Book Log
I used to read fairly consistently, but I've fallen out of the habit in recent years; I got really busy in the last couple years of school, so I just didn't bother with trying to read much in my free time. If you'd like to know more about all that, please click here!
Anyways, I'm selecting this part of my site to be the dedicated reading tracker. I tend to read more than just books, so expect a whole smorgasbord of things to pop up here.
2025
Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov (1996)
Finished: January
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Notes: It's a strange, bleak and wonderful book where the main relationship is between a man and his penguin! Surreal and vaguely funeral-esque, I definitely need to read the sequel.
Grounded - David Bischoff (1993)
Finished: January
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Notes: This feels like it could've been a Next Generation two parter. If it was, I reckon it'd be in like, Series 3, although some of the events they reference in the actual book place it a bit futher along in the timeline. Entertaining but also a bit odd.
2BR02B - Kurt Vonnegut (1962)
Finished: January
Rating: 3 Stars
Notes: Bit bland and trite. It might just be because it's 2025 and these sort of ideas have been done to death, and that it seems like a thing that could plausably happen in the future. A great blend of dystopia and dark comedy. My first foray into Vonnegut, and while I wasn't massively blown away by '2BR02B', I'm willing to give him another try!
2024
The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka (1915)
Finished: October
Rating: 4 Stars
Notes: I've lost my knack for literary analysis but 'The Metamorphosis' is a great exploration of isolation, idently and humanity. He gets stripped of just about everything that made him 'human', but it's still him all the same. Tragic and surreal, a great read!
Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin (1956)
Finished: May
Rating: 5 Stars
Notes: It took me three different tries to read this book; it wasn't because it's bad, I love this book, I just kept getting frightingly busy and by the time I came back to it I'd forgotten everything. Baldwin is a fantastic author (I need to read more of his stuff). This novel is a simply a masterpiece; these internal battles over love, grief and guilt are so heartwrenching because they're so close to many of us. It's a tragedy because you think (or more accurately hope) that everything would fix itself but it just didn't. It kind of makes me feel ill. Brilliant no notes go read!
The Price of the Phoenix - Myrna Culbreath & Sondra Marshak (1977)
Finished: May
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Notes: Second Star Trek novel I've read. It's incredibly gay. I was slightly confused by the actual geography and layout of the base at times, but was still entertaining. Maybe I'll read the sequel?
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison (1967)
Finished: April
Rating: 4 Stars
Notes: I decided to listen to Ellison read this book and I must say that really made the experience. He's got this way of narrating the book that just makes the emotions pop. It's rather grotesque.
The Cat and the City - Nick Bradley (2020)
Finished: April
Rating: 2 Stars
Notes: BAD. There was very few appearances of the cat, and just because of that the books wasn't great. I jest, but it's not good by any metric. It was fairly boring; the idea that 'cities are big and lonely' isn't particularly new. I liked the first story, and it just sort of got worse from there.
2023
Dreams of the Raven - Carmen Carter (1987)
Finished: December
Rating: 5 Stars
Notes: My first time reading a Star Trek novel! It was a great read. You can tell that Carter has a masterful grasp on these characters, they're just amazingly written! I would've loved this as an episode but I think it works better as a novel.
The Invisible Man - H G Wells (1897)
Finished: December
Rating: 4 Stars
Notes: An absolute romp. Like this was fun! It was a masterful comedy even if that wasn't the ultimate intention. To quote an old review of mine from Goodreads:
"Griffin was an arrogant and insufferable git, but its hardly suprising considering the lengths he was willing to go to to keep this thing a secret. like good lord man, just tell people and be out with it already. maybe then you wouldn't want to systematically kill people who got on your nerves a bit."
Great time, would recommend.
No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai (1948)
Finished: July
Rating: 3 Stars
Notes: I don't think I really got this one I won't lie. It was just painfully bleak the entire way through; I'm aware that it was semi-autobiographical, but I just couldn't find myself enjoying or even remembering the experience.
Life Ceremony - Sayaka Murata (2022)
Finished: June
Rating: 4 Stars
Notes: A set of short stories that focus on ideas of belonging, family and, of course, cannibalism. Love how much the tone varies from story to story, and Murata's writing is perfect for these themes. Overall, they're all pretty enjoyable even if some are a tad forgetful.
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (1932)
Finished: June
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Notes: Genuinely don't remember anything past the first part. Maybe that says something?
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata (2016)
Finished: June
Rating: 3 Stars
Notes: Just a bit unmemorable? A lot of it just felt very trite and it wasn't particularly inspiring or inspired. Good but not one I'd bother to reread.
One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston (2021)
Finished: May
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Notes: Cute but needed to be shorter. Maybe I'm just not built for the romance genre?
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (1847)
Finished: March
Rating: 5 Stars
Notes: Another one I had to read for school. Adore this book, it's just so messy and crazed. I'm still mad at that one kid in my class who managed to misinterpret this entire book.
The Hounds of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)
Finished: February
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Notes: An absolute icon. I had the unfortunate experience of seeing the BBC Sherlock episode adaptation before reading the actual book and Jesus is that episode so so so so bad in comparison.
If We Were Villains - M L Rio (2017)
Finished: February
Rating: 4 Stars
Notes: Brought the rating down a bit because I genuinely can't remember anything outside of the main plot beats. It was enjoyable to read, but dear God can these people stop quoting Shakespeare. Like, I know you love the guy but it really gets on your nerves after a while.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong (2019)
Finished: January
Rating: 5 Stars
Notes: Hardhitting and raw. A letter from a son to his illiterate mother, circling from the past to the present in beautiful vignettes. Very poetic, very good!
2022
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf (1925)
Finished: November
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Notes: Had to read this one for school. Love the plot, love (most) of the characters, I just hate hate hate the writing style (stream of consciousness by beloathed).
Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2015)
Finished: August
Rating: 3 Stars
Notes: It was pleasant and at times quite heartbreaking, but it just didn't have much of an impact on me. Might need to re-read?
Maurice - E. M Forster (1971) 
Finished: July
Rating: 6 Stars
Notes: Gets the covetted sixth star beccause this is my favourite book that I've ever read. I can never quite find the right words to describe how much I adore this book; it's the type of story you just have to read for yourself. You just have to let it take over your entire soul for a couple months so that it can carve out a space just for itself. I'll just let Forster say it best:
“A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever that fiction allows, and in this sense, Maurice and [spoiler] still roam the greenwood.”
If I think about this book too hard I start crying!
Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek - Anthony O'Neil (2017)
Finished: July
Rating: 2 Stars
Notes: It was God awful. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, and Utterson underwent a particularly egregious change in character; like I get that was kind of the point of the book, but even right at the start he's not the same guy you met in the original 'Jekyll and Hyde' story and it's so offputting. Tried too hard. Not worth your time!
Heaven - Mieko Kawakami (2009)
Finished: July
Rating: 3.75 Stars
Notes: I remember reading this on the train. I think a combination of the book itself and the fact I get motion sick made me put it down for the rest of the journey. Despite that setback, it was good.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz (2012)
Finished: January
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Notes: I remember little about this book but clearly I liked it at the time!
2021
The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller (2011)
Finished: September
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Notes: This book took over my life at one point, it was actually quite alarming; like, I was up in the dead of night thinking about it. It's very pretty, but the way she (Miller) smooths out Patroclus' personality makes it all a bit disconcerting. I'll give myself some leway since I hadn't consumed The Iliad at this point, but trust me it's better than this book.
They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera (2017)
Finished: July
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Notes: It's been a while since I even thought about this book. I was like, 15 when I read this and it did have an impact on me (aka it made me cry), but I don't care enough to re-read it.