jedore's reviews
499 reviews

Design Flaws of the Human Condition by Paul Schmidtberger

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funny inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

“…after you squeeze a person’s spirit away for awhile, it just stays squeezed away.”

What a fun book! Kinda like a rom com, but with two friends (two gay men and a woman). It left me missing the time in my life when I lived in the gay district of my old city…never had so much fun and felt so cherished by my friends.

Everything about this book is New York City…the setting, the snarky intelligent humor, the situations that come up, and definitely the characters. Spot on. 

The story was filled with valuable life lessons, but it wasn’t preachy at all. And it brought to light how grey life is, which made it feel real versus formulaic. I absolutely loved the characters…so real I wanted them as friends. 

Highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, light, but meaningful read!

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Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“You know, what’s so dreadful about dying is that you are completely on your own.”

Lolita is the story of obsession and pedophilia that was as revolting as I had expected. At best, it was uncomfortable to be inside the mind of a narcissistic pedophile…at worst, utterly disgusting.

Character development was limited to the highly unlikeable pedophile, Humbert Humbert, but was absolutely masterful. In fact, Humbert WAS the story as there was very little action. (It would be fascinating to read a book from Delores’/Lolita’s perspective.)

To add to my negative feelings about Humbert, I found his pompous vocabulary and frequent use of un-translated French irritating. It also created emotional distance between me and this book.

This was one of those books I read purely out of curiosity and a desire to be better educated. Over the years, it has been regularly referenced in books, movies, and even song lyrics and I was missing out on meanings. Now I get it. I am glad I read it…all knowledge is power, but I won’t miss Humbert one bit.


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The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

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dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“You should be more careful out there,” the doctor says. “You have a dangerous job. I mean, do you see men doing it?”

“Of course not!” Young-sook exclaims. “The world knows that the cold water will cause their penises to shrivel and die.”

This is my fourth Lisa See book...and the second one that made my all-time favorite list (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the first). Lisa is an amazing author, goddess of research, and master of character development.

I've gotten a glimpse of the horrific treatment of Koreans by the Japanese (Pachinko) and the U.S. (The Peoples' History of the United States), but this story was an intimate and personal journey into the lives of those living on the island of Jeju. Wow, just wow...as I close the cover of what feels like every book I read these days, my faith in humanity lessens. The ability of one "tribe's" ability to completely disassociate and commit horrors against "outsiders" is mind boggling.

The story also cemented a personal opinion that I've been pondering for some time now, one based both on my own life experiences and the thousands of books I've read.

Women are, in general and by far, the stronger sex.

In the face of poverty, war, and other intense hardships, I've observed (personally or literally) many a man fall apart and their women carry them (as well as their children). The haenyo divers of Jeju took this to a whole other level as they were not only capable of carrying their men emotionally, but physically as well. 

A week after closing the back cover of this book and I still find myself thinking about the perfectly imperfect heroines of this story and replaying many of the scenes in my mind. Add this to the fact that I have a more complete knowledge about history (so I can do what I can to stop it from repeating) and it's no wonder it's an all-time favorite. 

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Homeopathy: Start Here by Ann Jerome PhD CCH

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informative inspiring medium-paced

3.5

The first step in reconnecting with my long lost inner witch is to start practicing homeopathy (for myself and any of my loved ones who want to give it a shot). “Homeopathy: Start Here” was the first step in my education.

This short book, written by a long-time classical practitioner, is split into two almost even sections.

The first half is a toe dip into homeopathy…a little bit about it’s history, theory, the creation of the remedies, and practice. It explained it very clearly and totally opened my eyes. I now understand it’s VERY different than herbal medicine! I definitely plan on digging deeper, particularly about constitutions.

The second half is the presentation of a bunch of case studies. While I found it fascinating to learn about all of the issues homeopathy can resolve, I would have appreciated much more info on each case, such as the constitution of the person, what remedies worked for that specific person, etc. Simply hearing that some unknown remedy worked on various cases wasn’t nearly enough and, in fact, I felt detracted from the book.

I’m excited to learn more about homeopathy AND to have such an effective and affordable way to take charge of my health. As an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person), I’m deeply appreciative of remedies that won’t give me all of the mild to serious side effects that Western, and even herbal, medicine does. 
Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Men fear that which is alien, that which they cannot control. Hence most are afraid of certain animals, predators, those they cannot tame. In this country, that would be snakes, dingoes to an extent, but mostly the wild native.”

This is definitely not my typical genre….all male characters, LOTS of aggression and violence. Pretty much a western set in Australia. 

I read it to honor the aboriginal people of Australia. As horrific as it is, it’s important that we don’t stick our heads in the sand about the experiences of the natives throughout the world. 

I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through to the end. The only reason I did was because the main character was a sensitive boy who retained his softness into manhood despite all the horrors he witnessed and even took a small part in. 

The writing was excellent. Character development was awesome…the author nailed the bad guys. I did figure out the ending about midway through, which did detract from my reading experience a bit. 

All in all a very good read given the education, and hopefully empathy, you gain. 



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Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

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

3.75


“Tell a witch to go, and she’ll plant her feet on the ground and stay exactly where she is. Instead of doing as she’s told, she’ll take a knife to her arm and let her blood drip onto the ground, and in that way she will claim the earth for herself and for her daughters and for all the daughters who follow her. It is the future she’s claiming, the right to be a woman who can do as she pleases.“

With every book I read about witches, I feel more and more connected to a tribe. Definitely not a typical one. This tribe isn’t restricted by the boundaries of time and place. It’s filled with countless generations of strong women who were/are deeply connected to nature and use its gifts to heal. They refused to follow the herd and be stifled by the patriarchy. They are my sisters. 

