aaronj21's Reviews (912)

This was a competent if (necessarily) surface level overview of the Civil War that I would have enjoyed much more had I not already read James M. McPhersons' stunning Battle Cry of Freedom. Read McPhersons' book if you only ever read one book on the Civil War, read this volume from Catton only if you're pressed for time and want an overview quickly.

Bored Gay Werewolf lives up to its attention grabbing title and then some; it’s witty, funny, at times heartfelt, and every bit as entertaining as you would expect a book bearing this title to be.

Bored Gay Werewolf (I will NEVER tire of this title) follows Brian, an aimless, twenty something waiter as he deals with the usual problems endemic to millennials, rude customers in his service industry job, struggling to make rent each month, and turning into a bloodthirsty monster with every full moon. You know, the usual.

He’s aided by his coworkers / friends / confidants, the intelligent, caring, Nik who’s studying to become a nurse and the hilarious, dramatic, non-binary Darby who doesn’t make plans, they “make options”. Brian’s life is derailed once he befriends Tyler, a fellow werewolf who sees entrepreneurial potential in lycanthropy and tries to recruit likeminded wolf bros into his fledgling “Pack TM”. But even as Tyler’s mix of self-help, inspiring tech start up jargon, and workout regimes help Brian contain the beast within, he has to wonder, will he lose an essential part of himself in the process?

This book was a delightful ride from start to finish. I want nothing but the best for these characters and I would die for each of the iconic trio. While the writing is solid throughout and Brian is a relatable, likeable character, the story really shines when he Nik and Darby come together to solve their problems. Without veering into spoiler territory I will say the story is compelling with a satisfying pace and wonderful conclusion that left me wanting more.

P.S.

This book gets massive bonus points for pointing out that the whole "Alpha Wolf" theory that has ruined a whole generation of straight men was actually based on wolf behavior only recorded among captive individuals and was eventually disavowed by it's creator as unscientific and inaccurate.

Capitalist Realism is a powerhouse of a book that effectively dissects, (in its very few pages) the pervasive idea that not only is Neo Liberal Capitalism the best, it is in fact the only possible option for organizing a society. Fisher has an enormous talent for condensing complexities into wonderfully pithy sentences. Below are a couple that really stuck out to me:

“What needs to be kept in mind is both that capitalism is a hyper abstract impersonal structure and that it would be nothing without our cooperation.”

“A moral critique of Capitalism, emphasizing he way in which it leads to suffering, only reinforces capitalist realism. Poverty, famine, and war, can be presented as an inevitable part of reality, while the hope that these forms of suffering could be eliminated, easily painted as utopianism.”

Overall a good, readable, and only occasionally dense, book that encapsulates the contradictions and pitfalls of our current economic model.

I’m here because I watched the new show adaptation, Silo, based on Howey’s work. I burned through the show in a few days and the book in the same span of time. The writing is spare and at times stripped down, but the author manages to paint an incredibly vivid picture nonetheless, making the reading feel quick and complete at once. Howey also adroitly juggles multiple characters and perspectives in the best way and pulls off several twists and turns along the way. Beneath the action and mystery there are also some fairly deep musings on things like common humanity, in group and out group thinking, and what people in a community owe to each other. I’m excited to read the next books in this series, especially since the show will probably be some time in coming out with a season 2.

You know those meetings where you think, this could have been an email, or even a fair sized sticky note? I have something similar for books where I sometimes think, “this could have been an article”. This book falls squarely into that category for me. There were certainly a few valuable insights but overall I just got the impression that the author was trying his level best to fill up space.

Parasocial is a twisted, psychological thriller with some incisive observations about current fandom culture, the nature of fame, and of course, prosocial relationships. On first glance it’s easy to see this graphic novel as simply a millennial update to Stephen King’s Misery, an observation that while neat and concise, fails to capture the ways Parasocial is another animal all together. The nature of being famous and of being a fan has changed radically since Stephen King’s day, with social media, smart phones, and conventions, the modern fan girl has possibilities Annie Wilkes could only have dreamed of. What all this access serves to do is seemingly heighten a cycle of exploitation between star and fan and it is that cycle that Parasocial explores so well. The characters are solid and well written and the art style helps make this brief story feel impactful and dramatic far in excess of its limited page count.

Without giving away any spoilers I will say this graphic novel was gripping, taught, and intelligently written from start to finish; interspersed with moments of genuine humor and heart it is a dark story about what happens when celebrities try to cultivate a personal relationship with their fans and one of those fans takes that relationship far too literally.

This book was aggressively alright. The premise is perhaps it’s strongest point (Abraham Lincoln chopping up the undead with his trusty axe, what’s not to like?) but the novel seemed reluctant to fully lean into the absurdity of it. The book gets bonus points for weaving in genuine biographical details with vampirism but was at its most entertaining when filling in the gaps of Lincolns life with pure monster hunting fabrications.

An inventive, creative, collection, the only disappointment I found in reading this collection was reaching the end too soon. Brevity aside, this collection is full of evocative, lyrical, bite sized, poems that attempt, and mostly succeed, at completely re-contexualizing some of the most famous world myths through a queer lens. The Fates, the primordial abyss before creation, The Flood, and Persephone, all get their due in this collection, each with their own wonderfully original musing.

Overall, this was an interesting read I quite enjoyed. I would be excited to read anything else this author creates.