r/IReadABookAndAdoredIt

Just finished this like 5 minutes ago and man I am so serious when I say this is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. For those who don’t know, its a story that follows a man and his son (they don’t have names they’re literally just called the man and the boy) traveling across the country after the apocalypse in search of a better life. It can be really heavy at times and the atmosphere carries so much weight to it but never at any point did that make me want to stop reading. The prose is simple and to the point making it very easy to read yet you’ll find that even in the simplest of senses there is so much wonder to be found. There isn’t a single word wasted. I think what I admired most about this story is that even amid such a bleak setting, it manages to tell us a tale of hope, resilience, and triumph in the human spirit. Even after the world ending, this one man and his son still find meaning in life within each other and have that be reason enough to keep pushing forward and I think thats incredibly beautiful. Idk what else to say it’s just perfect. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a beautiful book. It’s part poetry, part stream of consciousness, and somehow manages to feel really accessible rather than pretentious. The prose and the flow were probably my favourite parts of the whole thing.

The story follows Travis, who is essentially Death living among humans and spending his time comforting people in their final moments. He knows when everyone’s time is coming and has always kept himself pretty detached, until he meets Dalia, a midwife, and her daughter Layla. Getting pulled into their lives starts to change the way he sees people, connection, love, and what it actually means to be alive.

It’s definitely a heavier read, dealing with death, grief, loss, and some difficult subject matter, so I’d recommend checking the trigger warnings. But despite how heavy it is, I thought it handled those themes really beautifully and made me feel quite a lot.

The concept was great, the execution was even better, and I just really loved the way this book was written. I had it at a 4.75, but honestly, it deserves the five stars.

It's rare that I read something that makes me experience so many intense emotions. It’s been a long time since I have been this moved by a book.

Nina Diaz is a middle-aged Mexican-American woman, caring for her elderly mother in a rundown house in Brownsville, Texas. She used to be a teacher but, when her mother could no longer live alone, her brothers volunteered her for this duty – "you never married and you're the only girl, what did you expect?" – and now she lives a life of almost total isolation. She gets only one day a week where there is any respite care, thanks to her housecleaner, Rumalda– who asks Nina for a favor. Her sister-in-law and niece are going to cross the border illegally, and they need somewhere safe to stay overnight – and since there's a small pink rental house, a standalone mother-in-law apartment, currently unoccupied on the property, could they use that? Just for one night? Nina says yes, only to learn that there's a high price to pay when the coyotes who smuggle people across the border find out that she has an empty house on her property...

Meanwhile, her nephew Eduardo – who moved to Houston and became "Eddie" – lost his wife to an aneurysm six months earlier and, in the aftermath, forgot to send in the deposit for summer camp for his son– so of course Nina won't mind looking after 12-year-old Orly for three weeks in the summer, she is his godmother after all. But if Orly (who barely understands Spanish never mind understanding the risks) finds out what's going on in the pink house, it could mean the end of everything for Nina.

I'm not conveying the heart of this book-- which is about families, the one we're born into and the ones we choose, and about what we owe one another. It is unflinching in its portrayal of the suffering of women under the culture of machismo, of the way their emotional work is taken for granted, and Nina's backstory is heartbreaking, how she lost the only man she's ever loved. But weaving in and out of her story (and Orly's story, because we enter into his point of view as well), are the stories of many different Latinos whose lives touch theirs, often in passing, written in brief passages that are one of my favorite parts of this book. Orly's favorite teacher at school, the family's maid in Houston, the coyote who keeps saying 'one more job,' the elderly woman whose plastic water jug blows across the highway as his father drives Orly past a seemingly empty wasteland… We learn those stories too.

Nina, like Orly, lives in a rich world of social connection, of the documented and undocumented, of families connected through secrets and lies but also by the power of compassion and love, and that's what this book is really about.

It's powerful and affecting and heartbreaking and really beautiful. I loved this book!

(PS— with all the controversy around American Dirt, I found a list of books to read instead of that by Latino/a authors, and this is the third book I’ve loved from that list – well, I’m not sure I “loved” The Devil’s Highway, I’m haunted by it, but I really enjoyed Signs Preceding the End of the World.)

I devoured this book in two days (270 pages). I wasn’t expecting to like it so much, but I just couldn’t put it down.

We follow George throughout his 20s and 30s, spanning 2000-2020, mostly in Brooklyn. Privileged but troubled, your initial sympathy for him turns into intense frustration. Anyone who has read Stoner will recognise the passivity and inaction that makes the reader want to tear their hair out.

