aecorsilva's reviews
109 reviews

Hate, Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another by Matt Taibbi

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.0

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I’d only heard good things about this book, so I really wanted to like it. And to be fair, I found the stories and characters engaging. But there was one massive problem: the translation.

This book was originally in Japanese, but was translated into English. The English translator may have been talented for all I know, but this translation is awful. It’s overly literal, and almost every sentence was full of clunky phrasing and grammar. It honestly sounded like they just put the book through Google Translate and printed the results. This book had potential, and I did adjust to the style at the end, but the awkwardness of the language made it impossible for me to be properly invested in the story.
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The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf

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challenging emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

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dark emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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

4.25

This book is absolutely brilliant. I think the writing style suits the book perfectly, the book makes great use of multimedia formats and non-linear structure, and I think the ability of the author to paint such vivid pictures of characters, even minor ones, is a brilliant asset! If you like stories about old Hollywood, I’d highly recommend The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. 
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Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

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funny lighthearted
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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hopeful inspiring fast-paced

3.75

I think this is a really interesting and fascinating text about feminism. It's quite disjointed and doesn't make a cohesive point, due to the fact it's an adapted version of a TED talk (something I didn't know before reading). I think it's definitely interesting and well-written, and if you're a feminist or generally progressive you'll enjoy it, but it's not incredibly substantive as a piece of feminist theory.
Feminism Is for Everybody by bell hooks

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challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

Generally, I think this book does a great job at giving someone a basic rundown of feminist thought, and of persuading those who quasi-agree with feminism to become more strongly feminist. However, I don't think it would persuade an anti-feminist, and I found parts of the book to digress from the feminist cause (I don't think women should devote significant aspects of feminist movement to "fixing" men, as hooks slightly suggested, and I don't think parents being placed above children in a hierarchy is a symbol of patriarchal violence (though I did find the suggestion interesting)).
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The Women's Pool by Lynne Spender

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emotional funny informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

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

3.0

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