BookWyrm

Mika rated After the Invasion of the Bug-Eyed Aliens: 2 stars

Rachel Swirsky: After the Invasion of the Bug-Eyed Aliens (2025, Tor Books)

After the Invasion of the Bug-Eyed Aliens by Rachel Swirsky

Two ex-military nurses, one human and one alien, share a friendship in a city following an alien invasion.

Mika rated You Are Here: 5 stars

Ada Limón: You Are Here (Hardcover, 2024, Milkweed Editions)

You Are Here by Ada Limón

Published association with the Library of Congress and edited by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, a singular …

Mika commented on 老婆就是不离婚 by 小胖子拍肚子

小胖子拍肚子: 老婆就是不离婚 (Chinese language, jjwxc)

No rating

穿成臭名昭著的人渣之后，为了避免自己的悲惨结局，唐梨硬着头皮去见自己的婚约对象。

看着优雅美艳的楚总监，她感觉赚翻了。

楚迟思坐在沙发上，大半个身子陷落在黑暗中，修长的手抵着额间，笑得慵懒又漫不经心。

“婚后约法三章，我不会爱你，”她说，“你也别想从我这里得到爱。”

唐梨欣喜：“没事，有饭吃就行。”

婚后生活平淡而无聊，直到有一天外卖小哥被管家拦在门口，唐梨气得“离家出走”去了炸鸡店，回来发现变天了——

昂贵红酒碎裂一地，十几个屏幕监视着家里的不同区域，楚迟思红着眼，声音沙哑：“为什么要离开？”

唐梨愣了：“什么？”

楚迟思踉踉跄跄地走来，她牵着自己的指尖，眼中涌动着阴郁的疯狂，声音都在颤抖。

“……求你。”

她说：“别走。”

This one’s still a bit difficult for me to read language-wise. It’s a refreshingly nice challenge, but requires a lot of focus and dictionary use. Will probably take a while to finish, especially since it’s long.

I kind of like it though. I am finding many phrases familiar, I’ve encountered them once or twice during university classes but never truly learned them. It’s cool to see them in a more neutral context.

I also think this is a very funny choice as the first long story to read in Chinese, which is why it was the choice. Oh yeah the first proper novel I read in Mandarin was a Girls’ Love ABO webnovel with yandere themes. Why are you staring at me like that

Mika reviewed 一个关于糖果的故事 by 时一二

时一二: 一个关于糖果的故事 (GraphicNovel, Chinese language, 2020)

在医院的超市里，因为心脏病而失明的白筱筱和身上有着糖果味道的女孩相遇了。属于她们的故事，在这充满消毒水味的医院里徐徐展开…… 她们成为彼此世界中特别的存在，在成长中相互治愈。

很可爱的百合漫画

4 stars

我觉得艺术风格非常好看，很合适这种故事。情节有时令人意外地悲伤，但是同时也很温暖。总体来说这是一本很好的漫画（我应该找到更多类似的）

Mika rated Crisis in the Red Zone: 3 stars

Richard Preston: Crisis in the Red Zone (Hardcover, 2019, Random House)

Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston

The 2013–2014 Ebola epidemic was the deadliest ever—but the outbreaks continue. Now comes a gripping account of the doctors and …

Mika reviewed 秃秃大王 by 张天翼

张天翼: 秃秃大王 (Paperback, Chinese language, 2017, Beijing Institute of Technology Press)

《秃秃大王》是著名儿童文学家，张天翼代表作之一。该作品以隽永的艺术魅力吸引了成千上万的小读者，陪伴了一代又一代小读者的成长，成为永恒的经典，被孩子们珍藏在记忆的深处。《秃秃大王》讲述了喜怒无常的秃秃大王既愚蠢又邪恶，一生气牙齿就会长长。虽然已经有很多妻子，但他还强迫干干做他的妻子，并把干干的父母和她的弟弟冬哥儿以及邻居由君都捉了起来。最后，大家齐心协力，将愚蠢凶残的秃秃大王赶出宫殿，将那些无辜的人都解救了出来，获得自由的故事。这则故事告诉孩子战胜逆境的秘诀是：团结、冷静、乐观、智慧。

A good book to test the waters

3 stars

I’m writing this review from the point of view of someone who read the book as a language learning exercise, rather than someone who read it for the story (let’s be honest, I’m way too old to be able to judge how interesting the plot of this children’s book actually is for the target audience). And from this point of view, the book does its job well.

It is short compared to adult novels, but (in my opinion) reasonably long for a children’s book. Therefore the story’s length won’t overwhelm you, but it won’t be over after you blink a few times either. The language used is relatively simple, with many, and I mean many repetitions… which can be good and helpful in memorizing new vocabulary, but also infuriating when you do know that vocabulary. Let me give you an example:

但是哭有什么用呢？小明和冬哥儿也知道哭是没有用的。冬哥儿说：“哭是没有用的呀。

This sort of thing happens on almost every …

I’m writing this review from the point of view of someone who read the book as a language learning exercise, rather than someone who read it for the story (let’s be honest, I’m way too old to be able to judge how interesting the plot of this children’s book actually is for the target audience). And from this point of view, the book does its job well.

It is short compared to adult novels, but (in my opinion) reasonably long for a children’s book. Therefore the story’s length won’t overwhelm you, but it won’t be over after you blink a few times either. The language used is relatively simple, with many, and I mean many repetitions… which can be good and helpful in memorizing new vocabulary, but also infuriating when you do know that vocabulary. Let me give you an example:

但是哭有什么用呢？小明和冬哥儿也知道哭是没有用的。冬哥儿说：“哭是没有用的呀。

This sort of thing happens on almost every page, with the same sentence being repeated multiple times in a row, only slightly changed. I could feel my eyes glazing over every time this happened, and it made the book a bit annoying to read in the long run – hence the 3/5 stars rating.

It is, however, true that I found it too simple in general, which might have had some impact on the boredom I felt while reading. 《秃秃大王》 helped me establish how comfortable I feel with reading in Chinese, and it made me realize that it might have been a bit below my level. Which is fine: I picked it as my first book to read entirely in Chinese specifically to determine that. If anything, it boosted my confidence in my abilities, which is in itself something I desperately needed.

For what it’s worth, I think this is a good choice as one of the first books to read in Chinese. You should be able to read it with no problems if you’re around HSK3/HSK4 level.