boxcar's reviews
230 reviews

Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

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reflective relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

very fun and imaginative meditation on what different forms of time would do to the world 
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

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dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz

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adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

A very good read, I especially liked that they went into detail about the lives of the average citizen of these ancient cities, not just the elites. 
Selected Non-Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 61%.
will finish later
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.
will finish later
All the Names by José Saramago

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A very good example of Saramago’s storytelling. reminiscent of Kafka. A detective story, a meditation on life and death and a look at man confined in absolute structure who delves into an obsession with the absurd. Cool stuff, great author, as strong as ever. 
An Atlas of Extinct Countries by Gideon Defoe

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funny informative fast-paced

4.25

a witty and easy to read glossary of various failed countries from across the world. each country has only a couple pages, so it’s a quick and easy read, if maybe a little surface level.
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

the most famous book about slavery is written by a white person. lotsa white saviorism here. cherry on top is the main black characters either die or go back to africa. not sure what i expected, but for a book that is thought as one of the most impactful anti-slavery texts, it wasn’t so great.
Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert

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adventurous informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

Kolbert does a great job of making science and smart-people things easy to understand and fun to read. A great look at various measures humans are taking to reverse the very thing they did, from invasive species, New Orleans land loss, to CO2 capture and solar geoengineering. 
Marnie by Winston Graham

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

an extremely dark book with no lovable characters, only characters that are far less worthy of hate than others. Lots of gut wrenching surprises.