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coralinejones's reviews
473 reviews
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
4.0
Incredibly sad. Worth reading. There are direct links to what these women through and how we're protected at work today. I wish the author pulled back on the dramatics a bit. An issue I had was when Moore assumed the thoughts of these women when she couldn't have had any idea what they were thinking because she wasn't there. In some cases this book felt like fact-fiction, like watching a dramatized show about history, though still extremely informative and, for lack of better word, entertaining.
James by Percival Everett
3.0
Guess I'm an outlier. I can't articulate why this didn't click with me. I never read Huckleberry Finn so I assume there's a disconnect between the original text and this retelling. I didn't anticipate how simple the writing would be here, either. I assumed, because of how everyone talks about James, that it would be extremely poetic. It's good! Just not great. Not to me.
The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.
Not the first DNF of 2025! Well, I gave it my best, but unfortunately this is just too vulgar and violent for me. I'm not prude-ish or anything, just not interested in reading something like this right now. It's not to be erased the violence that trans queens of color face, especially in this time period, and how most of them were homeless and sex workers to get by. I'm not mad at Cassara for painting this picture in the slightest. I guess if I cared about the overall story a bit more I could stomach it and continue but I don't find it worth it. Especially since I was feeling the story early on, and cared for the characters presented to us initially, but then it got boring around the middle section. Furthermore, reading other's impressions of this book, many find it to be fanfiction of real life queens who have, sadly, passed. Those featured in Paris is Burning and lots of nods to the TV show Pose, both of which I'm a fan of.
The writing is gorgeous and there's much to take away here. I do recommend it. I'm just not interested in continuing.
The writing is gorgeous and there's much to take away here. I do recommend it. I'm just not interested in continuing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Violence
Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison
4.0
Such juicy gossip.
Just Kids by Patti Smith
4.5
Goodness. Why didn't anyone warn me. Why wasn't I given a heads up!
I went into this completely blind. I had no idea who Patti Smith was prior to this novel, but I knew this memoir is LOVED, so I read it anyway. Smith's writing is gorgeous. She is fascinating. I now love her as if I've been her fan my whole life. I'm devastated.
I went into this completely blind. I had no idea who Patti Smith was prior to this novel, but I knew this memoir is LOVED, so I read it anyway. Smith's writing is gorgeous. She is fascinating. I now love her as if I've been her fan my whole life. I'm devastated.
Sociopath by Patric Gagne
There's more but I highly encourage skimming through other detailed reviews to get an idea why so many
of us are 50/50 with this novel. It's an entertaining read (even though, in my opinion, by the time Gagne is an adult this whole thing gets extremely repetitive and, she, gets extremely annoying), but feels fictitious more than anything else. I would not be surprised if, at some point, she gets exposed for actually writing a semi-fiction novel than a memoir.
2.0
Unfortunately, this didn't work for me and I don't believe much of what this author has written. I did some research on Gagne a few chapters into reading because I had gotten skeptical of her, and I can't say with confidence that she is a credible source for sociopathic behavior and sociopathic research. There's not much science here, and that's okay since this is a memoir, but this memoir in particular is just mediocre. The conversations she has with others do not feel realistic. There's very little that feels researched and honest, and many others have felt the same way.
I don't want to be mean. I don't want to say this author isn't a sociopath as that's not my place. However, she has extremely questionable credentials; I had to take everything with a grain of salt.
There's a very intriguing Reddit thread about how suspicious this author is and well written reviews (Particularly those that are 1-2 stars in rating) that explain better than me. Basically, what I found out was:
I don't want to be mean. I don't want to say this author isn't a sociopath as that's not my place. However, she has extremely questionable credentials; I had to take everything with a grain of salt.
There's a very intriguing Reddit thread about how suspicious this author is and well written reviews (Particularly those that are 1-2 stars in rating) that explain better than me. Basically, what I found out was:
- Gagne may or may not hold an actual PhD. She went to an unaccredited college and nobody can find any information on her studies, her scholarship; nothing.
- Again, not much science to back much of what she's saying despite being a therapist for others with sociopathic tendencies. She uses outdated terms and is very inconsistent in her feelings about sociopaths. However, in her defense, I took this as a poorly written way to show her growth and knowledge on being a sociopath as she's gotten older. Others see this as sketchy and fraudulent.
- She claims not to care about people's feelings, as sociopaths don't, but as you read... You can tell she does care. She cares a lot. She claims she doesn't but she does.
There's more but I highly encourage skimming through other detailed reviews to get an idea why so many
of us are 50/50 with this novel. It's an entertaining read (even though, in my opinion, by the time Gagne is an adult this whole thing gets extremely repetitive and, she, gets extremely annoying), but feels fictitious more than anything else. I would not be surprised if, at some point, she gets exposed for actually writing a semi-fiction novel than a memoir.
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff
5.0
He loves his son so much it makes me emotional.
One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In by Kate Kennedy
3.0
My mistake, I vastly mistook what this novel was going to be. I thought this was going to be commentary on what it was like to be a millennial and that only, not meandering paragraphs about the author's personal life. This is more a memoir and a personal remembrance piece than it is any sort of "essay" about what life was like back then. It starts off that way, kind of, but then she starts talking about being a mother and liking pumpkin spice lattes or whatever and she lost me completely. I don't think I'm old enough to be considered a millennial, but I'm old enough to relate to (or remember; experience) many of the pop culture moments from that time period. I watched a lot of reruns and listened to all the songs they did with my mother. That said, perhaps I'm too young for this novel. I mean, I don't really dress like this age group nor was I partying in college in 2005 so... Guess I can't relate.
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
1.0
Overwhelmingly disappointing. I've been hearing that this book wasn't great and unfortunately everyone is correct. Ophelia is obnoxious; completely naive and not good at her job. She's not a character that's enjoyable to read about for 300 something pages. Everyone else is not interesting enough to care about. The story itself is extremely slow-burn and unnecessary. By the time anything exciting happens I don't care anymore and just wanted them all to die to get this over with. I feel like this book would've done best as a novella or perhaps adapted into a sci-fi horror movie. Maybe some visuals would make this worth getting through.