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imogenrose97's reviews
459 reviews
M Train by Patti Smith
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
The first page of M Train had me hooked. Immediately it then lost me, I'm not sure why as I started reading this I was feeling so stubborn, so myself, I did not drop into Patti Smith's writing and accept her way of life, I could not even see what it was she was doing, I didn't appreciate the movements, wildness, and creative energy I would normally appreciate. Page 207 finally cracked me. Cafe Ino is closing, and the pain that that would give me is just coursing through me. I can't believe for that long. That was her routine and suddenly it's closing and she almost didn't know. The emotions I had been ignoring appeared before me and saturated the rest of the book with soft melancholy to intense hollowness. I missed so much from the pages before and I began rereading as I closed the final page.
Strangers I Know by Claudia Durastanti
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Strangers I Know was such an interesting concept, once again I didn't read the blurb which for this was also a bit confusing because I couldn't tell if it was fiction or non. But I enjoyed it either way. The topics covered spanned throughout, family connections, sibling relationships, deafness, immigration, mental health. I would read anything by this author.
There's something so interesting about deafness and the interpretation of sound through deafness. Something that we don't think about often because of being able to hear. Creating something specifically for people who are deaf, but that is also accessible for people who are hearing would be a beautiful challenge. There
There were a few chapters that delved into the treatment of immigration as a need or a want. The discussions on how people are treated differently based on whether they need to immigrate or whether they want to immigrate. The world will view you kindly if you've decided to go out on a brave journey. And make your way to a new world for an adventure. But if you are coming to a country for refuge, to hide from something that was going to kill you or a climate that was too much for you or for any human reason, then you have viewed it in a negative light. Why is a change to mitigate suffering so it looked down upon?
I also really enjoyed how homeless people were being given money if they dressed up in office wear, but dismissed if they were in their actual clothes. Why is humanity so cruel to those who don't have the means or need something? Why are we able to offer generosity to people who already have enough if we won't offer it to someone who doesn't have anything?
There's something so interesting about deafness and the interpretation of sound through deafness. Something that we don't think about often because of being able to hear. Creating something specifically for people who are deaf, but that is also accessible for people who are hearing would be a beautiful challenge. There
There were a few chapters that delved into the treatment of immigration as a need or a want. The discussions on how people are treated differently based on whether they need to immigrate or whether they want to immigrate. The world will view you kindly if you've decided to go out on a brave journey. And make your way to a new world for an adventure. But if you are coming to a country for refuge, to hide from something that was going to kill you or a climate that was too much for you or for any human reason, then you have viewed it in a negative light. Why is a change to mitigate suffering so it looked down upon?
I also really enjoyed how homeless people were being given money if they dressed up in office wear, but dismissed if they were in their actual clothes. Why is humanity so cruel to those who don't have the means or need something? Why are we able to offer generosity to people who already have enough if we won't offer it to someone who doesn't have anything?
Lesbian Love Story by Amelia Possanza
I loved reading Possanza's exploration of lesbian history, I loved the passion, the dedication to our people, I loved the way she loved the lesbians before us. I related so deeply to the insatiable need to know more, to know if this kind of love is just what I feel or if I am part of a lucky group who get to celebrate women every damn day. And it turns out I am just one of many, but one of the luckiest many.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I'm giving this book 5 stars because technically it was beautiful, learning about my community and taking in the history of generations of people who didn't get to embrace their sexuality in the way I get to now, was a delectable treat.
However for me personally it would rate as a 4, simply because I had hoped to read only lesbian love stories, I wanted to fall in love with each story the way I fall in love with my own. The first half was exactly this with sprinkles of important information and delightful descriptions of feelings I've felt as a lesbian. The second half delved more deeply into friendship, community and the tensions within the LBGTQIA+ community. Which I loved to read but wasn't what I personally was looking for. I wanted romping love stories to connect me to the generations before me, to feel less alone in my lesbianism.
However for me personally it would rate as a 4, simply because I had hoped to read only lesbian love stories, I wanted to fall in love with each story the way I fall in love with my own. The first half was exactly this with sprinkles of important information and delightful descriptions of feelings I've felt as a lesbian. The second half delved more deeply into friendship, community and the tensions within the LBGTQIA+ community. Which I loved to read but wasn't what I personally was looking for. I wanted romping love stories to connect me to the generations before me, to feel less alone in my lesbianism.
I soared through the first half, delighted, squealing, excited. I also felt the pain the author felt at how hard history has tried to burry us, hide us, erase us. The depictions of historians removing she/her pronouns from Sappho's poetry bit at me. How could someone see art and change it tp ft their narrative simply because of queerness. I will never understand how someone could view something that makes someone happy, brings someone into themself, lets them live as they are, and want to ruin it. Reading of college smashes made my heart sing! The fact that it was an encouraged thing in women colleges to have a girlfriend, to woo her, to celebrate her is beautiful. The reason it was allowed to happen in a society where being gay was still very much vilified makes me sick, men had no idea that women had sexualities and so did not think these campus relationships were at all a risk to their bringing home a little wife when she was done smashing her college gal pal.
I loved reading Possanza's exploration of lesbian history, I loved the passion, the dedication to our people, I loved the way she loved the lesbians before us. I related so deeply to the insatiable need to know more, to know if this kind of love is just what I feel or if I am part of a lucky group who get to celebrate women every damn day. And it turns out I am just one of many, but one of the luckiest many.
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
dark
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
As I started this book I hoped for something good, with Groff's huge catalogue, popularity and acclaim, I hoped to love her work so I would have a lot to read from her. The beginning was promising, interesting, well written. I enjoyed the depictions of nature, the gentle descriptions of people (the kind ones at least), and the way the work flowed. By halfway through I was EXHAUSTED. Terrible thing after terrible thing kept happening, so much so that it felt ridiculous and unnecessary. Someone in my bookclub said it would have made a great short story, and it really would have, the power is all there, it was just drowned out by the fact it was over two hundred pages.
I had felt at the beginning that the kindness the author was showing our unnamed narrator was stunning, the Dutchman broke my heart, I loved how she loved him, I loved how she got to feel pleasure. Taking that away felt unnecessary and cruel.
I did enjoy the reflections on colonialism, religion and indigenous people. It was a satisfying way to right wrongs made over and over again. I'm just not sure that Groff's way of telling the story was the right way for me.
I had felt at the beginning that the kindness the author was showing our unnamed narrator was stunning, the Dutchman broke my heart, I loved how she loved him, I loved how she got to feel pleasure. Taking that away felt unnecessary and cruel.
I did enjoy the reflections on colonialism, religion and indigenous people. It was a satisfying way to right wrongs made over and over again. I'm just not sure that Groff's way of telling the story was the right way for me.
The Seas by Samantha Hunt
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Samantha Hunt has stolen my heart this year, both of the books I've read of hers have gotten 5 stars. I can't stop thinking about them. The edition of The Seas I read has a foreword by Maggie Nelson, if someone described a book that I had written like this I would melt into a puddle and probably be catatonic. The foreword was right too, The Seas is a haunting work of art. The imagery stands large in my mind as I remember the story. Hunt has a way of describing things so visceral I ached to read them, ached with loneliness, loss, want, need and hunger.
Sarahland by Sam Cohen
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sarah is one of many Sarahs, some of the Sarahs felt like they could have been the same Sarah across and arc or Sarah's. Changing only slightly from the previous Sarah, or sharing a Sarah like trait.
I loved the Sarah's as a conglomerate and as themselves.
I found the book deeply interesting, was there a single Sarah story and the rest sprung up from her? Who was the original Sarah in here? Did the author plan to write a book of Sarah's or did it come together in pieces?
I liked the way the stories had you think about society differently, I felt less alone in the parts where your brain points out the broken bits of the society we have created, which make you feel like you're freefalling and you thought you had a safety net but it was all just made up so someone could have power and that someone is not you.
My favourite story was Gemstones, I loved all of the famous Sarah's and their wisdom. I loved the wholesome ending where you remember in a relationship you are a team and you give them the kindness they need even when it's hard for you. Reframing thoughts came up a lot in the collection.
I loved the Sarah's as a conglomerate and as themselves.
I found the book deeply interesting, was there a single Sarah story and the rest sprung up from her? Who was the original Sarah in here? Did the author plan to write a book of Sarah's or did it come together in pieces?
I liked the way the stories had you think about society differently, I felt less alone in the parts where your brain points out the broken bits of the society we have created, which make you feel like you're freefalling and you thought you had a safety net but it was all just made up so someone could have power and that someone is not you.
My favourite story was Gemstones, I loved all of the famous Sarah's and their wisdom. I loved the wholesome ending where you remember in a relationship you are a team and you give them the kindness they need even when it's hard for you. Reframing thoughts came up a lot in the collection.
"we're all inside structures of power all the time. We have to work to continue to see them, to know how they're shaping our perceptions."
This is something I'm coming to terms with a lot with my mental health, with my sexuality and with work. It's hard to realise that you need to think outside of them to realise they are shaping you. That so much of your perception is built from someone else's designs, someone who you will never know, an old dead white guy most likely.
Tauhou by KÅtuku Titihuia Nuttall
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
I sunk slowly into this book, the first story was grating in the way that you are trying to find your bearings in any new book. By the time I got used to it, I was hooked. It helped that I went back to read the blurb which I generally try to do to avoid having too much knowledge of what might happen. This one needed a blurb read to better understand the author's writing from her cultural histories, finding her place within two Indigenous cultures.
I felt a connection back to where I grew up, I found words that I hadn't heard since I was taught them in primary school, and I found stories that had cultivated my love of reading. It was a beautiful experience. Many of the stories were challenging to read as they depicted the histories of white colonisation of two separate cultures that were inhumanly wrecked by white people. Which is important to be educated on and the author did an incredible job of this, using lyrical, deeply human, depictions of the loss they experienced. I was able to feel what was being described and it hurt.
I felt a connection back to where I grew up, I found words that I hadn't heard since I was taught them in primary school, and I found stories that had cultivated my love of reading. It was a beautiful experience. Many of the stories were challenging to read as they depicted the histories of white colonisation of two separate cultures that were inhumanly wrecked by white people. Which is important to be educated on and the author did an incredible job of this, using lyrical, deeply human, depictions of the loss they experienced. I was able to feel what was being described and it hurt.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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? Yes
3.75
I wasn't going to read this book because it's so hard to find a book worth the hype after you hear so much about it, but, since it was included in Spotify I just had to. To me this book encapsulated the queer experience perfectly, I understood so much more about keeping yourself hidden and the sacrifices that so many famous people would have and are still making to protect their fame, image, and livelihood. I loved the characters deeply and with a softness, I should have seen coming. I don't often read books in this genre so I really enjoyed the twists, though many of them I saw coming, getting to guess and be right was fun. I obviously cried for the final few pages (20 fucking minutes of audio).
Dress Rehearsals by Madison Godfrey
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
I don't know what it was that disconnected me from this book.
Emergency by Daisy Hildyard
reflective
relaxing
slow-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? No
5.0
Maybe the most reflective book there ever was. A slow, in the best possible way, reflection of a country childhood spent noticing, watching a herd of cows and their one outcast, the floor of a quarry teaming with freshly legged toads, and the intricate lives of the people of her village. I can't express how much this book made me want to be outside, alone, quiet in nature.
I felt as though I was meditating instead of reading, which made it hard to want to pick back up and easy to be distracted in the midst of a page, however, it also was so peaceful. Once inside I didn't want to stop. It was such a pleasurable experience.
Finally getting to the end I found the narrative closing into a circle, looping back around to where we started. This is one of my favourite storytelling techniques. Finishing where you began revealing intricacies that were not present when you started.
I felt as though I was meditating instead of reading, which made it hard to want to pick back up and easy to be distracted in the midst of a page, however, it also was so peaceful. Once inside I didn't want to stop. It was such a pleasurable experience.
Finally getting to the end I found the narrative closing into a circle, looping back around to where we started. This is one of my favourite storytelling techniques. Finishing where you began revealing intricacies that were not present when you started.