ellie !

26 // tumblr banned porn but my life is still pretty fucked // prev tumblrs were embarrassing so now u can just watch me reblog some random shit, and maybe write some stuff sometimes?

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

This is a book that's been on my list for a while, and I was looking for a foodie read!

Summary:

In Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner, singer in the band Japanese Breakfast, chronicles growing up Asian-American in Oregon, struggling with her mother's expectations of her, and rebelling in her teenage years. Then, in her mid-20s, Michelle grapples with her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis, and tries to make her way as an adult amongst this grief. She describes going through odd jobs, starting to make music, and meeting her now husband. Throughout the book, Michelle also discusses Korean food that she grew up eating, and how she tries to replicate it in her own kitchen.

Thoughts:

This will be another memoir added to my list of favourites. Michelle Zauner has a way of writing which flows so well and makes every word have a purpose, even when describing moments in life you wouldn't think a person could write about in that way. It's especially impressive when you consider that all the tragedy in Michelle's life must have felt so fresh and raw to her at the time, but she looks back on it with such introspection and perception. I felt for her when she was feeling as though with her mother's illness, she was losing access to the Korean part of her identity. Her teenage angst was palpable, yet as she grows older she reflects on wanting so much to make up for it, which feels so relatable. She also opens up about how in our world there are "those who had felt pain and those who had yet to", which is really powerful for everyone I think, whether you've lost someone or not.

The food and cooking descriptions in this book were great; all the noodles, broths, Korean fried chicken, and other Korean dishes sounded so delicious. I especially loved the chapter where Michelle makes kimchi; the way she describes the sound of her knife cutting the cabbage and making the paste for the kimchi just took me away for a moment, and made me want some kimchi too. Same goes with beverages; all the parts about beer and soju just made me feel like kicking back with a drink.

Michelle also has great wit and humour in this book, there were some moments that made me laugh out loud. In general, her ability to fuse wit with sensitivity was showing through; each person in her life within the memoir felt like a real character to me in their own right, not just a peripheral person in Michelle's life. Especially with her mother, which serves as a reminder that our parents are not just our parents; they have their own hobbies, interests, likes and dislikes.

Overall, a fantastic memoir, and I'm going to continue trying more of Japanese Breakfast's music. Just docking a point as I hoped for some more of Michelle's in depth opinions and thoughts on things more essay-esque style throughout the book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 stars!

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

I wanted to try a book by a Latin American author, and this was one I had had my eye on for just over a year! FYI there is a small PS for a spoiler of the ending that I wanted to rant a bit about, after the keep reading link.

Summary:

Tender is the Flesh is set in a dystopian future where a virus has contaminated all other animals, and cannibalism has been legalised. We follow Marcos, a man who works at a processing plant where humans (or "heads") are slaughtered for meat. He has become desensitised to what he does, until one day someone gifts him a domesticated "head". At first, he leaves the woman in his barn, but over time her presence opens his eyes to what society has become.

Thoughts:

This is a powerful read, with a strong message. In a review, I would normally mention how I liked the plot and characters, but in this book, those elements take a back seat to themes and moral messaging. I was reflecting on the idea that if the atrocities towards humans in this book sound messed up, that's the reality of what's happening to other animals so we can have meat. Marcos choosing to be vegetarian during the book rather than consuming products from the "special meat" industry mirrors the moral stance vegetarians and vegans are taking in our world. This is especially poignant during the sections about how much Marcos loved his pets before the "Transition". When Marcos names his "female", this also evokes the notion that naming an animal gives you a bond/special attachment with it.

Not only is the topic of the suffering of animals explored in terms of rearing them for meat, but also animal testing, which was an interesting element I wasn't expecting. Additionally, I was considering along with the characters whether the virus was real, or if this was indeed something made up by governments to control overpopulation. In that way, this novel also reminds us to think for ourselves and not believe everything we hear.

I felt that Bazterrica's message translated really well into English; I liked how "female" and "woman" were used interchangeably to show how the "heads" are not seen as real people, and wondered how that effect was done in the original Spanish. It didn't read stilted like I've experienced with some other translated books. In general, I liked the language and writing style of this book more than some other dystopian novels I've read such as Fahrenheit 451. Coincidentally, that book has a lot of parallel elements with this one, but here I felt Bazterrica gets to her point in a really punchy and direct way, which I liked better than Ray Bradbury's style.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book, it gave me a lot to think about in terms of my stance on the farming industry and whether I could participate less in the suffering animals go through for us to eat meat. Just not quite a 5 star, if only because my favourite reads involve character development over a longer time, which this novel doesn't have.

