaging up-to-date readings, plenty of exercises, sample DELF tests, and charts of grammar in use. There’s also a CD-ROM for listening practice but I don’t … Read more
The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy
Kerala and nearly all of the characters expand into three dimensions in a story that weaves between past and present and addresses class and patriarchal structures, colonialism, family dysfunction, and the beats of a butterfly’s wing. It’s cluttered however with poetic turns of phrase that founder and repeat … Read more
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race
by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Above moments of distractingly patchy writing, this is an important work on Black British history and discourse on racism and oppressive structures in Britain and beyond.
An Unkindness of Ghosts
by Rivers Solomon
I liked the big picture of the story and the identities of the characters—women of colour, neuroatypical, queer, non-maternal. The pacing was lurching, however, with some episodes feeling out of place, others unfinished, while others still went on too long, like with the multiple flashbacks of misogynist role … Read more
Where Locals Hike in the Canadian Rockies: The Premier Trails in Kananaskis Country Near Canmore & Calgary
by Kathy Copeland
The categories were helpful, including rainy day hikes and kid-friendly hikes. GPS coordinates to trailheads would have been convenient, as the directions were generally unclearly described. Incidentally, the ‘Mt. Rundle, South Summit’ hike is marked EEOR (East End of Rundle) at the trailhead.
The Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri
In place of exploring identity and belonging, or the transformation of tradition, or class privilege, or a human voice, The Namesake is bogged with unremitting descriptions of everything in a room. Across generations the characterisation is flat and, like in Amy Tan’s novels, the American generation is the … Read more
Girls Burn Brighter
by Shobha Rao
The story in Indravalli blooms, unique to the setting, with a persuasive love anchoring Poornima and Savitha amidst poverty and patriarchal oppression. The titled theme however, despite being drummed at the reader, begins to lose coherence after successions of misery are planted along the pages. Savitha especially has … Read more
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
by Brittney Cooper
At the side of the central subjects, I identified so much with Brittney’s realisation of and being reconciled to her interpersonal skills and social aura.
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
Struggles presented as universal take on a quality of mocking delusion when the excess of protagonists (only male voices) all become famous millionaires at the top of their fields who own fabulous and plural homes and have access to private jets and Alhambra strolls. The decided main character … Read more
How to American: An Immigrant’s Guide to Disappointing Your Parents
by Jimmy O. Yang
I enjoyed reading most about his return visit to Hong Kong, his personal reflections on identity and belonging. Even tempered with self-deprecation, the rest is a little bit too in the belly of noxious standards of success and masculinity. I would be like his father, though, and … Read more
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World
by Pénélope Bagieu
I like the artwork and intention but the writing is awkward to troublesome. There’s a white feminist implication that ‘of course’ racism didn’t exist in France. Two women incidental to a featured woman are called ‘jealous shrews’. Just a couple of examples.
Difficult Women
by Roxane Gay
A collection of marriage- and baby-normative stories with nearly identical protagonists. All formidably written of course.
Homesick for Another World
by Ottessa Moshfegh
Capably written single-formula stories that are casually fatphobic, ableist, dismissive of the other while centring another ‘other’.
The Ultimate French Review and Practice
by David M. Stillman, Ronni L. Gordon
There is a lot of practice as advertised but it’s not a fun language learning resource for review. If you do learn well through steady homework, all the exercises have an answer key in the back. There is also a useful list of idiomatic … Read more