#does that make sense? because i haven't read all of anna karenina (i lost my copy a while back and never picked it back up) but

[retvenkos]

Man I saw your new profile pic and was instantly triggered because all I could see was Aleksey Vronsky from the Anna Karenina mini-series

lolololololololololololol, but he was a good vronsky, you cannot lie. don't get me wrong, i don't like vronsky, but mr. cabrera did a good vronsky. my only criticism is that he seems too polished and too likeable.

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2021 - August

I had a decent reading month in August! Not only did I FINALLY conquer Anna Karenina but I also managed to knock a fair few books of my long term TBR.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by That Woman - a reread that completed my entire series reread. I enjoyed it, found a new love for Severus Snape, and rediscovered a love that had suffered from Rowling herself. I don't want to say too much because Harry Potter isn't exactly under praised!

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Okay I KNOW I just finished a reread but I was playing the Harry Potter games from when I was a kid and wanted something to stick on in the background I didn't need to fix my entire attention on... I also wanted to revisit some scenes from this book to follow up some thoughts I'd had in the later novels.

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio - I ADORED this book! It took me a little while to get into it but once I was hooked it was intense. The drama was intense, the relationships between the main character were beautiful (if a bit twisted), and the love of Shakespeare permeated every page. It was a suspenseful read that came to me exactly at the right time!

I would highly recommend if you love Shakespeare and, for some reason, haven't read this yet, or if you're into dark academia as a literary genre (I actually think it's better than The Secret History!!!) If you don’t love Shakespeare I would recommend familiarising yourself with Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear before you resd this one as an awareness of these plays will really help you enjoyment. However, this is definitely one of the best books I've read all year - I absolutely adored it!

The Warden by Anthony Trollop - This was an unexpected boom for me to pick up. It's been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years at this point and I've never felt the urge to pick it up. I knew I wanted to try Trollope and I thought I'd enjoy this because I am a bit too into church politics but I'd never felt particularly motivated to read it - turns out I did really enjoy it!

It's probably not Trollope's best work (although I have nothing to compare it to) and I definitely wouldn't recommend it as a starting place for Trollope unless you do really love church politics. However, I had a great time and really enjoyed the discussion around church abuses, personal responsibility, and the effect unthinking busybodies can have on otherwise content individuals. It was a promising start from Trollope and I'll definitely be reading more in the future!

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë - Another unexpected read for this month, however, like The Warden I picked this up to help with my momentum through the 1kpagesaug21 readathon. I liked Agnes Grey, it was an interesting little book that I enjoyed reading. The exploration of a governess' life was powerful and eye opening - although it was probably moreso for a Victorian audience than it is today.

However, I felt there was something lacking in Agnes Grey that was present in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The characters didn't feel as vivid - even Agnes herself felt flat to me - and her life didn't draw me into the book. I do think the relationships, particularly between Agnes and the children she taught, were very well developed. Children, especially teenaged girls, really are THAT horrible and cruel. But most of Agnes' life didn't interest me that much, her relationship with Mr Weston felt a bit forced (and predictable!) while her happily ever after left me underwhelmed.

The emotionality and passionate heart that's so iconic in the Brontë's work didn't come across in Agnes Grey and I felt a little bit disappointed. It was a good book and I'm glad I read it but The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is definitely the superior Anne Brontë work in my opinion. In Tenant I really feel Anne's passion and anger, which is more in line with my taste.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - Okay I literally cannot review Anna Karenina here... It's too much in the space I allow myself, so I'll try to do a full review at some point in the future (don't hold your breath I have a backlog!)

Let's just say I struggled with Anna Karenina. I loved parts and loathed others. It's truly a novel about life and life is not always enjoyable to read about... I think Tolstoy gets lost in the scope of his novels! He does too much, encompasses too many plots, and Anna Karenina really should have been two books, not one.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - I'm STILL processing Piranesi, I've been putting off my monthly reviews to try and decide how I feel about it but I just don't know! It's a beautifully written book, the prose is to DIE FOR. Clarke could write about anything and I'd think it was beautifully written.

Yet the book itself is weird, not in a bad way though. It's slow and whimsical - nothing really makes sense until you've uncovered the whole mystery of the House and Piranesi. It was enchanting to read, I really was spellbound, but I'm not sure if it was enjoyable? I found it hard going in places, especially at the beginning where Piranesi was doing nothing for 70 pages! I do think it's worth reading, and I did love the plot (when it actually happened) I just wished it was slightly more to the point in the opening part.