4 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just a small PS I wanna write about the ending: I couldn't believe Marcos would just go back to treating Jasmine as an animal as soon as she had served her purpose. Just when Marcos had been beginning to take a stand, he goes back to acting like everything is OK when he has his wife back, and a new child! Fucked!

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

I read this to continue my trying to get through my unread books; I had gotten this one as a Christmas present last year.

Summary:

In The Midnight Feast, a new luxury hotel on the cliffs in Dorset, England, is having its opening night, and the following day, a body is found on the beach at the bottom of the cliffs. 15 years prior the hotel was a private family house where Francesca Meadows (the now owner of the hotel) stayed with her grandparents for the summer. Lots of secrets and regrets took place between Francesca's family and the locals of the nearby town, and the book recounts "old friends and enemies" coming to the hotel to revisit what happened. Meanwhile, the body on the beach is investigated by police.

Thoughts:

This book, while not bad by any means, felt like quite a run of the mill thriller. I like how it starts out flitting between all the characters, which I felt gave the same effect as in a detective show when you follow each suspect being questioned. The character of Francesca was also very well done; the subtle ways that you can read how she thinks herself better than everyone else in her day to day actions were smart. In general, I did enjoy the critique of out of touch rich people like Francesca and the hotel guests.

However, besides Francesca I thought the characters were fairly generic and the writing didn't have much evocation to it, which seem to be common characteristics in plot-heavy thrillers and hence why I tend not to enjoy them as much. Some of the reveals were quite clever but didn't blow me away as much as a book like Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce for example. It also seems like the "Birds" (a group which haunts the town in revenge for misdeeds outsiders have committted on the locals) were meant to be spooky and menacing, but all I could imagine was just what is clearly some people in masks so I didn't really get the threatening aspect of them. At the end of the day, this book didn't make me feel one way or the other about it, rather it was just kind of mid. It's definitely one for those who prefer plot over characterisation and writing style, which is fine, just not for me.

Overall, not something I would have picked up on my own if it hadn't been a Christmas present, and having finished it, I am cemented in that opinion.

3 stars ⭐⭐⭐

[laclefdescoeurs]

Nymphéas, 1907, Claude Monet

[cyphir-spacerobot]

Victor Frankenstein after achieving the impossible and building a fucking person from scraps of the dead: Oh god, ew, ew it's ugly! Yucky! Yucky! Gross! Ew! Ew! Yucky! Yucky! Gross! Ew!

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

For my next read, I was feeling some intellectual non-fiction and wanted something about how to get over some annoying "life is unfair" feelings I've been having recently, hence picking this up.

Summary:

In Trick Mirror, writer Jia Tolentino explores the ways we lose the ability to look objectively at ourselves in a time where self-advancement and optimisation is encouraged. Each chapter is framed like an essay, tackling topics such as social media, reality TV, and "the cult of the difficult woman". Themes of feminism and capitalism are often ruminated upon in the topics Tolentino discusses.

Thoughts:

This book is written decently well on a sentence by sentence level, and is certainly well researched. However, it didn't really tread much new ground for me or give me many interesting new takes, which is what I'm looking for in this kind of non-fiction. Especially in the section about social media, apart from a couple of interesting tidbits, Jia wrote about ideas that were already pretty clear in my mind, like how social media is performative and companies are incentivising us to stay on their apps. A section about scams in America details how Donald Trump is a con artist, which I don't really think we need a book to tell us. A bigger letdown was the chapter about literary heroines. This sounded so fascinating, but it felt more like recounting plots of books with female main characters and telling us what they mean, which if like me you've read some of those already, was obvious from reading the books themselves. The chapter even contained spoilers for some classic novels I haven't gotten to yet which I also found a little irritating. In general, the book felt pretty waffley, and there were so many quotes from other books that I was wondering if I was reading more of other people's ideas than Jia's a lot of the time. Additionally, a couple of topics mentioned were very niche and specific to Jia's interests, which didn't connect with the broader theme for me personally. Adding onto that, there was an obligatory "I wish I could get a British take on this topic, but everything here is in an American context" to it.

