Reading Habits
Annotations, creased spines, dog ears, notes and scribbles on book pages is a known taboo in the reading community. If you prefer your books in pristine and untouched-quality-like condition, word of advice, this article may not be for you. Viewer discretion IS advised.
Don't get me wrong, books are sacred. The reason I used to avoid having people borrow books from me was because I didn't trust them. What if they return the book with torn pages? What if they accidentally wrote on the cover? What if they fold the pages? What if they leave it with a child unattended and the child would draw on the pages or worse, rip the cover? What if they were drinking coffee and by some accident, the coffee ended up soaking the book? What if it got thrown in the pits of hell?
Do I still think like this? Yes and do I still avoid having people borrow books from me? Still yes but now, it's not because I don't want creased spines, blotched pages, or dog ears, no, I do that myself, but it's mostly because the pages are personal - my hidden thoughts lurk inside the pages.
**My Reading Habits:**
Annotate - I usually write on the pages or if not, I write on sitcky notes and scratch papers then stick them on the pages. Whatever is thought provoking or relatable to me, I just go and pour all my thoughts and emotions. This is also the reason why I really have to take my time in reading. I'm a fast reader but I'm slowing down because of this habit but no regrets no regrets. This has made reading more enjoyable and important for me honestly. My books that have more annotations and tabs are the most loved and personal.
Tab the Pages - I didn't think putting tabs on books was a thing back then but I used to just do this with no proper knowledge. I'd cut out small pieces of paper and glue them on the side of the pages so I can flip through them and reread those pages over and over. Since I started reading again, I decided to buy tabs. They're more convenient because they're sturdy compared to paper and they don't need to be glued in order for them to stick. Since I'm doing my utmost best to save, I usually cut the tabs in half so I can have more. Every color represents something, sometimes blue is for quotes or parts that make me sad, orange for parts that should be remembered, pink for romance, etc.
Highlight, Underline and Circle Phrases - I started off slow. I started with underlining phrases and it took me years to start writing on the pages (years because I only read about 5-8 books a year before). I usually underline the parts that I think are relatable or nice. Every now and then, I'd go through my books and open them randomly to see all the phrases and parts I've highlighted and underlined and it's like free therapy, I mean, advice - like going over random advices.
Kiss Marks - I've done this only once but I'd definitely do it again. The page that I left kiss marks on was a page that I was so enthralled with. Everything was beautiful. We usually kiss people and pets to indicate our fondness and that's exactly what I did to the book.
Dog Ears and Bookmarks - I thrift books. Books sold in book sales are usually second hand or old editions and I think they're prettier and less intimidating. Yellow and tanning pages smell better too. I usually fold the pages of my thrifted books and use bookmarks for the new ones. I use pens, pencils, tabs, mini envelopes, or freebies from bookshops such as starbucks cards and thank you letters, as bookmarks.
Read the Whole Day or Don't Read at All - I have to engross myself to fully become attached with the book that I'm reading. I don't like dividing my attention too much or else I'd disassociate. I won't understand what I'm reading and it just isn't much of a satisying experience when I have to stop on certain parts of the book. I just really prefer to finish a book ine one day so that the feelings I've invested remain the same.
I may have click baited you with 'creased spines' because even I still have a fight or flight relationship with that. I love buying books with creased spines but I can't crease them with my own hands, much less hand it to someone else and let them do it. I did, however, force myself to crease a classic I just bought and I felt like that was a very regretful act.
These habits are some of the ways I get to fully engross myself with books I'm currently reading. The more annotated, tabbed, and worn out, the more loved.
How about you? Have you done any of these habits? Or would you like to try them too?
Book Review on 'The Silent Patient'
Alex Michaeledis debuted his first novel in 2019 with a psychological thriller encompassing the case of Alicia Berenson - a patient admitted at a mental institution named 'The Grove.' She's infamous for her sordid refusal to speak after police found her standing in front of the fireplace in their pitchblack home with a gun on the floor and her loving and highly esteemed photographer husband, Gabriel Berenson, tied to a chair with a broken skull, lifeless.