[dachi-chan25]

Haven't done this in a while but I had the time so why not?

1.- Pizza Girl by Kyoung Jean Frazier

🌟🌟🌟🌟

I really did like it, reminded me a lot of "Convinience store woman". Like clearly our protagonist needed thrapy ASAP to help her deal with her dad's death, her pregnancy, her attraction to women and hell just for existing as an Asian woman in the USA, but I liked how messy and obsesive she was and how the author allowed her to be fucked up and take bad decisions, I love to see female characters simply exist, it's also a pretty short read so I definitely recommend it.

2.-The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Daría is a persian teen who is really involved in her cultural background and feels that the most important thing one can be is authentic, so that's the name she and her friends take for their clique. But everything comes crashing down on her when she discovers she is adopted, and soon follows an identity crisis. I loved it so much, it felt pretty realistic, like Daría could be self absorbed and unlikeable at times, but who wasn't as a teen? And we get such beautiful heartwarming moments between Daría and her family and friends. Totally recommend it.

3.- The Mall by Megan McCafferty

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Cassie has her life completely mapped out but nothing goes quite as planned, first she gets mononucleosis and after she gets better gets dumped and fired almost simultaneously. Determined not to let it get the best of her, Cassie gets a brand new job, reconnects with an old friend and even finds a hidden treasure. This one is so much fun, all the 90s references and the growth Cassie goes through is amazing, honeslty i would love to see this as a Netflix movie.

4.- Luster by Raven Leilani

🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book was hard, Edie is a very raw character, at first she seems flippant even when describing disturbing facts about her past or details about her relationship with a much older man she seems to be talking about something that happened to someone else all this to cope dealing with her solitude, her trauma, her self hate. And gosh it was so intresting to see her interact with Rebecca and Akila, especially Akila as Edie finds kinship in this young girl not only cuz they are both black but because they are both lost and afraid.

5.- Lakewood by Megan Giddings

🌟🌟🌟

Lena decides to participate on a financially compensated medical experiment so her mom can get proper medical care and to lessen their debts after her Grandmother's death.

So I had many mixed feelings about this, on one hand I liked that we are adressing how sistematical racism has permited experiments on black people with no consequences at all and how it has been happening for decades, but there were certain parts of the book that I couldn't enjoy as much because they were very trippy like I get we are on Lena's mind as things are becoming muddled up because of the medications and all those mind games and the words they have her memorize and repeat but all of it took me a bit away from the story. Still I do recommend it just be aware there is quite a bit of body horror in this so if you are sqeamish better skip it.

6.-The Voting Booth - Brandy Colbert

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Marva and Duke meet on election day as she helps him find the precint he is registered on.

This is very enjoyable, the story is very straightforward, and it insists on our right and responsability to vote even if we feel our vote alone can't possibly change all the injustice we see in the world. And also the romance was cute and developed slowly as Marva and Duke are just knowing each other. Really cute and quick read.

7.- Such a fun age - Kiley Reid

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Emira works as a babysitter for the Chamberleins' . She loves her little charge Briar, although she feels preassured to seek a 'real job' by her friends and by her own economic troubles. Emira soon finds herself in the middle of a tug of war between her boss Alix who tries to befriend her, and Kelley the guy she is dating.

So much drama. This is a great example of what performative activism looks like, first Alix is completely nuts, from her obsession to be seen as this wonderful understanding girl boss activist and the down right creepy sense of entitlement to Emira's friendship and intimacy. Like it doesn't surprise me she chose to victimize herself instead of recognizing it had all been a misunderstanding. And even then she still wants to seem atractive to the man she feels victimized by. Girl no.

Kelley is the ultimate fake woke ally. Dude Robbie was wrong period, he had no business inviting people over to someone else's house no matter the color of his skin. You don't get to talk over Emira on matters of what a person of color should do or feel on certain situations. That said it was so funny when he and Alix called each other out for their fetishization of people of color and yet none of them actually gave a damn about what Emira thought/felt/percieved. They just wanted her stamp of approval so they could pat themselves in the back for being such good allies.

8.- The Life and (Medieval) times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton

🌟🌟

Kit is working as a serving wench at the Castle, medieval themed restaurant run by her uncle, though she really wants to be a Knight, not only cuz the better pay would help around the house but because she really admires Joan of Arc, problem is the Castle management doesn't allow for anyone who is not a cis male to be a knight. Kit is set on changing that.

