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447 reviews by:
librarymouse
challenging
funny
informative
medium-paced
I read and annotated The Great Derangement for a grad school class, and therefore, I have more to say about it than would reasonably fit in an easy-to-read review. In short, Gosh brings up interesting and in some ways obvious perspectives on the issue of climate change and the affiliation between the establishment, art movements, and the struggle that comes about in depicting real life, exceptional or catastrophic experiences in realistic fiction. The collection of all of this information and its application to systemic inequalities contributing to/underwriting the global climate crisis, for all its understandability offers a profound understanding. I highly recommend reading this. As someone who is generally highly anxious, especially so around climate issues, this was informative in a way that avoided the nihilism of much of the other texts I've read on the subject.
Reading this in 2023, Gosh's prediction that the west will allow the global south and other former colonies to bear the brunt of climate change and/or direct violence in order for Western countries/elite to maintain their way of life is becoming further and further unsettlingly true.
Reading this in 2023, Gosh's prediction that the west will allow the global south and other former colonies to bear the brunt of climate change and/or direct violence in order for Western countries/elite to maintain their way of life is becoming further and further unsettlingly true.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Gaslighting
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I definitely finished the book, but that's about all I can say about it. There's an excess of description about navigation, geology, and scientific exploration, surrounding Lovecraft's depiction of setting. Partially due to this, I found it hard to remain engaged in the text. He somehow made running for one's life a boring experience to read about. The oblique ways in which Lovecraft goes about describing the monsters/old ones/mountains does not add a sense of mystery or unknowingness. More than anything, it's just mildly frustrating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed The Last House on Needless Street! There were a few false starts before I finally made it past the halfway point, and was hooked. I adore the gay and religious cat, Olivia!
this is one of the most sincere representations of disassociative identity disorder that I've ever seen! I'm really glad Ted didn't end up being a villain. It was interesting to have gotten Ted's point of view of events only to have those events later rewritten as explained by the consciousness that actually experienced them. I want more information about Ted's mom, tbh. Making Ted both a suspect and one of his mother's victims filled in the hanging questions in the story wonderfully. I also wanted more of an explanation on why the bug man is the way he is and what exactly he did to warrant the temporary loss of his license.
Rob feels like a good addition to the story, and I like the hints of possibility that Ted is gay.
The ending of this book was unexpectedly tender and comforting.
Rob feels like a good addition to the story, and I like the hints of possibility that Ted is gay.
The ending of this book was unexpectedly tender and comforting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is every bit what I'd expect of an adventure novel from the 1880s. Surprisingly, the novel had far less overt hate for Africans and far less overt racism, as compared to a book like Doctor Doolittle, published in the 1920s. I'm not sure that I necessarily enjoyed it, but the form and mode of storytelling were interesting, and the travel sections were engaging. There is quite a lot of murder, excessive game hunting, killing for ivory, and consumption of meat in this book, as well as detailed description and discussion of corpses.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I kept having to put down this book and take a moment because every one of Georgia's milestones in discovering her aro-ace identity were nearly beat for beat my own. I feel so lovingly, astoundingly, kind of uncomfortably seen by this book, and by Alice Oseman.
Her wonderful additions of mentor characters at different stages of their self acceptance journeys was everything I wished for (and still wish for, tbh)
I love this book. I knew, going into it, that I was not alone - not the only ace or aro-ace person in the world, but after reading this book, I feel less alone in a far more profound way.
I want to try going dancing now, again, with friends and without the weight of sexual or romantic expectations like Georgia. I think I'd like it too.
Her wonderful additions of mentor characters at different stages of their self acceptance journeys was everything I wished for (and still wish for, tbh)
I love this book. I knew, going into it, that I was not alone - not the only ace or aro-ace person in the world, but after reading this book, I feel less alone in a far more profound way.
