I've been starting to work my way through the Penguin Top 100 Books List and beyond the few I've read (and ones I want to revisit), I started with To Kill a Mockingbird. Which I surprisingly never read at school. I don't think it was for reasons like prejudice, but simply fault of the curriculum at the time.

I wish I'd read this at school. And yet I'm glad I didn't, because I felt I truly appreciated it now.

A powerful work on discrimination, hypocrisy and trying to be a good person and see that beyond our initial impressions (or taught hate), people can be good if you choose to look. I was tearing up at the end, in all honesty. Even if I generally knew about the plot of the book, I was surprised at it's heart.

I can see why this book is so revered.

Sayaka Murata is my favourite author right now. Her ability to explore societal conventions, to their most extreme and distressing, I've yet to find rivalled. Especially the perspectives that I feel are closely aligned to the neurodiverse experience. I was thrilled to see her new book released.

Unlike Earthlings, Vanishing World takes a while until it builds up to its more shocking stuff. But I would say it was far stronger, far more sickening than Earthlings. I say this positively, I was left gasping at the end of the book from horror.

My only complaint with the book was I felt that it dragged a little into the middle, was a lot of the characters discussing the changing world but little seeing it materialise or them interacting directly with it. Granted, it's only a minor complaint and it didn't hamper my enjoyment. If anything I loved how she explored the various unique perspectives a world like that could produce.

I saw some community reviews that felt the ending of the book put them off the rest of the book. I couldn't help but disagree, having been aquainted with all her English-published material so far, I knew to generally expect something messed up. Also I felt the ending was thematically linked to the beginning of the book in a powerful way.

I reccomend Sayaka Murata with fierce strength. She has yet to disappoint me.

This book sets out to do one thing. Make you sick. And I'm a tough nut to crack but this got me.

Unfortunately, I can't say that the book had strong messaging beyond that. Just a bunch of messed up stuff that doesn't have much of a point by the end of it. You could potentially have a Veganism reading of the text, exploring the cruelties of the meat industry, but I feel like that might be grasping a bit as Steven progresses further into depravity.

Granted, it was an engaging read and well-written, especially its use of language to create such vivid, disgusting imagery. "Engaging" if you're willing to stomach the hundreds of trigger warnings this book is full with. It's the most extreme of the extreme fictions I've read, but not among the ones I've enjoyed the most.

My introduction to this book was too perfect. In a small booksellers in London, a man picked up this book and was noticed by one of the shopkeepers. The shopkeeper began loudly praising the book. Said to the man "If you like the first few pages, you'll love this book. It's a wierd one though." Or something to that effect.

The man nodded politely, read the book and then placed it back. I slunk over to the pile, and picked up the copy myself. I was struck alone by the title, the fact it was only part of a full sentence. I didn't buy it at the time, but took a look at the first few pages.

You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a winter’s night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade.

This book isn't an easy read. As it continues it gets more labyrinthine, with intricate use of language that can leave you feeling a bit lost. But in a way, you blend in with the 'you' of the book as a result. Caught between various unfinished stories, chasing any lead and finding them slip through your grasp as you become enmeshed with a situation way beyond what you bargained for picking up the book.

But I've seen little like this. It's absolutely worth a read.

I picked up this book on a holiday with my partner. A striking title. A totally blind read. I'm beyond frustrated more people don't know about this book.

It explores a therapist in the post-war swiss Alps, dealing with various patients that have all been impacted by the war to different degrees.

But as it progresses, you see that Nicholas, the therapist, has also been affected. Start to see him unravel within the deeply isolating yet gorgeous setting of the Alps. Meanwhile his wife, Anna, discovers meaning though exploration of atomic science. She is the infinite. He is the sadness. And ultimately, faced with the lingering horrors of war, the book asks us- Is this all there is?

I'd love to revisit this book again in the future.

So far, this has been my favourite extreme horror book. Such brilliant writing, and I loved the screwed-up dynamic of the main couple. Some scenes just stuck with me long after I finished the book (the part where Lauren was spitting at Dahlia in particular struck me). Fantastic exploration of toxicity.

My partner reccomended this one to me. He'd loved it. Me personally, I wasn't too impressed as the book continued.

The start of the book is brilliant. I loved the ways it set up the child-like perspective, shifting terrifying circumstances into something more dream-like in surrealness. A child just simply unsure what was going on, not scared just confused. Until it became apparent that whatever was out for them meant harm.