The Fault in Our Stars is the first John Green novel I ever read. It is also the only John Green novel I ever enjoyed. After finishing it, I hunted down his other books and was soundly disappointed. They all had some variation of a dull male protagonist, his quirky unobtainable love interest, his far more interesting friends, and his oddly lenient parents. I couldn’t take it anymore after Paper Towns. But that was a year ago, long enough for me to recover, and I am so happy I gave this […]
Spoiler: She dies at the end.
“It is not difficult to understand why Caesar became history, Cleopatra a legend.” I heard of this book thanks to The Daily Show. I love bios about royal women and the author is obviously super-smart. So I went out and bought the book, and I promptly left it unread for a couple of years. (That’s a bad habit of mine.) The whole kerfuffle over Sony’s film adaptation brought it back to my attention. Stacy Schiff gleefully debunks everything you thought you knew about Cleopatra. No, she wasn’t Egyptian. Not only was she Greek, she came from the same Macedonian stock […]
“Every person has their own color.”
I am an avowed fan of Haruki Murakami. I look forward to his new books like they’re Harry Potter sequels. But besides my usual excitement, I had especially good feelings about this one. I loved the title. I loved the cover art. And best of all: It’s about a third the size of 1Q84. Domo arigato, Murakami-san. While I liked 1Q84, at 925 pages it did feel a little flabby. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki went the opposite route in that it left me wanting more. At […]
Pusheen is my spirit animal.
If you’ve been on the internet at all, you’ve probably seen Pusheen in one form or another. She has a blog, a set of Facebook stickers, and a bunch of merch at online indie shops. If you’re already a fan, you will get most of your favorite comics in one book. And if you’re a newbie, hopefully you will be inspired to check out her tumblr. My darling BFF and I had a belated Christmas gift exchange. This is what she got me, minus the chocolate. I’ve already eaten that. I have one cat, and […]
How to take over Earth in 5 easy waves.
The slew of post-apocalyptic media out there makes me realize how screwed I’d be in the event of an actual apocalypse. I have no survival skills and I’m not familiar with any weaponry. Anyway, I picked up The 5th Wave based on reviews that said it didn’t suck, in fact was quite good, and it had a badass teenage heroine à la Katniss. Were these reviews right? Well, yes and no. Aliens have finally come to Earth, but instead of bringing gifts, they set off a deadly series of events. Here’s a wave-by-wave program to take out the human race: The 1st Wave: Shut down […]
Angels and Demons
Just look at that cover! Back in high school I would have snatched this book up so fast. And I bet I would have fallen in love with it too. I’d heard so many nice things about Daughter of Smoke and Bone, so I couldn’t wait to read it and be blown away. My expectations may have been unfairly high, but while I did like it, I didn’t swoon like other people did. The world Laini Taylor builds is so spectacular, and I was hooked from the first page. Blue-haired, whip-smart Karou is a 17-year-old art student living by herself […]