Down the Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

October 28: Halloween Freebie!

Halloween is in just a couple of days, so this Friday, write about whatever spooky-season topic you want! Some ideas are: your favorite horror novels, favorite fall reads, or your favorite places to read and write in fall!

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH! Today is a freebie, a free-for-all topic of discussion. I decided I’ll just take it easy this week and talk about whatever, and hopefully you can all relax as well!

I don’t usually buy too much into the spooky season and do and/or read anything particularly horrifying (or even on theme). Perhaps I’ll read something fall-themed, but as long as I’m relaxed, warm, and drinking a nice drink, any book will suffice. The usual thrillers I read are chilling enough to satisfy that winter spookiness. I don’t generally read a lot of horror, but I wonder if there are those of you that do! Let me know in the comments below if you do and why you like to read them.

Like I was saying, it’s really all about the ambience that I set for myself that makes it true fall reading – I’m usually reading the same stuff year round anyway. I have recently gotten out of a slump (hurray!) and that really helped me to plow through a bunch of books. I’d say what really got me out of the slump was being excited to talk with a friend who I recently found had a very similar interest in books as me. We traded a lot of titles, most of which we had both already read, and that really helped to spark my interest to both catch up and also to read more so that we could talk more about books!

As such, I’ve really been enjoying reading literally everywhere this season. Definitely in transit and on commutes, though that has its physical limitations (doesn’t prevent me from trying). I’ve just been using as many free moments as I can recently, despite my busy schedule to fit in my readings. It really has been super exciting and I encourage you to read anywhere anytime, even if it’s just for a little bit. It really helped the spark for me, and I feel less of a need to rush through books in one sitting (though guilty, I have done that nonetheless).

If you’re in a slump, I recommend talking to people who may have a similar interest in you and discuss what books you have read recently that you liked or disliked! I found it to be great when my friend and I would have an unpopular opinion together or a mutual dislike/like of a genre. I really felt brought together but it also made me remember why I loved reading in the first place.

Happy Halloween everyone!

covers

Birthstone Covers: October 2022

October 27, 2022October 27, 2022 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Leslie @ Books Are The New Black created a fun monthly post featuring book covers that fit the birthstone of the month.This can be the color of the cover or the color in the title.

Anyone can join, just give credit where it’s due.

October is almost coming to an end. I’ve barely posted this month (thanks COVID) but I’m looking forward to getting out of the house again instead of only escaping through books. That being said, I need to squeeze this month’s birthstone covers. I love the October birthstones. I picked to represent tourmaline with a nice, deep pink colour.

Hope you enjoy my choices!

Continue reading →

3.5 star

Review: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

October 26, 2022October 25, 2022 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island’s inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.

When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss, The Memory Police is a stunning new work from one of the most exciting contemporary authors writing in any language.

This is one we chose for our book club, and I was certainly intrigued through the synopsis. The book didn’t play out as I expected though, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I may enjoy it more reading it a second time around. Stay tuned for exactly why that was.

The Memory Police takes place on an unnamed island where things “disappear” at random intervals, each time being erased completely from the memories of its inhabitants…except from some select individuals. The Memory Police strictly enforce the disappearances, and particularly hunt down these individuals. Our protagonist faces her fair share of struggles against the Memory Police, all while battling the power the disappearances.

I have to start with the plot first. I just wasn’t expecting it. I don’t want to spoil it, but this story is much more about the power of memory and what it would mean to forget certain things, rather than actually following the story of the characters. The characters were certainly good, and I got invested wondering what would happen to them. However, I think the story is a bit more esoteric than that and kind of forces you to think about it more from an outside perspective. It’s a bit of a story similar to 1984 and I can see why it would have an impact on how you might view the world.

There were very few characters, but like I said, it was really more about how the island and its disappearances affect the characters, especially the difference between those that no longer remember, and those that remember. The difference is stark and tragic, and really makes you consider and ponder the power of memory. The main character is also a writer and we get more and more glimpses of excepts of her novel, which I think are a very interesting reflection of the situation at hand too. You can decide for yourself how the “story” plays into the context of the whole story.

I think the book sends a really strong message, and it certainly gives me a lot to think about. But for some reason I can’t give it a higher rating, but mostly because I expected a little bit more from the story, I think. I can’t quite place my finger on it, but I just wasn’t satisfied with the ending and how things tie up. I think it made sense, and it wasn’t left open, but the way the story was heading made it feel like it would head in a different direction. I feel like the story and message could’ve been advanced differently and have been a more interesting plot while still maintaining the message, so perhaps that is my gripe with it. But I think overall it was worth reading and I recommend it if only for that broadening of perspective.

Overall Recommendations

The Memory Police revolves around a mysterious island where objects can disappear at any time, slowly fading from memory until all that is left is an empty gap. Simultaneously everyone forgets…except some people. Those are the people hunted by the Memory Police with unrelenting stringency. Follow the story of the protagonist and her few friends as she navigates life with more and more objects disappearing from her island. The book has a very strong message about the power of memory, and just what value and worth is stored in memory, and also the trauma of loss, particularly memory loss.