rtc. okay i really enjoyed this!! (as much as one can lol) i don't think it's life changing but i couldn't put it down and the fertility/motherhood strtc. okay i really enjoyed this!! (as much as one can lol) i don't think it's life changing but i couldn't put it down and the fertility/motherhood stuff is a unique flavor. check TW for sure!...more
4.5 stars Elizabeth Zott is a female chemist in the 1960's. Despite being a genius, she is constantly belittled, overlooked, and harassed. Now that she4.5 stars Elizabeth Zott is a female chemist in the 1960's. Despite being a genius, she is constantly belittled, overlooked, and harassed. Now that she's a single mom, she's fired from her lab - and ends up as the reluctant host of a cooking show that's about to become a hit. I read this for Friendathon, my readathon based on reading your friends' tastes, for the prompt to read a book by an author they've given 5 stars to in the last year. I vlogged the readathon, and you can watch that here!
There's a reason this book has become such a hit. There's so much to love and in a crowd pleasing package. Elizabeth is such a great character, with tenacity and an unshakable trust in herself even when the world doesn't like that. Because she doesn't care about the societal expectations that are meant to suffocate her, she finds some success while other women can't. As a woman in STEM myself, I loved reading her everyday adoration for chemistry. I loved seeing her relationships with those around her, from her romance with Calvin that defies societal norms, to her relationship with the daughter she never expected to have, to the new friendships she falls into as she finally finds her village. I most enjoyed the excerpts from the tv show as she's encouraging other women; but then it's also so sad to see her taken away from her passion. I really liked the comedy; it felt reminiscent of the time and reminded me of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's pacing. But alongside the comedy, there's a lot of serious commentary, like women's contribution to science being stolen. What stood out to me was the description of the literal danger women put themselves in by being in the workplace at the time.
I had one thing I wasn't a huge fan of. The further we went into the book, the less time we spent from Elizabeth's perspective and the more we were seeing from the side characters. I get that it could be showing how she looks from the outside while she's gaining fame or some similar literary purpose, but ultimately it made me less invested in the latter parts. Elizabeth is the heart of this, make it about her. Also, the ending was a bit soap opera-like, but oh well.
I was surprised to learn that the author hasn't confirmed that she wrote Elizabeth to be autistic. I thought it was a deliberate choice, and that it wasn't discussed in the book because a) it was the 60's and b) Elizabeth doesn't see her differences as a hindrance to her life. There are several autistic traits that we see her exhibit on several occasions each - auditory processing issues, not understanding idioms or euphemisms or subtext, a general resistance to anything illogical, etc. If it hasn't been confirmed, I won't be listing this as representation, but, wow, I thought it was on purpose.
Overall, I enjoyed this book so much. I thought it had so much great stuff to say in fun packaging. I did think we should've focused more on Elizabeth's POV, though....more
Jojo is a 13 year old mixed boy. Normally, his Black grandparents would take care of him and his 3 year old sister, but his grandmother is dying of caJojo is a 13 year old mixed boy. Normally, his Black grandparents would take care of him and his 3 year old sister, but his grandmother is dying of cancer, so his chronically absent mother is in charge, and has decided to bring the two of them with her to pick up their father from prison. But this family is haunted by its past, figuratively and literally.
I picked this up on a whim because the audio had no wait at my library, but also because of the NYT Top 100 list - Jesmyn Ward was the only author to appear three separate times, so I thought it was time to finally read her stuff.
I definitely understand why Ward is so lauded. This book packs so much into less than 300 pages. I was so surprised how many topics this covers, to different levels of subtlety. We talk about generational trauma, the prison and justice system, drug use and how it affects a family, racism, and police brutality among others. The speculative element tied very well into what is otherwise a very realistic, gritty story, and absolutely warrants the Morrison comparison. The setting and atmosphere of the sweltering South was well-done. Possibly the most successful part of this was how it complexly characterizes everyone we see. Leonie, the mother, is a drug addict who has basically abandoned her children. She literally neglects to feed her children and worse, but has no problem going to lengths for drugs, and then is jealous of her 13 year old son for having a better relationship with her daughter. But we still feel empathy for her and all she's gone through, and want her to be better! SeeingJojo and Kayla go through this trip is entirely harrowing on multiple levels and can be hard to watch. However, my main detractor from this book was that it felt like not a lot happened. I could've used more plot, but also felt like we could have seen even more from all of our characters and gotten more resolution. Everything in the book was good, but I felt like there was more to go through.
