maresia

I finished the trilogy in around 72h while I was working 12h nights shifts, so this already tells you I could't put it down. They are easy to read, fluent and kept me on my toes. There will be spoilers, so continue at your own risk. The world it takes place is beautiful and varied, with enough details about the other cities and countries to let the reader wanting to know more about it. The Grisha are absolutely amazing and I love the concept of their power. I was hoping to read more about their struggles and the prejudice they faced, but the hints and comments throughout the story were enough to give the reader an overview of it without being overbearing.  I liked the first book Alina - the orphan that longed for a place she could belong to and that after years of hiding her power she finally accepted and welcomed it, only to have someone to manipulate her and try to use her power for his own gain. She ended the first book with a strong note with the potential for more. Then the di...

 Spoilers ahead, read with caution. For a book called "The Witcher", I was expecting more witcher-ing. There was a lot of fucking, though. Overall, I feel the series could have been half the pages. There were rather long descriptions of fight scenes and there is only a limited number of feints, pirouettes, and blows that one can take. There were also a few adventures that weren't necessarily adding anything of value and felt a bit disconnected to the story, regardless of how much enjoyable they were to read. The first two books consisted of short stories (not in chronological order) that were interesting, funny, and little by little added details and layers to Geralt's character (and Yennefer's, although in a small amount). The final book, also a short story, was a disappointment compared to the others and all that mattered was the final chapter.  Regarding the characters, it was particularly enjoyable to read about Geralt's humanity, despite everyone else bei...

Dr Richard Shepherd has performed over 23000 autopsies and this book is about the ones that have haunted him most and the toll they had in his mental health. Not recommended if you have a weak stomach! I devoured this book in a matter of days, not only because the cases/deaths described were extremely interesting from a clinical point of view (some of them from a social/public view also), but also due to the focus on mental health that was a constant throughout the book. This book came to my mind recently after seeing Dr Shepherd on a training video at my new job. His account on how his job affected his mental health reminded me of my time in clinical a setting and of all of my fellow friends that still work in a hospital and were the ones on the front line during the pandemic.  For those working in healthcare, it can be easy to forget that our brains weren't made to see dead bodies on a daily basis and after some time it can become quite overwhelming. Specially with the current si...

I have contradictory feelings about Russian authors. I either love them (hello, Leo Tolstoi), or they’re the most boring thing I’ve ever read (thanks for that, Pasternak).  Being Crime and Punishment a Russian classic I’ve postponed it for a while (better to think it will be amazing rather than have reality slap me in the face like with Dr Zhivago).  Crime and Punishment is not a book that you devour in one go. It’s a book that you take your time to read it, to appreciate it and it needs time for its message to be interiorised, for its voice to whisper and for it to grow in you. It’s the kind of book you read in the morning and you’re reflecting on it throughout the day.  Its beauty is not in the motives that drove him to commit a crime or in the legal punishment, but instead it’s the moral fight he keeps fighting day after day and the love that people around him have for him which enables him to become a better human. It’s a heavy read, but a beautiful one. 

This book was recommended by a friend, thus my expectations were high. I was sorely disappointed.  It started wrong: a man is accused of paedophilia  and his friend defends him based on the fact he is an extremely intelligent mind and won a Nobel. IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW ACCOMPLISHED OR INTELLIGENT YOU ARE, NOTHING IS AN EXCUSE FOR RAPE.  The main character comes across as an arrogant entitled selfish bastard. You can feel in his speech the superiority of the white male.  Women are portrayed in a sexist manner; if a woman is smart, she has to be ugly. The menstrual blood is described an another reason to be disgusted at the female form. He even went as far as to say that he hates a woman for the “simple fact that she was unpleasant to regard”. As if a woman is an object for the male gaze.  His actions on the islands had terrible consequences to the people who lived there and still he refuses to acknowledge his share of the blame for its destruction....

I've got a thing for classics, so I knew beforehand that I was going to like this book, Overall, I enjoyed reading it. It wasn't my first time reading Victor Hugo, so I was used to his style and his sarcastic comments are quite enjoyable. Nevertheless, do we really need to know which king ordered the construction of which wall? Walls that no longer existed when he wrote the book and during the time the story took place, they were acting as a fourth wall to houses! Besides, one page would have been enough to get the idea that Victor Hugo disagreed with half the changes and additions made to Notre Dame cathedral throughout the years, therefore dozens of pages explaining it in detail was more definitely not necessary! Also, was it really necessary to make one endure 30 pages of a dissertation of how the printing killed architecture? Anyway, after his 30 page long dissertations there's usually a 5 page summary, so skip his essays and enjoy the story!

The history of hormones and how they control just about everything. The term gender role was coined 1955 by John Money (...) Before this, the concept had been known simply as sex, a vague term that sometimes meant the act of intercourse, sometimes meant chromosomes, and sometimes meant feminine or masculine.  I found the book Aroused  fascinating. We take endocrinology and hormones as something set in stone for ages, but actually they are very recent concepts. It is written in a way that everyone can understand and medical jargon is not used without its proper explanation. It was a marvelous trip through our own body, our emotions and feelings. Examples of real people are used and even the circus freak is seen in a different light as someone with a medical condition that needs treatment and not laugh and disdain. The part that most stuck with me was the sentence above. So many transphobic people walking around proclaiming it only exists two genders as if it is a God give...