Thought Train to Pusan

I foolishly left the library book I was working my way through at work, and wouldn’t be back for at least a week, so I looked for something that seemed like it would be easy breezy to hold me over until we were reunited again. I chose We Were Liars , which ended up being a quick and not too difficult read, fun at times but also emotional. I can’t say that I totally connected with it, however, and I wasn’t entirely sold on the ending: not because it doesn’t work but because after a certain reveal, it seemed like some things didn’t quite jive with the behaviors of all the characters, and also it was something I had seen often enough before (sometimes in more effective ways, sometimes not, to be fair). We Were Liars comes from the point of view of Cadence (or Cady), the oldest grandchild of a wealthy family, who spend their summers together on a private island. Cady and her fellow older cousins (along with one not-quite-cousin) are practically inseparable during t...

I’m not exactly sure how to go about this review because poetry is not exactly something I read often (at all, really), nor do I know much about it, so everything here will be coming from a place of very little knowledge. So then why did I choose to read this collection of poems? Because I had an itch to try something not really in my comfort zone, you know, branch out to some new forms and see how it goes. And why John Keats? Well you see, I absolutely adore Ben Whishaw and was watching Bright Star wherein he plays Keats again, and thought hey! I don’t know that I’m actually familiar with Keats’ work as a poet at all? And so, here we are. Selected Poems includes a large selection of works from John Keats, from his longer, well-known volumes such as Endymion , to some shorter little verses –some of which he did not publish himself—often written for or in honor of a specific person. Overall there is a large focus on nature and beauty, and from what I can tell, t...

I honestly can’t tell you why I haven’t gotten into Ngozi Ukazu’s web-comic series Check, Please! before (this book is just the first 2-years of the protagonist’s story compiled into one volume), because I know I’ve heard good things about it before, and upon finally reading it I can say that I really did enjoy it a lot! It is super cute, with a lively and clean art style, and is about nice hockey bros just being bros?? Love that. Yeah, maybe it’s a little predictable at times, but I don’t mind at all as I was excited to see things unfold the way they did. Really, the only thing I could complain about is how it is a little abrupt from piece to piece, but that’s just a function of being from a web-comic that has not been pieced together into one book. So I can’t really fault it for that. But let’s get on to what this is about! Check, Please! #1: Hockey follows Eric Bittle (or, Bitty, as he is known by his team) a former figure skater who because of his quick sk...