Perhaps it was trauma, perhaps it was her way of coping, perhaps it was guilt but her silence has reached a seven year sentence. Wasn't she silent for too long? This peaked psychotherapist Theo Faber's interest, claiming a vigorous desire within him to fix her, make her speak, take away her silence. There on, Theo decides to work at The Grove to treat Alicia.
Communication does not rely on speech. Alicia is a talented painter who focuses on hyperrealistic paintings. A few days following the death of her husband, she had completed a self-portrait eagerly with no breaks. 'Alcestis' it was named - known as Euripides' tragedy following the sacrifice of the Greek princess Alcestis, for her husband, Admetus.
Alicia had painted herself as Alcestis - the woman who sacrificed herself in exchange for her husband's life only to be brought back to life and never utter a word ever again.
Unlike Alcestis, Alicia spoke not only through art, but also in her diary. Everything that happened during the days before and after the murder, and even the significant events that happened in The Grove were all written with intricate detail. Will the diary prove her innocence? Will it prove her guilty? Or will it prove something else?
I assure you that I haven't given away the entire plot of the story. This is a mere summary, the book LITERALLY welcomes you with Alcestis' name and the prologue is Alicia's first diary entry.
REVIEW:
Due to this book being hyped and recommended on booktok (accounts with their platforms solely intended for books on TikTok), bookstagram (bookish accounts on Instagram), and booktube (reader influencers and communities in YouTube), I must say, the clout really convinced me to buy this and now I'm here trying my utmost best to convince you to help me get my money back. (Kidding)
I found the summary interesting and the reviews made me more intrigued by the minute but due to it's well received and biased criticism, I've built up my expectations too high and in the end I was disappointed. It is a page turner, I'll give you that but personally, I didn't find it mind boggling.
It didn't provoke any suspense nor did it trigger any thrill in me. I guess it's the narration and writing style that just didn't appeal to me, and I'm not saying this to promote this book negatively, I'm just being honest with my review, MY experiences with reading it. Just because it doesn't appeal to me, doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. Every book affects every reader differently.
*Rating:* ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 Stars)
I would say this book is quite disturbing though, ESPECIALLY the plot twist. I was repulsed by it honestly, I was grimacing the whole time. If you're looking for fast paced psychological thrillers with characters that are insanely good at manipulation, characters that will make you question who's the antagonist and who's the protagonist, chapters that will make you feel like you're in a lucid dream, and plots with open endings, you should try this one out.
RECOMMENDATION:
A crime thriller that I read three or four years ago that struck me with such grotesque description and macabre narration, great storytelling and a mind blowing plot that until today, leaves such a foul taste in my mouth, is Simon Beckett's 'Whispers of the Dead.' It is utterly gripping, it horrified me to be honest and until now I'm upset because I still can't seem to find any other books by Simon Beckett in nearby book stores and even online. I remember feeling nothing but cold as the plot twist went on and just being scared and excited to read the next words and flip the next pages.
*Rating:* ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 Stars) This was how I would have rated it if I started rating and reviewing my books before.
Have you read any of these books? Or any crime and psychological thrillers? Let's interact!
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Review on Ocean Vuong's Debut Novel
It's powerful how a creative form could allow an audience access to veer into the souls and minds of its creators. How, along lines and plots, characters and undertones, we are shed light into a perspective and a reality to some extent that its creators intend to express - intend us, as the audience, to acknowledge. After all, singers can only sing the notes they can reach and writers can only write what they know.
Passion and experiences - these are what drives us to speak, to move, to listen and be heard. I've always been intrigued with literature, poetry mostly. Before I could even comprehend how one line contained a plethora of underlying messages hidden beneath the layers of literary devices that the younger version of myself could not yet grasp as a part of it's artistic merit, I have already recognized and admired how words could stir an intensity of emotions to people and how society uses it as an extension of themselves, if not, a replication and a form of preservation to their thoughts.
