maiakobabe's reviews
3838 reviews

Please Be My Star A Graphic Novel by Victoria Grace Elliott

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

4.5

Erika has been called creepy in the past for her tendency of liking things Too Much, for getting crushes on people she doesn't even know, for building alters to her obsessions. She starts at a new high school for her senior year without much hope of making friends. Quickly, she falls for a tall, handsome boy, Christian, who is also in the drama club. In an attempt to get closer to him, Erika writes a whole one-act play with the hope he will star in it. What she didn't account for was how much time you end up spending with someone during rehearsals, and what it might be like to get to know your crush for real. I really enjoyed this pop culture-infused teen rom-com, the little kpop easter eggs, the clear aesthetic references of mid-90s and early-2000s manga. Silly and sweet and poignant! Can't wait to see what this author does next. 

Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by adrienne maree brown

hopeful informative slow-paced

3.0

I realized, about a third of the way into this book, that I picked it up wanting a book primarily about activism, and instead was reading a book primarily about pleasure. I think the book I wanted maybe was one that would have been titled "Sustainable Activism" or maybe "Joyful Activism". After I re-framed my expectations, there was a lot of value in this collection. I liked how it was composed of many different short sections by a very diverse array of authors. I liked how many of the authors seemed to know each other, to have worked at overlapping organizations, to be friends. It gave me the sense of a whole network of people working to make the world a more equitable and pleasurable place. I enjoyed the interview with the owner of a sex toy shop; with an indigenous activist and comedian who protested at Standing Rock, and with two sisters on the theme of burlesque as liberation. Many of the sections that focused on pussy power/sex acts spoke to me less; as an aromantic, asexual person, sex is just not one of the main avenues of pleasure in my life. My suggestion is to treat this book like a buffet, reading the chapters speak to you and skipping the ones that don't.

Love on the Other Side - A Nagabe Short Story Collection by Nagabe

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

3.0

I picked this up after enjoying Nagabe's other short comic collection, The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms. This one leans closer into horror themes, including several stories in which children are at risk of being dismembered and eaten by monstrous beings who control their physical space. The majority of the stories are of a relationship between a child and a nonhuman creature, whether that is a just a large animal (a lion, a massive crow), a half-human/half-animal, or a creature composed mostly of claws, teeth, and darkness. It's honestly too unsettling for my personal preference but the stories are striking. 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

emotional funny tense fast-paced

4.0

In the near future, Britain appropriates a tool that allows them to create doors through time. For unclear reasons, they decide to bring multiple people forward from their historical eras to see if it is possible for them to live in and acclimate to a time outside of their own. The project chooses people very shortly before the time in which they would have met their deaths in their original timeline, in hopes that removing those due to die will not mess up the flow of history. The main character of this story is an unnamed ministry worker, a mixed-race linguist, promoted to the role of "bridge" for one of the historical expats; she moves into a small government-owned flat with Graham Gore, a man yanked from 1847 and an early grave as part of the doomed Terror expedition. Her job is to answer all of his questions, fill him on current attitudes and social norms, and to observe him very closely and report everything back to her handler. Gore is an intriguingly self-contained man with a dry sense of humor; after an initial period of extreme shock, he develops a keen sense of curiosity about the world in which he now has his second chance at life. Our main character develops, maybe inevitably, intense feelings for her object of study. I loved the writing style of this book; full of clever metaphors and delightful little turns of phrase ("he looked confused, as if handed and egg and told to hatch it"; "it was a dull toothache of a day"). The humor of the story really worked for me- there is something just inherently ridiculous in having to explain cell phones, modern dating, and germ theory to a man from the Victorian era. There is an undercurrent of danger, suspicion, and tragedy underpinning the slice-of-life bulk of the plot, which kept me hooked. Unfortunately, I did think the thriller/action sequence in the final quarter was the weakest section of the book, but I still really enjoyed it overall and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for what this author publishes next. 

