book notes: under the skin

i saw the movie and wouldn’t have read the book if not for a loan by an employee as part of a mini book loan exchange.

INHALED and loved the book, much much better than the movie. intensely creepy, viscerally disgusting and amazing. made me want to eat vegeterian which apparently wasn’t the authors intent at all

At literary festivals over the years, quite a few fans of Under the Skin have thanked me for turning them into vegetarians. I don’t know what to say to them. I’m not a vegetarian. For me, Under the Skin is not about the evils of eating meat but about the evils of evading moral responsibility for the decisions we make. The novel is strong enough, however, to adapt to the needs of each reader. It takes people to a place where they can work important stuff out for themselves. This has continued to be my aim for all my books.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/05/michel-faber-under-the-skin-changed-my-life-for-good

i wouldn’t recommend the movie but definitely recommend the book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

book notes: you’ll grow out of it

Rating: 5 out of 5.

loved it. short and fun read by a stand up comedianne/writer whom ive not heard of before. picked it up because it was cheap and with good reviews.

she got married late, around 36-37, and makes a lot of jokes about said fact. i found those very relatable. the narrative is structured in independent chapters/stories, each one fairly stand alone.

5 stars, i was laughing out loud way too many times and would highly recommend it.

book notes: when breath becomes air

cried like a baby at the end, entirely unnecessary and very cathartic.

a book about a neurosurgeon who has lunch cancer – I didn’t expect it to be uplifting but it in certain ways it was.

highlights:

  • good god so much studying and work, i really do respect those who pursue a medical profession – such a responsibility
  • their decision to have a baby is questionable in my mind

Rating: 5 out of 5.

book notes: i remember nothing, nora ephron

a quick follow to the first book (bought them in the same sale). this was a series of short essays. her authoring voice is amazing – a consistent view into new high society, even thought that wasnt the objective of the book. (reminded me of swans of fifth avenue, in that sense).

made me want to live in new york, a bit more, again, just for a little while.

in this book she is writing first person as herself, its more of a memoir, and she definitely confirms that heartburn was based on her real life. (noting that she replaced cats in real life into hamsters in the book, that for some reason really entertained me.)

a lot of things stuck out to me: she has been twice divorced, third marriage clearly worked out. she reminisces about the mistakes that she made when she was younger, but in a really delightful way (writing about how as a younger woman when she was friends with an older lady, they fell apart and how she felt then versus now). my favourite essay was probably the one about how she started working in journalism; and her casual and on-the-nose callouts of discrimination and normalcy of it at the time.

Really enjoyed this.

Rating: 4 out of 5.