Reviews and Comments

nobhillsal

nobhillsal@sfba.club

Joined 10 months ago

"Solito" by Javier Zamora was my favorite book that I read in 2023. Some of my favorite authors are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Madeline Miller, Haruki Murakami, Orhan Pamuk, Sarah Vowell, Julia Alvarez, Christopher Moore, Isabelle Allende, Junji Ito, and Pablo Neruda. I really enjoy magical realism and outrageous plots.

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Orhan Pamuk, Ekin Oklap: Nights of Plague (2022, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group) 3 stars

exhaustingly descriptive

1 star

I generally love Orhan Pamuk novels. His writing is descriptive in a way that is unmatched by any contemporary author. Unfortunately this book was not for me. It was incredibly descriptive in a way that only seemed to add pages to the book, no joke this book honestly added pages on my ereader as I read it. Perhaps, if this had been historical fiction taking place in a real country, it may have not been as painful, but this was too much effort for a fictional revolution on a fictional island.

finished reading Brown Boy by Omer Aziz

Omer Aziz: Brown Boy (2023, Center Point Large Print) No rating

I wanted to like this book and as is my habit with biographies I listened to the audiobook since it was read by the author. I had a hard time finding Omer to be anything other than self centered and inauthentic. I was glad that in chapter 25 he finally saw a therapist. Although I think I agree with the author's political point of view, I had a feeling he is exactly the sort of person who will pull the ladder up behind himself once he reaches what he believes is success.

Janika Oza: A History of Burning (2023, Grand Central Publishing) 4 stars

Four generations. Three sisters. One impossible choice. A profoundly moving debut novel spanning India, Uganda, …

A fast moving story about resilience and how decisions have long lasting effects. This book was my first exposure to the contributions of Indians to Africa and was an eye opening telling of Uganda under Idi Amin.

Megha Majumdar: A Burning (Paperback, 2021, Vintage) 4 stars

Set in Kolkata, India, the novel tells the story of its central character Jivan, a …

A well written story of a girl in the wrong place at the wrong time who posted the wrong words in the middle of anti-Muslim sentiment in India. The story tells the protagonist's sad fate and two of her acquaintances who used her misfortune as an opportunity to make their lives better. This story tells the human side of political extremism and how sometimes you make compromises to survive.