drj's reviews
85 reviews

Rotherham's Woodland Heritage by Melvyn Jones

hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

dark inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

Natural Enemies Of Books: A Messy History Of Women In Printing And Typography by Matilda Flodmark, Ulla Wikander, Jess Baines, Ida Börjel, Kathleen Walkup, Maryam Fanni, Sara Kaaman

challenging informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

Small beautiful book, created with dedication and care. A collection of essays responding to an older collection of essays. Contemporary essays are intercalated with facsimile reprints of the older material. The essays vary from biographical to whimsical to archival, and the overall effect is charming and informative, if a little whimsical and even random.

The book is set in Arial with Filosofia for the Introduction and occasional material; both fonts designed by women. No one would question Filosofia, it is beautiful. Arial, however; I suspect Arial is chosen as a sort of "anti-design" statement. As a body text it is somewhat dry in a book and a couple of the essays use Arial condensed (I hope deliberately), which is a bit of a strain.

I recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the print arts and/or the trade union movement of the 1980s.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

sad medium-paced

1.0

What a douche this author is. Wrote all this stuff but chose not to tell anyone until they could make a buck.

Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

Pages 5,11,17,23,29,35 have the wrong margins.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: The Complete Series by Toren Smith, Hayao Miyazaki, David Lewis

adventurous hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

Cast a Bright Shadow by Tanith Lee

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail