The fact that I enjoyed this is going to make me a demonstrably worse person.
I have been trying to get better lately about reading books I think I'll The fact that I enjoyed this is going to make me a demonstrably worse person.
I have been trying to get better lately about reading books I think I'll like. This may seem like, you know, the most obvious reminder on the planet to most people, but to me it is a constant battle between reading what's popular/been sent to me by the publisher/readable in 45 minutes versus stuff that is actually up my alley.
The first one is constantly winning.
So lately, when I don't like a book by an author, I try to prevent myself from the inclination to read, you know...other books by that author.
Again, this might seem like basic common sense to the lot of you, but you're talking to (reading of) the girl who read every book by John Green out of pure stubbornness. So.
Anyway. For a long time I staved off my very mild desire to read this book, because I did not like The Kiss Quotient and I'm not stupid. Or rather I am stupid but I'm forcing myself through idiot rehab.
But then I was reading all books by Asian authors in May...and I wanted to read a romcom...and my library had this available...and I gave in.
And I - liked it?
Don't get me wrong: It was not, like, very good for me. It was more of a sex-based romance than I like, and all of the conflicts between the love interests were solved by outsiders which was weird, and I feel like I didn't catch when the Falling In Love bits actually happened.
But it was fun. I enjoyed myself.
Bottom line: I'm officially incorrigible!!!
------------ pre-review
okay. this was not NOT fun.
review to come / 3 stars
------------ currently reading updates
i did not like the kiss quotient, but if i am two things, those things are brave and stupid.
so i will be reading this.
------------
taking lily's idea and reading only books by asian authors this month!
This is about a rich kid (princess) and a poor kid (son of some guy who smells stuff in the forest for a living) who team up Here's all I have to say:
This is about a rich kid (princess) and a poor kid (son of some guy who smells stuff in the forest for a living) who team up and go on adventures in the woods.
It's cute. It's sweet. It's too much of both. It's fun. It's a good solid middle grade fantasy. I will probably not remember it for very long and that's fine.
Bottom line: This review is one of the shortest I've ever written and it's still unnecessarily long!
--------------- pre-review
cute + sweet overload.
review to come / 3 stars
--------------- tbr review
nothing hits quite like middle grade fantasy
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challenging myself to read as many review copies as possible this month because i'm addicted to projects!
it's truly hard to imagine a topic i'd less like to read about than people in their 20s sleeping with teenagers, but this is still by sally rooney, soit's truly hard to imagine a topic i'd less like to read about than people in their 20s sleeping with teenagers, but this is still by sally rooney, so my emotions are mixed....more
This is a very short book, and yet it took me 4 days to read it.
I'm the level of book nerd where I try to finish a book per day every day that I can. This is a very short book, and yet it took me 4 days to read it.
I'm the level of book nerd where I try to finish a book per day every day that I can. It's the first item on every to-do list I've ever made. It is the biggest factor in my priorities being as screwed up and weird as they are.
And yet this teeny tiny book took me down.
This is due to the fact that it made me so viscerally uncomfortable I had to read it in approximately 42 separate sittings. I spent several days chugging glasses of water so I could grab a new one, suddenly being overcome by the urge to make cookies, reading different books - and so on and so forth. Just so I could get up and get away from this book.
That's pretty cool, in a lot of ways. It's what Ottessa Moshfegh is known for, certainly.
But it didn't make up for how unpleasant of a reading experience it was. No aspect of this was enough to make up for how much I disliked reading it.
If you believe that people are fundamentally somewhat selfish and unkind, this is the book for you.
Bonus points for book representation.
I don't reallyIf you believe that people are fundamentally somewhat selfish and unkind, this is the book for you.
Bonus points for book representation.
I don't really think that, because if I did I would be forced to give into a lifetime of sorrow and cynicism and suffering and other alliterative negativity, but I do think a lot of people are.
And I do hate capitalism.
And I do like books.
So this wasn't bad.
Add to it the fact that I've had exercise routines longer than this book (which may not sound insane, but consider that working out is, for me, an undertaking I embark on approximately once every three years and get sick of nearly immediately and you'll get it), and there's a lot to like.
Not enough to make this a truly pleasurable reading experience. But a good amount.
Bottom line: Apparently not every book about a bookstore is destined to be my favorite thing ever! Who knew.
------------------
give me all the books about books
clear ur shit prompt 5: your shortest book follow my progress here...more
I have never been a conductor attempting to steer a runaway train that has gone off the rails, but I HAVE read a book when I thought I knew where it wI have never been a conductor attempting to steer a runaway train that has gone off the rails, but I HAVE read a book when I thought I knew where it was going and was pleased and comfortable with the potential journey only to be stunned and in a state of anguish when it completely abandoned that path and went somewhere I did NOT want to go.
And that is probably kind of the same thing.
This book has the same writing that made The Vanishing Half work so well for me, and yet...
I wasn't able to care about the characters in the same way. I was ABOUT to. I could feel myself giving in.
But then this book went places I hate in books, and all my progress was lost. And even though this was a well-written and definitely not a bad book, I ended it not caring about a single character.
And we have so many of them.
That's not good.
Bottom line: It's always weird to read an author's most successful book and then follow it with their debut. You really see the growing pains.
------------- pre-review
ya lost me, book.
review to come / 3 stars
------------- currently-reading updates
frantically adding books to my currently reading to try to pretend i'm not slumping...more
This cover is so pretty and happy and wonderful, and then the contents are the darkest, most painful thing you have ever experienced in your life.
LiteThis cover is so pretty and happy and wonderful, and then the contents are the darkest, most painful thing you have ever experienced in your life.
Literally every bad thing that exists under the sun happens in this book. Death. Sexual assault. Devastating illness. War. Genocide. Betrayal. Deceit. Abandonment. Death again. Suicide. Racism. Hate crimes. Poverty. More violence. Family trauma AND family drama.
Probably more I'm forgetting because presumably my brain filed this under "to repress."
Honestly, I really wanted to like this book, but the horrific-ness was gratuitous. I didn't feel like I came to know the characters so much as I came to know the horrible unrelenting stream of things they'd been through.
And that's not my ideal reading experience!
Bottom line: Too much for me!
-------------- pre-review
very, very cool that i just accidentally read the most suffering-filled, sadness-inducing, heartbreaking book of all time.
review to come / 3ish
-------------- tbr review
can't stop / won't stop buying literally everything i see at used bookstores...more
What is life but for a cycle of suffering, the most intense moments coming when you least expect them?
I mean, sorry to be all doom and gloom on the TLWhat is life but for a cycle of suffering, the most intense moments coming when you least expect them?
I mean, sorry to be all doom and gloom on the TL today, but 1) it's accurate, you can't say it's not, 2) I'm being True To Myself and that's soooo important, and 3) I didn't like this book much even though I liked the one that came before it, and that's devastating even when I'm not in my shakiest mental state since my junior year of high school.
Oversharing is glamorous, right?
Anyway. Where Dear Martin had compelling characters and a good story and effortlessly woven-in social justice themes, this felt...flat. I think it'd be really important to have an impactful young adult book about the prison system, but prison somehow didn't figure into this much at all, even though our main character is IN PRISON. The day-to-day reality was pretty nonexistent, which was disappointing.
I also just...didn't care about the characters as much. And I read this pre-mental breakdown, so we can't blame that.
Bottom line: Sad! Not bad, but sad for sure.
-------------
well. lightning doesn't strike twice
(lightning, in this case, is me liking a book.)
review to come / 3 stars
-------------
can't even remember the last time i was so excited about a book that i immediately picked up the sequel...more
Real fans already know: I'm heartless. I'm soulless. My resting temperature is 35 degrees Fahrenheit and I have a deep abyss where my cardiac system iReal fans already know: I'm heartless. I'm soulless. My resting temperature is 35 degrees Fahrenheit and I have a deep abyss where my cardiac system is supposed to be.
So it shouldn't be surprising to anyone who is familiar with me that this book didn't make me feel much of anything.
I didn't read the Percy Jackson books in elementary school (I was too busy sneaking into the teen section at the library and reading books that would cause me to ask my mom what a bl*wj*b is at 9 years old). I don't read much historical fiction now. Mythology generally is like a worse version of fairytales in my mind.
