santhanakana's reviews
94 reviews

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

5.0

I thoroughly enjoyed memoirs but was wildly shocked to discover the whole foreword was fiction! What do u mean this is not based on a real story ?????????? That being said I ate this shit up!!!!!! I was soo invested in chiyo’s journey in becoming Sayuri the geisha that it was so easy to forget that this book was written by a white man. It felt so real and authentic!!! Clearly babe slayed the research and it was a fantastic introduction to Japanese geisha culture for someone who knows nothing about it! 

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

3.0

Feel like my review is impacted by the fact I took a huge break from reading in between. I’m a sucker for a cheeky homo love story and Ludwitz great love letter in this book did serve! I loved reading about communist Russia and I too love Giovannis room! This is not a 5* for me perhaps bc of the lengthy break I took, which meant sometimes I just wanted the book to end oops! 

Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir by Dolly Alderton

4.0

I loved this read! Thought it was a page turner and so many real moments, which I ate up!!!!! Icl was it necessary to have that many recipes and long winded emails! (The first few were amusing but then was just a bit much init)

Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai

5.0

I ate this book up from start to finish! Loved everything about it! Arjie, you such a cutie adai! Incredibly well written, I couldn’t put it down!!!! Six stories in one, w a backdrop of Sri Lanka and following a Tamil family, YES FUCKING PLS XX 

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

2.0

I’m sorry really forced myself to finish this! Started off promising but by the last few stories, I was bored!!!! Daring ideas but boring execution ! I want a robo- dog tho but without the dead person sentiment behind it…

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

4.0

What a harrowing read! The prose was everything! Lit poetic! Why is it that police and sexual exploitation and abuse is paired together often?? Extremely disturbing. This book will stay w me!!! Trevor and Kiara, you will be happy! 

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

4.0

Beautifully written stories that lit moved me so much 😩😩😩 I don’t remember anything about Cuban revolution and Castro from school so I liked this intimate insight through pov of women! Have to say tho the jumping from diff timelines and locations was low-key jarring cause I could never remember the dates I had read before ! Otherwise a must read !!!! 

Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors by Aravind Jayan

3.75

What a lovely well written easy read! Set in contemporary India, which I found really fun and interesting! Can’t believe they were doing bits in a park tho like brown ppl be living the same lives all over the world! (Not me) Thought Sree was a dickhead aswell like why u being so horrid to ur brother weirdo!

Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

5.0

What a flawless flawless book! Such an important read! Palestine you will be Free!!!!!!! Beautiful poetry about love and loss and how violence is a cycle and oppressed people in turn become violent. May you live forever Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine you will be free! 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

3.5

Addie la rue, you had the chance to travel the world for 300 years and you stayed in Paris and New York for nearly all three hundred xxx not only r u boring but even ur love interest Henry was low-key boring xxx this book was repetitive and maybe that was the point but we get it Addie living forever and not being remembered is tough xxx the last part of the book defo picks up! Luc is much more interesting and sexy and their love story was soooo much better!!!! It’s hard to buy into her sacrifice at the end bc her and Henry didn’t have this BIG HUGE BESUTIFUL LIFE CHANGINF love story! There’s was a bit drab! Anyway I still enjoyed and liked this book haha