Every Book, Ever*
*not actually every book, just the ones I remember reading. Also, only new ones I've read since I started this
website, not all books I've ever read. I have a LOT of issues with focusing so every book read feels like a reason
to celebrate. I read a lot of short stories online (especially horror) but they don't feel like they count, and neither
do audiobooks so I will only count real, physical books here.
to read:
-House of Leaves (I own a physical copy)
-all of the morbillion (morbius million) x-men
comics I just bought (6/8 done)
2025
January 2025
- Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang ★★★★☆
The hype is absolutely justified. This book is super good. It kind of reminds me of
Lolita in the way that you, on occasion, find yourself empathizing with the main character,
until she suddenly says something so unhinged or casually racist that you can do nothing
but read on in horror. Really well-written and nice to read, I finished it in one go.
The last chunk of the book was slightly less engaging than the start and middle of it,
but it was worth finishing.
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid ★★★☆☆
finally watched the book of one of my favourite movies and...I kind of like the movie better.
Don't get me wrong, this was good, and the reveal was good. It was kind of scary too, which
was fun. But it's probably better if you go in blind.
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh ★★★★★
first 5 star read of the year. This was really good and I'm not entirely sure why it gelled so well
with me but it just did. Everything, however minimal or mundane, is described so well that
you start finding it important. I didn't even particularly care for any of the characters, but
that wasn't necessary. I'm really glad I finally read this.
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis ★★★☆☆
this didn't really 'hit' for me... maybe it's better to see it in the play-form. Or maybe it's
better if you know really anything about the bible at all (I don't) or about history (I know
very little). I don't know... of course the part where Jesus and Judas speak is heartbreaking
but it's a rather small part of the story and I can't say the rest of the story was very interesting.
February 2025
-Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa ★★☆☆☆
I don't know why this was written... but I wish it hadn't been! I picked this up
because the premise sounded interesting (a 17 year old falls in love with a 60-something year
old dude, creepy, problematic, whatever) I was curious what would happen. I thought it was
going to be a thriller genre type deal but...nope. I can see the potential in it, the way
everything is described as disgustingly as possible, but it wasn't impactful at all.
Wolverine, Vol. 1: Hunting Season by Paul Cornell ★★★☆☆
Weird, confusing story, but really good art. Many liberties are taken to assure that Wolverine's
clothing is ripped to shreds on multiple occasions, revealing his hairy chest and armpits.
Which is great, for normal reasons. I love how most comic authors like to torture Wolverine.
I think it might be a psychosexual thing for them.
You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman ★★★★★
really really good and really strange, similar to My Year of Rest and Relaxation as well as
I'm Thinking of Ending Things, simultaneously, somehow. It's hard to describe this one. It's
about eating disorders (or well, disordered eating) but in such a peculiar way that you're
going to have to read this one yourself in order to get it.
- X-mannen Special 5 ★★★★☆
Finally, more X-mannen Special! this one continued the story from #4 about a bunch of
random people being trapped in Mojo's World-- apparently one of them was Dazzler. Who
could've known... a bunch of stuff happens in this one. They escape from TV world. Professor X
senses someone is pregnant before she knows it herself. He gets consensually kidnapped at
some point. In the middle of reading this comic, my mom came into my room and told me that
a close family friend died. It was a weird experience. (this book contained 1991 X-men
10-11-12 as well as Classic X-men 39 which is from 1989 I think.)
March 2025
-The Glass Girl by Kathleen Glasgow ★★★★★
Really good. Kathleen Glasgow writes about very sad people in very sad situations, but
somehow manages to do so without it feeling like torture porn. There's always an undercurrent
of hope. Even in the darkest moments there's always someone willing to help. There are
people who will want to help, even if you feel like you don't deserve it. Even if they don't
even seem to like you. It's very hopeful.
-Achtste Groepers Huilen Niet by Jacques Vriens ★★★★★
A childhood favourite that I reread because I wanted to be upset, I guess. This book is
about a twelve-year-old girl dying of cancer, mostly from the perspective of her classmates
and teachers. It's a children's book, and it's written so well, everything is explained in
easy terms so everyone can understand. It's just... it's really good. This is the type of
book I'd recommend to just about anyone.