A couple things I did find thought-provoking was Jia's reckoning with her time at the University of Virginia, and the misogynistic culture there that she was convincing herself didn't exist. It takes a lot to pull yourself out of that kind of cognitive dissonance, and it's a good reminder to look at the institution you work/study in and wonder whether it reflects the values you hold. The essay about the wedding industry was also intriguing; Jia talks about how the current culture of having a fancy, expensive wedding comes from wanting to think of oneself as "the main event", and appearing almost as a celebrity for the day. Traditionally for women, as Jia says, planning a wedding was the only time in their lives where they were in control; then, they would go into a marriage where their husband had to be present for them to get a credit card. This made me reflect on how much of all the bells and whistles would I really want in a wedding (as I'm engaged), and how much of it is down to feeling like I should present myself in a certain way to everyone, especially when I know I won't be going into such an unequal partnership.

Overall, while this book had some interesting takeaways here and there, for the most part I found it waffley, and it discussed a lot of ideas I was already aware of.

2 stars ⭐⭐

[segamascott]

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

This is another book I added to my list about a year ago, and I was looking forward to trying a horror novel!

Summary:

The Reformatory follows Robbie, a 12 year old boy who lives in the fictional Gracetown, Florida in the 1950s with his sister. His mother passed away from cancer and his father has been chased out of town due to white people of the town lashing out at his trying to help other black Americans in their community. One day, Robbie kicks their white neighbour, and gets sent to Gracetown School for Boys, or the Reformatory as it's known. There, Robbie has to contend with the racist, sadistic school warden, and all the other adults turning a blind eye to the abuse that happens there. He then discovers that ghosts of boys who previously died at the Reformatory still haunt it, and he enlists their help to survive. However, the ghosts "have their own motivations", as the blurb puts it.

Thoughts:

This book was phenomenal, it was so impossible to put down. Robbie and Gloria are such endearing characters, and their perseverance and trust in each other throughout the novel was so clear to see. I feel like I don't read many novels with such a strong sibling relationship like this so that added a great aspect to it. The other characters around them like Miz Lottie and Mrs Hamilton had so much heart as well. Conversely to the protagonists, Warden Haddock was one of the most vile characters I've read in a novel for a long time, and Tananarive Due crafts him so well; the narration during the sections from his point of view blended in elements about the way he sees people that slowly make you learn just how fucked up he is.

While Warden Haddock is horrible, the events of the novel and actions of the other employees show how everything that happens at the Reformatory is not just due to him, but enabled by the racist society of 1950s Florida. The sections with Gloria going to the NAACP for help give some historical context that illustrates how entrenched racism and segregation is in Gracetown. While the horror in the book is the ghosts, I got a sense that the abuse endured at the school is the real horror. We also see how those who are inflicting this awful treatment on the children are justifying it using religion, while on the other hand, praying is the only way our protagonists feel they can get through what's happening to them at points. This juxtaposition showed really well how Christianity has been twisted so much by those in power within this society, and adds to the layers of the setting and horror of the novel.

Something else I thought was very well done was the different points of view happening in real time, so while you are reading Gloria or Haddock's perspective, the events from Robbie's view are still going on as you are reading. This made the book absolutely nail-biting towards the end, but the ending was worth it; while the characters feel so beaten down and hopeless during a lot of the book, there is also a sense of hope for the future.

Overall, an incredible novel, and it will stay with me for a long while.

5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

This is a book I got a physical copy of a little while ago; I wanted to try another fantasy book and I'm doing more getting through physical books!

Summary:

This book follows the titular Amina al-Sirafi, who back in her day was a notorious female pirate, but has now settled into a life as a mother. One day, she gets a threat against her family unless she embarks on one last adventure to save the kidnapped daughter of an old crewmate. Throughout the book, she reunites with former friends (and an ex husband) to track down the mysteries that go far beyond that of a kidnapped girl.