Anyway this was a recipe for disaster, is what I'm saying, and instead it was just. Kind of boring? To me.
There is not much to say about this book, except that if you have a few hours of very boring work ahead of you, listening to Neil Gaiman tell you his There is not much to say about this book, except that if you have a few hours of very boring work ahead of you, listening to Neil Gaiman tell you his versions of fairytales ancient myths at 2x speed is a fairly ideal way to accompany it.
Doesn't need too much attention. Won't distract you very much. This should be consumed, in my opinion, exactly as pleasant background noise.
Sorry that that's kind of a frenemy-ish thing to say.
Bottom line: Fine!
---------------- pre-review
what's the level of possibility on neil gaiman narrating every audiobook?
asking for a friend or whatever.
review to come / 3 stars
---------------- tbr review
on a quest to find pure joy. pretty sure i'm on the right track with "mythology rewritten and read aloud by neil gaiman"...more
Once upon a time, there was me. The aforementioned me (hereafter referred to as I for the sake of grammar) was walking through an airport, wearing twoOnce upon a time, there was me. The aforementioned me (hereafter referred to as I for the sake of grammar) was walking through an airport, wearing two masks and holding hand sanitizer, when I was stopped dead in my tracks.
I had thought that all airport bookstores were relegated to the likes of the dreaded Hudson Booksellers, where books are treated with equal regard to lidded plastic cups of mixed nuts and those weird containers of hard-boiled eggs. (I would ask who buys those, but I have the WORST travel karma and know I would end up seated next to the answer to that question on my next flight if I did.)
And yes, like any self-respecting bookworm, I stop into every Hudson Booksellers I pass (approx 4 per flight) to gaze lovingly at the books. But I never buy them, because they cost like $48 and if I'm paying out the nose I'll be supporting an indie, thank you very much.
But then. Like a glorious mirage. I saw it.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKSTORES...INSIDE THE AIRPORT.
So I went in, nearly burst into tears, bought this book, started it within 15 minutes, and finished it in a sitting. (I love reading on flights. I always start and finish a book, no matter how long it is, like magic.)
I've just realized...I don't really have anything to say about this book.
I did enjoy the representation. I find Angie Thomas's writing style very ...
I've just realized...I don't really have anything to say about this book.
I did enjoy the representation. I find Angie Thomas's writing style very readable. I flew through this pretty quick considering how long it is.
But the characters, the story, the topic, the romance (oh god, the unnecessary, accursed, inexplicably love triangle-y romance)...they have all flown from me. Gone from my brain, presumably never to return.
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Bottom line: Not bad but oh no clearly not memorable to me sorry oh boy.
--------------- pre-review
this was one of the most stressful books i've ever read.
but, like...not in a bad way?
review to come / 3ish stars
--------------- currently-reading updates
obsessed with hopping on bandwagons 2 years late...more
I believe this book genuinely is magic, for two reasons: 1) It came into my life as if propelled by the power of the universe itself. 2) It is a childreI believe this book genuinely is magic, for two reasons: 1) It came into my life as if propelled by the power of the universe itself. 2) It is a children's book from the 1950s (!!!) that condemns colonialism (!!!!!) and has cool, powerful female characters.
It's good stuff.
Unfortunately, because I never read it as a kid, I didn't have any of that nostalgia coursing through my veins, so I was just a 23 year old reading a children's book for the first time. And even when the children's content is good, I have a weird vendetta against it. (Being the eldest child and constantly trying to be cooler than I am, I spent my entire adolescence training myself to hate kids' movies and TV shows and books, just to ruin my younger siblings' time. I'm a good sister.)
Anyway.
Bottom line: Not the book's fault I'm not the target audience - and this was still a delight.
------------- pre-review
so much fun.
review to come / 3 stars (but in a good way)
------------- tbr review
once upon a time, i received the most enthusiastic book recommendation of my life for a classic children's fantasy series i'd never heard of. the very next day, as i was shopping at a used bookstore, a copy of one installment was on the first shelf i looked at.
so i'm assuming this is going to give me magical powers.
I want to live in a world where this book, or a book like it, is a textbook for U.S. history classes. I waThe concept of “history” is so frustrating.
I want to live in a world where this book, or a book like it, is a textbook for U.S. history classes. I want to not have to scream at the sky on a daily basis just because of how mind-bogglingly limited our sense of history is. I want to have grown up learning the stories of the women outlined here, instead of idealized versions of Christopher Columbus and pilgrims and the civil rights movement I would later have to unlearn.
But alas.
The information gathered here is incredible and fascinating, but this is a tough book. One, it’s very very very academic and dry, and I’m a baby who hasn’t been in a history class in upwards of four years so that was tough to adjust to.
Two, it is riddled with lots of little errors (of the grammatical variety) and a few bigger ones (of the historical type).
The most egregious that I noticed is that the summary of the Dred Scott case, a pivotal moment both in history and in this book, is factually inaccurate. The ultimate March 1857 decision was not made by the Missouri Supreme Court (as it says twice in these pages), but by the US Supreme Court, which is why it’s considered one of the biggest failings of the judicial branch in the entire existence of this country.
I won’t pretend that I’m anywhere close to an expert in United States history, especially when it comes to Black women specifically, so the fact that I picked up on an error made me wary of the truthfulness of the other information.
Which was a bummer.
Bottom line: I want there to be eight thousand million jillion books like this one....more
I am once again telling you all that the best part of this illustration-heavy book is the pictures. Which is good news, really.
This is a 1960s ItalianI am once again telling you all that the best part of this illustration-heavy book is the pictures. Which is good news, really.
This is a 1960s Italian collection of whimsical wild new fairytales with some of the funkiest and coolest art you have ever seen in your life.
Do I really remember any of the stories now, a month and four days after I finished this book? No! Do I remember my favorite of the illustrations? Yes, and I want them framed and hung on a wall in my apartment or perhaps a museum!
And should I get better at writing reviews faster, or at least take notes on the books? Certainly!
But will I? Doubtful indeed.
Bottom line: Children's books forever!
------------------ pre-review
cute city, population this book
review to come / 3 stars
------------------ currently-reading updates
italian fairytales from the 1960s with funky illustrations...i don't want to say hell yeah in my review of a children's book, but. hell yeah
clear ur sh*t prompt 8: your smallest book follow my progress here
------------------ tbr review
the best gift you can receive is a book. period. i don't make the rules
(thanks mom for giving me this book i've never heard of for christmas!!!)...more
See, historically, when I have read a Carmen Maria Machado book, I feel like I am simultaneously chopping aReading this was like a science experiment.
See, historically, when I have read a Carmen Maria Machado book, I feel like I am simultaneously chopping an onion and being stabbed in the gut and having all of my deepest darkest secrets read aloud to me in the form of poetic verse.
So, a lot.
And, conversely, when I read a graphic novel, I feel nothing.
So, a little.
I was curious to see which one won out here, and unfortunately (but for the better in terms of my heart, mind, body, and soul), it was the graphic novel side of business. This just didn't hit for me.
The art was very nice, and I got what the story was trying to do, but none of it felt like enough.
Another lose / lose scenario for me and the graphic novel genre.
Bottom line: Sorry! I don't know why I'm like this.
------------- pre-review
the REAL monster was the patriarchy all along!
review to come / 3ish
------------- currently-reading updates
i am once again reading a graphic novel to prove i know how to read
------------- tbr review
a spooky graphic novel written by one of my favorite authors...i don't even know how to fit this much excitement inside me at once...more
Okay, so I read a book about a podcast even though I had never listened to that podcast before. Sue me.
But actually don't, because the universe alreadOkay, so I read a book about a podcast even though I had never listened to that podcast before. Sue me.
But actually don't, because the universe already sued me, essentially, with a very meh reading experience. A spiritual lawsuit.
I thought I would like this book even though I have no concept of the podcast because I do, at the very least, know the podcast is true crime-y, and I know that I like true crime.
However, this was more like a celebrity memoir of the two hosts of said podcast, and considering I could not have named them if you paid me one thousand million dollars previous to this, that was not something I necessarily Needed in my life.
Great title, though.
Bottom line: I should know better!!! But unfailingly, I do not know better.
------------
i probably should've listened to like 6 episodes of this podcast instead.
review to come / 3 stars
------------
someone please stop me from adding every vaguely halloween-y book to my currently reading shelf...more
Sometimes I have an unpopular opinion so heinous I expect to wake up to find my Goodreads account deactivated.
