jpichon.net - Mischttps://www.jpichon.net/2023-04-25T22:38:13+01:00Book reviews: Year 20212023-04-25T22:38:13+01:002023-04-25T22:38:13+01:00Julie Pichontag:www.jpichon.net,2023-04-25:/blog/2023/04/book-reviews-year-2021/<h2>Bonds of Brass (The Bloodright Trilogy, #1) by Emily Skrutskie</h2>
<p>An easy-to-read space romance. The mutual pining starts strong from the start and it was just fun to read. The worldbuilding is super interesting and I really, really enjoyed how the politics and moral dilemmas are slowly introduced and explored …</p><h2>Bonds of Brass (The Bloodright Trilogy, #1) by Emily Skrutskie</h2>
<p>An easy-to-read space romance. The mutual pining starts strong from the start and it was just fun to read. The worldbuilding is super interesting and I really, really enjoyed how the politics and moral dilemmas are slowly introduced and explored. What life is like when your country was conquered and colonised. There are no good compromises and you can feel how sick it makes the narrator feel, that no matter what decision they make people will get hurt and die. The Found Family vibes were excellent whenever they popped up but then again, see: moral dilemma getting in the way. Looking forward to the next volume after that ending! Not exactly a cliffhanger but certainly opens up a lot of interesting possibilities.</p>
<h2>Frédéric Cendrevent: L'autre côté des ombres, T2 by Noëmie Auke</h2>
<p>J'ai eu quelques difficultés au début à me remémorer les règles de ce monde tout en absorbant les nouvelles informations qui nous sont données, mais une fois tout mis en place (et qu'Allowin nous refait sa première apparition !) l'histoire m'a complètement absorbée. L'intrigue politique est intéressante mais c'est surtout l'évolution de Frédéric et de sa relation avec les autres (son loup, ses nouveaux cercles, et bien sûr Owin) que j'ai trouvé prenante. Voir sa volonté de décider de sa vie par et pour lui-même s'affirmer, et réaliser peu à peu que ce ne sont pas juste les autres qui lui mettent des bâtons dans les roues mais aussi lui-même. J'ai beaucoup aimé découvrir de nouveaux recoins de cet univers fascinant, rencontrer les autres personnages et leurs relations, entendre des explications d'événements mentionnés dans le premier volume sur lesquels je ne m'attendais pas à en apprendre plus (bonne surprise!!), et généralement voir tout ce petit monde faire de leur mieux pour se protéger les uns les autres a été un véritable plaisir. J'ai trouvé la conclusion très réconfortante. Enchanteur !</p>
<h2>A Deadly Education (The Scholomance, #1) by Naomi Novik</h2>
<p>A magic school without teachers or staff that is infested with monsters that kill many of the students before or during graduation... And where learning is a matter of survival. Incredible, fascinating worldbuilding. The characters are endearing in somewhat unusual ways, due to the kind of environment they are operating in. And seeing the outcasts and weirdos sort of slowly gravitate toward each other had a kind of found family vibe that I eagerly absorbed. It's hard work getting there though!<br/><br/>I read this in one go and loved all of it. Which is why my review is short, because I am very tired now.</p>
<h2>Quit Like a Millionaire: No Gimmicks, Luck, or Trust Fund Required by Kristy Shen</h2>
<p>I found the methodical, systematic advice on how to choose (POT) very good and would recommend the method to all students or people considering a career change. Overall, very engaging writing style. As always, the concrete advice is north american-based (includes Canada this time, though!) and doesn't apply to different tax system, but the general advice ("The past doesn't matter") and other anecdotes and stories were all interesting and thought provoking.</p>
<h2>The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak</h2>
<p>This is two stories in one, because someone is reading a book inside of it, and that book is about the poet Rumi and Shams of Tabriz. I admit I found it difficult at first to feel compassion toward Ella, the modern narrator who is reading book - until we get more of her perspective and suddenly I understood her better, and she broke my heart a little bit.<br/><br/>It's a book about love, all kinds of love. Romantic, platonic, religious, toward the self... It's a spiritual book as well, one that gives you a lot to think about, the kind of thoughts you feel down in your soul.<br/><br/>It's a book about people, and humanity, and human emotions - many of them beautiful, and a few others that are less pretty.<br/><br/>Because the book within the book was focused on Shams and Rumi, I found it a little bit disappointing when we were missing the full "arc" for some of the characters who observe and float around them (especially Desert Rose), but I would still heartily recommend this story.</p>
<h2>Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir</h2>
<p>Although I prefer character-driven stories, I really enjoy Andy Weir's books. The characterisation is a bit weak in this book as well, in that despite the different backstory it feels like exactly the same main character as the other books, tone-wise, especially The Martian. But I actually don't mind the wry, sarcastic, self-deprecating American-type humour so it works for me. I think that covers what I thought were the weakest parts but then again, it's not the kind of story it was meant to be either. This is more plot-driven? Mystery-driven? And damn if that part isn't impeccably done, I was hooked right from the start. Slowly figuring out together with the protagonist what the hell is going on was really, really well done - and you have two storylines in a way, the current one and the flashbacks from back on Earth. There's always something you're wondering about, and the more you learn the more questions you have, but in a really fun and gripping way.<br/><br/>And like, it's a desperate situation, certain death and a whole bunch of other things, but it's also, somehow, an incredibly hopeful story. Finding things to marvel about even in the face of crushing adversity because hey! This is space? Isn't this cool?! And there is so much joy in discovery and in science. There's a particular, very important event that happens about a third of the way into the book, maybe, and in any other story these days this would have been cause for terrifying story development, because cynicism and pessimism is the name of the game, but... not here. Super hopeful instead, and I appreciated that so much.<br/><br/>There's something to be said about a story that's about finding delight in all the small, cool things that are going well even when faced with an overwhelmingly bad situation you can't change, especially these days. I really enjoyed this book and wholly recommend it.</p>
<h2>A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2) by Arkady Martine</h2>
<p>There is a large cast of characters for this book and it took me a while to find my bearings especially since it had been a while since the first book. As before, if you enjoy political intrigue you'll get your fill here, but the worldbuilding and character relationships are what sells this book to me just like its predecessor. The language aspect is still wonderful, the way speaking another language forces you to think differently, but even more so the... I'm not sure how to call it. The longing and fear and conflicted admiration for an Empire that would destroy you and your entire culture given half a chance is just fascinating and so well done, I really enjoyed it.<br/><br/>A lot of the book sets things in place, and then it all falls together very quickly over the last quarter of the book - breathtaking! I enjoyed the resolution greatly.</p>
<h2>How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by Scott Adams</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) by Tamsyn Muir</h2>
<p>It's a difficult book to review. The writing style is so dense and the atmosphere so grim. I mean, necromancers have an aesthetic to preserve I suppose, even necromancers in space. But so many <i>dense</i> descriptions of skeletons and darkness and grime and black veils and... it's tough. It's tough and yet the narrator Gideon has such a great voice. She's not untouched by the grimness of the setting but she still always feels - out of place, out of place in a way that fits. So you'll read a beautiful description of a rotten space platform half-falling apart and in the same breath Gideon will describe the necromancer standing on it as having a "resting bitch face" and I'll be snorting but it doesn't pull you out of the story because it's <i>Gideon</i> so it works. <br/><br/>I found the whole cast of characters a bit difficult to keep up with, especially since they have too many names (I thought "the twins" and "the teenagers" referred to the same people for a confusing, embarrassingly long time) but I was still very invested in multiple characters, their relationships and the mystery of the plot. The aesthetic of everyone, everything, and especially the Ninth house is flawless, too. Just zoom in on that cover: black garb, skeleton face paint, and sunglasses. Hell yeah.<br/><br/>(Yes, that's Gideon.)<br/><br/>Anyway. Lesbian necromancers in space, go!!</p>
<h2>The Last Graduate (The Scholomance, #2) by Naomi Novik</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Any Way the Wind Blows (Simon Snow, #3) by Rainbow Rowell</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed this conclusion to the trilogy. It's an easy read, great for my still pandemic-fuddled mind but I also liked the plotlines. The first book was all prophecies and Chosen Ones, the second book more about running away from your problems (road trip!) and facing new ones, and this third book... well, it's about what happens once the prophecies are done and dusted, once the characters have to face the end of their lives as they knew it and the trauma that goes with that, and come to terms with it. I quite liked it. The cast of characters is varied enough to keep the story engaging even if you don't like everyone as much and the glimpses into the worldbuilding were fun as well.</p>
