Knowing what book someone is reading and what parts they resonate with most can be so intimate. It reveals their interests, where their head is at, and what excerpts are so significant that they will mark up a page because they think it’s worth revisiting at a later time. I’m fascinated by what books others gravitate towards and I find that it helps me get to know them better and gives me a small glimpse into who they are at their core. No one asked for these book reviews, but maybe it’s my way of showing who I am and what I’m interested in – beyond the clothes, the products, and my career. Or at the very least, encourage some to look up from their phones and instead towards the pages of a good book.
But before I (finally) share the first few books I read at the beginning of this year, I want to first share that Seen Library will be making its way to Boston, Massachusetts for the very first time!
Seen Library in Boston — September 5 to 7
MONOS, a luggage brand I love and use for my travels (and book transporting!) is opening a new location in Boston and Seen Library will be a part of it :)
All weekend long from September 5 to 7, intentionally curated books wrapped in Seen Library’s signature creamy paper with clues written atop a custom library card will be on display so that guests can choose a book by its content, not its cover.
Inspired by MONOS' name, the books chosen center on the Japanese concept of mono no aware – the profound appreciation of the beauty in fleeting moments. The stories chosen celebrate the idea that fleeting moments — big or small, pleasant or difficult — are often the most beautiful and have the ability to shape our understanding of life and the world around us.
Guests who make any purchase over $300 will receive one of these books and a limited-edition collaboration bookmark — while supplies last. On-site baristas from BIGFACE coffee will also be serving complimentary iced oat lattes!
Friday, September 5 to Sunday, September 7
From 11am to 7pm
136 Newbury Street, Boston, MA, 02116
Book no. 1 of 2025
Sunrise on the Reaping - Suzanne Collins
It was fine — an easy, quick book to get into at the start of the year. It was an entertaining enough read, as you’d expect from the Hunger Games series, but I don’t know that it was necessary. Maybe it’s because I’m older and YA doesn’t hit the same as it did when I was the age the original Hunger Games came out.
The biggest takeaway was the idea that we are on a continuum and even if we don’t see the fruits of our labor now, it doesn’t mean our actions won’t have consequences in the future — so we do our best to keep trying.
Underlined quotes:
“You were capable of imagining a different future. And maybe it won’t be realized today, maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe it will take generations… Does that make it pointless?”
“Sometimes she cries because things are so beautiful and we keep messing them up. Because the world doesn’t have to be so terrifying. That’s on people, not the world.”
Book no. 2 of 2025
Expecting Better - Emily Oster
With so many rules and advice you are bombarded with when you get pregnant, it was nice to be able to read about the risks (or lack thereof) of pregnancy in an easy, digestible way.
It seems many took issue with this book because they felt that the author’s preferences were too obvious. I didn’t really mind that — pregnancy in general felt like that anyway, with everyone telling you what you should do or don’t do, even when you didn’t ask. What was helpful in this book are the actual studies shared that are able to help you form your own opinions.
I appreciated the learnings from this book and felt a bit more prepared and even relaxed for that stage in my life because of them.
Underlined quotes:`
“I pretty quickly learnt that there is a lot of information out there about pregnancy, and a lot of recommendations. But neither the information nor the recommendations were all good. The information was of varying quality, and the recommendations were often contradictory and occasionally infuriating.”
Book no. 3 of 2025
Blood Over Bright Haven - M.L. Wang
Whew. An absorbing read that hit on so many important and relevant topics while providing an escape into a world of magic and fantasy. White feminism, colonization, racism, exploitation, intent vs. impact, capitalism… I’m not a huge fantasy reader but I was thrilled to encounter so many topics I am often drawn to in such an engrossing format.
I’m glad to have read this book and recommend it to those who are also interested in those themes — whether or not you typically read fantasy!
Underlined quotes:`
“They did what a man was supposed to do: they revered and obeyed the men above them, pursued greatness in the model of their predecessors, and, in the end, they were rewarded with power, acclaim, and dominion over lesser beings — a small godhood of their own.”
“So many parents will try to kill everything brilliant about a girl in the name of giving her a good life, a safe life, a chance at happiness.”
“It is only right for the world to bring back upon him what he brought upon the world. This is why I can’t worship your god or agree with the way he measures virtue. He allows this gray space for delusion. You take a void and name it ‘goodness,’ and is it so? If you can lie to yourself that you’re a good person, despite all the evidence, then suddenly it is so? Then, within this system, anyone with enough self-delusion can admit himself to Heaven.”
“You took reality and reimagined it to be a story with you at the center, all designed for you, all for your taking.”
“How a person felt about their actions didn’t matter; only the action themselves mattered.”
“Good people can turn desperate when the horrors are upon them — especially people whose culture of plenty has left them with no systems to cope with scarcity or cataclysm. Good people will turn monstrous when it’s down to their survival or someone else’s.”
“The question isn’t: How do I stop feeling this way? …The question is: What can I do with this feeling?”
“With her soul in the spiral on its way to Hell, her last thought was not of vengeance or legacy. It was of love.”