jainabee's reviews
500 reviews

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation by Hannah Gadsby

challenging funny inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Like all things Hannah Gadsby, this is not at all a typical memoir. I like how she weaves the history of the gay liberation movement in Australia with her own story. And always the surprising twists where she suddenly draws together a bunch of images that I thought were random or unrelated. I love how her brain works!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Classism, Drug use, Outing, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Transphobia, Cancer, Gaslighting, and Genocide

Permanent Damage: Memoirs of an Outrageous Girl by Mercy Fontenot

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

5.0

Hilarious, harrowing and rigorously honest. Epicenter reporting from many of the most exciting music scenes of the past 55 years. Not for the faint of heart or stomach. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Vomit, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Sexism, Racism, Stalking, and Alcoholism

Um, Miss Mercy was a shameless and unapologetic hardcore character at the center of many music scenes from the 60s until her death in the 21st Century. Read at own risk.

Faux Queen: A Life in Drag by Monique Jenkinson

adventurous funny inspiring medium-paced

4.5

Dazzling and delightful, with a strong, fierce current of whipsmart feminism driving it forward. This moved me on a personal level —there are so many parallels in my own history, including being a part of this San Francisco drag scene. This is a reverent tribute to the irreverent queer rebels who trampled gender norms and wore trauma and taboos (and other T-words) like red carpet couture in the wake of the devastating AIDS crisis in San Francisco. 

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Content Warnings

Monique is clearly a deeply informed and articulate feminist, and has preserved the language and cultural context of the queer community of the 90's and early 'oughts with awareness and respect to social progress. In other words, there may be some language or humor some folx may find distasteful. Hey, you're going backstage and into the private boudoir of a celebrated drag queen (faux real)—fasten your seatbelt! Hope you enjoy the ride!

Fire Heart: The Life and Teachings of Traditional Maya Healer of Belize Miss Beatrice Torres Waight by Beatrice Torres Waight

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

5.0

This book feels like sitting at the kitchen table with a wise beloved elder. Maybe that's because it is a direct transcription from recordings made in Miss Beatrice's home! Her joyful and powerful wisdom is preserved here for those of us who were not honored to know her in her life. Inspiring and informative and precious.

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

5.0

世界の終りとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド 下巻 by Haruki Murakami

5.0

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

5.0

One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry

5.0

Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

4.0

The Little House Collection: The Complete Little House Nine-Book Box Set by Laura Ingalls Wilder

5.0