bashsbooks's reviews
207 reviews

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Such a fascinating and quality take on gender dynamics and physical disability, on top of compelling worldbuilding and satisfying plot-twists. Recommended in the highest order. 
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Somebody's Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Ford's descriptions are cinematic; rarely before have I been so enthralled by the way a writer describes people and emotions. Truly, this memoir is a thoughful and complex picture of Ford's youth and family, and hearing her read it herself made it all the more personal. I felt as though I stepped into some of these scenes and lived beside her. 

I also greatly enjoyed the interview at the end between Ford and Clint Smith; it is always enlightening to hear great writers discuss their craft. (I may listen to that portion again after reading Smith's book, since he discusses his own word in-depth, too.)
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Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk

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

5.0

This book is incredible. Short but dense, every word is well-spent. It's difficult to paint a compelling fantasy in such a short work, and adding on the fact that it's period piece makes it doubly impressive. Cannot recommend enough.
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Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

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adventurous informative 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? No

3.25

Having only a passing knowledge of this series (as I never read it myself as a child), I have to say, it surprised me, in ways both good and bad. I enjoyed the descriptions of how food was hunted, grown, cooked, and stored - I didn't expect it to be so detailed in that regard. In fact, I enjoyed learning all about how this isolated family kept themselves alive day-to-day. However, the amount of child abuse and the enforcement of the narrative that they deserve it for being naughty shocked me. I knew it was normal for the time period, but knowing something abstractly and reading about it are different. I also am curious as to what denomination of Christian this family is, because the way they spend their Sundays (aside from the going to church part) is completely foreign to me.
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Crave by Tracy Wolff

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dark emotional funny fast-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? It's complicated

2.5

I would probably not call this a "good" book, but it definitely has given me some serious entertainment & a lot to think about, including:
  1. This author's fixation with being over-the-top tongue-in-cheek about the genre in which she is writing. I have over a dozen quotes noted down where she has the MC mention this is "just like a romance novel" or "just like a horror movie". The worst offender is when the vampire love interest LITERALLY gives the MC a copy of Twilight. I will say, it is funny but perhaps not in the way the author intended.
  2. Dialogue is poorly-written, this is sometimes also very funny in an unintentional way.
  3. There is no rhyme or reason to lore, Twilight lore is more internally consistent than this.
  4. Going off of point #3, the outright fact that vampires are mammals in this universe and that born-vampires exist, but they cannot drink milk. Curious as to what baby vampires subsist on and how they get the mammal classification if their mothers don't feed them with milk.
  5. I don't want to spoil it but the Plot Twist Reveal about the MC made me cry I laughed so hard. I would call it brave, groundbreaking even, but my friend told me not to.
I am compelled by "bad" art that is supremely interesting and I am having a lot of fun liveblogging this series to my friends, so I will be reading the rest of them... but I don't want to recommend them unless that's the kind of thing you're into.
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She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

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funny lighthearted 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? Yes

3.5

This book was fun and silly and sweet. Very classic high school romance hitting hard on the enemies-to-lovers and fake dating tropes. 
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My Immortal by Tara Gilesbie

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challenging dark funny inspiring fast-paced

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The Illustrated Kama Sutra, Ananga-Ranga and Perfumed Garden: The Classic Eastern Love Texts by Mallanaga Vātsyāyana

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.
Completely taken aback by the use of racial slurs, for absolutely no reason, in the introduction. I expected some stuff that was different from my modern views, of course, but reading about a white man being called the n-word was Not What I Was Expecting? At all??? That, plus the way that the Romani woman (also still in the introduction, the modern part of this book!) is discussed, made me too uncomfortable to continue. Will be reading a different version of the Kama Sutra.
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No Way, They Were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret Loves (Queer History Project) by Lee Wind

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medium-paced

2.0

Going to self-plagiarize the longer review I put on Tumblr & say: This book is an attempt at validating historical queer existence that falls so embarrassingly flat because it was trying to do too much with too little information. Lincoln doesn't need to be gay for us to talk about historical queer people. If you're gonna argue that he is, don't cherry-pick evidence. Also, the pronoun choices in this are questionable - they/them are NOT the masculine AFAB pronoun set.
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Beyond the Wand: The Magic & Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

Honestly, this book feels like Tom Felton said, "You know what? If everyone wants to hear about Harry Potter, I'll do it, but they have to listen to my pitch about the dangers of substance abuse and the importance of mental health." And to tell the truth, I deeply respect that, which is why I gave it 3 stars instead of the solid 2.5 I was sitting at for most of the audiobook.

Yes, Felton is casually entertaining (I love his attempt at an American accent, it had me in hysterics), and if you really like Harry Potter, you'd probably find this cool, but ultimately, there is just not much here, aside from the pitch about taking care of yourself rooted in Felton's experiences at the very end. Which is what famous kids writing memoirs is like, I'm learning.
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