Thoughts:

This was decent, but a bit underwhelming compared to my expectations. I wanted the main character in a book about a female pirate to be a bit more of a cynical, witty, female Jack Sparrow character, but I didn't really get this from Amina and found her to be more of a generic fantasy character. Some of the plot points didn't feel justified either; one minute it would be "no this character can't come with us" and suddenly that character was coming along on the journey anyway with not much resolution for the reason why. In general, apart from one or two interesting points, the plot didn't really grab me, and it felt quite convoluted. The character of Dunya had some intriguing development, and some of the investigations of the mystery were compelling. Additionally, some of the lore that Shannon Chakraborty created in her world between the Muslim characters and the "Franks" (aka Western Christians) mirrored our own world in an interesting way, and I enjoyed the sections with Amina looking for her crewmates to join her on the journey. Otherwise, I haven't got loads more to say about this book. I found it quite similar to We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal, except I liked the writing style and inner dialogue of the characters a lot more in that book. I also didn't like the constant swearing in this book and it felt so out of place, which was similar to how I felt with The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig. Towards the end, I was finding it more difficult to want to stay with it, and I might have DNF'ed if my loss of interest had happened earlier in the book.

Overall, not bad but nothing to write home about. I believe the second book of this series has come out recently but I'm not sure I will be rushing to read it.

3 stars! ⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

This was a book that I added to my list a year ago. I had a physical copy of it that I'd bought and I'm trying to get through my unread physical books at the moment!

Summary:

Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory is a collection of short stories about love, and the unique situations and feelings it presents itself in. It brings all the humourous elements Raphael Bob-Waksberg is known for from his TV show, Bojack Horseman.

Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this! It was interesting how Raphael Bob-Waksberg uses a lot of different writing techniques for each story: one of them is a poem, one is from the perspective of a dog, and a couple of them are even in second person which felt so different and fresh to read. The story about the couple contending with people's opinions about their wedding hit me hard as someone who recently got engaged. It got me reflecting on the fact that we can just do our wedding however we want in the end and even if it doesn't go perfectly that's OK, and the story achieved that in such an out there way. I also dug the whole vibe of we are a bit fucked up and this is all so weird but we love each other anyway and we'll get through this; that theme linked all the stories together really well, even if each one was about a different type of relationship.

The humour in this book was right up my street; it felt so off the cuff and witty. The characters in a lot of the stories joke and banter with each other quite naturally which for me is one of the best ways you can share affection with people. You don't normally think of how love and humour can intertwine like that, but this collection brings it to the forefront!

I was close to giving this 5 stars but I can't quite, just because a couple of the more vignette-based stories felt a bit clichéd. Bob-Waksberg's strengths definitely lie more in the longer-form stories where the ideas were much more original (drunk superheroes who had a rock band?? Come on!!).

Overall, this is a funny and fresh short story collection that uses original situations to make us reflect on such a universal theme. Just docking points for a couple of clichéd elements.

4 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

I reserved this at my library a couple months ago as it had a few reservations, and it was finally my turn to read it!

Summary:

In Fundamentally, we meet Nadia, a criminology lecturer who has been disowned by her mother and dumped by her girlfriend. With nothing to lose, she takes a job at the UN in Iraq, rehabilitating ISIS brides. At the camp, she meets Sara, and the two form a bond over their similar backgrounds and senses of humour. The story follows Nadia navigating UN bureaucracy and trying to help Sara get home.

Thoughts:

This book was shortlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction, and I can say it 100% deserves that accolade in my opinion! It tackles its subject matter in a sensitive but darkly funny way. Nussaibah Younis really makes you feel for Nadia, and as the reader we realise Nadia's mistakes along with her. Her reflections on her issues throughout the book added to the plot; it's effective story-telling that a character in such a unique situation working in the UN can be so relatable and deal with universal problems like low self-esteem and heartbreak. Sara was also a compelling character; her personality and humour shines through the page, and through her character Younis shows that ISIS brides aren't just names in a headline, but people with multi-faceted natures and ideas. The rest of the characters were endearing as well; Farris was very sweet, and I enjoyed the group dynamics of Pierre, Sherri, Nadia and Tom.

Religion and how it can break apart families is a big theme in the book. Each Muslim character has a different relationship with their faith, and it's interesting to consider how every religious person has a different idea of what faith means to them and why they practice it. The ending of the book brings this theme to a head for both Nadia and Sara, in a beautiful way that I really loved.

I definitely enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first; I was hoping for more embellishment in the writing, and the plot of going around to different meetings wasn't as compelling as the events of later in the book. The latter half was so engrossing that I just couldn't put it down.

