dckathleen's reviews
214 reviews

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The story of a group of friends who met in college and have a pact to meet up for living funerals when they need to be surrounded by friends. They all lose touch for a bit, but then reconnect. It's told in a lighthearted and funny tone, but there are deeper currents running throughout. Loss, love, friendship, found family. This is a sweet book. 

The Museum of Whales You Will Never See: And Other Excursions to Iceland's Most Unusual Museums by A. Kendra Greene

funny informative lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

We went to Iceland and I read this before the trip. I actually picked up some good tips about museums to visit, but I think this is also good as a stand alone look at the Icelandic mus um phenomenon. It's quirky and interesting. 

The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indriðason

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I read this because we went to Iceland and it takes place in Iceland. If you've read other Nordic noir books, this is very much in that style of slow and reflective writing. 

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This was good. Puzzle Master meets female prisoner who is an enigma. I'm not sure it will stay with me, but it was a good read. 

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

adventurous challenging dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Main character comes back to visit her Mom, who lives in grandmother's home, because Mom has started to act strangely. Things feel strange, Mom has hung up grandmother's racist Confederate wedding painting again and suddenly prays and avoids swears, just as the grandmother had. MC is an entomologist and notices that there are no insects in the garden. Also there is a vulture on the mailbox. Things get stranger as she starts to unravel the mystery. This is not par icularly scary, and has many lighthearted moments. It was a really well done, quirky and magical, look at the weird way we can be haunted by our family. 

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The main character leaves her home in CA and moves to a remote town in Montana where land is being given to homesteaders. It's a hard life, but she needs to live in seclusion because she carries with her a mysterious trunk, and she can't stay in California. 

This is an suspenseful story about women on the frontier, but with a supernatural element. It's about the demons we can't leave behind and what we can do to tame them. 

Weyward by Emilia Hart

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Three timelines of women in a family. They have very different lives, with some parallels. They each struggle with being powerless in the face of male violence and then finding their own powers. It's really well done and I particularly love the connection to the natural world. 

Check out content warnings if those might be an issue for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Abortion, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Life and Other Love Songs by Anissa Gray

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

The story of a family before, during, and after a life-changing event, except it's events, plural, because the second is an echo of the first. Several characters narrate from their point of view, the skipping around in time got confusing a few times, but mostly really works. I genuinely wanted to know what happened to everyone, I wanted them to be happy. It's a good story, even if it didn't always go my way. 

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.5

I came for the sea creatures, but stayed for the autobiographical aspects of Imbler's story. Imbler is a science writer who describes their experiences with their own identity and relationships and community in essays that also describe bodies and experiences and communities in the ocean. Both threads are mostly well integrated.

Some trigger warnings. 

Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson

hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

Pam Anderson reclaims her story here. She has been exploited and commodified, sexualized and objectified. Here she tells us about her childhood (of course she was attracted to Tommy Lee), her philosophy, her relationships, her kids. She loves her kids so much. 

She's obviously smart, but has been portrayed as a dumb blonde so much that she feels the need to tell us that she's smart. She has a weird sense of chivalry that I don't share (Tommy had to punch paparazzos to protect his family, High Hefner was a gentleman), but it makes sense when we learn about her parents and the patterns she partly repeated. She has gone through a lot and learned even more. She loves animals and has worked on animal protection causes. 

Funny note about privilege and immigration - she was initially denied entry into the US because she lacked proper work documentation, so she took a bus instead of a plane.