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bashsbooks's reviews
207 reviews
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
This is an extremely cool linguistic exploration on how language impacts how people decided to join and stay in manipulative groups (broadly termed 'cultish'). From murder-suicides like Jonestown and Heaven's Gate to MLMs to fitness groups like Soul Cycle, the spectrum is wide, but Montell convincing demonstrates on how all these groups employ similar rhetorical strats to recruit people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Antisemitism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
Star Wars: The Jedi Path by Daniel Wallace
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This has a lot of great information about things that are implied or handwaved in the movies/tv shows. It filled in gaps that I'd casually wondered about for awhile. And the running commentary from the whole line of Jedi was endearing. It incorporates The Clone Wars content, including Ahsoka's perspective.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and War
Minor: Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Colonisation
Bound by Aveda Vice
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Bound is hot. It's steamy. It has werecreatures and pack dynamics and hate sex, and it's a kinky fucking good time. It's a little novelle to whet your appetite for the main novel, which I will probably read at some point.
What else can I say? It's not that deep. Check the content warnings linked at the front of the book.
What else can I say? It's not that deep. Check the content warnings linked at the front of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Death, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury
-Consensual non-consent
Boyslut by Zachary Zane
funny
informative
fast-paced
3.5
Boyslut is a joyful burst of bisexual man power! It was really refreshing to read someone writing so candidly and openly about sex, and so honestly about his journey coming to terms with his sexuality. Zane is also incredibly funny, and he seems really knowledgable in his niches of bisexuality and queer men having sex. The portion about condom usage, STIs, and casual sex between men was nothing short of revolutionary. That chapter blew my mind. It was hands-down my favorite part of the book, and the one that I think is a must-read.
Zane's understanding of gender falls a little flat in this book, though. He (rightfully) points out the bisexuality isn't transphobic, and he notes that many discussions about sex and sexuality leave out nonbinary folks. But his gender thoughts don't go much deeper, and that causes some awkward and problematic remarks that pepper the entire books (like referring to trans women's tits as fake tits - trans women can grow their own tits, bro! or calling lesser-known sexualities, like omnisexual or fraysexual, neopronouns - I'm not sure where this mistake comes from?? But it is, nonetheless, a mistake.)
Zane's understanding of gender falls a little flat in this book, though. He (rightfully) points out the bisexuality isn't transphobic, and he notes that many discussions about sex and sexuality leave out nonbinary folks. But his gender thoughts don't go much deeper, and that causes some awkward and problematic remarks that pepper the entire books (like referring to trans women's tits as fake tits - trans women can grow their own tits, bro! or calling lesser-known sexualities, like omnisexual or fraysexual, neopronouns - I'm not sure where this mistake comes from?? But it is, nonetheless, a mistake.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Misogyny and Excrement
-Anti-queer slurs
-Discussions of extreme kinks
-STIs
Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore by Patric Richardson, Karin B. Miller
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.25
Laundry Love has a lot of good info on how to do your laundry more efficiently, which is exactly what I was looking for. I think the part about how to dry your clothes without using a dryer, how to wash your clothes less, and all the stain removal information were the most relevant to me. I do wish this covered more about how to handwash things - there is a brief section on it (and I am definitely going to try the salad spinner hack), but most of the book assumes you have access to a washer (either you have one in your building or you can go to a Laundromat). I do not, and I was hoping for more info on what to do in this sitch. But I think I can extrapolate a lot from the tips given. Recommended for upping your laundry game.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol
Happy Fat: Taking Up Space in a World That Wants to Shrink You by Sofie Hagen
funny
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.0
Happy Fat is a great introduction to fatphobia as a concept, and how to fight against it individually and systemically. It assumes that the reader has little to no interaction with or understanding of other kinds of social struggles, so it's good for folks that are newer to all sorts of movements and the idea of intersectionality altogether. It helped me evaluate my relationship to my body, and more importantly, it opened my eyes to struggles that fat people faced that I'd never considered before - like being unable to wipe in a small bathroom stall or being injured by too-small airplane seats. Also, Hagen is a comedian, and this book is injected with her great sense of humor.
That said, I do have a few small gripes with this book. It's full of words that describe complex and nuanced things, but it doesn't have much room for many explanations (although Hagen does her best to provide definitions for many of them). This creates kind of a confusing buzzword effect, especially if you're not familiar with a lot of this language (thankfully, I knew most of these words beforehand). Jumping off of this, Hagen makes a lot of references to those with experiences she doesn't personally have - for example, being a person of color or being transgender. I appreciate the interviews with fat people who have these characteristics, but as a transgender person myself, there are moments where it feels like her understanding of gender has not fully surpassed that of the average liberal white woman. That is disappointing. (She has a joke where she uses the word "non-men" and talks about putting all the men in jail so the "non-men" can have fun. I'm not a fan of this new binary.)
