dimsumentai

i devour quite literally almost everything ^___^

908 points

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My Taste

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White Nights

Fyodor Dostoevsky

80%

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Rara Mendut

Y.B. Mangunwijaya

Buku Pertama dari Trilogi Rara Mendut “Kita kan hanya perempuan rampasan belaka, Den Rara. Kenapa Den Rara tidak mau dipersunting Tumenggung yang kuasa dan kaya raya? Kan enak nanti.” “Tubuh dirampas memang. Tetapi hati tidak.” Genduk Duku, yang menjatuhkan dirinya dalam pangkuan puannya, dibelai rambutnya. “Nduk, Gendukku sayang. Sebentar lagi kau akan menjadi wanita cantik juga. Tidak mudah menjadi wanita cantik, Nduk. Tidak mudah. Apalagi di kalangan istana. Di sini kita menjadi barang hiburan belaka. Di luar kita lebih mudah jadi orang.” * Rara Mendut, wanita rampasan yang menolak diperistri oleh Tumenggung Wiraguna demi cintanya kepada Pranacitra. Dibesarkan di kampung nelayan pantai utara Jawa, ia tumbuh menjadi gadis yang trengginas dan tak pernah ragu menyuarakan isi pikirannya. Sosoknya dianggap membangkang tatanan di lingkungan istana, di mana perempuan diharuskan bersikap halus dan patuh.Tetapi ia tak gentar. Baginya, lebih baik menyambut ajal di ujung keris Sang Tumenggung daripada dipaksa melayani nafsu panglima tua. Rara Mendut merupakan novel pertama dari Trilogi Rara Mendut, mahakarya Y.B. Mangunwijaya. Sebuah narasi yang tidak hanya mengisahkan tumpang tindih hidup manusia, juga dengan apik menyinggung sejarah Tanah Jawa, keberanian perempuan, dan protes atas ketidakadilan.

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The Sorrows of Young Werther

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This is Goethe's first novel, published in 1774. Written in diary form, it tells the tale of an unhappy, passionate young man hopelessly in love with Charlotte, the wife of a friend - a man who he alternately admires and detests. 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' became an important part of the 'Sturm und Drang movement, and greatly influenced later 'Romanticism'. The work is semi-autobiographical - in 1772, two years before the novel was published, Goethe had passed through a similar tempestuous period, when he lost his heart to Charlotte Buff, who was at that time engaged to his friend Johann Christian Kestner.

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White Nights

Fyodor Dostoevsky

80%

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White Nights

Fyodor Dostoevsky

80%

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Martyr!

Kaveh Akbar

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others—in which a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed. Electrifying, funny, wholly original, and profound, Martyr! heralds the arrival of a blazing and essential new voice in contemporary fiction.

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Water Moon

Samantha Sotto Yambao

A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel. On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets. Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it. Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds. But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.

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White Nights

Fyodor Dostoevsky

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White Nights

Fyodor Dostoevsky

White Nights is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky that was published in 1848. Set in St. Petersburg, it is the story of a young man fighting his inner restlessness. A light and tender narrative, it delves into the torment and guilt of unrequited love. Both protagonists suffer from a deep sense of alienation that initially brings them together. A blend of romanticism and realism, the story appeals gently to the senses and feelings.

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Bookish and the Beast (Once Upon a Con, #3)

Ashley Poston

In the third book in Ashley Poston's Once Upon a Con series, Beauty and the Beast is retold in the beloved Starfield universe. Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills. On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he's forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read. When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual. But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

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dimsumentai

Jun 22, 2026

Madonna in a Fur Coat

3.5

Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.0Plot: 3.5

I can agree that this book offers a strong start but i was let down in like the last 25% of it.

I was really intrigued with the way the salary man describes Raif, so i couldn't wait to know about him and what made him that... (seemingly) interesting. I think the author tried hard to make him seem different than any men but to me he has the personality of a cabbage. I was struggling to see why Maria seemed so interested in him.

And Maria.... sigh, how do i even start. She started of strong, and i gotta admit she had iconic lines about how women are always expected to bow down to men and how men seems to be unable to take no for an answer. My favorite line:

"Why is it that in the way you beg, there is dominance, and pity in the way we refuse?"

But then she had to go and say that falling in love with a woman goes against the law of nature or something along those lines. Sigh.

Sometimes i don't really understand the reason for her actions and thoughts, and at some point she really starts to feel a lot like a manic pixie dream girl. I feel like she deserved to be written better, but then again the author is a man. Sigh.

I find zero sympathy in me for Raif and he has like A LOT of questionable qualities, so it really got me thinking like... is this REALLY the guy our heroine was madly in love with? The guy she finds different? The guy that went beyond her expectations to the point she was willing to try and reset her mind about the whole thing???

The ending was kinda expected and, tbh, a little cliche, so I don't really find myself feeling anything strong about it. Just, maybe, mild indifference?

I feel like it should've made me feel SOMETHING more, but due to the lack of sympathy the characters made me feel for them, i feel nothing about their story too.

However. Despite everything, I love the way feelings were portrayed here. I love the way he describes longing, love, the pain of losing someone. Those lines alone, overlooking the characters, touched my heart, so i gotta give this book some credit thanks to them.

I didn't have any problem with the pacing, so it wasn't difficult for me to finish it. I read the Indonesian translation, so I wonder if reading the english one will change my mind. Might give it a try.