December 2022 Book Club: The Chosen and the Beautiful
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo had a whimsical description, but it really should have just called itself a retelling of the Great Gatsby from a different perspective. Rereading the description, I’m actually frustrated by the ways that I was let down by it. Let’s start with the element of magic. In the…
November 2022 Book Club: Such a Fun Age
I feel the need to start this review by discussing the title. Is the fun age that Briar is a toddler? That Emira is navigating her 20s? That Alix is looking back to her high school years without much fondness? Or that she’s navigating life as a working mom of two in her 30s? Or…
October 2022 Book Club: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
If I had to describe this book to someone, the first way that comes to mind is that it’s very similar to Spirited Away. Within the first few pages, you’re whisked (on with the aid of a dragon) into the spirit world where friends and danger lie around every corner. One theater technique that is…
September 2022 Book Club: All the Stars and Teeth
I really liked this one, in fact, I liked it so much that I immediately picked up a copy of the second book (something I almost never do!). There’s something to be said about a narrator that has their world tipped upside down, where everything they believed to be true is a lie and everything…
August 2022 Book Club: The House in the Cerulean Sea
This post should probably start by saying this book was a much better read than the non-fiction I attempted last month. For starters, the writing draws you in from the beginning because as much as you don’t want to relate to Linus, it’s easy to. We’ve all had jobs that we do because they’re a…
July 2022 Book Club: The Design of Everyday Things
I really wanted to like this one but had the hardest time getting into it. Perhaps I need to give it a second try at a later date, but I honestly struggled to make it past the second chapter. Though the writing was dry, it reminded me of a time I enthusiastically purchased a teapot-cup…
June 2022 Book Club: Practical Magic
After our plot-driven May book club, Practice Magic offered a slower more relationship-focused story. It was interesting to watch Sally and Gillian experience the same things as children and internalize them differently. One child became dependable and predictable while the other child couldn’t get away from what she knew fast enough. This in turn shaped…
May 2022 Bookclub: The Turn of the Key
The Turn of the Key drew me in within two or three paragraphs and quickly became a stressful book that I couldn’t put down. I genuinely enjoyed the way that Ruth Ware started (and then proceeded to tell) the story as if Rowan (Rachael?!) was writing a letter to a lawyer in hopes of getting…
April 2022 Bookclub: Stardust
Stardust has a special place in my heart. It’s a book that I can reach for again and again, without the intention of discovering something new, but rather the intention of falling into a land I wish I could go to. Portal literature (think books like Alice in Wonderland where the reader starts off in…
March 2022 Book Club: Laziness Does Not Exist
Over the last few months, I have worked very hard to let go of the idea that doing nothing is a sign of laziness. Some of this translated into craft breaks and some of this translated into canceled plans with friends (who thankfully understand needing a break themselves and didn’t take it personally). For the…
February 2022 Book Club: The Henna Artist
The Henna Artist is the story of Lakshmi, a 30ish-year-old woman who fled an abusive marriage in hopes of the freedom that comes with being self-reliant and independent. For ten years, Lakshmi creates beautiful henna designs on the wealthy women of Jaipur and uses herbal medicine to help them with their fertility, arthritis, and other health…
January 2022 Book Club: Lovecraft Country
Lovecraft Country was an interesting book to ring the new year in with. For starters, it wasn’t the horror book that I thought it would be based on the first episode of the HBO show that I watched. There were no crazy monsters that went bump in the night (although there are definitely some horror…
Thoughts from iswimlikeafish 