A Little Life Review

Title: A Little Life
Author: Hanya Yanagihara
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Doubleday

Blurb: When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.

Me: This 720 page wonder has consumed my thoughts awake, my dreams asleep, and every single thing in between for the last week that I read it. It was the fastest I have ever devoured a book this length in a long time, and I have officially been blown away and completely crushed into a million emotional bits. 

Pakistan: The Reluctant Fundamentalist Review

Title: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Author: Mohsin Hamid
Publisher: Harcourt
Genre: Contemporary

Blurb: At a cafe table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter...

Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.

But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.

Me: Unbelievable writing. It was so tense and easy to fall into (I read it in 3 days) but still explored complex ideas- phenomenal. 

I want to be bored

Hey guys! Today isn't a bookish post, but rather just a gathering of thoughts. It's summertime, I've been incredibly busy, and I want to be bored. 

I know, I might sound crazy. I'm sure we've all experienced the drowsiness of summer break, feeling sluggish and bored out of our minds and almost- almost!- wanting to go to school. It's not a fun feeling. But here's why: 

Creativity flourishes in boredom. Without a list of things you have to complete or get done by a deadline, you have the freedom to think and reflect and wonder until your brain gets sick of talking to itself. Some things I've done during summer when I was extremely bored: