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sallysimply's reviews
1366 reviews
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
3.0
I appreciate Riley Sager writing from a man’s perspective, which seems odd to say but was instantly noticeable. I mostly enjoyed this, though I found the ending a bit dull and the discussion around having children quite strange. (As I write this, I wonder if he wrote what he would’ve written for a woman protagonist and then simply switched the gender, but anyway.)
Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership by Brea Baker
5.0
An informative, important read.
The Warehouse: A Visual Primer on Mass Incarceration by James Kilgore, Vic Liu
5.0
Really enjoyed having such valuable (though heavy) information presented in this format. I definitely recommend it!
The Myth of Making It: A Workplace Reckoning by Samhita Mukhopadhyay
5.0
Samhita’s book considers: what comes after we try (and fail) to lean in and #girlboss our way to the top? What will it take to radically shift how we work? Insightful, thought-provoking, sometimes enraging. A great read!
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
5.0
I had a blast with this! A perfect horror novel for folks who love horror movies and supported the writer’s strike. The audiobook is wonderfully done!
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
4.5
Craft is a tough one to rate and review because I had a great time with it, and I can also see that this may have trouble finding its audience.
For starters, it's not that this book isn't horror, because I can see how it is in some of the stories (though certainly not all). Most typical horror fans will likely be bored, confused, or let down. Not a lot happens in these stories, the devil isn't the source of the horror in any way, and most of the tension comes from things like microaggressions, the hovering presence of ICE, or interactions between characters that are not quite meeting each other.
Still, this isn't quite literary fiction, it isn't quite fantasy; it's probably accurate to use the term surrealist, but that isn't exactly a clear genre.
All of that said, I had a lot of fun with this weird little collection. The writing is lovely, I like the aimlessness, and I really liked that there is a through line, but you aren't always sure when you're going to come back to it. My absolute favorite section was the collection of feedback from the writing group. Maybe that's because of my own experiences in various writing groups, but I found it both funny and revealing, and honestly, that's its own type of horror to me -- both the giving and receiving of feedback in those groups can induce nightmares. I also appreciated the discussions of identity and immigration, as well as the general "haunted" vibes, which are hard to articulate but definitely present for me.
I really hope that the folks who are drawn to this give it a try. If it's not for you, it's not for you, but when this hits for folks, it can really hit.
For starters, it's not that this book isn't horror, because I can see how it is in some of the stories (though certainly not all). Most typical horror fans will likely be bored, confused, or let down. Not a lot happens in these stories, the devil isn't the source of the horror in any way, and most of the tension comes from things like microaggressions, the hovering presence of ICE, or interactions between characters that are not quite meeting each other.
Still, this isn't quite literary fiction, it isn't quite fantasy; it's probably accurate to use the term surrealist, but that isn't exactly a clear genre.
All of that said, I had a lot of fun with this weird little collection. The writing is lovely, I like the aimlessness, and I really liked that there is a through line, but you aren't always sure when you're going to come back to it. My absolute favorite section was the collection of feedback from the writing group. Maybe that's because of my own experiences in various writing groups, but I found it both funny and revealing, and honestly, that's its own type of horror to me -- both the giving and receiving of feedback in those groups can induce nightmares. I also appreciated the discussions of identity and immigration, as well as the general "haunted" vibes, which are hard to articulate but definitely present for me.
I really hope that the folks who are drawn to this give it a try. If it's not for you, it's not for you, but when this hits for folks, it can really hit.
Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
4.5
I really enjoyed this book and the characters in it. It balanced some heavier themes with humor and lightness in a way that makes it easy to read and appreciate. A couple of storylines felt a bit heavy-handed in their need for a happy ending, but the choice to have everyone get a happy ending is not one that bothered me at the end. We can all use a little bit of hope, even if it feels unrealistic.