At Certain Points We Touch by Lauren John Joseph Mini Monday Review (Spoiler Book Review)| CarenzaOnBooks

Today's Mini Monday review is for At Certain Points We Touch by Lauren John Joseph. I was kindly sent a digital copy of their latest release via NetGalley, so thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy to read. Normally, these posts are spoiler free, but I can't figure out how to talk about this book without discussing potential spoilers. It's now out in the UK in hardback and kindle editions. 

Taken from Google Images

Plot

It's four in the morning, and our narrator, a trans writer living in Mexico City, is walking home from the club when they realise that it's February 29th – the birthday of the man who was something like their first love. Piecing together art, letters, dirty DMs and memory, they set about trying to write the story of a doomed love affair that first sparked and burned a decade ago.

Ten years earlier, and our young narrator and a boy named Thomas James, long aware of one another across bars and readings and other murky late-night gatherings, fall into bed with one another over the summer of their graduation. Their ensuing affair, with its violent, animal intensity, its intoxicating and toxic power play, will initiate a dance of repulsion and attraction that will cross years, span continents, drag in countless victims – and culminate in terrible betrayal.

A riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman, narrated with caustic wit and deep sorrow, At Certain Points We Touch is a story of first love and last rites, conjured against a vivid backdrop of queer London, San Francisco and New York - in all their colour, struggle, decadence and resilience.

Taken from Goodreads.

What I Liked

One of the few things that I liked about this book was how diverse the characters were. Our main character was trans, there were various sexualities represented, characters from all over the world and different backgrounds. I don't think I've ever read a book so diverse as this. Sadly, this is where my glowing praise for the book ends as it was basically the only thing I liked about this book. 

What I Didn't Like 

Which means it's time to talk about the things I didn't like about this book. The main relationship between Bibby and Thomas was beyond toxic. It was abusive. I despised Thomas, he was just an awful character with no redeeming qualities. Bibby was one of those characters that would never do anything to help themselves and would complain about how bad their life was. Having read a little bit about the author, there are similarities between the characters. Both were born in the UK, educated in America and went onto become successful writers in various fields. I just couldn't stand either of the main characters. It seemed they used sex to try and fix their relationship. And it was always quite graphic, brutal sex. Every time there was a sex scene, it was uncomfortable to read. Most of the reviews on NetGalley were four or five stars, and then there was mine at two stars. I probably wouldn't recommend this book as it just wasn't a good book due to the characters, plot and poor writing. Normally, I would refrain from talking about a book so negatively as I don't think it's helpful to other readers and reviewers, but I would not recommend reading this one.

What did you think of At Certain Points We Touch?? Did you have a better reading experience than me??

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson Book Review (Contains Spoilers)|CarenzaOnBooks

Title- Open Water

Author- Caleb Azumah Nelson

Series- N/A

Published- 2021

Page Count- 163 pages

Publishing House- Penguin

Genre- literary fiction, modern fiction

Rating- 4/5 stars

About the Author

Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer. His debut novel, Open Water, won the Costa Book Award for First Novel.

Taken from Wikipedia.

Plot

In a crowded London pub, two young people meet. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists--he a photographer, she a dancer--and both are trying to make their mark in a world that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence, and over the course of a year they find their relationship tested by forces beyond their control.

Narrated with deep intimacy, Open Water is at once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity that asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body; to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength; to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, and blistering emotional intelligence, Caleb Azumah Nelson gives a profoundly sensitive portrait of romantic love in all its feverish waves and comforting beauty.

This is one of the most essential debut novels of recent years, heralding the arrival of a stellar and prodigious young talent.

Taken from Goodreads

Opinions   

Open Water is currently the fiction book of the month at work and one I had wanted to read for a while. I had heard a lot of good things about it and rightly so. This book has some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read. I've recently started underlining/annotating my books and I highlighted so many great lines in this book. To think that Caleb Azumah Nelzon is only in his twenties and the potential he has ahead of him is insane. This book won the Costa First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year, which it deserved. If the only thing that you take away from this review, is that it has beautiful writing, then I'm okay with that. 