I want to try going dancing now, again, with friends and without the weight of sexual or romantic expectations like Georgia. I think I'd like it too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content
Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book starts off as normal as a book about the daughter of a serial killer returning to the home her dying and estranged mother has turned into a money-making shrine to the investigation of her husband's crimes. Then it gets weird with twists that are simultaneously expected and comprised of plot that I could have never expected in decades.
There are still so many questions I want answered, and I would have loved to know the contents of Vera's dad's letters.
There are still so many questions I want answered, and I would have loved to know the contents of Vera's dad's letters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Prior to reading Guinevere Turner's account of her childhood, I'd never heard of the Lyman family. Reading Turner's story though both retrospective reflection and direct quotes from journal entries from when the events she describes took place made her storytelling so immersive and the horrors she endured all the more gut wrenching.
The story starting with the failure of an ascension predicted by the leader of the cult Turner was born into was such an eye catching hook to being readers in, and while it primed me for some of what to expect for some of he other Lyman family beliefs, other aspects of Turner's story were totally unexpected.
Guinevere Turner has a mastery of language and how to keep a reader invested that is tangible even in the diary excerpts.
The story starting with the failure of an ascension predicted by the leader of the cult Turner was born into was such an eye catching hook to being readers in, and while it primed me for some of what to expect for some of he other Lyman family beliefs, other aspects of Turner's story were totally unexpected.
Guinevere Turner has a mastery of language and how to keep a reader invested that is tangible even in the diary excerpts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book has great asexual representation! The mystery is not too hard to solve, but it's explored in a fun and engaging way. I enjoy the different moral alignments of the characters and how they affiliate and differ depending on the worlds that drew them in. Jack is a particular favorite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Deadnaming
Minor: Animal death
Eating disorder tagged because there is a major focus on the main character's eating habits and her loss of a need to eat in a way that would sustain people due to the changes to her body as imposed by the rules in the Halls of the Dead.
dark
informative
medium-paced
This is an interesting and rather neutral telling of the events of April 19, 1985, in thst it blames both the FBI/ATF and the Branch Davidians for the massacre in the Mount Carmel compound. David Koresh was a deeply sick individual for his sexual abuse of young girls and his knowingly putting his followers in harms way. The US government massively mishandled the initial siege and continued to mishandle the situation until the eventual catastrophe. This book was a fast, informative, and well written read.
Content warning for Christian Zionism and American colonialism in Palestine.
Content warning for Christian Zionism and American colonialism in Palestine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Pregnancy
Minor: Antisemitism, Alcohol
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was a really interesting read, and I appreciated the author's reflection on how her interjecting herself into the story impacted and may further impact the lives and crimes of the people she interviewed.
As I'm currently working in a rare books archive, it was neat to see some of the names that come up in the provenance of our collection appear on the pages of a book I chose at random. Some are also mentioned in The Curse of the Marquis de Sade: A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History by Joel Warner.
As I'm currently working in a rare books archive, it was neat to see some of the names that come up in the provenance of our collection appear on the pages of a book I chose at random. Some are also mentioned in The Curse of the Marquis de Sade: A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History by Joel Warner.
I wish we'd been able to spend more time with Ken Sanders and explore the community that's formed around his shop, though I do understand that that was not the focus of the book. I might just need to road trip out to see his shop for myself, eventually, though I am more drawn to mass market paperbacks and other styles of print that lend themselves towards shoestring budgets, being tossed into backpacks, and being moved between states in old orange crates than collecting rare books.
John Gilkey is a strange and interesting man, with an profound variety of kleptomania. His world view is something I don't think I'll ever be able to fully understand. I really hope that the shops and individuals he's hurt are able to recover financially and emotionally from his thefts. I have quite a few of the shops marked down as places I'd like to patronize one day, even if only as a tourist.
John Gilkey is a strange and interesting man, with an profound variety of kleptomania. His world view is something I don't think I'll ever be able to fully understand. I really hope that the shops and individuals he's hurt are able to recover financially and emotionally from his thefts. I have quite a few of the shops marked down as places I'd like to patronize one day, even if only as a tourist.