Overall, this is a very educational book, and I am glad I read it. It was good start for educating me about fat liberation, and I can't wait to get into some of the other media Hagen recommends. I'm also going to check out some of her comedy.
That said, I do have a few small gripes with this book. It's full of words that describe complex and nuanced things, but it doesn't have much room for many explanations (although Hagen does her best to provide definitions for many of them). This creates kind of a confusing buzzword effect, especially if you're not familiar with a lot of this language (thankfully, I knew most of these words beforehand). Jumping off of this, Hagen makes a lot of references to those with experiences she doesn't personally have - for example, being a person of color or being transgender. I appreciate the interviews with fat people who have these characteristics, but as a transgender person myself, there are moments where it feels like her understanding of gender has not fully surpassed that of the average liberal white woman. That is disappointing. (She has a joke where she uses the word "non-men" and talks about putting all the men in jail so the "non-men" can have fun. I'm not a fan of this new binary.)
Overall, this is a very educational book, and I am glad I read it. It was good start for educating me about fat liberation, and I can't wait to get into some of the other media Hagen recommends. I'm also going to check out some of her comedy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Toxic friendship
-Diet culture
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado
dark
emotional
sad
tense
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? No
5.0
The Low, Low Woods absolutely took my breath away. The setting of an old coal-mining town in poor, rural Pennsylvania was so well-chosen and so integral to the story. That aspect blew my mind. The art style is beautiful and haunting. El and Octavia are both compelling characters, and their main conflict makes sense and jives well with the rest of the plot.
The twist is heartbreaking, but I gasped as all the pieces clicked into place. Even though it is a fantastical story, it is incredibly REAL.
I loved this so much I'm almost incoherent. Go read it!
The twist is heartbreaking, but I gasped as all the pieces clicked into place. Even though it is a fantastical story, it is incredibly REAL.
I loved this so much I'm almost incoherent. Go read it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Cancer, Gore, Suicide, Medical content, and Death of parent
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Midnight Sun is not what I would call a great book, but it is a fascinating one. If you can get past all of Edward's self-loathing and inability to do anything right (which is extremely hard), there are a few interesting tidbits to mull over. I think one of my main gripes with the Twilight saga in general is that every now and then Meyer touches on something compelling and then zooms right past it for the angsty romance factors.
- Edward's relationship to Rosalie is so strange and captivating. He loathes her, but he thinks about her the most out of all his family members. Obviously, Rosalie was Bella's foil in the main series, but I never gave much thought to how that impacted Edward's perspective of her.
- The deeper depiction and explanations of Alice and Jasper's abilties were cool.
- I despise the way Edward's mind-reading is depicted. I think it falls into many of the pitfalls that make me dislike most mind-reading characters. The apathy, the loathing for what people think in the privacy of their own heads, the lack of any personal ethics, the fact that he is not impacted at all beyond annoyance... that's a little too flat and Christian for my mind-reading opinions. That said, there is a great moment where Edward uses Emmett and Jasper's minds as his rearview mirrors. This is the ONLY good thing Meyer wrote about Edward's mind-reading.
But those things aside, this book is a slog. Edward's angst is overwrought and hard to read. Add in the Cullens' holier-than-thou vibes and it's just. none of the fun that vampires usually are.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Racism, Murder, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
-Racism & cultural appropriation tags are more about how fucked up Meyer's portrayal of the Quileute Tribe than anything that happens in-book (though Edward is hostile toward them).
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
The problem with boasting about a book's Shocking Twist from the get-go is that you put your reader on guard for it, and it distracts from the picking up clues organically. This is especially annoying when the writing is only mediocre, so picking up upon the clues is not as logical and satisfying as it is a better-written work. (AND if you don't pick up on what the author is putting down because you haven't been primed to, the book's structure doesn't make a lot of sense - see my friend's DNF review stating how he didn't understand why the psychologist was the man focus given the title and the blurb, and how that made him put it down).
Also, I have a psychology degree and a personal hatred of Freud and heavily Freudian-psychology. This would probably not bother most people (Farber fits with the pop culture ideas of a psychologist) but it bothers me. His internal monologues are annoying.
Alicia and her art, and how she relates her art to her traumas, are the best things about this book.
Also, I have a psychology degree and a personal hatred of Freud and heavily Freudian-psychology. This would probably not bother most people (Farber fits with the pop culture ideas of a psychologist) but it bothers me. His internal monologues are annoying.
Alicia and her art, and how she relates her art to her traumas, are the best things about this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Self harm, Suicide, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content
-Specifically a graphic eye injury
-Takes place in a psychiatric ward for violent women
Yours, Insatiably by Aveda Vice
emotional
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
So steamy, filled to the brim with sexual tension - and the release. Pye and Avi's relationship is so hot and fun; the world in which they are in seems interesting and full. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, much more than most steamy romances.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming
-Fantasy discrimination (against monsters)