Recent Reads 240718: Tash Aw, Jokha Alharthi, Jacqueline Susann

[@sarah-roadworthy]

Valley of the Dolls is the perfect book to read during graduate school! Good to see you back.

[@SluggishReader]

Thanks Sarah! You're so right about that. I think it complemented my lifestyle quite well at that time.

[@biolameieri]

Happy you've found time to upload again, missed your videos🙂 I've only read Celestial Bodies, fully agree with your thoughts here. At the time that I read it I couldn't really pinpoint why it felt underwhelming (I too thought I would love it), but you've put it into words perfectly. Thanks!😄

[@SluggishReader]

@@biolameieri Thank you! I thought "underwhelming" describes my feelings about Celestial Bodies succinctly. I'm interested in Bitter Orange Tree because I heard that that might be "different" (?).. have you read that?

[@ThatsSoPoe]

Glad you have the mental space to film some videos right now! Always love hearing your thoughts. I appreciate especially hearing about your experience with Celestial Bodies. I'd started that a while back and paused it because I was struggling to get into it. Sounds like you also had trouble getting drawn in, so I think I'll just permanently let that one go. But yay that you enjoyed Valley of the Dolls so much!

[@SluggishReader]

Thanks Shannon. I have seen similar responses regarding Celestial Bodies on KZbin and Instagram so I suppose it wasn't just me reading it wrongly. Have you read Valley of the Dolls? I'm not sure if it's something you would go for - but I can see the themes of women's bodies and agency being something you might be interested in.

[@ThatsSoPoe]

@@SluggishReader I've heard of Valley of the Dolls, but never read it. I'm also not sure if I would enjoy it, but it does sound really interesting based on your review!

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

I’ve been waiting to hear about _Valley of the Dolls._ I’d heard the famous title but never knew what it was about.

[@SluggishReader]

I thought it was going to be a hot trash. I was both disappointed (that it was not a hot trash) and pleased (that it was not, well, a hot trash).

[@ReadBecca]

Yay glad to see your face again and hear you are doing well. Semester break woo! I have wanted to read Celestial Bodies, but so many people seem to bounce off it, so I keep putting it off. It sounds like you got something interesting out of it about Oman tho, so maybe I need to try it and bail quick if characters aren't working for me.

[@SluggishReader]

@@ReadBecca hi Becca! I hope Celestial Bodies will work better for you than it did for me. It is a strange one for me, because it has a family tree at the beginning which suggests a family epic, but it is also somewhat disjointed.