books_ergo_sum's Reviews (933)

What can I say? This is one of the most important works of philosophy, certainly of our own time, if not all time.

This philosophy book from 1990, though controversial and completely new at the time, has so thoroughly influenced and defined the era we’re living in that even if you’ve never read it, you already feel its conclusions in your bones.

Conclusions like: 
▪️ gender isn’t a simple binary;
▪️ gender isn’t a natural fact; 
▪️ the delineation and social reproduction of gender (understood as a norm or regulative fiction) isn’t neat and tidy;
▪️ gender norms are hegemonic, oppressive, heteronormative, and inherently exclusionary; and 
▪️ gender is performative rather than an ontological.

If you think any of these things, congratulations, you’re a third wave feminist and an intellectual descendant of Judith Butler. 

This book was a fascinating intersection of my two favourite things: academic chops and real world experience. Because Judith Butler definitely Knows Her Shit. She borrows, alters, and critiques ideas from Hegel, Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Foucault, Irigaray, and more, along with her contemporary academics. But also, she was openly queer, involved in the 1980s drag scene, had an intersex family member, and was just generally struggling with the way second wave feminism excluded her from its restrictive definition of womanhood. 

Even though this book has become a cornerstone of pop culture, this wasn’t a pop non-fiction book. And while some could find the academic references dense, I loved it all—because Judith Butler is that unicorn academic: a “classically trained” philosopher with groundbreaking ideas.

They come spiderwebs. Like Spider Man 💀

Is it reverse harem if they’re three aspects of the same deity? I know what Parmenides would say… but let’s go with yes. These spider dudes were the three gods of fate—one was weird because he saw the past, one was weird because he saw all the present, and one was weird because he saw the future. And they were all weird because SPIDERS. 

I love this series so much. If you like adult fantasy romance and steam up the wazoo, then this series is for you! The best part is the way these god heroes aren’t just guys with god bodies and god libidos (although they have that too). It’s that their personalities aren’t human, especially at the beginning of the story—which just adds that perfect bonkers je ne sais quoi.

Always love a heroine who thinks every hole is a goal. The steam was steaming, but are we really surprised? And the way these gods could all read each other’s minds brought a little something-something to the intimacy. 

But ultimately, I felt the same way about this reverse harem as I always do: as hot as the sex is, the multiple romance plots pull me in too many directions, I inevitably prefer some romance plots over others, and I have yet to find a reverse harem book (that isn’t fully poly) where the HEA romance vibes feel equally distributed amongst all the characters 🤷🏻‍♀️

But the spiderweb come was definitely something.

This was a mixed bag, for me.

On the one hand, this was NOT a good second chance romance. The best ones, imo, have:
▪️ on-page falling in love (usually dual timeline), and/or
▪️ some angsty grovel-y reckoning of why they were pulled apart in the first place.

But this had neither? Confusingly? No on-page falling—the romance plot both based itself very strongly on the off-page first chance (they’ve been in love and pining for each other for years) and completely disavowed that first chance (they hardly knew each each other back then). Like, did you know and love each other for years or not?

But also that weakass grovel/apology for the screwed-up first chance made me feel nothing. It was just (and I’m paraphrasing):
“I’m sorry…”
“We didn’t trust each other [back then].
*unspoken acceptance of the apology, I guess?*
“Willa—“
“We’ve spoken all there is to say, Dom. Take me to bed.”

??? Especially considering how we nonsensically backtracked this discussion in a following chapter, and then backtracked that backtrack, this apology sucked.

On the other hand, there was so much heart-squeezing earnestness to most of the dialogue that scenes, taken individually, still managed to pack a punch? Especially narrated by the incomparable Mary Jane Wells.

I also feel conflicted about the BDSM in here. On the one hand, I loved how switch-y these two were being, especially when books about couples who like to exchange D/s roles are so rare.

On the other hand, we Good Girled a hoyden, which… pretty sure it says “Don’t Do That” right on the tin. And the BDSM was about as sudden (and random) as it gets. The much-lauded cabin scene just felt majorly tacked on to me.

So… three stars?

I LOVE a “space Silence of the Lambs, human psychologist studying a newly discovered murder-y alien who’s been imprisoned” story. I mean, Worse Guy by Ruby Dixon is one of my yearly comfort re-reads 😂

And this book did a bunch of things right. I liked the world building of a (slightly dystopian) military base in space operated by newly spacefaring humans. I liked how unnerving and sinister our alien hero was. And the action plot felt high stakes.

That said, there was a chunk of the story (after she’d settled into a routine studying our alien hero but before the big drama-lama of the latter half of the book) where not much was going on besides coworker in-fighting. And it was boring. 

And then after one brief on-page steamy time, the rest were fade to black—which isn’t what I pick up an alien romance for, let’s be honest. And on top of all that, it was single POV—not usually my fav.

