pecsenye's reviews
153 reviews

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

What a Fool Believes: A Memoir by Michael McDonald

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I'm not giving this 5 stars because the prose is beautiful, but because it really presents a total picture of Michael McDonald. It's thoughtful and reflective and honest.

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

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emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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

4.75

Another great book about men falling in love in 1960. Such a sweet, romantic story and the Midcentury time period is a delight. I don't even like baseball and all the baseball in this one was lovely.

Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.

This is the same book I've read dozens of times. Little girl alienated and in distress thinks becoming respectable and marrying a white man will save her, then struggles to get away from the abusive white man. It's not Villareal's fault that this is the only story anyone wants to publish about women, but I can't read the torture anymore.

Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.75

What a robust, sweet, kind, intense book. Nick and Andy are such fully-realized characters. You can't just breeze through this book because this was what it was like, and the choices gay men had to make 65 years ago.

Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make and Keep Friends as an Adult by Marisa G. Franco

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.

There is nothing new in the first 40% of this book and the stories she shares as examples are so bizarre that I'm having a hard time paying attention. I should have known when she quoted David Brooks that this wasn't going to be the book for me. Ick.

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