laynemandros's reviews
236 reviews

Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

No Judgment: Essays by Lauren Oyler

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Lauren, if you’re reading this, don’t 🫶🏻

“No Judgement” is a collections of essays that is, in fact, filled with judgement. I was completely unaware of Lauren’s background before picking this up (thanks @librofm ) on audio. She’s a literary critic and author of “Fake Accounts,” which I saw floating around when it released. 

I think this might be the most pompous and pretentious collection I’ve ever read and part of me really feels like that was Lauren’s intention. She strikes me as too smart to be unaware that her overall tone and style of writing is, at times, a bit insufferable! 

Some of the essays seemed tedious to me (her essay an auto fiction) while others were really relatable (her essay on goodreads and keyboard warriors on the internet, cancel culture, etc.) and then there was one where I felt so seen I was like hey girl? are we the same? Re her essay on her almost debilitating anxiety and TMJ. 

After reading some reviews about this online I can tell that Lauren is pretty polarizing and I felt the same. Some essays I really enjoyed and others I was like girl simply what the fuck are you talking about. I also fear that I might be ~simply too stupid~ for some of this content. And that’s okay because I don’t want to spend my time parsing through whether or not auto fiction is less valid than a memoir because I ✨don’t care ✨

I will say, as a publicist, I do agree with Lauren’s criticism of perception of writers. I think that in order to publicize books authors have to dole out pieces of personal information and sell them to the public. Oh your main character has debilitating depression, the author must as well, now it’s an interview topic. I agree with her overall assertion that criticism is a behavior that’s yielding to the droves of “chronically online” folks that lack nuance who are driving the cancel culture movement. I think there’s a difference between holding people accountable and the “cancel culture” internet. 

Good Material by Dolly Alderton

challenging emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery by Annie Liontas

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

“Sex with a Brain Injury” by Annie Liontas: 5/5

“Sex with a Brain Injury” follows genderqueer author and educator Annie Liontas as they detail the intimate, vulnerable, and traumatic experiences of incurring multiple concussions that resulted in disability. 

I picked this one up because I saw bestie reading and loving it (@autumnintheoaks) and the title (obvi). I have a huge amount of respect for Annie because they used a splashy, eye-catching title to kind of bait and switch (respectfully) readers into a really, really important topic. The title suggests the memoir is mainly about sex and disability— but it’s so much more than that. 

Annie begins by discussing their own experiences with brain injury, how they struggled to heal and to be understood after each concussion. They discuss shame and frustration around their recovery and, above all, how isolating recovery can be. So isolating in fact, that it almost ended their marriage. 

However, most compelling aspect was Annie’s well-researched, digestible, and intersectional commentary of cultural implications of brain injury. From gender discrimination in brain injury research, slapstick comedy relying on head injury as humor to make them so commonplace in media that we don’t event bat an eye (think the three stooges, home alone, tom & jerry), the widespread epidemic of head injury in the NFL, to the correlation between head injury and incarceration—especially when considering Black men. 

The book takes the time and care to tease out societal implications of brian injury and that set it apart from most memoirs for me. This book make me think so much about my own experiences (I’ve had three concussions in my lifetime) and so much more. 

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

If a book embodied a gut punch, then this would be it; and this book found me at a time that I feel is particularly poignant. 

I wake up after a full night’s sleep, uninterrupted by violence, and I think about Palestine. 

I cook food in the comfort of my own home and I think about Palestine. 

I call my parents and know they’re safe, and I think of Palestine. 

I read this book and all I can think about is Palestine. 

I think about the interconnectedness of oppression, struggle, and liberation. I really think this book found me at a time when its message would be the most impactful.

I loved this book— Adjei-Brenyah is a fucking mastermind. Even though the writing style was a bit jarring (wouldn’t recommend this one on audio because there are times where the POV switches within chapters) there are very few books where I feel like, as a reader, the author has reached through the pages of a book and slapped me in the face. When reading you follow so many characters and at the beginning it is not clear how their narratives will come together, but when they do it’s a chaotic, beautiful web. From a craft perspective, this is uniquely and creatively executed. 

This book will make you think deeply, critically about abolition. About our country’s relationship with money and profit over people. You’ll think about the way our society has become increasingly more desensitized (even further than that, like a collective bloodlust, a fascination) to violence. 

The scariest part about this book is that none of it was far fetched, none of it was out of the realm of possibility. It feels as though we’re actively teetering on the brink of something like “Chain-Gain All-Stars” becoming a reality. 

If you’re looking for hard-hitting fiction about the dark potential future of America then this is it. This novel deftly balances conversations about prison abolition, race, class, morality, and so much more. I will think about this one for a long, long time. 

Come & Get It by Kiley Reid

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I’m sure you’ve seen reviews for this book floating around bookstagram, and if you haven’t then I fear you may be on the wrong side of the internet. 

“Minor Detail” is a harrowing novel about the Palestinian experience that took my breath away. The narration from Siiri Scott is exceptional— if you’re normally a 2x audiobook girly then you’re going to want to slow it down for this one to really take it all in. 

The novel follows two Palestinian women, alive decades apart, to demonstrate how the brutal Israeli occupation has insidiously persisted. Palestinians are violently killed, without reason or question, in the occupied areas of the West Bank and Gaza. 

There are so many layers to the brutalization of Palestinians inflicted by Israel and “Minor Detail” uses blunt writing that digs into the everyday acts of violence Palestinians face: losing access to history and family lineage, restriction of access via heavily militarized checkpoints, identification cards that relegate people to certain geographic locations, the anxieties Palestinian people feel when trying to complete normal, everyday tasks like commuting to work, and so much more.

There’s so much to say about this book that cannot fit neatly into an Instagram caption— but what I can say is that this book will stay with me forever. The stories of Palestinians will stay with me forever. 

Continue to read, honor, remember, and document Palestinian history. We owe Palestine our continued support, endurance, and activism. 

Resist! Protest! Boycott! Call your reps! Do not let our political decision makers know a single moment of peace while they aid in the slaughter of Palestinians. 

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“The Vegetarian” by Han Kang: 3.5/5 stars 

I’m not sure what to make of this book and based on some of the reviews I’ve seen online, neither did y’all. 

The aspect of this book that was most poignant for me, and one that I noticed immediately, is that the book is never really told from the perspective of the main character, Yeong-hye. The reader sees Yeong-hye go through a series of mental health crises and I suspect the decision to never tell the story from her point of view is intentional, perhaps to convey that folks experiencing mental health crises feel a lack of agency? Or, maybe more largely a commentary about how women are seen as “hysterical” when making decisions that fall outside of the norms of the patriarchy? I’m not really sure. 

For parts one and two the novel is told from the point of view of her husband and then her brother in law respectively, both of whom reinforce patriarchal stereotypes. Her husband loses interest in her because she no longer provides him resources and comfort when she becomes a vegetarian and refuses to cook meat for him. Her brother in law gains interest in her when he becomes sexually fixated on her and exploits Young-hye for “his art.” Each of these men view their relationship with Young-hye in terms of what kind of service she can provide for them. 

Part three is told from the point of view of Young-hye’s sister and has a sharp tonal shift, likely because this is the only point of view we get from a character who actually cares for Young-hye’s wellbeing. This part shows a peek behind the curtain of someone struggling to care for a loved one who is experiencing a severe mental health crisis. 

I think this is the kind of book that the longer you think about it the more it reveals itself to you. It has layers and meat to sink your teeth into (haha, punny). Overall, I enjoyed the writing even if I don’t know that I fully grasped the message. 

Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

This is such a sweet series, and for a Bookstagram darling this did not disappoint! 

Things that I enjoyed: 
-Loved the discussion of long distance vs. short distance in relationships when one partner goes to college. Nick is getting ready to take the plunge and apply to college and he’s faced with the decision about whether he wants to go to a college he’s really excited about or a school that’s closer to Charlie. This really reflected my experience as a high school students, so I loved this plot line. 
-The way that Alice handles sex and relationships with teenagers is so welly done. I appreciated the emphasis on consent, talking through feelings, and debriefing with partners after taking additional steps in a physical/ sexual relationship 10/10, no notes. 

If you like YA or have a teenager in your life that needs a read that will hit you right in your feels and also models healthy platonic and romantic relationships then this is absolutely for you. 

I cannot wait to see what Alice does in the last installment of “Heartstopper.” I was pleasantly surprised to get to the end of vol. 5 and find out that there will be another book; I thought that vol. 5 was going to be it!