Overall, a great book by a debut author and I will be thinking about it for a while, just wished the beginning of the book had a bit more going on.

4 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

I added this book to my list last year, and got it out of the library as I was feeling like reading something foodie!

Summary:

Sweetness in the Skin centers around Pumkin, an 11 year old girl who lives with her mum, grandma, and aunt Sophie. Her mum is rarely at home so she is mostly brought up by Sophie and her grandma, but then her grandma dies and her aunt Sophie moves to France as part of her work with the French Embassy in Jamaica. Sophie and Pumkin had a dream that Sophie would get legal guardianship of Pumkin and they would live in France together, but Pumkin's mother wants to keep her in Jamaica. As a result, Sophie moves to France alone while Pumkin tries to raise money for her French proficiency test so she can try to join Sophie by baking Jamaican sweet treats and selling them to her community. However, she comes across a lot of hurdles with her mother, enrolling in French class, and navigating friendships.

Thoughts:

This one wasn't bad, but I think the premise has so much potential which wasn't followed through on for me. We were only looking at things through Pumkin's viewpoint, so characters like her parents, aunt Sophie, and Tamara didn't feel as well developed as they could have been. Their motivations would have made so much more sense and carried so much more weight if we had seen some more back story about them or heard some of their inner monologue. I also felt like the plot didn't flow naturally at points and there were some clunky time jumps; obviously it doesn't have to be realistic as it's fictional and that's the point, but it felt more like I was aware I was reading the plot of a book rather than feeling completely swept into it. The writing also felt quite simplistic; of course this is a YA novel so that's fair enough, but some YA novels can strike the balance between simplistic but still beautiful writing well. This one didn't for me unfortunately. I much preferred With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo which was another YA novel about a young girl achieving her goals through cooking. Towards the end of Sweetness in the Skin, there was a really eloquent passage about Pumkin reflecting on her goals and how we don't know what the future holds, and I was thinking, "where was this the whole rest of the book?!".

That being said, I enjoyed the descriptions of Jamaica, and Ishi Robinson's use of senses to build the atmosphere. The themes of hiding our true selves and struggling to embrace who we are were also explored well. And it goes without saying that Pumkin's baked treats sounded delicious, and the baking process was described nicely!

Overall, a sweet little YA novel that just needed improvements in plot flow and character development.

3 stars! ⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

I have had my copy of this book for many years, I think I tried it around 12 years ago but was too young for it at the time. I was looking for a longer read and remembered I had this so I picked it up!

Summary:

White Teeth centres around two friends, Archie and Samad, who were in World War 2 together. They live in London with their wives Clara and Alsana, and their kids Irie, Millat, and Magid, and the novel follows their lives and all their family disagreements and drama throughout the 70s until the 90s. We also meet the Chalfen family in this book, (Joyce, Marcus, Josh, and Josh's other siblings) who take Irie and Millat under their wings following an incident at their school.

Thoughts:

I can't believe I had this absolute gem just sitting in my collection of books, unfinished for 12 years! This book is phenomenal, and such a masterclass in showing us flawed yet endearing characters. It reminded me very much of Still Life by Sarah Winman (which I also loved), in terms of its narration style and the slice of life elements. In this case however, White Teeth feels a lot more accessible than that book as there are less niche cultural references. This book also came out 20 years before Still Life, so that was kind of a mind fuck that I was reminded of a book I read which was published way after!

As I mentioned above, the characters feel so flawed and real. My favourite was definitely Irie, I was really hoping to find out what she did after the events of the end of the book. I felt for her so much when Marcus dismissed her in favour of Magid, even though she's clearly very intelligent. Men feeling emasculated is a big theme in this book, and I felt viscerally pissed off that Irie was overlooked just because Marcus had certain ideas about what women can do in scientific fields.

Something else I found fascinating with this book is how Zadie Smith shows the way each character takes in the world by their level of education. Irie's Jamaican grandma, Hortense, is extremely ingrained into the church of Jehovah's Witnesses, and is unable to see when she's being taken advantage of by Ryan Topps, her fellow churchgoer. However, she is kind at heart and cares for her granddaughter. We then have characters like Samad and Marcus who are erudite, yet arrogant and believe they know what's best for everybody. I was shocked by both these characters' actions and world views; how can someone do the things they do just because of their own issues with themselves?

