laynemandros's reviews
248 reviews

I know there are Guncle stans on booksta and if that’s you then please look away from this review. 😵‍💫 I fear that this ultimately was a mismatch in book to reader pairing, I just did not vibe with this one! So, take this all with a grain of salt. 

There’s a lot of potential in this one as the plot does cover a wide array of topics like grief, family relationships, ‘non traditional’ family structures, and confronting toxic patterns of behavior. However, I really could not get past the fact that the main character did feel like a caricature of a gay man. I realize that flamboyant, theatrical, luxurious gay men ~do exist~ but the main character felt a little one dimensional in terms of his gay identity. 

I was also just generally put off with how much the main character seemed ignorant to the needs of children? I dislike children and I think they’re kind of annoying but if I had to take care of them I would be able to do that. Guncle just seemed to be a little too unaware for me to have believed it.  

The author does a good job of fleshing out the main character’s grumpy, recluse-like behavior and I overall found the character’s dialogue to have chemistry. 

This just wasn’t a book that I overall vibed with, but I think it’s a heartwarming and charming book that a lot of folks will enjoy deeply! 

OF OCTAVIA BUTLER HAS ZERO FANS IM DEAD. 

Okay for real, I am so annoyed with myself for not picking up any of her books sooner!! Kindred is 100% going to be one of my best reads of the year, it was fantastic and absolutely catapulted me out of a reading slump. I cannot remember the last book I stayed up late into the night reading like this! I almost read the whole thing in one sitting. 

The novel follows Dana, a 26 year old Black woman, living in California in the 70s. Dana is repeatedly forced back in time to the antebellum South to save her ancestor, Rufus (the white son of a plantation owner), when he is in danger. Each trip back in time leaves Dana in increasingly more danger. She’s never sure how long she will stay and how much time has passed when she returns home.

The juxtaposition of Dana being transported back and forth through time seemed to demonstrated that while some parts of our country have become “more progressive,” there are places where white supremacy is so engrained that it feels almost impossible to root out. Even though this book was written in the 70s it is still jarringly timely, which makes Butler’s writing feel perennial in an eerie way that forces the reader to reflect on how little progress our country has made in terms of racial equity and justice. This book demonstrates that the deep wound of enslavement has reverberated across our nation’s entire history and likely will continue to do so unless there is a deep, collective reckoning with our country’s insidious history. 

There is SO MUCH MORE to say about this book. Just read it, it was very good and I am excited to dive into more of her work! 

My second five star read of 2024 and this is one you’re not gonna want to miss. I feel like this is the kind of book I want to give to people when they say they don’t read nonfiction because this didn’t ~feel~ like nonfic. I listening on audio, so that may have contributed, but this really felt like an oral history and I think that was intentional. 

“Say Nothing” covers The Troubles in Northern Ireland, a time period between the late 60s and 1998, that concluded with The Good Friday Agreement. I was absolutely fascinated listening to history of Irish resistance against British occupation and the rise (and maybe fall, tbd sounds like they’re still kinda hanging on) of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). 

There’s truly so much for me to say regarding this book but two points I really want to touch on are the Price sisters and the parallels between Northern Ireland and Palestine. 

There’s a reason we’re seeing folks like Hozier and Nicola Coughlan publicly speaking for Palestine. They understand the history of Ireland and have likely seen the impacts in their lifetime because 1998 was not so long ago! 

Secondly, I was completely enthralled while listening to the story of Marian and Dolores Price. The most salient part of their story was when they were imprisoned in 1973 for their role in a terrorist attack called Old Bailey Bombing. While they were jailed the sisters embarked on a 208 day hunger strike which lasted that long because jail officials force fed the women to keep them alive. The sheer grit and determination of this act is wholly unfathomable to me and I was blown away listening to this section of the book. 

Again, there is much more to say and I’ll likely do a review in a longer format, but my main takeaway is read this one! You won’t regret it! 

I read this in May for my work book club and I can say, with confidence, that this read was more enjoyable for me because I discussed it with my coworkers. 

The book has an interesting premise: the reader follows an unnamed female narrator as she navigates an unnamed island as a government entity called ‘the memory police’ disappears objects off the island. I was immediately intrigued, but the plot takes on a slow, nuanced pace that I wished went quicker while reading. 

This book was originally written in the 90s and then translated and published in English is 2019. I think the subtlety behind the writing is a nod to the nature of the Japanese government and how, even criticism, can be dangerous. Ogawa navigates this beautifully and draws very clear, but quiet, parallels between her fictional world and very real oppressive regimes.  

This book, like most things these days, reminded me of Palestine. The way the characters experience disappearances in the novel— first of seemingly inconsequential items like candy which quickly escalate to photographs, books, and later on even limbs— bears a stark resemblance to what we’re seeing in Gaza. 

The book reminded me of the boiling frog syndrome. When conditions deteriorate slowly, and we have more time to adapt slowly, there’s a smaller chance of resistance and eventually, there will be nothing left. 

Thank you @librofm for the gifted audio ALC of this book, I really enjoyed my listening experience 🫶🏻

I read “Bad Habit” in May, and I overall enjoyed the read. The book follows Álex, a trans woman, throughout her youth and adolescence as she slowly, messily, and painfully comes into her identity as a trans woman. Set against the backdrop of Madrid in the 80s and 90s where the heroine epidemic rages, especially in poor, working class neighborhoods like the one Álex grew up in. 

