october reads

 a few things happened this month:

1. i started reading again

2. so i got a kindle 

3. so i read more

so i am all intellectual and sophisticated now and here are all the books i read this month

midnight library

this was a self help disguised as a novel. very easy to read and so the perfect book for me to start reading again. i did expect more from it since it was praised with a lot of “life-changing” comments; it wasnt that for me. but it was still a very lovely book. i walked from it feeling grateful and excited for life so i think it did fulfill its purpose on me. a solid 3.5

• self help, comforting, simplistic 

where the crawdads sing

i like it then i don’t. the author is a wildlife scientist so i find her way of describing scenery and nature so beautiful and inspiring. the story was great at first and kind of going downhill at the end. 3.

• nature, human connection

song of archilles 

when i started reading this i thought it was very “call me by your name” lol, a book i sorely disliked. it got much better very fast and i cried like a baby at the end. even with having greek mythology as the overall theme, it was very accessible. i think this is a perfect example of a great fiction, amazing story telling, in depth character, and such a good ending. 4.5

• love, epic (lol i know, wtf is epic, but it feels like watching “prince of egypt” when i was a kid and being in awe of everything)

điều kì diệu của tiệm tạp hoá namiya

entering the very specific japanese genre of magical realism. this is a great book through and through. but maybe i am a bit dumb so i find it hard to follow all the time jump lol. 4

• wholesome and light

before the coffee gets cold

you can probably say that this is similar to the namiya store book. and it kind of is, similar genre, time jump, different people connecting to this one specific place. but somehow i like this book a lot more, probably because it has fewer characters, who all care for each other and hence a lot simpler to follow. it feels closer to heart if you know what i mean. 

the story takes place in a cafe in which you can time travel when you sit in a specific seat. you will start the time traveling when the coffee got poured and have to come back to the present before it gets cold. yet no matter what you do it wont change the present. this makes me think, who would i want to meet if given the chance? what would i say? i have always hang up on closure, most of my relationships end without either parties saying anything; and id try to convince myself its for the best. i think i would ask t again why we stopped talking.

anyways, i put in 5 stars right after reading this.

• even lighter and more wholesome, lol

normal people

man, i wanted to like this so much. at first i thought it was boring because of the viet translation, then i read the eng version. while the original is definitely better, its still underwhelming and honestly, boring as fuck. someone on goodreads said you can skip the book and listen to this song and will basically get the same damn story and i gotta agree. 2

the bell jar

i didnt get this and was struggling to get through it. again with the time jump lol. id read this again when i have the chance. mainly because its supposed to be a feminist, mental health classic so there must be something i am missing. or else, maybe it wasn’t for me.

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currently reading: braiding sweetgrass and such a fun age. both are so good so far, esp braiding sweetgrass. throw me your book recommendations if you have any, and if you make it this far ha!