On a side note, I wouldn't recommend the audiobook. One of the narrators in the first half of the book consistently drops in volume for every sentence, whispering by the end of it so it's hard to hear. It's not there in the second half, but it was enough to really frustrate me.
Overall, this is a great literary fiction that covers lots of thematic ground. I'd highly recommend it although I wish there was a little bit more plot....more
The third book in the Murderbot series, the company that screwed over Murderbot is coming under scrutiny. At the same time, Murderbot is helping alongThe third book in the Murderbot series, the company that screwed over Murderbot is coming under scrutiny. At the same time, Murderbot is helping along a new crew trying to secure an artifact, while hiding its presence from the crew's humans.
Look, I'm not a huge novella person. I'm trying to branch out into them. I liked the first book in this series okay, then quite enjoyed the second one. It's been long enough since the first one that I can't tell if I liked that one better than this one, but I wasn't enthused by this. I kept going back in the audiobook because I felt like I had missed something, but nope things hadn't happened yet, not until like 2/3 through. I liked Murderbot's interactions with Miki, where Murderbot starts to see that it's not compulsory for androids to be treated poorly - themes there were great. I generally enjoy Murderbot's desire to do nothing but watch TV and pretend apathy for humans. This was an alright read and only took one sitting to listen to the whole thing, but I could've done with more of it.
Overall, I liked this less than the second book, but it was alright. I do think I'd like this series more if they were longer. ...more
The conclusion to A Memory Called Empire, Mahit has returned home and is still in danger. But when she and Three Seagrass are reunited, her prioritiesThe conclusion to A Memory Called Empire, Mahit has returned home and is still in danger. But when she and Three Seagrass are reunited, her priorities have to shift because they've been assigned with the impossible task of communicating with an alien race to stop a war. Meanwhile, fleet captain Nine Hibiscus is trying to keep her subordinates from starting a genocide, and Eight Antidote is doing spying of his own.
This was a good follow up, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like the first one more. I really enjoyed the alien communication plot as Mahit and several others are actively trying to make progress with understanding these creatures who are monumentally different from humans in biology and culture. I also liked the discussion about how colonizer propaganda deeply infects the minds of the colonizer and colonized, even when the person is aware of it. Generally the anti-colonial themes were great and built upon book one. However, there were a couple things that made me like this one a little less. This one does feel a little bit slower in pace because Mahit isn't constantly running away from being attacked. Instead, we have a war on that could turn for the worst at any time. Also, I didn't love how much time we spent away from Mahit - we spend so much time in other perspectives, which, I get why in terms of the plot that was done, but it made me less connected that we were away from the characters I cared most about. Also, I thought there were like 30 more pages of plot and it turns out it was just bonus content! I wouldn't have hated more resolution/epilogue stuff.
Overall, this was a solid conclusion to this duology. It really built on the themes of the first, but I wasn't as invested as I was in that one....more
Following nine disparate people over the course of many years, we see them each converge in their own ways on a passion for environmentalism, more speFollowing nine disparate people over the course of many years, we see them each converge in their own ways on a passion for environmentalism, more specifically saving what little is left of the North American old forests.
I read this because my boyfriend, who doesn't read much, decided it was time for us to do a buddy read together! Little did he know that the book he picked would just happen to be picked as one of NYT's best books of the century a month later. I guess he knows better than I do, lol.
I get it. I understand what this book is saying, I completely agree with its premise, and I think the themes are fantastic and well-delivered. Powers does a great job running through lots of counterarguments before proving once again the importance of protecting the environment, specifically old growth forests. He's very evidently an extremely gifted author with a firm grasp on language. The way that he wove the different perspectives together worked well and showed lots of different journeys possible - Patty and Neelay were the perspectives I was most invested in. However, I feel like this goes too much into the realm of pretension for my taste (and I tend to love books like that). Despite my careful reading, a few things went over my head until I looked online. Some of the perspectives start to feel repetitive, especially in the middle section with the tree huggers. Some of the perspectives we definitely spent more time with than we needed if they weren't even going to connect to the story until way down the road. This book - which has so much important good to offer - didn't need to hit 500 pages (even without chapter breaks after page 150). I think this book could've been made all the more powerful if it had trimmed some fat: a high page count does not a good book make. I definitely understand why this was so lauded and won the Pulitzer, as it very well describes the dire straits we are in. That didn't justify the lack of editing.
