[REVIEW] A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

For a few weeks, I tried to gather my thoughts around this book. In particular, how could a book rated as 4 stars on Goodreads, could actually be a 1 star reading for me... But that's the amazing power of books, they depend so much on the story and the writing style, as they depend on the reader's mood, favourite genres, etc...
There are other reviews than summarise the book much better than this one --> for the moment I will just say that this book did much more "tell" than "show" (for example, it tried to convince me the vampire was dangerous, but we only saw him doing yoga, not doing any killing) and it is full of patriarchal elements:
- the most powerful witch ever born is not able to defend her self at all
- the woman's purpose is to have babies
- the woman's life is in danger so the man meets with other man (behind closed doors) to decide what she will do, while she waits outside and knits (... eyes rolling...)

But, hey, there are positive things: the main character is an historian that focused on alchemy --> I am a chemist, so I could I not like this? But I learned very little, so I will focus on alchemistry books instead of this fantasy series.

So, as a summary, and with all due respect for the author and fans, this book is not for me.

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[REVIEW] In the woods

In the Woods by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my first Tana French, and it had been a long time since my last mystery/thriller... So right before the book ended, I was thinking "wait a second, there are not enough pages to figure out everything that happened in this book..." and apparently that's the way Tana French's books are --> the characters are flawed, they make mistakes, not all their issues are solved and they definitely do not live happily ever after.
This is kind of refreshing for me, much more realistic!
So in this one, Rob is a troubled guy, something terrible happened when he was young and it basically ruins him. He might be a good cop, but at some point he let's his fears and emotions gets in the way.
I am giving 4 starts to this book, because it managed to make me angry and frustrated with some characters while keeping me engaged in the story.
I am definitely going to read the rest of the Murder Squad novels!

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um 2021 com muitas vacinas, poucas redes sociais e boas leituras

é o que eu desejo a todos sem excepção!

Gostava imenso que em 2021 as pessoas começassem a passar tanto tempo com livros como o tempo que passam no Instagram, mas já sei que é pedir demais...

OK, segunda tentativa: por favor leiam o Digital Minimalism ou vejam o Social Dilema na Netflix. E mais não digo...

Gostava que em 2021 as livrarias independentes em Portugal deixassem de viver no século XX e apostassem no serviço digital. Nove meses no meio de uma pandemia e ainda há livrarias que não têm um motor de pesquisa decente no site, ou não têm loja online, muitas delas não têm sequer website... amigos, páginas de facebook e blogs não contam... Dói-me na alma querer ajudar o comércio tradicional português e não poder fazer nada online a 2000 km. de distância...

Gostava imenso que em 2021 os telejornais portugueses deixassem de perder 20 minutos com futebol. Que deixassem de mostrar resultados do campeonato de futebol inglês, espanhol, italiano, francês... esqueci-me de algum? É por demais!