Antkind by Charlie Kaufman ★★★★★
(more like a 4.5 stars, but whatever) this book is wildly funny and incredibly infuriating
at points and I really liked it but am also very glad I finished it so I don't have to slog
through it anymore. It's about gender identity (when isn't it with Kaufman? paraphrasing
what I said a while ago to a friend, my reaction if Kaufman came out as a trans woman would
be 'yeah, that checks out') and racial prejudice and sexism and everything. This book had
me in its clutches for days and now I am finally free. During the week-or-so it took me
to read this I had a dream once that I read about 100 pages of the book. I didn't remember,
at any point, the in-dream plot, yet found myself annoyed at the book once I continued
reading, because the plot I didn't remember from my dream was better. I came out of this
book kind of annoyed with Kaufman, but that was probably on purpose as well. Infuriating!
-Grijpstra en de Gier: Het Dode Kind by Janwillem van de Wetering ★★☆☆☆
It's no secret that Grijpstra en de Gier (the TV show) was created by the same people as
Baantjer (the TV show) to try and get the same amount of viewership, but it didn't really
work out. After Grijpstra en de Gier the TV show came out, they wrote a bunch of books
based on it, probably so it would be similar to how Baantjer is originally based on a
book series. This book... isn't very good I'm afraid... the story is weak (and strangely,
mildly racist at some points?) and Grijpstra en de Gier (characters) just aren't remotely
as charming as Baantjer's De Cock and Vledder. Grijpstra complains about everything and
de Gier is a kind of spiritual weirdo. They don't seem to like each other, but come to-
gether to bully their entirely innocent coworker, Cardozo? It's weird. I didn't like it.
-Twintig keer Dee by Oliver Reps ★☆☆☆☆
this sucked... I don't know what else to say. It's an entire 'novel' written in the
'instagram poetry' style. Annoying to read, and nothing even ended up happening.
April 2025
-Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson ★★★☆☆
this made me feel dumb. but not in a fun bimbo-y way (teehee) but in a kind of depressing
way. It's probably why this took me so long to get through (two weeks or so I feel?). I
could sense that this was good, it's highly praised and everything but I just couldn't get
out of it what I see others getting out of it online. It didn't reach me, and that was
frustrating. It's also generally very stream of consciousness and hard to focus on, I've
never gotten distracted by thoughts this much while reading. And my thoughts weren't even
that interesting.
-Blauw by Joyce Pool ★★★☆☆
it's a book for kids/young teenagers so it's no high-quality prose or anything, but it
does tackle some topics like deportation and police corruption in a way that's understandable
for kids who might never have dealt with those before, so that's that. I didn't really
care for the main character too much, and the ending felt abrupt.
-The Wild by K Webster ★☆☆☆☆
badly written erotica. I read it because it's controversial and wanted to see what all
the fuss was about. It's framed as an incest romance, but eventually you find out that
the characters aren't even related. Other than that the plot is weak and the characters
are annoying, but I truly don't get the outrage.
-X-Mannen Special 6 ★★★☆☆
This compilation included X-Men 13, 17 and 18 for whatever reason. Not the best X-Mannen
special I've read... Though there are some important plot points discussed, such as
Cyclops being into Psylocke even though he's happily married (shock! gasp!) and now
they were setting up Colossus's sister turning into Magik. So that's cool too I guess.
May 2025
-Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters ★★★★☆
really good! interesting insight into the lives of trans women living in America and
the little culture they've created within this group. Loved Reese, she was my favourite
character. Ames was kind of annoying and so was Katrina.
2024
total books read: 14*
*excluding some I didn't find interesting enough to write
about, such as 'A-Babies vs X-Babies' which is, literally,
about babies fighting each other in a baby war.
January 2024
- Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow ★★★★★
SO good. started reading it in December, in a shitty hotel room, in the bathtub until
4 AM. just finished it. GOD this book was good. I'm still crying a bit. This is it. This
is my favourite on this page, so far. It's really sad but it shines through, again and
again, that people are good, and even if they don't know you very well, most people will
want to help you, because that's just humanity. Normal people. Christ. Really good book.