The story was a very interesting one. It was a lot of small threads being pulled together to form this overall story. I'd say the main one was the love story between the main characters, whose names you never actually learn. Then what it's like to be a young, Black artist is another important theme discussed. There's also a lot of racism and how Black people are treated in the UK. For a book that's only 163 pages, it packs a lot in. It very rarely feels like there's too much happening and the story moves at the right pace. 

Speaking of the story, the reason I gave it 4/5 stars was because it was predictable that they would break up. It always seems to happen and it would have been nice to see them stay together as a couple. They clearly cared for each other and could have supported him after his traumatic experience with the police. I also wanted to get to the relationship a tiny bit quicker as I'm impatient and that stage of a book is always interesting.

At the end of the version I had, it included the short story Pray, which Caleb Azumah Nelson wrote for the BBC Young Writer's competition. You could really see the growth in his writing from Pray to Open Water. I actually struggled with Pray because the writing style was so different. I can't wait to see what he writes next as he is such a talented young writer. I imagine this will be one of my favourite books of the year. 

What did you think of Open Water??  

What I've Learned Working as a Bookseller| CarenzaOnBooks

Today's post is one I've had the idea for since I started working as a temporary bookseller at my local Waterstones in November. Over three months later, it's safe to say I've learned a lot and I wanted to share some of the things I've learnt while working in a dream job for me. This is mostly going to be about me and my experience in relationship to books, rather than the demands of the job. I think this is the best way for me to talk about it. So let's get into what I've learnt about being a bookseller. 

The kid's picture book section after I spent the day tidying it

My "Speciality" Within Books

One day I was having a conversation with someone visiting our branch from a different branch and they asked, if I could become a specialist or senior bookseller, what area would I like to focus on. I genuinely didn't have an answer because I don't know. I thought maybe I could pass as a fantasy/sci-fi bookseller or teen/YA, but even then I would have felt out of my depth. Before I started this job, I would have said I knew a lot of titles in these sections. However, the ones I've been exposed to are the ones I see on Bookstagram. This actually leads me on nicely to my next point...

I Don't Know As Much As I Thought I Did

I realised pretty quickly that my knowledge of books was actually way smaller than I thought it was. I thought that being a part of the online book community meant my knowledge of books was good, but it's actually very limited. I only knew about the big titles, the ones I saw everywhere. It's made me want to make more of an effort to track down some smaller/less talked about books. I've been picking up books that I haven't seen online in order to expand my horizons. There's just so many books and I've only read a small fraction of what we sell. It's definitely something I want to work on expanding and has given me a new spark in my love for books. 

Seeing New Books

Before working at my local Waterstones, I would have only checked out the sections I already read books from, such as new fiction, fiction, YA/Teen and fantasy. Now, I have worked all over the shop. I have seen books that I would have never imagined existed. There really is a book for everyone out there. There's probably more than I can ever imagine. We get so many requests for books off the beaten track. It really has opened my eyes to books I wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn about. For example, there are some really interesting non-fiction books out there that I'd love to read. All of this has been making my TBR very long!

There's More to Bookselling Than Meets the Eye

I don't know what I imagined booksellers did all day, but there really are a lot of different roles within the shop. My main ones do seem to be working the till or shelving. But there's also pricing our non-book related products, sorting out customer orders and cleaning. There are times when there isn't much to do, but we're often always wandering around doing something. I think my favourite things to do are to shelve books and to price items. I find it very therapeutic using the pricing gun and getting the job done, but that's probably just a me thing.    

Those are just a few things that I've learned from my time as a bookseller. Yes, there are some not so great aspects about being a bookseller, but overall I love it. If you want to learn more about being a bookseller, I recently The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell, which I enjoyed and would recommend. It had a lot of experiences in that I could relate to. 

The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant Mini Monday Review (Spoiler Free Book Review)| CarenzaOnBooks

Welcome to the first in a new series on my blog, called Mini Monday Reviews! In essence, these are going to be small reviews, focusing on the things I liked and didn't like, in either a book, film or TV show. They aren't going to be as detailed as my normal reviews, but a chance to highlight some of the things I've been reading and watching that I wouldn't get a chance to review normally. Without further a do, let's get into the first Mini Monday Review! 

