alphonzs's reviews
64 reviews

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

It started a bit dry for me with a bunch of dates, names, and what was looking more like a history of accounting, but once we started getting stories about artists, writers, and the many uses notebooks have been given, it soared. It's written in an engaging way, it's very well documented making many references and putting together story after story into a coherent history of notebooks, their origin, making, and many uses over time. My only caveat is the lack of eastern stories, it focuses almost entirely on Europe, even though Japan has such a big stationary market, China with inks and paper, it feels odd having just a quick short mention.

Definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in stationary, even more to those who like the idea or keep themselves a sketchbook, journal, or a notebook for whatever purpose they deem.

I was hoping to find inspiration or new ideas for my own notebooks and I came out with plentiful of both.

I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

I liked this better than the first one, although it's darker and goes into more challenging issues, so you might want to check the Content Warnings.

For the author things got a lot worse before getting better, it moved to topics of weight management, dieting, and self-harm. I saw glimpses of being more at odds with the psychiatrist recommendations which I felt make the story more grounded.

It's a therapy memoir and a deeply personal story, so it feels wrong to say whether I liked it or not, but I don't regret reading it. It made me aware to be careful about how I talk to people, we don't really know what struggles and burdens everyone else is carrying.

I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.75

t's therapy transcriptions with some commentary bits and a few mental health - life short reflections from a woman with mild depression (dysthymia).

You might extract some insights depending on your personal struggles, but if anything it's a reading that brings the comfort of knowing we all struggle, and it's ok, you can move forward.

Critical Failures by Robert Bevan

adventurous fast-paced

1.5

the further I went the worse it got. Audiobook narration added an extra layer of cringe to the cliched bad taste jokes.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Racism

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The author's first book, The Mountain in the Sea, led me to read this, and I wasn't disappointed. This light novel, in a short span of under 100 pages, packs quite a punch. 

The main events deal with poachers, elephants, and their ancient cousins the mammoths. It speculates on de-extinction and narrates cruel events in a human greed impacted future. I was a bit confused at the start, which always happens to me when there are POV changes or time shifts, but by page 30 I was settled in the story and enjoyed a direct ride until I finished it.

The writing feels very well researched, it brings fictional events to a very near feel of reality –of what is and what could be.

Loved it 🧡

Moonbound by Robin Sloan

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I feel like summarizing anything might ruin the surprises along the read. It's mostly sci-fi and fantasy —there are castles, "dragons", wizards, a scholars college, talking beavers, a boy on a quest, an adventure— It has lots of weird, fun ideas and turns, with threads of technology and modern culture references that enrich the setting, making it a very interesting world.

It's been a while since I got the tingly feeling of excitment and surprise while reading an adventure, those moments of revelation that surprise you when you thought that you knew where things were going next, or push you into an even more mysterious —don't know what is happening but I'm enjoying this ride— direction.

There is a pulse in this story that pulls me to try mapmaking, to explore, and to creatively experiment. For me it was a spark that ignited some slumbering ideas and made my imagination crank up a few revolutions.

I had a really good time reading this!

The White and Blue Between Us by Kiyuhiko

fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

It's very mid in most aspects. 
The art looks good but nothing remarkable. 
The story starts OK but it falls off the cliff real fast. The conflict is set well in the first part, then we don't get much explanied and suddenly all is solved and it ends. Has a spicy scene in between.

Edition and translation feel well done.

Robotics;Notes Volume 1 by 5pb.

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

4.0

 The story follows Aki and Kai, the only two members of a Robotics Club at their high school. Aki is super optimistic, and her only goal is to finish building a life size robot left behind by her older sister and founder of the club. Kai is mostly there because Aki has been his friend since they were children, he's more into an online robot fighting game, and will only agree to do anything being asked from him if you can beat him in a fighting match. 

 

Having played the original Visual Novel in japanese I can say that the translation is great, at least I have a feeling of consuming the same story. It has character profile pages in between chapters and I always love when they have them. Only weird thing is that some of the onomatopoeia aren't translated, so you see a "Buzz" next to japanese characters. 

 

The art is nice and doesn't go over the top, which is what puts me off from reading certain manga, it conveys the scenes really well. 

 

Overall a great localization of a science adventure story. Can't wait for the next volumes.

Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

 Horror is a genre that I haven’t really touched until now. I’m more of a sci-fi and fantasy reader, but I set myself the goal to read outside of my comfort zone for this year, and I’m very glad I did. 

Maggie’s Grave is a campy slasher 80’s horror story, and an incredibly fun read at that. It’s gory, has lots of action, and it offers plenty of over the top moments -ritual sacrifice with james blunt soundtrack- that are kind of silly but in a really fun way.

Totally recommend it if slasher horror sounds like something you might enjoy. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood