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pinkblingd's reviews
21 reviews
All That Consumes Us by Erica Waters
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A delicious goth novel after so long!
This book reminded me so much of Rebecca and Manderly — my mind made a visual map of every main character and who they were playing from Rebecca. I imagined it to be a modernized version of the book with a stronger, more relatable, bisexual protagonist who wants to finish schooling and make ends meet with her janitorial job.
Except. The story used the flesh and bones of Rebecca and was reborn as something unexpected. Night time adventures at the graveyard, suspiciously supernatural moments, secret societies, beautiful old schools, the loud buzzing of circadas, old journals, found families, conversations around trust and feelings. I love goth but I have read very few — and I loved this!
This book reminded me so much of Rebecca and Manderly — my mind made a visual map of every main character and who they were playing from Rebecca. I imagined it to be a modernized version of the book with a stronger, more relatable, bisexual protagonist who wants to finish schooling and make ends meet with her janitorial job.
Except. The story used the flesh and bones of Rebecca and was reborn as something unexpected. Night time adventures at the graveyard, suspiciously supernatural moments, secret societies, beautiful old schools, the loud buzzing of circadas, old journals, found families, conversations around trust and feelings. I love goth but I have read very few — and I loved this!
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I cried a lot over the last few chapters. A part in the beginning traumatized me. The addiction part was triggering. My review is going to be short and brief:
a truly beautiful book, painful.
a truly beautiful book, painful.
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, and War
Trigger warnings ⚠️
animal abuse, domestic violence, war/PTSD, addiction, family trauma, queer trauma
The Secret of Candlelight Inn, Volume 139 by Carolyn Keene
5.0
Is returning to a childhood favourite read a bad idea? This luckily wasn't! I think I can totally pick more of Nancy Drew mysteries when I need something less immersive.
(I mean, yeah three white women are the lead. And OK the housekeeper's only priority seems to be Nancy and her father. And do they need to highlight Bess and her eating habits so often?)
Ned, my first literary crush (or was it Laurie?), wasn't in this book. I do look forward to reading a book that includes him.
(I mean, yeah three white women are the lead. And OK the housekeeper's only priority seems to be Nancy and her father. And do they need to highlight Bess and her eating habits so often?)
Ned, my first literary crush (or was it Laurie?), wasn't in this book. I do look forward to reading a book that includes him.
Blue Period, Vol. 1 by Tsubasa Yamaguchi
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
"...is kinda nice isn't it? Shibuya in the early morning..."
Just before dawn and in the last hour of the night, Yatora tries to put into words how the beauty of the city makes him feel ... only to be teased by his friend. But the feeling stays in memory and unfurls itself in his painting in the art class. Guided by his art teacher and seniors, Yatura learns about what it means to practice art seriously, practice over talent, techniques, exercises, opportunities, and most importantly, expressing himself.
Just before dawn and in the last hour of the night, Yatora tries to put into words how the beauty of the city makes him feel ... only to be teased by his friend. But the feeling stays in memory and unfurls itself in his painting in the art class. Guided by his art teacher and seniors, Yatura learns about what it means to practice art seriously, practice over talent, techniques, exercises, opportunities, and most importantly, expressing himself.
Eden Abandoned by Shinie Antony
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What I absolutely loved about the book:
- Lilith's cynicism and character dissection of Adam and God is so on point, merciless, hilarious, and, well, satisfactory.
- Lilith regularly draws attention to made-in-god's-form-Adam's act, God's cruelty, and the sexism in the retelling of her stories
- The beauty of breaking down the truths of the garden of Eden and the world beyond — heteronormative societies, shame and duty, capitalism and pornography, equality and marriage.
- The emo-badass narration
And yet, I did not enjoy the second half.
.
.
.
Maybe I expected Lilith to be something other than Lilith. Maybe a book that's exhaustively around Lilith's 'revenge' phase isn't such a great idea. But then, even outside it, there was so much of Adam in her mind... it just was too much for me.
- Lilith's cynicism and character dissection of Adam and God is so on point, merciless, hilarious, and, well, satisfactory.
