nigel_hakeem's reviews
102 reviews

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Road to Neverwinter by Jaleigh Johnson

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is the first fantasy book I've read since I was a teenager and was a good way to get back into the genre. I loved the movie, and this is a good companion.

Disorientation: Being Black in the World by Ian Williams

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Amazing book. At first, I was a little hesitant because of Williams' liberal politics, but jeez, these essays were amazing. I found countless points that I could relate to, and that inspired my own writing. Williams is able to describe the Black experience in a white world so succinctly and powerfully that the whole book feels like one big gut punch.

The essays Disorientation, Ten Bullets on Whiteness, Four to Eighteen Days, Between Us, and Sighting especially stood out to me. Please pick up this book and give it a good read. Both you and Williams deserve it. 

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

How to Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen

emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

funny informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed the story and Kuang's satirizing of the publishing world. The story read fast and had good bumps and turns. I didn't like the main character, Juniper, but I also wanted to see where she ended up. The ace storytelling made it a compelling read.

The writing itself was a little disappointing. It's definitely not flashy and quite plane, almost "styleless." It's very straightforward, and that lost something for me. 

All in all, this was just a good book to read in the summer.

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is a solid story collection. Definitely some high points, but also some stories I could have done without. 

I really enjoy Taylor's writing style in how descriptive it is. Every character is situated within their body, and its really refreshing to read something contemporary where characters actually take up physical space. I would recommend this to writers as the go-to on how to write descriptions of physicality. It's really top-notch.

As for stories, half are connected, and half are stand alone. The stand-alone stories mostly fell flat for me, though. Each one felt like a slog to get through to get back to the "main" story. The "love triangle" between Lionel, Charles, and Sophie is at the heart of this book. I would have liked for this collection to instead just be a novella on their story or a flushed out full-length novel.

The standouts for me are "Potluck, " "Proctoring," and "Apartment."

Though I enjoyed Taylor's first novel better, this was an enjoyable read, and Taylor is an important voice in contemporary literature

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Goddamn, Franzen can put a good sentence together.

This is one of my favourite novels. The whole book, you can't help but dislike these characters. Everyone is so frustrating and constantly doing the wrong thing. They treat people horribly, and they're entitled and selfish, but you just want them to have one last Christmas.

A truly great read.

The Torrents of Spring by Ernest Hemingway

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I would only read this if you want to see how Hemingway developed as a writer or you're a completionist going through all his writing. At points, you can see what makes Hemingway the great writer he became, but ultimately, this is a pretty unremarkable book that is only notable because Hemingway wrote it.

It's a fun story, goofy at points, and a pretty quick read. I did enjoy the inclusion of "Authors notes" and think it would be interesting to see what his writing would have been like if he continued with that.