Random House Publishing Group | January 2019 | 320 pgs

Source: Library 

This book was brought to my attention thanks to Jenclair's review. I've to admit I rarely seek out nonfiction or guidebooks alike but I'll pick them up if they received good reviews and/or if fellow bookbloggers recommend them. Hence, here it is. 

Now the book title sounds like a textbook but do not let it deter you from reading it. Benjamin Dreyer is Random House's longtime copy chief and obviously he knows all the works and styles of writing good English. Contrary to the seriousness of the book title it may sound, Dreyer's writing doesn't come across as too dry or boring and although there is a certain level of authoritative tone which I find is inevitable, there are also some parts that show his witty side as he shares with the reader about the experiences he'd encountered when working with authors or conversations with the people he'd met with. 

Generally, this book offers lessons on the ins and outs of punctuation (are you confused on how and when to use semicolon? Well, you can find the answers here!) and grammar, the appropriate way of writing numbers, proper nouns, a list of frequently/easily misspelled words, as well as a few others which are essential and relevant to good writing. Dreyer's guidelines are clear and precise, and truth be told, I don't think I've ever enjoyed reading a guidebook that much like this. And I think (yes, it's OK to begin a sentence with "And" or "But") with the commonly use of social media, emails and other communicative tools aside from the usual formal writing, it is necessary for the writer to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. Long story short, this is a book for everyone who wants to improve their writing skills as well as for anyone who has a passion for the language itself. 

Grove Press | October 2017 | 366 pgs

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

This part coming-of-age, part memoir chronicles Chinese-born writer, Xiaolu Guo's journey from her homeland in Shitang (a fishing village where her grandparents reside) to the West. For those who aren't familiar with Xiaolu Guo, she is the author of A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (her first novel written in English and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction) and her latest release, I Am China, which I adored (one of my top reads in 2015.) There are a few other titles which I didn't list here.

Xiaolu Guo has learned the hard life since young when she witnessed her grandparents' depression and poverty back then. She left for Beijing to study in 1993 and vowed never to return to that stifling backwater again. It is also through this determination and her curious mind to seek a life beyond the borders limits to where she is today.

Filled with many snippets of memories, nostalgia and what influenced Xiaolu Guo, this book is her personal record of the journey she has travelled and the things she has experienced which allow her readers to learn and to understand more about her.

Reading this book also gave me a glimpse of China between the 80s and 90s. (I'd only visited Guangzhou and Shenzhen and that was about ten years ago.) It was interesting to see how the Cultural Revolution shaped the Chinese, and how their economy has changed throughout the years. Although I rarely read nonfiction or memoir, I found myself enjoying this book and that I've learned so much more about Xiaolu Guo.

Eating Animals may sound like a dry reading material at a glance, but let me assure you that this is not the case. Jonathan Safran Foer wrote this book with a personal, memoir approach in an honest and straightforward manner (in other words - pull no punches) and I find the tone fitting to the subject.

Since his teenage years, Jonathan Safran Foer struggles with the decisions between an omnivore and a vegetarian. He also shares with us bits of his teenage years with his grandmother who had survived the holocaust and her perspective on food thereafter. While their opinions may not be the same, it has made him question on the meaning of food, the consumption and everything else that comes with it. It was only on the brink of fatherhood that prompts Foer to search for the answers to his questions instead of listening to myths and making assumptions. Eating Animals is the end result after his several visits to the factory farms and through his extensive research (not to mention doing his own detective work and getting some workers' opinions from the factory farms and slaughterhouses).

His topics varies from the general aspects of the agriculture industry (all meat products such as cattle, pigs and poultry) as well as commercial fisheries, and how they attribute to the world global warming right down to the slaughtering methods and how the biological effects on the animals (feeding them with growth hormones, antibiotics even though they are not sick and so forth) will all affect us in return.

I understand that the facts are not pretty and they are totally mind-blowing, and while I am definitely not writing this to try to convince you to become a vegetarian or a vegan (though I’d be glad if you do) but I feel it is important that we should be cautious and pay more attention to the food we are eating, where they come from and how they are being handled (treated). I have been an omnivorous person in all my life until two years ago I decided to become a vegetarian, and reading this book has further strengthened my decision of becoming one.

Thank you, Mr Foer, for making this book an engrossing and an ‘eye-opening’ reading experience for me!

I have to admit I rarely read memoirs or autobiography and tend to be choosy even if I do so. When Lisa of Online Publicist contacted me for a review of this book, I have to say yes because this is a book about movies (who wouldn't love watching movies, right?), but most of all I am intrigued by Emmett James' journey into the film industry.

In Admit One, Emmett James tells his story about his childhood days in England (where he share with us bits of his relationship with his family and friends) as well as how he has stepped into the film industry through hard work and not to mention his creativity mind. I like the idea that he cleverly crafted each chapter with a movie title which has somehow made an impact of his life at that point of time, which I find this to be refreshing and in line with the subject of the memoir.

Reading through these chapters made me think of some movies I had watched when I was a teenager (e.g. Star Wars, E.T., Ghostbusters, etc), while some movies remind me a certain phrase of my life. I may not have watched all the movies he listed, but then I was intrigued and amused by his witty style of writing. Let me show you an example of his writing style (I am afraid the passage is a little long, but I liked it because it made me chuckle):

I think my favourite chapter among all has to be Titanic, a blockbuster which I enjoyed immensely and one which still touches my heart to this day. Reading about Emmett James' role in this film has allowed me to get a glimpse of the artiste's life in general and how they had worked hard to perfect their roles to meet the expectations of James Cameron, the well-known director who also received much praise on his recent work, Avatar (I was totally wowed by the special effects).

There are, of course, many more chapters that I enjoyed in this memoir but like movies, it is always best to experience that feeling for yourself. That said, I shall end this post with a few passages taken from the memoir which I think is so true:

(Please click here to read what other readers have said about this book.)