Lots of interesting facts about history of women's genitalia and sexuality. Funny and thought-provoking.

Tartuin kirjaan, sillä takakannen lause "biotieteiden tutkimustuloksia tarkastellaan filosofisesti suhteessa nyky-yhteiskuntaan" sai mielenkiintoni heräämään. Tätä lukiessani tajusin, etten oikeastaan koskaan ole pitänyt filosofisesta tekstistä, sillä se tuntuu pakenevan kaikkea konkretiaa ja ajatukseni lähtevät harhailemaan. Joudun ponnistelemaan voidakseni keskittyä, mutta silti tuntuu, etteivät lauseet aukea. Esimerkiksi sivulla 73 on lause "Kuten neuronien koheesio, yritysten taloudellinen ja sosiaalinen organisaatio ei nykyisin ole keskusjohtoista tai keskittyvää vaan perustuu liikkuvien ja pistemäisten keskusten moneuteen ja kehkeytyy konnektionistisella tavalla." Uhh. Ymmärrän lauseen, mutten sitä mitä se todella tahtoo sanoa - tai pikemminkin, miksi se mitä tässä sanotaan, on tärkeää? No, en ole filosofi, joten ehkei tämä kirja vain ollut minua varten.

Some interesting facts, but unfortunately without a context. The book was often quite dragging to read, because it felt I was reading a list of people and dates with no idea who was who and how they were connected. There was some attempt to that, I admit, but in the end too much was included and in the end I remembered nothing of what I just read. There should have been an overarching, and more specific, theme to build a story around. Now the book was too big and too general, at least for a reader like me.

Easy-read with scientific and feminist twist sounded interesting enough for me to grab it, although in general I'm very skeptical of books with big hype. It turned out I should have been more skeptical with this one as well. The biggest turn-off for me was how everything that can be bad and can go wrong is bad and goes wrong for the main characters. I mean, there would be enough story for the struggle as a woman in academia, but then there's everything else beginning with bad and sad childhood and abandoning or dead parents and what else... Of course, this makes the struggle in science and as a single parent even harder as you don't have the support of your family, but ugh, how the misery and injustice seems to define one's life has bugged me since the first Harry Potter. Or maybe it is how the story is told and how the characters are left very flat. They should be scarred, they should feel something, right? But Elizabeth Zott doesn't seem like a real, suffering human among all the mess that is her life. She seems a bit autistic, which would be ok, but I think autistic people also have feelings. In the beginning of the book I was actually very fascinated about her daughter's perspective, because it at least seemed real, but unfortunately that perspective and basically the daughter was quickly forgotten and never returned to later in the story.

At the beginning I was sucked into the story, because of the beautiful writing that made the setting and the main character come to live. I really felt like I was stepping into another time and world. Unfortunately I lost the feeling when the story started to jump forward in time, fast-forwarding the accomplishments of Marie and the raise of the abbey from poverty to riches. I guess not describing the difficulties, the effort and the feelings of those involved in these changes made me get unattached from the story. Sadly, I lost the reality the nuns were living in. I made it to the end, but without real feelings for any of the characters and when finishing the story, I felt dull and empty.

In the beginning I thought the story had material to develop into a critique of consumerism - and somehow I maintained that hope for a long time before I realized the story was focussing only on the individuals and their problems. Unfortunately neither the way the story was told nor the characters were fascinating and I found the book utterly dull and forgettable. In the end I was thinking what a boring movie this must make and how come someone ever came up with the idea of making one out of this.

Melko yhdentekeva kirja. Tarkoituksena oli ilmeisesti kuvata kuinka perheestaan ja suvustaan erkaantuneenakin ihminen kantaa mukanaan taustaansa ja sen perintoa. Henkilohahmoja oli mukana turhan paljon ja hyppiminen eri aikatasojen valilla oli lahinna rasittavaa. En oikein saanut otetta henkiloista enka tarinasta. Kirja oli kuitenkin sujuvaa luettavaa eika onnistunut varsinaisesti arsyttamaankaan.

Nicely written and capturing story. Also touching, although I felt slightly alienated by the quite extreme revelations about the main character's past. It happens often to me that I think I'm reading about "normal" people and then feel disappointed that the author comes up with an explanation for his/her character's behaviour. I believe many people can be estranged from society with no particular, or very minor, reason and I would like to read more about these kind of people.

I was intrigued by the theme of family members growing detached from each other and the previous books I read by Jonathan Franzen. The theme was there and it was realistically captured from different perspectives, but the story was somehow dragging and there was no part when I was captured by it. I read some other books in between but somehow I got back to this one and eventually made it through. I was not impressed and feel that I should not have bothered.

The book was not as much of a memoir as I expected, but the memories were nicely intertwined with the facts about eels and the quests to reveal their secrets. It was interesting to read about the research and even more fascinating to realize how little is known about these strange animals and their lives. As it is not actually a popular science book, the author didn't go deep into the science, which left me curious and wanting to read more about research on eels. I also enjoyed the more philosophical level of the book.

I was not as impressed by this book as many others seem to have been. It was eye-opening to read about the extreme conceptions and beliefs of a Mormon family and how it leads them to live a very isolated life. I felt the psychological effects and growth out of such background was realistically described. Sometimes I had to pause reading the book because of the detailed descriptions of abuse and accidents and although they are non-separable part of the story, I think with less violence I would remember something else from this book. Now I believe it will be the top-most and perhaps the only thing that will stick to my memory.

I have to admit I picked this old book because it's catchy title. I liked the personal perspective of this book. Also, despite outdated, I thought it interesting to read a book about a period coming to an end but written at the time when the end result was not clear. However, I feel the book assumes people know a lot of the history back in the 1980s and before as well as Polish politics. There are way too many names without adequate background information and some of the chapters can be very confusing because of that. The most enjoyable chapters are the ones where the author is following the lives of common people, like a lady working in a factory or a farmer fighting against the system. Some chapters are unnecessary long and dragging, for example the chapter about the Jewish ghosts in Poland and another about the murder of a popular priest. I bet there are better books about the topic, but this one managed to provide some nice insight. I would probably not recommend it, but I'm not sorry I chose to read it.

First I struggled somewhat with the story as it felt fake and boring. Eventually it turned better and there were some deeper insights about identity that appealed to me. The overall theme of what is important in life didn't really offer anything new, but in a way I liked how the story, although quite predictable, unfolded. However, I felt the main character was left quite flat and was used mainly as an instrument to go through all the possible lives.

Catchy, easy and partly also entertaining to read. Partly just irritating. Many times I had a feeling Harari was just filling in the space with words, rephrasing the same thing multiple times. The message did not deserve a whole book to be told, but at least there is a message. It is not very original and the material provided to support the theory is mostly superficial. Therefore I felt this book did not have much to offer.

I picked this book because of it's beautiful cover (I love birds!). The story itself was entertaining and although nothing in it particularly irritated or bothered me, the characters were ok and the plot was logical with some nice twists, it was honestly quite dull. I didn't feel captured or motivated to finish it, but because it was ok enough, I did.

Although the famous stories like The Match-girl or The Little Mermaid sound beautiful when repeated or summarized in everyday life, I was quite disappointed when reading them. Maybe it was my expectations that made them feel very flat, but even worse were the other stories that I didn't know in advance. I felt in many stories the main character had an aim and often also reached this aim by selfish means. So these are in no means general fairytales with moral teaching, but quite the opposite. In a way, it is refreshing, but sometimes the stories also lack logic. Too often I also feel they are not capturing despite the imagination.

I stumbled into this book when Baileys had a campaign of women authors publishing under a pseudonym. Reclaim her name -campaign offered free e-books and I decided to read this. It was like many gothic stories very descriptive. Not too much happened and from the beginning it was quite clear where it was going. In that sense the story was even boring. However, I found the language quite fascinating and modern.

I enjoyed the amazing lyrical language that is pleasure to read and fantastic imagination. On the other hand the story was too much, on the other hand that is what makes this book special. It's breathtaking. But it also comes with a cost: like in action movies, or any story-driven movie or book, I felt that the characters didn't have depth. There was some pain, yes, some love, yes, a tiny bit of development, yes, but still I felt the characters distant and I couldn't emotionally relate with them.

Pidin tässä eniten realistisen tuntuisesta dystopian kuvauksesta, siitä kuinka tuttu Helsinki oli muuttunut ilmastonmuutoksen vuoksi lohduttomaksi taistelutantereeksi. Myös juoni oli looginen ja piti otteessaan. Sitten ne monissa arvosteluissa kehutut henkilöhahmot... Noh, eivät ne huonoja olleet, mutta omasta mielestäni yksiulotteisia ja siten epärealistisia. Toki tällaisissa tarinoissa pitää keskittyä siihen yhteen päähenkilöä ajavaan voimaan ja tässä se oli rakkaus. Pidän rakkaustarinoista, mutta tässä se oli kuvattu niin siirappisesti, etten kyennyt samaistumaan. Siirappikin olisi mennyt, päähenkilön muistelemat hellät kosketukset olivat sinänsä kauniisti kuvailtu, mutta uhh, ne naisen maagiset silmät olivat itselleni liikaa. Ja niitä toisteltiin sen verran usein, että oikeastaan koko naisesta mieleen jäivät vain silmät. Jotka eivät edes tuntuneet realistisilta. Rakastuuko joku todella ja oikeasti ensi silmäyksellä toisen ihmisen silmiin, jotka vetävät puoleensa kaiken valon ympäristöstään? Ehkä, mutta haluaisin silti, että rakkaus olisi jotain enemmän. Vaikka se matka, joka alkaa niistä silmistä.

Easy, yes, entertaining, yes, but still somewhat disappointing. Focusing on appearances annoys me. Ruthie fell in love immediately when seeing Teddy's hair. I would have liked to see the two finding more depths in each other DESPITE the looks. That's what the name of the book implied to me... Now it was the first impression that stuck until the end. Mentioning Teddy's hair throughout the book as Teddy's main characteristic ruined the character for me.

Viihdyttävä ja nopea luettava, mutta myös varsin unohdettava teos. Parasta antia ovat matkalla Nuorgamista Helsinkiin tavattavat ihmiset, jotka ovat kummallisuuksissaan hyvin tunnistettavissa. Waris ei sorru näiden ihmisten kuvailussa karikatyyreihin ja vain harvoin ylilyönteihin, vaikka niille "tavallisimmille" tyypeille olisi toivonut enemmän tilaa. Nyt päärooleihin nousivat vauhdikkaimmat tuttavuudet. Eniten kirjassa vaivasi, kuten niin usein nykyään, itselleni kovin vieras puhe seksistä ja siitä miten iso rooli sillä on ihmisten mielissä. Myös parisuhdekeskeisyydestä toivoisi joskus luovuttavan, kun ihmisenä voi kasvaa muillakin tavoilla ja ilman sitä parisuhdettakin. Olisi raikasta lukea tällainen teos, jossa ei olisi seksiä eikä parisuhdetta, mutta molemmat taitavat olla nykymaailman (yleisön?) vaatimus.

A nice collection of short stories written in a course of 20 years. Despite the time span, humanity has not changed much and the common theme for the stories is a life going somewhat wrong - or at least not ideally. Perhaps someone would call it a failure, but in these stories it looks simply humane. Many of the stories is about poverty or career not going as planned, divorce or other problems in love life. In a way the characters are victims of circumstances, but, however, the circumstances are not to blame as the individuals do not make the best choices. The choices are still understandable as they are a very human way to react. The characters could still choose differently, but they fail to take a look at their lives from outside and learn and perhaps change their ways. Or maybe they do, the stories have open ends, which is fitting when describing an event in a person's life.

