Thought Train to Pusan

I’ll admit I have not read any of E.M. Forster’s novels before, though I have seen the film adaptation of A Room with a View . As is often the case for me, reading these older British novels makes me hit a bit of a wall in terms of the language that I don’t when watching adaptations: for some reason the manner of speech is hard for me to get into! But do I keep reading such books anyways? Obviously! And truly sometimes I forget my struggles. But that is not to say that this book is not good, just a little difficult for me, personally, to follow at times. Maurice is about the eponymous young man, Maurice, in early 20 th century England, making his way through college and into adulthood, but with the distinct feeling that the goal of a wife and children is not what he ultimately wants. Eventually he comes to grow attached to a fellow student, named Clive, and the two realize that their affections for one another are not simply platonic. The story then continues ...

I can’t remember where I heard about this book, but it was on my to-read list on my account with the library, and since it was there I figured why not! And this was an interesting experience of a book for sure. I was referring to it as back-half-Cloud-Altas but that’s not quite right… Midwinterblood is essentially a series of seven little vignettes or short stories that are all connected in some way, and all take place on the same small island with its many mysteries and magic. We begin with a journalist, Eric, coming to the island in search of the truth behind a rumor that the inhabitants of the island do not age. While here, however, Eric can’t help but feel something familiar about the place and its history; in particular, a young woman named Merle sparks something in him. However, we are soon thrust to a stage of the past that inevitably led to this future, if in a seemingly disconnected and mysterious way. As the novel goes on, you see more and more th...

--> As per narfna’s suggestion in a glowing review of the first volume of Fence , I waited until there was at least a second volume out: and it still seemed to go by far too quickly! At least the next one is scheduled to be released in August which isn’t too far away, I guess… In any case, this comic series is a super cute and fun one, about a sport I haven’t seen featured much in sports movies/books, etc. There are definitely some familiar features to this as a “sports story”, and do I feel like I know a lot of the beats to this narrative and how it’s going to come together? Yes. Do I really care? NOPE! (And for that matter, I may be wrong in the end!) But I’m hoping for my favourite trope of enemies-to-teammates-to-friends-to-lovers to come through in the end. Time will tell! But more about this series: Fence follows a group of students at a boarding school, and the main conflict at the moment are the tryouts for the fencing team. Our protagonist, Nicholas,...