I enjoyed the writing and the overall premise of the book. Even though this was a truly heartbreaking read at times (check those trigger warnings, y’all) I loved watching Álex grow confident in her trans identity through the companionship of queer elders, sex workers, and other allied community members. 

This book is a true love story to queer communities and so beautifully explores the intimate and sacred experience of queer youth finding comfort in those who have come before us. It’s a story that reminds me, in the face of so much hatred towards our community, that we are resilient and powerful. 

Queer people will always exist, trans people will always exist. Even when they try to shame us, to kills us, to silence us, we will continue to be here. A beautiful ode to our persistence, “Bad Habit” is a intricately woven story that is, as the back cover copy of the book says, “gentle and blistering.” 

I deffo missed the bandwagon when this originally came out, but I was in the mood to step out of my comfort zone with a sci fi novel! I’ve learned that this is called a ~hard sci fi~ (don’t come for me in the comments if I’m wrong, I’m just a gorl) which means that it’s math and science heavy? And based in our reality, but with sci fi elements? Anyway, this was a perfectly fine read! I enjoyed it, but probably wouldn’t do it again. 

I did few my eyes glaze over a bit whenever the main character, Ryland, really delved into the math and science of oh ya know, saving the entire human race. There were 100% large swaths of text that my eyes buzzed right over. However, I did enjoy Ryland’s internal dialogue and dialogue with other characters, he’s smart, witty, and relatable! The premise was interesting and a bit too relatable if you know what I mean. *Laughs nervously in climate anxiety* 

I don’t think I have too much to add to the discourse about this one. It was a good read, probably a bit too long! And I did really enjoy the ending. I’m very much looking forward to the movie though! I got my dad a copy of PHM for father’s day and I can’t wait to watch this one with him because we both really enjoyed The Martian! 

Lauren, if you’re reading this, don’t 🫶🏻

“No Judgement” is a collections of essays that is, in fact, filled with judgement. I was completely unaware of Lauren’s background before picking this up (thanks @librofm ) on audio. She’s a literary critic and author of “Fake Accounts,” which I saw floating around when it released. 

I think this might be the most pompous and pretentious collection I’ve ever read and part of me really feels like that was Lauren’s intention. She strikes me as too smart to be unaware that her overall tone and style of writing is, at times, a bit insufferable! 

Some of the essays seemed tedious to me (her essay an auto fiction) while others were really relatable (her essay on goodreads and keyboard warriors on the internet, cancel culture, etc.) and then there was one where I felt so seen I was like hey girl? are we the same? Re her essay on her almost debilitating anxiety and TMJ. 

After reading some reviews about this online I can tell that Lauren is pretty polarizing and I felt the same. Some essays I really enjoyed and others I was like girl simply what the fuck are you talking about. I also fear that I might be ~simply too stupid~ for some of this content. And that’s okay because I don’t want to spend my time parsing through whether or not auto fiction is less valid than a memoir because I ✨don’t care ✨

I will say, as a publicist, I do agree with Lauren’s criticism of perception of writers. I think that in order to publicize books authors have to dole out pieces of personal information and sell them to the public. Oh your main character has debilitating depression, the author must as well, now it’s an interview topic. I agree with her overall assertion that criticism is a behavior that’s yielding to the droves of “chronically online” folks that lack nuance who are driving the cancel culture movement. I think there’s a difference between holding people accountable and the “cancel culture” internet. 

*Review has minor spoilers! 

Full transparency this would have been a DNF had I not read it for work book club, so y’all already know this one wasn’t for me! 

“Good Material” follows Andy, a 30-something standup comedian, after enduring a blindside breakup. What ensues is a witty and pointed commentary on the ways in which society tends to deal with break ups: wallowing, drinking too much with friends, trying *very hard* to not bring up your ex in conversation with mutual friends, internet stalking, rebounds, etc. 

I loved Dolly’s writing and I appreciated why she wrote the novel from the point of view of a man, but I found Andy to be totally insufferable. I’m also tried of pretending I don’t dislike men, for the most part I do dislike men and don’t really enjoy being around them. Andy’s moping and self-deprecation is totally spot on after a breakup, but I just found myself being so frustrated that he couldn’t pick himself up really in the slightest. As a standup comedian it took him way too long to realize his series of unfortunate events post break up (his catastrophic stint living on a house boat, drunkenly reminiscing in his hometown (yikes), photographing the progression of his back of the head bald spot, and moving in with an older roommate with tin hit conspiracy tendencies) would make for excellent comedic fodder. 

The reason I gave this book 3 stars is because the last chapter is from Jen’s, Andy’s ex, perspective. I found Jen to be extremely relatable and I would have much rather read a book from her perspective. But, I understand why Dolly didn’t write a book from Jen’s perspective: that story has already been told and retold in countless lit fic novels on the market. I’m glad she did something different here and I’m sure that this book will be loved by many! 

This one wasn’t for me, but I still appreciate Dolly as a writer and I’ll likely pick up another of her books.