A lot of the Goodreads reviews say “we all know a George…” but I don’t think we do. I think we all have been George. George is what happens when we succumb to the most negative thoughts we have, if we don’t get up and keep going.

The ending is what made this book for me. 10/10. Greathead’s prose is also excellent.

I'll be honest; I entered this quest as a skeptic. After the first 100 pages, I assumed I knew that I've signed up for a disappointing, sloppy read of an author who is indeed in his 'eleventh hour'.

I've been — to my immense joy and pleasure — been proved wrong.

Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote boasts an influence on world literature as large and all-encompassing as Karamazov, War & Peace, or Ulysses (not considering the great Greek epics). To stand upon its shoulders and construct a world that seeks to look further, examine deeper, and ask harsher questions is challenging — to put simply.

But Rushdie has taken upon the challenge and come out victorious. There aren't many authors who are looking at the new, ever-changing world so closely and with such concern. His penchant for the 'magic real' puts us face-to-face with a world that is declining, becoming more extremist and uninhabitable.

As always, his literary genius binds together a tale as old as time with a world that is hyperfixated on social media, apathy, and extremism, and asks fundamental questions about the soul, the self. This, with the recurring theme of a father and a son (having read Midnight's and Haroun before).

Is there a simple synopsis that I can roll out (like a carpet, not flying for now) for the fellow review-reader? No. Go in blind. See if it works for you. It worked for me, but only after I was patient and surrendered to the text. Do I speak like the Don? Has he hopped out of the pages and inhabited my mind? We'll never know.

Just finished reading BIG JIM & THE WHITE BOY. It’s more than just a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that centers more of Jim as a character. It redefines Jim & Huck’s relationship and how both were shaped by their environment as they’re on the run throughout the country—from the antebellum South & Midwest to the Confederacy, the Old West, the Underground Railroad, and beyond.

Also intertwined is the commentary of Jim & Huck in the future talking about how Twain’s portrayal differed from the true story and from their descendants on how they tackled with preserving their legacy and making sure the history was not minimized.

This book also breaks down the greater context of the harsh truth of America’s history has been minimized, rewritten, and even erased to assuage bigoted feelings and change public perception (a message that hits harder these days) and how important it is to preserve history—the good, bad & ugly—so that the truth does not become forgotten by present and future generations.

It manages to teach all of this without feeling like a moralistic lecture but recontextualizes a familiar story, providing a deeper understanding that doesn’t demonize Twain’s novel but also changes the way you appreciate it.

For those who read it, what did you think?

this book explores the inner turmoil of acceptance and shame related to your sexuality in a repressive society - or more specifically, in the late 1900s communist poland. there are two things in this novel that stuck out to me; how jedrowski dealt with the issues of the politics surrounding the cold war and how he dealt with the acceptance of one's self.

Just finished Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

I hadn’t finished a novel in years. I’d pick things up, read twenty pages, and drift away. This one grabbed me and didn’t let go.

The premise is simple on paper: a man lives alone in an endless house filled with tides, statues, and clouds (2nd pic). The lower halls flood with the sea; the upper halls dissolve into mist. He believes there are only fifteen people in the world, and he knows most of them by name.

It’s not horror, but it’s unsettling in a quiet way. The loneliness got under my skin. I kept reading because I had to know: in a world where almost no one exists, how does one survive? What thoughts does one get?

The prose is deceptively plain, no fancy tricks, just clarity that builds into something haunting. And that ending. I won’t spoil it, but it’s one of the most beautiful last twenty pages I’ve ever read. It left me thinking about memory, gratitude, and how we make peace with the worlds we inhabit.

If you’ve been in a reading slump, this is the book to pull you out.

(Note: I used AI to help fix my grammar, so apologies if anything sounds too polished!)

This is a story about a bright kid with big dreams and ambitions, but somewhere in between, things go fatally wrong as he builds a new identity for himself around a web of lies.

A lot has been said about this book, but I'll just add some few personal observations and thoughts that came up during and after completion.

- I wanted (and expected) more on London's underbelly and/or current affairs with how the state is addressing the issue of oligarchy infestation and the power struggle that happens in the shadows.

- The depth of research and insight (Mermaid theatre history, Ugandan Railway, Brink-Mat heist, etc.) was incredible. I devoured every little factoid and enjoyed it; however, I felt like too much time was dedicated on the Shamji and Sharma backstories. For me, I wanted more macro than micro crime, but ultimately, both were entertaining in their own right.

