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accusatori's reviews
110 reviews
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.
I had to return it to the library 🥲 it’s probably best as a “buy” and reference book.
ADHD in HD: Brains Gone Wild by Jonathan Chesner
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
2.0
First, I think there is some great info in here. In some places, Chesner does the really important work of providing specific coping strategies for ADHD problems presented in ways that teenagers will relate to and understand. He bridges the gap between what an ADHD mental health professional might say and what a teenager sees. For instance, the "Freaking Out" pages describe, all at once, the experience of RSD, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, emotional dysregulation, and anxiety. (NOTE: RSD isn't part of the DSM-5's criteria for diagnosing ADHD, but a strong reaction to rejection--or perceived rejection--is a common experience of ADHDers.) He writes this section in such a way that it addresses the FEELING and EXPERIENCE of these symptoms, which teenagers are more likely to recognize and identify with, as opposed to more clinical description that feels alien. This is important, especially for newly-diagnosed ADHDers who may be struggling to recognize what, in their life, is ADHD-related and what is puberty/teenagehood-related.
In addition to helping teenagers identify where their ADHD is afffecting their lives, Chesner, in many places, does the simple job of saying that there is no shame and no need to be embarrassed of ADHD. Though it is a disorder, he reminds people with ADHD that they are different, and that's okay; in many cases, it's perfectly fine to do things their own way, and they should not feel ashamed of needing to do things differently, struggling with tasks, or needing accommodations, and so on. Breaking down shame and stigma surrounding an ADHD diagnosis is an admirable goal, especially for a book geared towards teenagers. Note: I don't think he does this perfectly, as I'll discuss in the next section.
Where It Goes Wrong
As the headline mentions, Chesner draws primarily from his own understanding of ADHD (supplemented by professional information) as the guiding philosophy for his book. That means there's a lot in here that doesn't apply or isn't useful--and may be alienating--for people who are not like him or do not experience ADHD like him.
Specifically, I want to call out that this book will be much less useful for women, trans people, queer people, and people of color. Both biological and sociological differences in how ADHD expresses itself for these groups of people mean that this book is limited in how much it can speak to those experiences. I mentioned that one of its strengths is its attempts to help teenagers recognize where their ADHD affects them, what it feels like--those same areas may not address the experiences or feelings of ADHD for AFAB people, for people of color, for trans people, and so on. That, alone, is not damning for the book; ADHD is extremely complex, so it's fine that this book may be written for a specific kind of ADHD. I would, however, prefer that something in its blurb, description, or title, (even the introduction!!) indicated this. I would also prefer that Chesner mention the way that gender, race, environment, and other factors can majorly impact the way your ADHD manifests and what coping strategies are helpful for you. He need not go into detail, but including a sentence, a few disclaimers, mentioning where to look for more resources about each subject he addresses would have made the book far less limited.
The other thing that makes me wary of this book is also connected to race and gender; the way it's written is clearly from a white, heterosexual male perspective. That in itself is totally fine, but some of the language and go-to examples used in the book are alienating and insensitive, and to include them in a book written expressly for teens is not good practice. This includes "gangsta" and "gangster" stereotypes, language regarding "girls" (he assumes teen boys will be straight, and though it's an attempt to be relatable, the language is objectifying and refinforces an innappropriate way of thinking about girls; not because attraction is innappropriate, but because it reinforces, like i mentioned, an objectifying point of view), and in one chapter, he uses Chinese and Swahili as metaphors for when, as an ADHDer, school starts to make 0 sense and become confusing. This last one, I don't like, because he uses specific languages; calling out Chinese and Swahili in this way suggests that they are completely alien and strange, incomprehensible. That's not true and reinforces "Othering" stereotypes about Chinese and Swahili, and the people who speak those languages. It would've been easier, and just as effective, and more relatable to more people, to simply say "it's like someone's speaking a language you don't know" or something like that.
Those may seem like trivial examples of problematic language, but I want to specifically address and include them for two reasons.
