Napkin Scribbles

Mostly a place to post whatever tickles my fancy. Lots of book posts with a healthy sprinkling of the various fandoms I’m in.

[myhikari21things]

Title-The Tenant

Author-Freida McFadden

Year of Publication-2025

Summary-Blake is on the top of the world. He has his dream job as VP of marketing, his dream girl Krista she of the delicious snickerdoodles, and his dream home in New York. For one week at least and then Blake is fired when his boss accuses him of selling company secrets. Now with only Krista's income it's decided they need a tenant to move in which Blake is dreading. After many flops Whitney arrives and she checks all the boxes. At least for another week and then just as Blake suspected Whitney is making his life hell. But this is going beyond her eating his cereal and using all his shampoo. Blake has found rotten food left around the kitchen and suspects Whitney has some kind of hidden sinister plans. So when Krista leaves him suspecting Blake of sleeping with Whitney it's his drive to win Krista back that sends Blake down the rabbit hole of false identities and lies.

Pros-Has the classic McFadden twist. Don't trust any of the characters. The retelling of the previous events from Krista's point of view. Up until the last minute the story feels neatly wrapped up. Starts out as a fairly basic roommate from hell scenario.

Cons-Blake oozes toxic masculinity. The part with Whitney just happening to have Krista's true identity felt like a reach.

Overall Rating-4.8/5

[myhikari21things]

Title-The Stand-In

Author-Lily Chu

Year of Publication-2021

Summary-Gracie is in a pinch. She’s lost her job after her creepy boss caught her out and about during a supposed sick day and during that same day she was mistaken for Chinese superstar Wei Fangli and photographed by the paparazzi. And Gracie needs a job to pay for her mom’s private room in an assisted care home while waiting for a spot in a Chinese oriented home. But thanks to her matching face with Wei Fangli Gracie is about to get the opportunity of a life time. Because her lookalike is in town for 2 months and is exhausted from work and public appearances and has decided to hire Gracie to be her double. The only one not excited is Sam who’s been friends with Fangli for years and doesn’t think Gracie is up to the job. With $150,000 on the line which is more than enough to take care of her mom Gracie takes the job. But as Gracie perfects her Fangli act she discovers not only does she have a possible game changing planning app in development she’s falling in love with Sam which is defendant no-no. And every time Gracie visits her mom who is sinking more and more into Alzheimer’s she starts to hear about her past in China. Gracie’s Cinderella story is about to take a turn, but to get her happy ending she will need to stop being people pleaser Gracie and do what makes her happy.

Pros-I had some Prince and the Pauper vibes. Including Gracie’s development of her app Eppy. Gracie did have instant attraction towards Sam, but there was no instalove. There’s some pretty strong hints about the real relationship between Gracie and Fangli.

Cons-Content Warning: workplace sexual harassment and racism. The tired old trope of THE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. I don’t understand in the beginning why Gracie didn’t try very hard with being Fangli since she needed the money.

Overall Rating-4.5/5

[pinkuberristar]

shes so prettyyyyyy in this hairstyle!!

[myhikari21things]

Title-The Original of Laura

Author-Vladimir Nabokov

Year of Publication-2009

Summary-Written during Nabokov’s final illness after an accident in Switzerland while pursuing his hobby of butterfly hunting Laura follows Flora a young woman cheating on her older husband Philip. While Flora’s youth before Philip if partially explained the index cards Nabokov used for his writing also drift into his own personal thoughts that aren’t always clear and are often morbid. Finally in the end it is unclear if we are with Flora and Philip or with their creature as he struggles to finish a final story before the curtain drops.

Pros-Keeping the index cards Nabokov used as well as the typed text. Was Hubert H. Hubert meant to be a reference to Lolita’s Humbert? I don’t know if this is a pro or not, but you can tell sometimes where Nabokov was less lucid.

Cons-The first 50 or so pages are very discombobulated.

Overall Rating-4.8/5

[myhikari21things]

Title-Horrorstor

Author-Grady Hendrix

Year of Publication-2014

Summary-Amy hates her job at Orsk an IKEA knock off that serves the sole purpose of paying the bills….barely. So when her manager Basil asks Amy as well as her coworker Ruth Anne to stay overnight with him in the store Amy would rather chew glass. But in exchange for staying overnight Basil has promised double overtime and instead of searching for whoever is breaking into the store to vandalize merchandise Amy can camp in the bathroom. Until Amy and Ruth Anne find more employees Matt and Trinity hiding out which only frazzles Basil even more. Their excuse? Trinity is believes in ghosts and after hearing a scary story about a prison that used to be on Orsk property she enlists Matt to help her make the pilot for her ghost hunting show. As for the ghost Trinity thinks she saw that’s only Carl a homeless guy down on his luck in need of a safe place to sleep. But it’s Carl who accidentally opens the door the real mystery. His suggestion of a seance allows the long defunct prison’s warden to posses first Trinity then Carl and then to take Amy, Basil, Ruth Anne, Trinity, and Matt on a trip to a he of his own design.

Pros-Mixing in ads for the furniture you could buy at Orsk. This for everyone who’s had a crappy job retail or otherwise. The chemistry between Amy and Basil that avoids anything romantic. The cover looking like a standard furniture catalog until you flip it over.

