jimothymax's Reviews (129)

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Hank Green

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is amazing! The voicing is my favorite part of it. It feels so real and honest. It's science fiction but somehow correlates extremely well with current politics. Loved it!

Less

Andrew Sean Greer

5.0

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is utterly delightful. Arthur Less is a beautiful disaster and I enjoyed going on a round the world trip with him so much. This book is so funny and beautifully written, a comedy of errors that is so heartwarming that I couldn't help but love it.

Both Sides Now

Peyton Thomas

5.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed this book so much! The pacing is great, the characters are lovable, the story line is interesting. I have seen some criticism of this book but I honestly don't see it. Even when characters were being racist or otherwise problematic in the story, I didn't get the impression that the author was endorsing those attitudes, just reflecting the reality that people with those attitudes exist. Overall, this is a really quick read and a really fun book.

Heretics Anonymous

Katie Henry

3.5

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I went into this book expecting to see more diverse representation. It was there, for sure, but the main character was still a straight, white male and the diversity of the rest of the cast took a major backseat to him. I was also hoping to see more about how this group of non-Christian students survived and processed their thoughts and feelings of going to a very rigid Christian school, but it was more about them trying to shake things up than about their day-to-day reality. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but it did not match up to my expectations.

The Dangerous Art of Blending in

Angelo Surmelis

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I couldn't put this book down. I was so invested in the characters. Evan, the main character, is so well written and so relatable for someone with a traumatic past. I loved his strength and reliance as much as I hate that some of us have to be that way.

Camp

L.C. Rosen

4.0

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Symptoms of Being Human

Jeff Garvin

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book made me feel a lot of things. Riley's anxiety felt real and tangible as they dealt with navigating a binary system while living outside the binary. I absolutely adore Riley's friends and parents as well. I think my favorite thing about this book is that Riley's agab is completely unknown and completely irrelevant. In the book, Riley talks about wanting to put people in boxes and how it can be difficult not to even as a gender-fluid person. That is so relatable because, as a trans man, I often have the same inclinations. I think that getting to know Riley in that way was an excellent step to breaking out of that dusty, outdated, unneeded habit.

Content Warnings