ex libris

My favourite novella; I love the themes of mythology & death, specifically the voyeurism, the apollonian-dionysian, also St.Sebastian is namedropped. I feel spiritually connected to this text.

Thomas Mann
Death in Venice, 1911

★★★★★

Extremely enjoyably written but also somewhat Freudian in nature… I was expecting the masochistic, ressentiment aspects but not the envy of the child.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Don Juan of Kolomiya, 1866

★★★★★

This is what I wanted but didn’t get from Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. Finished the book in less than 2 days.

Mikhail Bulgakov
A Country Doctor's Notebook, 1925–1926

★★★★★

A very interesting & quick read for those interested in mythology and history and are well versed in feminist theory. It had pictures but I wished there were more. I think the book would have benefitted more from a chronological structuring rather than making chapters about body parts/functions, as it was sometimes hard to comprehend the scopes of time, space and humanity/civilizations and became repetitive towards the end.

Mineke Schipper
Hills of Paradise: Power and Powerlessness of the Female Body, 2020

★★★★☆

Another Bloodbornian book … I enjoyed this so much and finished it very fast; a great popular science book with a pleasant and fun writing style; and as far as I can tell, well researched, with just enough scientific information for a general audience. Only criticism I have is that there are no in-text citations—all the references/sources are compiled in the back of the book (the number system isn’t used). I wish it had been a bit longer too!

Lindsey Fitzharris
The Butchering Art, 2017

★★★★★

I think I mainly enjoyed this book because it reminded me of my favourite game, Bloodborne. There were some environmental descriptions that were reminiscent of Yharnam to me. I just like victorian fiction by principle I guess

Robert Louis Stevenson
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1886

★★★☆☆

I really liked this book, though it ended on a bittersweet note. I love descriptions of everyday life, a kind of slice of life, if you will. Actually, I described this book as a monk slice of life to my friend. The philosophical discussions were mostly a back-and-forth of two people, easy enough to read, if not a little simple. But, for what it’s worth, I loved this.

Fernand Pouillon
The Stones of the Abbey, 1985

★★★★☆

(Annotated edition) Generally, I really like it when authors write self-indulgently, which happened probably the entire time in this book. Some chapters and passages were extremely dense and difficult to get through, and Nabokov’s style is oftentimes very complex, but when you get to the more lyrical parts everything just flows and is very satisfying to read.

Vladimir Nabokov
Ada or Ardor, 1969

★★★★☆

A nice, easy to read book that I could thematically relate to and that was pleasantly written. There was a scene where the main character got circumcised which I had to skip because of the detailed descriptions *lol*.

Cees Nooteboom
Rituals, 1980

★★★★★

This is basically a coming of age story set in the Middle Ages. I really loved the execution and the prose was delightful. Also kinda gay if you wanna read into it.

Hermann Hesse
Narcissus and Goldmund, 1930

★★★★★

I can relate to the author’s tendency to go on tangents, and while this was oftentimes critiqued by other people, I quite enjoyed it. Though I have to agree that some sections could have been a bit shorter.

Jack Hartnell
Medieval Bodies, 2018

★★★★★

Von Arnim delivers cute quips. This is like a mix between a diary, and if she was writing a story about herself. I really liked how the seasons changed her surroundings and what she had to say about it.

Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth and Her German Garden, 1898

★★★★☆

Marvellous book, perfectly grotesque, carnal and intriguing. I read it quite a while ago and really want to reread it sometime. Apollonian-dionysian!

Patrick Süskind
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, 1985

★★★★★

It has been quite a while since I read this, but I remember enjoying it. I liked the story and writing style, though Murakami’s portrayal of women is, as always, quite questionable.

Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood, 1987

★★★★☆

I wish I liked this more than I do. Admittedly, the prose was often a bit hard for me to get through, as some stories were confusing and/or not very interesting to me, but others were outstanding.

Zoe Gilbert
Folk, 2018

★★★☆☆

I love the thematics of this book and how Jarman wove them together. It reminds me of modern-day web weaving on tumblr.

Derek Jarman
Chroma, 1996

★★★★☆

The characters were really cute and interestingly written, but the story was quite generic/predictable. I think I would have enjoyed it more, had it been a different setting.

Fyodor Dostoevsky
White Nights, 1848

★★★☆☆

I love how Lee recounts his childhood on the countryside, and once you accept or realize that his memories might oftentimes not be accurate to what really happened, the book becomes a great fantastic-realism tale.

Laurie Lee
Cider with Rosie, 1959

★★★★★

While the title implies this is a romance, I don’t really see it as that. Again, this was a pleasant, quite short read, with themes that interested me, but I’ve read others that gripped me more.

Xiaolu Guo
A Lover’s Discourse, 2020

★★★☆☆

I read this for a literature presentation in school. The book in itself was fine, it was well and enjoyably written, but I think my teacher didn’t like it *lol*.

Leo Perutz
Leonardo's Judas, 1959

★★★☆☆

& more

Ex Libris

books from my collection :: click on the titles to read my reviews

On Hold