So this was my book club’s latest pick! I don’t read much memoir, so I was excited to dive into this! The Cost of Living is what Levy calls a “living memoir”, capturing a period of time after her divorce. So the first thing to note (and this is something the whole book club agreed… Read More Book Review: The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy
I heard about this book about Instagram from a bookstagram account on Instagram (no surprise there) and of course, my interest was piqued. No Filter is a business memoir, charting the rise of Instagram and its complicated relationship with its users. If you’re looking to find out: What feedback Ariana Grande gave Instagram when she… Read More Book Review: No Filter by Sarah Frier
I have reached a new level in my tea journey – people are asking me about tea books! Honestly, I’m really happy about this development because I love tea and reading so this is both my interests combined. And when my friend asked me if I had read The True History of Tea and what… Read More Book Review: The True History of Tea by Victor H Mair and Erling Hoh
I love the weekends because I get to read a lot more! I baked some cookies today and managed to finish a book while waiting for all the batches to bake and cool. And then I finished one after I got home and realised I didn’t have that much to do. Today, I read: I,… Read More March Rereading Madness: Day 13
It took me two tries before I could finish LOTR, and it took two attempts before I really got into this book – rather fitting, don’t you think? Ents, Elves, and Eriador focuses on the environmental vision of J.R.R. Tolkien, which is another way of saying that the authors read LOTR and associated works, Leaf… Read More Book Review: Ents, Elves, and Eriador by Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans
A few years back, I read So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson and The Perils of Privilege by Phoebe Maltz Bovy, but each at separate times. Since I bought myself copies of each book, I thought it would be interesting to read them one after another and think about how their ideas might… Read More Two Books, One Review Part 1: So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
I saw this as I was walking out of the library and couldn’t resist adding it to the borrowed pile. I’ve read a few Merlin-based books when I was younger (T.A Barron’s Merlins series, basically) so the idea of reading about the history and many incarnations of Merlin throughout history was very appealing. The Book… Read More Book Review: The Book of Merlin by John Matthews
After a really long time, we’re back in my ‘World of Genji’ series, where I attempt to learn more about Heian Japan and not have my head explode as I read academic texts about the time period. This book, Chinese Literary Forms in Heian Japan, was really interesting as it explored Sinitic verse (aka when… Read More Book Review: Chinese Literary Forms in Heian Japan by Brian Steininger
After some pretty good experiences with other Alison Weir books, I was pretty confident in buying more of her biographies. I’ve read a bit about Isabella of France from Helen Castor’s book, She-Wolves, so I was excited to delve into the life of this fascinating woman. Born to a royal line, French Princess Isabella is… Read More Book Review: Queen Isabella by Alison Weir
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