<h2>Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody</h2>
<p>Really interesting outlining method based on screenwriting techniques, using beat sheets. The first quarter of the book explains the method, then the meat of the book shows how it can be applied to different genres by breaking down well-known books into their beats. You can't help but start looking at movies differently after reading it because the beats become very noticeable.</p>
<h2>Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #2) by Tamsyn Muir</h2>
<p>I'm a little bit torn as to how to review this book. I found it really difficult to get into. The prose is just as dense as in the first book, but a lot of the fun characters are either dead or MIA and that leaves only the grim, cynical, psychopathic, paranoid, backstabbing or generally unfun ones around. A couple might be okay but they know much more than the protagonist and the handwaving about "you couldn't understand" is as frustrating for the reader as for the protagonist - even as I recognise that they are right. I wouldn't have understood. I can't even begrudge the other characters for being like they are (except maybe for the backstabbing one, who I still feel furious with) because the world is grim and everyone has seen some shit (tm).<br/><br/>What kept me going was the plot and worldbuilding. The plot is very well weaved, with flashbacks and flashforwards like "the night before the emperor's murder" right from the first page that certainly arouse curiosity. Learning more about the worldbuilding of this strange solar system, the Nine Houses and their mythology and how it all connects to what is happening now was also very interesting.<br/><br/>The last quarter of the book is a lot more engaging, and I even laughed out loud a few times in between all of the other hellish crap happening. Knowing the emperor would be murdered, it was really interesting to try to guess who would do it and changing my mind right until the end.<br/><br/>The ending is somewhat open ended and I know there are more books coming, but I can't say I feel super satisfied with it. It's a complex story and I can see how it would have more impact if you managed to keep track of absolutely everything. I know people who re-read both books immediately upon finishing and I certainly understand why. We do learn about a lot of lore that sheds a different light on a number of events of the first book and many (most?) of the events of the second one. I'm not invested enough to do that because as interesting as it was, this is a story and world more grim than I usually enjoy. But it certainly makes for compelling storytelling, and even when I was hating or not caring about most characters on the page (that changes as we go) I still couldn't help but keep reading.</p>
<h2>Binti (Binti, #1) by Nnedi Okorafor</h2>
<p>A short story about grief, finding your people without disavowing your roots, building understanding across cultures. I enjoyed it.</p>Book reviews: Year 20202023-04-25T22:38:13+01:002023-04-25T22:38:13+01:00Julie Pichontag:www.jpichon.net,2023-04-25:/blog/2023/04/book-reviews-year-2020/<h2>The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur, #2) by Hannu Rajaniemi</h2>
<p>I look at my review for the first book and see delight and enthusiasm. Reading the Quantum Thief was <b>hard work</b> but getting to understand the world and the characters that inhabit it was such a reward, brought such enchantment …</p><h2>The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur, #2) by Hannu Rajaniemi</h2>
<p>I look at my review for the first book and see delight and enthusiasm. Reading the Quantum Thief was <b>hard work</b> but getting to understand the world and the characters that inhabit it was such a reward, brought such enchantment. Reading the Fractal Prince felt like hard work and that's about it. I had some vague curiosity about one of the characters but everyone else felt so flat. Most interactions felt so negative. Most descriptions felt so confusing. There was nothing for me in this book. Maybe there is a particular mood that's required when deciding to read this series, and I didn't pick it up at the right time.</p>
<h2>Provenance (Imperial Radch) by Ann Leckie</h2>
<p>I loved the Ancillary trilogy, and I loved Leckie's fantasy book The Raven Tower as well. Provenance is a stand-alone novel set in the same universe as that first trilogy, but unrelated to it except for the way some events affect the news here. It has everything I enjoy in a book: compelling characters. Friendships and kindness. Sentences I can understand (*). There's plotting and politics and betrayals too of course.<br/><br/>All those books had very different atmospheres to them and yet I enjoyed them all tremendously. I think Ann Leckie is going onto the list of authors whose books I know I can always look forward to.<br/><br/>(*) (I am clearly still bitter about the Fractal Prince.)</p>
<h2>After the World by Máire Brophy</h2>
<p>This is a very short book so I'm a bit annoyed that some of the descriptions out there manage to spoil stuff that happens later. It threw me off when reading, because what I thought would be the start was more like the end. Anyway. All one needs to know is that this is the story of an orc after their side, which we would normally see as the bad guys, have lost the war. It's quite interesting and different from the usual fantasy stories, in that I don't think I had read any with an orc as the narrator before. I quite enjoyed it. I picked up the book after hearing the author speak at a panel about what makes a good villain when WorldCon was in Dublin, and I loved how enthusiastic she was about good bad characters. The book delivered, and I wouldn't mind seeing more.</p>
<h2>The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill</h2>
<p>This is a story about magic and love. It's hard not to feel your heart grow a little bit bigger as you read it.</p>
<h2>City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett</h2>
<p>What a wonderful series. It's a bit more modern than I usually like my fantasy, with cars and some light industrialisation. But the setting is so original, and the characters so well-written it's an absolute pleasure to read. Everybody feels so multi-faceted. Complex humans with motivations that are not always straightforward despite what they may say or even believe themselves.<br/><br/>The setting is a world in which the gods used to walk the earth, but then they were killed. A few decades have passed and their worshippers are still trying to cope with this new reality, dwelling in half-destroyed cities that were once held up by miracles that no longer work.</p>
<h2>The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason</h2>
<p>A short book and nice way to learn about the basics of personal finances in parable form, if stories speak more to you. I wouldn't have hated it but the dialogues in thou/thee/thy/thine format hurt my head enough to distract from the message. This was compounded by the fact the edition I read (black and red hardcover) was riddled with typos, including footnotes not at the foot of the page but floating between paragraphs. If you decide to read it, pick any edition but this one.</p>
<h2>The Money Doctor 2020 by John Lowe</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>City of Blades (The Divine Cities, #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett</h2>
<p>This series continues to be amazing. The main narrator is Mulaghesh this time. I liked her from the first chapter of the first book, she's a great character and such a hardass.<br/><blockquote>There's a silence. Mulaghesh holds up her hand. Sigrud, without a word, tosses her the jug. She catches it, pulls the cork out with her teeth, spits it into the fire, and takes a long pull.</blockquote><br/>In the main storyline we investigate a potentially miraculous ore, which raises some concerning questions on how dead the dead gods are exactly. I really enjoy how internally consistent the worldbuilding is. This is a world where reality-bending miracles are or were commonplace, but they still respond to rules and every new discovery feels logical once understood.</p>
<h2>City of Miracles (The Divine Cities, #3) by Robert Jackson Bennett</h2>
<p>I'm a little choked up after closing this book. I was planning to take a short break and read something else before reading the conclusion to the series, but first I read the Goodreads blurb for book #3 and wow. A beloved character was assassinated and we must find out who and why? I had to read immediately.<br/><br/>It was good and a lot happens. A lot of reflection on war and the cycle of life. The ending scene wasn't unexpected but it is staying with me.<br/><br/>This series really was excellent, with tight and original worldbuilding and a story that spans close to two decades. You don't always get to see what happens after the protagonist changes the world, the things that go right and the ones that go wrong, what becomes of everyone. There is a lot to think about. But probably it is the characters, all of them, their hopes and pain that will stay with me the most.</p>
<h2>You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day</h2>
<p>Wow, so many relatable moments! Sweet and awkward. Laugh out loud hilarious at times.<br/><br/>The chapter towards the end on losing your sense of community, your tribe was heartbreaking. Especially after so many chapters where crippling anxiety was mentioned. But still, I feel inspired after closing the book. It makes you remember your abandoned creative projects and go like "Hm... Yeah? Yeah??! HELL YEAH!" and that's a pretty cool feeling.</p>
