joymargot's reviews
100 reviews

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum

3.0

I had high hopes for this as I love a cosy translated book about books, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to. The story is meandering and the dialogue is often stilted, although that may have been the translation. The characters felt rather one dimensional and all seemed to be suffering with the same directionless-ness! 

With that said, I definitely didn’t have a bad time, and the notion of “downshifting” really resonated with me.

Definitely worth a read, but I personally preferred What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for the ARC.

If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot

3.0

This isn’t the sort of book I’d usually pick up for myself but I received it as a birthday gift. The opening pages nearly put me off but I promise, it’s worth persevering!

As a vegan and animal lover, I have complex feelings about the farming of livestock but it was nevertheless interesting to read about it in a more historical context.

Some parts are rather “of their time” and I can’t imagine many of the characters would have been particularly thrilled by their unflattering depictions! But my goodness, the chapters about Mrs Pumphrey and her beloved Pekinese, Tricki Woo had me in stitches!

Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto

4.0

I received this as a birthday gift as I love Japanese translations and mysteries but it turned out to also scratch a third neurodivergent itch: Maths and timetables 💁🏻‍♀️

It’s definitely of it’s time but provides a fascinating snapshot of 1950s Japan. It was a little repetitive in parts, as many Japanese novels seem to be.

It’s a speedy and engaging read and I always enjoy the smug feeling of solving a mystery before the characters!

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

3.0

I read Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares back to back. Unfortunately, Taylor assumes her readers have completely forgotten everything that happened in the first book and it feels almost choked with recaps and over explanation. It might not have been as obvious if I had been a bit less familiar with Strange but I found it rather off-putting.

While it was wonderful to be reunited with the characters of the first novel and find out what happened to them, I didn’t find the sequel as gripping or enjoyable and I wasn’t hugely invested in the newly introduced characters.

I’m glad I read it but I’m not sure I would re-read it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault

Strange the Dreamer: The Magical International Bestseller by Laini Taylor

4.0

I’m not a big fantasy reader but received this as a birthday gift. It took me a little while to get into it and make my peace with a couple of fantasy tropes but I was hooked by the end and immediately read the sequel!

I loved the worldbuilding and the characters although I found the romance a little cheesy. Parts of it felt a bit heavy handed as I personally prefer a little more subtlety or subtext but I appreciate that it’s aimed at a younger audience.

All in all, a great fantasy read whether you’re a fan of the genre or not and it’s refreshing to have a MC who’s not a hulking great dreamboat.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault

Monsters by Emerald Fennell

4.0

I thought it was a kids’ book at first due to the massive font and because the MC is 12. While the consensus seems to be that it isn’t, I feel like my creepy teen self would’ve loved it!

It’s an engaging and speedy read and I read it in a single train journey. It’s daft and macabre and I feel like this is one instance where judging it by its cover (the Hot Key Books cover at least) is a great indication of whether it’s your cup of tea.

If I gave half star ratings, this probably would’ve been a 3.5 but I don’t so I’m sticking with 4.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Sexual assault

The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada

5.0

Japanese books about bookshops and libraries are amongst my favourite types of books to read!

This was such a quick and fun read and had quite a different vibe to the other Japanese novels I’ve read.

It genuinely had me laughing me out loud at points. I didn’t realise it was autobiographical until I’d finished reading it which made some of Nanako’s interactions even more bizarre!

Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China by Yuan Yang

4.0

I’m not a huge reader of non-fiction outside of nature books but something about the blurb of Private Revolutions drew me in. I’ve not read anything like it before and found it utterly compelling!

It’s an intimate glimpse at the day to day life of four women coming of age in China. Being of a similar age to the characters really highlighted the differences between life in the East and West.

My one teeny gripe was that I struggled to keep track of which character was which between each chapter and would have preferred to read each story in turn.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for the ARC.

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

3.0

Totally chaotic but good fun, especially if you like dark comedy.

I didn’t love that so much of the humour came from the aunties getting words / phrases wrong as it doesn’t feel very cool to laugh at that, but other than that I had a good time.

Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili

4.0

I must confess that I knew almost nothing about Georgia before reading this and while reviews can’t seem to agree on how accurate a depiction is, it’s definitely inspired me to learn more about the history. Perhaps most surprising is that a 2015 flood really *did* lead to escaped zoo animals roaming the streets of Tbilisi!

Saba’s internal voices didn’t add a lot to the story for me but the juxtaposition of the breadcrumb trail of clues against the backdrop of a war-torn country was beautifully handled and kept me engaged throughout. I tore through this in a couple of days!

Thank you to Bloomsbury for the ARC.