Plot

Cordelia Hatmaker's father is lost at sea and she is determined to find him. Along the way, she learns of the King's madness and how the other Maker families have all had precious items stolen from them. Together, this leads Cordelia on an epic adventure across an alternative version of Georgian London, filled with magic, madness and a little bit of mayhem. 

For more information on The Hatmakers, you can read the Goodreads page, by clicking here. 

What I Liked

This was our Children's Book of the Month at work (I work as a bookseller at my local Waterstones) and I forgot to bring my book to work one day, so on my break I started this. I was hooked. I hadn't read much kids/middle grade before and this is definitely the type of book I'd like to read more of. It had exactly the type of adventure I like, which is something goes missing and our characters have to hunt for clues. I thought Cordelia was a great character. She was fierce and determined, but also capable of showing her sadness after her father went missing and when she fell out with her friend. I thought the world of the Maker families was quite unique alongside the typical tension between rivals. It left enough room to be intrigued for a sequel, which comes out later this month. It was just a really good adventure story with solid characters and a story that kept you wanting more at just the right pace. 

What I Didn't Like

I feel like the blurb was a bit misleading as it seemed that the focus would be about Cordelia's father being missing, where as this quickly became a smaller plot line. The main plot line was about the missing Maker's items, which was a good plot line, but not what I expected. I also guessed who the villain was as it was fairly predictable. Overall, I have very few complaints about this book as I really enjoyed it and it's sparked an interest in reading more books like this.

What did you think of The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant?? Are you excited for the sequel?? 

The Witcher Series Two TV Show Review (Contains Spoilers)| CarenzaOnBooks

Taken from Google Images

Title- The Witcher

Creators- Lauren Schmidt Hissrich 

Cast- Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, Anya Chalotra, Joey Batey, MyAnna Buring, Eamon Farren and ensemble cast

Genre- fantasy, drama  

Length- 8 episodes

Platform- Netflix

Rating- 4.5/5 stars 

Plot

The story begins with Geralt of Rivia, Crown Princess Ciri of Cintra, and the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg at different points of time, exploring formative events that shape their characters throughout first season, before eventually merging into a single timeline.

Geralt and Ciri are linked by destiny since before she was born when he unknowingly demanded her as a reward for his services by invoking "the Law of Surprise". After the two finally meet, the witcher becomes the princess's protector and must help her and fight against her various pursuers to prevent her Elder Blood and powerful magic from being used for malevolent purposes and keep Ciri and their world safe.

Taken from Wikipedia 

Opinions  

I was swept up in The Witcher hype at the beginning of 2020, having never read the books or played the games. I really enjoyed it and went out and bought the first three books. I even rewatched it a few months after I had first watched, while we were plunged into lockdown. It became a favourite and a show I was excited for the second series. After a very long wait because of the pandemic, it finally arrived. I was only able to get to it in mid-January, a month after it released because I was so busy and tired with work. I wanted to savour it and enjoy it. I ended up watching it over three days and I bloody loved it. 

Taken from Google Images

This series had a much stronger overarching plot. It felt established and like it new what it was doing. While I liked the jumping around and different timelines in series one, I found myself engaging with this one more. This is odd because when I was reading the books I loved The Last Wish (which provided the stories/inspiration for series one) but really struggled with Blood of Elves (which was the inspiration for series two). I had a lot of expectations for series two and it didn't fail to meet them. I really liked when Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer finally all met together. It has a lot of potential for series three, for them being a little family unit. They're clearly meant to be and are connected to each other. 

Taken from Google Images

If you follow me on Twitter, then you might know that Jaskier is a favourite character of mine and I was beyond excited to see his return in series two. I wish he could have been introduced a bit earlier, as I was almost watching just to find out what happened to him and not the other characters. His introduction as the Sandpiper was great. Speaking of great, they had some more incredible songs in series two. They had a very difficult job of topping series one, but they did it. Burn, Butcher, Burn lives in my head. I've found a playlist on Spotify with all of his songs and I listen to it on repeat. I felt we got to explore a bit more of Jaskier this series. He wasn't just the comic relief. He went through a fairly traumatic time and his directness with Gerlat was really good. I hope they include Jaskier in the family dynamic in series three as he is an integral part of that family. 

