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lizshayne's reviews
2217 reviews
God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning by Meghan O'Gieblyn
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Reading this in counterpoint with David Zvi Kalman's "Belief in the Future" podcast was definitely an interesting experience.
I loved the connections she drew between the theology with which she grew up (and, broadly speaking, theology as such) and the trends in tech-sector thinking these days. It's an extremely thoughtful memoir that is also a critique of how philosophies of technology end up recapitulating and serving the same roles as theologies.
There was also this one moment where she talks about the *I* in her writing and how she can't take herself out of it. Even acknowledging the non-existent view from nowhere, she writes and writes about writing in such a way that is deeply personal and makes the rest seem realer for it.
Also there was this one fantastically wild moment where she pointed out that, right around the time when computers started solving problems better than humans is when our definition of what makes us human flipped from the intellectual to the sensory. Which is absolutely wild.
I loved the connections she drew between the theology with which she grew up (and, broadly speaking, theology as such) and the trends in tech-sector thinking these days. It's an extremely thoughtful memoir that is also a critique of how philosophies of technology end up recapitulating and serving the same roles as theologies.
There was also this one moment where she talks about the *I* in her writing and how she can't take herself out of it. Even acknowledging the non-existent view from nowhere, she writes and writes about writing in such a way that is deeply personal and makes the rest seem realer for it.
Also there was this one fantastically wild moment where she pointed out that, right around the time when computers started solving problems better than humans is when our definition of what makes us human flipped from the intellectual to the sensory. Which is absolutely wild.
Fertility and Jewish Law: Feminist Perspectives on Orthodox Responsa Literature by Ronit Irshai
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
And to round out this weekend, I figured I should finish this book before everything it talks about becomes illegal in parts of America. (Am I a little doom and gloomy at the moment? Maybe. In my defense - *gestures wildly*)
Irshai is one of the clearest and most compelling voices I have encountered in the intersection of halakha and feminism and her understanding of both makes her critique of how the former takes the unstated biases of poskim into halakha as such is really good.
I keep wondering whether halakha needs a specifically feminist moment if only to counter the ways in which rabbis have failed to notice women's needs in the past or, like God and pronouns, the goal is to think not about balance, but at bringing all voices into the conversation and really really hearing them this time.
Irshai is one of the clearest and most compelling voices I have encountered in the intersection of halakha and feminism and her understanding of both makes her critique of how the former takes the unstated biases of poskim into halakha as such is really good.
I keep wondering whether halakha needs a specifically feminist moment if only to counter the ways in which rabbis have failed to notice women's needs in the past or, like God and pronouns, the goal is to think not about balance, but at bringing all voices into the conversation and really really hearing them this time.
Triple Sec by TJ Alexander
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
On the other hand, I read this in about three hours so maybe the problem with the book I reviewed right before this was that it was not, in fact, a comfort read.
Thank goodness for stories about hope and people figuring things out and queer love.
Also I found it fascinating that, while neurodivergence did come up by name in the story, it was mostly only talked around when it came to one of the main MCs. Extremely obvious though, which I always appreciate.
Thank goodness for stories about hope and people figuring things out and queer love.
Also I found it fascinating that, while neurodivergence did come up by name in the story, it was mostly only talked around when it came to one of the main MCs. Extremely obvious though, which I always appreciate.
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I can't tell if it was genuinely slow or took me over a week to read and therefore I experienced it as slow.
Today in "tea and heists, why didn't I like it?" books -
I think some of it was the secret-keeping for plot purposes and I don't love when I notice that the third person close narration is inside a character's head but deliberately obscures information from the reader. If the reveal can't stand up to the narration, don't make it a reveal.
And some of it was trying to read in November 2024 so, like, who am I to adequately assess anything anyway ever?
Poor book; maybe if things had been different.
Today in "tea and heists, why didn't I like it?" books -
I think some of it was the secret-keeping for plot purposes and I don't love when I notice that the third person close narration is inside a character's head but deliberately obscures information from the reader. If the reveal can't stand up to the narration, don't make it a reveal.
And some of it was trying to read in November 2024 so, like, who am I to adequately assess anything anyway ever?
Poor book; maybe if things had been different.
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book is…imagine if Gideon the Ninth had queer men as the central relationship instead of queer women and was also somehow less completely bonkers. This is both a good thing, in terms of readibility, and a little bit of a loss because it can’t quite hit the highs that The Locked Tomb reaches at its absolute best.
I don’t think it’s trying, though. I think it’s aiming squarely at writing an unconventional hero and letting him shine. And it does that really well and with a great cast that I am willing to forgive it both some handwaving on the part of the plot and a map/terrain that feels like it has all the geographic integrity of a Catan board.
I don’t think it’s trying, though. I think it’s aiming squarely at writing an unconventional hero and letting him shine. And it does that really well and with a great cast that I am willing to forgive it both some handwaving on the part of the plot and a map/terrain that feels like it has all the geographic integrity of a Catan board.
The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Amazing how much reading you can get through on Yom tov when your kid refuses to go to shul for hakafot.
Laini Taylor is definitely a good comp for this book - especially her own earlier work. Summers does a nice job with playing out the magical world and the movement through it, although sometimes this book feels a bit short on logistics and long on the wanting.
It was good and also the most forgettable of all the books I read this weekend. Which is totally fine, not every book needs to live with you forever and I absolutely enjoyed my time with this one. But it definitely ended when it ended.
Laini Taylor is definitely a good comp for this book - especially her own earlier work. Summers does a nice job with playing out the magical world and the movement through it, although sometimes this book feels a bit short on logistics and long on the wanting.
It was good and also the most forgettable of all the books I read this weekend. Which is totally fine, not every book needs to live with you forever and I absolutely enjoyed my time with this one. But it definitely ended when it ended.
Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues by H.S. Valley
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.0
This was an adorably delightful school romance set in—what might be the first ever—a magical school where, if relevant, I could imagine sending my children. The worst things these kids do is engage in underage drinking and break curfew.
It was really interesting to have magic be a part of the texture of the world without it being a story about chosen ones or saving the world. It’s a boarding school romance at a magical school and the way magic informed the story and made it possible without really being the plot was actually great.
Also they did the thing with the “take care of an egg for high school credit” except it was magicked to kvetch and that was just the most obvious of the ways that Valley was having fun with the whole premise.
It was really interesting to have magic be a part of the texture of the world without it being a story about chosen ones or saving the world. It’s a boarding school romance at a magical school and the way magic informed the story and made it possible without really being the plot was actually great.
Also they did the thing with the “take care of an egg for high school credit” except it was magicked to kvetch and that was just the most obvious of the ways that Valley was having fun with the whole premise.
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I loved this book precisely for what it did not do - provide detailed instructions for what to do. As someone who - like the author - both has something of a calculus and something of my own emotional reactions, I loved how carefully she looked at the question of emotions and love and the desire to be JUSTIFIED in the choices we make. She’s so good at peeling back the core of the conversation and asking what role love and dislike and pretense and the need to be right play in this conversation.
Her read also points out all the ways that love and its poisoned alter ego hate are such an integral part of the conversation. And how often the breakdown comes between those who love still and those who no longer can.
And how those of us who never loved that particular thing find the prospect of engaging with it incomprehensible.
The fact that it was also a memoir about how we think about monstrosity and who we are when we are the judged and not the judge was just…exactly right.
Also, Dederer writes parentheticals the way I do (before I edit them out out of fear that maybe I used too many) and I will forever love her for they.
Her read also points out all the ways that love and its poisoned alter ego hate are such an integral part of the conversation. And how often the breakdown comes between those who love still and those who no longer can.
And how those of us who never loved that particular thing find the prospect of engaging with it incomprehensible.
The fact that it was also a memoir about how we think about monstrosity and who we are when we are the judged and not the judge was just…exactly right.
Also, Dederer writes parentheticals the way I do (before I edit them out out of fear that maybe I used too many) and I will forever love her for they.
Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I cannot emphasize enough how delightfully adorable this book is or how much I needed it right now.
Swordcrossed by Freya Marske
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Sometimes, you CAN judge a book by this cover. If the cover makes you think “ehh, not my jam,” you probably are not interested in this book. But if you look at the cover and think, as I did, “give it to me now”, you will not be disappointed. It absolutely lives up to the cover. There is tension, buckles are swashed, much pining is pined, and angsting is angsted. Also skulduggery and wool.
Genuinely, this was exactly what it said on the tin and exactly what I wanted.
Genuinely, this was exactly what it said on the tin and exactly what I wanted.