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Tell Me How It Ends by Jo Leevers - 5/5

Genre: Slice of Life / General Fiction

Short summary: Henrietta starts a new job documenting the lives of cancer patients who are likely to pass away soon. Emotionally distant and methodical she sees herself as a perfect person to do this job right without getting too emotional. Until she meets Annie and gets very invested in getting Annie's story right, dealing with her own past along the way.

I honestly picked this book up because the cover is so gorgeous and kind of inspired me (hence my putting the German cover here, not the English one). Further thoughts (potential spoilers) under the cut.

Also interesting note some might appreciate: Henrietta states once she has no interest in romance and there are no love interests of any sort for her in the book. She starts single and uninterested in a relationship and stays that way and that feels quite rare.

First of all, some thoughts about Henrietta:

I did not vibe with her right away and honestly, this book was a slow start for me. The way she's so, distant, emotionally, threw me off a little at first and she clearly rubs some of the other characters in the book the wrong way at first too, especially Annie.

But for one, I appreciate how the story shows us why she is the way she is and we find out pretty fast: oh hey, trauma.

But also, this makes her character development and her growing attachment to Annie and other characters all the more special.

Speaking of: Annie. Another character who is the way she is because of trauma.

It's so fascinating to see the way these two, approach each other, accidentally overstepping boundaries because of differences in communication but then getting a better understanding of each other and just, helping each other, grow and, work through what happened to them. It's a lovely friendship between the two of them as well.

[manasreads]

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - 5/5

Genre: (Modern) Fantasy

Short summary: After leaving a funeral of a person close to him, our protagonist returns to a place of his childhood, magically drawn to it, and remembers events from when he was young, long forgotten. Some parts mundane and some fantastical, we get to relieve a specific memory from that time.

Quick sidenote: I've read three books since the last review here but they're German books and it's a four part saga, so I probably won't review it entirely til I read book four as well.

In depth (spoilers!) thoughts under the cut

I've been a fan of Gaiman's books ever since my now boyfriend then best friend gifted me Neverwhere, Stardust, and a signed and personalized copy of American Gods some years back. Much like Neverwhere and American Gods, this book also manages a perfect mix of fantasy and the mundane, for lack of a better word.

His writing style just always pulls me in immediately and I read this book in a few hours total.

I personally loved how Neil managed to capture this feeling of there being another world, other creatures and a sort of magic just beyond our grasp. And of course it makes perfect sense that these things are so much easier to find and believe as a child. That there are moments that, when you look back at them you realize, might have included elements that don't quite make sense anymore as an adult but very much did at the time.

Another thing that I really liked, a more subtle thing, was the perfect circle the book drew, in a way, of the protagonist starting at a point of not remembering these memories, reliving them with us, and once more forgetting them again. The subtle nod of how this has occurred before a few times and the hint that it will happen again. That it's a way for Lettie, who sacrificed herself for him, to check in on him and see what he's doing with the life he's been gifted.

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The Circle by Dave Eggers - 5/5

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Short summary: Mae, our protagonist, gets a job offer for The Circle, a huge and innovative company that has made a lot of changes to social media and the online presence. Soon, she becomes aware of just how much The Circle wants to change the world and our lives as we know them.

I wanna start off with the most recent book I read and the book that sparked my, god I wish I could talk with other people about this book, urge. So please, feel free to DM me or send asks if you have anything to say about this book!

Here's some deeper thoughs, potential spoilers up ahead:

So I keep a personal lil, document of books I've read and my review for this was

Made me feel things. Anger mainly. Social media company goes surveillance state and the protag thinks that’s cool af.

And that's just a very good way to say it shortly. There were multiple scenes where I was already like, this is terrible, this is hell, I hate this. And it didn't get better.

I appreciate the fact that the protagonist is actually, not a good person. Misguided might be the right word.

The ending actually upset me and had me cursing her. That doesn't change the fact that I think it's a good book. It very much fits the dystopian theme it's going for.

[manasreads]

Introduction!

Hey hey c:

I read a lot and after a lil encouragement by my boyfriend, I decided I'd love to share my thoughts on some of the books I read in the hopes of starting potential discussions and maybe getting to talk with some people who've also read the books?

I mostly read books in German, but a lot of them are also available in English. If they are, I'll share the English title =)