★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang ★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang

Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker

★★★★☆ Devoured this in a day after re-watching the movie recently, because I was interested in Molly Bloom and also wanted the dirt on the celebs she names. Not quite as self-critical as I personally would’ve preferred and more than a little self-congratulatory/self-absolving in the end.

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★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang ★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang

Beloved

★★★★☆ This book was painful, poetic, cinematic, chaotic, terrifying, elegiac...The intensity and totality of Morrison’s language is overwhelming, but it completely envelops you in the drama and horror of these characters’ stories.

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★★★☆☆ Muhan Zhang ★★★☆☆ Muhan Zhang

A Room with a View

★★★☆☆ Very enjoyable and funny read. Solid character development for ditzy protagonist Lucy and great cast of characters. Gets a little rape-culture-y with the nonconsensual kissing and girl falling in love with boy anyway. Contextual character stuff holds up though and makes the romance decently believable.

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★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang ★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang

Stormbreaker (Alex Rider #1)

★★★★☆ So cinematic, so cool, spy goodness with no extra fat or fluff, just a preternaturally talented teen spy, shady spy agency, some of the coolest action sequences put to the written word, garishly hateful yet trim villains, high stakes world-saving hijinks, bulls-eye set-ups and pay-offs, sensational sensorial action-driven writing, and a complicated series-spanning teen spy/hired assassin rivalry.

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★★★★★ Muhan Zhang ★★★★★ Muhan Zhang

American Born Chinese

★★★★★ Three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing rise, all the way up to the astonishing climax--and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.

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★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang ★★★★☆ Muhan Zhang

Watership Down

★★★★☆ Found this pristine paperback edition at a thrift store in my hometown and semi-recognized the title and then just died laughing at the back summary which is so epic but then you discover a few sentences in its all RABBITS.

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★★★☆☆ Muhan Zhang ★★★☆☆ Muhan Zhang

The Flatshare

★★★☆☆ A pretty silly, totally not to be taken seriously, quirky caricature characters, very golden age Drew Barrymore/Julia Roberts romcom-esque story about two young attractive slightly ditzy people who arrange a flatshare sleeping in 1 bed at different hours so they never meet (until it’s time to bang, obviously).

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