#also i beat my annual goal of 25 books yay!!! :D

[robotsandramblings]

ok WOW, [i know not many of you care lol but] it’s been a LONG time since i posted some book reviews!! i just love talking about what i’ve been reading lol. so here’s a catch-up from the last 7 months! titles & ratings below, reviews under the readmore :)

( and as always, send me your thoughts and recommendations!! what awesome books did YOU read this year?? :D )

Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett -- 4/5

Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick -- 4/5

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle -- 3/5

The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee -- 4/5

Escape From Camp 14 by Blaine Harden -- 2.5/5

In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park -- 4/5

Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China by Guy Delisle -- 2.5/5

Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle -- 3/5

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls -- 3/5

Dawn and Day by Elie Wiesel -- both 2/5

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips -- 2/5

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah -- 3.5/5

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari -- 3/5

Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer -- 2/5

The Cleanest Race by B.R. Myers -- 1/5

Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson -- 3/5

On Hitler’s Mountain: Overcoming The Legacy of a Nazi Childhood by Irmgard Hunt -- 4/5

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena -- 3/5

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman -- 3/5

while the above is a chronological list (oldest to newest), i’m going to reorder the reviews and group them together by theme

my faves  4/5 --

Eye of the Needle is an older-written Follett novel set in WWII, and just as amazing as his Century trilogy series. it’s moreso about mystery and espionage. His writing style is so smooth and flowing, you’ll breeze through the book despite it’s length. action-packed and captivating!

The Nightingale is another historical fiction book, one that’s woman-centric and focuses on their hardships and heroineism during WWII. It’s about two sisters living in German-occupied France, one who wants to help downed Allied pilots to safety, the other having a German soldier billeting at her house. It’s a long book, but the story is paced well and it never feels like it’s “dragging on”. Yes it’s got a bit of romance but it’s not an overwhelming focus, which I appreciated.

in that same vein, On Hitler’s Mountain is a non-fiction biography written by a woman who grew up in the town where Hitler’s Eagles Nest was located. It’s such an interesting read because it’s so rare that you hear  “the other side of the story” - what it’s like to grow up as a normal German citizen during Hitler’s rise to power, the Nazi regime, the war’s end, and the Allied occupation, plus the many years afterwards of guilt and shame. It’s a refreshing and amazing story and I highly recommend it!

I might as well add it here, even though I’m not done yet: currently reading Dan Brown’s new one Origin. As always, I love his books, his writing style, his story, his pacing, everything. so much mystery and connections and clues, this time revolving around our human origins and the dying of religion. loving it!!

the “good/ok” group  3/5 --

Phasma covers her story from when she was a young woman in a tribe on a barren planet to her recent ascension into power alongside Hux and Kylo Ren. It was an interesting story, but not mind-blowing or anything special. Bit disappointing since she’s my favourite character. I finally picked up

The Couple Next Door since it kept appearing on my reading radar. It’s a pretty good mystery thriller with lots of twists and turns. You think it’s solved midway and then BAM, more complications arise.

Norse Mythology is Gaiman’s modern and simplified retelling of popular Norse myths. If you’re a beginner to norse myth, this would be a good book. If you’re midlevel or well-read, it’s just a refresher lol.

my North Korean phase --

I’ve always been super fascinated with North Korea but didn’t really know much about it beyond media headlines. My favourite and most recommended of the bunch would definitely be Nothing To Envy, which covers the stories of 6 different defectors. The contrast between them is very interesting and their stories captivating. I would also recommend The Girl With Seven Names and In Order To Live - two different girls who defected, and endured terrible hardships in order to escape and reunite with their families. Their inspirational bravery alone is worth the read. Although I was neutral about Escape From Camp 14, I’d recommend you read it first because it offers a lot of background and historical info on North Korea, and will seem repetitive if you read it after other North Korean books. Or else, do Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang - it’s actually a graphic novel, so it’s an easy read and gives you a good idea of what visting North Korea in modern times looks like. (Skip The Cleanest Race altogether, it was terrible and too wordy, like the author was trying to impress you by using lots of big words and complex phrasing.)

speaking of Guy Delisle -- I love all his works!! they’re all graphic novels about his time spent in various cities. after reading Pyongyang, I read Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China, and then his Burma Chronicles. the Burma one was more interesting, imo. They’re fascinating regardless because I knew pratically nothing about either place before! plus they’re quick, easy reads, kinda funny too! nothing graphic or gory in the images, either.

other non-fiction works --

The Glass Castle is a really interesting biographical account of a girl growing up with quite the crazy family. It’s hard to put down because her family and her experiences are just so wild that you’re entirely captivated. Her family will also piss you right off at times.

Modern Romance is about how finding love has changed dramatically over the years with the advancement of technology (ie. texting/instant messaging, dating sites, etc). I thought, as a very single woman, this would be very insightful. It wasn’t really. It was interesting to read about all his research and findings, but it was nothing groundbreaking.

i don’t wike it  2/5 --

since I loved Elie Wiesel’s Night, I was hoping the same for Dawn and Day. they are two entirely different stories; fictional, I believe. I didn’t really understand them and they bored me, tbh.

Fierce Kingdom was heralded as like “such an amazing book” when it came out, and that’s bullshit. I didn’t think it was that great. Maybe because it’s a mother trying to protect her 4-yr-old and I couldn’t relate because I have no maternal instincts/desire??

Imagine is basically a research novel about creativity. I’d been after this book for years and finally found it in my library. What a letdown. All the controversey about author plagarizing aside, I still read the book and found it to be, ironically, lacking creativity - the research was presented in a very bland manner and didn’t engage my interest at all.