February 2024
-Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir ★★★★☆
oooh! very good and very sad. the lore was really interesting, the relationship between
Gideon and Harrow is (obviously) just perfectly written and... yeah. I get why everyone
likes this series. Will start reading the second book as soon as possible. I think it's a
trilogy, but there are three books out, and another one coming..? which together makes more
than three, I'm pretty sure. But. Well, I'll look it up once I finish reading the second book.
They say that is where it gets really sad.
-Silence is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher ★★☆☆☆
this book was dumb. I don't really know what else to say about it. a large plot point is the
main character (a cis girl) getting called transphobic slurs by a classmate. The main character
also just spends the whole book getting called names for being fat. Unpleasant to just read,
like, 400 pages of a girl hating herself and being hated. it just doesn't end.
April 2024
-Mijn tante is een Grindewal by Anne Provoost ★★★☆☆
Good story, but the ending feels like it's written by a completely different person. Ends
very abruptly too. Strange. The start and middle are good, though. It's mainly told from the
perspective of a child (and later, a teenager) but the true 'main character' is her cousin/neighbour.
It's interesting. That's probably why it's extra off-putting that it ends so badly.
May 2024
-Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir ★★★★☆
better than the first part of the series. Gets lost in sci-fi jargon and loses me on occasion.
Has slightly too many characters. But all-together a solid story. The main character loves
someone so much that when that person dies, she asks her friend to give her a lobotomy so
she forgets the person. I get it
-Camino Wandering by Tara Marlow ★★★☆☆
this is a book mainly consisting of three middle-aged women on a hike together, complaining
about the hike and how all of them have a terrible life at home. I felt very 'meh' throughout,
and yet got very emotional near the end when the main character got proposed to. Damn it, I want
these old, angry women to be happy.
August 2024
-Bad Dreams in the Night by Adam Ellis ★★★☆☆
This book is a beautiful hardcover with really high-quality, glossy pages. Unfortunately
Adam Ellis has done way scarier comics in the past and... decided not to put them in this
book, I guess, because none of these were really scary. Still a fun read though.
-Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin (Andrew Shaffer) ★★★★☆
This is your standard 'Fifty Shades of Grey' parody. But it's really funny. I bought it on
iBooks when it was new (and iBooks was still called iBooks) and have read it many times since
then. Apparently there are sequels too, which I didn't know about. Anyhow, this is a good book.
Very rereadable.
September 2024
-Niet Jouw Girl by Annette Mierswa ★★☆☆☆
this book lives within a very specific subgenre of book where a teenage girl drinks and does
drugs and hates her life and does dangerous things so she can feel something. In this particular
one the main character, Kim, is a fucking menace. She gets sexually assaulted and her reaction
to it is to do such a myriad of terrible things... including posting a nude picture of her friend
to a school group chat, even though that girl didn't even do anything to her? Jesus christ. Anyhow
I wouldn't particularly call this book good but it was really cheap at the store and I love shitty
books for teenagers so I enjoyed it. There's a lot of misery but it has a nice ending. It's a bit
overly preachy on one hand but on the other hand seems very cool with the underage drinking. which
is pretty funny if I'm being honest.
November 2024
-Wolverine by Claremont & Miller: Deluxe Edition ★★★★☆
this is a comic book anthology (graphic novel? I have no clue what the terminology is) that includes
Wolverine (1982) #1-4. I thought it was very good! I love how much of a cliché ‘brooding bad guy’
Wolverine is. My favourite part was when Storm met a woman who was an adrenaline junkie and it dazzled
her so much that she, I guess, became a leather lesbian and shaved her hair into a mohawk? It was great.
Lots of laughs at things that were probably meant to be taken seriously.
- X-Mannen Special by Claremont & Lee
this is a translated version of Claremont's 1991 X-Men run that was released in the Netherlands as
'X-Mannen Special' by Junior Press Strip. These vintage comics are delightfully obscure and yet
surprisingly cheap so I bought the first eight volumes (with there being almost fifty in total).
I'm VERY excited to own these and they look very good in my bookcase. I'm not sure how I'll review
these yet but I thought I'd just mention them here for now and then make it up as I go. Each volume
of X-mannen special contains 2-3 original X-Men comics.