This book is the prequel to Practical Magic…I have the full series and chose to read them in chronological order. It is the story of the matriarch of the Owen witches that takes place in the late 1600s in England, Curaçao, Salem, and New York. 

Although it’s magical realism, you learn a lot about history…of each place and the plight of those women who chose to live on the edges. 

The plot was formulaic, thus predictable…it was the characters that kept me turning the pages. Alice Hoffman has a gift for character development.

The two biggest detractions for me were the magical realism and Hoffman’s diversions into Jewish history. My personal preference is for more realistic fiction, so that’s totally on me. I think more readers would agree with me that the breaks from the story to educate us on the plight and contributions of Jews were overindulgent, wholly unnecessary and mild to moderately irritating. 

Looking forward to reading Practical Magic, which I’ve heard is very different than the movie. 

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The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood

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

3.0

“No one will love you more than they love them selves.”

This is the story of the impact of the short life of an autistic teenage boy on his parents and an elderly woman he befriended through a Boy Scouts volunteer program. 

For some mysterious reason, I didn’t connect with this book as much as others…surprising being that I’m both a mama and a mush. It was a Book Bub deal (for my Kindle) that I bought solely based on the good reviews…just goes to show you that, in the end, one shouldn’t put too much weight on reviews as books are a very personal thing!

The writing was actually quite good. For me, the story just lacked real emotional depth and cohesiveness, so I was never able to deeply connect with it or any of the characters.

I’m not sorry I read it, but give me a few months and I probably won’t remember it!

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A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

"The idea of saviors has been built into th entire (US) culture, beyond politics. We have learned to look to stars, leaders, experts in every field, thus surrendering our own strength, demeaning our own ability, obliterating our lwn selves." 

Well, THAT was hard work! Almost 700 pages of U.S. history, but this time from the perspective of the people, not the elite. 

This book made it abundantly clear how brainwashed so many American citizens have been about the history of their country by a school system that was literally created and designed to churn out obedient citizens. It worked for 52 years on me, but thanks to Howard Zinn, I'm onto them. 

Mr. Zinn is NOT a conspiracy theorist and there's nothing even remotely wacky about this book. He starts in 1492 and ends at the 9/11 debacle, sharing solid evidence, in painful, but necessary, detail, about the true underpinnings of this country and the struggle of the majority of it's citizens for basic survival. The amount of research that went into this book is absolutely mind boggling. 

In short, the elites have been running this country from the start and they not only use, but instigate, racial tension and military "incidents"/wars to protect or expand their power. The majority of laws, constitutional amendments, etc., bought them enough protection to keep doing what they were doing. I finally understand why so many people in other countries, particularly the Middle East, despise us. 

This book illuminated the underlying reason for the nightmare of the past several years, including Covid lockdowns and forced vaccinations, the present day book bans, and abortion flip flops. These are just continued, albeit grander, desperate attempts by the powers that be to retain, and even increase, power.

Though I believe every US citizen should read this book, that's a very tall order. It took me away from more enjoyable reading for almost 2 months and I felt like I was reading a textbook this entire time. That being said, to learn about all of the wars, ONE AFTER THE OTHER, all at once rather than one war at a time, was so eye opening. 

This book made my all-time favorites list, not because it was enjoyable to read, but because of how its knowledge has empowered me. They will fool me no more!

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We Are All Made of Stars by Rowan Coleman

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

"It's not easy, being in this world. Picking yourself up, getting yourself together, time after time, only for some bastard to whack you back down." 

I'm not usually a fan of sappy or predictable...definitely not of sappy AND predictable. Although “We Are All Made of Stars” was both for me, somehow the author had me liking it.

It helped tremendously that the (internal and external) dialogue was written well. The characters were all real, imperfect, and likable. It was effortless to see them in my head, as if I was watching a movie. (A Hallmark movie, for sure.) The deathbed letter chapter interludes from non-characters was a great touch.

As both of my parents are in their 90s, this book triggered me. As I read all of the heartfelt deathbed letters, I was faced with the loss of knowing that I will never get one. At this point, it's abundantly clear that both of them will die as they lived...disconnected from both their emotions and their children. So, yeah, I cried often while reading this one and lived vicariously through some of the characters who received such precious gifts.

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Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

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dark informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

"Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.”

When I heard about this book, which is a blend of historical and light science fiction, I was intrigued. I'm a huge fan of the former and interested in reading more of the latter. 

The portrayal of the master-slave relationship was the most powerful aspect of this book for me. The psychology of it all was extremely insightful and educational. So tragic. 

I didn't like the book as much as the majority of the others who have reviewed it or as much as I had hoped. 

For a couple of reasons...

  • The dialogue sometimes came across as over-explanatory and preachy. It's distracting to me (in both TV and literature) when characters over explain things to each other. In this case, it made the book feel a bit like Young Adult fiction vs Well-Read Adult Fiction. 
  • It was probably intentional on the author's part, but I didn't find any of the characters really lovable. In fact, on numerous occasions, the heroine got on my nerves. 

This book solidified what I already suspected—my highly principled self would not have survived in the time of slavery. I would never have been able to "play along," no matter what my color. My mouth, my actions, or myself would have been the death of me. 

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