eeeeeeee's reviews
216 reviews

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Did not finish book. Stopped at 46%.

I'm devastated to DNF this - my mom's favorite book! - but it's just way too rapey and wife beatery.  Jamie is not romantic at all, he literally is threatening to force her into sex ALL of the time and beats her and she's almost raped every other chapter and I just couldn't do it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Rape

Banal Nightmare by Halle Butler

challenging dark funny medium-paced

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

4.0

I just love sad girl books, messy women in their late 20s and early 30s who say inappropriate things and don't have their lives together.  So it makes sense that I liked this book!  I wish there were fewer unhappy relationships but I think that's the point of the book - everyone is living their own nightmare - Moddie gets the happy ending because she's the only one who does something about it.

Housemoms by Jen Lancaster

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a fun little beach read-y romp.  Cece was super annoying at the beginning but she needed to be - it just seemed unbelievable compared to the more believable portrayals of Hayden and Janelle.  A nice fun relaxing read to start the year off (and check off a TBR challenge!).  Always nice to have women who aren't motivated by pregnancy and motherhood!

Born Into This by Adam Thompson

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.5

Read this for Storygraph Reads the World - it was just ok.  Cements my opinion that I just don't like short stories.  Some of them were very bleh; some have stuck with me like "Honey" and "Descendant."  Enjoyable to read from the indigenous Australian perspective but I just don't like short stories!

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

adventurous hopeful informative tense fast-paced

5.0

I love everything I've ever read by Jon Krakauer and this is no different.  I know a lot about this incident and it was still an interesting and satisfying listen.  A+ would go to Everest again.

An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias--The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community by Louis J. Kern

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

Extremely detailed - perhaps too detailed? - look at sexual practices in the Shakers, Oneida, and early Mormons.  I didn't agree with some of his conclusions about the Shakers but they gave me something to think about.  I don't think he needed to use so many big vocabulary words - "postcatamenial"?? really??? - but for scholars and wanna be scholars of utopias this is a great book.

Why Don't You Have Kids?: Living a Full Life Without Parenthood by Leslie Lafayette

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

2.5

This book was not really what I wanted.  It's very much about childfree by choice - not childless not by choice - and the author, while claiming to be inclusive of people with infertility, had some pretty nasty things to say at times.  That being said, it had some good statistics and info from studies and things to think about.  I wouldn't read this as a first step to childlessness but once you've explored it awhile it might be worth it.  If you're childfree and comfortable with that then I think it's a great book even though it's 30 years old.

The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

I think this book will haunt me for awhile.  Chilling and foreboding and some reveals I could see coming but some that I absolutely did not.  Makes me want to read The Magic Mountain and go to the Alps and curl up in my bed forever.  I like that not everything was explained but it still made enough sense that I'm not questioning it.  

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

adventurous informative tense fast-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

4.0

This was enjoyable - feels like a good history book but only 4 stars for all the made up stuff - I still really enjoyed it and will probably read more by her.  

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

I have a lot of thoughts about this book.  I think it's horrible that anyone recommends it without a content warning for infertility.  I think reading about infertility in an honest way makes me feel seen.  I think people who haven't gone through infertility consume this in a torture porn kind of way (the A Little Life dilemma - people who never felt depressed in their life LOVE that book).  I hate hate hate hate hate the "they just weren't right for each other" kind of romance plot.  The book was funny, it was emotional, it was moving, it was very Rhode Island.  Overall though I liked this book but I just don't know why other people would.