I saw it as a form of self expression, one which brought people closer to each other. I remember writing poems when I was younger, giving them to my parents on special occasions and even to friends. Although I may not be as exposed to literature (classic, modern, and in whatever timestamp or era) as those who study it as a degree or career, and I may still have a lot of readings to accomplish, considering my ever-growing pile of books due to my compulsive consumerist tendencies (which is not for us to unpack as of now but some other time), I do know a thing or two about poetry - that it does not require rhymes for it to be beautiful, the play of words is simply beautiful enough.
I tend to go to the poetic route more often than I would like, but that's a trait in me that I'm embracing more now. There's just something magical and fascinating in how words and even their absence could bring so much meaning - most especially when we see the message unfold right before our eyes. When we see something more real, more authentic, and more genuine, we appreciate it in all its realness and vulnerability. Through it, in whatever emotion it may stir, we see its beauty.
Before I go astray with the purpose of this article, let me introduce myself first. I'm thebookreyviews, a Filipina who has a thirst for knowledge and a hunger for words. I'm here to talk about a contemporary novel that made me stare at a wall every time I put it down, that made my heart feel a sudden and sharp prolonged pang with every page, that made me bawl my eyes out, and appreciate the artistry behind an author's writing and was left in awe with the poet's way of thinking.
A sound that isn't heard but felt, a voice, tender and delicate but full of volume and strength. That is how I would describe this novel in one sentence. Ocean Vuong's debut novel "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" is a work of fiction tinged with the vigorous reality of colorism, the tainted relationships brought by trauma, the repercussions and turmoil war leaves behind, and the struggles of identity, sexuality, belongingness, and racism. Due to how the book was executed, I rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars and for such a short read (just 200+ pages long), it contains so much - one voice for all the immigrants who speak a diversity of language but are silenced, one voice for all the sons, daughters, and children who have complicated relationships with their family, one voice for all of the victims of abuse, one voice for the pressure and prejudice that people of color have and continue to endure due to racism, and one voice for everyone who has survived war and to those who are at war - be it with themselves or in whatever form or structure it may be.
The novel is written in epistolary format that starts with a line of hesitance from its writer, Little Dog, to his illiterate mother, Rose. This uncertainty insinuates how he has tried again and again to find the right words - to reach her, even though the words are nothing but letters consisted of lines and curves to her. Writing letters to a person deprived of the privilege of education as a consequence of war and poverty, instead of talking, the only way for the two of them to hear and be heard, indicates the gap in their relationship - that he'd rather choose miscommunication than be heard, seen, understood.
Rose isn't a perfect mother but she's also a sister, a daughter, a neighbor, a manicurist, an immigrant, a human being. Humans are not one dimensional - they are not enclosed in one identity. In this enigma of the human characteristic, we see people based on how they treat us and how they present themselves to us. Little Dog has called her a monster in his letters and that "it is not such a terrible thing to be" indicating that he acknowledges his mother's abuse and flaws but not that she's a terrible mother, because "mother" is not the only identity she has.
The novel painfully represents the strings we pull in each other's lives, how each string is a division connected to another set of strings that connects us. From his grandmother who renamed herself Lan, to notable people with Vietnamese blood such as Tiger Woods, to his mother's prejudice with colorism in Vietnam as a Vietnamese-American and her struggles as a Vietnamese- American in America, to their "roles" as lower class members of society, to Trevor's sexual confusion, identity, and addiction, and to Paul's kindness and love, proving being a family means being accepted, not being related - every character and every role they portrayed was woven intricately and poetically with such passion and grace that you saw the characters as if you were Little Dog. As if Lan was your grandmother, Rose was your mother, Mai was your aunt, Paul was your grandfather, and Trevor was your lover.
I honestly would love to dig deeper into the characters but I wouldn't want to spoil the story (as if I haven't spoiled you enough already). If you're planning to read this, which I hope you do because Ocean Vuong deserves all the hype and recognition, do take the time to look up trigger warnings as it can be too much for some - it includes violence, abuse and addiction, and even animal cruelty.
@thebookreyviews
