Taylor Drew replied to enne📚's status
@picklish@books.theunseen.city Better get a copy of the book to read since I voted!
A Canadian (she/they) Japanese to English translator based in Tokyo. Previously a speaker of English and French, now a speaker of English and Japanese.
Portfolio & Blog → taylordrew.me/ Manga Tracking → anilist.co/user/mollymay5000/
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Success! Taylor Drew has read 63 of 52 books.
@picklish@books.theunseen.city Better get a copy of the book to read since I voted!
天国までの道の途中に佇む写真館。ここには、訪れる死者の人生が写真に収められ保管されている。 ここで死者は、人生を振り返りながら、自分が生きた年数だけの写真を選び、自らの手で走馬燈を作るのだ――。 そんな人生最後の振り返りの儀式を手伝うのは、写真館に来るまでの記憶をなくした青年、平坂。 九十二歳の老婆が選んだバスの写真、四十七歳のヤクザが選んだクリスマス・イブの写真、 そして七歳の子どもと笑顔を浮かべる青年の写真。
「たった一日ではありますが、過去に戻って、一枚だけ写真を撮り直すことができます」
と平坂は言い、訪れた死者をそれぞれの過去へと誘う。 記念すべき日のあの時に戻り、思い出の写真を撮り直しながら、彼らは人生の最期に何を想うのか。 そして平坂に訪れる、悲しくも優しい結末とは……。3つの物語が紡ぎ出す、感動のミステリー。
@picklish@books.theunseen.city Happy to help!
I'm back again with another review from a book I got on NetGalley! This book kind of feels like a change in pace from what I've reviewed in the past. I think it may be the first one I've done this year that's SF? Either way, it was really interesting to change it up—even if I do read a lot of SF in my free time. Anyway.
This book is by an author named An Yu. She was born and raised in Beijing. I've never read her work before or and I hadn't heard of her before I requested this book, but I am really glad that I picked it up even though it wasn't my favourite thing. In a way, I think that I'll actually grow to like it more as I get further away from the reading experience. I'll admit that I like when that happens. Books that …
I'm back again with another review from a book I got on NetGalley! This book kind of feels like a change in pace from what I've reviewed in the past. I think it may be the first one I've done this year that's SF? Either way, it was really interesting to change it up—even if I do read a lot of SF in my free time. Anyway.
This book is by an author named An Yu. She was born and raised in Beijing. I've never read her work before or and I hadn't heard of her before I requested this book, but I am really glad that I picked it up even though it wasn't my favourite thing. In a way, I think that I'll actually grow to like it more as I get further away from the reading experience. I'll admit that I like when that happens. Books that can be chewed on are great.
I said the book is SF, and it is, but I would also call it speculative literary fiction. There's not a lot of action or extensive character and plot development. My explanation may not be good, but I think that's the overall tone. In fact, I found myself reminded of I Who Have Never Known Men (with the help of a friend). It has a similar uncanny eeriness and an underlying mystery for you to think about as you move forward with the characters.
If you're looking for clear cut answers and world building that clearly establishes the rules of the setting, then this isn't the book for you. But if you're interested in a book that doesn't give you the answers and allows things to happen without necessarily giving a resolution or explanation, then I do think it's worth reading. Unlike that book though, Sunbirth has multiple characters and even shifts time and character perspective throughout the novel—something I absolutely love in fiction.
It was just so interesting reading about characters in an apocalyptic setting in a town that seems that it's disconnected from the whole world. Is there even a world outside of this town? What about the sun? Why is it disappearing and what's all this weird mysterious stuff that's going on? I'm not sure that any of those questions are answered, but that makes it all the more interesting to think about.
This may not have been my favourite book, but it is making me think and just writing this review has made me respect and appreciate it as a story all the more. I definitely want to read more from the author.
@SallyStrange I certainly hope so!
This trilogy was so great. I love everything that the author did with gender and language. I love everything about how the series spends so much time on the question of who deserves respect and why...or perhaps rather why we attribute respect to certain individuals.
It's just so good. I'm so excited to read the standalone novels as well. Especially because I want to learn more about the Presger!
For just a moment, things seem to be under control for the soldier known as Breq.
Then a search of …
A demon. An angel. A city.
The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, …
@sifuCJC I really want to read this book!
Life feels like it's been absolutely off the charts lately. Some of that is, of course, because of what's going on globally in politics. But on the other side, is that I've simply been rather unwell since the middle of May. So even though I got the arc for this book from NetGalley many months ago, it's come down to the wire when it comes to actually reading it and getting out my review. But maybe that was actually for the best? Somehow it feels like it was exactly the right time to read this absolutely incredible story by Tashan Mehta.
Mad Sisters of Esi starts by talking about how time and stories are circular rather than linear, and I think that both within the world of the novel and in real life, that this is true. While I do think that the sometimes mundane nature of modern life in …
Life feels like it's been absolutely off the charts lately. Some of that is, of course, because of what's going on globally in politics. But on the other side, is that I've simply been rather unwell since the middle of May. So even though I got the arc for this book from NetGalley many months ago, it's come down to the wire when it comes to actually reading it and getting out my review. But maybe that was actually for the best? Somehow it feels like it was exactly the right time to read this absolutely incredible story by Tashan Mehta.
Mad Sisters of Esi starts by talking about how time and stories are circular rather than linear, and I think that both within the world of the novel and in real life, that this is true. While I do think that the sometimes mundane nature of modern life in a globally connected place space and time may feel linear, it's my view that time is certainly far more circular than most of us have the power to contemplate.
But the fact that we often perceive our time as incredibly linear is what I think lends this story some of its power. We travel through the black sea alongside all of the numerous characters that take shape within the narrative. We are also looking for our sister. We are also looking for the whale of babel. And while we go on that journey together with these characters, much like the characters, time loops around over and over again. We jump forward and backward and sideways in both directions. The reading experience is incredible and I'm not sure that I was expecting to feel this level of catharsis by the time I reached the end.
I love stories that play with character perspective and time in interesting ways, and Mad Sisters of Esi does those things. The author has crafted a situation actually where there isn't even really an end. Because even for us, with the time that we process as linear, death isn't just an end—for some people, it's not an end at all—it's also a beginning.
What an absolutely wonderful novel. I highly recommend it. I am in absolute awe.
Susanna Clarke's Piranesi meets Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler in this stunning meta fantasy about the …
I feel like everything about this book was erratic and unexpected, but nonetheless I find myself very weepy at the end of it all--I'm not even sure what to say.
It's not very often that I get to read a book originally in English where the white man is the enemy in such a clear and articulated way. Yet the enemy is also somehow something or someone else. It's a hard to describe feeling, but it just reminds me that we all need to believe in something and have a little faith. Be gracious to others, regardless of any differences there may be between you, and just do your best with courage. That's all there is.
@reading_recluse@c.im I've been recommended it quite a few times too and I've actually owned the audiobook for nearly a year.
The author of The Light Eaters mentioned the Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book though, so I felt the time must be now 😆
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As …