Ex Libris

Really fun read! The setting has implications but it's still addicting like a real video game and now i really want to be Carl and Donut for halloween. And it's delightful that it's a series because now i really want to know what happens next. Goddammnit Donut!

Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl, 2020
★★★★☆

Very short but extremely fun read! The format is very unconventional, with the very short pages but it makes the reading experience very personal in that the flow feels very similar to a natural stream of consciousness. It's almost childish in a way, but it feels very refreshing and very honest. Highly recommended.

Aurora Stewart de Peña
Julius Julius, 2025
★★★★★

Bad. I mean the setting is fun if you don't think about it too hard. The worldbuilding is very limited in scope and the magic overexplained but also feels vague and amorphous. What upsets me the most are the extremely milquetoast morals and "politics" which the narrator repeats ad nauseam. The villains are cartoonishly evil and the main character acts as if she's never met another full human being. It's basically Physicist Barbie discovers racism and exploiting the environment are bad: The Book.

Blood Over Bright Haven
M. L. Wang, 2023
★★☆☆☆

Really nice! Goes to show to many men and "fantasy" authors that you don't need 600+ pages for a good book. Loved the plot, the characters, the setting and the narrative frame. But I'm scared of reading the next one because if it's not as good it'll ruin this one for me.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Nghi Vo, 2020
★★★★☆

Pretty cute little essay collection but not fully my thing. Liked the exploration of personal vs private geographies and relingos.

Valeria Luiselli
Sidewalks, 2010
★★★☆☆

I bought this (and the light fantastic!) on vinted so i reread and annotated it and i truly had a great time. Nobody does it like Terry. Still one of my favourite books of all time.

Terry Pratchett
The Colour of Magic, 1983
★★★★★

The writing was great but the characters and plot really upset me in a way that's honestly not rational. Especially everything surrounding Agathe and Dolores. A little too close to home i think.

Missouri Williams
The Doloriad, 2022
★★★☆☆

Cute beach read that i chose specifically because i was at a very noisy beach, no concentration needed.

Sally Bayless
Antiques, Artifacts & Alibis, 2022
★★☆☆☆

Cool concept but i went in expecting a completely different tone. Decently written but not really my thing.

Claudia Lux
Sign Here, 2022
★★★☆☆

I loved this book SO MUCH. The prose is so good and lyrical in a way i can't really describe. Story aside it's written in a way that is so hypnotizing, with indirect dialogue and run on sentences. She just makes it work. And it's rare to get a historical book recounted at such a breakneck pace, it's electrifying.

Lauren Groff
Matrix, 2021
★★★★★

You know i LOVE short stories about deranged women, but this one,, idk. The stories were real good i just like a bit more closure on the ends i guess.

Maria Adelmann
Girls of a Certain Age, 2021
★★★☆☆

Pretty interesting but not incredible. Still, now i'm scared of petting raccoons and bats (which i love).

Bill Wasik, Monica Murphy
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus, 2012
★★★☆☆

The most irritating main character I've ever read. I can excuse an unreliable narrator with delusions of grandeur but i draw the line at being annoying. Apart from that it's a great book, well written and with decent worldbuilding. I'm gonna read the next one anyway.

Patrick Rothfuss
The Name of the Wind, 2007
★★★☆☆

Not the best book i read but it was quite fun. I loved the golem's personality.

Adam Mansbach
The Golem of Brooklyn, 2023
★★★☆☆

An epic, personal odissey of three, very interesting characters. I absolutely love Shafak's style, every sentence was fluid, liquid; her prose, crystal clear and refreshing. I felt like i was drinking, not reading it.

Elif Shafak
There Are Rivers in the Sky, 2024
★★★★★

Very interesting and informative, even if i don't know how the author got so many personal info about scientists. Still i loved the writing style. Also reading about quantum physics on public transport definetly made me feel amazing about myself.

Benjamìn Labatut
When We Cease To Understand The World, 2020
★★★★☆

Gripped me from start to finish. Akabar's writing style is so captivating to me, even prose feels like a poem, lyrical. Every character is complex and three-dimensional and just so interesting. And the structure, alternating povs and timey whimey? Amazing. Literary fiction at its best.

Kaveh Akbar
Martyr!, 2024
★★★★★

I got tricked byt the title because i thought that it was going to be a funny, witty Pratchet/Adams sort of genre comedy but it was definetly not. Gave up after 50 pages.

David R. Slayton
White Trash Warlock, 2020
dnf

The put together version of my year of rest and relaxation. A truly delightful read, even though i was green with envy the whole time. This was a heartwarming memoir and i especially loved the way Giuffre described her children, it's refreshing to see someone letting kids be kids. I recommend this to people who want a village: this is how you can become a villager and create community.

Kathy Giuffre
An Afternoon in Summer, 2010
★★★★☆

I had no fun, felt kinda pointless, just more and more of the same

Jaqueline Harpman
I Who Have Never Known Men, 1995
★★☆☆☆

This book is making me crAZY. The writing! The premise! The yearniNGGG!! These two women are driving me INSANE. Truly the best space lesbians since Gideon and Harrow. Lord I wish i could eat the letters like those damn berries. Munch. I'm going to preach about this book like it's the fucking bible. I wish I could write letters like that. It's not me being metaphorical, I devoured this, ink and all. Delicious.

Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
This Is How You Lose the Time War, 2019
★★★★★

A Discworld book is always like a nice blanket for me. Pratchett is so funny, and this story was so sweet; I really loved it.

Terry Pratchett
Mort, 1987
★★★★★

This book was really challenging for me because the setting was very bleak, the plot sad and the characters terrible. But the writing is amazing as always, Moshfegh never disappoints.

Ottessa Moshfegh
Lapvona, 2022
★★★★☆

It's been a few years of me reading a Witcher book on the 2nd of January, first book fo the new year. I love it because it's the type of fantasy that's very comforting for me, and i relly like Geralt, he's one of my favourite poor little meow meows. This one was nice but a little scarce in plot, a lot of traveling in the woods. Still nice though.

Andrzej Sapkowski
Baptism of Fire, 1996
★★★☆☆