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gotossmycausticsalad's reviews
418 reviews
The Cloisters by Katy Hays
2.5
Calling this a thriller is a stretch, and at no point does it feel dark or menacing. Cool cover art though.
The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand
5.0
Absolutely fascinating. Informative without being dry - and at times amusing. I'm not hugely familiar with the Jewish tradition so had to look things up here and there, but that's understandable as this was pitched to a Jewish/Israeli audience.
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
informative
5.0
The doppelganger thread was a little stretched at times, but it was an interesting way to frame the wider narrative of what was a fascinating and very powerful read. I found the diagonalism section particularly interesting.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
3.5
Did not realise this was a romance novel when I picked it up, just got pulled in by the dragon on the cover. Alas!
I'm not hugely familiar with romance so I suspect some of the aspects that I didn't like about it are tropes of the genre - constantly banging on about how hot one guy is, the love triangle, flirting/ fucking in varyingly inappropriate situations etc.
As for the writing itself, it was pretty mediocre. Not great, not terrible. I always think there must be better ways to start these books than a character infodumping about the world she lives in - the author actually had a really good get out here in that this character is a scribe who recites historical facts to herself when she's stressed / scared. She could have made so much better use of that.
The main character herself was interesting enough, especially at the start of the book where she has to overcome her physical limitations to succeed in a very strength dominated world.
I'll probably give the sequel a chance because I'm a sucker for dragons - seems like a good series to read a few beers down sat on a sun lounger. Literary junk food.
I'm not hugely familiar with romance so I suspect some of the aspects that I didn't like about it are tropes of the genre - constantly banging on about how hot one guy is, the love triangle, flirting/ fucking in varyingly inappropriate situations etc.
As for the writing itself, it was pretty mediocre. Not great, not terrible. I always think there must be better ways to start these books than a character infodumping about the world she lives in - the author actually had a really good get out here in that this character is a scribe who recites historical facts to herself when she's stressed / scared. She could have made so much better use of that.
The main character herself was interesting enough, especially at the start of the book where she has to overcome her physical limitations to succeed in a very strength dominated world.
I'll probably give the sequel a chance because I'm a sucker for dragons - seems like a good series to read a few beers down sat on a sun lounger. Literary junk food.
On Palestine by Ilan Pappé, Noam Chomsky
Hard to quantify this one really. The discussion format was interesting. I disagreed with some of Chomsky's points - like the one about the ASA boycott - so it was interesting to see them in context of a conversation with pushback.
The latter part of the book - the collection of essays - is quite repetitive.
The latter part of the book - the collection of essays - is quite repetitive.
Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha
Fascinating book, but also quite a slog. It's an academic work, rather than something written for mass appeal. That, or I've got stupider since my history A-level (cough cough) years ago.
A few issues with the editing, sentences repeated or missing words.
A few issues with the editing, sentences repeated or missing words.
Blossoms and Shadows by Lian Hearn
3.5
I picked this up because I loved the Tales of the Otori when I was a kid but I found this quite disappointing. The different tensions in the narrators character sound interesting but put together they somehow fell flat. The only character I ended up really interested in by the end was the painter.