Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel // an unsettling reflection on civilization

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Title: Station Eleven

Author: Emily St. John Mandel

Published: September 9, 2014

Pages: 336

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description:An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor’s early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor’s first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.

Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

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After putting this book on the back-burner for over two years, it has officially made it to my all-time favorites list.

First off, it was not what I was expecting at all. I committed the age-old crime of judging Station Eleven by its cover and, based off the (truly minimal) stars on the front, I assumed the story would take place in space. That, plus the fact that Station Eleven sounded like a space station (which I technically wasn’t wrong to believe), the book gave me the impression of being a space opera. While that wasn’t the case, I was pleasantly surprised that the book was so much better than my initial estimation of it.

I know some of you are thinking, “But, the book is clearly not about space in the synopsis,” and, I agree. Buuuut, 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩. We’ve already established that I’m a sheep.
Continue reading “Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel // an unsettling reflection on civilization”

Book Review: Sourdough by Robin Sloan // wtf did I just read

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Title: Sourdough

Author: Robin Sloan

Published: September 5, 2017

Pages: 259

Genre: Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description: Lois Clary, a software engineer at a San Francisco robotics company, codes all day and collapses at night. When her favourite sandwich shop closes up, the owners leave her with the starter for their mouthwatering sourdough bread.
Lois becomes the unlikely hero tasked to care for it, bake with it and keep this needy colony of microorganisms alive.  Soon she is baking loaves daily and taking them to the farmer’s market, where an exclusive close-knit club runs the show.
When Lois discovers another, more secret market, aiming to fuse food and technology, a whole other world opens up. But who are these people, exactly?

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How do I even begin to write a review for this book?

The most basic and superficial description of this novel is that it is a book about baking bread. Your initial reaction to this statement might be to dismiss this book, and I get it—who wants to read a story about bread? Nonetheless, Sourdough won the 2017 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction, a point that prevented me from disregarding the novel and ultimately made me decide to give it a shot.

Continue reading “Book Review: Sourdough by Robin Sloan // wtf did I just read”

Mini Book Reviews: 3 Female-Authored, YA Contemporaries

In celebration of March being Women’s History Month, I aimed to exclusively read female-authored books for the thirty-one days.

With the exception of one book, I made good on my goal and ended up having my best reading month this year. It’s really not much of a feat considering how busy I was in January and February and the complete disregard of my TBR pile that ensued. But, I’ll accept anything remotely close to win—it keeps me motivated 😅.

If you read my Women’s History Month Read-a-thon, you’ll know that the majority of the novels I read last month were young adult (YA) contemporaries. It wasn’t on purpose. ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴀ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ʙʏ ᴏᴘʀᴀʜ. I think it just played out that way because I’m a giant mood reader, so I peruse the blogosphere when picking out my next reads. That results in me repeatedly reading YA since I mostly follow YA-oriented book blogs.

Don’t get me wrong though, there’s nothing wrong with YA. In fact, I made this conclusion after my read-a-thon:

There are so many brilliant women contributing their powerful thoughts for a more competent, diverse, and tolerant society—and there’s no place where it’s more apparent than YA bookshelves.

Groundbreaking.

Anyways, shall we get on with the mini reviews?

Continue reading “Mini Book Reviews: 3 Female-Authored, YA Contemporaries”

Book Review: What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey // an inspiring book of life lessons

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Title: What I Know for Sure

Author: Oprah Winfrey

Published: September 2, 2014

Pages: 228

Genre: Nonfiction, Self help

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

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Who hasn’t heard of Oprah?

If you’re anything like me, you may know of Oprah’s billionaire status, book club, and long-running talk show in which she once famously gifted cars to everyone in her audience.

Annnnd… that’s about it.

Until recently finishing her book, What I Know for Sure, I had never consumed any content Oprah-related. Reading a book by Oprah definitely feels like something a put together, middle-aged adult would do, although that’s definitely not what I am 😅. I’m a lost, confused, and (frankly) quite scared young adult, so that’s probably the biggest reason I picked up the book.

Continue reading “Book Review: What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey // an inspiring book of life lessons”

Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon // an okay book with Indian-American representation

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Title: When Dimple Met Rishi

Author: Sandhya Menon

Published: May 3, 2017

Pages: 380

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description: Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

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Indian American Protagonists.

