Sara's reading log

I am a book hoarder and reader. My main genre is SF, but I also love magic realism, fantasy and general fiction. Favorite authors are Iain M. Banks, Ursula K. LeGuin, Haruki Murakami, José Saramago, Isaac Asimov, Ben Aaronovitch and more. My rating system is based on five stars. I rate books based on my expectations and what a books aims to be. This means that the brilliant 'Fahrenheit 451' gets five stars because I thought it would be good, people said it was good, and it was good, but 'A Closed and Common Orbit' also gets five stars because in its series, in its style, I really enjoyed it and was not disappointed.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

  • Started on: 2014-02-22
  • Finished on: 2014-02-24
  • Read in: English
  • Rating: ****-
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

I have heard about this book, probably around the time it came out, or when it won its Pulitzer Award and National Book Circle Critics Award (among others) in 2008. When I found the book in a second-hand shop I could not resist, and it’s a good thing I didn’t. Oscar Wao is an overweight Dominican boy growing up in New Jersey. He is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy, falls in love with several girls (but fails to get a relationship because of his introverted character and looks) and lives under a Dominican family curse (Fuku). The story is told in several parts (Oscar’s youth, his family’s history, Oscar’s end) and by several people. I read books purely for enjoyment. I know books like these have multiple layers and meanings, but when I read just before (or during) falling asleep, all I want is a bit of entertainment. In this book, I think I’ve missed half the story because of that (in fact, looking at the Wikipedia entry for this book, I know I did). But that doesn’t really matter to me, because I still enjoyed it a lot. Junot Díaz writes in a way that feels like a good storyteller is telling the story to you. The only thing that I did not like was all the Spanish in the book. I don’t speak/read/understand Spanish, and didn’t really feel like looking it up. I understand why the Spanish was used and that it enhanced the story, but I missed that enhancement. Because of that, the book gets four out of five stars.

  • Started on: 2014-02-22
  • Finished on: 2014-02-24
  • Read in: English
  • Rating: ****-
  • Genre(s): General Fiction

I have heard about this book, probably around the time it came out, or when it won its Pulitzer Award and National Book Circle Critics Award (among others) in 2008. When I found the book in a second-hand shop I could not resist, and it’s a good thing I didn’t. Oscar Wao is an overweight Dominican boy growing up in New Jersey. He is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy, falls in love with several girls (but fails to get a relationship because of his introverted character and looks) and lives under a Dominican family curse (Fuku). The story is told in several parts (Oscar’s youth, his family’s history, Oscar’s end) and by several people. I read books purely for enjoyment. I know books like these have multiple layers and meanings, but when I read just before (or during) falling asleep, all I want is a bit of entertainment. In this book, I think I’ve missed half the story because of that (in fact, looking at the Wikipedia entry for this book, I know I did). But that doesn’t really matter to me, because I still enjoyed it a lot. Junot Díaz writes in a way that feels like a good storyteller is telling the story to you. The only thing that I did not like was all the Spanish in the book. I don’t speak/read/understand Spanish, and didn’t really feel like looking it up. I understand why the Spanish was used and that it enhanced the story, but I missed that enhancement. Because of that, the book gets four out of five stars.