Zadie Smith also comes up with such unique phrases and ways of describing situations. Showing the historical context of the 1980s such as the Berlin Wall falling or the backlash surrounding Salman Rushdie through the characters' reactions was a fascinating way to make the reader feel part of the time period. I also loved phrases like "these are old secrets. They will come out like wisdom teeth when the time is right". Zadie Smith's similes and metaphors feel so fresh, and this book was first published in 2000!

Overall, this book is fantastic and had me feeling all the emotions, I feel like I could talk so much more about it but this review would then be so long. I implore everybody to read it!

5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

Back to a book that I added to the TBR a while ago, in 2022!

Summary:

Severance follows Candace Chen, who works for a book manufacturing company in New York City. One day, an epidemic of a fungal infection breaks out, which renders the infected into zombified versions of themselves. Candance decides to stay working in New York while all her colleagues evacuate the city, and she starts photographing deserted locations and posting them online. Months later, she eventually leaves NYC and meets up with another group of survivors, led by Bob, which under him has become cult-like. This is intertwined with stories about her upbringing as a child of Chinese immigrant parents.

Thoughts:

It's been a while since I read a dystopia novel, and this was a gripping one! I related a lot to some of Candace's work, as my job also involves talking to suppliers in China and shipping goods. I wasn't expecting that to be in the book to be honest, so it was an interesting surprise! Ling Ma conveys the "bullshit jobs" and corporate language of it all really well; you can feel it viscerally when Candace's company announces preventative measures and says "we take your health very seriously". It was thought-provoking to read some of the passages about social media making us ignorant, consumerism, and how our modern culture emphasises work over leisure and hobbies. I also think I'll have to add this book to the niche genre of "books about a plague or virus that were written before Covid but make me think of so many parallels of things that happened during Covid", which I always find interesting.

In terms of the parallel timeline with the survivors group, I thought Bob as a cult leader character was done well. As a reader, you imagine going from one nightmare of everyone around you getting this apocalyptic virus, to another of having to do everything this one guy says and listening to his creepy preaching, which makes the dystopian aspect feel so much more effective. Additionally, the backstory of Candace's messy girl time period before she started her job was really fun! I liked imagining the vibe in her and her roommate's flat during their house party, just a bunch of kooky people drinking and having shark fin soup. I wanted to be at that party! This quote was amusing as well: "we chewed for a long time, then swished the soup down with red wine. I should've bought white, Jane said. Better with seafood".

My only issue with this book was that the ending didn't really land for me. I felt like the book could have been a chapter or two longer, or maybe with an epilogue, to find out where she ended up going or what she did next.

Overall, an interesting dystopian novel with a lot of food for thought, I just think it needed to be a bit longer to flesh out the ending some more.

4 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

Back to some non fiction for my next book, and I had this on the shelf which was still unread so I picked it up!

Summary:

Actor Stanley Tucci (of The Hunger Games and The Devil Wears Prada fame) takes us through a year in his life during 2023 through describing what he ate, whether at home, at work, or at holiday. The book is written in a diary entry style, mixing in recipes (even a recipe poem), recollections of dinners with friends, and monologues about various topics.

Thoughts:

This was a perfectly enjoyable read! Stanley Tucci has a very warm and wise voice, and he has a knack for describing the delicious qualities of the food he eats, and what made them so tasty. I found some of his thoughts on ageing, food history, and eating together with loved ones moving and fascinating. I agreed with some of his opinions viscerally, like loving soup and appreciating the comforting smell of cooking tomato sauce. It's also interesting to read about how celebrities interact with each other in their echelons of society; a lot of other famous people are name dropped in this book. There are some really humorous elements as well, such as the frustration of attempting to get his kids to try new foods, or not knowing what his upcoming Italy TV show is going to be called and just calling it "Stan is Still Searching for Italy or Whatever"!

What brings this from potentially a 5 to a 4 star read for me is that, at times I felt he came off a bit too posh and elitist. I don't think he's doing this maliciously as on the whole he seems like a lovely, warm guy, but some of the parts where he was at a market over-buying food or lamenting that hospitals don't have amazing food just seemed a bit off to me. Of course, in the book he implies that he's grateful for his privileges, but still unconsciously I think some of it is coming through in the way he lives his life. In a similar vein, some of the food and restaurants he talks about are quite fancy. I love a food memoir, it's one of my favourite genres, but I think I prefer reading about more simple food lifestyles (although don't get me wrong there is plenty of cooking nice, simple food at home in this book too).

