happentobeshort's reviews
1216 reviews

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

My only exposure to fungi and mushrooms before this book was mostly through the "Fantastic Fungi" documentary, and I can't remember the last time I read a "sciencey" non-fiction book, so I was a little worried this would mostly go over my head. Turns out I had absolutely nothing to worry about as not only are fungi extremely more fascinating than I knew, but Sheldrake has SUCH a way with words!! Certain parts really felt like he was simply describing an alien landscape from a scifi novel, instead of algae. 

I 10000000000000% recommend everyone to read this book, even if you're not a fungi freak™!!! It is endlessly fascinating and I kinda wish I had the physical thing to leaf through WHILE I was listening to it in audiobook form - apparently there are pictures too!! That said, Merlin Sheldrake narrates the audiobook himself and you're not really losing anything choosing one over the other.

READ THIS DAMN BOOK.

Maria Llovet's Eros/Psyche by Maria Llovet

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

Not much to say other than nice art???? I'm not well versed enough in ancient greek myths so IDK how good the story was in regards to those myths, but I'm not sure if it would have made a big difference to me.... Like, I guESS it was kinda spooky? Probably only of light interest to people who are into this new fangled "dark academia" thing.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

A really beautifully written novella about power dynamics with an incredibly rich world. I wish there was more expansion on that, but this IS a novella so I guess it's fine... 

The way the story is told is slightly confusing and only starts making sense about halfway through, so take caution if I guess you aren't used to different narrative styles in fantasy fiction. Not that I personally am, but I know not to be surprised with this kind of thing lol. 

TLDR it was really lovely to read even if I was confused about half the time, but I also don't think I'll pick up the next novella as the narrative style put me off wanting to know about the world. Maybe I'm a pleb for that but weLP.

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

It's been a while and I still don't know how I feel about this. I went into it with ZERO knowledge about the book other than it had to do with being too "logged on". The first half of it was amusing but also depressing because it made me realise just HOW logged on I am lol.. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be a wake up call or a pat on the back of like, "me too bro". Then halfway through everything takes a sharp 90 degree turn and starts getting super super sad. It was only after finishing that I learned that the latter half of the book mirrored what happened to Lockwood in real life and the weight of that half of the book settled in. 

I still don't know how to feel about this book that clearly Everyone Is Talking About (buh dum tsh lol), but I really did enjoy her writing style and will def look into her future projects!!

Broken Places Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

I've been a fan of Nnedi for some years and apart from following her on Twitter and the like, I realised I don't really know much about her as a writer. This was such an interesting reflective piece on her as a person - what has both made and broken her, and how she moved on. I'm not one for "self help" or "inspirational" type memoirs, but this autobiographical short feels a bit like the latter, but only unintentionally so. I too had a 'medically induced' catastrophic (or at least it felt like it!) life change at the age of 18, so a lot of what Nnedi talked about was incredibly relatable. I'd recommend listening to the audiobook version of this as it's narrated by Nnedi herself!!

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Crossover by Michael Jan Friedman

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-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? It's complicated

2.0

So I listened to this as an audiobook instead of reading it, which is definitely more fun when at least one of the OG actors does it, which in this case it was none other than trombone man Riker! 

Anyway, it was a fun enough premise and hearing Frakes impersonate the other characters was a gift, but overall it was just, ehhhh. Like a fun enough fanfic that doesn't land that well but you don't mind because you didn't have high hopes from the start and just wanted the comfort of reading about your faves getting up to hijinks. Although I refuse to believe that high ranking Romulans had no idea who Spock was. Like??? SPOCK????? PROBABLY THE FIRST HALF HUMAN VULCAN EVER?????? COME ON!!!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Missing by Una McCormack

adventurous inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

So I was told this book would change how I feel about Dr Pulaski. It did. I like her more now. She is very cool and basically like a female Bones but if Bones was more Spaghetti Western Cowboy and less Grumpy Gruff Space Doctor. 

