Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Title: Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It
Author: Janina Ramírez
Genre: History, Nonfiction, Feminism
Book review: Femina, by Janina Ramírez
Tag: classics
Book review: In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
Title: In Cold Blood
Author: Truman Capote
Genre: Nonfiction, Classics, True Crime
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Boo! 👻
Is it cliche to be writing about scary book in October? You know, what with Halloween and whatnots? Probably it is indeed cliche, but will it stop me from actually writing one? Definitely not.
I had my fair share of scary books, from one that is mildly scary to ones that actually became the fruit of my nightmare.
But, are all scary books always ghost related? Not according to me. Anything that cause me to put the book down is definitely a scary book. So, without further ado and in no particular order, let us all pee in our pants over these scary books that I’ve read.
A/N: I can’t promise you this will be spoiler free, so read at your own risk (but I’ll try my best not to spoil everything) and the level of scariness is measured by the number of the screaming emoji with one being the least and five being the most.
Book review: Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, by C. S. Lewis
In this timeless tale of two mortal princesses- one beautiful and one unattractive- C.S. Lewis reworks the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche into an enduring piece of contemporary fiction. This is the story of Orual, Psyche’s embittered and ugly older sister, who posessively and harmfully loves Psyche. Much to Orual’s frustration, Psyche is loved by Cupid, the god of love himself, setting the troubled Orual on a path of moral development.
Set against the backdrop of Glome, a barbaric, pre-Christian world, the struggles between sacred and profane love are illuminated as Orual learns that we cannot understand the intent of the gods “till we have faces” and sincerity in our souls and selves. Goodreads
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Book review: Welcome to the Monkey House, by Kurt Vonnegut
This short-story collection Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) incorporates almost completely Vonnegut’s 1961 “Canary in a Cathouse,” which appeared within a few months of Slaughterhouse-Five and capitalized upon that breakthrough novel and the enormous attention it suddenly brought.
Drawn from both specialized science fiction magazines and the big-circulation general magazines which Vonnegut had been one of the few science writers to sell, the collection includes some of his most accomplished work from 1950 to 1968. The title story may be his most famous—a diabolical government asserts control through compulsory technology removing orgasm from sex—but Vonnegut’s bitterness and wit, not in his earlier work as poisonous or unshielded as it later became, is well demonstrated. (Goodreads)
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Book review: 1984, by George Orwell
The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell’s prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of “negative utopia” -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. Continue reading “Book review: 1984, by George Orwell”
Book review: Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: Testament of Youth
Author: Vera Brittain
Synopsis on goodreads
Genre: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Biography
What I think:
This was definitely a roller coaster ride for me, and I have never actually came to that conclusion when it comes to reading a biography/memoir; it’s hard to think that these events were anything but a real-life events, not because it seems like a fabricated truth, but because Vera Brittain wrote it in words that were weaved with love, pain, and struggle that you can’t help but feel those emotions streaming through the words. At times the story can feel like it’s moving in an alarming speed but then at times, Vera seems to stall something as if she herself feels like the longer she holds the climax, the lesser the pain it brings.
I think it was a good decision for me to read this book at 27, because everything that seems to be the struggle of Vera and her contemporaries were still relevant to this day, even though this was something that people went through years ago. Without trying to sound pretentious or obnoxious, there are more than one time that I actually feels like that whatever it is that Vera seems to go through in her life, I felt it too.
One thing that made this book seems hard to enjoyed in the beginning was the language and the structure of the sentences; as this book was written sometime ago, it was hard to grasp the nature of Vera’s voice when you are a millennial, but after a few chapters it became easier and next thing you know, you’re accustomed to it already. Other things that caught my attention was that it was hard for me to sympathise with Vera in the first part of the book, as she seems to value herself too high that at times it seems like she’s an arrogant woman; I remember thinking to myself that had this book was written and published today, she would have been labeled as a first world problem complainer. Thankfully, this changed as she met Roland; I don’t like to think that she changed merely because she met a man in his life, but Roland definitely had a huge impact on her in seeing the current life in the UK at the time.
What is so beautiful with this book, more than anything, was Vera and Edward’s relationship. How a sibling relationship grew stronger during the war and how badly it affects Vera as Edward part away with the world that Vera was left behind in. It was also thanks to Vera’s words that you felt like you knew all her contemporaries personally; how, along with Vera, I wished that Edward would have survived the war because you felt a close kinship with his persona throughout the book.
