KJ's Book Reviews

  Circe Written by Madeline Miller Originally published in 2018 ~390 pages Rate 5/5 This is the second book I have read that was written by Madeline Miller. I think I like Circe a little bit more than  The Song of Achilles , however, there is no need to compare; I only mention The Song of Achilles for acknowledgment sake. I had never heard of Circe or really any characters within this story apart from what I had read in The Song of Achilles . So I started reading this book with little to no context or bias and I ended up really enjoying the story and Circe herself.  Circe's narrative was astonishing; in my opinion, she lived a long and rich life. She persevered through many difficult events throughout her life and met an array of people along the way which made for an excellent story. Although some parts of the story felt like they dragged on for a little too long, she was on an island by herself for most of the story so having somethings drawn out made the story feel real. I felt

  Yellowface Written by R.F. Kuang Originally published in 2023 ~320 pages Rate: 5/5 This is the second book that my book club has decided to read. I finished the book a little bit earlier than our set date because I couldn't put it down. Yellowface is about two authors who have been best friends since college. One of the authors, Athena, is a successful author. The other author, June, is not so successful. One night when they are spending time together at Athena's apartment she dies. After June gets help, she sneaks Athena's work-in-progress into her bag and later has it published as her own work. I'm not sure I've ever found a book about a book so captivating before. The book felt sort of like texting your friend about something they did and you're not sure how to tell them that they are in the wrong so you kind of just have to let them figure it out by themselves. It felt casual in the best way possible, because there was still a lot on the line, but obviousl

  The Body Keep the Score Brain, Mind, & Body in the Healing of Trauma Written by Bessel van der Kolk Originally published in 2014 ~464 pages Rate: 5/5 I saw this book on social media a lot for a couple of years so when I went to buy it at Barnes and Noble I looked inside and saw how small the words were and how textbook-like the book format was and shied away from reading it. However, my friend, Margaret and my sister-in-law, Derian recommended this book to me so I decided to try listening to it on audiobook and that helped me not feel so intimidated. This book explains how childhood experiences shape us and how trauma changes us. This was a very heavy book, however I really enjoyed it. The content in this book was incredibly insightful. It's one of those books that I think everyone should read at least once in their life. I would like to get a copy of it some day and annotate it.  While reading the book I felt an array of emotions, some people's stories were shocking, tra