FEB 4, 2023 - MAY 5, 2023
I spent my birthday bawling.
I made immense progress with this book while riding the subway to and from Brooklyn. The subway is the best way to get reading in. That said, this was not the right book choice because I got teary-eyed, and it's fucking heavy. My wrists!
A Business Proposal
Illustrator: Narak
Author: Perilla &p Haehwa
Ha-ri made a deal—go on one blind date for her BFF and pretend to be a super-vixen to end all of her unwanted marriage set-ups! Unfortunately, instead of easy money, Ha-ri’s got a headache. Her date is Taemu, her company’s hot new CEO, and he’s got his own plans to get his family to back off by marrying whoever shows up on the date. Should Ha-ri accept his proposal to keep playing pretend? Nothing could go wrong with lying about your real identity while dating the boss... right??
BANANA-MANIA
Super late, like 20+ years, to the trend. I adored Kitchen because the writing is beautiful and profound. The book's two stories are about grief: finding people that are also experiencing loss, communicating with them, and overcoming the grief. I was surprised by the fantastical/magical realism aspect. Kitchen was one of my favorite books this year, so I wanted to read more of Banana Yoshimoto's words.
Coincidentally, I purchased the books she wrote/published right after Kitchen. I purchased N.P., Lizard, and Asleep—I listed them chronologically. If I had known that I would read her bibliography chronologically, I also would've picked up Amrita, but I'm glad I didn't because it doesn't sound that great.
I know I'm late to this review train because Namaikizakari ended in December 2021. I stopped reading the series around chapter 80 because it got annoying and repetitive, but I recently saw that the author had some new stuff and felt the urge to finish it.
This series ran from 2013-2021! I remember following it and reading it in high school. I thought Naruse was so cute. Then, I found his moodiness annoying. Yuki is one-dimensional, frustrating, and quite boring. They're both childish. A great reflection of who I was and still am...
Written Before Finishing
Didn't like Kokoro by Natsume Soseki. Again, the author teases things but makes us wait so long and doesn't present it in a way that I felt warranted the wait and frustration. Sure, I have a greater understanding of some characters, have greater sympathy for them, and would occasionally pause to consider the profoundness of the writing. However, this book was so dull.
Now for the main event.
Release by Lucy Christopher. I'm attaching this video, so you can get an idea of what the book is like.
The title says it all. I'm currently reading Kokoro by Natsume Soseki, don't know what provoked me, but I am slightly regretting it. I'm also taking Japanese over the summer to finish up my degree; part of the class is talking to students in Japan, which is nerve-racking and an absolute shit-show on my part. During one of the sessions, I learned that Kokoro is one is the books students read during Middle School or High School (I don't remember which one,) which made me think of a fantastic challenge: reading the language curriculum of other countries!
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
This is hands down one of the best books I have ever read. The writing is immaculate; it reminds me of Lolita for some odd reason. The way scent is captured and the characterization. There's a unique cast of characters, and it's thrilling to see how Grenouille impacts their lives; my favorite interaction is with Baldini because of all the scent and perfume descriptions.
I need to thank Viz's online Jump subscription service, the New York Public Library, and Queens Public Library. I devoured this challenge, but then again, I have very low expectations (45 books). I'm keeping things realistic and managing expectations.
Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen's most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.
When I ask for Shoujo recommendations, the internet always recommends Nana. I have been avoiding it like the plague because it's been on hiatus for years, and I am someone who likes to read completed mangas/stories. I decided to bite the bullet, and I have so many regrets.
I constantly say I hate watching TV shows, but here I am reviewing another "cult classic" show. Like Gossip Girl, I have complicated feelings.
In the early 19th century in the English village of Meryton, the arrival of wealthy bachelors, most notably Mr. Darcy (Laurence Olivier), stirs up the families with single daughters. Among those is the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters, including the spirited Elizabeth (Greer Garson) and her pretty older sister, Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan). As Mrs. Bennet (Mary Boland) aggressively tries to pair off her girls, Elizabeth crosses swords with the imperious Darcy.
Toru Okada's cat has disappeared. His wife is growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has recently been receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.
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There are "spoilers" (I don't think they're spoilers because some of these movies have been out for years,) so beware. If you don't like horror, skip the post.
No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.
With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.
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A headstrong orphan discovers a world of spells and potions while living with a selfish witch.
As someone who's done a whole series about Rewatching Ghibli (this link will direct you to this blog's Ghibli label,) it only seemed right for me to review the latest Ghibli film. I had many reservations going into this movie: it has terrible ratings, and Goro is directing... If you read my Tales of Earthsea review, you know how I don't entirely trust his creative direction. I gained a little trust back after From Up on Poppy Hill, but...
I still don't know what compelled me to ask my past Classical Mythology professor which translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey is best, but I did. You'd think translating part of The Aeneid from Latin and studying about Troy/the Trojan War extensively would be enough to repulse me forever; my hidden masochism never ceases to surprise me. Here are my feelings on The Iliad Lattimore translation:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world--a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues--a bee, a key, and a sword--that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth.What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians--it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction. Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose--in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
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I find this really weird. I am a book review site, but I get more views on non-book reviews, except for my old/incomplete Raven Cycle discussion post, which for some unknown reason, does very well. How do I replicate it for future posts? Granted, it's 3 years old, but even my 4-year-old posts don't get have the same view count. Anyway, here's my review of Train to Busan.
The elves come for two things: war and wives. In both cases, they come for death.Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted by powerful races with wild magic until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella's village to be their Human Queen.To be chosen is seen as a mark of death by the townsfolk. A mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped as a girl. Instead, she's dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town's only healer.That is, until the Elf King unexpectedly arrives... for her.Everything Luella had thought she'd known about her life, and herself, was a lie. Taken to a land filled with wild magic, Luella is forced to be the new queen to a cold yet blisteringly handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world that only she can save.The magical land of Midscape pulls on one corner of her heart, her home and people tug on another... but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.
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