Taken from Google Images

Let's talk about the ending. I audibly gasped when it was revealed that Dunny was the White Flame as I thought he was dead. That was a really good reveal. The end with Ciri being possessed made for a good battle, with Yennefer's sacrifice and getting her magic back feeling like a satisfying ending. It wasn't quite as dramatic a cliffhanger as series one. I found the plot line with the Elves somewhat predictable. I knew that something bad was going to happen to the baby Elf. I didn't see Francesca going on a baby killing spree, that was kinda haunting. There's a lot of room for great things to come in series three, but I'm not as desperate for it as I was for series two. 

The production felt a lot tighter this series. I thought the sets, the costumes and the overall design of the show was beautiful. The stories and directing were great. I could talk for days about the music because I'm a sucker for a good soundtrack. It felt like a step up from series one, with even better things on the horizon for series three.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series. I'm glad I waited until I was in the right mindset to watch it as I think I enjoyed it more. Naturally, I am very excited for series three and I'm even tempted to dive back into the books, despite some of the problems I have. In the meantime, I'm going to impatiently wait for my Jaskier Pop Funko to arrive, while listening to my Jaskier playlist repeat. 

What did you think of the Witcher series two??

My Reading Goals for 2022| CarenzaOnBooks

I'm aware that it's very late to be posting something like this, but I wanted to share my reading goals for 2022. Compared to previous years, I want to set some goals I can actually stick to. I've picked three goals that I want to try and complete in 2022. These are things that are important to me and will help me have a great reading year this year. 

Read More Diversely

Reading diverse has been something I've been doing since about 2017, however I've noticed I haven't been reading as diverse as I thought I had. I use CAWPILE to track my reading and one of the features is for how many POC authors you read. I was shocked that mine was only eighteen out of eighty-four. That's not even a quarter. I also read from forty-four American authors, making over half my authors from the US. This year I want to read from more POC authors and from more non-American authors. Translated fiction is going to be a way of tackling that as it's something I would like to read more of. Basically, I want to move away from white American writers and explore more varied voices in my writing. 

Tackle My TBR

As of writing this, I have 220 books on my TBR. 150 of these books are ones I own in my main collection, three are for reviews, thirty-five fall under the "odds'n'sods" category and the remaining thirty-three are ones I'm going to borrow from my parents. I roughly read 85 books a year, so it's going to take me 2.5 years to read all these books. That's without getting more books. So, I'm on a book buying ban. As I work at Waterstones, I can still receive books from publishers and if there are exclusive editions or books in series I'm already reading, I can get those. But, I'm pretty much on a book buying ban until my birthday in August. I am going to tackle this ridiculous pile of books I have to read. I have so many that I want to read and it's time that I finally get to them. 

Read at Your Own Pace

Last year, I set myself a monthly goal of reading one book a week. I didn't always meet that with how busy I was at various points in the year and it would make me sad as I wasn't reading as much as I wanted to. This year I want to read at my own pace. My average is 6 books a month, with some being a lot better and some being a lot worse. I'm going to read at my own pace so I can enjoy the books I pick. At the end of the day, that's all that matters. That I enjoy my book and not how much I'm reading.   

Those are my three reading goals for this year. What are your reading goals for 2022??

What I've Been Reading Recently- Christmas 2021 Edition| CarenzaOnBooks

I know this post is a bit late, but I wanted to share the books I read in the final months of 2021. I didn't read as much as I wanted and that was because I started my first graduate job as a Christmas Bookseller at my local Waterstones. I'm still working there, which is why I haven't been as active on here and why I wasn't able to read as much as I like. I read 6 books in November and in December, making my total read for 2021 84 books. Let's get into the books I read over Christmas last year! 