Cons-Lack of closure and I’m assuming since it’s been 12 years there’s no sequel coming.

Overall Rating-4.5/5

[adamantebaconcooper]

[myhikari21things]

Title-Madame Bovary

Author-Gustave Flaubert

Year of Publication-1856 (translated from French 1881)

Summary-Charles Bovary the village doctor has married Emma the daughter of a farmer and for a short while they live in wedded bliss. But Emma soon begins to feel neglected with Charles constantly on the move working and not having any friends. The one dance Emma is able to take Charles to is a fiasco thanks to his cloddish behavior and exhaustion that doesn’t allow him to dance. So Emma looks for companionship elsewhere even while pregnant with Charles’s daughter. First she has an affair with Leon a student lawyer who leaves her when things get too hot and heavy and then with Rodolphe a land owner who also leaves her at the prospect of being a stepfather. Now alone again Emma fills the void by making lavish purchases and not paying attention to the mounting bills. And even when Leon comes back into her life Emma is so deep in debt she’s at her wits end. In the end she makes one final decision to cancel out everything before it.

Pros-Emma might be the queen of bad decisions, but you can still have empathy for her. Emma’s death is the beginning of the end for her family. For some reason to me this book pairs well with Lady Chatterley’s Lover. How the three different men in Emma’s life treat her.

Cons-Content Warning: graphic description of suicide. Berthe deserved better.

Overall Rating-5/5

[daeyumi]

Wall Market date 🏮🪭

[ka-go-me]

. кσяιη αι

Bleh. Lemme know if you know

[dizzyymoon]

Art Nouveau inspired Aerith piece, a remake of this drawing i made back in 2021 <3

[myhikari21things]

Title-Laughter In The Dark

Author-Vladimir Nabokov

Year of Publication-1932 (translated from Russian 1935)

Summary-Albinus is a respectable man approaching middle age married to Elisabeth and has a daughter named Irma. His life is pleasant, but dull until he meets Margot who is half his age and working in a movie theater. Albinus decides he must be in love with Margot even though she shows little interest in him (until the pocketbook comes out) and is still hung up on her last lover Axel Rex. Still Albinus has decided his unlucky streak of finding love must come to an end so he abandons Elisabeth and Irma to pursue Margot. Margot meanwhile had reconnected with Rex and the pair decide they’re going to bleed Albinus for everything he has. First to get Albinus to divorce Elisabeth (a failure) then to end his relationship with Irma (a success thanks to a bout of pneumonia) then to get Albinus alone and reliant on them (a success thanks to a car crash that leads to Albinus’s blindness). Albinus is now caught in the web Margot and Rex have created for him and even when his brother in law Paul removes him Albinus goes back. Not for love, but for revenge.

Pros-Margot feels like the older more jaded big sister to Lolita. Has the trappings of a dark comedy. Margot is really the brains of the scheme with Rex more as her arm candy. I really couldn’t have expected a different ending.

Cons-Irma deserved better. Albinus was so passive with letting things happen to him and questions nothing.

Overall Rating-5/5

[spin-the-wheel-polls]

It's a zombie apocalypse and you are stuck in this place!

How are you doing?

great!

okay, I can make this work

Not great, probably can't make this work

A zombie

Dead (non-zombie related)

Results/it depends

Voting ended onJun 29

(zombies work by standard zombie rules, boarded doors and biting)

[robertbegg-art]

could really use a little healing wind to beat this heat ...even a healing breeze would be nice

[canteatea]

Star crossed lovers

(ref : Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs, 1864)

[softp3ach]

Regret

[sketchyburnz]

Aerith!

[myhikari21things]

Title-Naomi

Author-Junichiro Tanizaki

Year of Publication-1924 (translated from Japanese 1985)

Summary-Joji Kawai is a salaryman living a modest life in Tokyo, but has always been shy about women. This is until he meets Naomi a 15 year old waitress in a cafe he frequents. It isn’t love at first sight, but Joji decides he can take this Eurasian looking girl under his wing and give her education so that she can grow into ‘a fine woman’. Naomi is agreeable since it gets her out of the cafe and her squalid family home and she takes to her English and music lessons with vigor. Slowly Joji begins to realize he’s in love with Naomi, but is hesitant to escalate things even though there’s plenty of opportunity. He’s also realizing that Naomi isn’t as sophisticated as he thought and even with her enthusiasm is struggling with her English lessons. The pair marry the following year and Naomi picks up social dancing as a hobby and brings Joji with her to the dance hall. This is how Joji meets the first of Naomi’s paramours. Just as Joji has fallen in love with Naomi she has realized the control she can have over men with her body and is ready to exorcise this new power. Naturally Joji doesn’t like Naomi’s philandering, but even after kicking her out of the house Naomi haunts him. First mentally then physically. And after allowing Naomi back into his life Joji relinquishes everything to her. And he does it with a smile because Joji can no longer live without Naomi.

Pros-The original Japanese title A Fool’s Love is the perfect summary. The gradual shift in Joji and Naomi’s relationship. I’m reminded of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Lolita. Naomi isn’t a typical antagonist, but still falls into the femme fatale category. Even though various characters warn Joji away from Naomi he follows the pattern of an abusive relationship and goes back (is this really a pro? I guess it’s more of an observation).

Cons-Disappearing page numbers.

Overall Rating-5/5