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katehoward's reviews
162 reviews
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
sad
fast-paced
1.0
This book was such a missed oppurtunity. I thought Taddeo was going to use the stories of three women in America as a backdrop to the psychology of desire and how that presents in our patriarchal society, offering analysis and commentary on women's desires. Instead it was just a retelling of three women's sex lives- one of which is a girl who was sexually abused and manipulated by her high school teacher and I do not how I feel about that being included in a story of 'desire'.
If Taddeo took the time to seek out experts, psychologist, or sociologist, to give commentary and analysis would have elevated allowing the reader to gain knowledge about the psychology of desire rather than just stories of other peoples sex lives. For example, if Taddeo brought in a psychologist the specializes in sexual assault or post-traumatic stress disorder to talk about how the trauma of being a victim of pedophilia can echo throughout ones life and the effects in has on desire later in life would have added more substance to the book.
If Taddeo took the time to seek out experts, psychologist, or sociologist, to give commentary and analysis would have elevated allowing the reader to gain knowledge about the psychology of desire rather than just stories of other peoples sex lives. For example, if Taddeo brought in a psychologist the specializes in sexual assault or post-traumatic stress disorder to talk about how the trauma of being a victim of pedophilia can echo throughout ones life and the effects in has on desire later in life would have added more substance to the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and Rape
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Incest
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Child abuse
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow, Ann Friedman
3.75
I would highly recommend this book to people who value, or are trying to value, their friendships and platonic relationships the same way we are taught to with familial and romantic relationships.
Big Friendships showcases that friendships aren't always no-effort and easy things. They require work and effort from both parties if they are truly going to succeed, and that isn't a bad thing.
As someone who has been struggling with keeping long-distance friendships going recently this book was a huge comfort, and even made me tear up towards the end, as well as offering some advice for how to keep and maintain 'big friendships'.
Big Friendships showcases that friendships aren't always no-effort and easy things. They require work and effort from both parties if they are truly going to succeed, and that isn't a bad thing.
As someone who has been struggling with keeping long-distance friendships going recently this book was a huge comfort, and even made me tear up towards the end, as well as offering some advice for how to keep and maintain 'big friendships'.
the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace
I found the whole book boring and pretty cliché, although I enjoyed some of the lines about dealing with the grief from the death of her sister and mother. I don't understand why this type of poetry has become so popular over the last decade or so. There is not much substance to it and doesn't offer anything to think about.
2.0
I found the whole book boring and pretty cliché, although I enjoyed some of the lines about dealing with the grief from the death of her sister and mother. I don't understand why this type of poetry has become so popular over the last decade or so. There is not much substance to it and doesn't offer anything to think about.
Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes by Dana Thomas
This book is not for the average person wanting to make their wardrobe more sustainable, it is for an incredibly small portion of the population who can afford to buy a $1,000 dress or $600 white graphic shirt from Stella McCartney. There is a lot of innovation from fashion industry that is showcased but it is mainly focused on luxury brands. The book has a tone that is out of touch with the everyday consumer leading more to a continuation of Dana Thomas’s book on luxury fashion- which I haven’t read and don’t plan to.
I have never had a visceral reaction of annoyance towards a nonfiction book. The information in the book is well-researched, but Thomas is an incredibly privileged white woman who believes that people have a $3,000 yearly budget to buy clothes and should just rent luxury items from fashion rental companies. If Thomas believes that the only way to be sustainable about fashion is too spend thousands of dollar on very few items of clothes than she should have discussed and analyzed how that is a problem for the average consumer who buys more fast fashion than the people buying designer labels.
Thomas’ one answer in the whole book for people who have “champagne taste but […] are more on an H&M budget?” should just “wait to get it in a sale or a sale of the sale of the sale.” It was literally three sentences.
There was also no mention of the racial and classist history of the cotton industry in America, never mentioning slavery, segregation, etc. in the South. There is even a point where there is a “cotton picking party” were they were laughing and singing in the field.
There is a large focus on Stella McCartney, and Thomas granted her less scrutiny compared to other brands even though McCartney ignored her own company’s philosophy of not harming animals by creating and making pieces out of silk, or arguing that faux leather is better than real leather even though faux leather can also harm the environment as it is made from PVC (although I do believe McCartney was working with one of the brands mentioned to create faux leather from something other than fossil fuels). Thomas could have used those instances as example of even the most sustainable high-quality brands aren’t yet 100% sustainable and use it as an opportunity to further educate readers as it is more common to know about the harm animals go through for leather than for silk, or the damage that faux leather can do to the environment when there are debates surrounding the topic.
informative
medium-paced
2.0
This book is not for the average person wanting to make their wardrobe more sustainable, it is for an incredibly small portion of the population who can afford to buy a $1,000 dress or $600 white graphic shirt from Stella McCartney. There is a lot of innovation from fashion industry that is showcased but it is mainly focused on luxury brands. The book has a tone that is out of touch with the everyday consumer leading more to a continuation of Dana Thomas’s book on luxury fashion- which I haven’t read and don’t plan to.
I have never had a visceral reaction of annoyance towards a nonfiction book. The information in the book is well-researched, but Thomas is an incredibly privileged white woman who believes that people have a $3,000 yearly budget to buy clothes and should just rent luxury items from fashion rental companies. If Thomas believes that the only way to be sustainable about fashion is too spend thousands of dollar on very few items of clothes than she should have discussed and analyzed how that is a problem for the average consumer who buys more fast fashion than the people buying designer labels.
Thomas’ one answer in the whole book for people who have “champagne taste but […] are more on an H&M budget?” should just “wait to get it in a sale or a sale of the sale of the sale.” It was literally three sentences.
There was also no mention of the racial and classist history of the cotton industry in America, never mentioning slavery, segregation, etc. in the South. There is even a point where there is a “cotton picking party” were they were laughing and singing in the field.
There is a large focus on Stella McCartney, and Thomas granted her less scrutiny compared to other brands even though McCartney ignored her own company’s philosophy of not harming animals by creating and making pieces out of silk, or arguing that faux leather is better than real leather even though faux leather can also harm the environment as it is made from PVC (although I do believe McCartney was working with one of the brands mentioned to create faux leather from something other than fossil fuels). Thomas could have used those instances as example of even the most sustainable high-quality brands aren’t yet 100% sustainable and use it as an opportunity to further educate readers as it is more common to know about the harm animals go through for leather than for silk, or the damage that faux leather can do to the environment when there are debates surrounding the topic.