bashsbooks's reviews
207 reviews

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

Go to review page

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

3.25

This book was fascinating, and I am in awe of Malala's spirit, faith, and drive. My major issue with it, however, is that I can see - very clearly - that Christina Lamb collaborated on this. It reads, at many times, like a history of Pakistan (specifically a history of Pakistani relations with the West). It feels as though information about Malala, her family, and her experience are tossed in here and there, rather than the other way around. I realize that some of that is so Western readers have context, but I think it went into a distracting amount of detail. I would love to read something Malala has written on her own, without a hovering need to make Westerners understand every bit of it via overexplanation.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Hawk's Nest Beach: 125 Years of Summer Memories (1895-2020) by Alice Garvin

Go to review page

informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75

I am pretty biased when it comes to Hawk's Nest. I am from one of the many beach families and one of the Garvins was my grandmother's best friend and subsequently like an extra grandmother to me.

I think this book will greatly appeal to the many people in positions like mine - families who returned to this private beach year after year, generation after generation. It also holds some interesting local information if you're interested in Old Lyme. 

It is written with a lot of love and experience, but the author is neither a writer or historian by trade, and that is as obvious as the aforementioned love and experience, throughout the book. Just something to keep in mind if you pick it up as a historical resource (which I still recommend - I'm using it for my own research).
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Feed by Aveda Vice

Go to review page

fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Finally, some well-written and engaging erotica. I am intrigued by the characters and the world, and the text drips sexuality all the way through. It's hard to create an enduring atmosphere like that without it becoming repeative and/or corny, so I applaud Vice for that.

Excited to read the full-length novel.

Also, I've become convinced moth-fairies are the coolest kind of fairies.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective fast-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

4.75

Daisy Jones & the Six is another great book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. If I were going to nitpick, I would say her style of an 11th hour child-related plot twist only really works the first time (and I read Evelyn Hugo before I got StoryGraph), but that is a minor thing. The ending also feels a little abrupt. But I love the level of detail, and the inclusion of the lyrics from the album in the back. I love the messy tension between Billy and Daisy. I love fictionalized versions of things we tend to use to share the truth, like a documentary or like an academic paper (House of Leaves ftw), and this obviously delivered in that realm. I wish I had listened to it as audiobook, but by the time I realized that was the best format, I wanted to read the book too much to wait for that version.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Thom

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny fast-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? No

5.0

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars is a magical "memoir" that uses poetry and allegory to show what being a trans femme is like - from running away from home, forming a found family, defending herself, and growing as a woman. Though it uses unreality to prove its points, there are no rose-colored glasses in this short book. Everything is brutal, as the lives of many trans women are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I can't wait to read more by Thom.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms: Erotic Lesbian Fairy Tales by Sacchi Green

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

This book is exactly as advertised: lesbian erotica in a high fantasy context. I was hoping for a slight bit more diversity in the sex (none of these magical folks can create a dildo/strap-on?) but it was still a fun and sexy read. My favorite stories from the collection were "The Prize of the Willow" and "The Mark and the Caul".
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

I was really excited to read this book as someone who has been treated for depression and anxiety - and had a rocky go of it. But I found it to be kind of lacklust and boring, and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe because I felt like I'd already had similar conversations and revelations with my own therapist? I don't know.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Go to review page

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

4.75

Her Body And Other Parties taps into the horror of being seen as a woman - and emphasizes it with a fine and careful touch of the surreal. Thought-provoking and cerebral, Machado doesn't hold back on displaying the female body in all its gory glory. It is unsettling and horrifying, but in a very real and relatable way - there are no jumpscares here, only uncomfortable truths. Like all short story collections, I liked some of the stories more than others (I enjoyed "Inventory" and "Especially Heinous" the most) though they are all worth a read, as every story in this collection churned in my mind for days after reading it. I can't wait to see what Machado writes next.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
Just didn't jive with the writing style.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

Go to review page

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? No

4.0

Imogen, Obviously is about a girl who is #intoodeep on the queer discourse and thus thinks she is simply a deeply devoted ally. I think some of the anxieties and doubts she has come from being chronically online - which is where the texture of a lot of the jokes come from as well. For me, as someone who is always on Tumblr, that read fine, but I find myself wondering if people who aren't on the internet like that would "get" it.

I think the overarching message about how we all have a different experience and how no one gets to decide who is and isn't queer is a good one, a much needed one. At times, it does lean heavily and pointedly on the author's own experience of being assumed straight and taken to task for it, which is understandable but somewhat jarring in certain places. In that vein, some of the discussions end up feeling preachy at times.

Also, the sausage bit is very funny. I enjoyed that a lot.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings