This month has been strange, with the coronavirus things happening closer and closer to me. My state of mind had also been deteriorating since last month, and only got better slowly towards the end of this month, thanks to my recognizing the situation and taking care of it.
I noticed, looking back, that I’d picked easier-to-read titles this month, mostly fictions, and that might be why.
The Life We Bury - Joe Talbert - 3.5/5 - An easy detective story of sorts. The story’s got a lot of potential, but the narrative failed to embrace it fully, and I was left unsatisfied and disappointed. More like a detective chick-flick to me.
Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig - 4/5 - There are a lot of things I don’t agree with the author, and the thing reads like a memoir of a stubborn, desperate person dealing with illness(es). If it hadn’t been for the fact that the book somehow got me to think of my own reasons to stay alive, I’d have given it 2 stars.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (30 Minute Expert Summary) - The 30 Minute Expert Series - N/A - enough to make me put the full book on my to-read list
Life Will Be the Death of Me: . . . and You Too! - Chelsea Handler - 4/5 - Chelsea is, on more than 1 aspect, the complete opposite of me, and it is fascinating to read her life story from her POV. I can’t help but like her, just from this book alone, even though I’ve never heard of her before (being me living under the rock with celebrities).
The Sleeper and the Spindle - Neil Gaiman - 4/5 - A cute short story based on a famous fairy tale. Love Gaiman’s writing.
Design thinking handbook - Eli Woolery - 4/5 - A lot of insights and advices for my profession, though I will have to research more into some topics the book mentioned.
50 Below Zero - Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko (Illustrator) - 2/5 - I’m more for children’s stories that make sense.
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho - 3/5 - Eh… I started reading this back in New Zealand, and dropped it a few pages in because it was boring… I was determined to finish this time, and it only got more interesting about 1/3 way in. This reads like a religious fairy tale, a romantic bible-ish short story. I can understand why some consider it a classics, though I personally don’t.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie - 3/5 - Poirot is cute, but I hate the narrator so much.
Daddy-Long-Legs - Jean Webster - 3.5/5 - The heroine is so captivating I can’t help wanting to be her friend, if she was real. The ending felt abrupt and weirdly out of place though.
The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 5/5. Such a classic. Don’t think I can ever rate Holmes anything less than 4/5.
I also started on Becoming by Michelle Obama, but couldn’t get past 2 chapters. I think memoirs are simply not for me.