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livpasquarelli's reviews
56 reviews
I Hope This Finds You Well: Poems by Kate Baer
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Rebekah Taussig gives us a monumental gift by offering her unfiltered and vulnerable experience. This book has changed my perspective not only of the importance of accessibility and combating ableism, but also the way I see myself, my body, my neurodivergence, and my chronic illness.
More than anything, Sitting Pretty linked systematic and social ableism and American consumerism and capitalist culture. Bodies that can work endlessly without complaint are valued more in our society. Humans are valued for their contributions to capitalism more than their individual experiences. Dismantling ableism brings voices like Rebekah Taussig's to the forefront, where they belong.
Ableism is intersectional with racism, weight stigma, sexism, homophobia, and all the other terrible isms and phobias. It all boils down to equating a person's worth with their ability to work, spend money, and integrate into society. I say we change that in any way we can.
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
More than anything, Sitting Pretty linked systematic and social ableism and American consumerism and capitalist culture. Bodies that can work endlessly without complaint are valued more in our society. Humans are valued for their contributions to capitalism more than their individual experiences. Dismantling ableism brings voices like Rebekah Taussig's to the forefront, where they belong.
Ableism is intersectional with racism, weight stigma, sexism, homophobia, and all the other terrible isms and phobias. It all boils down to equating a person's worth with their ability to work, spend money, and integrate into society. I say we change that in any way we can.
I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Body shaming and Cancer
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Ableism
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Addiction and Biphobia
The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Racism and Colonisation
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Drug use
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
5.0
I thought the Only Good Indians would be peak horror writing for me but Stephen Graham Jones proved me wrong. Mongrels was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, cementing Jones as my favorite author.
I feel like the story could be a metaphor for so many things, but for me, it resonated with my family’s history of alcoholism. Growing up, I always thought I’d never be alcoholics like them, but at the same time, weirdly felt envious of the adults and their drinking. Sure enough, I became an alcoholic myself, now in recovery, almost at 4 years without a drink. I took to the chaos and violence of alcohol and drug addiction like a fish to water, or a wolf to the moon.
Through all the negative aspects of being a werewolf, the constant moving, the chaos, the violence, the death of his own mother, it’s still so clear that our protagonist wants nothing more than to be like his aunt and uncle.
The way the main character never had a name made it so easy to put myself in his shoes and really become him in the story. How Jones is able to create such vivid imagery with so few words is beyond me.
The end of the story truly moved me. I never thought I’d be crying at the end of a werewolf novel but here we are. I felt the soaring sense of pride, the relief, the apprehension, the fear of the MC finally shifting in those last few pages. I read them over and over. I could see myself looking back in the mirror, pressing my muzzle to the cold glass to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I almost flipped the book over and started again from page 1. If it wasn’t for my massive TBR list, I probably would.
Really excellent. Jones will one day be up there with Stephen King and Anne Rice as one of horror’s greatest writers. I don’t know if I’d ever want to see a film adaptation, because as SGJ said in an interview, it would be like seeing the zipper on the monster costume, spoiling all the magic. His books make a movie in my head that’s better than anything Hollywood could make. Either way, I’m off to read My Heart is a Chainsaw. Keep making these new killer classics Stephen Graham Jones, and I’ll keep reading em.
I feel like the story could be a metaphor for so many things, but for me, it resonated with my family’s history of alcoholism. Growing up, I always thought I’d never be alcoholics like them, but at the same time, weirdly felt envious of the adults and their drinking. Sure enough, I became an alcoholic myself, now in recovery, almost at 4 years without a drink. I took to the chaos and violence of alcohol and drug addiction like a fish to water, or a wolf to the moon.
Through all the negative aspects of being a werewolf, the constant moving, the chaos, the violence, the death of his own mother, it’s still so clear that our protagonist wants nothing more than to be like his aunt and uncle.
The way the main character never had a name made it so easy to put myself in his shoes and really become him in the story. How Jones is able to create such vivid imagery with so few words is beyond me.
The end of the story truly moved me. I never thought I’d be crying at the end of a werewolf novel but here we are. I felt the soaring sense of pride, the relief, the apprehension, the fear of the MC finally shifting in those last few pages. I read them over and over. I could see myself looking back in the mirror, pressing my muzzle to the cold glass to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I almost flipped the book over and started again from page 1. If it wasn’t for my massive TBR list, I probably would.
Really excellent. Jones will one day be up there with Stephen King and Anne Rice as one of horror’s greatest writers. I don’t know if I’d ever want to see a film adaptation, because as SGJ said in an interview, it would be like seeing the zipper on the monster costume, spoiling all the magic. His books make a movie in my head that’s better than anything Hollywood could make. Either way, I’m off to read My Heart is a Chainsaw. Keep making these new killer classics Stephen Graham Jones, and I’ll keep reading em.
Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Dietland by Sarai Walker
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
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
4.5