I came across “Mayflies” after it was picked as the December 2023 read for the Sitges Expat Book Club. The blurb sounded promising, as the story of male friendship is not a topic I usually read about. What it ended up being, was a book that I found to be underwhelming. I didn’t enjoy reading…
Category: 2/5 ★
Within this category you can find all the 2/5 ⭐ reviews about books that I disliked. I didn’t gain much from reading them, I could have skipped reading them without missing out on anything.
I Feel Bad About My Neck – Nora Ephron
Having picked this book to read more about the topic of aging, how women deal with it and how they experience it, I can’t say that I ended up being a fan of it… It started with an intro by Dolly Alderton that went on and on without adding any value and it went over…
The Flaw – Antonis Samarakis
With this book I definitely had the case where I fell in love with the book cover but was disappointed with its content. Having been attracted to the beautiful edition in a bookstore in Athens, I was expecting a bit more from a book that was advertised as having been translated into more than thirty…
The Sympathizer – Viet Thanh Nguyen
Having had “The Sympathizer” on my “to read” list for a couple of years already, I decided that it was the right timing to start reading it while traveling in Vietnam. If you intend on reading it too, my first suggestion would be to have at least a basic understanding of Vietnamese history, how the…
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin
Here comes the review I have been dreading writing ever since I finished reading the book over 3 months ago. I don’t think that I would have read “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” if it wasn’t for the “20- and 30-Somethings Book Club” in Paris that chose it as their book of the month. My…
Ikigai – Hector García and Francesc Miralles
“Ikigai” might be a good book for those who are currently struggling with finding meaning in their lives. It’s quite compact, being just about 185 pages long, and it is mostly filled with little tips inspired by places in Japan on how to live a long and happy life. Having previously read David A. Sinclair’s…
Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro
Introducing, the book that I wished I would have never spent 21€ on… I picked up a copy of “Klara and the Sun” for a book club, first having started reading the physical book, then having switched over to the audio version while I was on a trip and in the end finishing it in…
Das Licht – T. C. Boyle
Es scheint so, als ob mir dieses Buch über den Weg gelaufen ist, um mir eine Lektion zu erteilen… Dass ich endlich aufhören sollte, in Airbnbs hinterlassene Bücher zu lesen, mit der Hoffnung dadurch über einen verborgenen 5/5 ★ Schatz zu stolpern. Es ist das zweite Buch, das ich von T. C. Boyle gelesen habe…
Just Like You – Nick Hornby
Having previously read Nick Hornby’s books “A Long Way Down“, “About a Boy” and “High Fidelity”, I didn’t really have high expectations towards “Just Like You”. I have never rated any of the author’s books with more than 3 out of 5 ★ and his newest release can be classified within the same category. This…
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
“The Midnight Library” was the first one of Matt Haig’s books that I have picked up after having heard tons about his other publications and this one just having been released in 2020. It has been chosen by one of my book clubs to be read in January 2021 and I decided to join in…
The Book Collectors of Daraya – Delphine Minoui
Within this book, the reporter Delphine Minoui tells the story of an underground library that has been created within the Syrian town of Daraya, despite the constant bombings and a state of terror the inhabitants were surrounded by, day in, day out. The focus is placed upon both the founders of this library, as well…
Essentialism – Greg McKeown
The most important take-away from this book for me was – if you’re not feeling completely overworked, chaotic and goal-less with the things you’re currently doing on a daily basis (whether that’s in your personal or your professional life), put this book aside until you feel that way one day and only then reach out…
Intimations – Zadie Smith
I was completely disappointed by this tiny piece of writing made up of 6 essays by Zadie Smith. Maybe it was because I’ve been meaning and wanting to read something by the author for such a long time, having built up too high expectations. Maybe because this isn’t the right book to start with if…
Night Boat to Tangier – Kevin Barry
This is one of those books where I actually really feel sorry about giving it a low rating… There were some parts that I found really enjoyable, the language was absolutely beautiful at times, the descriptions were almost tangible, but… It just wasn’t a story for my taste. If it wouldn’t have been for my…
Small Fry – Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Picking up this memoir that I bought almost a year ago during an event with the author at the Shakespeare & Co shop in Paris, I’ve got to say that I was a bit disappointed… I have picked up the book on 8 different days to get through it, which was proof that it simply…
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
4 reasons why “Where the Crawdads Sing” isn’t as amazing as the huge hype around it is suggesting. Above the roar of the pounding waves, Kya called to the birds, The ocean sang bass, the gulls sang soprano. Shrieking and crying, they circled over the marsh and above the sand […]. p. 31 At late…
Behind Closed Doors – Natalie Fiennes
This super short book of just about 150 pages really has the potential to make you question well anchored thoughts and ideas in your mind. Starting from how “virginity” is a purely heteronormative and invented term, which is still being used too often in our society, to how we’re not taught about the diversity of…
Talking to Strangers – Malcolm Gladwell
I have been tempted to pick up the “Talking to Strangers” book having previously liked Gladwell’s “Outliers“ (read it in 2015 and gave it a 4 out of 5 star rating back then) and also because of its title, which ended up being completely misleading. I was expecting something more psychological or something that would…
