Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
- Title: Darling Girl
- Author: Liz Michalski
- Genre: Fantasy
- Pages: 352
- Publisher: Dutton
- Published: 2022
I would like to assume that everyone has heard of Peter Pan. Or at least familiar with it. I never watched the Disney movie, Peter Pan. I have not read the book. However, the Peter Pan I knew was from an anime adaptation of the novel by JM Barrie. I enjoyed this anime while growing up in the Philippines. So for this purpose, let’s just say that I am familiar with Peter Pan. This book followed Holly, the granddaughter of Wendy Darling – yes that Wendy from the fairy tale. Holly had to take on the infamous Peter Pan to save her daughter’s life.
What made me pick this up? When this book showed up on Book of the Month, I had to get it. The premise itself was interesting. I mean, you cannot go wrong with a dark Peter Pan. And I enjoyed that aspect of the book. It was nice to see Peter Pan not being the golden boy. Let’s just say that this book would definitely give you a different idea of the boy himself. I loved it. And honestly, it made me continue reading the book. Heads up though, trigger warning for the depiction of sexual assault.
However, regardless of the premise, I had issues with Holly. The protagonist. She was not likeable whatsoever. There were decisions she made that I questioned and hated her for. I was livid for the most part when I was reading. And that made me struggle a lot since the book was following her. There were some questions about morals and ethics for sure. All I could think of was “What the fuck is wrong with you”.
What really made my skin crawl? Holly’s tryst with Peter. Sure, it might not be a prolonged affair. But she was doing sexual things with this boy. The excuse? He looked older than what was described in the fairy tale. But how old? One thing that stood out to me was the concept that Peter Pan gets old, he just does not grow up. So you’re saying this man-child has a handicap? And then what annoyed me more, just to justify the actual sexual act in this book, it was put in as a sexual assault. Peter assaulted Holly and that resulted in her getting pregnant.
There was also a private investigator in this book that made me smile when he was on the pages. The way he was introduced made me swoon, and from then, I was just swooning.
The book was good, I found the premise really interesting. However, I did not enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. And that was because the MC was just so darn unlikeable. I really do not like her. It was so hard to read because I found her decisions and rationales so infuriating. The ending was fine. I just wished I saw the big showdown between Peter and the investigator. And I somehow felt cheated because Holly was not in the final showdown so I missed the whole climax of it. Would I reread this? Probably not. But hey, I would keep this on my bookshelf regardless.
- Title: Howl’s Moving Castle
- Author: Diana Wynne Jones
- Genre: Children’s Fantasy
- Pages: 448
- Publisher: Greenwillow Books
- Published: 2008
I remember buying this book when I went to visit Japantown in San Francisco. That was years ago. And it has been sitting on my shelf for that long. So what made me decide to pick this up last year? I rewatched the movie and fell in love with it all over again. Then all of a sudden, I was in the mood to pick it up – so I did.
I am definitely not the target audience of the novel. Just the print alone on my copy suggests that – large font, double-spaced. However, I found that reading this book was the refresher that I needed. Nothing says palate cleanser more than picking up a YA fantasy in the middle of me being surrounded by true crime, mysteries, and thrillers.
Just a disclaimer, if you are picking this book up because you enjoyed the movie so much – be warned that there will be a lot of differences between the mediums. Do not compare the two and it will suck the enjoyment out of this book. Appreciate it for what it is. Movie adaptations tend to practice creative liberties. However, the book is enjoyable nonetheless.
This story is about Sophie Hatter and her journey to try to reverse a spell placed on her by the Wicked Witch of the Waste. A spell that turns someone old. In this journey, she meets a bunch of colorful and interesting characters who make her realize who she really is and what she is actually capable of.
This book is marketed toward young readers. It has a touch of whimsy for sure, with such colorful characters. But this has some dark themes, that’s why when I was reading it, I could not believe that this is considered a children’s book. There’s a social construct in this story that adults can relate to. Reading this as an adult, it hits differently. It is more visceral. I enjoyed it and I’m planning on picking up the next book soon.
Cindy, a reader that I’m following on YouTube, decided to host a readathon last month. The Asian Readathon. She had designed the readathon to be pressure free and somewhat lazy and after the video announcement, I agreed. Cindy had even provided a list of books for participant – including a list of books that will knock out four challenges (there were only five challenges in total).
I normally don’t get tempted to participate in readathons. Why? I have a problem with sticking to a TBRs. Sticking to a reading list had always been a difficult task for me. But I wanted to participate. I mean read one or two books that could satisfy four challenges and then read the group book. Total of 3 books a month, not difficult.
I prepared a non complicated TBR – 1 manga, 2 books. And I also prepared some back up books. Just in case I decided that I don’t want to read anything on the original TBR. Perfect.
Day 1 – I read 2 mangas – volume 1 of Tokyo Ghoul and Gantz. I don’t even know why decided to read 2 mangas when I know that reading even just 1 manga would KO 3 of the reading challenges. Whatever. My first day was good. And I felt like I was on a roll. I even read the first 2 short stories from the group book – A Thousand Beginnings and Endings.
Day 2 – picked up Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld to satisfy the challenge of reading a book that features an Asian intersectional character. I don’t even know if this counted since obviously Scott Westerfeld is not Asian. But I figured, why not, this book still features an Asian character in the LGBT community. To me, that counted. Anyway, tackled this book in tandem – physical book and audiobook. I mean, this book definitely caught my attention and I couldn’t put it down. I finished this book at the end of week 1.
Strong right? I really felt that I was on the right track. I mean what could go wrong? I only needed to finish the group book if I want to succeed this readathon.
Then the worst thing happened – READING SLUMP.
I couldn’t pick up a book after reading Afterworlds. I got invested to the story and I can’t seem to forget it. I tried reading some of the stories in the group book. Which I did succeed but there are stories that I had to skip just to get to the ones that interested me. It was horrible.
For the next couple weeks, I struggled hard to pick up a book, anything at that point. And nothing kept my interest. It was bad. I was pretty disappointed in myself really. I mean how could this have happened on the easiest readathon ever! I had no choice – I DNF’d the group book.
The moral of the story: Roma can’t do readathons. It would just end in disappointment.
Currently Reading: A Trail Through Time (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s) by Jodi Taylor