<h2>Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2) by Rainbow Rowell</h2>
<p>I think I like this sequel much better than the first book. The first book was fun, breaking a number of magic school/chosen one stereotypes and parts of the ending took me by surprise. But at the same time it was hard not to constantly compare with other magic school books, and on the way to the ending there were a number of plot points that didn't quite work for me and made reading frustrating.<br/><br/>This book happens after. Quest complete, prophecy fulfilled - what happens after? We follow the characters as they decide to take on a road trip through America and end up having to face up to the broken parts of themselves. Parts that sometimes they didn't even realise were there but now seem oh-so-obvious even just remembering a little about the previous book. There's a lot of vulnerability and sweetness, and of course also a lot of hitting people in the face with axes as things start to go wrong. Sometimes the voices weren't distinctive enough and I had to jump back a couple pages to remember who the hell was narrating. Even then though, thoroughly enjoyable and I read it in one go.</p>
<h2>Good Economics for Hard Times : Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems by Abhijit V. Banerjee</h2>
<p>I think I would recommend this book to everyone. Written in 2019 by the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on alleviating global poverty, the authors take a hard look at a number of issues and concerns that affect us all today: immigration, free trade, automation, climate change, inequality... and take us through the latest research. The conclusions are not always the obvious ones. The authors don't necessarily give us "the answer" either but they show us the data, how they interpreted it and the conclusions they drew from there. You are free to draw different ones but will be left with plenty of thought anyway. The overall picture is not rosy, but it is not hopeless either. The last 80 pages or so contain all the references to the various papers mentioned through the book, but it still reads easily.</p>
<h2>Last Colony by John Scalzi</h2>
<p>I was readying myself for a tale of colonisation, like, strange beasts and diseases, human drama, etc. I certainly got that, but really I was hooked on the story right from the start when the spaceship bringing them to the new colony gets sabotaged.<br/><br/>Also appreciated the little asides to remind the reader about what happened in previous books since it's been years and I forgot. The humour was nice too. There are a number of events happening that are bigger than the characters themselves and their summaries are nearly news report-like, which was probably unavoidable but made the pace at a bit strange at times. Still, good political intrigue on top of everything else.</p>
<h2>The E-myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber</h2>
<p>This is a book about small businesses. The format reminded me of the "Richest Man in Babylon" in places. An allegory with the paternal figure who's seen it all benevolently offering guidance to the lost lamb. Warm-hearted chuckles when they don't quite get it. Long monologues on both sides to illustrate understanding. I find this kind of format a bit difficult. However the ideas are interesting, and the later chapters describing systems and how to build them particularly so.</p>
<h2>L'autre côté des ombres by Noëmie Auke</h2>
<p>Quelle histoire merveilleuse. J'ai été fascinée par ce monde d'exorcistes dès les premières pages, terriblement curieuse d'en apprendre plus. Les courtes descriptions de créatures entre les chapitres sont très sympas et entre ça et la richesse des détails qui parsèment le roman, on sent qu'on entre dans un monde très recherché et bien plus grand que seule cette histoire peut nous faire découvrir.<br/><br/>Les personnages sont attachants, sans être trop parfaits. Les mystères auxquels ils se confrontent, petits et grands, sont fascinants ; on se demande toujours ce qui va se passer après, s'il y a un lien avec ceci ou cela, et comment ça va se résoudre... J'ai vraiment passé un bon moment avec tout ce petit monde et j'ai fini le livre d'une traite.<br/><br/>J'ai hâte de lire ce que l'auteure nous proposera d'autre dans le futur !</p>
<h2>This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone</h2>
<p>Let me start with, this is one of the best titles ever. So enticing. I saw it pass through goodreads and I was like, "yeah clearly this is a book for me."<br/><br/>And it was! Although I wasn't sure at the start. Fancy prose, I thought. Maybe I've been reading too much straightforward writing and that's why this is so jarring, so difficult.<br/><br/>But this is way beyond attempts at appearing literary. Blue and Red are two agents in a war fought from so far downthread, with ways of life we can barely comprehend that they might as well be alien. They come from two different worlds, strands, universes and we feel that in the way every chapter and letter is written and woven and the metaphors are chosen. It's beautiful. Slowly in their words we learn to perceive the world the way they might, and the way they experience their love feels different and yet it is the same and also so much more.<br/><br/>I started this book thinking, "4 stars because I kind of have to work at this" and I finished it thinking, "what a glorious 5 stars," with so many emotions still bursting through my seams.</p>
<h2>How to Write Lots, and Get Sh*t Done: The Art of Not Being a Flake by Jess Mountifield</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Self-Editing On A Penny: A Comprehensive Guide by Ashlyn Forge</h2>
<p>A pleasant read, easy to finish in one go yet still jam-packed with useful advice that make it also useful as a reference. I'm not sure that it lives up to the 'comprehensive' part of title but it certainly approaches editing from many angles (plot structure, common grammar mistakes, line edits, ...) and gives you good ideas for approaching revisions when you can't figure out where to start. The examples are written especially for the book and illustrate the point of each piece of advice very well.</p>
<h2>Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert</h2>
<p>A wonderful little book about creativity, full of hope and interesting thoughts. I didn't necessarily agree with every idea, not everything resonated with me but every section had something that made me think, consider. I really enjoyed the chapters around fear, around trust, around giving yourself permission to create. I liked the concept of dedication without ever taking yourself or art seriously. "Done is better than good" keeps floating around my mind and making a lot of sense, especially because something else in me really wants to oppose it. But still the concept resonates so deeply and I want to embrace it.<br/><br/>A gentle, hopeful read that I think I will return to from time to time when I find myself lacking courage.</p>
<h2>Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott</h2>
<p>Life advice masquerading as writing advice, and sometimes the other way around. </p>
<h2>Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5) by Martha Wells</h2>
<p>A bit slow to start, I felt, and although I do enjoy tremendously the sarcastic parenthetical asides, the beginning really truly had a great many. Once the banter got properly started though, the story flowed a lot better for me and I enjoyed a lot getting to spend time again with those characters. Can't wait for the next book!</p>
<h2>On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King</h2>
<p>Whenever I see a rec list for writing books, this one always tops it. I even saw people say that if you can only read one book on writing, this should be the one.<br/><br/>I think... maybe if you're a Stephen King fan, that's true, but if you're more neutral about him (I don't reach much horror), this book can get tough going at times. It's like, 4 or 5 different books. The first part is autobiographical, it's called "CV" but except for a couple of anecdotes, I found it difficult to stick with it at times. Then there's the Writer's Toolbox, which I thought I would enjoy but also found difficult to get through.<br/><br/>Then comes the section of the book called "On Writing" - I loved that part! Deeply interesting, the metaphor of the story as a fossil to dig out and the different methods to approach it were really interesting. The part on research, leaving that until the second draft and using details for verisimilitude as opposed to accidentally writing a paper within the story... Interesting food for thoughts, and lots of other titbits like that.<br/><br/>Then there was the story of his accident. Reading about the driver being described like a character was compelling, great storytelling in action again despite it being real. Then a bunch of book recommendations to finish things off.<br/><br/>I think it's an interesting book for the "On Writing" section, and understanding how some writers work (no outline!). I just found everything around it a bit more difficult to get through.</p>
<h2>Uprooted by Naomi Novik</h2>
<p>What a wonderful book and story. It has the intriguing, unsettling, alluring atmosphere of an old fairytale, and the worldbuilding is so captivating and artfully done. Like, the story seems to start small although very mysterious, but as the story moves forward the world starts to feel larger and larger in captivating ways - it's very well done, like in such a way that the reader doesn't feel overwhelmed, and I enjoyed losing myself in it. Despite everything that is going on, it's easy to pace yourself reading the first half of the book - but when I got to the mid-point and the stakes suddenly feels so much higher and yet it's unclear what is going on, what is going wrong, and how much might be lost, and I just couldn't stop reading until I reached the ending. The ending was most certainly not what I expected, but I liked it, and I think some of the images painted in it will remain in my mind for a while. It fits the rest of the book well, and I enjoyed it a lot.</p>Book reviews: Year 20192023-04-25T22:38:13+01:002023-04-25T22:38:13+01:00Julie Pichontag:www.jpichon.net,2023-04-25:/blog/2023/04/book-reviews-year-2019/<h2>How to Be a Stoic: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living by Massimo Pigliucci</h2>