Overall, the themes and messages of this book are fantastic, but it became bogged down with a longer page count than necessary....more
Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are a guild of undead assassins that pledgThank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are a guild of undead assassins that pledged themselves to the goddess of assassins in life, were brought back to life without their memories, and now kill their targets under a strict set of rules. Eveen is one such assassin, and when she's assigned a mark that has ties to a past she doesn't even remember, a dangerous plot is revealed.
This is my third P. Djeli Clark - I've read Ring Shout and Master of Djinn, gave both 4ish stars, and so I requested this ARC. Despite being the premise I was most interested in, this may be my least favorite of his, although by a small margin.
This is such an interesting premise for a story. We've got someone who's dedicated their (after)life to something they can't even remember why they dedicated in their first place. There's some cool magic and politics that we're introduced to, and an intriguing start to a mystery. However, to me, this book felt like Clark had reached word count limit 100 pages ago and had to axe half the book. He kept a lot of the cool things, but because we didn't have time to sit with anything or explore any more than was absolutely uncuttable, I felt like I didn't get the full experience. I didn't fully grasp our world, so any developments felt like deus ex machina. The bare bones made it way easier to guess what could've been a great plot twist. And I just didn't get invested into our characters because I didn't have time to. There was so much stuff that I could point to and say, that's cool, but nothing really stunned me in their execution. I had fun with what was going on, but I wanted way more.
Overall, this has a wildly cool premise, but the tiny page count was a disservice to the story....more
The seventh book in The Wheel of Time, the gang's up to some stuff, shockingly.
I'm probably going to stop reading this series. The only thing stoppingThe seventh book in The Wheel of Time, the gang's up to some stuff, shockingly.
I'm probably going to stop reading this series. The only thing stopping me from stopping is that I can get the audios for free from my library. Plus I also have people in my life who love this series... but I don't get it. Most of what I'll be saying in this review is retreading ground from the previous ones - it's almost as if these books get redundant! And to be fair to the slog books, I also haven't liked the last 3 books.
As always, the plot I liked most is about the White Tower and Egwene. Those politics are some of the only times I felt interested in the book. I thought that the grim-ness of the battles we saw were good. And Rand's relationship with the previous Dragon was interesting.
Let's talk about my complaints unique to this installment. First and most egregiously, one of the most sexist things I've ever read occurs in this one. It has to do with Nynaeve, and I was blinded with fury for her. (view spoiler)[So the only way for a woman to have power in this world is to "submit"?? And men have nothing of the sort? Absolute bull that this is the "one" power. It's the double standard, patriarchal power. (hide spoiler)] Matt's relationship in this book is supposed to be questioning his own sexist beliefs about courting, but the lack of consent was gross. Also, the fact that the Perrin/Faile jealousy argument continued on into this book is ridiculous and I wanted to commit an act of violence.
Now my complaints that are repeating from previous books: the gender essentialism, the men-are-from-Mars-women-are-from-Venus, the "all men are stupid" and "all women are unfathomable and jealous and have breasts I need to comment on" is too much. It's clear at this point that it is the opinion of the author and not a fantasy culture thing. It's also crazy to me that these characters, who have gone through seven books of adventures, still hold all these close-minded beliefs (and even characters who aren't from the Two Rivers have them). They haven't changed an ounce since they left, except they all have powers. Yippee. I also thought that in the last several books, not a lot of plot has gone on for the amount of pages we get through. I think doing a GRRM and splitting books between characters would've helped. Finally, when I'm not mad about stuff happening in this series, I'm bored because I'm no longer invested. I don't care about most of the characters because they're stock and feel like every other character. I don't care enough to follow all the plot nuances. I can't even remember what's happened once it's done. Cool other stuff can't save infuriating characters. To be very clear - I'm a huge fantasy fan. I love books that are a million pages long; I just can't stand these ones.
Overall, I hate that I put myself through another one of these books. Save yourself the time, read anything else....more
Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars Anahrod has been a fugitive for 15 years, scraping by in the Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars Anahrod has been a fugitive for 15 years, scraping by in the dangerous wilds between the towering mountains of her world run by dragons. When she falls in with a group of adventurers sent to find her, she gets enlisted in the ultimate heist: stealing from the dragon queen's horde.