- Lilith regularly draws attention to made-in-god's-form-Adam's act, God's cruelty, and the sexism in the retelling of her stories
- The beauty of breaking down the truths of the garden of Eden and the world beyond — heteronormative societies, shame and duty, capitalism and pornography, equality and marriage.
- The emo-badass narration
And yet, I did not enjoy the second half.
.
.
.
Maybe I expected Lilith to be something other than Lilith. Maybe a book that's exhaustively around Lilith's 'revenge' phase isn't such a great idea. But then, even outside it, there was so much of Adam in her mind... it just was too much for me.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Siddhartha is an inquisitive and privileged young man born into a Brahmin family. He goes through the motions of his pre-built pious lifestyle with a dissatisfaction building inside him; how can these men claim to know the secrets of life when they are rarely happy? Is there a god? The sacrifices and incantations are impressive but is that all? And so he leaves his home with his loyal friend Govinda to learn the truth about life — from here, I absolutely start hating Siddhartha.
So, begins the journey of a privileged, eloquent, arrogant, literate man seeking answers with free rides and meals — yes, I get that's the path of a seaker and I'm all for it. But I have read a monk's story, just the one yes, and absolutely no one gets all these opportunities/meals easily. Seems like the author either does not understand monkhood or, more likely, he was highlighting Siddhartha's skill in persuading people, finding opportunities, and getting by. Siddhartha is even surprised at one point when he realises that not everyone can read and write. But to be fair, that's Siddhartha's journey, I guess I just would have preferred a smarter protagonist with love and compassion to get through such a book.
Siddhartha learns from the samanas and later travels to meet the Buddha, it's set in that timeline, yes. While his heart is filled with love for Buddha, he has come to believe that nothing good comes from learning second hand. Words cannot convey what enlightenment feel like. To truly attain enlightenment, one has to trek to nirvana on their own. I'm all for this but pages 40 to 119 I absolutely hated the protagonist and I sometimes had to read a paragraph over 5 times cause I could not stop rolling my eyes and I lost track of what I had read. 🙈
The last 40 pages are definitely beautiful, intelligent, and delivers the wisdom the book promised. I'm just not sure I needed to go through so much to get there — I mean, sure we all live in the chaos of samsara BUT I just don't relate to Siddhartha with his lack of compassion, love, respect and most importantly, disdain for everyone around him.
Another reason to hate him is his very inconsistent perspectives — sometimes the people in the society are 'child-like' and 'fearful'. Otherwise times he is 'childlike' and 'wise'. This happened so many times! And the Brahmin identity — goes off and then it's there again.
And the way women are written (just two in the whole book, BTW). Even if it's Siddhartha's perspectives when he was in his asshole phase, there's no attempt to remedy the way women, women's 'lust' and 'greed' and woman's aging body is written.
The last 40 pages pacified me and directed my thoughts to much calmer places and places I was hoping this book would lead me to.
So, begins the journey of a privileged, eloquent, arrogant, literate man seeking answers with free rides and meals — yes, I get that's the path of a seaker and I'm all for it. But I have read a monk's story, just the one yes, and absolutely no one gets all these opportunities/meals easily. Seems like the author either does not understand monkhood or, more likely, he was highlighting Siddhartha's skill in persuading people, finding opportunities, and getting by. Siddhartha is even surprised at one point when he realises that not everyone can read and write. But to be fair, that's Siddhartha's journey, I guess I just would have preferred a smarter protagonist with love and compassion to get through such a book.
Siddhartha learns from the samanas and later travels to meet the Buddha, it's set in that timeline, yes. While his heart is filled with love for Buddha, he has come to believe that nothing good comes from learning second hand. Words cannot convey what enlightenment feel like. To truly attain enlightenment, one has to trek to nirvana on their own. I'm all for this but pages 40 to 119 I absolutely hated the protagonist and I sometimes had to read a paragraph over 5 times cause I could not stop rolling my eyes and I lost track of what I had read. 🙈
The last 40 pages are definitely beautiful, intelligent, and delivers the wisdom the book promised. I'm just not sure I needed to go through so much to get there — I mean, sure we all live in the chaos of samsara BUT I just don't relate to Siddhartha with his lack of compassion, love, respect and most importantly, disdain for everyone around him.
