gersandelf's reviews
21 reviews

We Believe the Children: A Moral Panic in the 1980s by Richard Beck

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Extremely tough read on multiple fronts but in my opinion should be required reading for all those who have experienced trauma and had those experiences taken and twisted by others for their own gains.

Really thought-provoking book. 

Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth by Elizabeth Williamson

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

5.0

Very informative for understanding the current (at time of this review) Jones trial in Texas. It's a terrible read (nothing about Sandy Hook could be otherwise) but very well put together and very worth reading to understand much of what's happened to American culture in the past two decades.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Violence, Stalking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Sexual harassment, and Antisemitism

Apprendre à nous écrire: guide & politique d'écriture inclusive by Club Sexu x Les3Sex, Magali Guibault Fitzbay

informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer

hopeful informative mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

Maus: A Survivor's Tale. I, My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, Hate crime, Murder, War, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Confinement, Death, Racism, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Frankenstein: Broadview Edition and Online Critical Edition Package by Mary Shelley

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Highly recommend the Broadview edition for the footnotes and appendices in particular!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Death, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Addiction

To Kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII by Ambrogio Caiani

challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Excellent, amazing book. Worth a reread, even, on the history of Pope Pius VII's epic struggles with Napoleon the first through the post 1801-revolutions and conflicts throughout continental Europe.

Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe by Peter Heather
Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.

The library took it back, but I want to keep reading when I next can take it out!

Backwards to Oregon by Jae

fast-paced

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

0.5

This Uber Xena story has all of my favourite fanfiction tropes (fake marriage, strangers to friends to lovers) and a very interesting cross-dressing genderqueer lesbian narrative that made me smile a lot. The book's treatment of Indigenous people and sex workers is... honestly completely unacceptable by today's standards, though I suppose the racism and whorephobia in general could be characterised as era-appropriate. From a historical fiction perspective, I'm not enough of a historian to give a proper opinion on that, but I have to say that while the setting "felt" correct, a lot of the dialogue by the middle and latter half of the book between the two main characters felt jarringly modern. Anyways, that's my two cents, and in my opinion racist portrayals of Native American nations is not something a reader should have to surmount to enjoy a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Racism, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Miscarriage

Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray by Sabine Hossenfelder

challenging informative fast-paced

5.0