The Toad's Burrow

      Wow, just wow. A truly great book. When I was first alerted to the existence of this book, it was basically sold to me as this, a book about capitalism, anarchism and feminism all wrapped up in a sci-fi novel. It sounded too ambitious, and in a sense I think they oversold it a little bit? At least on the feminism end. Even still, this novel was fantastic. My copy (whose cover is the image for this review), was 360 pages, but I basically split it into like three chunks of 120 pages. By the end I was just savouring the last 40 pages, leaving them for the right moment because I knew it would fly by, far faster than any book has really done for me in a while. Let's talk about it.     In fact, let me deconstruct the descriptor I remember seeing online when it came to this book, and break it down piece by piece. I would say most definitely this book is sort of about capitalistic and anarchist societies first and foremost. It does this job excellently by the way....

    I'm back with a new season of The Boondocks , and a new site to (not) legally stream it form. I was pleasantly surprised with this season. This season basically took my biggest complaint with the last season, and flipped it on it's head, turning it into one of it's strengths? After watching the first season of Futurama  to this, I must say I do appreciate a show with a decent bit more edge to it. I don't know if I'd go so far to say I enjoyed this more than season one, but I will say it was more balanced, and I did really laugh at one episode, so maybe I did. It feels like the showrunners did a better job balancing all the different personalities this time. Let's talk about it.     I distinctly remember my biggest complaint from season one was that I liked the Huey storylines the best by far, other than maybe Riley Wuz Here,  which was very heartwarming. I just felt like the Grandpa Freeman and Riley centric episodes were just weaker, I wanted to see mo...

      Originally, I was planning on using that single iconic painting of "The Judge" as the cover for this review, but after some deliberation I decided against it, even though you could argue he was by far the most interesting part of this book. I mean after all he was the main reason I decided to give this book a try. The white skin, the unsettling grin on his face, it was calling to me. Though, now after reading this novel I can safely say, wow, what a slog. I don't think I can unironically recommend this book to most of my friends, just because it is a real pain in the ass to get through. I even spaced it out, but no matter what I did, in terms of the actual reading experience I can safely say I did not particularly enjoy Blood Meridian . Let's talk about it.     After finally finishing the book, and looking up some threads to see other interpretations of the ending I can safely say that this book is significantly more interesting to read about then to actua...

      If you named this book "Sapphic Encounters in the Time-Space Continuum" it'd sound like a really campy 60's flick, but that's also how I'd describe this entire book. The reason I decided to read it for my one mandatory book of the month was because I had heard about it before, I had seen it's cover, and for some reason people were clamoring about it on Twitter. If you think I base too much of my hobbies on what Twitter recommends you're probably right but still. I vaguely recall it being described as "some people call it really great, others call it too pretentious." So imagine my surprise when I pick up this book from the library, only to find that it's not even 200 pages long, and it's labeled as "Science Fiction Elementary." Let's talk about it.     On that last point for a quick paragraph. I can see why one might describe this novel as "for kids." I mean when I say it's short I do mean it, not jus...

      Hey look I'm doing book reviews again. Is this a sign of the end times? Possibly. Or maybe I'm just trying harder to expand what I read and so part of the way to keep me accountable is by writing reviews for said books. Regardless, I have indeed read this entire book, after waiting with bated breath mind you. I don't know how or why, but this book was in hot demand in my city's library system, and I actually had to wait a couple of weeks until I was in front of the line for this one. Why did I pick this specific book you ask? Well I'm single and have never been in a relationship, yet I couldn't stop thinking about a particular tweet claiming this book made them become polyamorous. So I thought, why not, I claim to be someone open to new idea's, so let's see just how open I really was. Let's talk about it.     A short disclaimer, there's only so much I could do realistically do to keep an open mind about this book, I'm not actually that ...

      Obligatory reminder that this is me talking about both the film and the book in one review. Anyways, I wouldn't say Return of the King  is my favourite book in the series, I think that definitely has to be The Two Towers. Funnily enough, a part of me thinks that the book and it's film counterpart have sort of the opposite issue. Return of the King, the novel is good, except it's basically "the siege of Minas Tirith," like three chapters of Sam and Frodo's journey, then over a hundred pages of just epilogue pretty much. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this was entirely the wrong decision, frankly everything but the actual journey to toss the ring into the fire was interesting at that point, and there's only so much you can do before they actually throw the ring away, hence it only being three chapters. Sadly, I just don't think the scouring of the Shire is a particularly compelling adventure. You don't really have much evidence of th...

      Chills man. Some parts of this film give me chills. Like before, this will be a bit of movie and book review, compare and contrasting the two, because Peter Jackson's adaptation of this series has become so iconic, that I could not imagine one without the other. And I have to say, I do think The Two Towers is pretty handily better. Perhaps it's just because I love the large sweeping epic fights, either way, I think the second book of the saga is a tremendous improvement. For a movie over 20 years old now, I think it still holds up incredibly well, and I would recommend anyone, especially those who are a fan of fantasy to give this movie and this book the respect it deserves. It is truly a classic for a reason, and it is very much well worth the three hour runtime the movie has. So let's talk about it.     I was looking through my first review of the film/book and honestly I might have to go back on it. I think Peter Jackson might have done too much mucking...

      While I have written book reviews before, I watched and read this book at around the same time, so I felt it was fitting that I simply compile my thoughts about both into one post. Honestly, it's been quite some time since I've read the series, and after finishing the first novel, I have to ask myself why I was underrating it so much. Perhaps I had been too ASOIAF -pilled, excited at the prospect of all these common fantasy tropes being turned on their head, tropes that were most-likely popularized by this very novel I read. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It may be 500 pages, and fantasy might be my favourite genre to read, but honestly this novel was a joy to read. So often online do you hear people complain about Tolkien's writing and how he was more a "historian" than writer, and honestly I do not really see it. Yes, sometimes the books will randomly go on a tirade about certain random details, but other than the fact that they leave Boromir's d...