- X-Mannen Special 1 ★★★★★
contains X-men 1991 #1 and #2. really solid start for the series with beautiful artwork. I am really
loving this so far. Also, I think I'm enjoying it doubly because I'm reading it in Dutch. Gives the
characters a whole other vibe that I really enjoy. In my headcanon Rogue speaks Mokums, for example.
in volume 2, Crazy plot twist (that everyone else probably saw coming). Evil x-men! random mentions of
the holocaust! danger room within a danger room within a danger room! Magneto keeps calling people
sweetheart! Great book.
- X-Mannen Special 2 ★★★★★
contains X-men 1991 #3, #4 and #5. ALSO really good. I've only finished the first two comics but I really
like them. I like Wolverine's stupid basketball outfit and the fact that Moira MacTaggart saw her friends
get into a car accident and was basically like 'I have too much on my mind right now, I'll let them die'.
Dare I say iconic? Rogue might be my favourite character. And the art is just beautiful, too.
December 2024
- X-Mannen Special 3 ★★★★☆
contains X-men 1991 #6, #7 and #8. This book suffers from the typical Marvel issue where you need to have
read a lot of comics just to understand what happened in this one. The main story makes sense (Wolverine
is trapped in Germany because Omega Red thinks he stole something off him, but Wolverine has amnesia so he
doesn't know where he put it, the X-Men follow along to rescue him and also get trapped, then they all get
saved because Psylocke is ridiculously overpowered) but then suddenly it shifts mid-story to a random scene
of a bunch of unnamed characters in plain clothes (who are apparently X-Men?) being trapped in the 'Mojoverse'
which is an alternate universe ruled by a morbidly obese guy? Or something? And they try to overtake him and
almost all of them get killed. Who are any of these people? Why does it matter? The last comic in the book,
#8, was really fun though. They have a picnic. Wolverine shows up in ridiculously high-waisted pants and some
random people throw pie at each other.
- X-mannen Special 4 ★★★★☆
contains Ghostrider #26, #27 and 1991 X-men #9. This one feels quite random to me... Ghost rider is
there because?? of course he is, and he gets infected by some sort of aliens that threaten to lay
eggs in him. By the way, the order in which the comics are in this book are Ghostrider 26, followed
by X-men 9, and then Ghostrider 27. it's kind of stupid, though my favourite out of the three was
definitely the X-men one, which goes to show that the X-men are just miles better than any other
superhero team. Anyways. They fight the aliens. Psylocke is super overpowered as always and kills an
alien inside someone's brain together with a woman who might have died. Or not? It's not really made clear.
Eh, whatever. I don't remember her name anyways.
2023
total books read: 6
April 2023
read these:
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, ★★★★★
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman, ★★★★☆
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller ★★★★☆
I liked all of these... Lolita was beautifully written, so much so that I occasionally almost forgot the disgustingness
of the topic, until it would be brought back with a vengeance. Coraline was good, though I knew the plot already
since I've seen the movie a bunch of times. The Song of Achilles... I didn't think I'd like it at first but as I
continued reading it just kept getting better. The ending was especially amazing!
May 2023
just one this time:
- Cyberboy by Tanja de Jonge★★★☆☆
I wouldn't call it a literary masterpiece or anything but I don't know, it kept me amused and it gave me an
excuse to sit outside and read in the sun. The main character seemed very stupid though. He kept getting clues
that his friend was a cyborg (spoilers. whatever. you're not going to read this book anyways) but only found it
out near the end of the book.
October 2023
I was reading a Hitchcock Presents pocket on the train but I think I dropped it because it is no longer in my bag.
whoops. well it was quite bad anyways. every story I read (and I was about halfway through) was about a different
guy killing his wife. Thanks Hitchcock
November 2023
- The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor ★★★★☆
Read this on the overnight ferry when I couldn't sleep. I liked it! it was realistic yet still interesting to read
about. Mattie was my favourite of the women. Kiswana being visited by her mother was a really interesting scene, and
the bit about Cora Lee was delightfully uncomfortable. Thanks Gloria Naylor. RIP
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