<p>This works really well as a follow-up to Irvine's "Guide to the Good Life" (and actually references it in a few places.) The book examines some modern issues as well as timeless questions, and uses quotes from …</p><h2>How to Be a Stoic: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living by Massimo Pigliucci</h2>
<p>This works really well as a follow-up to Irvine's "Guide to the Good Life" (and actually references it in a few places.) The book examines some modern issues as well as timeless questions, and uses quotes from Epictetus to look for answers. Insightful.</p>
<h2>The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson</h2>
<p>The author can really lay it on thick with the language sometimes, and the speaking in absolutes only, but y'know, I decided not to give a f*ck and to focus on the message instead. The message is good: we only have so much time, attention, energy in this life and we should make sure we spend it on the things that are truly important to us. It's entertainingly packaged, and considering the ideas discussed even when I didn't agree with them made for interesting thinking.</p>
<h2>The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson</h2>
<p>Breathtaking pace and as usual, a new fascinating kind of magic revealed. It's quite a short book. And another excellent Sanderson fantasy book.</p>
<h2>All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) by Martha Wells</h2>
<p>Wonderful storytelling. I meant to check out the first couple of chapters only to get a feel for the atmosphere and accidentally started caring about the plot immediately and then got attached to the characters too. A short, cool sci-fi story. You should read it too.</p>
<h2>Unf*ck Your Habitat by Rachel Hoffman</h2>
<p>This is a really good book if you find cleaning and tidying somewhat overwhelming. There is a quote at the back that starts with "A must-read for people who are terrified by Marie Kondo" and this seems somewhat appropriate! This is a very kind book that recognises that getting our homes to a magazine-photo level of cleanliness is unrealistic for most, because life doesn't work that way and also because of limitations like chronic illnesses, mental illnesses, etc. It's very kind and takes you at whatever level you're at without letting you make excuses to do absolutely nothing either. You can adapt the framework and exercises to what it is you can actually do. It also describes the basics of how to actually clean, which not everyone has necessarily learnt and becomes difficult to ask about or figure out as an adult.</p>
<h2>Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl</h2>
<p>This book came highly recommended to me. The author is a psychiatrist and neurologist who is also a Holocaust survivor. The book talks about logotherapy, spirituality and the search for meaning in life. Unfortunately it wasn't a book for me or at least not for me at this moment. I found the first third quite confusing and sometimes bewildering (the chapter on dream interpretation...), and while I did find interesting insights in the latter part I found it overall quite difficult to approach.<br/><br/>Still, next I'm planning on grabbing his previous book about his life in concentration camps and how this philosophy of life helped him.</p>
<h2>Bikenomics: How Bicycling Can Save The Economy by Elly Blue</h2>
<p>A well-researched book on the benefits of cycling with a ton of references, that also made me want to get out and hop onto the bike for a quick cycle at times (a problem as I usually read in bed at night). I didn't realise how much of the content was aimed at a US audience though. I would have thought it doesn't matter, but a lot of the discussions involving numbers, taxes, subsidies, etc, and the overwhelming car culture made me want to skip ahead at times. Still, interesting.</p>
<h2>The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie</h2>
<p>Ann Leckie's foray into fantasy after the wonderful Ancillary Justice doesn't disappoint. Lots of originality in the storytelling style, interesting characters, an intriguing storyline interlaced with good mythology. Gripping. A few of the characters may be somewhat one-dimensional, and some things get resolved a bit quickly at a point in the story, but then the surprises continue to come from there on anyway so I most definitely finished the book feeling satisfied. Massive bonus points as well for a LGBT-friendly fantasy world (not a plot point or storyline or anything - it just is. And that felt damn refreshing.) Also bonus points for a standalone fantasy book!! Although I would be more than happy to read more stories in the same world.</p>
<h2>Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini</h2>
<p>Really interesting book, although I think 200 pages would have worked better than 300. The anecdotes are useful to show how these techniques can be used against you but it felt a bit too long toward the end. It's a really good book though. Every chapter describes a different way our instincts can be used and abused by scammers, or just as bad how sometimes we mislead ourselves all on our own. The chapter on social proof was particularly scary: when we are uncertain of the situation we look to strangers for what is the right thing to do, when in fact it's just what they're doing too and so we might let someone die at our feet and walk right past them because if no one else is doing anything, it must not be important.<br/><br/>Most beneficially, every chapter ends with a section on "how to say no" or generally recognise moments when it might be be wise not to trust our instincts, while acknowledging how difficult that can be. I think these sections will be worth a regular re-read.</p>
<h2>悪夢の六号室 by Hanta Kinoshita</h2>
<p>やっと終わらせた。前半はとても面白くてミステリアスでしたが、解決が始まったら非常に暗い話になってしまって、私にとって読み辛くなりました。</p>
<h2>The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey</h2>
<p>I'd heard of Dave Ramsey's personality before reading the book so I was prepared for the loud, idiosyncratic tone. I skipped the paragraphs detailing mechanisms that are only relevant to the US, and enjoyed the book in general. It's the right mix of encouraging, tough, and concrete. You come out of it motivated to look at your debts and assess your lifestyle, and also with a simple (but not easy!) plan for the next steps.</p>
<h2>Nymphéas noirs by Michel Bussi</h2>
<p>J'ai trouvé le début un peu difficile, la plupart des personnages n'étant pas particulièrement attachants. Mais après la première centaine de pages, certains s'humanisent et d'autres apparaissent pour qui on s'inquiète plus facilement, et le mystère s'épaissit et intrigue énormément. Je ne m'attendais pas du tout au dénouement, et ai trouvé la fin très satisfaisante !</p>
<h2>獣の奏者 8 (青い鳥文庫 273-8) by Nahoko Uehashi</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez</h2>
<p>This is a powerful book. Others probably think the same as I had to wait a year for my hold to come through at the library! It was absolutely worth the wait.<br/><br/>This is not just a book about personal finances. It's a book about life and how to structure yours to match your values. Not in the "follow your passion" kind of unhelpful advice, but at a much deeper level. It addresses consumerism, which destroys not just our finances but also the planet and its limited resources. It aims to help you discover what "enough" means for <em>you</em> - no hard rule that applies to everyone but what makes sense for yourself. Although the exercises are about managing money, all of the questions and advice are connected to life, to the limited amount of hours we have left and helping us figure out how to make them meaningful both personally and in our communities.<br/><br/>I read a lot of this book on public transport and many times I found myself arriving at my stop lost in thought, at the same page for the last 20 minutes. Chewing on the questions, absorbing them and letting them shine a light on dusty corners of my soul; maybe reflecting on the origins of a belief I didn't even know I held, or remembering forgotten feelings and dreams. Much of the content is challenging in the best way possible, and makes you question expectations, beliefs, and other knowledge you may have taken for granted. You may not change your thinking each time, but the thought process will likely bring more clarity to your own answers and values.<br/><br/>The authors recommend reading the book in one go, then starting again at the beginning and doing the exercises this time. Next I plan to get my own copy and slowly work my way through each step. I can't wait to find out where this leads me.</p>
<h2>Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living by Elizabeth Willard Thames</h2>
<p>One person's tale of slowly realising the traps of consumerism and lifestyle creep, and using frugality to buy freedom and get more enjoyment out of life. Lots of interesting ideas to consider, even if one doesn't personally wish to move into a homestead in the woods.</p>
<h2>No et moi by Delphine de Vigan</h2>
<p>Des sujets difficiles (les sans-abris, des familles brisées, l'impuissance face à l'injustice...) abordés avec candeur.</p>
<h2>A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan, #1) by Arkady Martine</h2>