American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins
This book was selected for a book club I’ll be attending and I now completely understand all the polarising opinions about it. Even to simply support the critical voices, I would’ve liked to give it 1/5 stars, but it did have 2 positive points to it, so I decided to settle on the total of…
Flights – Olga Tokarczuk
Having picked up the book for an upcoming book club but most of all having been curious about it because of Olga Tokarczuk having received the Nobel Prize for Literature, I’ve got to say that I was underwhelmed to say the least. Personally, getting through this book was a pain… I didn’t feel motivated to…
Talking as Fast as I Can – Lauren Graham
If you have picked this book up because you are or used to be a fan of the Gilmore Girls, I’ve got 2 suggestions for you: Jokes aside, this book is simply a joke… One of the biggest reasons why I picked it up, was because I saw that it won Goodreads’ 2017 Comedy Book…
The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga
From the very beginning of the book, I simply wasn’t a fan of the main character. More than that, 118 pages in, I’ve noted down that I couldn’t care less about what would happen to him. There’s no connection I’ve felt towards him whatsoever and no matter how well the story would’ve been written, it…
Suicide Club – Rachel Heng
I did want to give the book 3 out of 5 stars, just for the topic that it’s centred around, but I just couldn’t manage to warm up to like it more. There’s something very “pop-culture-like” about its style and writing, whereas nowhere as bad as 50 Shades of Grey, it somehow falls into a…
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Unfortunately after finishing this book, I simply thought that it’s way too over-hyped. Yes, the idea of the story is an interesting one, the way it was executed on paper though, left a lot to be desired. Another issue I had with the printed edition, was the fact that the ending was completely spoiled within…
Cuba – Alan West-Duran
The book started off in a way you would expect from a university paper or a thesis on the topic of Cuba (not a good one though and which was not. a great. sign). The author dove directly into the deepest details while not giving you enough background on any of the subjects approached: Minute…
The Giver – Lois Lowry
I have stumbled across this book through a list of “highly rated books” on the website Goodreads.com, but I’ve got to say that its target audience is and stays young adults (if not even mainly kids). The story had an interesting idea, though it lacked in execution. It reminded me a bit of “Brave New…
The End of Eddy – Édouard Louis
I would give “The End of Eddy” a rating rating of at most 2,5 out of 5 stars. The book simply wasn’t long enough to get attached to it or to understand the characters. Somehow the story felt like it was being suffocated, that it didn’t have enough space and enough pages to unfold itself…
The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
After having read “The Handmaid’s Tale” and having absolutely adored it, I was curious to dive into another work by Margaret Atwood. Unfortunately, I can’t give as much praise for “The Blind Assassin” I found the story to be extremely slow-paced (whereas that’s something that never disturbs me in other books), so that it would…
Un Thé à Shanghai – Jamel Balhi
What started out as a promising read, ended up as quite a disappointment… Having shared a BlaBlaCar trip from Zurich to Paris with the author was how I first found out about his existence. A quick Google search afterwards showed up the couple of books he has written about his trips around the world. What…
Call Me by Your Name – André Aciman
Having just finished the book and ending it off by watching the movie to it, I’d say that the two of them compliment each other. Having read the book just before put a bit more meaning into the movie. Nevertheless, I can’t say that I have enjoyed the book. Yes, there were some parts which…
The Art of Thinking Clearly – Rolf Dobelli
Having gone through the book, I strongly agree with some bits in reviews about it, which I have skimmed through before starting. While “The Art of Thinking Clearly” succeeds at presenting something of an easier breakdown of “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, it felt highly repetitive (some ideas being too similar and being presented too often),…
Vous descendez? (A Long Way Down) – Nick Hornby
The only reason why I keep on reaching out to Nick Hornby’s books is the fact that I’ve got them standing around in French on my bookshelf. In my opinion, that’s also the only plausible reason to read them – translated from English into other languages to learn those foreign language, since the style and…
Read Bottom Up – Neel Shah, Skye Chatham
A super quick read (just about one and a half hours) which I have become suspicious about while skimming through a couple of reviews on Goodreads.com before starting the book. It just seemed to have potential to be in the style of one of those cheesy rom-coms – a typical and predictable boy-meets-girl story. Was…
Paris Revealed – Stephen Clarke
Having read two books by Stephen Clarke about the Parisian adventures of a fictitious character, “Paris Revealed” sounded like a light and fun read, while I didn’t have any expectations towards it at all. Though it did have a few entertaining passages and it was successful at introducing the Parisian way of life, starting from…
Sharp Objects – Gillian Flynn
After reading Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” I couldn’t wait to get my hands on another book of hers. Unfortunately the expectations couldn’t measure up for “Sharp Objects”. Though you did finally feel a bit entertained and enveloped in the events of the book upon arriving somewhere towards the middle of the story, there were too…
Scenes from Village Life – Amos Oz
Having previously read “My Michael” by Amos Oz and having immensely enjoyed it, I was excited about indulging in “Scenes from Village Life“. Even though a certain atmosphere was established through a particular warmness in the author’s style, it was a generally a disappointing read. This was a typical book which needed to be read…
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