This is one of those times.
Please, at thSometimes I have an unpopular opinion so heinous I expect to wake up to find my Goodreads account deactivated.
This is one of those times.
Please, at this point, navigate away from this. Maybe start trying to guess my password, I don’t know. All I’m sure of is we all should get out of here as soon as possible.
I wish I were normal, with a functioning brain, so I could skip writing this review entirely.
But I am not, so here goes.
It seems like this book was written with the conclusion in mind before any of the research (which is affirmed by backstory in the introduction).
A group of women at a writing retreat got together, had one of those conversations that all women are familiar with, when they find themselves in a room without men, or with a couple of neutral parties, and start talking sh*t. The conclusion was foregone: White men have historically been able to do more with less.
I’m left wondering, though - is this a convincing argument, knowing that it was decided upon before it was researched?
This was a hard issue for me to determine, for the most part. On the one hand, I agree already with the background logic, and fall in line with Oluo’s points and politics by and large, but on the other, I wouldn’t have so much as written a thesis for an English 101 paper without having seen first if the points fell in my favor.
A lot of this comes down to lived experience, and I am by no means saying that lived experience is not valid evidence. It is. Most of this book is well argued.
But sometimes it seems that Oluo wedges more large-scale examples into her thesis without determining if they fit there in truth.
For most of the book, as mentioned, this was fine, as I agreed with the points made for the most part. But then the Bernie Sanders chapter came around.
This is the only section in which I wasn’t already on Oluo’s side, so I will be reviewing it critically and in detail to reflect how this book might feel to someone who disagrees with other sections. (The question of who this book is for - whether it's to convince people who don't agree or as the kind of newly popular soothing-justified-anger fodder for people who do - is interesting to me, but a whole other topic.)
For context, I voted for Bernie Sanders twice - the first time at 18, during my first presidential election, very enthusiastically, and the second time at 22, less enthused but still feeling he was the best candidate. I promise, even knowing this, I came into this section with an open mind - I do think there are valid criticisms of Bernie, especially when it comes to his ability to talk about race in the 2016 election.
My first sense that something was off came in the first pages of this chapter, when the author introduced her reticent feelings about the senator as having come from a day on Twitter when, following a tweet she made about a dream Bernie appeared in, some of his supporters harassed her. This is obviously unacceptable, but the obfuscation of a politician’s goals or integrity or actual views via their teenage supporters’ always rubs me the wrong way.
The next came in this quote: "When [Sanders] was asked about how to keep voters focused on the issues in the midst of Trump scandals, he replied, 'I mean, I think we've got to work in two ways. Number one, we have got to take on Trump's attacks against the environment, against women, against Latinos and blacks and people in the gay community, we've got to fight back every day on those issues. But equally important, or more important: We have got to focus on bread-and-butter issues that matter so much to ordinary Americans.'
"Oh man, fuck this. Seriously? Who exactly are these 'ordinary Americans' whose issues are more important than the destruction of our environment and the systemic racism and sexism that are literally crushing women and people of color in this country? Hint: They don't look like me."
This is so frustrating to me. The author introduces this quote as Bernie responding to a question about how to keep us focused on issues, SEPARATE FROM TRUMP COMMENTS, and then immediately, using brush-off language, ignores that context.
Many people forgot that in 2020, a large debate in the Democratic party was just how much to focus on Trump. But that was the context there. Taking Bernie’s argument that we have to focus on the real issues, not Trump’s comments about them, and saying that is evidence that he doesn’t care about those issues…to me, bizarre!
The same explanation gap occurs later on: “When in 2016 Trump said that women who have abortions should be punished, Sanders replied that his remarks were a ‘distraction’ from the ‘real issues facing America.’ To many women (and anyone with a uterus, regardless of gender), especially on the left, the assault on reproductive rights was a serious issue facing America.”
It’s his remarks that are the distraction, not the issue itself. The issue is a part of the very same lineup of “real issues” referenced before.
