kat2's reviews
28 reviews

All Fours by Miranda July

adventurous emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

dark emotional funny reflective fast-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

5.0

As I performed the holiday work of an Abigail (a housekeeper bot) and reflected on romantic relationships, a lot resonated! The main character, Annie, a Cuddle Bunny bot (non-human girlfriend) is exquisitely attuned to her owner’s level of displeasure and pleasure, doing everything possible to please Doug. What about her own happiness? Much develops. The insights about women’s roles in the domestic and romantic spheres are priceless. I made myself read slowly so I could think about each twist and turn.

No Judgment: Essays by Lauren Oyler

challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

Smart, funny essays! I read this as an e-book and plan to buy a hard copy. E-books have a way of drifting from my memory, and the notes function isn’t as satisfying as post-it’s and pencil ✏️ marks 

This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

This is a fun-to-read, page-turner of a memoir. Candid, funny, upbeat, illuminating. Philipps writes about some disturbing events in her life in a way I really like. She hasn’t figured it all out but she’ll tell us what she knows so far. Love the insider view of a woman in Hollywood.

Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero by Amanda Kloots

dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

3.75

A friend recommended this book, and when I started reading I thought, This isn’t terrifically well written. It isn’t especially original or reflective. But then I couldn’t stop reading. The writing is workmanlike: it gets the job done. And the job is to tell the harrowing true story of Amanda Kloots and her husband Nick Cordero in the early days of Covid. It’s a great, jolting, descriptive inhabiting of 2020: masks, gloves, Lysol, travel restrictions, no vaccine, no visiting loved ones in the hospital. Nick got Covid then. Amanda is a relentlessly positive person who shares her story daily via social media, includes everyone in her life, and knows how to ask for help and receive it with gratitude. Aside from being positive, these are not my skills, and her story was an inspiring page-turner that had me sobbing by the end. Sobbing. Supposedly this is healthy. 😭🤗

Almost There by Nuala O'Faolain

emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

This memoir has such smart and candid insights about writing, midlife romance, money, and finding your way in the world as a woman. I love how honest, intimate, and undefensive the narrative tone is—the book is good company, and I’m going to type up several quotes from it for teaching writing plus thinking about my own work.

Chenneville: A Novel of Murder, Loss, and Vengeance by Paulette Jiles

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I’m hooked on Paulette Jiles’s novels about Texas at the close of the Civil War. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, but set in 1865? There is some resemblance as our main character sets forth on a vengeful quest—but this story has more uplift and love. I didn’t want to finish it, because what will I read next? Gorgeous writing, compelling characters, fascinating context of the unsettled territory (Missouri and Illinois en route to TX) after a devastating war has taken its toll.

The Men and the Girls by Joanna Trollope

emotional 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

4.5

I found this on my mother’s bookshelf, always a great source. This novel is so well written, with compelling characters whose relationships evolve surprisingly, authentically—with humor, grace, and empathy in the narrative point of view. Absorbing and well worth my time.

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum

relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

This is an entertaining beach book for when your brain needs a vacation and you’d like to read about rich people getting themselves in trouble. It’s very relaxing to read about their over-the-top lifestyle and not be one of them!

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.5

I love beach books—but they have to be well written, and smart about characters, as this novel is. Fun to read, a page-turner with many engaging, nuanced characters and a Cape Cod setting. Practically a mini-vacation.