innerweststreetlibrarian's reviews
431 reviews

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

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Did not finish book.
Got bored, watched the movie instead. 
The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I don’t think I’ve ever read a collection like this before, written by different people but set within the same “world”. I mostly enjoyed it but lost momentum at times, I think I needed a more cohesive thread between the stories to link them. Sometimes the world was a dystopian place, and sometimes it was a magical fantasy place, sometimes both. The ground shifted a bit too much for me to follow what was going on.
I also struggled with the “dirty computer” concept. I still don’t get why that particular phrase was used, it doesn’t make sense to me. The rest was pretty good dystopian fiction and I love the POC, trans, queer and non binary representation throughout the stories. 
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

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adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed Sea of Tranquility more but I’m still glad I read this one. It was interesting to get more of the back story for some of the characters in SoT, even though I didn’t particularly like any of them very much. 

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is such a lovely book, magical and delightful like a children’s fantasy but with a bit more grit and romance to keep it interesting for adults. The circus tents reminded me a little of the magical worlds at the top of the faraway tree. 

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Last Human by Doug Naylor

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Did not finish book.
Got bored, was very close to the plot of the tv series so didn’t really see much point continuing. 
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

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Did not finish book.
Too icky for me. I cheated and read the synopsis on Wikipedia and it looked like it was just going to get worse. 

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Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book reminded me a lot of Never Let Me Go (which I loved). There’s something similar about  Klara’s voice, a naïveté perhaps? 
Nothing much really happens and it’s a little infuriating that we don’t get to see or understand more about the world (so in that sense, it reminds me a little of The Buried Giant, which I didn’t like), but there’s enough to keep the reader intrigued. I was quite amused by the AFs having their own superstitions. 

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Speak by Louisa Hall

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is such an excellent book. I’m finding it quite hard to describe why though. I think it’s the kind of story that is best entered knowing as little as possible beforehand. 

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The Power by Naomi Alderman

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

W O W! 
I really needed the first half of this book after the grinding misogyny of the last one I read, but oof it got really hard to keep going once I was about halfway through. Definitely needed more contemplation time between chapters to process what was going on. And that was quite a LOT. Very, deeply thought provoking, and a tad horrifying. Basically excellent. 

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