Overall, a lovely and hunger-inducing memoir, just wished it was a bit less upper-class.

4 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

I'm doing a challenge this year (thisstoryaintover 's Anti Brain Rot Reading Challenge if anyone's interested) to try and get more variety in what I read, and one of the prompts is to read a graphic novel, so I picked this up. I wasn't too sure what to expect as I'd never tried one before!

Summary:

It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth is an autobiographical comic by graphic novel illustrator Zoe Thorogood. The novel takes place during the six months before Zoe is due to go to America for a comic convention, and skips between the present timeline and flashbacks to her childhood and early adulthood. Zoe has suicidal depression, and the story takes us through her process of trying to work through that, and get her life back on track.

Thoughts:

If you told me 9 months ago that in 2026 I would read a graphic novel and rate it 5 stars, I would have said you were crazy but here we are! I loved this so much, and I related to a lot of things Zoe has been through. It truly spoke to me personally in a way other books haven't for a while, especially regarding the ups and downs of the UK university experience and having troubles communicating with family sometimes, and all with that British culture flavour. The art is so awesome; I thought that comic books were just pages of grids with art in, and while some of this is that, there are also some really inventive scrapbook-style spreads that I just couldn't get enough of. Zoe mixes so many different styles, not just the typical comic book drawing you would expect, but also some hyperrealistic elements, as well as some more exaggerated cartoon-y drawings.

Another great thing about this book is that Zoe speaks about mental health with such tenderness. The way she presents it visually is so evocative, like representing intrusive thoughts as worms. Also, it's so poignant that she has suffered from such extreme depression, but is able to tell us that even if we have moments where we think we don't matter, we all have an impact on other people's lives, even if it's simply by asking someone if they're OK. Some of the sections about realising being alive can be good and that the people around us care about us even got me feeling quite emotional; this one is definitely getting added to the list of books that would make me cry if I cried at books!

As well as tenderness, the novel has great humour! I loved all the meme references and meta, self-deprecating jokes, and how she shows herself having funny conversations with her alter-egos, and her friend Izzy, within the comic. I actually chuckled out loud at some of this book much more than I have with other books recently. It really feels like Zoe is welcoming in the weirdos and people who don't quite feel like they fit in all the time with this type of humour which was another reason the novel spoke to me so much!

Overall, this is a new fave, and will be a contender for favourite book of 2026 I'm sure!

5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[loliticstudy]

Book review!

I added this one to my list the year it came out, and had been meaning to get it out of the library for ages!

Summary:

In The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, we meet the residents of Chicken Hill, a dilapidated neighboourhood of the fictional U.S. town Pottstown where many Jewish immigrants and African Americans live. In the 70s, a skeleton was found in a well there, and the reader follows the story of how this happened during the 1930s, weaving between the perspectives of each character.

Thoughts:

This is a thought-provoking novel with unique and realistic characters. I don't think it was my favourite book ever, but the best way I could describe it is pleasantly heartwarming, especially the ending. I liked how some of the chapters build up to what's happening in the main plot by giving some back story that helps understand how the characters met or got into a particular situation. There were some really interesting quotes about the promise of the American dream, and things like addiction to phones and gun control which are still relevant today even though the book is set in the 1930s. The characters we are rooting for are endearing, and whenever tragedy or trauma befell them, I was heartbroken for them. Each character gets such an in depth back story that you feel like you know everyone, and get a sense of that small town community feel. Conversely, James McBride illustrates really well the racist worldviews of the antagonistic characters. This is also another book where, in a similar vein to The Kite Runner, re-reading the opening chapter has a whole different meaning once you know what happened in the rest of the book.

For me, this book was just missing a more lyrical writing style or knock me off my feet twist that would normally garner a 5 star rating from this type of book. When I finished it, I just had a feeling of "well, that was lovely", rather than the visceral holy shit feeling I often have when I know it's a 5 star book. This is just my personal feeling though, and I do think it has merit as a book with a lot to say about American culture and our modern society.

Overall, a lovely, interesting book, but just needed some more unexpected twists for me.

4 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