This was a fun, not-super-serious fantasy standalone that was an easy one to get through. While it definitely departs from it, you can tell that the author was inspired by DND in the setup of the characters and plot. I think the strongest part of this was the unique world. We have fun settings, with a world that is defined by its giant mountains. The way that the story interacts with dragons was something I haven't seen much: magically-blessed dragonriders are chosen by dragons that are not their partners, but much more often their owners. Those dragons also all have unique hordes and abilities. There was also the cultural element of identity rings, where people wear rings with specific designs that describe their job, interests, gender identity, or sexuality, making this a queernorm fantasy. I liked the heist and how many things went wrong with it. I could've used even more expansion on the magic dragon riders use. But I think the element I struggled with the most was the characters, particularly the interpersonal relationships. I didn't feel like I knew Anarhod very well. Then, she goes on to have these really deep relationships (romantic or not) mostly with people she just met. It felt like these attachments had no build up; they were introduced and then bam - they're together forever. I was at first rooting for the romance as it is different from most, but it went from 0 to 100 (though this is closed door & not a fanro). This also doesn't make sense because Anarhod is supposed to have trust issues. Besides that, some of the plot felt redundant, like Anarhod getting knocked out about 6 times and getting kidnapped 4 of those times.
Overall, I think the strongest suit of this fun fantasy was its unique world building. The heist was also a good time, but I was left wanting from our supposed found family....more
In this cat-and-mouse game space opera, Jun is a hacker and a con artist, and the latest item she's procured seems to have connections to a genocide cIn this cat-and-mouse game space opera, Jun is a hacker and a con artist, and the latest item she's procured seems to have connections to a genocide committed decades before. Tracking her down are Essek, a brutal cleric and the head of an extremely powerful family, and her reluctant former mentee Chono - both haunted by the mysterious figure from their past known only as Six.
I read this for a vlog in which I read the best books of 2023 according to the booktubers that have the most similar taste in books as me. Watch it here!
I totally understand the comparison of this to the Teixcalaan duology - space opera setting, running for your life, anti-colonial themes. This was a space opera that while it discussed serious topics, also managed to stay very fun. This is set up in a cat-and-mouse like structure where we have Jun running from Chono and Essek, while Chono and Essek are both hunting and being hunted by Six. We also see in a past timeline through Essek's point of view, the original hunt Chono and her did for Six when Chono was her mentee. So, a ton of this book is running away from stuff so that's fun! I liked that our main characters are shown to have prejudiced opinions bolstered by propoganda, and those opinions get challenged. I generally really enjoyed Essek and Chono's perspectives as we dance around what happened in their past. Jun's perspective I expected to love but was underwhelmed by. This is probably because it pitches that there's a mystery about her artifact, but there really isn't -we learn everything in one fell swoop early on. I could've done with a bit more worldbuilding when it came to tech and politics. There were some plot devices that I felt were really obvious to the reader, but there was one plot twist I didn't see coming! (Should I have? Maybe). I think this series has a lot of potential based on this foundation we have here and would be interested to continue.
Overall, this was a fun cat and mouse game that also had more serious themes woven throughout. I wanted a bit more from the world, but I think the sequels can give us that....more
Humanity has always revered the Fhrey as gods - they're seemingly immortal, they can perform magic, they can't be hurt... until a human kills one. NowHumanity has always revered the Fhrey as gods - they're seemingly immortal, they can perform magic, they can't be hurt... until a human kills one. Now a war is coming between the races, and the humans are ill prepared.
I read this for a vlog in which I read the best books of 2023 according to the booktubers that have the most similar taste in books as me. Watch it here!
I feel like with such a premise, and such a glowing recommendation of the series, very little happened in this book. I was hyped up that the events of this series are legendary and epic, and maybe that happens in the next books, but not here. There seems to be big stuff going on in the background, but the scope of what we actually see seems very small. I kept going back in the audiobook thinking I missed something, but I didn't. I thought that having a Bronze-ish age setting was interesting and different from what you usually see in fantasy, which makes sense because this is a prequel to a normal-set series. I wasn't particularly invested in any of the characters, but Persephone - who's the wife of a late chieftain trying to keep her town from being killed by the Fhrey - was the most interesting to me. I felt like we got hints toward interesting fantasy things, like the magic system, going on but nothing got expanded on, and that was my main qualm. There are some setups of things that might happen in future books, and also I can get these audios for free, so I won't rule out continuing.
