kathyellendavis's reviews
74 reviews

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

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challenging funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.75

Such an interesting read about how language can entice us to join a cult or want to be part of a cult like group. Language can be used to manipulate, like in cults, Scientology, and Multilevel Marketing, and it can also make ya feel a part of something that can ultimately be good, like a type of workout practice. A good read to make us aware of how powerful language is and how easy it can be get sucked into harmful things because of it. Though some of it was repetitive (across each section groups used language to help people form identities and ideas that ranged from extremely harmful to probably not bad) I enjoyed the nuance of how the language worked and was used to manipulate/encourage, depending on the case/environment. Pretty fascinating.
Textbook Of A (Parenthetical) Life: Poems by Rachel Toalson

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Excellent poetry about a range of topics. I love Rachel’s writing style; it’s so honest and vulnerable. She really makes you feel everything she’s feeling and working through with these poems. And I’m doing that it encourages you to examine your life more closely. 
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Cat Kid Comic Club by Dav Pilkey

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adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

This is such a fun book! In this series, Cat Kid and Molly lead a club for making comics so there are lots of comics featured in here too. The story is fun and the book will inspire kids of all ages to try their hand at comics. We laughed at the comics featured and also marveled at how cool they are.
A Bad King Is a Sad Thing by Julian Gough

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Poor Wolf is hungry, that's the only reason he tries to eat Rabbit! But because of it he's kicked out of the valley, just in time for and Ice Bear to move in and make himself King. What can Bear and Rabbit do? Rabbit gathers his courage and seeks out Wolf to help them. I really liked how Wolf helped the other animals discover their inner wolf. It's a great story about standing up to bullies and finding the courage within yourself to do that. Love the illustrations in this series and there are always funny moments too.
Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

4.75

Love this book. Nick and Charlie are such real characters, and this story pulls you into their day to day life, feeling like you really know them. The art is lovely and whimsical; the the story is at times heavy and light, just like life. I loved seeing their relationship develop in this volume.
The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

This book is so necessary and well done. Four different outcomes of one event, so basically four different stories within one book, but with the same characters. I liked both Aaron and Tillie as main characters and felt for them from the first pages. The writing brings you in super close to their emotions so the book is really hard to read at times. The story shows how much our actions affect others, how valuable we are by just being ourselves, how hard life can be at times, how we touch people's lives when we don't even know we do, and more.

I really liked that the third section (the section where they both jumped) was the shortest and moved through the years quickly showing how their deaths affected their family, but also people they otherwise would have known and spent time with. I think it made it even more sad that that part was shorter because their lives were shortened.

I also appreciated that the parts that were repeated were told in a new/fresh way in the fourth part (where they both didn't jump), since we saw parts of what would have happened to each of them in the sections where the other jumped. 

A difficult read for sure, but I am constantly reminded that it is much harder for people to deal with depression than it is for me to read about it, so I'm thankful I'm only experiencing it this way. I think this book will help so many readers empathize with the struggles people go through when depressed, and how our words and actions can really affect the people around us.
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book; Tookie was a great character with an interesting story to follow. This is one of the few books I've read that references Covid and the protests of 2020; it feels like that wasn't long enough ago to be in a book but here we are coming up on two years later. I enjoyed the mystery of why Flora was hanging around, and as a bookseller I loved reading about other booksellers. Tookie expertly described how it is to recommend the perfect book to someone. It was interesting to learn so much about Indigenous culture through the characters in this book too. I think this story has something for everyone and is a great one for booklovers in particular; there are a ton of book recs in the back of the book!
Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Loved the friendship between Isaac, who is a natural on the basketball court but struggles with schoolwork, and Marco, who is the opposite. They help each other out all throughout the book, and are both dealing with father issues. I liked the dual POV and occasionally we get to see the same situation from both of their points of view. Great friendship and basketball story about these two boys trying to be the best they can be.
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In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Jason Reynolds can do no wrong in my book and this book is no exception. I loved this format; the illustrations add so much to the story! Portico is funny, a bit naive, kindhearted, and dealing with his anxiety the best ways he can. I loved his imagination and his friendship with Zola is top notch. I love that they had so many adventures living in the apartment building; lots of kids live in apartment buildings so it’s great to see that representation. Can’t wait to read more in this series.
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The Holiday Switch by Tif Marcelo

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What a fun holiday read to escape into! I loved all the holiday book reviews that Lila shared too; all of those books sounded good! I'm a sucker for books that take place over a short period of time. I liked that it was a bit enemies to lovers, but really they misunderstood each other at the beginning to lovers. The two main characters seemed really realistic; I liked how they were still trying to figure out what they loved/wanted to do and balancing that with the expectations of their families, either real expectations or what they think their family wants them to do. I really enjoyed spending time in this book; the Christmas vibes were strong! Great family relationships too. The romance was pretty light and flirty and fun. Overall an enjoyable book!
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