     I'm going to be honest with you, I wasn't actually sure I would have liked Crying in H Mart . I mean of course a part of me knew that my bias for any and all things about the Asian-American experience would have pulled me through it, but this book had lay there on my table for multiple days before I even dared to open it. I mean of course I knew about it, I follow Japanese Breakfast on Instagram, and while a fan of a couple of their songs, my appreciation for them grew significantly as I learned more about their story.     I mean this book was not what I expected. Actually, I'm not sure what I expected, but what I received was a touchng tribute to author Michelle Zauner's mother, a figure worthy enough to deserve the attention of a whole book. I don't know what it was that pulled me through this book in less than two days, that pulled out the passion of binging that I seldom see in myself these days. Perhaps part of me was connecting to Zauners struggle to ...

      How in the world did Louisa May Alcott ruin the ending of this novel so hard? I will say this off the bat, Little Women  is a good novel, I enjoyed it much more than most of the other "older" books I have read, specifically Laddie A True Blue Story , and Pride and Prejudice , that said though, is this really a feminist masterpiece? What I mean by that is that, the ending kind of sucks. You cannot tell me that Jo marrying Mr. Bhaer was realistic, and you can very much tell it was a product of the time. I suppose it was too bold to have Jo not marry, even if I thought she should have ended up with Laurie. Like, I don't know if it's my modern sensibilities, but the age gap between Mr. Bhaer and Jo is so creepy, I don't care if they were older (Jo was 25 and he was in his 40's), but it's legitimately baffling how they ended up together. I do not recall a single moment where she actually shows affection for him, and I thought it was a wholesome mentor, me...

      Normally, I wouldn't read a book from 1913, and frankly after finishing this book, I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a book that really blew me away. Now, I don't know how much of this is fabricated, and how much of it is truly based off of Gene Stratton-Porter's life, but what I do know is that there is quite literally over a century of time that separates her childhood from mine. If you want a basic summary of this book, it's pretty much a slice of live novel told from the perspective of an 8-year old girl.     I mean, it's not awful, but what this book is is awfully long, like really, really long. Like 600 pages of this slice of life story kind of long. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't discriminate books based off of length, I absolutely adore the Song of Ice and Fire  series by George R.R. Martin, because of it's sheer complexity and length, but this book is very much not a fantasy novel. And frankly, I'm not sure how many random mus...

    Give me gore. Flash. Give me vanity. Give me insanity. Flash. That motif of the photographer begging Shannon for different emotions is recalled and recalled until you're playing it in your head like you're also modeling for some random photoshoot. I'll be honest, I've never read a Chuck Palahniuk novel before, though I did watch Fight Club  for what it's worth, and the reason I started reading this book was for one reason, and one kind of ridiculous reason only, Panic! at the Disco.     Time To Dance, is an energetic fun song, that fuses electronic synths on the background and the classic pop-punk guitars you're bound to find in any other scene band of the era. A track on Panic! at the Disco's debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out , I absolutely adored the song, and so as an awkward pre-pubescent teen I was eager to memorize all of the lyrics, because frankly while the song was indeed fun and oddly catchy, it made zero sense to me.     That...

       I have to admit, my absolute adoration for George R. R. Martin will be clear as I attempt to form an unbiased opinion on this "book". In fact, I'd argue that your love for A Song of Ice and Fire , will largely determine whether or not you actually enjoy this book, as the reality is its basically a history book written about a fantasy world, so your mileage may vary. However, as someone who fawns over anything Game of Thrones, I have to admit, this book had me hooked, sink and line.     To understand why I enjoyed this book so much, I think its important to recognize who I am, and what I look for in media, whatever form it may come in. As an avid enjoyer of fantasy, I love to engross myself in lore and worldbuilding, so therefore a book that is almost entirely lore was something that I found myself interested in exploring. Furthermore, I have to come clean for the record that A Song of Ice and Fire  is my favourite fantasy series by far, and I ha...

Honestly, I was a little skeptical of The Testaments when first picking it up, as while I wasn’t actually too sure of how much more I needed to know about the world portrayed, as its not as if this “sequel” was well known. Moreover, I appreciated The Handmaids Tale and enjoyed it’ artistic decisions, such as obvious exclusions of information, and a clear attention to creating a story that exuded both dullness and hopeless. However, while I understood these decisions and appreciated its execution, I always longed for more, as I was a reader who loved two things in particular, lore and action, both things The Handmaids Tale was obviously missing, as it was meant to be an accurate depiction of what the daily goings of a handmaid would be. Therefore, I am happy to report that The Testaments absolutely destroyed any expectations I had for it, and would most definitely recommend it as an accompanying novel to the first. Personally, I felt like this novel gave me everything that I wan...

    I think its important to preface this by saying that I'm not a female, so while I may try to sound sympathetic in this review the reality is I am reading this novel from a privileged position. I have no personal experience involving hardships faced by the protagonist or women worldwide and even to this day I still struggle and attempt to be conscious of my own intersectionality compared to others.     With that said, I really did enjoy this book. If I had to describe this book, it would be a slow burn, but also like a slice of life story. While you won't get any grandiose battle for freedom, nor any epic adventure of escape, this novel is still a fantastic read. Written by acclaimed author Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale centers around a women, who some call June, who has been unwittingly forced into servitude under the new power known as Gilead.      Throughout this tale, readers follow the life of June as she simply attempts to live her...