Ordeal by innocence by Agatha Christie, Hugh Fraser (Narrator)

This Christie novel was one of the better ones. Maybe since we jumped into a novel written into a 1950s novel, but the quality of the writing here was one step higher than the 1930s Poirots and the 1940s Marples we’ve been reading. This was much more of a psychological thriller. I do not like thrillers, but the way Christie wrote the insights of the characters was well done.

May 27-June 8, 2026.

Moi qui n’ai pas connu les hommes (I have who have never known men) by Jacqueline Harpman, Lola Naymark (Narrator)

I read and listened to this in tandem in the original French. It took me 2.5 weeks to finish it. I am much slower in French than in English and I am not completely fluent. Listening to it tandem with the audiobook helped my French practice. I understood about 80-90% of each page. At first, I was not able to appreciate the prose fully but it got easier around the halfway mark. I do not like reading dystopian novels so the lack of world building details or explanation was fine with me. I am also not a plot reader and the plot here was limited. The book was more reflective and philosophical. It centred on what it is like to be human being and a woman at a base level. It had a lot on isolation and the human condition. There were a lot of meanderings about life. I was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the ending. I liked the language and the character work especially considering how short it was. It only felt long because it took me awhile to read but it did enough as a novel considering the actual length.

May 23-June 9, 2026 on Kobo Libra 2 and tandem audiobook.

My Perfectly Imperfect Body by Debbie Tung

As a fan of the author, I had to read this one about her journey with body dysmorphia and eating disorder. As usual, the art was well done and the mood uplifting at the end.

June 10, 2026.

Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan

I adored the Daughter of the Moon Goddess series. I grew up with the same mythology and TV dramas. Tan even made me like the love triangle. So I had high expectations going into this one. It was written well in terms of the world building but this book lacked something. The main couple were drawn to each other too quickly and there was a twist that made everything clear later on. I still did not feel like I cared about the romance. In general, it can be difficult for me to invested in romances. I do not have to root for the romance to appreciate a novel especially if it’s fantasy. I wish it had more character work on both of the leads. I wanted more from the non-romantic relationships in the book. It also took me much longer than usual to finish this book because it did not hook me in. It’s too bad because I bought the sprayed edges edition.

May 30-June 14, 2026. Partially on Kobo Libra 2.