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nhborg's reviews
378 reviews
Fortunately, The Milk... by Neil Gaiman
3.0
Great illustrations and a sweet, silly story! Definitely seems like a fun thing to read together with kids:)
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
3.0
I’d hoped that I’d like this one more. I picked it up because of its intriguing premise and because I loved «The Island of Missing Trees» by Elif Shafak, but sadly this didn’t capture me nearly as much. Although there are definitely things that are beautiful, painful and important about this story, I never managed to fully connect to it. Not a bad book by any means, it deserves all the good reviews, but I didn’t get that much out of it this time around. Could also be because my head hasn’t had a lot of attention to spare for reading lately.
Elektra by Jennifer Saint
3.0
3.5
This was alright. I love to hear the stories of Greek mythology retold, and I think most of my enjoyment was derived from the myths themselves rather than this book in particular. To be honest, the writing style was passive and dry most of the time, and I didn’t feel like we were offered a new and fresh take in this retelling. I couldn’t imagine the characters in flesh; their presence was only made up of by-the-book thoughts and opinions, and they hadn’t been given any characteristics or quirks to make them feel alive. It felt like all the scenes were just played out, not lived. It was still decent entertainment, but nothing mindblowing.
(Spoiler)
I really couldn’t sympathize with Elektra. Not only does she defend her father’s infanticide and greedy claim of female slaves, but she actually envies Briseis who’s seized and raped by him…?? Or as she calls it.. «embraced» by him. That one fucked with my head tbh. I experienced her as delusional, glamorizing of her douchebag father, self-centered, uncompassionate and whiny.
I haven’t read any original texts about Elektra’s perspective so I don’t know how truthfully this is portrayed in this retelling, but I’m planning to pick up the Oresteia trilogy someday. Looking forward to that!
On another note, I can’t get over this cover design. Everytime I hold the book I get mesmerized by how gorgeous it looks lol.
This was alright. I love to hear the stories of Greek mythology retold, and I think most of my enjoyment was derived from the myths themselves rather than this book in particular. To be honest, the writing style was passive and dry most of the time, and I didn’t feel like we were offered a new and fresh take in this retelling. I couldn’t imagine the characters in flesh; their presence was only made up of by-the-book thoughts and opinions, and they hadn’t been given any characteristics or quirks to make them feel alive. It felt like all the scenes were just played out, not lived. It was still decent entertainment, but nothing mindblowing.
(Spoiler)
I really couldn’t sympathize with Elektra. Not only does she defend her father’s infanticide and greedy claim of female slaves, but she actually envies Briseis who’s seized and raped by him…?? Or as she calls it.. «embraced» by him. That one fucked with my head tbh. I experienced her as delusional, glamorizing of her douchebag father, self-centered, uncompassionate and whiny.
I haven’t read any original texts about Elektra’s perspective so I don’t know how truthfully this is portrayed in this retelling, but I’m planning to pick up the Oresteia trilogy someday. Looking forward to that!
On another note, I can’t get over this cover design. Everytime I hold the book I get mesmerized by how gorgeous it looks lol.
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
3.0
3.5
I’m long overdue finishing this; the book club meeting about this book was already more than a week ago and it is such a light read that only a few days should’ve been enough to get through.
Nevertheless, I have to say I enjoyed myself more than I expected. As always, I’m not the biggest fan of the romance genre, but what won me over in this one was the setting in STEM academia (full of politics, prestige, rivalry, uncertainty and dry science puns) and the thematization of people-pleasing and learning to be honest with oneself. In that sense the romance plotline wasn’t all there was to the story, and I mostly found interest in these secondary themes.
«Love, theoretically» wasn’t always perfect and had its cringe moments, but I generally had a nice time with it.
I’m long overdue finishing this; the book club meeting about this book was already more than a week ago and it is such a light read that only a few days should’ve been enough to get through.
Nevertheless, I have to say I enjoyed myself more than I expected. As always, I’m not the biggest fan of the romance genre, but what won me over in this one was the setting in STEM academia (full of politics, prestige, rivalry, uncertainty and dry science puns) and the thematization of people-pleasing and learning to be honest with oneself. In that sense the romance plotline wasn’t all there was to the story, and I mostly found interest in these secondary themes.
«Love, theoretically» wasn’t always perfect and had its cringe moments, but I generally had a nice time with it.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
See, this is where numeric ratings become tricky.
For the first 300 ish pages, I freaking loved this book. I laughed, I cried, I felt all the emotions and was so invested in where the story was going. But as it progressed, I started feeling less and less… I appreciated the craftmanship of the intricate web of relationships, grudges and secrets, but it started feeling like I was watching a soap opera that dragged out for too long. I found it easy to read, but not easy to pick up.
I was so sure this was going to be an absolute win for me, since everyone I’ve ever discussed it with have absolutely adored it. It was then strange to witness an overwhelming amount of 5/5 stars being thrown out in excitement by other members of the book club, while I could feel my own excitement flattening page after page. Was I really reading the same story as everyone else? Was there something wrong with me for not raving over this story? Maybe I was just not in the right head space? There was nothing I wanted more than finding a new favorite in this book, but sadly… I just couldn’t. For now I’m hoping for the latter and that there will come a day when I will reread this book and let it have its redemption.
For the first 300 ish pages, I freaking loved this book. I laughed, I cried, I felt all the emotions and was so invested in where the story was going. But as it progressed, I started feeling less and less… I appreciated the craftmanship of the intricate web of relationships, grudges and secrets, but it started feeling like I was watching a soap opera that dragged out for too long. I found it easy to read, but not easy to pick up.
I was so sure this was going to be an absolute win for me, since everyone I’ve ever discussed it with have absolutely adored it. It was then strange to witness an overwhelming amount of 5/5 stars being thrown out in excitement by other members of the book club, while I could feel my own excitement flattening page after page. Was I really reading the same story as everyone else? Was there something wrong with me for not raving over this story? Maybe I was just not in the right head space? There was nothing I wanted more than finding a new favorite in this book, but sadly… I just couldn’t. For now I’m hoping for the latter and that there will come a day when I will reread this book and let it have its redemption.
約束のネバーランド 17 [Yakusoku no Neverland 17] by Posuka Demizu, Kaiu Shirai
3.0
3.5
Probably my least favorite volume so far, mostly because it focused on characters I don’t care much about
Probably my least favorite volume so far, mostly because it focused on characters I don’t care much about