capyval's reviews
390 reviews

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

The Guy on the Right by Kate Stewart
Did not finish book. Stopped at 28%.

This book has... Hunting? Yikes. As soon as the characters started to talk about hunting I decided to dnf, not sure if it was all a joke or what... But I'm not interested in finding out.

Before that, the book was not that good nor entertaining. I chose this book based on the fact that the main male character has an average physical appearance, since I'm not into characters fitting ridiculous beauty standards, but the characters would talk too much about looks, which I find very boring and silly. Also, th MMC would mention the "friendzone" more than once, which is a big rolling eyes thing to say.

If I could rate this book I'd give it 1.5 stars.

Ash's Cabin by Jen Wang

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-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? No

5.0

This comic is incredible. I got it from the library and I'm going to have to buy my own copy, because I loved it.

For a moment I thought maybe it wasn't for me given that hunting animals and fishing is discussed, and I'm a vegetarian so I don't enjoy seeing that. But everything made sense, and was very respectful, without triggering images.

I fully recommend this book.

The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub

sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

The idea of the book is good, and for most of it I thought it was not too bad, but towards the end things get messy, the situations reminded me of soap operas (which I don't personally enjoy). Also, it gets very sad near the end.

Another issue is that I listened to the audiobook, and it's not a good one. There are 5 main characters, but we only get two narrators, one male and one female. There are more chapters from the point of view of female characters, so it's hard to say much about the male narrator, but both had similar issues: didn't make distinctive voices for each character, and they did not act the book much, their tone is almost always a reading one. The girl, also, had an "angry" teen tone in most of the book, like the characters were always annoyed and defensive. Not enjoyable, but it's the version my library had to offer me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, and Fatphobia

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.

At first I was really liking the book and the writing style, but everything was happening too fast, and when the protagonists are in college, and after graduating, they become characters that don't interest me much.

I still think it's great that the book focuses so much in a friendship, but perhaps this friendship was not always the most healthy one. 

Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
Did not finish book. Stopped at 76%.

I decided to dnf at 76% because I was finding the book to be very boring, for a while.

Both main characters are nice, but there wasn't much romantic tension

before they get together, and then when they get into an argument I'm like 🤷‍♀️

I only wanted to finish it to understand the time loop thing, but I prefer to google it than to keep listening to.

I guess the author had a good idea when they created the characters (especially Phoebe), but the book should have been shorter for me to work.

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

If you're wondering if you should read this book or not, because you have still the story quite present in your mind after watching the tv series adaptation, my opinion is yes, it's worth reading.

There are differences between the two versions, I liked some things better in the book, a few in the tv series, too.

The book is a bit slow at moments, and has some problematic ideas, but overall is an enjoyable book.

The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat & Fierce by Angie Manfredi

hopeful reflective

As any book that is a compilation of texts from multiple authors, you will like some, and be bored by others. For that reason, I'm not giving this book a rating.

The idea of the book is great, it's full of positive messages of self-acceptance regarding being fat, and it's clearly a book written with teenagers in mind. I'm fat, but I'm not a teenager, so not all the essays were interesting to me. Also, maybe I disagree with a few things some of the authors/artists say in that book.

My favourite essays from this book are:

• Fat and Thriving by Isabel Quintero 
•  The 5 Things You Need to Start Your Very Own Rad Fat Babe Revolution by Virgie Tovar. 
• Write something Fat by Sarah Hollowell

Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Cute, but it drags. It could have been better as a novella, short and to the point. Also, if I compare this one to Dungeons and Drama, this one focuses more on the physical attraction of the characters towards each other, which bores me/I dislike a bit.

The audiobook narrator does a great job.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5