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farbooksventure's reviews
359 reviews
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
I still need to sit on this book for a little bit.
Generally speaking, I find myself like Brave New World the most. Especially in comparison to other dystopian works like 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, or Fahrenheit 451.
"‘And that’, put in the Director sententiously, ‘that is the secret of happiness and virtue – liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny."
The part that sticks with me the most is this: when John realizes the freedom & happiness that comes with knowing what words to use to describe what he feels. That moment when you realize how important language is for self-actualization… Life-changing stuff, indeed.
The way dystopian works play around with language has always intrigued me. Even with 1984, the part that I remembered most is the whole newspeak thing & how they constantly edit dictionaries to simplify words.
I suddenly remember why I keep seeking dystopian works to read even after all these years.
La Peste (The Plague) by Albert Camus
All in all, The Plague is not the most ideal read when you go through one. Still, I'm curious about how my opinion would change in the following years or after I read other works by Camus. I also keep my rating in the range of three because I felt the absence of meaningful woman character(s) in the story quite acutely.
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
I finally read my first Camus! Really thankful for Reka with whom I buddy read the book. If not for this, I’m going to keep procrastinating for months.
This book caught my eye way back in 2020 after I watched this particular Puppet History episode. At the beginning of the pandemic, I added a lot of pandemic-related books into my TBR list. The Plague will be the first of them that I actually (eventually) read. The book is exactly what it says on the tin.
Told by a mysterious narrator who will reveal themself at the end, The Plague is an account of what happened when a city was swept by plague. One part at the beginning when rats dying en-masse aboveground will stay with me for a while. The story basically follows a cast of characters & how they deal with the situation. As far as a plague story goes, it was horrific & devastating, yes. It also ends on a pretty hopeful note, all things considered.
I must admit that I was intimidated by the philosophy label, at first. My worries abate when I realize that I can follow the writing (and the idea) quite well. The translation is good too. It also feels like a slow-read, but I'm not sure whether it’s due to the writing style or simply the effect of reading an account of life under a pandemic.
I found this particular passage quite apt in describing my feeling for the last 2-3 years:
“In the memories of those who lived through them, the grim days of plague do not stand out like vivid flames, ravenous and inextinguishable, beaconing a troubled sky, but rather like the slow, deliberate progress of some monstrous thing crushing out all upon its path."
All in all, The Plague is not the most ideal read when you go through one. Still, I'm curious about how my opinion would change in the following years or after I read other works by Camus. I also keep my rating in the range of three because I felt the absence of meaningful woman character(s) in the story quite acutely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Child Death: Towards the end (around Part IV in the book), there's a graphic description of how a child die due to plague. It's a long description of a painful death. Take care if you give it a read.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Braiding Sweetgrass might be the longest audiobook I have had the pleasure of listening to so far. And honestly? It remains a thought-provoking & peaceful read until the very end.
It's the type of book you read slowly over a long period. Not something you attempt to read quickly in a tight reading deadline. Trust me, I'm speaking from personal experience here lol.
Through Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer offered a different perspective on how we can recover & change our relationship with lands and nature in general. Drawing from her educational background as an ecologist & cultural background as an indigenous person, she proposes reciprocity as the base of our relationship with the land to move forward in the future.
There's a lot of descriptions of various plants and animals. Various natural circles. Various ways every being on earth lives and interacts with each other. Various ways things we do (and don't) can affect other beings without us even realizing it. Kimmerer also mixed this with anecdotes about her life & work. In short, there's a lot of info to sort through & you wouldn't want to put an unnecessary burden on yourself by attempting to read it in one sitting or something.
That being said, this book also remains gentle. It stays realistic, yes, but it also doesn't push you to the cliff of despair. It simply makes you want to do and be better, for our sake and other beings who we live with side by side within this planet.
My inner biology-loving self is LIVING while reading this book. I'm especially intrigued by the many passages dedicated to various flora & fauna. From Maple trees to Salamander, these are new to me because you don't find them on tropical lands where I spend most of my life in.
So, I would totally recommend Braiding Sweetgrass if you are interested in nature & biology. I also encourage people who look for a fresh way of doing science to give this one a try.
It's the type of book you read slowly over a long period. Not something you attempt to read quickly in a tight reading deadline. Trust me, I'm speaking from personal experience here lol.
Through Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer offered a different perspective on how we can recover & change our relationship with lands and nature in general. Drawing from her educational background as an ecologist & cultural background as an indigenous person, she proposes reciprocity as the base of our relationship with the land to move forward in the future.