<p>If you like political intrigue, you're in for a treat! I actually don't really, because I always have trouble following who's on who's side and I don't like being suspicious of everyone all the time. I do enjoy getting to know characters and seeing how they interact with each other though, so although some interactions sometimes felt a bit wooden and squeezed in in-between all the plot, that was still a fun read. The best part of all though is the world building. This is great scifi, made even better for a language nerd like me as the protagonist is constantly having to think and interact in a foreign language, the structure of which forces her to adjust the way she thinks (as languages do!). It's great. Also murders and cool tech.</p>
<h2>Ireland's House Party by Derek Brawn</h2>
<p>A book published in 2009 about the property crisis. It is stats-heavy and I couldn't follow all of it, but it was very interesting and helpful to understand what happened, from multiple angles.</p>
<h2>Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar by Rob Goodman</h2>
<p>A balanced and extremely readable account of Cato's life, contrasting the man with the Stoic legend. The book is very approachable even if your knowledge of Ancient Rome is rusty at best. That period of history is really intriguing and I certainly came out of my reading interested in (re-)learning more about a few of the historical figures that show up through the book.</p>
<h2>The Mun by Lynn Connolly</h2>
<p>I moved to Ireland in 2005 around the time the demolition of the Ballymun flats started and never managed to really understand what was the story except, "it was bad" and "it's good the towers are going away, that stuff doesn't work in Ireland." This short memoir gave me some insights and perhaps a more balanced view than what is usually presented in the media.<br/><br/>On a personal level I also found the comments on life in Ireland in the 70s and 80s really, really interesting. For example it's one thing to know intellectually that divorce was illegal until very recently, but another to be made to understand what that can mean for real people with real lives and feelings. And I won't even talk about the nuns...</p>
<h2>Stormdancer (The Lotus Wars, #1) by Jay Kristoff</h2>
<p>I really wanted to like this book. Japanese steampunk! How cool does that sound!! Unfortunately the book turned out not to be for me. The worldbuilding starts interesting and fun and then gets really heavy, with more and more once-off Japanese words thrown in for little gain. The book tries so hard to be cool. I could have lived with that, and the random Japanese words creeping into the English dialogue in a way that doesn't flow like Japanese would. The main deal-breaker for me was the attitude of the characters, who turned out to be spunky and rebellious in exactly the same americanised way we see everywhere else. No cultural subtlety or influence on their personality. That made the supposed "Japanese" setting feel tacked on and cheap. I wish the story had been fully set in an original world, I think that would have worked wonderfully.</p>
<h2>Profit First: Transform Any Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz</h2>
<p>"Pay yourself first" applied to businesses. A simple concept expanded over perhaps more pages than was really needed, but the author's writing style is entertaining and that gives you more chances to take it all in. Every chapter ends with clear actionable TODOs.</p>
<h2>Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2) by Martha Wells</h2>
<p>Damn, I love these bots.</p>
<h2>Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) by Martha Wells</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4) by Martha Wells</h2>
<p>I love Murderbot. That was such a great series. This last book for the diaries is also a bit under 200 pages, so if you don't like reading novellas you could do worse than reading all 4 at once and have an awesome time. There's several great lines in the book I wish I could quote, but I don't want to rob them of their full in-context impact (<spoiler>though I'll just say that Murderbot makes the <i>ultimate</i> sacrifice</spoiler>). Really enjoyable sci-fi story told from a socially awkward security bot's perspective that somehow ends up completely relatable despite all the, you know, ability to kill. I mean, security expertise. Can't wait for the novel next year!</p>
<h2>I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No BS. Just a 6-Week Program That Works by Ramit Sethi</h2>
<p>I saw this book recommended before but ignored it because of the title. Then I heard several people say that it was similar to "Your Money or Your Life" by Vicki Robin in that it's about determining what a "rich life" means to you and setting up systems to achieve it.<br/><br/>In terms of comparison to Your Money or Your Life, it doesn't really hold a candle. Your Money or Your Life sends you on a soul-searching journey that will leave you raw, while this book kind of assumes you already know what's important to you and that might be getting a latte every day. Which is cool.<br/><br/>The rest of the advice is pretty sound, the usual pay off your debts, earn more, spend less, invest the difference. The book really shines in terms of showing you how to set up a system and automate your savings so that you don't have to think about it anymore. If I lived in the US I'd give the book 5 stars because it really handholds you through everything, which bank or credit card to choose, which financial instruments to invest with, etc. If you're based elsewhere, you need to already know enough to understand what applies to your country, if there's even an equivalent at all (or the different tax implications!) Still I learnt a few things and got motivated enough to make changes to my own system. The book aims to demystify a lot of concepts that people ignore because they sound too complicated. <br/><br/>Not the worst book to start with if you're not sure how to start getting your finances in order! There's a lot of actionable, pragmatic advice in there, broken down into very simple steps.</p>
<h2>Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch - Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods by Jennifer Reese</h2>
<p>I usually don't review cookbooks because I borrow them, try one or two recipes and then return them, which hardly seems fair. However I did end up reading that one from start to finish, as every recipe has a little story and I found the author's tone delightful.<br/><br/>This book is about whether it is worthwhile to make from scratch a lot of things that we buy every day without thinking or even knowing that it is possible to make yourself. Hence the title. It's not just about cost, every recipe also has a "hassle" factor and some comments about taste. So some recipes are marked as "Make it" even though they're a bit more expensive, and conversely some recipes that turn out cheaper are on the "Buy it" (or "Make it. Once.") side. Like, I think I'm at least 2 decades away from finding the courage to bake croissants, even if they're cheaper and tastier homemade. I wish pastas were easier too.<br/><br/>I made the everyday bread recipe a few days after getting the book (hassle rating: "Can you stir? You can make this bread." I wish every cookbook was this clear and honest.) and it turned out really nice and it was sooooo easy to make. There's a bunch of other strange and wonderful things I never would have thought to try and make, like nutella (no palm oil involved) or vanilla extract. I really like the variety (from how to cure meats to full dinners to desserts to sauces to hotdog buns to hot chocolate to vermouth) and how some of the recipes build on the leftovers of other ones. For example the bread can be made with water, or with the whey leftover from making yoghurt. If your bread starts going stale (not a problem I had yet, though eating an entire loaf in 24 hours will probably bring other issues if I continue.....), there are recipes on how to use that to make bread crumbs or croutons. It's really interesting.<br/><br/>I removed a star because some of the stories handling animals were a bit dismaying (like raising bees beside a tree that's poisonous to them), but I'm probably going to get my own copy. There's more things I want to try, and also it'd be easier to write directly on the book metric translations for the silly american measures. And ingredients sometimes. I had to look up what a cup of "half-and-half" could possibly be :-) (Cream!)</p>
<h2>きっと、よくなる! by 本田 健</h2>
<p>ポジティブな本を読みたい時には良い本です。けど、ポジティブすぎるなところもあるんだなと思ってしまいました。。。</p>
<h2>Who Fears Death (Who Fears Death, #1) by Nnedi Okorafor</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>More Than Happiness: Buddhist and Stoic Wisdom for a Sceptical Age by Antonia Macaro</h2>
<p>It was fine.</p>
<h2>Carry On by Rainbow Rowell</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>The Princess who Flew with Dragons (Tales from the Chocolate Heart, #3) by Stephanie Burgis</h2>
<p>I didn't realise this was the last book of a trilogy when it was recommended to me, but since the protagonist is different from the other two I think it worked quite well stand-alone. This is a sweet coming-of-age story. Bookworms, a cat, humans and goblins and kobolds and dragons discussing philosophy while eating cinnamon rolls, amazing tales of friendship... Short & pleasant.</p>
<h2>The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N.K. Jemisin</h2>
<p>This is a difficult book to read. The worldbuilding isn't handed over to you; you have to piece together the culture, the shape of the world, the history as you follow a bunch of characters around. It's also a lot harsher in terms of themes than I usually go for in my fiction choices. But there was something about the characters and their stories, a raw humanity that just pulled me along even if I had to grit my teeth sometimes, and I cried together with the main character at least once.<br/><br/>I didn't realise this was the first book in a trilogy so the abrupt ending caught me by surprise but damn. I want to know what happens from here on.</p>
