Recent Finishes/Mini Reviews (June 2023)
Recent Finishes/Mini Reviews (June 2023)
Post about books you recently finished, and if you'd like, a brief review of the book here!
If you'd like to post a more in-depth review or discussion, feel free to create your own thread if you'd like.
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Recently finished Hyperion, by Dan Simmons.
I really liked the premise of each character telling their own story. It was a lot of variety and very interesting ideas were explored in different ways in each of them.
picked up yellowface by rf kuang and finished it the same day. recommended it to my partner, who also devoured it in three days.
highly recommend if you’re looking for an easy, juicy (in the way of reality tv, so a little anxiety inducing also) read that’s about ego, publishing, the literary establishment’s treatment of minority authors, the actual mechanisms of being cancelled, and the perils of being Extremely On Twitter. a very fun summer read.
Oh! She's on my to-read list with Babel, I'll have to check this one out as well.
I just finished up Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. It's the last in her Daevabad Trilogy, an immensely entertaining work drawing from legends and myths from the Middle East. It's filled with political intrigue, memorable characters with well developed internality, and detailed world building.
It's good stuff! I had a lot of fun reading it, it's a little different than typical fare with the Middle Eastern background, and Chakraborty has an eye for plotting and characters that kept me going through a lengthy tale. I'm looking forward to reading her collection of short stories in the universe, River of Silver, and the Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, a novel set a thousand years before this trilogy.
I just picked up a really nice hardcover edition of Kipling. It has both Jungle Book 1 and 2 and a selection of Just So stories (not complete, the Amazon listing LIES!)
Hardcover with a die-cut cover and, green ink and full color illustrations from the 1930s editions. Gilt green edges, it's a fantastic copy to have!
Just finished Alone Together, by Sherry Turkle.
It's a book that dives into our relationship with technology, and each other. It's a decent read for these times we are living, although the author didn't get to live the massification of social media before writing it.
It dives into how we turn to machines to fullfil our connection needs, while avoiding the disappointments of connecting with other humans. It showcases a bunch of stories to illustrate its point, as usual for non-fiction books, but I felt it gave good nuances to the point, and even identified a little with some scenarios. She goes just a little overboard with how little she thinks about online communities, and I feel she doesn't state very clearly that communities online doesn't have to be the same as communities in real life. My opinion diverges from what related to that assumption, but it was a great read overall!
I finished reading Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom recently, and it has immediately become one of my favorites! Yalom is one of the foundational thinkers behind Existential Psychotherapy, and the book is a collection of ten case studies presented in a short-story format revolving around themes of love, grief, and authenticity.
It's pretty refreshing to read case studies where the therapist doesn't present themselves as an all-seeing, all-knowing genius; Irvin Yalom is very open about his uncertainties and mistakes with his clients. The cases he presents are fascinating, and he does a great job of illustrating his philosophical and therapeutic principles throughout. I highly recommend it for anybody interested in psychology, the human condition, or personality-centered short stories!