The Wind's Twelve Quarters: Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75

I chipped away at this short story collection, slowly, over about 4 months. It definitely didn't grab me as strongly as the previous Le Guin story collection I read years ago (Five Ways to Forgiveness). But what I liked about this one is that each story contains a short preface by the author, and they are arranged in chronological publication order, and span about 10 years of Le Guin's writing career (from 1963-1972). So the volume serves somewhat as a retrospective. The stories that stood out to me here include "Semley's Necklace", "April in Paris", "Winter's King" (set in the same world as The Left Hand of Darkness), "Nine Lives", and "The Stars Below". I'm always interested in what shorter ideas novelists play around with, and I also plan to work my way through Le Guin's entire body of work eventually so I'm glad to have read this one. 

A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch Vol. 1 by Hiro Kashiwaba

lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

In this isekai manga, a cat from Earth is summoned into a fantasy world by an older witch with a tragic backstory. The witch is annoyed that the "guardian beast" she summoned seems very lazy and doesn't follow orders, while the cat is confused about its new surrounding and dislikes the food it's being offered. Through book one, pieces of their respective histories are revealed, and they begin to trust each other. The art is very cute and the story is very silly; I'm not sure how deep the cat and witch's relationship can really become if they are never able to verbally communicate. (Also, I found it a little unbelievable that the cat did not try to eat the witch since she is the size of a mouse in comparison, but I realize I need to suspend my disbelief). I will probably continue on with the series to see what happens next.

Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

This is a short read (3 hours in audio) and surprised me with its easily understood analogies and approachable language. The beginning idea is that of "elite capture"- the problem, experienced in many countries which receive foreign aid, of money or other resources meant for the general public being siphoned off or outright stolen by the class of elite citizens who are tasked with managing and distributing that aid. Táíwò then explains how this problem is seen in other social and political areas, including identity politics, specifically in whose voices get heard (and whose voices even get into the room to be heard in the first place). Táíwò is Nigerian-American, and included many examples from outside of the US, as well as referencing Black feminist movements from within the US. I was glad I read this and will definitely be taking some of the ideas from it away with me when I think about other things. I will also be keeping an eye out for other works by this author. 

Buckle Up: by Lawrence Lindell

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

3.75

Lonnie's parents are recently divorced, and he's still getting used to splitting time between two different houses- one with his mom and older sister, one with his dad. He's still getting used to being picked up by alternating parents from school, and he's trying to hide these facts from his friends. This short, tender story uses the framing device of these car rides to show Lonnie facing some weighty conversations with his parents. The majority of the book takes place in the car and I really loved seeing how Lonnie learned to speak up for himself, to work through problems, and verbalize his emotions. Highly recommend for elementary school readers, especially ones experiencing big feelings. 

How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

4.5

Tara was "accelerated" from seventh grade straight into high school at the advice of some of her teachers, but in the first few weeks of school she feels deeply unready. The school is so big, the schedule confusing, the hallways packed, and her end of day English class is full of some of the rowdiest, rudest boys she's ever met. Tara would much rather stay at home playing pretend with her baby brother or go back to middle school and take the eighth grade trip to Six Flags that she had to miss. Even with her older sister, already in tenth grade, willing to lend a hand by drawing her school maps, showing her the dating reality TV show everyone is talking about, and taking her to hangouts in the park, Tara is struggling. But there's this girl. A smart, funny, interesting girl, who partners up with Tara for English assignments and laughs at her jokes. Meeting this girl might just be the one thing that makes high school worth it. I had such a fun time with this comic- it's full of whimsical daydream sequences that really show Tara's internal world. I highly recommend this, especially to anyone who felt (or feels) unready to leave childhood and enter teenagerdom. 

Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding by Sarah Peitzmeier, PhD, Maia Kobabe

emotional hopeful informative inspiring

5.0

I finally sat down to listen to the audiobook, which was narrated primarily by my co-author Sarah Peitzmeier along with her research partner Kieran Todd, and the wonderful cast of Blair Baker, Alejandro Antonio Ruiz, Livvie Lin and Kiebpoli Calnek. It was such a pleasure to hear these characters' voices come to life, and see how the workbook and stretching exercise pages were handled! Obviously I am very proud of the print edition which contains my illustrations; but I am so happy that the audiobook exists as well, for anyone who prefers audio (or likes to take in audio and print side by side).