Olin hivenen pettynyt, kun tämäkin osoittautui enemmän nykyajalle tyypilliseksi autofiktioksi kuin filosofiseksi pohdinnaksi elämästä. Toki sitä filosofointiakin oli mukana ja seassa klassikoiden hahmoja ja juonenkäänteitä kuten myös kirjailijoiden elämistä poimittuja relevantteja piirteitä ja tapahtumia. Oikeastaan kirjailijoiden omat elämät rinnastettuna heidän romaaniensa teemoihin oli tämän teoksen parasta antia. Kirjailijan itsensä tarina omia juuria ja identiteettiään etsivänä ihmisenä oli sympaattinen, mutta jotenkin epäkiinnostava. Ehkä se oli kuitenkin kovin lattea? Olisin kaivannut syväluotaavampaa asennetta - enemmän paljastuksia, kuten nykymaailmassa vaaditaan! No ei, mutta sen sijaan, että olisin nauttinut henkilökohtaisesta otteesta tässä sukelluksessa venäläiseen kirjallisuuteen, pidin sitä lähinnä tylsänä ja turhana ja kovin toisteisena sanahelinänä. Onhan toisaalta niinkin, että nykymaailma kaipaa selkeää punaista lankaa, joka nostetaan aika ajoin esiin, ettei kukaan vain eksy matkalla...

To be honest, this book seemed dull based on the cover. It was lying around in my parents house, untouched for more than 20 years, collecting dust. Then I just could not bare looking at it anymore and decided to read it. The first half was surprisingly nice, mostly because of the beautiful language. However, around half way it became dull. Compared to the more recent autofiction of the 2000s, this is very non-personal book. There's no inner struggle and very little struggle even with Italians, cultural differences and renovation of an old house. It is just a beautifully painted landscape, a dream fulfilled and, yes, it gets very boring after 100+ pages and there's still another half to go. I finished it but wouldn't say it's worth it. And no, I don't think I'm the kind of person who needs an exciting storyline and things to happen fast, I just need something to relate to and there was very little to relate to here. Maybe if you love Italy there would be more: I know very little of Italy, and this book was a nice introduction but it could have offered more. Either personal touch or deeper insight into the country.

Nykypäivänä taitaa olla trendikästä tehdä autofiktiota ja miksei siis autofaktaakin. Tämä ainakin toimi mukavasti. Kirjassa kerrottiin omakohtaisten retkien ja kohtaamisten kautta yhdeksän tarinaa eri lajien kantojen romahtamisesta elinympäristön muuttuessa ihmisen toiminnan seurauksena. Kaikki tarinat painottivat elinympäristöjen suojelun tärkeyttä ja yhden lajin katoamisen vaikutusta koko ekosysteemiin. Käsiteltyjä lajeja olivat esimerkiksi kuukkeli, kulta- ja keltasirkku, hömötiainen, taimen, isonuijasammal ja sinisiipi. Aiheen käsittely lajitasolla ja tiettyyn alueeseen keskittymällä oli kiinnostava, sillä itselläni ei ollut tietoa juuri näiden lajien ahdingosta - enhän edes tiennyt, että kuukkeli oli joskus yleinen lintu myös Etelä-Suomessa! Ja vaikka torjunta-aineiden vaikutuksesta hyönteiskatoon puhutaan paljon, en ollut kuullut, että myrkyt kulkeutuvat myös hyönteisiä poikasilleen syöttävien lintujen elimistöön tuhoisin seurauksin. Toisaalta kirja oli kovin toisteinen ja sitä vaivasi muutenkin turha jaarittelu ja jossittelu eikä se siksi onnistunut pitämään otteessaan ihan loppuun asti. Toisaalta toistoa luultavasti tarvitaan, että tärkeä viesti menee varmasti perille, joten sen voi antaa anteeksi.

