festive_fossil's reviews
170 reviews

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Still mulling over my feelings on this book. I wanted to throw it out a window, but was also unable to put it down. Definitely this is not a story I liked, mostly because this kind of dark, grittiness is not really my favorite thing to read.

In terms of the quality of the writing, though, this is top notch. I mean the story absolutely hooked me in right away and I ended up finishing this in nearly one sitting. If you are a fan of horror, I would definitely recommend. As for myself, I think this story will be sticking with me for a while, and if that isn't a recommendation in and of itself, I don't know what is.
 
Note: I can't speak to the quality of the indigenous representation, but I have seen some own voices reviews that were very positive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Violence

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Sexual violence

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma
Did not finish book.

I only got about 30% of the way into this audiobook. I'm not really sure why I struggled to get into it, but I decided that at this point in the year, I wasn't going to force reading something I wasn't absolutely enjoying. Definitely, I am leaving this on  my TBR list in the hopes that I come back to it at a later time.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Minimalist Baker's Everyday Cooking: 101 Entirely Plant-based, Mostly Gluten-Free, Easy and Delicious Recipes by Dana Shultz
Did not finish book.

I did not get very far into this cookbook and I think it is because I just don't like encountering food recipes in this way. I far prefer keeping up with Minimalist Baker's instagram. This is not a value judgment on this book AT ALL. 

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.25

I am still gathering my thoughts after finishing this book, but I did want to note a few things while it is still fresh. As other reviewers have commented, this is NOT a self-help book. I was expecting a bit of an elevated motivational book, this is NOT that. It has much more of a literary essay feel, and if you are not prepared for meandering and a bit of philosophical wool-gathering, then this will be difficult to get through. I think that audiobook format did not serve me well, either, as I absorb denser books like this much easier when reading them. This is not to say that this book was 'bad' or unhelpful. Odell discusses a lot of really interesting topics, though I could have done without some of the art talk which went completely over my head. I really appreciated Odell's obsession with nature, and connecting to the present material world. That's material as in tangible, not the consumerist collection of things. Her term of 'manifest dismantling' was also really interesting. I think this is a book I'd need to read several times to get the full benefit. And with that, I am going to end this meandering collection of thoughts on How to Do Nothing. Maybe tomorrow I will go take an extra long walk.

Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More by Courtney Carver

hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Medical content

Moderate: Death

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.25

I really wanted to love this book and yet....it isn't the movie. It really is wonderful that Goldman was able to write the screenplay for the movie, because he did an amazing job adapting it for the screen. It also happened to cut out some of the eccentricities that Goldman included in the text. Some eccentricities that I really could not stand.

While the satire is pretty evident in the movie, it is even more delightfully so in the book, really poking fun at fairy tales in general. But the truly exhausting contortions Goldman goes through to keep up the charade that he is abridging a longer work by a fictional author are...well, exhausting. And not amusing, at least for me. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind. Plus there are the even more egregious insertions of what *I hope and assume* is a satirical version of Goldman's relationship with his ex-wife and son.

Basically, this is a rare case for me where the movie is better than the book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty