Take a photo of a barcode or cover
623 reviews by:
moonyreadsbystarlight
informative
reflective
This was a brief look into the history of the colonization of Palestine, focusing on the political situation from the Nakba to the Oslo Accords, to Gaza in 2023/24. The first part focuses on Israel/Palestine relations in the beginning and how events surrounding apartheid in South Africa impacted that. It also reveals the social tensions between Israel and Palestine as well as tensions within each of them. The second part focuses on events since October 7, including the global response.
I think this is good, especially for those beginning to look into what is going on in Palestine. This certainly isn't an an all-encompassing history, but it put into focus certain issues that we are seeing today. It's not THE book on the region but is a great starting point in learning about the current events there.
I think this is good, especially for those beginning to look into what is going on in Palestine. This certainly isn't an an all-encompassing history, but it put into focus certain issues that we are seeing today. It's not THE book on the region but is a great starting point in learning about the current events there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Suicide
This was a compelling work that is part memoir, part social commentary on the wellness industry and on the western understanding of wellness more broadly. So much of this speaks to the ways that traumas -- individual, generational, and systemic -- can influence our whole body. A lot of this is very strong, though I do think that the last part where she ties in the environment wasn't as well integrated as the rest of the parts. I do think it is related and good to bring up, but it may have needed to be longer to fully tie that piece in as well as she did the rest of the book.
I am suprised to see how low of a star rating this has, but I think it is due largely to the title and marketing. I would say if you're going into this to know that it is heavy on the memoir elements, which I enjoyed but may not be what some people anticipated from the title.
I am suprised to see how low of a star rating this has, but I think it is due largely to the title and marketing. I would say if you're going into this to know that it is heavy on the memoir elements, which I enjoyed but may not be what some people anticipated from the title.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
A cute, sweet, and relatable comic about finding yourself and coming out as a nonbinary person. Relatively fast-paced and simple with charming details in the art, especially with all the cats
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming
.jpg)
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A wild action-filled romp with messy queer drama and critique of rainbow capitalism. A good balance of lightness and seriousness for the sort of story that it is. I also think that the mixing in of other POV and the chapters from the past added to it. I really enjoyed it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Hate crime, Transphobia
Minor: Pregnancy
Face biting - unsure if it qualifies for the cannibalism tag. No one is explicitly pregnant, but there is a bit of a pregnancy scare that spans the book that is mentioned, but it's the day after/getting plan b. Also, someone uses a racial slur but they don't have it on the page, so I tagged racism rather than the slur.
informative
inspiring
This was somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5 or 4 stars... ratings are hard. This is a nice little book on beginning to sew and why it is important on an environmental level. It's not super in depth on either front, but it has good ideas and I found how the stitches are drawn to be really helpful. It is also supporting of people with different skill sets. For instance, it has tips for people who sew with machines and those who are more comfortable with iron-on patches, though most of it focuses on hand-sewing. I also thought the fashion aspect of having visibly repaired clothes to be really cool. I'm just starting to sew and it was helpful and inspiring for me!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
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
I have SO many feelings about this. The characters were great, there are so many layers in all of this, and there is so much cool stuff happening with the art! Incredible!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Car accident, Dysphoria
Threat of suicide in an abusive context
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I had a really good time with this! This had some good discussion of mental health, community, and diverse drag. There was a bit of the tension that felt a bit forced and some of it played out a bit unrealistic. But honestly, I didn't mind much while I was reading. It was very YA stylistically* and those parts weren't outside the realm of what is expected for that. It also includes a lot of pop culture references, which can be an issue for some readers but I tend to like a good reference and I enjoyed how most of them were incorperated. Over all, I really liked it!
*that's not a negative, just sort of descriptive of the writing style. I quite like this style when I'm in the mood for it. It's earnest in a way that adult lit rarely is... but I digress.
*that's not a negative, just sort of descriptive of the writing style. I quite like this style when I'm in the mood for it. It's earnest in a way that adult lit rarely is... but I digress.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief
Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Suicide
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This multi-POV story peers into the lives of a group of friends living in NYC in the peak of the AIDS epidemic. This looks at the wounds of familial abandonment faced by many queers during this time, more general community disconnect in the face of such tremendous grief, and the trappings of nostalgia. These characters are imperfect, loudly messy, hurting, and in all in need of love and going about it in a myriad of wrong ways. The writing is unique and the style shifts with each character in a way that appears quite disconnected at first, but so many things really came into focus for me in the last part.
I have so many thoughts about parts of this. The way it describes disconnect while also showing connections in the characters' experiences, many of which go unacknowledged. It's also interesting reading more books from this era and seeing similarities, not just in content around the AIDS epidemic, community, and family, but the specific emotions that are evoked. The emotion that is distilled with such intensity in Gifts of the Body by Rebecca Brown is unmistakable in here. That feeling is so intense and situated so particularly in that historical moment. And yet, it struck me as I was reading this how uncomfortably familiar some of the disconnect is to the moment we are in as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Excrement
There is a lot of usage of gay slurs, though they are mostly not used in a derogatory context.
informative
reflective
I loved this! I loved that it talks about binding safety and shares a variety of people's experiences with binding. But more than that, as someone who has done human sciences research, I was so stoked to see this as a mode for presenting research! It's accessible to so many people, you're sharing the stories that people want shared, and contextualizing it all with practical information and ways to reflect. I love this and I want to see more like it (and I want to make things like this tbh) There are some things that I wish they went into more, but over all, this was cool!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Transphobia, Medical content, Dysphoria