sandrinepal's reviews
1234 reviews

Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A pretty even 3 stars. The book is very effective in its Cold-War spy genre, with the British twist adding some local color. The family tragedy that ostensibly underpins the whole thing is actually a pretty disappointing plotline. I was also not a big fan of the will-they-won't-they love interest plot, but I get that you have to give the people what they want.

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

challenging dark informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

For me, this novel bookended itself. The start with the author's notes to his editor about the pronunciation of the Aztec names and the choices he made in defining words (or not) was really engaging, if a little surprising at first. The ending is quite simply some of the very best literary fireworks I've read in a while. I wish I taught Spanish so I could assign some passages to students. It's a master class of historical-dark-magical realism; you have to read it for yourself. Everything in between was more humdrum, although in fairness the book does build up to both Cortés and Moctezuma's respective demise. Special mention for how much it sucked to be a female in 16th century Tenochtitlan.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I am sold on the hype, you guys! This book really lived up to its glowing reviews. I was a little wary initially because of the kinda-college-dropout in the Midwest trope: I was bracing myself for some tortured introspection, but life catches up to Cyrus pretty quickly and in deeply gripping ways. The interwoven plots flow side by side beautifully. The denouement is oddly satisfying, partly because of the way it melds together objective facts and Cyrus's technicolor epiphany.

How to Hug A Porcupine: Easy Ways to Love the Difficult People in Your Life by Debbie Joffe Ellis

informative fast-paced

1.75

A big 'MEH' for me: this doesn't really deliver on the lofty promise of helping you deal with difficult people. For one thing, the delineation of work, family and significant others was really trite and the advice predictably repetitive across categories. Essentially, "let yourself be guided by empathy" is the long and the short of it. Saved you a book. You're welcome.

Into the Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

A cute story, in which the waffle-loving Marcel the bear (living incarnation of the snooze button) delivers all the wisdom of ruby slippers to a would-be escape artist. Highly relatable, in other words. Sure, the uncut grass has its appeal, but for me it's bed and waffles all the way. 

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

challenging funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

Picture if you will a Venn diagram. One side is studying the history of Puritanism in English from 1559 to 1642 in excruciating detail for an exam. This side is replete with obscure concepts like sermon-gadding, double-predestination and even more obscure people like all the archbishops of Canterbury and their underlings. So it's fair to say that this side of the diagram is pretty much the Death Star of Puritanism. On the other side of the diagram sits Sarah Vowell and all the life-affirming associations of listening to This American Life in the early 2000s. It's the era of David Rakoff, John Hodgman and David Sedaris, Ira Glass leading the NPR Jedis. Well, this book is the intersection of the diagram. It's fun and boring, it's erudite and tongue-in-cheek, it's earnest and... well, unapologetically into its less-than-sexy topic. It was also a very American-centric perspective, a welcome chaser to my all-English curriculum last year.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome by Michael Parenti

challenging informative inspiring slow-paced

3.25

In the tradition of Howard Zinn, Parenti takes a different prism to the well-worn facts about Caesar, his assassination and its aftermath. Populism gets a bad rap these days because of... well, you-know-who. And that's as it should be. But this book reminds us that there is a difference between pandering (i.e. making campaign promises to a base whom you will wholly fail to represent) and actual populism (i.e. including provisions in your platform for those citizens less wealthy than yourself or your coterie). Caesar was no Mother Teresa (in fact, there's a decent chance that Mother Teresa was no Mother Teresa either) but he was loyal to his veterans and that clearly rankled enough for 23 stab wounds.

The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts by Louis Bayard

emotional funny informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This one really came out of nowhere for me. I added it to the to-read pile on the strength of its being part of the New York Times best books of 2024 list, but my expectations for the book were middling. Historical fiction, late 19th century, Brits being Brits (no need to scream: I am well aware that Wilde was Irish-born, but the focus of the book is very much British)... What could go wrong? But also, what could possibly catch me off-guard? Welp, consider me bowled over. The book strikes a fine balance between an indictment of Wilde's "deserting" his family and an empathetic account of the passionate affair that took over his life. Bayard does a phenomenal job of capturing the sparkling wit that we would all like to think permeated Wilde's life at all times. Everyone is so gosh-darned pithy, it's an all-you-can-read quip buffet. Realistic? I couldn't say, but who needs that, anyway? Constance Lloyd rises like so much rich cream to the top of the whole narrative. She's at once a martyr to her husband's dalliances and a strikingly modern female figure. Act five of this "Novel in Five Acts" is unexpectedly optimistic, like a splash of magical realism to exorcise the bleakness that precedes it. I'm sure you could criticize it for being too much of a Hollywood ending, but I'm on board with it anyway.

Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality by Renee DiResta

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

This was very reminiscent of Max Fischer's "The Chaos Machine", which I read in 2023. The biggest difference (other than this being more recent) is that DiResta is personally involved in the fight against disinformation (through her work at Stanford), whereas Fischer treated the subject with his New York Times hat firmly secured on his head. The result is both interesting, as firsthand accounts can be, and a bit less compelling because of the perceived victimization. The history of "influencing" as a means of spreading information was probably the most interesting part of the book for me. The Russian troll farms, Gamergate and the 2020 elections felt more cobbled together and/or already over-analyzed.

Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux

adventurous dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This is a fictionalized account of the future George Orwell's years in the British police in Burma in the early 20th century. I was this-book years old when I learned that Blair was actually born in India, of parents who had emigrated there from England (and who also moved back to said Blighty when Eric was still a young child). It stands to reason, then, that Blair/Orwell was raised on a steady diet of Kipling and tales of glory days. In fact, when he meets his cousins upon being stationed in Burma, he finds nothing but faded grandeur and the bottom of imperial decline. I was a sucker for this book, partly because I am sold on anything that casts a critical eye on British imperialism in the subcontinent. I enjoyed it also partly because we have been drinking from a "1984" firehose for a few years now. It was fascinating to read about the genesis of George Orwell as a writer who bit the hand that fed his family for several generations. There is foreshadowing of "1984", particularly of Julia. Scenes of Eric's Eton education are morbidly fascinating, but also speak to suffering from and enforcing order as part of a perverse logic.