BOOKCLUB: What I read in June
Being unemployed and depressed:
bad for financial situation and general feeling about oneself, good for my reading streak.
Audiobooks ftw!
FAVES
Shappi Khorsandi – Nina is Not OK
Very heartbreaking but sadly too real story of a teen struggling with alcohol addiction and the aftermath of a s*xual assault, and how slutshaming and misogynist our society can be to survivors. I was shocked by how many adults allowed the drinking, but even more by Nina’s mother leaving her to move abroad. Glad the police reporting and trial ended well – unfortunately, that’s not often the case in real life.
Faith G. Harper – Unf*ck Your Anxiety: Using Science to Rewire Your Anxious Brain
A very approachable and relatable explanation of where anxiety comes from and how to deal with it. Loved all the profanities, because yeah, fuck anxiety. A really good offer of medical AND alternative solutions and approaches to handling anxiety.
Bella Mackie – What a Way to Go
What Eliza Clark’s Penance wanted to achieve (but failed, in my opinion) with the criticism and satire of true crime obsessions. It’s funny and fast, and features an interesting reimaginations of heaven/hell. The ending about the hippie family (won’t spoil more) was hilarious! A really good follow up to How to Kill Your Family.
Katie Kitamura – Audition
I wasn’t so fond of Kitamura’s A Separation, but I’m really glad it didn’t stop me from reading this gem. From the second half of, I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but I sure had fun. What’s real, what’s a performance, what even is this book? What a wild ride!
Yasmin Zaher – The Coin
The unraveling at the end was amazing, and there was a lot interesting stuff but I feel like a lot was unexplored/just hinted at. The Paris/bag resale story didn’t have to be there at all tbh, and it had some pretty problematic beliefs about fatness and Black men.
Sohn Won-Pyung – Counterattacks at Thirty
Very good reflections on work culture, but the plot was a bit lackluster and too over-the-top to feel believable. Took me a long time to get into. Certainly not reaching the impact the author’s earlier work Almond had on me!
Dorota Ambrožová – Poslední léto
Heartbreaking and raw, which seems to be the main trend for contemporary Czech literature – I want to read a Czech book that doesn’t make me want to cry myself to sleep! But I really did not appreciate the ableist language right on the first page of the book, or the two weird racist comments that just literally came out of nowhere. How did that get through editing??
Annie Ernaux – Simple Passion
This book was great at capturing desire and longing – it’s so short yet manages to portray so much emotion. But I did not like the mysterious “Eastern European” man and all the comments about how everyone in the East “drinks”, it felt very fetishy and orientalist.
Maggie Su – Blob: A Love Story
The end felt too abrupt, and I thought the flashbacks were not at all necessary, There wasn’t much worldmaking around the blob, which would have made the whole bizarre situation more interesting, but regardless, it was fun to read.
Christine Liu – Sustainable Home: Practical projects, tips and advice for maintaining a more eco-friendly household
A nice intro to making more sustainable choices in your own home, accompanied by beautiful photos and a few DIY projects. Nothing earth-shattering, but a cute summary of the basic steps to make your life a bit more planet-conscious.
Weike Wang – Rental House
Waited for this for a long time but wasn’t really impressed. There wasn’t much plot, and while the 1st half had some interesting points, the 2nd made the characters very unlikable.
Saba Sams – Send Nudes
Your classic slightly feminist (aka very white cis pretty girl focused) short story collection, kind of Eliza Clark or Emma Cline coded. Maybe I’ve just read to many of similar books lately to appreciate it. Also, why so many about teens having sex with adults – without addressing grooming at all?
Noor Naga – If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English
Interesting premise, but I didn’t like how the 2nd half turned into a full plot of the TV show You, lol. The end discussion was aiming to do a thing, but it was pretty meh, and despite it all, I do still believe the book was kinda normalizing domestic violence and abuse.
Marshall B. Rosenberg – Non Violent Communication A Language of Life
I was hoping to learn how to communicate better in tense situations, but this doesn’t seem to be the way. The book is incredibly clunky, and the method Rosenberg presents felt very stiff and unnatural – honestly, who talks like this? I immediately noped out after the author suggesting that depression is caused by “unsaid things” only. Eek!
DID NOT FINISH
Daniel Magariel – One of the Boys
Nothing but misery p*rn with no real point. Can we already move past this trend of centering plots about a string of abuse and despair?
Rachel Cusk – Second Place
Felt like Master and Margarita but without any excitement, Who’s Jeffers??
Anthony Veasna So – Afterparties
Awful audiobook narration, no connection to the characters, lack of plot. I literally do not even remember what the book was about anymore.
Rachel Cusk – Parade
I guess Cusk is not my cup of tea. No real plot, no interest after a week, too many characters to follow. Next!
Akwaeke Emezi – Little Rot
I used to love Emezi’s writing, but it feels like its quality is dropping significantly with each release (no surprise, given how quickly they’re pumping out new titles). This was BAD – yet another rendition of the aforementioned misery p*rn, but with a horrible twist of adding sexy scenes right after detailed, visceral retellings of s*xual abuse (sometimes of minors even). It seemed like there were s*x scenes in every other paragraph, while the plot was very meh and sluggish. I thought I hated You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, but Little Rot was so much worse.
RE-READ FOR GERMAN PRACTICE
Han Kang – Die Vegetarierin
What’s this new section, you ask? Well, someone (me) is trying to finally (after 9 years of living in Germany) become fluent in German (it’s hard), and one of my ways to achieve that is consuming more media in German. To ease into that, I’ve decided to re-read a book I’ve already read, but this time in German, every month. I was initially planning to just go for audiobooks, but I quickly realized I’m retaining way more information seeing it all written out, so I’ve switched to proper written books. It took a long time to finish, but it was much easier than I expected!
Apart from the language learning experience, here’s a bit about the book: The German cover is AMAZING. Kinda wish to print it out, frame it, and have it in my bedroom. The story is sad but so fascinating. I love the way it’s written, but I wish there was more of the MC’s perspective in other parts of the book too.