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bashsbooks's reviews
251 reviews
Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire by Ashley Spencer
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Disney High is an engaging and thorough dive into Disney Channel's liveaction boom in the 2000s. I grew up with that era of Disney Channel, so it was nostalgic to hear about The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, High School Musical Wizards of Waverly Place, and Sonny With A Chance. I was also impressed by the wide breadth of Disney Channel adjacent individuals that Spencer interviewed for this project - it felt like she had a quote for everything (which also speaks to a well-structured and edited book).
Spencer, I think, does a good job at talking about the problems with child actors without risking Disney coming after her legally. Unfortunately, that means she couldn't go as deeply into that topic as this books deserves.
(Also, Disney did my man Zac Efron dirty. I relistened to the HSM soundtracks after reading this, and he has a better voice than the other guy.)
Spencer, I think, does a good job at talking about the problems with child actors without risking Disney coming after her legally. Unfortunately, that means she couldn't go as deeply into that topic as this books deserves.
(Also, Disney did my man Zac Efron dirty. I relistened to the HSM soundtracks after reading this, and he has a better voice than the other guy.)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Miss Major Speaks: The Life and Times of a Black Trans Revolutionary by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Miss Major Speaks... and we need to listen to her. Her words are invigorating and empowering - she's full of opinions, no doubt, and her takes are solid as can be. From prison abolition, to sex work, to HIV/AIDS activism, to racial and gender jusitice, she's been in the thick of it. She's given her positions a lot of thought and has reasons for every one of them.
By her own account, she's done just about everything, too. I can't explain how emotional it makes me to hear an elder trans woman talk about her life and work. She says that she's honored to be seen as a mother and grandmother in the community; I'm just as honored to call her by those titles.
And this conversational text wouldn't be complete without Toshio Meronek's guiding questions and their intimate relationship to Miss Major. It really lets her shine in a way that a more traditional biographical piece wouldn't allow.
By her own account, she's done just about everything, too. I can't explain how emotional it makes me to hear an elder trans woman talk about her life and work. She says that she's honored to be seen as a mother and grandmother in the community; I'm just as honored to call her by those titles.
And this conversational text wouldn't be complete without Toshio Meronek's guiding questions and their intimate relationship to Miss Major. It really lets her shine in a way that a more traditional biographical piece wouldn't allow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Murder, Colonisation
Minor: Deadnaming, Racial slurs, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent
-Queerphobia
-Queer slurs
-Whorephobia
-Imprisonment, including solitary confinement
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I reference cookbooks all the time, but I made a decision early on in my reading-tracking journey not to include them. I did this for a few reasons: 1) most of the time, I was only looking at a couple recipes, 2) many cookbooks don't have much in them aside from the recipes, and so 3) if all a cookbook is presenting is recipes, and I'm only making and eating two, what business do I have reviewing the whole book?
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts is a different kind of cookbook. I'm excited to try some of the recipes (corn pudding, I love you), but there's so much more here than that. There's history, genealogy, poetry, and storytelling. It's a real love letter to Wilkinson's ancestors and culture. The manner in which she imagines her foremothers' lives is so vibrant and real that her reminders that she's imagining this are necessary.
This kind of meditation on cooking, family, time, and connection is extremely underrated - Wilkinson's work here is truly elevating the food writing bar.
I think about the stereotype of a long-winded food blogger writing a novel before a recipe, the scrolling through ads, the thinking get to the fucking point. What Wilkinson does differently is she makes it abundantly clear that you can't have the dishes without the stories (and vice versa), and she isn't trying to pad out a nothing-burger for profit. Like her cooking, this book is a labor of love.
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts is a different kind of cookbook. I'm excited to try some of the recipes (corn pudding, I love you), but there's so much more here than that. There's history, genealogy, poetry, and storytelling. It's a real love letter to Wilkinson's ancestors and culture. The manner in which she imagines her foremothers' lives is so vibrant and real that her reminders that she's imagining this are necessary.
This kind of meditation on cooking, family, time, and connection is extremely underrated - Wilkinson's work here is truly elevating the food writing bar.
