Skip to content

Reviews

A short history of nearly everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything

What a journey I’ve been on! In less than 600 pages, I’ve fast-forwarded through the history of the world and of the human species, from the Big Bang to our recent days through most areas of science. This ambitious masterpiece was very informative and written in a conversational style. In fact, I felt like I was sitting in an armchair, by the crackling fire, with a glass of red wine in hand, in the company of a very knowledgeable friend who was explaining to me… Read More »A Short History of Nearly Everything

The food of love

The Food of Love

I feel uncomfortable writing a bad review as I don’t want to disrespect all of the effort the author put in, especially if it’s their debut novel. So, after reading the first few pages, when I was already feeling a bit suspicious that this wasn’t going to be a good read, I remained hopeful and kept reading. However, it turned out that my initial instinct was correct. The story itself was not that bad and it had potential, had it been written differently. Here are… Read More »The Food of Love

Humand Kind

Humankind

Do you think humans are selfish, untrustworthy and dangerous creatures? If so, do yourself a favour and read this book. The core message in this book is that most people, deep down, are good-hearted. A perfect read in the current times. The author, Rutger Bregman, is a historian whose optimism is energising. He tells lots of effective stories and provides evidence from psychology, sociology, anthropology and archaeology. He starts developing his theory with a view on the “philosophical boxing ring” that sees two opposite opinions… Read More »Humankind

The Man Who Died Twice

The Man Who Died Twice

The thing that I kept thinking when reading this book was “genial“. I loved it even more than the first one of the series. The characters were well revealed and their relationships felt realistic. The plot wasn’t quite as believable as the previous one, I think because there are higher risks involved, but still, it was put together cleverly. The English humour is just brilliant, I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading it. In the previous book, I wasn’t particularly impressed by… Read More »The Man Who Died Twice

Magpie

Magpie

I was so unsettled and disturbed by an event that happened at the start of this book that I almost stopped reading it there and then. Unsure what to do, luckily, in the end, I decided to keep reading it. If a book is able to trigger such strong emotions it must be a good book, I thought. In fact, it was a brilliant and gripping novel, despite the fact that it made me feel uncomfortable sometimes. The pacing was perfect and the main topics… Read More »Magpie

The Wisdom of No Escape

The Wisdom of No Escape

Peaceful and calm. This is what I felt while I was reading this book. It was easy to read and it came at just the right time. It’s a good reminder to compassionately accept who we are, that we are all interconnected, that suffering is part of life and that it’s not by pushing away painful things that we can be happy. An encouragement to see who we truly are and to observe how we react to our emotions and thoughts. I loved it when… Read More »The Wisdom of No Escape

Mudlarking

Mudlarking

I loved this book even before I bought it. I fell in love with the cover, to start with. It’s so attractive I’m thinking of framing it and hanging it on the wall. It’s the choice of the colours, their combination, the font used and how the text is distributed that is just smart. When I started reading it, I was immediately hooked. The writing is clever and passionate. The author says she’s a daydreamer and manages to pull you into her daydreams. It felt… Read More »Mudlarking

Everything I Know About Love

Everything I Know About Love

I confess. I judged this book by its cover. It was early on a rainy Sunday morning and I was wandering in an empty shop when I saw some books stacked on a table. I went closer and was attracted by this cover, indeed, I liked it so much that I wanted to read the book regardless of what it was about. However, upon reading it, I didn’t relate to the author at all, so I immediately started to feel bored and remained as such… Read More »Everything I Know About Love

The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library

I chose this book because it won the “Best Fiction of 2020” Goodreads award so my expectations were very high. Usually, I have a glance at some reviews before reading a book, just to get an idea of what the general feeling around it is. With this one, however, I didn’t read any reviews because I thought “it won the award, I can’t go wrong”. The start was very slow. After reading about one-third of the book, I still wasn’t connected either with the character… Read More »The Midnight Library

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I liked this book, but I didn’t like it that much. Sometimes I felt it was motivating, but other times I found it a bit “common sense” with what it was trying to teach. The author himself says that he hasn’t made up these habits, that they are just natural laws. It’s well-structured and put together, and I appreciated the examples mentioned. Even if the world has changed since its original publication in 1989, I can see that the content is still relevant today. However,… Read More »The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People