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kyscg's reviews
239 reviews
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
slow-paced
1.0
this book is just the protagonist introducing people to the reader, what a waste of time
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
5.0
It has been a long time since a book has consumed me thus. The best book I've read this year.
Spurious Correlations by Tyler Vigen
funny
fast-paced
3.0
hilarious, the "headlines", stuff in the footnotes, the graphs, hilarious.
The Best Short Stories 2023: The O. Henry Prize Winners by Jenny Minton Quigley, Lauren Groff
3.75
finally finished this, very slow by my standards but I am glad I got through it, I think the short story format is very enjoyable only if you accept that it will end. I spent too much time thinking about each story and didn't want to start the next ones.
stories I really liked were:
- Man Mountain, Catherine Lacey
- The Complete, Gabriel Smith
- Xifu, K-Ming Chang
stories I absolutely did not like were:
- 'Me, Rory and Aurora', Jonas Eika
- Elision, David Ryan
- Temporary Housing, Kathleen Alcott
stories I really liked were:
- Man Mountain, Catherine Lacey
- The Complete, Gabriel Smith
- Xifu, K-Ming Chang
stories I absolutely did not like were:
- 'Me, Rory and Aurora', Jonas Eika
- Elision, David Ryan
- Temporary Housing, Kathleen Alcott
Gilgamesh: A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell
inspiring
fast-paced
4.5
There is nothing I can say about this epic that hasn't been said before. I mean, this story is more than four millenia old and has lasted through wars and famines and much more. I am not going to review this and pretend I am above it all. I liked the recurring theme of sleep and death. I liked the portrayal of Gilgamesh's grief at Enkidu's death, and the hero journey in his search for immortality. The mother of all hero stories. Cannot complain. I wish it were longer though.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
The writing is other-worldly. One of those books where the dialogue pales in comparison to the descriptions. I read it once, then did it again. What an experience!
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
"cowardice is the most terrible of vices"
when I first started reading this, I didn't really know about how the book is a well-acclaimed in literary circles for its satirical take on Soviet life. Coming from finishing the Gulag Archipelago, I wanted some light fiction, and I wow, my choice could not have been more ironic. With that in mind, I struggled with the writing initially, reading the first chapter four times before I got comfortable with the style.
It is not the most accessible of prose, but there is a switch midway when everything beings to click and then reading becomes effortless. The Pontius Pilate arc is simply wonderful, I can't say enough about this, I would love to read that as a standalone novel. There is a shooting scene between a cat hanging from a chandelier and the police, which is written so well that I wanted to copy down the words carefully.
Obviously, the Soviet satire pops up very quickly, and my P&V translation already had a lot of footnotes to nudge me along that direction. The secret police, the sudden disappearances, unexplained misfortunes, the insistence on documentation, the blatant corruption, the slow moving bureaucracy, "manuscripts don't burn" among others.
Sometimes things don't make sense, but I don't think they take away anything from the overall story. But you want to impatiently get over some obviously unnecessary fantastical elements or descriptions. I, for one, didn't really get what the whole thing with the ball was. I haven't read Goethe's Faust, so I couldn't really appreciate that angle, but I gather that it has something to do with making a deal with the devil. Also, this should've had a better title, that focused on Woland, neither the Master nor Margarita are particularly impressive in my opinion.
I would not recommend reading this book like a critic/lit-major would, but rather, read it like a child would, a fairytale from the shelf of the school library.
when I first started reading this, I didn't really know about how the book is a well-acclaimed in literary circles for its satirical take on Soviet life. Coming from finishing the Gulag Archipelago, I wanted some light fiction, and I wow, my choice could not have been more ironic. With that in mind, I struggled with the writing initially, reading the first chapter four times before I got comfortable with the style.
It is not the most accessible of prose, but there is a switch midway when everything beings to click and then reading becomes effortless. The Pontius Pilate arc is simply wonderful, I can't say enough about this, I would love to read that as a standalone novel. There is a shooting scene between a cat hanging from a chandelier and the police, which is written so well that I wanted to copy down the words carefully.
Obviously, the Soviet satire pops up very quickly, and my P&V translation already had a lot of footnotes to nudge me along that direction. The secret police, the sudden disappearances, unexplained misfortunes, the insistence on documentation, the blatant corruption, the slow moving bureaucracy, "manuscripts don't burn" among others.
Sometimes things don't make sense, but I don't think they take away anything from the overall story. But you want to impatiently get over some obviously unnecessary fantastical elements or descriptions. I, for one, didn't really get what the whole thing with the ball was. I haven't read Goethe's Faust, so I couldn't really appreciate that angle, but I gather that it has something to do with making a deal with the devil. Also, this should've had a better title, that focused on Woland, neither the Master nor Margarita are particularly impressive in my opinion.
I would not recommend reading this book like a critic/lit-major would, but rather, read it like a child would, a fairytale from the shelf of the school library.
Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
i simply had to go read another naomi kritzer story and this did not disappoint. midway, i realized that the theme was how you need to care for yourself as if you were caring for another person.