I think about the stereotype of a long-winded food blogger writing a novel before a recipe, the scrolling through ads, the thinking get to the fucking point. What Wilkinson does differently is she makes it abundantly clear that you can't have the dishes without the stories (and vice versa), and she isn't trying to pad out a nothing-burger for profit. Like her cooking, this book is a labor of love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Grief
Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness
Y'all Means All by Zane McNeill
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I've been waiting to read Y'all Means All for months, and it did not disappoint!
As a queer Appalachian with a complicated relationship to the region and its culture, it was really refreshing and heartening to see myself reflected in a place that everyone see so antithetical to my existence. I also love when academics get to write about niche things that they're passionate about, which is what most of these essays boil down to.
I want my own copy of this, for reference and for sharing with others - firstly my cousin.
Favorite essay list: Queer in the Holler: Appalachian Image-Making by Julie Rae Powers, For Black Appalachians, Southerners, and Rural Folks by M.AMA, All Them that Don't Call Me They by sair goetz, Home Grown: Critical Queer Activism in Appalachia and the South by Heather Brydie Harris, Tree Sit Blockades and Queer Liberation by Chessie Oaks, Myths and Electricity: The Queer Appalachia Project and Unconventional Queer Archives by Maxwell Cloe, The "Wyrd" and Wonderful Queerness of Appalachian Oral History in Theory and Practice by Matthew R. Sparks, and The Man, The Moth, The Legend: The Role and Function of Folklore in Queer-Appalachian Social Media Communities by Brent Watts.
As a queer Appalachian with a complicated relationship to the region and its culture, it was really refreshing and heartening to see myself reflected in a place that everyone see so antithetical to my existence. I also love when academics get to write about niche things that they're passionate about, which is what most of these essays boil down to.
I want my own copy of this, for reference and for sharing with others - firstly my cousin.
Favorite essay list: Queer in the Holler: Appalachian Image-Making by Julie Rae Powers, For Black Appalachians, Southerners, and Rural Folks by M.AMA, All Them that Don't Call Me They by sair goetz, Home Grown: Critical Queer Activism in Appalachia and the South by Heather Brydie Harris, Tree Sit Blockades and Queer Liberation by Chessie Oaks, Myths and Electricity: The Queer Appalachia Project and Unconventional Queer Archives by Maxwell Cloe, The "Wyrd" and Wonderful Queerness of Appalachian Oral History in Theory and Practice by Matthew R. Sparks, and The Man, The Moth, The Legend: The Role and Function of Folklore in Queer-Appalachian Social Media Communities by Brent Watts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Classism
Moderate: Misogyny, Xenophobia, Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol
-Queerphobia generally
The Golden Raven by Nora Sakavic
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
I just adore the character work in AFTG. Jean is such a complicated and enjoyable protag - he's got a lot of issues and rough edges, but he's got a heart of gold. I also liked learning more about Jeremy's lore (the milbrat related stuff was like. ooff). And of course I loved to see my babygirl Andrew Minyard again. Love of my life for real.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Torture, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Medical content, Suicide attempt
-Whorephobia, slut-shaming
Mountain Magic: Explore the Secrets of Mountain Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
Time ran out on my hold & I didn't find it interesting enough to circle back to.
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Villette was Charlotte Brontë's final novel. I think that's evident in the groundedness of her plot (here groundedness is relative - I mean in comparison to Jane Eyre, not real life) and the dimensionality of her characters. I especially liked Paul Emmanuel - because I didn't like him at first, but I realized how Lucy fell for him by the end. This is not a burning passion from the start, and I appreciate that cool level-headedness from our heroine.
I liked a lot of things about Lucy; she is probably the most likeable (to my tastes, anyway) Brontë heroine thus far. Sure, she's got a morality stick up her ass, but I like her directness, her lack of sentimentality, and that she makes the most queer-esque comments. (Yes, I am a bisexual Lucy Snowe truther - what else was that description of Madame Beck when she was trying to figure out where Doctor John's interests were?)
