sweetearlgrey's reviews
148 reviews

Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS by Myeongseok Kang, BTS

2.0

I'm confused as to who this is for. At first glance I would say it's for new fans, but there was little to no effort to explain any of the Korean terminology. This was written by music journalists and it's certainly easy to tell. Everything is very matter-of-fact, with no room for flair or creativity. I would shy away from calling this a memoir, as to me it reads more like a Wikipedia article. I enjoyed the interview sections, but the translations often felt very clunky and unnatural. This is something I would expect from a fan translation, not from an official biography. I'm just going to wait until Namjoon (enevitably) delivers the real BTS memoir. 

Shoko's Smile: Stories by Choi Eunyoung

5.0

In this collection each story is exceptional in its own right, but when read together they intersect thematically to create a powerful work. The stories are written in a reflective style in the first person, giving us a very intimate look into the characters' innermost thoughts and feelings. There are multiple stories that centre around platonic love, and as always I am extremely pleased to see these types of relationships explored in depth within a fictional piece. While there is an overarching theme of love, this collection also explores themes that include but are not limited to; generational/cultural differences, miscommunication, and political issues. These themes serve to perfectly capture the type of society and culture that the characters inhabit, and to point a finger at some of the inequalities born out of that cultural context. 

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

4.0

 I really enjoyed this because I enjoy Murakami, and having a similar temperament to him, I could relate to a lot of his thoughts. The point of him writing this book is not to promote running or his particular lifestyle, but to meditate on the power of setting personal goals for your own enjoyment and development, instead of succumbing to others' expectations of what you should be striving for. It appears that Murakami has built a life on following his inner ambitions, and he no longer entertains those that try to tell him otherwise.  This may or may not be your cup of tea, but it is a light and unpretentious read so I would lean towards recommending it.

The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories about Facing the Unknown by Catherine Burns

4.0

I love the work that The Moth is doing to revive the storytelling tradition, and getting to access it in book form is a gift. There is a great range to the stories included here; some detail life-altering events, while others are simply about a small moment that had a significant emotional impact. Although not every story is as compelling as the next, there is an inherent value to someone sharing what they gleaned from a formative experience. Personally, one of the main reasons I read books is to see things from a different perspective, and this offered just that. I laughed, I cried, and most importantly, I connected with and related to the emotions that the storytellers expressed. Overall, a very enjoyable and comforting read that I highly recommend to everyone.

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

4.25

Because grief is the most universal experience of all, books that discuss it are of particular interest to me. In these stories, the characters' grief permeates all aspects of their lives. What I find most noteworthy, though, is how grief can be both a destructive and a uniting force. The characters are feeling lost, but they also form deeper connections with others that are experiencing similar emotions to them. I think that's why I didn't feel sad after reading this book despite the difficult subject matter - instead I felt hopeful. The writing is also wonderfully sentimental, with the following quotes being some of my personal favourites:

In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions, much of one's life history is etched in the senses. And things of no particular importance, or irreplaceable things, can suddenly resurface in a café one winter night.

You might come to fear the next time you get a cold; it will be as bad as this, but if you just hold steady, it won't be. For the rest of your life. that's how it works. You could take the negative view and live in fear: will it happen again? But it won't hurt so much if you just accept it as a part of life.

My heart dropped out, and I was feeling what people fear the most: I touched the deepest despair a person can know... If I could get through this, morning would come, and I knew without a doubt that I would have fun again, laugh out loud. If only the sun would rise. If only morning would come.

A Ghost In The Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

reflective

A truly beautiful work that challenges expectations of what a memoir could be. Its genre-fluidity and extremely personal content is a sort of double-edged sword, as it results in something that is simultaneously authentic and obscure. No one will truly relate to her exact circumstances, but there is value in getting a glimpse into the psyche of a person desperately trying to find their place in the world as a woman and a mother. 

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Beautiful writing, and probably the best use of an unreliable narrator that I have come across. At the same time I found the content really disturbing, and physically recoiled at much of what I read. I suppose that's the point, but for that reason it's hard to say that I enjoyed the book. 

Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen

Not quite what I expected going into the book. I am interested in reading about diverse perspectives on life in China, and this was not exactly that. The stories are mostly based in China or at least led by characters that are of Chinese descent, but that isn't always central to the plot. I found the first story to be the most compelling of all, with my interest waning as the book continued. As a whole, they feel like snippets from peoples' lives rather than complete stories, with no real conclusions or overarching themes. Although it didn't meet some of my expectations, it's still a pretty solid short story collection. 

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

It's been a few weeks since I read this and I don't think about it much, which is not my usual experience with Murakami. I enjoyed some aspects of it - unreliable characters, philosophical conversations, music references, but overall it was rather dull. 

What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy

Due to the interconnected storylines and large cast of characters, it was challenging for me to get into the story at first. Once I found my ground, however, I was interested in reading about the human cost of natural disasters; how people's lives are stopped in their tracks, their homes destroyed and futures unclear. The writing depicted the sensitivity of these situations so well, and the characters felt authentic.