There's a lot of descriptions of various plants and animals. Various natural circles. Various ways every being on earth lives and interacts with each other. Various ways things we do (and don't) can affect other beings without us even realizing it. Kimmerer also mixed this with anecdotes about her life & work. In short, there's a lot of info to sort through & you wouldn't want to put an unnecessary burden on yourself by attempting to read it in one sitting or something.
That being said, this book also remains gentle. It stays realistic, yes, but it also doesn't push you to the cliff of despair. It simply makes you want to do and be better, for our sake and other beings who we live with side by side within this planet.
My inner biology-loving self is LIVING while reading this book. I'm especially intrigued by the many passages dedicated to various flora & fauna. From Maple trees to Salamander, these are new to me because you don't find them on tropical lands where I spend most of my life in.
So, I would totally recommend Braiding Sweetgrass if you are interested in nature & biology. I also encourage people who look for a fresh way of doing science to give this one a try.
One Bloody Thing After Another by Joey Comeau
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
2.5
Probably the weirdest book I read this year. Still not sure what to make of it. I also found it more on the gory-side rather than the horror-comedy side. Despite the ways everything tied up quite nicely (more or less) in the end, I still feel this sense of lack of something from the book.
Overall, instead of satisfying, One Bloody Thing After Another makes for a very puzzling reading experience for me.
Overall, instead of satisfying, One Bloody Thing After Another makes for a very puzzling reading experience for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, and Vomit
Gore, Animal Death, and Child Death: Some characters go feral & developed animal-like behaviour over the course of the story. They're craving the fresh meat of living beings. It escalates from eating small animals (kittens and a dog) to eating human (a baby and two adult human). There's also frequent description of a ghost of a bloody young girl holding their own severed head.
Violence:One of the main characters have an anger management issue. She constantly goes into a fit rage & does self-destructive violent spree in the book.
Death of Parent, Cancer, and Vomit: The main girl with anger issue struggles with griefing for her mother who die of cancer. She often flashback into the time when she would saw her mother being sick & vomitting into the toilet.
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
I think the biggest plot twist of 2021 for me is the fact that Maggie O'Farrell somehow managed to make me SUPER INVESTED in the fictional narrative of Shakespeare's family.
Being from the Global South, this man is nowhere in our education system & pop culture is the one place where I heard about him the most. His various plays intrigued me at some point but the unfamiliar old-timey language intimidated me as a non-native speaker. Reading Hamnet somehow makes me want to give them a try again.
The premise is this: the book follows the death of Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, & the devastating aftermath that followed. To be honest, I personally will describe it more as the early history of William Shakespeare's family. The book indeed alternates between the present days (counting the hours before Hamnet's demise) and the past (following the courtship of Hamnet's parents, Willian Shakespeare & Anne Hathaway--in the book referred to as Agnes).
Being from the Global South, this man is nowhere in our education system & pop culture is the one place where I heard about him the most. His various plays intrigued me at some point but the unfamiliar old-timey language intimidated me as a non-native speaker. Reading Hamnet somehow makes me want to give them a try again.
The premise is this: the book follows the death of Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, & the devastating aftermath that followed. To be honest, I personally will describe it more as the early history of William Shakespeare's family. The book indeed alternates between the present days (counting the hours before Hamnet's demise) and the past (following the courtship of Hamnet's parents, Willian Shakespeare & Anne Hathaway--in the book referred to as Agnes).
I really love Agnes as a character. Like unexpectedly a whole LOT. I can't stop reading because I'm curious about what the author got in store for Agnes next. I enjoy seeing the change that Agnes goes through. From her early years up until she becomes Hamnet's grieving mother. It's highly engaging.
The fact that this novel is written so beautifully also doesn't hurt. Definitely one of my reading highlights for 2021. I'm glad that I bought it as a birthday present for myself this year too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity
Death of parent: Refer to the fact that Agnes' mother/Hamnet's maternal grandma died of child birth when Agnes is still a child.
Child death: Aside from refer to the death of Hamnet at 11 years old, this also apply to the death of Anne, William Shakespeare's sibling, during childhood due to pestilence.
Infidelity: After Hamnet's death, Agnes suspects Shakespeare of being unfaithful while being away working in London. Shakespeare's indirectly confirm this & promptly apologize deeply to her. The infidelity is likely a result of deep grief & sorrow over the death of his only son. The infidelity is not really significant to the story as whole & only mention briefly towards the end of the book.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
This book is like nothing I ever read before.
Beautifully-written, there are so many layers to the narration that I'm sure i haven't fully understand/ appreciate yet. Absolutely intrigued to read more from this author. Invisible Cities is definitely that type of book that one would appreciate more if one know what to expect. I highly recommend taking a little peek at the book wiki page first!