- The parallels between Hugo Gryn and Zac make an interesting observation. There's the tragedy of having lost everyone you've loved in the Holocaust and wanting to pick up the pieces later in life and rebuild somewhere else, in addition to leading a secret life so ramped up on a scaffolding of lies that it comes crashing down like a meteor and just sends shockwaves in every single direction.

- I like the reverse chronology of the narrative. PRK begins all the way in the past, then goes back some more, before recounting how he came across Zac's story by coincidence in the last couple of chapters in the book.

- I really hope (for the Brettler's sake, first) that Akbar Shamji one day (unlikely) decides to come clean and spill the beans on the entire events of that night and give everyone involved and interested in the case some form of closure.

For this book the author followed three Afghan people: a man working for the Americans, a Taliban commander, and a housewife. By the end of the book one of these people had been murdered, one was in prison and one had been elected to the Afghan senate.

I had known the American occupation was a train wreck and a failure but hadn’t known exactly why. Per this book, when the war began Al Qaeda fled, and many of the Talibs agreed to surrender and give up arms. So America arrived wanting to kill terrorists and not finding any. And Afghans started reporting each other as “terrorists” to settle rivalries and old scores. Various randoms were arrested, brutalized, tortured, and sometimes sent to Guantanamo Bay for no reason other than someone had a grudge against them. It was horrific.

It was the Taliban guy’s story that interested me the most. Like most of the others he agreed to surrender, and for awhile he tried to work with the Americans, but the aforementioned random arrests and brutalities were happening and eventually he became so disgusted by how the occupiers were behaving that he returned to the Taliban and joined the insurgency. And, having read about his life, I could understand his decision making process.

It was quite a fascinating enlightening book for me. America should never gone to Afghanistan at all; I’m not sure they did any good whatsoever in the end.

A book that I find immensely captivating because of its strange alien landscapes and its prescient philosophical outlook for a book that came out in 1920. And I know I'm not the only one who finds this book fascinating, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis loved it, as does Paul Giamatti. It may not be very widely read but it has captured the interest of some very influential figures so I thought it best to read and was not disappointed.

The plot (for what little of it there is) concerns a man named Maskull who attends an occult seance with his friend Nightspore. While at this seance they befriend a man named Krag who tells them that his home is in the Arcturus star system. Maskull doesn't believe him but decides to humour Krag's offer to go to his home. They travel to Arcturus in a starship made of crystalline light and the immense G-force that he's exposed to causes Maskull to pass out. When he wakes up he finds himself on a planet named Tormance with three new sensory organs sprouted from his body and his two friends nowhere in sight.

That's about all the plot you get in this book. The vast majority of the rest of the story is dedicated to scene setting, location descriptions and philosophical discussions with the aliens that Maskull meets. Other events do happen but a lot of the events don't feel interconnected, the narrative is quite episodic and disparate. Clearly the surface-level plot is not the focus. Where the story does makes sense (and clearly the thing that Lindsay wants his readers to focus on) is the philosophical discussions, themes and symbols that the characters discuss/embody.

Before I touch on the philosophy, I want to give a shoutout to Lindsay's imaginative world. Tormance is a strange planet, so strange that he creates two new primary colours to emphasise its alienness: jale and ulfire. Jale is described as "dreamlike, feverish and voluptuous" while ulfire is "wild and painful." While this does fundamentally misunderstand how humans perceive colour, I appreciate the attempt at making new primary colours. Because of this human limitation, Lindsay creatively gets around that by describing them through the emotions that they instill in people rather than their actual appearance. It shows a mind that clearly has a knack for the captivatingly unusual. There are other interesting world tidbits, the shrowk is another highlight of the story (it's the serpentine dragon thing pictured above) as is Leehallfae, they're an alien that is neither male nor female which necessitates the invention of a new set of pronouns to refer to them by which are ae/aer.