I’m torn about continuing on in the series. On the one hand, I’ve been loving high action alien romances with lots of world building. But on the other hand, what’s an alien rom without the weird peen sexy times?

Ladies, if a man says Kierkegaard is one of his favourite philosophers—run. This guy (arguably the OG incel?) says the weirdest crap about women.

Still, what I actually disliked about this book was how poorly conceived of a critique it was of Hegel? More poorly conceived than I’d expected.

At first glance, the book’s arguments feel like unlikely bedfellows. It was:
▪️ part defense of divine revelation and the immediate relation between the individual and the universal (with bible study of Abraham sacrificing Isaac); and
▪️ part proto-existentialist defense of the “knight of the infinite” (aka an Everyman dude-bro who YOLOs everything, questions nothing, and lives in the absurd—plus mentioning, probably too many times, how dumb and naïve women are, but in a philosophically uninteresting way. Got it.)

Yet, these are actually two sides of the same coin, and a well-trodden mistake when trying to advance a philosophy of immediacy (contra Hegel’s philosophy of mediation). And I just don’t think Kierkegaard succeeded…
▪️ Can we agree that a philosophy that ends up being “inaccessible to thought” (his words, not mine) probably sucks?
▪️ We had a central misunderstanding of the difference between the singular/individual versus the particular in Hegel and others.
▪️ A ‘Because the Bible Told Me So’ moment, which wasn’t the soundest, even for it’s time; and
▪️ It contained a cringingly disingenuous romanticization of common sense (and even stupidity) from one of the most anxious and over-thinking philosophers of all time.

And that’s ignoring all the MANY thinly-veiled references to the woman he broke his engagement to… the philosophical relevance of which was questionable at best.

That said, I appreciate any philosophy that doesn’t try to diminish its universal concepts, so it gets a star for that. And this book pre-figured existentialism more than I’d thought, so there’s also that.

This four star rating doesn’t adequately express how well-written this book was. And how excited I am to read more from this author. 

First of all, it was extremely unique:
💛 This 1909 Seattle setting! Everything I love about a Gilded Age histrom (that hopeful yet cynical worldview, stuffy yet progressive attitude) plus it was set in Washington state—and the ‘we were recently Oregon Territory’ was such a vibe.
💛 Just an excellent ‘heroine with a job’ storyline. How she had a feminine job (newspaper office stenographer) but wanted a masculine job (journalist), the way she worked full time but 1000% did not earn a living wage, how she was perceived. The whole thing.
💛 The suffragist parts of the story felt really authentic to the time, which I loved. I was living my Iron Jawed Angels starring Hilary Swank fantasy (my secret shame: I was given this book as ARC but was so scared that the suffragist stuff would be terrible that I didn’t read it until I saw other reviews loving it, and then I got it on KU for myself 🙈), and
💛 Our hero was such an awkward feminist ally. So heartwarming, so cute. These two MCs were just perfect for one another.

If only we hadn’t had a public grand gesture instead of an angsty grovel, which is superior in all ways! 

The epilogue was fabulous though, so different from the usual epilogue yet so perfect for this couple.

A 66 page historical romance set in 1785 with a secretly pining, big-donged, “you take me so well,” breeding kink blacksmith Daddy? 

I’m giving it five stars, dammit!

You know what I never realized before this book? Lighthouse keepers are HAWT 🥵

We’re talking 1785, pre-light bulb era lighthouse keepers here. Where they hauled coal and fuel with giant pulley ropes hand over hand, shoveled that fuel into an enormous fire, rowed boats out to sea, and climbed hundreds of stairs multiple times a day… do you see where I’m going with this?

This man was a silver fox. And the body was smokin’. Also, he was oh so lonely… 

His bossy boots in the bedroom + liking being called Sir was… yup 👀 I also loved how much non-P-in-V steamy times we had, when the hero couldn’t resist her anymore but also didn’t want to ruin her life. 

And for someone who isn’t titillated by an age gap trope, I was still having a good time with this one—it gets my Non-Fetishized Innocence stamp of approval.

There’s something deeply unfair about this graphic novel. Mostly that I can’t immediately pick up the next book without just switching to the webtoon… which I’m seriously considering 😅

Because this whole book was just one big romance plot detour (that is not Hades embracing Persephone on the cover of this Hades and Persephone romance book!! 😭). So many plot-sticks thrown into so many plot-wheels, if you know what I’m saying.

But I still loved it? Devoured it in one sitting? Was deeply effected by all the emotions? Ugh! I need the next book, like now.

This little story was great! Your classic ‘guardian trying to marry off his new ward except he’s jealous of every man who interacts with her’ story. With enough hurt-comfort and heroine competence kink (her dad was a doctor) to justify their quickly building attraction. 

Also, face sitting 😌