13 reviews
George Orwell
Important and well-written, though the middle section drags a bit with the book-within-a-book.
Daniel Kahneman
The most important non-fiction book of the 21st century. Kahneman deserved every accolade.
Matt Haig
Heartwarming and well-paced. Some of the alternate lives felt a bit surface-level but the message resonates.
Jane Austen
Well-crafted but the pacing felt slow to me. I can see why it's beloved though.
Bram Stoker
Harker's journal at the start is pure suspense. You know something is wrong but Harker keeps rationalizing.
Herman Melville
Melville's humor is underappreciated. The book is genuinely funny in places between the existential dread.
Bram Stoker
The first third set in Transylvania is incredible. The pace slows when they get to England but picks up again.
Charlotte Brontë
Jane's moral backbone is admirable. She walks away from love because her principles demand it.
J. P. Steed
Better when you're young and angry at the world. As an adult I see Holden with more compassion and sadness.
Mary Shelley
Nature vs nurture, the ethics of creation, parental responsibility - all in a gothic horror novel from 1818.
Aldous Huxley
The soma concept is brilliant. We're living in a soft version of this world already.
Emily Brontë
The nested narrative structure is bold. Nelly Dean as narrator adds an unreliable filter to everything.
J.R.R. Tolkien
My desert island book. The scope, the depth, the beauty of the prose - nothing else comes close.