This is another one of my BookXcess books and I got it mainly because the idea of a history of neighbours sounded intriguing, even if it was about the idea of neighbours in England. Cheek By Jowl is a history of neighbourhoods and the idea of “neighbours” from thirteenth century to present day England. It… Read More Book Review: Cheek by Jowl by Emily Cockayne
Despite the fact that I bought the book (the word “Jane Austen” was in the title, it’s inevitable), I approached it with some trepidation. I love Austen but I’m not sure how she fits into an advice column – and what if the author attempts to mimic Austen’s style? Thankfully, the book doesn’t go so… Read More Book Review: Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life Dilemmas by Rebecca Smith
Personally, I thought the tagline of this book was interesting. I know that Plato is a philosopher, but Winnie the Pooh? (it was about the Tao of Pooh) I figured that it couldn’t hurt to learn more about philosophy, so I took the plunge and book this book. To put the cart before the horse,… Read More Book Review: A Brief Guide to Philosophical Classics by James M. Russell
I bought this book purely because of the price and because it said “Jane Austen” somewhere on the title (when faced with cheap books, I am not the most discerning of buyers). Thankfully, I ended up enjoying this, and I think this will be a book that I return to in the future. The Genius… Read More Book Review: The Genius of Jane Austen by Paula Byrne
It’s always interesting when a part of Japanese culture (that isn’t anime or manga) becomes really popular across the world. When I was job hunting in my last year of university, I heard the term “やりがい (yarigai)” so many times! And as it turns out, yarigai (which can be translated as “the motivation to work”… Read More Book Review: The Little Book of Ikigai by Ken Mogi
File this one under: “Books I’m reading for the non-fiction writing course I’m taking.” So in my effort to learn more about how to write nonfiction well (the end-goal being to write my grandmother’s biography), I’m reading more. I started with two Singapore memoirs (Son of Singapore) and biographies (Tall Order), and now, The Orchid… Read More Book Review: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
At first glance, Here She Is doesn’t sound like something I would read or request from NetGalley, given that it’s about the history of the beauty pagent, something that I’ve not been involved in nor follow. But, I do like reading about histories of obscure subjects, I was intrigued by the idea of using a… Read More Book Review: Here She Is by Hilary Levey Friedman
I am terribly late to the hype (as usual), but I finally read Tall Order, the biography of Goh Chok Tong. Goh Chok Tong is the second prime minister of Singapore and Tall Order is supposed to be the first volume in a two volume series. Since this is Volume One, Tall Order doesn’t try… Read More Book Review: Tall Order by Peh Shing Huei
(A digression before I start the review: has anyone had book review drafts just disappear on them? I could have sworn I typed out the draft for the review of this book but it’s… just gone) The Five has had a lot of hype and all of it was deserved. It’s a portrait of five… Read More Book Review: The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
I think I found this book from its excerpt on The Guardian and honestly, I’m glad I found it because this book managed to do what Murder by Candlelight tried to do but failed. Murder by Candlelight tried to use five accounts of murder to reveal the history of why we’ve fallen in love with… Read More Book Review: Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe