Rooooomie

Readers bring a lot of baggage to their reading material

The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein

April 5, 2021 by Rooooomie Leave a Comment

I wish I had listened to the age-old adage: don’t read the comments. But that’s exactly what I did after I finished reading The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein; I opened the book in Goodreads to see what others had to say. Of course, a lot of people don’t like to read books that have unlikeable, or less than perfect, main characters. (I feel a bit weird using the word ‘character’ about a biography, but let’s go with it anyway.) I knew this already, but I […]

And then there were…

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

April 5, 2021 by Rooooomie Leave a Comment

I’m not really into classic detective fiction. While I definitely enjoy a mystery and a puzzle (ooh, and a murder!) in whatever I read, I’ve not once had the urge to pick up a Sherlock Holmes novel, and only vaguely know about Agatha Christie’s famous stories. In fact, while The Decagon House Murders is loosely based on Christie’s And Then There Were None, I only knew about the latter’s infamously racist original title, nothing about the story itself. Decagon is, as I learned, a prime example […]

You’re not just lucky, you’re brilliant

Not Just Lucky by Jamila Rizvi

March 29, 2021 by Rooooomie 2 Comments

If you’re a women – or know a woman – who is still early in her career and is struggling to advocate for herself, or has to deal with the rampant sexism and misogyny that is still — pause for a sigh — everywhere, then I wholeheartedly recommend Not Just Lucky. Written by Jamila Rizvi, a young woman with an awe-inspiring career, this book is part analysis, part memoir, and part self-help book. If that last part turns you off, I get it – but […]

Let’s pretend this was never published

The Best of Me by David Sedaris

March 21, 2021 by Rooooomie Leave a Comment

I’ve been a fan of David Sedaris’s writing for a very long time; Me Talk Pretty One Day was the first book of his that I read, and I quickly blew through his back catalogue at the time. Since then, I’ve bought and read every new book he has released, including his latest, The Best of Me. I’ve been in a bit of a reading rut this year, so when trying to decide what to read next, I was confident Sedaris’s latest release would break […]

A very put-down-able novella

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

February 2, 2021 by Rooooomie 5 Comments

Amanda, a young woman, lies in a hospital. We don’t know how she got there, or what’s wrong with her. Sitting on her bed is a young boy, David, who is not her son, but who nonetheless seems to know a lot about her. David is urging Amanda to tell her story, to be observant, but to be quick, as she doesn’t have much time left. What follows is a somewhat suspenseful story that touches on a few interesting themes, including parenthood, but ultimately doesn’t […]

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