I'm obsessed, too, with how radical the Protestant-Catholic conflict and its resolution were. I was so sure one of them was going to end up converting, so I was thrilled to see them accept each other and still love each other with that religious difference.
Also, while the resolution to the ghost nun plot was funny, I wish it'd been left without explanation.
I liked a lot of things about Lucy; she is probably the most likeable (to my tastes, anyway) Brontë heroine thus far. Sure, she's got a morality stick up her ass, but I like her directness, her lack of sentimentality, and that she makes the most queer-esque comments. (Yes, I am a bisexual Lucy Snowe truther - what else was that description of Madame Beck when she was trying to figure out where Doctor John's interests were?)
I'm obsessed, too, with how radical the Protestant-Catholic conflict and its resolution were. I was so sure one of them was going to end up converting, so I was thrilled to see them accept each other and still love each other with that religious difference.
Also, while the resolution to the ghost nun plot was funny, I wish it'd been left without explanation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Racism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Colonisation
-So much Catholic-Protestant beef
The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic
dark
emotional
fast-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
5.0
After reading the first trilogy, I was like, why would I want to read a book about Jean Moreau? Yes, I saw the set-up for this second trilogy at the end of The King's Men, but at that point, most of our time spent with him was when he assissted in Neil's torture at Evermore. So I was not primed to like him at all - and then combined with the fact that this trilogy is not done yet, I said I wouldn't read it at least until all of the books were out.
Enter my friend who cannot stop talking about what a blorbo Jean is.
I caved. I read The Sunshine Court. And I have to agree that I would defend Jean with my life now. Sakavic is so good at writing the kind of cultish trauma that Jean has, how he would end up complicit to a degree I don't even think he has the capacity to understand, and to show that he is also a victim, probably the most victimized by Riko. That's a level of character work that is difficult to reach.
I also love the Trojans - I have a habit of wondering what the normal people are doing in over-the-top mafia-cult tales where the whole lineup is fucked up beyond average comprehension. So to see that the Trojans have more relatable problems and are like "What the fuck?" when Jean's issues jump out was super satisfying.
What can I say about the plot? It's as convoluted as ever. I don't really care that much about it as anything other than a vehicle for the character growth and the interpersonal explorations, though, so it doesn't impact my rating.
Enter my friend who cannot stop talking about what a blorbo Jean is.
I caved. I read The Sunshine Court. And I have to agree that I would defend Jean with my life now. Sakavic is so good at writing the kind of cultish trauma that Jean has, how he would end up complicit to a degree I don't even think he has the capacity to understand, and to show that he is also a victim, probably the most victimized by Riko. That's a level of character work that is difficult to reach.
I also love the Trojans - I have a habit of wondering what the normal people are doing in over-the-top mafia-cult tales where the whole lineup is fucked up beyond average comprehension. So to see that the Trojans have more relatable problems and are like "What the fuck?" when Jean's issues jump out was super satisfying.
What can I say about the plot? It's as convoluted as ever. I don't really care that much about it as anything other than a vehicle for the character growth and the interpersonal explorations, though, so it doesn't impact my rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Torture, Murder
Minor: Child death
-Cult-like thought patterns
-Biting as physical & sexual abuse
-Waterboarding
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
When I started my Read the World project a couple of years ago, everyone I mentioned it to had the same name on their lips for Argentina: "You've gotta read Mariana Enriquez."
Which, now that I'm finished with The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, strikes me as an ironic directive. I don't really feel like I *read* Enriquez's writing; it seems more like she read her culture's collective anxieties and remixed them, cranking the volume in scathing tones. That is to say, she's reading *us* - to filth.
How do we treat children? What are they to us? What about women? What about that awful amalgamation of the two, the teenage girl? What about those on our fringes? What about those who are dead? What about those who maybe or may not be dead? What about those who are gone, regardless of their being alive or dead? What does it even mean, to be gone, to teeter on the edge of society until you fall off?
These are fraught questions (to say the least), and Enriquez isn't here to answer them. She will, though, make you confront every disquieting, uncomfortable inch of them.