For me this was a nice read, nothing extraordinary. Language was beautiful and the theme of hypocrisy is something I feel important in the society. The plot, however, didn't get my sympathies... I felt for the main protagonist, loosing her dogs, which were her family, and no one being held responsible for it by the society. While she was not religious, she was spiritual and believed in astrology and the influence of nature on life. Although I have nothing against astrology, I found that this aspect was somewhat poorly represented in the book. It felt somehow forced and not even necessary. Well, perhaps one could argue that one of the themes was comparison of conventional (catholic) religion to the other, often overlooked forms, of spirituality, but still I think this spirituality would have worked better with more subtle tones and without astrology. I was also craving more of magical realism -vibes to the story and would have been more delighted if it wouldn't have turned out as a rather conventional revenge/murder story.

Beautifully written but otherwise very flavorless story. There is actually two stories set in present, one of an Indian orphan Sai who falls in love with her math tutor and another one of Biju who emigrates to the USA, and one set in history (the story of the judge). Around the stories is the 1980s Gurkha revolution, but not knowing Indian history, it is not easy to grasp from the book what is going on, what is their motivation and historical/cultural/sociological situation. None of the characters were truly interesting as their stories consisted of only scattered events and it was difficult to relate to their struggles and dreams. The story of Biju's failed emigration to the States had some potential and succeeded in giving perspective to emigrants life. However, it also was very flat and Biju was left as a distant and naive character (well, aren't we all naive to some extent...)

I was left with mixed feelings after reading. On the other hand the language is just marvelous and I like how the story is told from inside its main characters heads (partly). This creates a mystical atmosphere where things and happenings are only hinted at and nothing is certain. On the other hand this makes the story difficult to get into. Well, I like also that it wasn't an easy read and it left the feeling that there's more to it than I was able to understand - even after the second read. Fortunately there is a very good introduction explaining the themes and nuances of the book, otherwise I would be totally lost. I admired the scattered expressions of shattered identity, expectations from others and filling them even when it means sacrificing your own self, but without the introduction I was not able to put this into words. The same goes to the husband's role as colonialist. Somehow the whole book was so eerie that it was difficult to say anything concrete about it without the introduction. In that way the book made me feel a bit stupid.

I also feel a silly saying that the references to Jane Eyre are not so important - I think you can perfectly well read this and not know about Jane Eyre. Maybe you miss some things then, but honestly, I think a book should be able to explain itself and stand as an individual piece even if it is part of the cultural context and has inter-textual references.

My confusion of the book is probably seen in these random thoughts.

I generally love Capote's use of language, but in this one it was not as enjoyable as in his later works. There were some paragraphs that were breathtaking. The bigger problem for me was that I felt the story and the characters were not capturing my attention. I have noticed this is often the case with these gothic style novels; maybe because they focus so much in creating the atmosphere? And, to be honest, atmosphere is rarely enough to make a book interesting for me. I was left with a quite empty feeling after finishing this.

Kaipasin jotain kevyttä ja hauskaa ja ajattelin, että joku Juurihoidon kaltainen voisi toimia. Ei tämä oikein toiminut... En tiedä olenko itse muuttunut vai Nousiaisen tyyli, mutta huumori tuntui kovin väkinäiseltä. Teräviä vertauksia ja huomioita maailmasta oli runsaasti, mutta ne tuntuivat hukkuvan keskinkertaisen latteuden alle. En kaivannut samaistumispintaa enkä syvällisiä hahmoja, ihan sellaiset tavalliset elämässä koheltavat ihmiset, jopa karikatyyrit heistä, olisivat riittäneet. Tässä teoksessa kohelsi liian moni ihminen ja kohelluksetkin jäivät kovin yksipuolisiksi. Toimivin kaari oli Samilla ja mietinkin, että kaikkien muiden "sivukohellukset" olisi aivan hyvin voinut kertoa Samin näkökulmasta. Ehkä se olisi tehnyt Samista sympaattisemman ja mielenkiintoisemman hahmon.