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The First True Lie Book Review

Marina Mander
A full-on tragedy with no glimmer of hope, it's a good thing for my mental health that this book is a short one. When young Luca's mother doesn't wake up one morning, he decides to carry on going to school, feeding the cat, and shopping for groceries on his own. *"How many times have I wanted to grow up soon, straight away? Here we go. It's happened. It might have happened better, but that's how it is."* This is a story about how the children of single parents deal with loyalty, responsibility, belonging and loss.

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Misconduct of the Heart Book Review

Cordelia Strube
There is a frenzied pace to this book. Stevie runs around being everybody's saviour as a way to keep her own demons at bay. There's a sense that she's destined to take care of those around her because nobody else will, but it's a doomed endeavour — she's destined to fail carrying such an immense burden. I really, really want Stevie to beat the odds and lean into a relationship that is true and good and brings her love. One that will make her believe she's not broken.

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The Dilemmas of Lenin Book Review

Tariq Ali
Did this book make me more sympathetic toward Lenin? No. Did it help me understand the historical context of the revolution he helped bring about? Yes. From an explanation of Lenin's terrorist lineage, to the final chapter revealing his failure to root out corruption and authoritarianism, Ali is not kind to the Bolshevik leader. The book manages to explain the Russian revolution in terms of its relationship with various political movements that came before it. Lenin sought to avoid the mistakes of those failed movements, but in doing so he re-created some of the hierarchy and brutality of the aristocratic world he had set out to destroy.

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The Importance of Being Earnest Book Review

Oscar Wilde
Wilde is just so much fun. This whole play is one big elaborate pun, exposing the absurdities of formal high society. In a world where style is valued over substance, a flippant attitude toward it all is just what you need to stay sane.

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