Anyway, for a DS9 novel there are surprisingly few DS9 characters in it... Not a problem as I could tell this was a Pulaski focused novel from the start so it's not like I didn't know. I could see this being a bit of a filler episode on either TNG or DS9, which is not to say that it's boring or not worth reading!! It's just that it's very self contained and if you are looking for a slightly more expansive novel, this is not the one to go for. I did like the new aliens in this book though! Would love to see what Una thought they would look like!! 

The Last Nude by Ellis Avery

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Oh man this was so good!! I didn't know what to expect as I've only ever really done a brief read about my fellow name person on wikipedia, but I knew she had a storied life! This is obviously fiction though, it's not 100% accurate nor did I expect it to be, however it was really cool to read little snippets of real life 1920s Parisians of the era like Sylvia Beach, and Gertrude Stein. 

Anyway this is truly a bittersweet novel and as the main character (also the subject of the painting on the cover) is like, 90% made up, I could kinda tell what was gonna happen about halfway through and as a result the closure or ending of her life in Tamara's life was not as full as it could have been. But I didn't mind that one bit!! I felt it worked all the same, as well as the ending where we swap perspectives and jump forwards in time. It seems like a lot of people didn't like that, but I think it works really well in letting us see maybe why she behaved the way she did, and why she was the way she was.

TLDR: A low key horny and well written, bittersweet, historical fiction about a real life bisexual female artist of 1920s Paris, who also isn't really a great person. Also I think this is like. the third historical fiction novel I've read about a female artist. Won't be the last.

PS: Anson is not Anson and I could INSTANTLY tell the moment he talked about losing his manuscripts on a train loooooooooooooooooooooooooooool. LOVE THAT FOR ME!

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

dark informative sad medium-paced

5.0

Oh man this was AMAZING. I picked it up on a whim after seeing someone I follow on instagram post about it, especially since I've had a life long interest in the Victorian age AND the Jack the Ripper saga. And up till now, my most in depth reading had been via the podcast Unobscured (https://www.grimandmild.com/unobscured) that did a MASSIVE deep dive into the cultural and societal landscape at the time of the murders. However like Rubenhold states, most of these accounts (podcast included) don't focus much on the victims themselves and push the common knowledge that they were all sex workers. This gives these women their agency back and reveals the misogyny that was at work at the time of their death, and how their deaths were investigated. 

At times the book reads like a historical fiction novel as Rubenhold tries to get us to understand these women and the choices they made in their lives, but it is still based in as much fact as possible. Unfortunately a lot of these 'facts' are assumptions based on the information that was collected at the time, or based on Rubenhold's investigations, but nothing (in my opinion!) is exaggerated for drama.

ANYWAY I super super SUPER recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Victorian era, or who listens/reads about real life murder and crime, or even an interest in the history of London. 

Also the audiobook production was excellent!! There's even little musical interludes that made me feel like I was listening to a big podcast production rather than an audiobook!!!

Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items by J.W. Ocker

funny mysterious fast-paced

3.0

It's clear that Ocker is passionate about the concept of cursed objects and whether we curse them willingly or not! Since I listened to this as an audiobook, it seems I missed out on the visual aspect of the book - namely illustrations - but I don't think it would have made a huge difference for me as unfortunately I was already familiar with most of the objects mentioned!! 

Even though the book is sorted into sections with different kinds of objects grouped together, it still felt a bit like a 'listicle' that I might find on Buzzfeed or similar websites. Which isn't a bad thing mind you! It's just that I was hoping for a bit more information on each object, and maybe some insight from Ocker too, rather than, "this is the object this is the story and this is some other stuff that happened afterwards". 

Anyway, it was still a fun read and I did enjoy the fun style in which Ocker writes. I just think people who are not too familiar with spooky creepy things would enjoy it more than those of us who listen to spooky podcasts or read spooky books.