One, I want to make sure that any people of color, women, genderqueer, trans, or queer folk know what to expect if they pick this book up. It can still be useful, but it's better to go into it aware of ITS awareness of its intended audience.
Two, regardless of your intended audience, authors, and especially OwnVoices authors of ADHD-or-mental-health-related content, should absolutely make it a priority to be aware of implicit biases you have when writing and aware of racial, gender, and sexuality sensitivities. Chesner talks in this book about the way ADHD can make it easy to accidentally offend other people, and he's very right--which means that when we, as ADHDers, take on the responsibility of writing a book about our ADHD, for other ADHDers (or people in general), we also accept the responsibility of being aware of that, and working HARD to ensure we don't accidentally offend people. Additionally, it's one thing to accidentally hurt someone's feelings, in person, and it's a much more concerning, and potentially harmful, thing to "accidentally" reinforce unfair, racist, or sexist stereotypes about other groups of people.
Ending On A High Note
I still found some parts of the book to be really helpful, and I appreciate the thought behind it. It's especially important to promote more books about ADHD or similar mental health conditions that are written by or heavily featuring the experiences of someone WITH the condition or disorder. It helps de-stigmatize and adds a nuance and texture to descriptions of symptoms that cannot be replicated by someone without firsthand experience.
To end, here are a few of my favorite chapters and quotes from the book:
1. Freaking Out, pgs. 46-47
2. The 7:30 to 3:30, pgs. 22-23; I especially liked that he addressed how others may assume things about you, based on very little information, and not letting their perceptions control how you act and think about yourself.
3. Comic Book Class, pgs. 26-27.
4. Tell Me What You Want, pgs. 34-35.
5. "Special brains are meant to be Swiss Army knives (decent at everything)--we are surgeons' scalpels!" (pg. 39)
6. "Everybody learns differently and it's important to figure out what your learning style is." (pg. 97)
7. Putting An Assignment on Payment Plan, pgs. 98-99; basically explains how and why to break down a project ahead of time!
8. "Those examples don't mean I'm lazy, though. They just mean I have a tough time focusing on things that don't really interest me." (pg. 105)
In addition to helping teenagers identify where their ADHD is afffecting their lives, Chesner, in many places, does the simple job of saying that there is no shame and no need to be embarrassed of ADHD. Though it is a disorder, he reminds people with ADHD that they are different, and that's okay; in many cases, it's perfectly fine to do things their own way, and they should not feel ashamed of needing to do things differently, struggling with tasks, or needing accommodations, and so on. Breaking down shame and stigma surrounding an ADHD diagnosis is an admirable goal, especially for a book geared towards teenagers. Note: I don't think he does this perfectly, as I'll discuss in the next section.
Where It Goes Wrong
As the headline mentions, Chesner draws primarily from his own understanding of ADHD (supplemented by professional information) as the guiding philosophy for his book. That means there's a lot in here that doesn't apply or isn't useful--and may be alienating--for people who are not like him or do not experience ADHD like him.
Specifically, I want to call out that this book will be much less useful for women, trans people, queer people, and people of color. Both biological and sociological differences in how ADHD expresses itself for these groups of people mean that this book is limited in how much it can speak to those experiences. I mentioned that one of its strengths is its attempts to help teenagers recognize where their ADHD affects them, what it feels like--those same areas may not address the experiences or feelings of ADHD for AFAB people, for people of color, for trans people, and so on. That, alone, is not damning for the book; ADHD is extremely complex, so it's fine that this book may be written for a specific kind of ADHD. I would, however, prefer that something in its blurb, description, or title, (even the introduction!!) indicated this. I would also prefer that Chesner mention the way that gender, race, environment, and other factors can majorly impact the way your ADHD manifests and what coping strategies are helpful for you. He need not go into detail, but including a sentence, a few disclaimers, mentioning where to look for more resources about each subject he addresses would have made the book far less limited.
