The Narrow Road to the Deep North

I yawned just after reading 2 pages of this book. Flanagan's prose was flat and it was obvious that he was trying too hard to impress readers with his vocabulary collection. Oh, this book also joined Murakami's latest book as Bad Sex in Fiction Award Nominee 2014. They are both equally bad in describing sex - they should be banned from writing any sex scenes! My heart ached because I thought that I had chosen a brilliant book. After all, it is the winner of The Man Booker Prize.

The only consolation that I have is that the horror war stories Flanagan exposed in details as he dedicated this book to his father (Prisoner 335) who survived the war. I am embarrassed that I was not aware about the Siam - Burma Death Railway built during the WWII. I cannot imagine the all the sufferings that the POWs had to go through. Hunger, cholera, dysentery, ulcers, vivisection... oh gosh, especially the vivisection. Who in the right mind could operate a vivisection?! I am truly disgusted that human beings can be so cruel to each other just because they want to uphold a certain belief.

War stories always make me ponder about life and humanity. I hate it when people are fighting, no matter how small the issue is. Can we all just share this world in peace?

All the Bright Places

This is my first YA fiction after Eleanor & Park. In fact, it has the same format as Eleanor & Park although this book is at the opposite spectrum of the mood.

Finch is suicidal and Violet is coping with the death of her sister. The whole book is about depression and life. I wonder why young adults these days have to deal with serious stuff like these. When I was a teenager, I thought of nothing other than schoolworks.

The Strange Library （不思議な図書館）

What a lovely book! I adore the book cover design; it gives the vibe of an old library cataloguing. 

As I am not a fantasy fan, the content doesn't appeal to me much. It was a fun read but I feel that the story was cut too short too early. It could have gone further a little bit more....

French Milk

French Milk is a comic journal of a 22 yo American girl, documenting her 5 weeks in Paris spent with her Mum. As it is my first comic journal, it was quite fun reading it - it's like reading someone else's diary. However, the story lacks substance and I'm glad that it was a fast read.

Sharp Objects

I saw a lot of 5 stars given to this book in Goodreads I wonder what's so good about it. This is also my second Gillian Flynn's novel after Gone Girl. Hmmm....

Overall, I prefer Gone Girl. This book is super creepy I still can't shake off the goosebumps even after I'm done with it. The one-liner summary is this: "A dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship results in the death of 4 girls." But, but, you gotta read how crazy the mother is, and how affected the daughters are. They should all go to separate mental hospitals, seriously!

Gillian Flynn, your mind is indeed crooked!