<h2>The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2) by N.K. Jemisin</h2>
<p>I find the world a bit of a struggle to get used to. I'm never quite sure if I'm making the right base assumptions, in a way that's more annoying than "oh, clever worldbuilding." I'm also unclear about the boundary between science-fiction and fantasy but I think that's meant to be this way (stone magic is cool either way). Otherwise my loves and difficulties are the same than in book 1: the humanity of the characters is compelling and sometimes grips you right at the throat, but they all live in a harsh world that makes them harsh and sometimes it feels safer to take a break and just care about the other creatures for a while. Until these also show what the world has made them into, anyway.</p>
<h2>The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3) by N.K. Jemisin</h2>
<p>This is a trilogy that starts with a mother coming back home to find her 3 year-old beaten to death by her husband, his father. Now the father is missing and so is their daughter. This is a book dedicated "To those who've survived: Breathe. That's it. Once more. Good. You're good. Even if you're not, you're alive. That is a victory." You know you're not working toward a Disney ending, especially after the last two books.<br/><br/>This is a very good story though. And it's not completely hopeless either (I don't think I could have read that). It's not exactly hopeful either. Maybe some? There is something though. Through all the fundamental unfairness of it all, large and small, there is something about the furious humanity, the ferocious will to survive, even when getting up yet another time seems too much, that is very compelling. And that applies to more than just the protagonist, in a world like that one.<br/><br/>The worldbuilding is really interesting. The horror and tragedy are handled compassionately - I'm not sure if that is the right word, but nothing is gratuitous and whenever something really awful happens, like that starting scene in book 1, it is handled like it should be. Again I don't think I could have read a book with scenes like that one otherwise, if these were just plot devices the characters go through. They do what they have to do, and pay the cost that comes with that. From every moment onward.</p>
<h2>悪意 [Akui] (加賀恭一郎, #4) by Keigo Higashino</h2>
<p>すごく良い本でまた東野の才能を表す作品だと思いました。読み始めてら人物はみんなとてもリアルな感じで、私は最初からワクワクしました。<br/><br/>けど、東野の他の本ほどあまり好きではありませんでした。どうしてかな。理由は多分二つあります。私は普通、ミステリーを読んでいるところ最後まで何も分からずままです。でも今回は半分から見当があたってしまいました。題名は大きいヒントです。それに、題名の通りに良くない人間心理のことが溢れている話です。ずっと一番悪いことを考えなければならない。ちょっと飽きたと思いました。「容疑者Xの献身」や「赤い指」を読んだ時、殺人事件についてであっても、いいところや素晴らしい人間心理の溢れる作品だなと感じました。<br/><br/>そう言っても、すごくよく書かれたミステリーです。<br/><br/>Since a translation exists under the title Malice, might as well write this review in English too!<br/><br/>Another great book that shows off Higashino's talent. Right from the start, every character feels so real it's hard not to feel involved and care about the story.<br/><br/>But I liked it a lot less than his other books. I think there are two reasons. First, normally I'm pretty dumb when reading crime fiction and can't guess at anything until the end. But this time I figured things out from the middle (the title is a big hint) so it was less interesting. And my second reason comes from the title as well: this is not the most positive story and you end up always having to imagine the worst about people. It's tiring. When I read "The devotion of Suspect X" (available in English! Read it!) or "Red fingers" (disponible en français ! Lisez-le !), even though these are murder stories, in my opinion there were a lot more places showing positive human interactions and psychology.<br/><br/>Still a great book though!</p>
<h2>Raven Stratagem (The Machineries of Empire, #2) by Yoon Ha Lee</h2>
<p>I wish I hadn't waited so long to read this second book in the trilogy. I remember I enjoyed the first one tremendously, but I can't for the life of me remember how it ended - who's an ally, who betrayed who, and other relationships. The narrators and perspective are different this time, which is interesting but means there is no place for book 1 reminders. Online synopsis only mention events, not people. Anyway it's still quite the excellent story and I can't wait to read the next book (without waiting 2 years for it this time), and to be honest the story stands on its own even you forgot. But there was this constant undercurrent of feeling like I should <i>know</i> if someone is lying or what they are up to that added an unnecessary layer of distraction and frustration the whole time.</p>
<h2>Revenant Gun (The Machineries of Empire, #3) by Yoon Ha Lee</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>Book reviews: Year 20182023-04-25T22:38:13+01:002023-04-25T22:38:13+01:00Julie Pichontag:www.jpichon.net,2023-04-25:/blog/2023/04/book-reviews-year-2018/<h2>The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn, #6) by Brandon Sanderson</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Artemis by Andy Weir</h2>
<p>This wasn't a book for me. The main character is completely unlikable and most characters are one-dimensional. The plot is alright, it's similar to the Martian: problem? Solution! Oops, solution had problems! Etc …</p><h2>The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn, #6) by Brandon Sanderson</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Artemis by Andy Weir</h2>
<p>This wasn't a book for me. The main character is completely unlikable and most characters are one-dimensional. The plot is alright, it's similar to the Martian: problem? Solution! Oops, solution had problems! Etc, which has its ups and downs. The one cool thing that kept me going was Artemis, the city on the moon and how it works, how it all could work and develop. Really cool and dreamy. Another positive point is that it's really easy to skip ahead. Long technical explanation of how or why something works? I trust the author that it would work that way, don't need the details. Main character being an asshole? Skip three paragraphs ahead. Main character being full of crap, feeling superior or learning PhD level sciences etc in 10 minutes? Skip a page or three ahead. A quick read. Nice to think about life <i>in spaaace</i>.</p>
<h2>When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times [Audiobook] by Pema Chödrön</h2>
<p>If you get the audio book, make sure to find the version read by the author. From listening to the sample and other reviews, the other narrator's voice doesn't quite work for the topic. Lots of food for thoughts, about life and resilience. The kind of in-depth thinking that will require multiple listens/re-reads to give it all a chance to sink in.</p>
<h2>The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin Mysteries, #1) by Boris Akunin</h2>
<p>I had some difficulty immersing myself into the book. The prose is extremely rich and flowery, which makes for fun contrasts during action scenes but were a bit of a slog for me when places or thought processes are described. The plot and the characters are interesting though, and it's often hilarious to follow Erast Fandorin's brilliant deductions and actions as they usually pop up in the middle of not fully thought through plans that can only go horribly wrong. I'll read more books in the series, although not immediately.</p>
<h2>Entropia (Autre-Monde, #4) by Maxime Chattam</h2>
<p>J'ai été déçue par la fin du tome 3 et malheureusement par cette suite aussi, des développements trop faciles. Ça reste agréable à lire tout de même.</p>
<h2>Just fucking ship by Amy Hoy</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever by Marie Kondō</h2>
<p>Interesting ideas. Now to apply them?</p>
<h2>Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki</h2>
<p>An interesting book that challenges conventional wisdom (well, the one I was raised on anyway!) and feeds your brain tremendous amounts of food for thought. Delightful.<br/><br/><br/>(Added later) Wow, I didn't realise the book had so many negative reviews, including among my reading buddies! I dismissed the stuff that didn't resonate much with me, and didn't suddenly start thinking "wow I don't want to be sucker so I'll stop saving now and buy tons of stocks instead! And do that before making sure I can even pay my bills, too!"<br/><br/>My personal takeaways were more along the following:<br/>- It's important to think about how to build up your "Assets" column as well, and not just focus on how to increase your Income<br/>- To do this doesn't necessarily mean buying shares or real estate - or maybe it does, you should figure out what works for you and invest in yourself/your mind/learning first regardless. If you invest in anything without knowledge it's just as good as gambling<br/>- Shift your thinking from the disempowering "I can't afford this" to "How can I afford this?"<br/><br/>Some of the diagrams and examples were a bit of a slap in the face. Doesn't mean I'll completely change my attitude toward taking risks but really good for carefully considering stuff that I took for granted and perhaps had never really stopped to think about before.<br/><br/>Your takeaways might be different but I found value in the book. And got it from the library so if this truly is just a pyramid marketing scam at least I didn't contribute money into the system :-)</p>
<h2>You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want by Jesse Mecham</h2>
<p>Bunch of interesting ideas and strategies on how to make your money align with your values and priorities.</p>
<h2>The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz</h2>
<p>300 pages of pep talk on not sweating the small stuff and thinking positively. Sometimes that's exactly what one needs to hear 😊</p>
