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Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
BATB score: 5/10 đŽ I am too young to be part of Oprahâs Book Club; took me a year to finish this slow burn book đ« Best as: was curious to know what kind of book makes it into Oprahâs Book Club 2023 Best to: ahh⊠long novels, slow narrations, a lot of character build up, sisterhood, family dynamics, inter-generations relationships, death of family members Best for: 50+ years old, early retired, slow and mellow lifestyle, read on the backyard patio, hard cover, hot tea, autum


The Vegetarian by Han Kang
BATB Score: 8.5/10 đ€Ż BATB wanted to know what kind of masterpiece writing does it take to win 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature (also congratulations Han Kang well-deserved đ ) Best to: eloquence in narration - word choice, sentence structure, convey character emotions, graphic narration, oddest plot, open-ended confusing ending Best as: imagine being award with the utmost prize of 2024 for something you wrote in 2007, which was only translated in 2015, to someone like me just


The Coworker by Freida McFadden
BATB score: 7/10 đ okay but not wow Best for: McFans - Freida McFaddenâs fan club to might as well read everything that she has ever written (all 27 books and counting) because why not đ€·ââïž Best as: a blueprint on plotting against your coworker; I never liked my coworkers anyways - office bullying is a real deal Beat to: okay, I hate some of my coworkers and do wish them the very worst Best quote: ânever give other people the satisfaction of seeing you cry.â


The One by John Marrs
BATB score: 9/10 â€ïž page-turner, unable to put down, impossible to predict whatâs next, full of surprises and suspense, a plot twist with every chapter, bravo read Best to: ahh, so this kind of book gets selected by Netflix; a novel written by John Marrs, adapted into a Netflix Series in 2021; IMDb 6.6/10 British science fiction television series Best as: how far does one go to find the one? and when you are told he/she is the one for you (scientifically proven) would we forc


The Maid's Diary by Loreth Anne White
BATB score: 6/10 đ« Best as: a very long suspense, thriller, murder, crime scene investigation novel; with all those pages and words yet character love wasnât established #bummer Best to: great interesting and rewarding ending just took a long time to get there; like how thereâs a direct route but you took the scenic route which wasnât that scenic anyways Best for: retired avid readers with a lot of time on your hands and enjoys the reading journey not necessarily the end; ho


Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
BATB score: 7/10 đ„đđšâđ true classic piece of art, an oldie from 1953 Best to: dystopia novel - if books are illegal and if conformity without question is the norm; where firemen burn books and everyone has ADHD and is dumb Best as: a political book - censorship, no freedom for imagination, government brutal crackdowns, witch-hunt of intellectual outliers, mass tabloid groupthink Best for: 72 years later, BATB 2025 has just came across this book?! BATB lingering thought: h


Poor Things by Alasdair
BATB score: 6/10 đ„Ž *reader discretion advised* side back story, after watching âPoor Thingsâ the movie featuring Emma Stone IMDb 8.3, BATB wants to understand what kind of novel [1992] gets selected for film-adaption [2023] Best as: oh shit, the original novel by Alasdair Gray vs the academy award film by Yorgos Lanthimos is two different individually unique masterpiece đ Best to: the novel structure is split based on the characters point of view, written in a memoir first-


The Gentleman from Peru by André Aciman
BATB score: 8/10 đ *feel good vibes* Best as: a novella about soulmates finding each other after generations of rebirths Best to: a casual read, best read under the palm trees đŽ on a beach đïž with an aperol spritz đč Best for: anyone on holiday on italian amalfi beaches Best quote: âItâs life that is impermanent, not love.â


The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei
BATB score: 6/10 đ Best to: a pastime read to accompany your slow life upon retirement BATB lingering thought: maybe we leave the long novels for later Best as: oldest / original daughter dilemma, motherâs disappointment in daughter, sisters passive aggressive rivalry, so who takes care of mother when sheâs on her deathbed? Best for: only if you are an oldest daughter in an asian family Best quotes: âThere was considerable freedom to be had in knowing and accepting that I wa


Death Row by Freida McFadden
BATB score: 8/10 Best as: a short bedtime story but thriller Freida McFadden signature epilogue twist Best to: 60-minutes quick casual fun read to give you a small sense of accomplishment - yay, I finished a book today Best for: Frieda McFaddenâs loyal fanclub Best quotes: âAnd I feel lighter - happier - all of a sudden.â âSometimes itâs better to let go than to drag it out.â


Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory: Stories by Raphael Bob-Waksberg
BATB score: 7/10 đŽ Best as: a series of random short stories about everything and anything Best for: written with the same satire as BoJack Horseman blunt witty humor Best to: a good story / bad story roulette; hit-or-miss rate 7:3 Best quotes: âThere are two kinds of people, he thought: the people you donât want to touch because youâre afraid youâre going to break them and the people you donât want to touch because youâre afraid theyâll break you.â âWhat happened to our soc


Giovanniâs Room by James Baldwin
BATB score: 7/10 đ§ Best as: 100 most influential novel by BBC News 2019 - might as well â
Best to: a novel about bisexuality and internalized homophobia, sensitive masculinity and social alienation back in 1956 where everything is controversial đ§ wowza Best for: literature as an art form ; art appreciation Best quotes: âPeople can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also t


The Tenant by Freida McFaddenÂ
BATB score: 6/10 đȘ 𩞠Best for: McFans - Freida McFadden loyal fans Best to: a classic Freida McFadden twist and turn suspenseful fiction Best as: reading for fun Best quote: âIs it such an awful thing to want retribution against people who have wronged you?â


Lights Out by Navessa Allen
BATB score: 3/10 â ïž reader discretion advised sexually explicit content; every detail, kinks, and all đ« Best as: Kindle #1 best seller and #1 most read under Erotica category - got me curious, never read never know Best to: holy moly đ erotica indeed, porno in book form; interesting, are all our erotica fantasy similar and so predictable? BATB confession: couldnât finish the book, didnât feel invested in the characters nor the storyline; too girly berry, chick-flick but


Hunger by Choi Jin-Young
BATB score: 3/10 đ€·ââïž Best to: either you love it or you hate it; wasnât able to feel the characters and thus wasnât able to be invested nor admire the story Best as: longing of two souls to the point of cannabalism Best for: maybe this book is better in original Korean language? Best quotes: âFaith is the key to grasping absurdity.â âAre those who fire the guns and take the bullets ever those who start the war?â âTo be freed from this suffering - and if thatâs not doable, t
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