Ok so I feel a bit lukewarm toward this. Kit in my opinion doesn't get much growth, it seems she just can do whatever and her friends have to be ok w it, her romance w her friend feels pulled out of nowhere like Jett at one point tells her he is not intrested in dating her and then he is ???, those GoT references killed me, I get it I watched the show and sometimes even enjoyed it but it's not representative of anything medieval and Kit was always talking about how much she liked the actual history of the medieval times so...

Also as much as this book was about feminism and how we should fight for equal job oportunities, it feels as though Kit only cared about medieval woman who fought physically and not on the badass medieval woman, like idk it feels as a rejection of tradicional feminity like even the girl playing the Princess is a jerk. But I did like some parts, like her decision to confront her asshole dad to help her mom and the girls training together.

9.-Cien años de soledad de Gabriel Garcia Marquez

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

En Macondo, una población Colombiana a un lado del río, vemos como una de sus familias fundadoras crece, se expande y cambia a través de cien años.

Me encanto, hace mucho tiempo que no leía una novela de realismo mágico que me provocará tantos sentimientos. Creo que todos los personajes reflejan aspectos de la humanidad tan diversos y complejos que sería inútil tratar de enlistarlos todos.

Ultimadamente siento que lo que condenó a la familia Buendia a cumplir las profecías de Melquiades fue sus propia naturaleza que ellos nunca tuvieron intención de pelear, siempre sucumbian a las locuras o pasiones que los inundarán sin mesura alguna o consideración por las consecuencias. Y creo que aún así lo prefiero pues es lo que hace a cada personaje por confuso que a veces llegue a ser la repetición de nombres (que para mi es el simbolismo de una naturaleza y destino continuos) único e intrigante. En verdad espero que se den la oportunidad de leer este libro por lo menos una vez en sus vidas.

10.-The Monsters of music by Rebecca F. Kenney

🌟🌟🌟

This is a gender-swaped modern retelling of the Phantom of the Opera.

It was creative to make Mel, our Phantom, a true magical creature, and the singing contest was also cool. Like don't get me wrong I did have fun reading this but it also felt pretty unpolished like most characters were teens on the contest and that kinda made me roll my eyes a bit, like unless it's the Voice Kids age ranges are quite ample on this kind of shows, also kinda clumsy the addition of the magical elements with the modern setting, Kiyo didn't make much of an impression with me even when Christine is my fave on the original book. Still if you are a Phan like me you might wanna check this one out.

11.- Anna K by Jenny Lee

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is a modern americanized ya retelling of Anna Karenina.

Not gonna lie this made me cry so much at the end. I really liked Anna and Vronski together so much, and I don't like the love at first sight trope, but here it felt so inevitable. Anna was so self contained until she met him and could truly explore being herself and they really loved each other so much. Also I liked the treatment of the side characters Kimmie and Dustin were well developed and I really enjoyed this one can't wait to get to the second book.

12.- Wonderland by Zoje Stage

🌟🌟🌟

It was ok, but I was actually a bit disappointed cuz I had such high expectations for it. Like for about half the book I was really into the atmospheric vibe the book pulls you into, but as we get the reveal it started to go down hill for me, and the ending left me feeling meh. But maybe it was just not my cup of tea.

13.-Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book is so well crafted!!! I love how it goes back and forth between past and present , first it feels as if history is repeating itself, then as both narratives unfold we start to question and discovering things and the twist at the end was chillin and masterful, I truly and wholeheartedly recommend it.

14.- The Girl with the louding voice by Abi Daré

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Adunni, a teenage girl, flees from her husband to work as a maid in Lagos, though everything she has ever wanted is to study.

This broke my heart, as it reflects how people coming from rural backgrounds get taken advantage of in the City, like similar things happen here in Mexico, but also it made me glad to see Adunni fight and keep her spirit so no one could ever silence her.

15.- The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Immanuel does her very best to fit in Bethel, follow the scriptures and the Prophets words, but nothing seems to be enough to erase her mother's sin especially when the Darkwood seems to pull her in. As a plague starts to ravage Bethel, Immanuel has to face her past to save her people.

So frickin' good !!!! This story is great, mainly about the explotation of woman and young girls by people in power (in this case a church), the atmosphere is always tense, Ezra and Immanuel 's relationship is very well developed and one can really see how loyal they are to each other. A great option for horror fans.