I marked quite a few quotes that I love from this book. Here are two of them:
Beautifully-written, there are so many layers to the narration that I'm sure i haven't fully understand/ appreciate yet. Absolutely intrigued to read more from this author. Invisible Cities is definitely that type of book that one would appreciate more if one know what to expect. I highly recommend taking a little peek at the book wiki page first!
I marked quite a few quotes that I love from this book. Here are two of them:
- On Death
"... You reach a moment in life when, among the people you have known, the dead out number the living. And the mind refuses to accept more faces, more expressions: on every new face you encounter, it prints the old forms, for each one it finds the most suitable mask." - page 82.
- On Storytelling
"... "I speak and speak" Marco says, "but the listener retains only the word he is expecting ... It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear." - page 115.
Pembunuhan di Lorong - Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie
mysterious
medium-paced
3.25
Pikiranku (pada akhirnya) kembali membandingkan buku kumpulan cerita pendek (kumcer) ini dengan kumcer Masalah di Teluk Polensa. Berbeda dari cerpen singkat/padat yang mendominasi buku tersebut, cerpen dalam Pembunuhan di Lorong sendiri lebih panjang & punya ruang lebih untuk berkembang. Aku lebih menyukai tipe cerpen panjang semacam ini dari Christie alih-alih cerpen super pendek Beliau yang penutup ceritanya kadang entah datang darimana.
Dari 4 cerpen yang ada, cerpen yang menjadi judul buku ini memang yang paling mantap & berkesan. Cerpen Cermin Mayat dan Segitiga di Rhodes sendiri mengingatkanku pada tulisan Christie yang lain. Cermin Mayat dengan cerpen Gong Kedua (dari kumcer Masalah di Teluk Polensa) dan Segitiga di Rhodes dengan novel Pembunuhan di Teluk Pixy. Aku rasa kalau rutin maraton baca karya Christie selama hampir satu tahun, cepat atau lambat kamu pasti akan menyadari pola konsisten di balik masing-masing tulisan.
Mengikuti buku-buku Agatha Christie yang aku baca sebelumnya, aku menyematkan rating standar tiga untuk kumcer Pembunuhan di Lorong karena penggunaan stereotip & misogyny dalam cerpen terakhir di buku ini terlalu kental untuk diabaikan.
Dari 4 cerpen yang ada, cerpen yang menjadi judul buku ini memang yang paling mantap & berkesan. Cerpen Cermin Mayat dan Segitiga di Rhodes sendiri mengingatkanku pada tulisan Christie yang lain. Cermin Mayat dengan cerpen Gong Kedua (dari kumcer Masalah di Teluk Polensa) dan Segitiga di Rhodes dengan novel Pembunuhan di Teluk Pixy. Aku rasa kalau rutin maraton baca karya Christie selama hampir satu tahun, cepat atau lambat kamu pasti akan menyadari pola konsisten di balik masing-masing tulisan.
Mengikuti buku-buku Agatha Christie yang aku baca sebelumnya, aku menyematkan rating standar tiga untuk kumcer Pembunuhan di Lorong karena penggunaan stereotip & misogyny dalam cerpen terakhir di buku ini terlalu kental untuk diabaikan.
Van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh
informative
fast-paced
3.0
Pretty superficial. As a newbie in the topic, I still appreciate it, but I hope there are more sources or further reading cited.
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
I don't think I will enjoy the book, so I stop myself early.
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
3.75
For the longest time, I really thought that Nordic mythology isn’t really for me. This changed after I encountered this retelling by Neil Gaiman.
On my first try with the edition translated to Bahasa Indonesia, I’m so close to DNF the book altogether. I’m glad I gave it another chance by listening to the English audiobook. Not only able to engage you with his writing, Gaiman is also mesmerizing as a narrator. In the end, I come to this conclusion: the tales on Norse Mythology are the kind of tales that served best through oral tradition. I don’t think I will like this book quite as much if I continue to attempt to read it with my own two eyes.
If you’re interested in this title, I highly encourage you to give the audiobook a try. It’s phenomenal!
On my first try with the edition translated to Bahasa Indonesia, I’m so close to DNF the book altogether. I’m glad I gave it another chance by listening to the English audiobook. Not only able to engage you with his writing, Gaiman is also mesmerizing as a narrator. In the end, I come to this conclusion: the tales on Norse Mythology are the kind of tales that served best through oral tradition. I don’t think I will like this book quite as much if I continue to attempt to read it with my own two eyes.
If you’re interested in this title, I highly encourage you to give the audiobook a try. It’s phenomenal!