BOOKS I READ SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW YEAR PT. 1

I've been decluttering my shelf and selling books on Pango. If you live in the US and want to purchase some of my books at a low price, please check out my Pango Seller Profile. 

The first book I "reread" was A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall, which narrates the love story from various points of view: a bench, their friend/roommate, their teacher, their sibling, and a squirrel. This book came out when I was 13 years old, in middle school. I enjoyed it in the past because of its cuteness and novelty. A squirrel narrating a story?! 

While rereading, I found the writing juvenile and unnatural. It feels as though the author is forcing themselves and their writing to appeal to a young audience. It feels out of touch because the references they're making, like Buffy, will probably be lost to my fellow 13-year-olds in 2014. They are wearing themselves thin with the narrations. It's a great writing exercise but a terrible reading experience. Each narration is brief, which feels abrupt and disjointed as a whole. I DNF'd very early. 

If you have a young teenager who likes cute, light romance and has slight ADHD, or just the usual short attention span, they might enjoy this novel. 

Kim Jiyoung, Born in 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo was an experience, to say the least. At first, you would expect this novel to be magical realism, or have some fantasy genre because the titular character becomes every woman. Women who have passed away use her as a medium to speak their grievances when the situation arises. Then, the novel recounts Jiyoungs life from her parents' upbringing to her birth, and finally to the present. 

Throughout her memories, readers see all the injustices women face throughout their life: preference for sons, sexual harassment, gender stereotypes upheld by older generations, pay inequality, job discrimination, children, etc. When reading her memories, the author also weaves statistics into the story. It feels scholarly and case study-like. The reverie and all her hard work are partially undone with the last chapter, where we learn why it reads so scholarly and case study-like. 

I say that it is only partially undone because certain actions, or lack thereof, illustrate how women are still being treated like second-class citizens. Our concerns and issues are brushed aside, and no one truly cares. There is something inherently wrong with us and society won't do anything to fix it. 

While I have some grievances with the storytelling, this is a powerful, enraging novel. I would silently clench my fist while reading it. If you want to gain a better perspective of the human experience, you should read this book. (I wanted to say, "If you're a man, you should read this book to fully comprehend your privilege," but it's not just men who can benefit from reading this.)

I came across Cursed Bunny when Bora Chung while shopping on Book Depository. To be frank, I wasn't in the right mood to read this book because I took everything at face value, did not think about the deeper meanings (unless it was blatantly obvious) of each story, and was confused with some of the things I read, and ultimately had to search up each short story's title + "explained." I still don't fully understand "The Frozen Finger."

Sometimes things got a little too absurd, and I couldn't suspend my disbelief, i.e."The Embodiment." As someone who works at a Gynecologist's office/"in" the medical field, I couldn't accept the logic, reality, science, or whatever you want to call it. 

I enjoyed "Snare," "Goodbye, My Love," and then "Cursed Bunny" the most. There are few home runs, expected hits, and sad misses. 

I read this on Scribd with my free trial. It might still be on the platform if any of you are interested.