<h2>Oz (Autre-Monde, #5) by Maxime Chattam</h2>
<p>J'ai beaucoup aimé les 2 premiers livres de cette série, un monde très intéressant et des personnages attachants... au début... Mais depuis qu'on commence à avoir des réponses je suis de plus en plus déçue par chaque nouvelle révélation. La découverte de <spoiler>l'Europe</spoiler> aurait pu être intéressante cette fois mais non, c'était plutôt une corvée à lire. Je suis très déçue, j'étais vraiment contente d'avoir trouvé un auteur de fantasy qui écrit en français et qui me plaise. Il reste 2 bouquins dans la série mais je vais abandonner là. Dommage.</p>
<h2>The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity by Kory Kogon</h2>
<p>The book is roughly divided into 3 parts - Decision Management, Attention Management, and Energy management. I didn't find the last two particularly interesting or innovative (about the use of to do lists, how to handle emails and organise yourself for Attention Management, and the usual exercise/eat/sleep well and maintain strong relationships for the last one). Decision management on the other hand I found more interesting although the ideas are probably not that innovative either :-) I liked the concrete advice on how to distinguish between what is important and what is only urgent, and how to organise yourself (and your life really) to try to reduce stress and time-wasting due to the less important stuff taking over. The bigger questions around reflecting on the different roles you have in your life, how they matter to you and how to create a fulfilling life around them left me thoughtful as well.</p>
<h2>50 Economics Ideas You Really Need to Know by Edmund Conway</h2>
<p>Not quite the book I was recommended, but interesting nonetheless. It explains different economics concepts, starting at the very basics and slowly building up to what we know today. Every chapter contains a timeline with historical events, seminal books, or other concepts learnt about in the other chapters to show how everything links together. If you're already comfortable with all the terminology there's probably not much for you in there, but I found it useful to clarify some of the vocabulary I see in the news and only vaguely understood in context. Published in 2008 so goes up to the late 2000s financial crisis.</p>
<h2>Tricks of the Rich: How to Make, Grow and Save Money by Paul A. Overy</h2>
<p>I've been looking for personal finance books more relevant to Ireland lately. The ones I read so far are good but once things go past "live within your means" the advice tends to assume a tax and legal landscape that is very US-centric. This book is probably the closest I'll ever find: the author is Irish, worked in the Irish financial industry for decades and all the examples are either based on the UK or Ireland. There's a lot of advice similar to what you'll find in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, down to "this is what rich kids learn" quotes, and the same scorn towards savings, but all in all I found the ideas interesting and challenging.</p>
<h2>The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley</h2>
<p>Interesting although repetitive at times. Basically, don't base your idea of a millionaire on looks: some people are wealthy but don't look like it, and your neighbour who spends like one may not be so well-off. The case studies are interesting; it's a good look on frugality, thinking about both offence (income) and defence (controlling spending), as well as multiple chapters on bringing up children and all the ways in which affluent parents accidentally create or nurture bad habits in their kids.</p>
<h2>ホンモノの日本語 (角川ソフィア文庫) (Japanese Edition) by 金田一 春彦</h2>
<p>この本の前半はすごい興味深かったです。日本語は日本人の心理にどの影響があるのか、その反対についても。日本語について教科書で学べないことばっかりで本当に、本当に興味深かったんです。もちろん時々日本人の誇りが出て、外国人として読んだらムカつくところ時々ありますけれど、全部面白くて勉強になりました。<br/><br/>後半の内容はちょっと違います。天気についての表現がどこから来たとか、ある表現の元について著者の推量は何だとか。時々面白い論がありました(例えば、二一世紀の日本語がどのように変わっていくのか)けれど、頑張って読もうとしても読み難いと感じました。</p>
<h2>The Money Doctor 2018 by John Lowe</h2>
<p>Really recommended book for a look at personal finances from an Irish perspective. There's a ton of how-to chapters on all sorts of financial matters with proper numbers all up-to-date with the latest Budget. I found the chapter on Insurances and the one on Pensions particularly interesting (I'm the life of the party). You're meant to pick and choose what chapters to read based on which topics are relevant to you, but for a first encounter with this series I found nearly every one had something relevant in it.<br/><br/>On the downside the generic personal finances bits are very light and not very good, though there are other books for that. I found the chapter on getting out of debt particularly disappointing, even more so after a subheading promising to "pay off all your loans quickly and easily." The text very weakly suggests that maybe borrowing for lifestyle expenses isn't the best idea and then offers two strategies to get out of debt - with a later caveat that actually one of them is "currently virtually impossible in Ireland." This is a book that's updated every year and it can be felt in the organisation at times (I'm guessing that strategy wasn't "virtually impossible" at a time but the author didn't want to remove it for whenever it's back on the table).<br/><br/>All in all I found the book useful, it left me with good food for thoughts and things I want to investigate, and I'll be getting my hands on the 2019 edition when it's out.</p>
<h2>眠りの森 [nemuri no mori] (加賀恭一郎, #2) by Keigo Higashino</h2>
<p>悲しいお話でした。けど、ペースは私にとってちょっとおかしいと感じました。</p>
<h2>Quiet Power by Susan Cain</h2>
<p>I picked up this book accidentally, thinking it was the original one so I'm not actually the audience for it. It's definitely targeted at younger people, pulling together a ton of anecdotes from different people who managed to live their life just fine and to the fullest, and who happen to be introverted. There's a couple of concrete strategies on how to do just that at the end of every chapter. It read more as a giant pep talk to me, a bit on the light side although some interesting topics are touched on (introverts and extroverts have a different nervous system??) and the studies that are mentioned in passing are referenced at the end. Hoping to read more about these bits in the main book.</p>
<h2>Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Promise of Blood (Powder Mage, #1) by Brian McClellan</h2>
<p>Wow, that was good. Powder Mage has a wonderful fantasy setting with a world that's different enough from the usual tropes to keep you engaged, on the way to industrialisation. The most delightful though is how good the storytelling is. Right from the first few pages, even though you don't quite understand what's going on you already find yourself caring about the characters you meet. The world opens up as the story unfolds without it ever being just shoved into your face. There is a lot going on and I can't wait to get started on the next book.</p>
<h2>The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage, #2) by Brian McClellan</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>The Autumn Republic (Powder Mage, #3) by Brian McClellan</h2>
<p>The fast pace and good storytelling continues to careen onwards with little respite and the conclusion is quite decent, though also disappointing in some aspects. There's a bunch of questions left unanswered, some at the world level and some at the individual level - and they don't all feel like they're voluntarily left open for a sequel. Some plot resolutions felt a bit rushed and sometimes it's a little bit obvious which characters the author favours and which have little depth beyond their given role in the story. Still an enjoyable, easy read in an interesting world - just some expectations could have been met better.</p>
<h2>Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg</h2>
<p>Powerful concepts. It goes beyond "how to communicate with people" by also touching on how your own thoughts get in the way of communicating effectively and empathetically, because the way we learn to express ourselves contains judgement and blame and other barriers to connecting with others. "She's lazy." "He's an asshole." "I'm worthless." We've already judged someone because they've done something that did not match with our values in some way. The book describes a simple framework to go beyond this in the words we say, receive and think. I liked that it assumes the best about people and also found the bits on personal responsibility and taking ownership of our thoughts and feelings interesting. I was also impressed with the short exercises at the end of some chapters, that ask you to look at sentences and decide whether they're truly neutral or include a form of judgement, or whether the sentence is phrased like a request or a demand. Making people feel defensive is not conducive to good conversations and yet it's quite easy to do when not being careful.</p>
<h2>Quiet : The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain</h2>
<p>An interesting study of introversion. Many personal anecdotes like in the sequel but most are related to historical figures or well-known people. Lots of studies referenced. Lots of food for thought.</p>
<h2>This Book is Worth €25,000: Easy ways to save thousands of euro right now by Karl Deeter</h2>
<p>I thought the book was older but actually it was only published last year, so still very relevant to saving money in Ireland today. It's a pragmatic book, organised in different topics and explaining why and how you can save money by doing something differently and how much effort that will take. No generic personal finance advice. I thought the format worked quite well and enjoyed it. It's an easy ready and I learnt a few things.<br/><br/>Some of my personal highlights: myprescription.ie to find out the generic equivalent for your regular medication. makemywill.ie for setting up your will without visiting a solicitor's office. No loyalty discount for staying with the same home insurer, switch every year. The Cross-Border Healthcare Initiative, to consider when the public waiting lists get too long. Wrap the stem of bananas in cling film to increase their shelf life.</p>