Later, the author argues the following: “In the end, 12 percent of Sanders supporters ended up supporting Trump in the general election. When surveyed, almost half of those Sanders supporters turned Trump voters said they disagreed that white people have disadvantages in the United States, whereas only about 5 percent of Clinton voters disagreed that white people have advantages.”
Ignoring that that would make about 5 percent of Sanders voters, and ignoring that this is not how elections work, and ignoring that the same article the author cites notes that 12 percent of Republican primary voters voted for Hillary in the general, and ignoring that it also says 25 percent of Hillary 2008 voters voted for McCain, and ignoring that there is so much bias here, and ignoring that that last 5 percent number has no cited source, I found another one that said 22% of Hillary voters said that white people don’t benefit even a fair amount from advantages Black people don’t have.
I am white, but I am a pro-choice woman, and being dismissed from my Bernie support is so frustrating. In the wake of so many POC Bernie supporters in 2019 discussing the pain of being left out of the movement via this rhetoric, I don’t understand how you in good faith ignore them to keep making this argument.
This essay will obliquely reference the young women, Black people, Latinx people, and others who supported Bernie in huge majorities, and then act as though that doesn’t matter. Bad-faith writing like this makes me question the believability of the rest of the book.
For goodness’ sake, the author quotes ROBIN DIANGELO in this essay, a white woman infamous for taking over movements, on the idea of white men taking over the movement. And even DiAngelo says, “Well, we need them,” an excerpt of her response that is unsurprisingly not the focus Oluo takes on.
This chapter tears down Bernie and his supporters, sometimes fairly and sometimes not, but it fails to note the actual work done by the senator and this same group in the wake of 2016.
There is a chapter that lauds Rashida Tlaib, AOC, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley, but fails to note the role of Bernie supporters in electing them and working to elect other working class people, people of color, women, and underrepresented populations, through Justice Democrats, the organization that elected these four and three other people of color to national leadership in 2018 alone.
It was founded by and is made up of former Bernie campaign leadership.
I know it seems crazy to focus this much on one chapter, and in many ways it is. But when you’re reading nonfiction and you stumble across a misquoted fact, or a simple error, it creates a sense of doubt that is hard to shake for the rest of the book.
I’m no expert on most of the topics in this, and I learned from some of them, but I’m a politics obsessive who cut her teeth on Bernie. And the places where this section didn’t match up with facts made it hard for me to trust the rest of the book did.
Bottom line: I hope no one read this. If they did, I’m sorry!
----------------- tbr review
what book could sound better than this
-----------------
reading books by Black authors for Black History Month!
It's a little something called "buying every book I see in a used bookstore that has won a major award and excusing it under the gI have an addiction.
It's a little something called "buying every book I see in a used bookstore that has won a major award and excusing it under the guise of becoming a genius / vague self-betterment / pretension."
Which is what happened with this one.
And this was...a strange reading experience?
I mean, it was fine. It was cool. Okay no not cool but yes fine. Average.
I liked the theme of anti-animal cruelty.
But otherwise this wasn't much up my alley.
Bottom line: Not bad just not for me et cetera and so on.
-----------
uh...
not really sure what i just read.
review to come / 3 stars
-----------
we really ARE all completely beside ourselves...more
I was never bored while reading this, but as soon as I finished I wondered how I was not constantly bored.
I mean, yes, this book supplied me with a soI was never bored while reading this, but as soon as I finished I wondered how I was not constantly bored.
I mean, yes, this book supplied me with a sort of figurative IV of drama, a constant drip of tea that offered me restorative health benefits, a steady stream of scandal the likes of which I want every single conversation I have to take inspiration from.
But I didn't care much about the characters. You'd think that should make a difference, because who wants juicy details about the lives of people they don't know or take interest in?
Turns out, me.
This is the literary equivalent of a friend of a friend telling you a two-hour story about people you don't know. And while that wasn't boring, it was like...I'd prefer if someone else were telling me this? Or maybe if I was having a different conversation.
Bottom line: I could say something about the clear and straightforward writing style, or how this somehow felt both too long and too short, or probably a bunch of other stuff, but what it comes down to is I'm nosy.
------------------ currently-reading updates
the most appealing thing a book can be is under 300 pages. i don't make the rules
------------------ tbr review
i have officially received word that it is my curse to want to read everything compared to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie...more
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