Date Completed Title Cover Art Thoughts
August 2024 Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata Haven't related to a book this hard in a long time. Extremely excited to read her other books. Very melancholy slice of life.
Summer 2024 Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto This was my second time reading this book. Heartbreaking, warm, beautiful. The ending feels a bit rushed, but even so, I can't recommend this highly enough.
Summer 2024 Sex Goblin - Lauren Cook Absolutely loved this. I had the pleasure of meeting Lauren and getting tattooed by them in 2019 and have been following their work online for years. I somehow need to get my hands on their previous book I Love Shopping. If anyone has a copy, please let me buy it from you. Y'all it got a reprinting we're so back.
Spring 2024 Salt Fish Girl - Larissa Lai "This is a story about stink, after all, a story about rot, about how life grows out of the most fetid-smelling places..." I enjoyed this one. Dystopian mutli-verse(?) sci-fi set in the near future PNW and 19th century China featuring a female protagonist that defies species and space-time! And another one that doesn't know what the fuck is goin on. And it's gay! But the ending kinda sucked...
Winter 2024 To Anyone who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse - Howard Fishman I was so disappointed with this book, I couldn't even finish it. The author comes off so patronizing and self-important. It's only getting two stars because of the subject matter and the lengths he went to to get interviews with some of the people Connie knew. I wanted to love this so badly and was so excited to read it. BOOOOOOOO!
Winter 2024 The Floating World - Cynthia Kadohata Coming of age story which follows 12 year old Japanese-American Olivia through her adolescence in rural America in the 50's and 60's. I loved the melancholy slice-of-life feel to this book. Almost nothing happens, but I was captivated enough to read it all in one sitting. Cynthia's style is unique and I'd like to read more of her books.
Fall 2023 A Personal Matter - Kenzaburō Ōe This one was a hard read for me. This semi-autobiographical novel follows Bird, a 27 year old Japanese man who is expecting his first child with his wife. Without giving too much away, the main charactr is extremely unlikeable, and the story that unfolds is dark and depressing.
Summer 2023 I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy Jennette's autobiographical account of her relationship with her late mother. Thoroughly enjoyed this book, although it was a tough read for me emotionally. Highly recommend to anyone who has a bad relationship with their parents, and to anyone really. Jennette's writing style is fantastic.
Spring 2023 Just for Fun - Linus Torvalds and David Diamond The story of Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, esepcailly the last few chapters about open source philosophy and Linus's "meaning of life." Linus is very funny and endearing.
Spring 2023 Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet - Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon A really interesting history of the beginnings of the Interenet written in 1996 (the year I was born)! A little dense for those who aren't that familiar with vintage computers, but definitely worth the read.