If I had to summarize in two words why I picked this book up, it’d be just that: Indian American Protagonists.

Being half Indian myself, this book immediately sparked my attention when it blew up in the blogosphere last year and people were celebrating it for being a refreshing young adult novel. Because I grew up in such a diverse community with many unique Indian Americans, I was personally keen to see how they would be portrayed in the story. On top of that, I hoped that I could learn something new about the Indian side of my blood—particularly arranged marriages. Maybe it’s my fault for placing so much on the book, but I didn’t love When Dimple Met Rishi

Continue reading “Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon // an okay book with Indian-American representation”

Summer Romance Mini Book Reviews

Summer is coming.

With the season of unrelenting heat and inevitable death by radiation sun, beaches, and travel fast approaching, I find it odd that I’m no longer reaching for fluffy contemporary romances. After all, they usually make the perfect read for those indulgent summer days spent lounging around the house. They also tend to be easier to comprehend and therefore mindlessly read while I’m dying of dehydration fun.

While I’ve found solace enjoyment in other genres for now, I know that some of you may be hopelessly searching for a distraction from your pain FUN. Luckily for you, I’m due for a few reviews of books that I’d constitute as summer romances—and some are definitely more mindless than the others.  Continue reading “Summer Romance Mini Book Reviews”

Book Review: Warcross by Marie Lu // a solid YA, sci-fi book

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Title: Warcross

Author: Marie Lu

Published: September 12, 2017

Pages: 353

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Amazon / Barnes and Nobles / Goodreads

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I am so mad right now. I’ve ruined myself.

For some reason, I went into Warcross thinking that it’s a standalone, BUT IT’S NOT‼️ And now it has ended in a cliffhanger and I can’t binge-read the series because the second book doesn’t come out until September 😤.

🍃 Deep breaths, Belle.

Honestly, I brought this upon myself because I kept thinking to myself that the book seemed so predictable and would need a good plot twist to spice it up. Little did I know that I DID NOT WANT THIS PLOT TWIST.

Breathe in, breathe out. 🍃
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Anyways, let’s see what I thought about the book until the last twenty pages

Continue reading “Book Review: Warcross by Marie Lu // a solid YA, sci-fi book”

Book Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo // better than Six of Crows

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Title: Crooked Kingdom

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Published: September 27, 2016

Pages: 536

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description: 

Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

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Crooked Kingdom retained all of the elements that I loved in Six of Crows—strategic scheming, morally ambiguous characters, strained romances—and expanded on them. 

Continue reading “Book Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo // better than Six of Crows”

Book Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli // a realistic narrative of awkward, first relationships

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Title: The Upside of Unrequited

Author: Becky Albertalli

Published: April 11, 2017

Pages: 336

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Amazon / Barnes & NoblesGoodreads

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I was never interested enough to pick up Becky Albertalli’s book, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, when it was front and center in every book store I visited two years ago.

When I was perusing the nominees for Best Young Adult Fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2017, I came across yet another one of Alberatelli’s books and decided to give the author a chance. 

Continue reading “Book Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli // a realistic narrative of awkward, first relationships”

Book Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston // a homage to fandoms

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Title: Geekerella

Author: Ashley Poston

Published: April 4, 2017

Pages: 320

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Amazon / Barnes & NoblesGoodreads

Goodreads Description: 

Anything can happen once upon a con…

When geek girl Elle Wittimer sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of Starfield, she has to enter. First prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. Elle’s been scraping together tips from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck behind her stepmother’s back, and winning this contest could be her ticket out once and for all—not to mention a fangirl’s dream come true.

Teen actor Darien Freeman is less than thrilled about this year’s ExcelsiCon. He used to live for conventions, but now they’re nothing but jaw-aching photo sessions and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Federation Prince Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the diehard Starfield fandom has already dismissed him as just another heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, closet nerd Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

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I totally judged this book from its title. 

Although one of my semi-guilty pleasures is reading about geeky girls, Geekerella was not something I’d see in a book store and pick up. It just sounded so corny. I thought I would give it a chance anyways since it was nominated for Best Young Adult Fiction in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2017—and I was glad I did. 

Continue reading “Book Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston // a homage to fandoms”