November

no one is talking about this by Patricia Lockwood

The reason I read this book is because everyone seems to be talking about it. It was nominated for the Booker and Women's Fiction prize in 2021. I can see what this book was trying to do, it just didn't quite do it for me. I do think it highlighted how we view the internet and online culture. It's been a couple of months since I read it and it didn't really leave an impact on me. I gave it 3/5 stars.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

I enjoyed Detransition, Baby much more than no one it talking about this. The themes of what it means to be a woman today and how they are so varied were very powerful. The characters felt real, they were all over the place and were the type of characters I like to read about. I personally felt the ending was a bit rushed, which is why I ended up giving it 3.5/5 stars. I also have a full, spoiler filled review, which you can read here. 

Loki: Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing

I had dabbled with comics before this, but after receiving this as a birthday present, I am very interested in reading more comics. I really enjoyed the Loki TV show and I really enjoyed the source material. It was funny, and had a great story. There are so many comics that I'd love to read after reading this. I gave it 4/5 stars.  

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This was my audiobook listen for November and I would really recommend the audiobook version of this available through Apple Books for free. It's narrated by Karen Gillan, who does an amazing job of narrating this story. For the actual story, I didn't care for it that much. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more as a child as it's a children's classic, but as an adult, I didn't connect with it as much. For the audiobook alone, I gave it 3/5 stars. 

Once Upon a Winter by H.L Macfarlane and others

Taken from Twitter

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an eARC to read before publication and to review. I enjoyed some stories a lot more than others in this collection. I think the idea was strong, but the execution didn't quite work for me. I found the collection a bit too all over the place. I have a full spoiler filled review, which you can read here. I gave it 3/5 stars. 

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

A reread for my book club. I read this book back in 2017 and adored it. However, I've changed a lot as a reader in the last four years. I did enjoy it this time, but nowhere near as much as I did in 2017. I can see why it's problematic. I think the saving grace is the relationship between Lou and Will as they have such strong chemistry. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

December

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

Historical, feminist fiction is very popular at the moment and with books like The Wolf Den out there, rightly so. I had been wanting to read this for a while and so I finally got around to it in December. This book is brutal, it does not shy away from how awful these women's lives were. But it also shows them coming together and supporting each other in difficult times. I cannot wait for the sequel to come out later this year. I have a full, spoiler filled review, which you can check out here. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R Tolkien

I wish I was as talented as J.R.R Tolkien as this collection was beautiful. The stories in the letters, the artwork that went alongside them. Just everything about these letters was amazing. Even if you aren't a Lord of the Rings fan, I would recommend reading this book. You get to see the letters alongside a typed out version of what was in them. I gave it 4/5 stars

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed it. It was fin and escapist. It was an easy read. On the other hand, it was very poorly written and crafted. There were good and bad things about it. It did hit the spot of a Christmas murder mystery I have a full, spoiler filled review of my thoughts on this book, which you can read here. I gave it 3/5 stars.  

Sex Education: The Road Trip by Katy Birchall

If you are a long time reader of my blog, then you will know I adore Sex Education on Netflix and was very happy when they announced a book to go alongside it. I finally read it in December and sadly I was disappointed. I think the story would have worked better as a one off, longer episode. I also found the writing style very inconsistent, with it randomly switching POVs for one paragraph, before returning to our main POV, which was Maeve. It was a fun and easy read, but I was expecting a bit more from this. I gave it 3/5 stars. 

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

This was exactly what it said on the tin. It had a cat saving books. And I loved it. It highlighted what it meant to be a reader and the joy we get from books. It's a translated fiction that's been so popular at work. I adored every second of reading this book. The cat was a great character and I would love to read more from this author. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

My final book of 2021 ended up being a bit of a let down. I bought this for my birthday because it looked cool and I had seen a BookTuber I like recommend it. However, I was so confused about what was happening. There was just a bit too much world building and it went over my head a lot of the time. It might be that I picked this up at the wrong time as I wanted something easy to read to finish off my reading for the year. I might give this another chance in the future. But for now, it gets 3/5 stars from me.

What books did you read in November and December??