This would definitely be a good book for those who consider themselves as going through a quarter life crisis, or anyone who is going through a big major change in life. Imagine, one day you are about to embark to school only to have a war breaking out before your eyes and it seems like the war would never end and all it does is taking away all the raging fire of youths along with its destruction; surely it would put your life in a brighter perspective.
The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Children’s, Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult
And so here I am, on the last book of my Narnia adventure. Honest to God, I am struggling to even start this book. What if I don’t even like it? I mean, I just had a good time with The Silver Chair, something that I least expected. What if The Last Battle ruined it for me? What if the execution as the last book was so awful, I might even despise it? Or, what if I got depressed when I finished reading this book?
Eventually, I just start reading the book anyway. There was no point in postponing it anymore. Story wise, I found that The Last Battle was better than previous books (not counting The Horse and His Boy and The Silver Chair, as those two was my favourite and the best ones). There was a different flow with this book that just keeps getting you hooked. You were led to keep on getting curious as to how and where this story will end. Despite it all, I swear I just want to whip some good sense to King Tirian’s head. Compared to King Rilian, King Tirian definitely looked a lot like a dimwit. King Rilian’s dimwit attitude was forgiven as he was enchanted for ten years, but King Tirian?? Ugh!
Just like The Silver Chair, I think The Last Battle deserves a movie adaptation. I mean, everyone in the Narnia fandom at least deserves that much. Not to mention that both book actually has the complete material to be made into a movie adaptation, especially the story line that just keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Now, I have seen a couple of reviews about this book where people actually gives a one star review because Lewis was being a racist in this book; much like what he did in The Horse and His Boy. The thing is, once you overlook it, you can start appreciating the story, which in my opinion has a better quality compared to the other books in the series. I’m not merely saying that we need to overlook some of the racist remarks that were mentioned in the book, but we need to understand that others would look at the others as the bad guy, much like the Calormenes themselves see Narnia as a savage land without proper constitution, that is also how the Narnian sees Calormene as a land of savages and smelly people. But, hey, I’m not here to debate about it all; at the end of the day, to each their own.
I was a bit reluctant about finishing this book late at night, as I was worried I might get a bit depressed about its ending. Surprisingly, I felt warm at heart. I felt that it was a good ending and a good closure to all the adventures that had happened when I picked the first book in the Narnia series. For all its worth, I will always love Narnia and I am still looking for my own Narnia.
The Silver Chair, by C. S. Lewis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Children’s, Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult
I’m going to be honest about the two books in the series that I read before The Silver Chair (Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), it was not in any way satisfactory, so I thought that The Silver Chair was not going to be any better knowing that there would be no Pevensie children in this book. But, boy, was I very very very wrong.
Hands down, this was the best book in the series for me, or at least on par with The Horse and His Boy. I was automatically hooked from the first chapter. There was something about the opening of this book that has this sort of premonition that you are about to embark in an adventure of a lifetime, and I might even say that The Silver Chair has the best opening in all the books in the series.
What was also worth noting was Eustace and Jill’s interaction with each other, it was very refreshing, something that I never saw between any of the Pevensie children. It might be so as the two did not start off as friends first when they had their adventure in Narnia, but that is exactly what made their adventure great because it’s the building of friendship and trust that grows along the adventure.
Afterwards, we were introduced to my newly favourite character, Puddleglum. The fact that Puddlegum had become my favourite character in The Silver Chair came with a realisation that Lewis seems to be doing a splendid job when it comes to his Narnian characters compared to his English characters. Put it this way, between all of his characters that came from England, they all look pretty bland and indistinguishable between one and another, but when it comes to his Narnian characters, they are so diverse and amazing. And these are not only from the physical description but also from the way they converse and communicate.
I’m pretty bummed that this book did not get adapted as this was one had the greatest adventure in all the books in the series. Everything in this book is fast paced, and full of secrets and mysteries, something that I rarely get from the other books. If ever this book was made into a movie, I really hope they would not change much, because this book is LITERALLY the best in the series and it’s already full with ‘movie material’ that could keep you at the edge of your seat.
I wished that more people read this book, as this was the book that redeemed what Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader lacks (in my honest opinion). The Silver Chair really brought back my belief and love for The Chronicles of Narnia.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C. S. Lewis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Classics, Children’s, Young Adult
**spoiler alert**
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no page gets left behind 