Four Books I Recently Ticked Off My TBR List!

 

1.Notes on Grief: 

"Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language."

                    -Notes on Grief

Adichie is one of my first loves when it comes to writing. So, anything she writes, you will find me reading it avidly, like a thirsty dog, lapping up water.  Reading Notes on Grief almost made me cry. As I read of the lovely father-daughter relationship, and how simple , humble, intelligent and witty Mr James Nwoye Adichie was, while he was alive. Reading Adichie's descriptions of grief gave me chills. The sort that would form lumps in your throat , all of a sudden and make  you swallow hard. 

2. Second Class Citizen: I finally got to read Buchi Emecheta's narration of her biography. The book was witty and fast paced and explanatory of Ada's thoughts. Although I wonder why Buchi never designated "Ada" a feminist. Because she clearly was.  Ada was really strong willed and she was a person to admire. Although k wished she did things differently like her marriage. But overall, I learnt from Ada's life. And yeah I gasped and almost cried when Francis burnt her manuscript. Add this to your TBR if you haven't read it ASAP.  

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3. Girl, Woman, Other:  I have always wanted to read this book and this has been on my TBR list for a while. I saw it on a couple of bookstagram pages and I knew I wanted to read it. The cover or title isn't really divulging. But all I knew was that it had to be a story about girls and women, but I couldn't quite place the "other " in the title. 

Bernadine tells the story of several women, their stories somewhat interwoven one way or the other. It was a really brilliant read. Reading Girl,Woman,Other, was awakening as it was a thoughtful read. It made me think deeply and discover, it also taught me things I thought I already knew, especially about feminism and being "woke" like Yazz would say. Reading this is making me wanna trade feminism for humanitarianism.

4. Tokyo Ever After: 

My Princess(Korean Drama,2011) meets , The Princess Diaries and From the notebooks of A middle school princess 

( both by Meg Cabot).

Sigh… this Young Adult read reminds so much of K-dramas! The love-hate relationships, the silly female protagonists, the tall male antagonists with their bobbing Adam's Apple. I know J- dramas might have a semblance with K-dramas. But I haven't watched any J-drama. A particular drama this book bears semblance with is My Princess, where the main character is a princess, and her discovery leads to the recovery of the Korean monarch, she also falls in love with her bodyguard too. Do you remember it? (starring Song Seung-heon, Kim Tae-hee, Park Ye-jin, and Ryu Soo-young)

Also the plot follows the semblance of Meg Cabot's princess diaries and From the notebooks of a middle school princess.  Anyways, Tokyo Ever After is much more adorable! It had me "awwing" all the way.

My favorite part of the book would be when Izumi first arrived in Japan and had to use the toilet much more to Akio's chagrin. 

Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in—it isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi—or Izzy, because “It’s easier this way”—and her mom against the world. But then Izzy discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity… and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess.

In a whirlwind, Izzy travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she always dreamed of. But being a princess isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a scowling but handsome bodyguard who just might be her soulmate, and thousands of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight.

Izumi AKA zoom zoom, AKA Izummy, soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herself—back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan, she must prove she’s “Japanese” enough. Will Izumi crumble under the weight of the crown, or will she live out her fairytale, happily ever after?

PS: TBR means to be read...