<h2>A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine</h2>
<p>A lot of thoughtful ideas. Also interesting when there are quotes from the ancients to realise how constant human nature remains 2000 years later.</p>
<h2>Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom - A Toltec Wisdom Book by Miguel Ruiz</h2>
<p>A lot of food for thought that I'll be ruminating on, particularly from the beginning of the book (the dream of hell, domestication, an impeccable word). Some interesting echoes with Stoic philosophy in places.</p>Book reviews: Year 20172023-04-25T22:38:13+01:002023-04-25T22:38:13+01:00Julie Pichontag:www.jpichon.net,2023-04-25:/blog/2023/04/book-reviews-year-2017/<h2>Gaikokugo Gakushū Ni Seikōsuru Hito, Shinai Hito: Daini Gengo Shūtokuron E No Shōtai by Yasuhiro Shirai</h2>
<p>具体的なアドバイスも、分かりやすい第二言語習得研究についても話して面白 …</p><h2>Gaikokugo Gakushū Ni Seikōsuru Hito, Shinai Hito: Daini Gengo Shūtokuron E No Shōtai by Yasuhiro Shirai</h2>
<p>具体的なアドバイスも、分かりやすい第二言語習得研究についても話して面白かったです。</p>
<h2>Elantris (Elantris, #1) by Brandon Sanderson</h2>
<p>The amount of made-up words for people, countries, cities, religions, events, phenomenons, languages, symbols etc is somewhat overwhelming at first, but following the story as the characters and plot develop in interesting, delightful and surprising ways is absolutely worth it all.</p>
<h2>Génération gueule de bois by Raphaël Glucksmann</h2>
<p>Lire ce livre en janvier 2017 donne beaucoup à réfléchir.</p>
<h2>獣の奏者 6 (青い鳥文庫 273-6) by Nahoko Uehashi</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Le courage d'être soi by Jacques Salomé</h2>
<p>Des idées intéressantes, une perspective différente sur les événements de la vie.</p>
<h2>容疑者Xの献身 [Yōgisha X no kenshin] (ガリレオ, #3) by Keigo Higashino</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>L'Alliance des Trois (Autre-Monde, #1) by Maxime Chattam</h2>
<p>Un début de série prometteur, énormément de questions et de mystères savamment dévoilés. Un peu plus effrayant que je ne m'y attendais aussi !!</p>
<h2>Malronce (Autre-Monde, #2) by Maxime Chattam</h2>
<p>Quelques réponses, toujours beaucoup de questions, les mystères du monde continuent de se révéler...</p>
<h2>Le Cœur de la Terre (Autre-Monde, #3) by Maxime Chattam</h2>
<p>L'histoire est intéressante, souvent palpitante même. Malheureusement il y a plusieurs chapitres où les révélations sont tellement prévisibles et où on en vient à se demander si tout ça ne va pas se terminer de façon décevante <spoiler>dans le genre "et alors il se réveilla."</spoiler> Ça gâche un peu le plaisir de lecture.</p>
<h2>The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood</h2>
<p>Wonderfully written.</p>
<h2>獣の奏者 7 (青い鳥文庫 273-7) by Nahoko Uehashi</h2>
<p>完結は次の巻にありますね。どんな完結になるか気になります。</p>
<h2>Snare by Katharine Kerr</h2>
<p>A dense book, without even chapters to offer some relief. The beginning of the story can be overwhelming, with many names, countries and races thrown in all at once to explain a political landscape I found a bit difficult to grasp, especially since there are two "levels" at play. However after the first 100 pages or so, the story really focuses on individual characters, their goals and flaws and journey, and it became very interesting to follow them along as well as discover new cultures through their eyes. A satisfying read.</p>
<h2>卒業 [Sotsugyō] (加賀恭一郎, #1) by Keigo Higashino</h2>
<p>I really enjoyed it.</p>
<h2>Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1) by Ada Palmer</h2>
<p>This is somewhat of a difficult book to review for me. The writing style was a little bit difficult to get into at first but it was worth it, and although the narrator directly talking to the reader from time to time can be annoying it doesn't really distract from the story. I tremendously enjoyed exploring Earth and humanity 500 years from now, getting a feel for how nations (gone), religion, family, gender, languages might evolve; eagerly absorbing every hint of the history that led from where we are now to the Earth inside these pages. It's interesting, believable even when at times it might be hard to understand, like a foreign culture you're not yet familiar with. Delightful. I devoured the first two thirds of the book like this.<br/><br/>Then a darkness came over the story that I hadn't expected, although I suppose there were hints I ignored, little bits of shadows around all the light I was admiring, and then even parts I thought were purely wonderful that turned out not to be. It was like someone dropped tar all over the story and world and characters I'd come to enjoy. Lots of unpleasantness, disappointment, disgust.<br/><br/>The story and worldbuilding remain as strong though, and I'd absolutely recommend folks curious about the world and summary to give it a go. I will read the sequel, and am very curious about what's going on. I suppose now I'm prepared for the darkness, though I really hope we'll be walking toward something lighter. I usually prefer my escapism to induce more positive emotions.</p>
<h2>All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders</h2>
<p>It's a fun, light book about magic, science, friendship and love. And the end of the world I guess. The writing style had more YA tones than I expected, and, you know, like, even chapters written from an adult assassin point of view are like, written this way. Like. Whatever. It doesn't mean the story itself is light-hearted, some raw stuff also pops up; there's some intense bullying and other abuses. Nerd and hipster culture are well represented. There's a nice variety in the cast of background characters. I smiled sometimes.<br/><br/>I guess in the end it never managed to grip me. It's an easy read and there are some cool elements, but it wasn't a book for me.</p>
<h2>Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1) by Yoon Ha Lee</h2>
<p>Spaceship battles! Big bad impregnable fortress! In space! And interesting and weird politics. Technology, battles and society at large rely on a calendar-based system to exist and work, which can be difficult to follow at times but I don't think it really matters. Heretics mess up the calendar, weakening the tech. The tensions are real, the world and factions are interesting and it's fun to learn about the system these characters live in, all the while wondering if the traitor-general is being a traitor again. Delightfully engaging.</p>
<h2>The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) by Becky Chambers</h2>
<p>It took me a while to figure out why the story wasn't "starting" - I mean there's a spaceship so there should be space battles and saving the universe or at least a galaxy or a Federation or something, no?! Obviously this isn't this kind of book but it's just as good a story, and the hint was in the title: it's all about the journey, and the crew on this spaceship, their stories, their hangups, how they all fit together and individually. This book is full of love, of all kinds, bursting with beautiful friendships left and right that may have had me tear up a few times. It's incredibly well done, I want to say every character is incredibly human but we're talking multiple species here so I'll just say they are all incredibly real and handled sensitively. A lovely read. I'm glad that scifi like this exists too.</p>
<h2>Seven Surrenders (Terra Ignota, #2) by Ada Palmer</h2>
<p>I was afraid this volume would continue the downwards spiral into darkness the first book had set us on, but although things are far - <i>very</i> far - from being rosy, I still felt the darkness to be more manageable and less overwhelming than it was by the end of the previous one. There's still a lot left to have mixed feelings about... And yet I remained desperate to know "What happens next?" all along. Waiting on the next book now, though I found the conclusion to this one quite satisfying on its own already.</p>
<h2>The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota, #3) by Ada Palmer</h2>
<p>The story of this Earth 500 years into the future continues, and is told just as skilfully than in the first two books - same darkness and all, too. Perhaps some apprehension is creeping in as well now, watching the world and characters I grew attached to (sometimes despite myself) fraying at the edges so. Great worldbuilding.</p>
<h2>The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4) by Brandon Sanderson</h2>
<p>The story takes place 300 years after the first trilogy, and we move from a regular fantasy medieval-ish world to an urban fantasy setting where things like electricity are starting to pop up, and Allomancy feels more like a special skill than an interesting type of magic. I knew it'd take me a bit to get used to that shift so I waited a couple of years before reading it, which means I also forgot about most events from the last book to really understand what religion is referring to whom now, or the meaning of this or that artefact. Oops. It didn't prevent me from enjoying the story at all though, the characters are all new and all typical Sanderson, easy to get attached to and coming well together to form an pleasant, entertaining read.</p>
<h2>Shadows of Self (Mistborn, #5) by Brandon Sanderson</h2>
<p>Free will and ponderings on why bad things happen despite an omniscient, benelovent god on one side, whilst hunting down the author of gruesome murders on the other. Some insights into what happened after the last trilogy, this time with names for people like me who were a bit lost. Multiple delightful revelations I did not see coming - an excellent sequel!</p>