The thing that really stands out to me about Enriquez's writing is that she grabs what feels like a random detail and skips across its tangential edges into her story. While I think that looking deeper, these inductions have more connective tissue to their stories than meets the eye, I can't help but be impressed with their surface-level function; they're grounding. They flesh out a believeable shape of a world in a few sentences. It's a masterclass in scene setting.
My favorite stories: "The Well," "The Lookout," "Meat," "Kids Who Come Back," and "Back When We Talked to the Dead."
Which, now that I'm finished with The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, strikes me as an ironic directive. I don't really feel like I *read* Enriquez's writing; it seems more like she read her culture's collective anxieties and remixed them, cranking the volume in scathing tones. That is to say, she's reading *us* - to filth.
How do we treat children? What are they to us? What about women? What about that awful amalgamation of the two, the teenage girl? What about those on our fringes? What about those who are dead? What about those who maybe or may not be dead? What about those who are gone, regardless of their being alive or dead? What does it even mean, to be gone, to teeter on the edge of society until you fall off?
These are fraught questions (to say the least), and Enriquez isn't here to answer them. She will, though, make you confront every disquieting, uncomfortable inch of them.
The thing that really stands out to me about Enriquez's writing is that she grabs what feels like a random detail and skips across its tangential edges into her story. While I think that looking deeper, these inductions have more connective tissue to their stories than meets the eye, I can't help but be impressed with their surface-level function; they're grounding. They flesh out a believeable shape of a world in a few sentences. It's a masterclass in scene setting.
My favorite stories: "The Well," "The Lookout," "Meat," "Kids Who Come Back," and "Back When We Talked to the Dead."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Murder, Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Pregnancy
The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting: The Tragedy and The Glory of Growing Up by Evanna Lynch
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
One thing I always ask when I read memoirs is, "Why was this written?" Usually, the answer for celebrity memoirs is "to make money". (See Lynch's Harry Potter costar, Tom Felton, for a Platonic example of The Celebrity Memoir.) But Lynch answers this question directly, over and over again: she's doing this to set the record straight. People have asked her so much about her experience with anorexia and how she "overcame it". They've misrepresented it. They've yearn for her positivity and guidance, of which she's never felt like she has to give. So she wrote The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting to set the record straight - and it explain that it is not, and has never been, as easy or simple as short news articles make it out to be. And I'll be honest, I think that's a damn good reason to write a memoir.
On top of her clear and meaningful purpose, Lynch also has a strong, engaging, and clever voice, one that is real to the point of brutality. I've never had an eating disorder, but I do have OCD and chronic depression, and the way Lynch describes negative thought patterns, control-based mental illnesses and coping mechanisms, and just how vicious and cruel it is to sit with yourself at the height of self-hatred is extraordinarily accurate. Scarily so, at times.
I can't say I agree with all of Lynch's takes - the way she feels about leather, and astrology, and JK Rowling, are all things that make me exasperated, a bit. But I do agree with the overall message of her book, about the messy complications of "recovery", of our cultural misunderstanding of it, of how our medical institutions dehumanize patients "for their own good", and how fear and control are tools that we use to lock ourselves away from life.
Also, if you like dark humor, she's fucking hilarious.
On top of her clear and meaningful purpose, Lynch also has a strong, engaging, and clever voice, one that is real to the point of brutality. I've never had an eating disorder, but I do have OCD and chronic depression, and the way Lynch describes negative thought patterns, control-based mental illnesses and coping mechanisms, and just how vicious and cruel it is to sit with yourself at the height of self-hatred is extraordinarily accurate. Scarily so, at times.
I can't say I agree with all of Lynch's takes - the way she feels about leather, and astrology, and JK Rowling, are all things that make me exasperated, a bit. But I do agree with the overall message of her book, about the messy complications of "recovery", of our cultural misunderstanding of it, of how our medical institutions dehumanize patients "for their own good", and how fear and control are tools that we use to lock ourselves away from life.
Also, if you like dark humor, she's fucking hilarious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic