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sahanac's reviews
257 reviews
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
a fantasy classic for a reason. world-building is immaculate and contextualizes almost all of fantasy that has followed this series. excited to continue.
Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest To Hunt Down The Last Remaining Lesbian Bars In America by Krista Burton
challenging
slow-paced
2.5
here's the thing. i was thrilled by the title of this book. i was genuinely so hype to get into it. and then from the jump i was thrown by the voice of the author. it wasn't a tone or timbre i resonated with - the voice felt very deeply out-of-touch with the modern touchstone of queer culture. honestly, it didn't feel to me like it was written for a queer audience. this felt like a palatable book to give your work mom who is an #ally and she'd get woke points for reading it. burton spoke often about how judged she felt as a femme within the community, but then every single description of another person in the book was immediately a judgement, some of which she had to immediately walk back (thinking specifically of her assuming a random white person at a lesbian bar in the south was going to say the n word). it felt to me like she wanted to write a memoir, but her agent didn't want it, so she tried to do something else and wedged her own story into it - even if it didn't quite fit. she said a few times that she was hoping to do some sort of journalistic study of these lesbian bars, and yet more time was spent on the fact that she was logistically challenged with dates, times, organization, and maxed out credit cards. i want to acknowledge that this was a difficult journey to plan logistically but good grief i felt like i know more about her relationship than Any of the lesbian bars. which is not what i expected going into the book. i felt a little let down by the premise, and it definitely impacted my reading of the book.
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
predictable, fine, bit dated now, but overall okay
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
wow. i knew i'd like this book, and it had been so highly recommended to me for quite a while, but i truly fell head over heels for little, no-nonsense, incredibly lonely tova sullivan. i didn't love cameron's character through much of the book - i know he had been dealt a hard hand, but he was so whiny and completely unappreciative of every good thing in his life. frankly, ethan and marcellus and tova were my favorite characters and any deviation from them was boring to me at first, but i eventually understood what cameron's place in the story was and he started irritating me less. i'd read a whole book from marcellus' pov honestly. the mystery was a fun one too - i liked the fact it got wrapped up in the end, and that simon brinks did actually have a connection to cameron beyond being his father - it felt like it with red herrings and all having a part to play, not just taking up space within the story. i did almost cry thrice at the very end there, so i can't pretend like even cameron did not win me over at the end there. it was touching - loneliness is overwhelming, but your family can be just around the corner, waiting to find you too.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
the adventure felt kinda dull to me tbh. i was skimming through pages and it somehow didnt manage to catch me at any point. if it hadn't been for book club i wouldnt have finished. wanted to like it more than i did.
The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
i hate this series lmao i cant ever get past the writing. the 2.5 stars are simply for the interpersonal relationships which i have to admit are quite good. but god the writing and the complete lack of discerable plot beyond utter pretension do just drive me nuts!
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-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? Yes
4.5
this was darker than i expected, but i loved all of the references i recognized and all of the exploration of womanhood, caste, and the ways that geeta examined her place within her society more fully thru the book. really enjoyed the humor interspersed throughout, and i found saloni/preity/priya/farah/geeta as a crew So funny when they were together. i honestly wish i had been able to read this in one sitting — i think it would have added to my experience
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I read this in one sitting. It was heart-wrenchingly, horrificly, maddeningly romantic, and just as sad. This really follows from gothic tradition in a very Rebecca-esque way, which has a special place in my heart, always, so I was already fully committed to this book. Unlike many gothic novels, the home is less the center of the trouble - instead it is the sea, which is a whole ‘nother level of pain for those who have read the book: the sea is the home that fully envelopes Miri and Leah’s relationship and love. We start the book in so much liminality and progress forward to see the ways Miri and Leah loved each other before the sea - and Armfield weaves this together so well, with longing and desperation mounting, and mounting, and mounting, as we *need* to know what has happened, what will happen, what’s next. It feels almost like Emily Austin’s Everyone In This Room… at some points, with a smattering of anxious fiction interspersed with the more gothic notes. The characters are so unfortunately lovable too in their desire for one another, and that’s the real tragedy in the book - Armfield asks what happens when love isn’t enough? Miri says something about trying to make an audience love Leah, because most times, people don’t want to hear about how wonderful other people’s significant other’s are. But then immediately, everything she told me made me fall in love with Leah obstinately, to an unfathomable degree.
There are books that belong in discussion, that beg to be read in community. And then there are books like this. That I don’t know if I’ll really be able to talk about in a meaningful way. I just know that there was a love there, and I watched something unbelievable happen to it, and now that love is in my head to deal with.
Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
this was an absolutely fascinating read. I’m not a science buff, but I struggled through the descriptions of more nuanced bacterial and viral elements of this book to get to the social implications of these plagues, as promised by Kennedy. I won’t lie and say that I felt like the world can attribute much of it’s development and evolution to plagues as Kennedy seems to assert, but I also can never again claim that plagues did not have a major role to play in the evolution of our understandings of race, class, and capital. Which is a lens I never would have thought to explore, but is one I now will never forget - seeing the world through this public health lens has really made me step back and consider all of the other intersections and influences that I’ve been ignoring. This is a fascinating study of the history of the ways we became what we are now, which makes the fall-out from our most recent plague feel less “unprecedented” and more like something that will have lingering impacts for us as we move, slowly, forward.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I love the way RF Kuang experiences life, and then immediately decides that she’s got to write a critique on it. Live in China for a gap year? Writes The Poppy Wars series. Goes to Oxford? Babel is the result. Has a number-one best-selling book about race and colonialism? Write a book about the racism within the publishing industry in an almost prophetic way. This book took so many twists and turns, and the protagonist (not the hero, by any means) spiraled so far into a mental maze of justification that was absolutely fascinating to watch. I was almost convinced there was going to be a surprise paranormal element, but it was just one person’s unchecked privilege and Murphy’s Law.
I can’t say if I liked any characters. I can’t say if I respected anyone in this book. Even the protagonist’s rival, the Asian American person she stole from, (who for the record, DID NOT DESERVE any of what happened!) was a touch and go person, and the gray morality present through this book really reinforced Kuang’s mastery of making complicated subjects into bestsellers.