The other thing that makes me wary of this book is also connected to race and gender; the way it's written is clearly from a white, heterosexual male perspective. That in itself is totally fine, but some of the language and go-to examples used in the book are alienating and insensitive, and to include them in a book written expressly for teens is not good practice. This includes "gangsta" and "gangster" stereotypes, language regarding "girls" (he assumes teen boys will be straight, and though it's an attempt to be relatable, the language is objectifying and refinforces an innappropriate way of thinking about girls; not because attraction is innappropriate, but because it reinforces, like i mentioned, an objectifying point of view), and in one chapter, he uses Chinese and Swahili as metaphors for when, as an ADHDer, school starts to make 0 sense and become confusing. This last one, I don't like, because he uses specific languages; calling out Chinese and Swahili in this way suggests that they are completely alien and strange, incomprehensible. That's not true and reinforces "Othering" stereotypes about Chinese and Swahili, and the people who speak those languages. It would've been easier, and just as effective, and more relatable to more people, to simply say "it's like someone's speaking a language you don't know" or something like that.
Those may seem like trivial examples of problematic language, but I want to specifically address and include them for two reasons.
One, I want to make sure that any people of color, women, genderqueer, trans, or queer folk know what to expect if they pick this book up. It can still be useful, but it's better to go into it aware of ITS awareness of its intended audience.
Two, regardless of your intended audience, authors, and especially OwnVoices authors of ADHD-or-mental-health-related content, should absolutely make it a priority to be aware of implicit biases you have when writing and aware of racial, gender, and sexuality sensitivities. Chesner talks in this book about the way ADHD can make it easy to accidentally offend other people, and he's very right--which means that when we, as ADHDers, take on the responsibility of writing a book about our ADHD, for other ADHDers (or people in general), we also accept the responsibility of being aware of that, and working HARD to ensure we don't accidentally offend people. Additionally, it's one thing to accidentally hurt someone's feelings, in person, and it's a much more concerning, and potentially harmful, thing to "accidentally" reinforce unfair, racist, or sexist stereotypes about other groups of people.
Ending On A High Note
I still found some parts of the book to be really helpful, and I appreciate the thought behind it. It's especially important to promote more books about ADHD or similar mental health conditions that are written by or heavily featuring the experiences of someone WITH the condition or disorder. It helps de-stigmatize and adds a nuance and texture to descriptions of symptoms that cannot be replicated by someone without firsthand experience.
To end, here are a few of my favorite chapters and quotes from the book:
1. Freaking Out, pgs. 46-47
2. The 7:30 to 3:30, pgs. 22-23; I especially liked that he addressed how others may assume things about you, based on very little information, and not letting their perceptions control how you act and think about yourself.
3. Comic Book Class, pgs. 26-27.
4. Tell Me What You Want, pgs. 34-35.
5. "Special brains are meant to be Swiss Army knives (decent at everything)--we are surgeons' scalpels!" (pg. 39)
6. "Everybody learns differently and it's important to figure out what your learning style is." (pg. 97)
7. Putting An Assignment on Payment Plan, pgs. 98-99; basically explains how and why to break down a project ahead of time!
8. "Those examples don't mean I'm lazy, though. They just mean I have a tough time focusing on things that don't really interest me." (pg. 105)
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The Ten Day Outline: A Writer's Guide to Planning a Novel in Ten Days by Lewis Jorstad
informative
fast-paced
4.0
Very useful as a guidebook, and especially great when you're feeling lost and don't know how to organize your outlining progress. Take everything with a grain of salt, of course, because writing processes differ, but this is a wonderful place to jump off from.
Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Enjoyable, gripping; something I will ponder over.
Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write by Helen Sword
Did not finish book.
Did not finish book.
VERY inspiring, and has a lot of GREAT information; hard to get through right now because I'm not writing academic stuff. Will probably use as a reference material.
DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community by Gabriela Pereira
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
5.0
VERY helpful! Great for a reference book, and for people avoiding an MFA or looking to fill in gaps that their MFA isn't addressing. Or just to get as much out of an MFA as they can, too.
Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
5.0