The meat of the story is the philosophical discussions between various aliens and to go into that in depth would take up way too much time so I'll mention some that I personally found fascinating: there is a lot of discussion around moral obligation and murder. The first alien that Maskull talks to, Joiwind, tells him that he should not harm any living thing without thinking of her first. Joiwind herself only drinks gnawl water for sustenance, she doesn't even eat plants (although on Tormance the distinction between animal and plant is almost non-existent) because they are living beings too in what I can only interpret as an extreme form of veganism. However, the first alien he comes across after Joiwind, called Oceaxe, essentially calls Maskull a coward for sticking to this lifestyle and if he wants something he should take it. That's what she and her partners do, in their world the strong should rule all and if someone isn't thriving then they aren't strong enough to take what they need. It is worth mentioning that Oceaxe's magn (an organ that grows out of the heart and allows the being to feel empathy for others) has been mutated into a third arm. Maskull is pressured by her into doing the same to his magn and it's not long after that where he starts killing most of the aliens he comes across, including Joiwind's brother who is travelling to visit her. I have my own interpretation of what that means and I am leaving out some smaller details that may influence your own interpretation of these events but those are the broad strokes of just one philosophical outlook in this world. There are also discussions around the difference between male and female and how much biological sex has to do with gender, there is discussion around spiritualism and how that ties back into morality. There is a gnostic bent to this book where its implied that Krag is the demiurge and has tricked Maskull into walking a path that the true god of the universe doesn't approve of. All of this is just scratching the surface of what this book talks about and I still haven't made heads or tails of everything. There is so much to mine from this thing, it's insane.

I adored A Voyage to Arcturus. The ending confused the shit out of me, that was a complete mindfuck. But anyone interested in science fiction, fantasy or philosophical fiction owes it to themselves to read this book. I think it is a masterpiece.

Circe by Madeline Miller is a beautifully written retelling of Greek mythology that tells the story of Circe, a goddess who never quite fits into the world of the gods. From the beginning, she is treated as different and insignificant, especially by her powerful family. As she grows older, she discovers that she possesses a unique ability for witchcraft, which eventually changes the course of her life.

The story follows Circe through her exile to a remote island, where she learns to live independently and develop her powers. During her time there, she encounters many famous figures from Greek mythology, including Odysseus and other characters whose stories we may already know. However, Miller tells these myths from Circe’s perspective, giving them a completely different emotional depth. There are moments of adventure, love, loneliness, violence, and loss, which make the story much more than just a fantasy about a powerful witch.

One of my favourite things about Circe was how strongly feminist it felt. The book explores what it means to be a woman in a world dominated by powerful men and gods. Circe is constantly underestimated, controlled, or treated as less important, but throughout the story she slowly learns to stand up for herself and decide what she wants from her own life. Her strength does not come only from her magic; it comes from her independence and the way she learns from everything she experiences.

I also loved how much Greek mythology was included in the novel. Even though Circe is the main character, the book introduces so many other myths and legendary figures that it feels like you are exploring the entire world of Greek mythology alongside her. I found myself learning a lot about characters and stories that I had only heard about before. Miller connects these different myths naturally instead of making the book feel like a collection of unrelated stories.

The book also does a great job of showing the darker side of mythology. The gods are not portrayed as perfect or heroic; they can be cruel, selfish, and terrifying. This gives the story a much more serious and sometimes disturbing tone. At the same time, Circe’s journey has moments of warmth and hope, which makes the emotional parts of the story even more impactful.

Without giving away the ending, I really liked how Circe’s journey eventually reaches a hopeful and satisfying conclusion. After everything she goes through, she finally gets the opportunity to decide what kind of life she wants for herself. The ending feels like a reward for all the growth she experiences throughout the book and gives the story a sense of freedom and happiness.

Overall, Circe was a fascinating read for me because it combines Greek mythology with feminism, personal growth, and a powerful story about finding your own identity. It taught me much more about Greek mythology while also making these ancient stories feel personal and relevant. I especially enjoyed seeing familiar myths from a woman’s perspective and watching Circe grow from someone who is constantly underestimated into someone who takes control of her own destiny.

Just finished reading the novel SECRET IDENTITY by Alex Segura. Set in 70s New York, it stars Carmen Valdez, a devoted comics fan who gets a job as a secretary at Triumph Comics, a small comics publisher. She’s not content to remain a secretary. She’d prefer to be a creator, to write her own superheroine comic one day. However, the comics industry in the 70s is a messy business for everybody involved, especially if you’re a woman trying to make it big.

But she recently collaborated with one of Triumph’s writers, Harvey Stern, to create a new heroine, the Lethal Lynx, a character who’s unlike anything the company is publishing and has the potential to be the next comics superstar. However, considering her boss refuses to let her take a shot at writing a comic, her involvement is initially kept secret but he promises to make sure she gets treated as a collaborator.

To her surprise, the Lethal Lynx makes its debut as the SOLE CREATION of Harvey Stern. Carmen is pissed at being screwed out of credit and wants to confront Harvey over the drama. However, when she shows up to his place, he’s found dead.

And so now the investigation into his murder (where Carmen herself is under suspicion) is underway, and Carmen must uncover the truth as well as help reclaim her co-creator status for The Lethal Lynx. At this point, it’s unknown what’ll be harder.

As both a comics fan and a crime fiction lover, this novel was the perfect blend of two of my favorite things. Alex Segura is a comic writer himself and it shows in the way he depicts the comics industry in the 70s, using actual creators and intertwining this fictional narrative with actual comics history, grounding it further into reality. It’s a love letter not just to comics but to pulp-style crime fiction, combining social commentary about representation and fandom in comics industry centered around an engrossing murder mystery. I’m looking forward to checking out the sequel, ALTER EGO.

If you’re a comics fan and/or a mystery fan, this is a crime novel that you’ll be hooked on from the very first chapter.

This is a weird book. Truly weird. It is also probably the most interesting speculative fiction I have read in a long time.

I picked this up because of the cover and the concept, and both absolutely delivered. The story follows an alien trying to understand and imitate humans while navigating hunger, desire, gender, loneliness, and what it even means to be human. It is gruesome, disgusting, uncomfortable, and pushes a lot of boundaries.

This is absolutely not for everyone. Honestly, I don’t think I know many people personally who would enjoy this book, which somehow makes me love it even more. 😂

It is short, quick, disturbing, and completely unlike anything else I have read. The audiobook was also weird in the best possible way and the production really added to the experience.

I cannot give this anything less than five stars simply because it gave me something genuinely different. Cover, phenomenal. Audiobook, amazing. Story, disturbing.

Please read the trigger warnings, go in with an open mind, and understand that this book is going to be a lot.

Hands down one of the most interesting books I have read this year.

This book blew me away. I’m surprised I had never heard of it until this year. I was an avid reader as a teen/young adult but then I totally fell off of it. This year, after going through some hard times, I decided to pick up reading again and started with some mystery and thriller books. But I wanted something different after a while, and after some digging, I decided on this one. I’m so glad I did because it has reminded why I used to enjoy reading so much.

The book is about a representative from an interstellar organization whose purpose is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between worlds. He is sent to a new planet, one where the people are genderless except for certain times of the month (like a menstrual cycle), and his job is to persuade them to join his organization.

Everything just works here. The prose itself is engaging. The world building is fascinating. The questions it poses about life are illuminating. And the characters! I grew to love both protagonists so much by the end. I’m reading one of her other books next. Overall, a very satisfying read and one I highly recommend if you’re looking for a book that simmers.

Disclaimer: My only gripe is that, if you get this copy, there is an unfortunate typo on the last page of the book that makes the ending a bit confusing, which sucks, cause it‘s a great ending otherwise. Don’t know how they let that slip.

OH MY GOD I need to talk about this book!

I had put it off for years, somehow thinking I would be bored with it, and I devoured it in like 2 days.

Westover is raised by Survivalist Mormons in Idaho, who live in a seemingly alternate universe. They refuse modern medicine and allow the most vile acts of abuse happen. Her father is such a complex character and as someone who was almost a philosophy minor I found it just fascinating.

This story is just absolutely wild to me on so many levels. I’m so incredibly glad she got to tell her story to the world.

I loved how my mind was just continuously blown by how much madness was happening with this family. And Shawn? Just enraged me. I was rooting so much for her to not only survive, but be free.

I have NO idea what I’m going to read after this, haha. This is for sure going to give me a book hangover.

"Children die, and parents go on living."

This could be said to be the central thesis of the book. Li and her husband lost both of their teenage sons to suicide, six years apart. It's a stunning, dismantling fact. This book is Li's attempt, I suppose, to make some kind of 'sense' of that fact. She's not asking 'Why?' so much as 'And so now what?' Along with this we get a picture of Vincent and James (brothers and best friends) and their unique sensibilities.

I was both deeply moved and comforted by this book. Comfort is maybe not what you would expect to find here, but I think Li has managed to weave together both sorrow and solace. I don't have children, but I have lost a loved one to suicide, and much of the book resonated with me and my experience of this kind of loss. I was awed by Li's strength and vulnerability and I will be thinking about her words for a long time, and I'll be seeking out more of her work.

This won't be a book for everyone, but I do think everyone would be able to glean something from it, and particularly if suicide has touched their lives.