Tag: Review

  • The Master Magician

    This series started of really nice with the Paper Magician, but in this third book, The Master Magician, Ceony seriously started to annoy me. Her tricks maybe weren’t exactly new – rushing into danger and just hoping that everything will work out in the end just to name something – but I would have expected… →

  • The Wife of Bath

    We didn’t read this in class. Of course, we talked about the Canterbury Tales but actually reading it, no. That’s why I was pleased to see it as a part of the Little Black Classics, giving me the opportunity to read a small part without necessary the feeling that I should read it all. The… →

  • The House of Special Purpose

    When I read this, I was not much of a historical novel reader, I used to read a lot of the suspense at the time. However, I gladly made an exception for John Boyne, since I’m a fan of his books! I really loved how he set once again a beautiful story in a beautiful… →

  • The nightingales are drunk

    The nightingales are drunk is one of the nicest titles from the Little Black Classics collection. Unfortunately, the poetry editions have been a bit hit and miss (but mostly miss) with me. I often feel like I don’t get them. Hafez liked his drink – I don’t. Maybe that is why we didn’t connect. Either… →

  • The London Cabbie’s Quiz Book

    I love London – I like to go there a lot. This summer will be the first in 6 years that I will be unable to go due to the pandemic, but I was lucky to have had a visit in the beginning of the year. I am also really into trivia, so this book… →

  • Of Street Piemen

    I had to read the title multiple time to finally get it was pie-men. Mayhem was a Victorian social reformer who spend a lot of time writing about ordinary life in that period. This is a part of that collection. As a book to read, I found it very mundane. There are lengthy descriptions of… →

  • Less

    Since I will not be able to go on holidays this year (I don’t need to mention the cause for this as we all know it), I have lately sort of been indulging myself by getting new books. Just the books I mainly read about recently and that I would like to read RIGHT NOW.… →

  • Circles of Hell

    I bought a copy of the full Divine Comedy a couple of years ago, but have so far been holding out on reading it as I foresee another multiyear project to finish it. Circles of Hell – some snippets from the more sinister part of the collection looked like it could give me a taste… →

  • Silver in the Wood

    Short review: Too short! I think this could have worked as a full length novel, with a little bit more time to expand on certain parts of the stories. Now, the flow at some points was a little bit odd – but maybe it would all make total sense if I were 400 years old.… →

  • The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows

    I have never read The Jungle Book – in fact I’m only vaguely aware of its story. This collection of short stories however deals with Northern India, where Kipling grew up. They were a quite random collection and it hardly resonated with me. The title story, the Gate of the Hundred Sorrows, was rather depressing… →

  • The Tea Dragon Society

    This was such a cute read I can hardly start putting it into words. But just try to imagine how every once in a while you come across a book which is pure feelgood and happiness. The Tea Dragon Society is one of those books. The main character gets introduced to the last remaining members… →

  • The Tinder Box

    I grew up with Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales so I was glad to see that this collection (six stories) was made up of some of the lesser known stories. Most of them I hadn’t heard before because they were less child-friendly lets say. I knew The Red Shoes from the Efteling, but was glad… →

  • A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation – Vol. 1

    This had such a strange name ‘A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation’ that I found myself drawn towards it. I had no clue that it was a manga adaptation of an existing book series, which might explain some of the issues I had with this. Overall it was a very quick and quite cute read, but… →

  • How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher’s Dog

    This was a Little Black Classic that I was looking forward to read, mainly because of its strange title, which was almost as long as the story. It sort of spoils the story sure, but what intrigued me mainly was that in such a long title there was still room to discuss different names for… →

  • The Glass Magician

    I recently read and reviewed the first book in The Paper Magician Trilogy, The Paper Magician and it was such a nice snack book for me that I immediately started reading the next book, The Glass Magician. It starts a few months after the first book, so we miss Ceony getting a big part of… →

  • The Eve of St Agnes

    Having never read anything by Keats before, but having heard a lot of it, I was really looking forward to this collection of five of his poems. The poem of the title is the longest and it is, as his other poems, very visual. It really tells a story, and while this is a nice… →

  • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

    (Please be aware this is an old review) I think this is one of the most discussed books published in the last few years. The story can be considered either too shocking, or not shocking enough, is Bruno really this naive? Well, I don’t really care for those things, I wanted to read this book… →

  • How to Use Your Enemies

    This is more than a guide on How to Use Your Enemies, it is at the same time a guide on How to Use Your Friends (considering you have some left after behaving like the author suggested). It was so manipulative that it was actually an awkward read for me. It is compared to Machiavelli,… →

  • Good Omens

    On paper Good Omens had the potential to become my favorite read of the year. The end of the world – heavy recommendations from friends – Britishness in general. So why didn’t it? It was last year during one of my trips to London that I saw a friend of mine buy her 3rd copy… →

  • A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees

    “It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met…” Kenkō If I ever wanted to read a complete collection of random thoughts, I would seriously consider a full edition of Yoshida Kenko’s work. The short and… →

  • The Song of Achilles

    I’ll let you in on a little secret: Whenever I come across the Trojan war, I have been rooting for the Trojans. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense – we all know how it ends with the horse and the burning of Troy. It was reading The Song of Achilles that I… →

  • On the Beach at Night Alone

    This one wasn’t for me. I had of course heard of the author, but had never read anything by him. Based on this collection, a selection from Leaves of Grass, I don’t think I will either. With the Little Black Classics you never know up front what to expect, there have been some very nice… →

  • Recursion

    I suggested Recursion as the new book for book club, and it was selected so I felt a certain responsibility when I started reading it. I had bought it earlier this year after all the praise it received and also because I really like Dark Matter which I read some time ago. Going in, I… →

  • Three Tang Dynasty Poets

    This is exactly why I thought the Penguin Little Black classics would be great. This edition contains three poets from the Tang Dynasty and I will be the first to admit that it wasn’t something that I would have usually picked. But I’m very glad that I read it now, because I was most pleasantly… →