Review: Kafka on the Shore

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kafka on the Shore is a mystery. It is difficult to figure out. It is intriguing in all the right ways and all the wrong ways, but it somehow seems to come together. It is felt, the threads coming together and temptingly touching, so electric, but never really merging together. Rather, they wove themselves into something that is difficult to describe.

It is a beautiful book. Beautifully written, but more beautifully constructed.

The more I try to describe it, the less accurate my picture of what it feels like to read Kafka On The Shore.

It is unexpected in the most subtle ways.

View all my reviews

Review: Fifty Words for Snow

Fifty Words for Snow by Nancy Campbell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s such a beautiful book! Peaceful, loveable, and subtle. It’s about languages, stories, places, and the people that reside amidst these. It knows what it’s doing, focused and clear. It doesn’t amble. It takes snapshots, gives information, and almost effortlessly makes you want to smile and laugh and cry and reminds you of things past and things to come.

It’s beautiful.

Very appropriate for Christmas.

View all my reviews

Review: Trials of the State: Law and the Decline of Politics

Trials of the State: Law and the Decline of Politics by Jonathan Sumption
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A stark book, opinionated and unafraid. In some ways, terrifying. Prophesying doom, analysing tragedy, provoking thought. The power here is brevity and clarity, a simple case that is well-presented and decently argued. It lacks depth, but makes up for it with lucidity. A thoroughly enjoyable and interesting read that I will be thinking about deeply before drawing opinions.

That said, certain bits felt a bit thin. Definition of human rights was a bit dicey, almost contradictory to some of the examples used. Though that is a judgement I will hold on till a second read, I can say that on closer examination the argument is not as obvious as presented. Well-written, though there were very specific bits where the structure lost me a little. Especially when contrast is presented across comparatives, it isn’t obvious at first that it is a case of contrast which makes for a few (isolated) jarring paragraphs.

And, of course, the scope is limited. This is a book unapologetically about the UK. Something to bear in mind.

So, read with a critical eye and think about what you are reading, but read it you should if you’re interested in law and politics.

View all my reviews

Review: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There’s poetry here. Not explicit, but implicit. Beauty in the way the words weave into each other, in the way the ideas weave into each other, with thoughts and streams of people and places and pasts and revelations. We’re all fleeting, that’s the point. How fleeting? Why? Amidst the questions, there is a melancholy beauty that the words breathe into the process of reading it.

I felt this book more than I read it, I understood the heart of it more than the mind. It is bold, but it is more than bold, different to bold. It is sad. Sad in ways that only certain books manage to be, in an all-encompassing, existential-yet-personal way. The story screams, and I couldn’t help but sit there and read and hear and wish I knew.

It’s amazing. I loved it.

View all my reviews

Review: Night Sky with Exit Wounds

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The poetry here flows, like water, weaving in and out of ideas and people. It is about people, about places and times and horror and beauty. It is gorgeous. I sat down with it and couldn’t stop reading till the pages had all been flipped and the stories all absorbed, to some degree, but begging to be re-read immediately.

Of Thee I Sing almost made me cry. Face in hands, I sat there in the cafe, hot chocolate sitting next to me and smooth jazz washing over my heart. I stayed there and thought and whispered, till I could push myself back to my seat and continue.

What else can I say?

View all my reviews

Review: Gotham High

Gotham High by Melissa de la Cruz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought it was a decent graphic novel. Was this the best use of the characters? Who cares. The canon is vast, the characterisations diverse, I think it’s a fun experiment. The storyline itself is okay. The twists were far too obvious and the actual emotional involvement was low. At the same time, very pretty to look at and well-crafted in terms of flow.

Not much more to say. Not too significant or memorable. An okay ending and a mostly okay comic.

View all my reviews

Review: Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A very interesting read on Artificial Intelligence that I thoroughly enjoyed. Informative and well-researched, with a lot of credibility behind it. I followed some of the sources to even more interesting readings, fairly niche but noteworthy. Very cool.

I think it was a little fast in places and a little bit hand-wavey in places. Assumptions here and there that were slightly unacknowledged. More importantly, however, some of the bigger questions felt as if they were answered more authoritatively than appropriate, especially the big ones with consciousness and intelligence. To be fair, it is clearly acknowledged that the definitions are restrictive and non-universal. Still, the rhetoric of it makes it feel more definitive than it is.

There’s a lot of questions raised. A lot of places to go from here. I really enjoyed reading it, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in AI.

View all my reviews

Review: Here

Here by Richard McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The hook of the book is that the camera never moves, the frame never shifts, and it is glorious. That is what needs to be credited with the four-star review, because that is brilliant and it feels so cool to flip through and back and forth.

The story itself, the mini-stories within, are ok. They aren’t particularly compelling, but not boring either. They suffice as short punchy not-particularly-emotional-but-not-really-boring-either plotlines. There’s some overarching stuff, but not too much. There aren’t any “characters” to speak of, or perhaps there were and I just could not keep track.

In a sense, that almost doesn’t matter. It’s well-drawn, the hook is well-used (not for plot purposes, but for intriguing and dynamic art), and I liked it. Perfectly pleasant, very interesting, there’s a vague sense that maybe more could be done here, but the wasted potential doesn’t bite as it does with other books. Worth checking out.

View all my reviews

Review: The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man

The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t think this was ever going to live up to the absolutely beautiful first novel in the series, but I was still slightly disappointed by the direction it did take. The comedy was a little less nuanced and funny, the characters were a little less interesting and the overarching plot was not really engaging. It seemed to change directions ever so quickly and often have little point.

Some redeeming bits exist, but they are few and far in between. My eyes were glazing over towards the end, there was no satisfaction to the way it concluded and some of it felt completely random.

It’s perfectly readable, maybe for an afternoon of pleasant if slightly mundane fiction. Beyond that, there is little I can say to recommend it to someone. It’s a book you can use to maybe pass the time, but if you’ve anything better then I can’t help but suggest you go for that.


View all my reviews