Another reason to hate him is his very inconsistent perspectives — sometimes the people in the society are 'child-like' and 'fearful'. Otherwise times he is 'childlike' and 'wise'. This happened so many times! And the Brahmin identity — goes off and then it's there again.
And the way women are written (just two in the whole book, BTW). Even if it's Siddhartha's perspectives when he was in his asshole phase, there's no attempt to remedy the way women, women's 'lust' and 'greed' and woman's aging body is written.
The last 40 pages pacified me and directed my thoughts to much calmer places and places I was hoping this book would lead me to.
Men Explain Things to Me: And Other Essays (Best of Granta) by Rebecca Solnit
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Rebecca Solnit starts the book with her famous essay 'Men Explain Things to Me' — inspired by a meeting with a powerful man where he explained her own book to her, and delves into the systematic silencing of women. In her other essays she talks about the silent global war (violence) against women, marriage equality, gender roles in marriage, and women's fight for credibility in speaking against sexual assault/rape.
She draws attention to the fact that women being silenced and not having credibility in speaking their own experience are connected cultural issues, and not isolated problems. The essays also cover how multiple generations of women and modern feminism have given us the language and means to examine, understand, talk, push back, report such issues.
Reading this book feels great because it's one thing to know the reality of the world we live in but another entirely to be able to detail, deliver facts, and argue with such cold clarity.
She draws attention to the fact that women being silenced and not having credibility in speaking their own experience are connected cultural issues, and not isolated problems. The essays also cover how multiple generations of women and modern feminism have given us the language and means to examine, understand, talk, push back, report such issues.
Reading this book feels great because it's one thing to know the reality of the world we live in but another entirely to be able to detail, deliver facts, and argue with such cold clarity.
Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
I love all of Lauren's books. They seem to me a lot like Lauren (because as a fan I of course know her 😅): they start off like listening to a coffee junkie and you try hard to get in sync with them; but soon enough you are there (CH3) and you're laughing and nodding and hugging this friend who is a lot like you and me — little like Lorelei but not really.
And the most honest part of all of her books, even the fiction one:
about working hard, monotony, career dead ends, making career jumps, learning, sweating the small stuff, learning to not sweat the small stuff, more hard work and monotony.
The personal stuff:
I almost complained about Lauren covering deeper emotions with a lighter approach to her story, not what I'm used to in memoirs. But even with the light narration, you know the inner turmoil she's sharing; her worries, anxieties, looking for answers, seeing 'signs'. There are even couple responses about being single and loving the people and children in her life that share emotions she wouldn't get into with the public. And in later chapers she does share something so personal, it makes me think back to the first memoir where she shared the same story but without revealing the pain (because it can upset the ones involved).
Don't miss these two chapters:
- Marmalade 🍊
- I feel bad about Nora Ephron's neck (about aging 💙)
- Ryan Gosling cannot confirm (About Hollywood and late night talk shows where she shares so much without revealing much — Don't worry. Absolutely nothing negative about RG in here. It's not even about him. Well, mostly not)
The best part:
Lauren's elaborate bits + Laurens one-breath-elaborate-storytelling 💛💛💛💛
And the most honest part of all of her books, even the fiction one:
about working hard, monotony, career dead ends, making career jumps, learning, sweating the small stuff, learning to not sweat the small stuff, more hard work and monotony.
The personal stuff:
I almost complained about Lauren covering deeper emotions with a lighter approach to her story, not what I'm used to in memoirs. But even with the light narration, you know the inner turmoil she's sharing; her worries, anxieties, looking for answers, seeing 'signs'. There are even couple responses about being single and loving the people and children in her life that share emotions she wouldn't get into with the public. And in later chapers she does share something so personal, it makes me think back to the first memoir where she shared the same story but without revealing the pain (because it can upset the ones involved).
Don't miss these two chapters:
- Marmalade 🍊
- I feel bad about Nora Ephron's neck (about aging 💙)
- Ryan Gosling cannot confirm (About Hollywood and late night talk shows where she shares so much without revealing much — Don't worry. Absolutely nothing negative about RG in here. It's not even about him. Well, mostly not)
The best part:
Lauren's elaborate bits + Laurens one-breath-elaborate-storytelling 💛💛💛💛