Overall, this felt like a first act rather than a full book. I kept waiting for something to happen, and they didn't - yet....more
Wren and Louis have only been married for less than a year when Louis gets a terrible diagnosis: he's mutating into a great white shark. Told4.5 stars
Wren and Louis have only been married for less than a year when Louis gets a terrible diagnosis: he's mutating into a great white shark. Told poetically through the eyes of Wren, Louis, and Wren's mother in the past, we see the process of slowly losing someone to something they can't control.
I read this for a vlog in which I read the best books of 2023 according to the booktubers that have the most similar taste in books as me. Watch it here!
This is a great book and I definitely get why this was in a favorites of the year list. This book tackles its subject matter in a unique way that affects the reader deeply. The writing style feels like poetry in the way it chooses what to focus on, and sometimes is even told in the form of a play script. This may not be for everyone, but I really got along with it. These mutations are common enough that people know about it but may not have been affected by it, very similar to cancer in that and its severity. I really liked that the mutations don't all mean one thing. The different mutations that someone can get are representative of different ways that you can lose someone - terminal illness, degenerative conditions, etc. Seeing these things through metaphor felt like seeing these type of stories through new eyes. It shows how difficult loving someone in this situation is, but that you never lose the love, and how upsetting it is to see people lose themselves and the life they knew to things out of their control. I also thought it was good that it was underlined that abuse is not considered one of these things.
I was obsessed with the first section of this, following Wren and Louis as his mutation progresses. The way that it flips between parts of their lives and illustrates how Louis is changing is so heartbreaking that it felt like there was a weight on my chest. That one part was easily a 5 star. The other sections, I was less attached to. The second section skipping back to the mother's POV felt like I've read it several times before. It felt like a different book, until it got to the very end and I understood why it was included. I thought if this story was integrated throughout, I might have had a better time with it. Regardless, the last 250 pages I thought were good but not brilliant like the first 150. Also, some of the chapters are like two sentences long. Genuine question: why not just have section breaks?
Overall, I think this is going to go over really well with many people because it's so universally heartbreaking but with love and hope at the center. I'll definitely be recommending this, even if I liked the first section much more than the rest....more
Pip is a high school senior assigned with creating a senior thesis on anything she wants - and she decides to investigate the disappearance of Andi BePip is a high school senior assigned with creating a senior thesis on anything she wants - and she decides to investigate the disappearance of Andi Bell, a popular girl who went to her school. Andi's boyfriend, Sal, was presumed guilty when he was found dead of apparent suicide days after she went missing. But Pip isn't convinced, and with a bit of help from Sal's brother, she's going to find out what really happened - if someone doesn't stop her first.
I read this for a vlog in which I read the best books of 2023 according to the booktubers that have the most similar taste in books as me. Watch it here!
Well, I was avoiding this forever. I didn't believe the hype at all. I thought, from the type of people I saw reading this, it wouldn't be for me. I really don't read that many YA thrillers (I didn't as a young adult either), so this being so great really blew me away. The plotting of this book is fantastic. Every single scene is relevant and is throwing so many pieces of information at the reader. This is told in interviews, so most scenes are rife with clues; so much so that I decided to take notes on this to solve it! There are so many moving parts and people that we're talking to that there are twists at every turn, which made this have a breakneck pace that I couldn't put down. The unraveling of the mystery is incredibly satisfying: I got a good amount right, and was pleased with the things I got right AND the things I got wrong. Not only that, but the thriller aspects of this where Pip are in danger definitely went further than I thought they would. Too many thrillers pull their punches and I didn't expect this wouldn't do the same! I liked the relationship with Ravi a good amount, especially towards the end. When I was around halfway through, I had some reservations about Pip. One, that she didn't seem to have much going on outside the mystery - and then the book addressed it directly! That Pip is such a workaholic when it comes to school that she's realized she doesn't have much going on herself. I liked how self aware that was. Then, I thought she had a bit of protagonist syndrome (hypocritically not telling people what she's doing/learning), and she does, but I think she's going to learn from this from what I've heard of the next books. Lastly, I did listen to this on audiobook and that is the way that I'd recommend consuming this. The audio production around the recordings is truly top tier immersion.
Overall, this really did blow me away. I immediately recommended this to a lot of people and want to gush about it!! Cannot wait to watch the show....more
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