marywahlmeierbracciano's reviews
778 reviews

Not Perfect by Maya Myers

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  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Perfect* for a budding perfectionist, Not Perfect features magnetizing, expressive art and an important lesson.  If your reader needlessly toils for hours and is reluctant to accept praise, this might help.
The Shadow and the Ghost by Cat Min

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lighthearted
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

A sweet, celestial tale of unlikely friends and wishes come true, The Shadow and the Ghost is a feel-good story with dreamy illustrations from a favorite publisher of mine.
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

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challenging 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

4.0

Over a sweltering New Orleans summer, a series of fires plagues the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their associated school, St. Sebastian’s.  Determined to catch the culprit is Sister Holiday, a queer punk Maria von Trapp, who, between playing guitar and helping kids, has broken a commandment or two.  It’s actually not that uncommon for nuns to be radical, and the sisters in Holiday’s order are no strangers to run-ins with the law.  But whose law comes first—God’s or man’s?  This women-led story highlights struggles of incarceration, queerness, poverty, and addiction, with a few lovely Easter eggs for the Catholics among us.  Sister Holiday’s love for the divine feminine, despite everything, is inspiring.
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The Skunks by Fiona Warnick

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lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The Skunks is an allegorical romp through new adulthood, following a recent college graduate over a leisurely hometown summer, during which various skunk sightings serve as oracular highlights.  Armed only with an anthropology degree, Isabel attempts to find meaning in life as she splits her time between housesitting, babysitting, and yoga studio front desk sitting.  She is sophisticated and never thinks about boys *wink*.  I just loved this earnest, dreamy, mirror of a novel.
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The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

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adventurous challenging emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I adore this book.  A British-Cambodian government translator finds herself working as a sort of mentor to a historical time traveler as part of an experimental program.  Her subject—Graham Gore—would have died amid a doomed Arctic expedition from which no man returned had he not been pulled from the year 1847.  She befriends him, along with a ragtag crew of other “expats,” while keeping secret most details about her job, which, unbeknownst to her, has been plagued by corruption from the start.  

This book explores what happens when what you thought was right turns out to be very wrong, and Bradley accomplishes this in a way that is funny, surprising, and profoundly moving.  The slow burn love story crackles with chemistry which surpasses anything I’ve read before, and, most importantly, humanizes the beloved.  The Ministry of Time is counted among my few most favorite books.
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Empty Hearts by Juli Zeh

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dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Even as a firm believer that suicide is not to be joked about, I thoroughly enjoyed this German political satire featuring a suicide prevention clinic which is actually an elaborate suicide bomber recruitment operation.  Set in the near future with an ultra-conservative government and terrorism on the rise, Empty Hearts follows Britta, owner of the aforementioned business, who suddenly learns that she has not monopolized the market after all.  An wild ride that examines political helplessness, performative violence, and modern domesticity, I can’t say I’ve read anything quite like it before.
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Full of Myself: A Graphic Memoir about Body Image by Siobhán Gallagher

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challenging hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Siobhán Gallagher’s graphic memoir, Full of Myself, instantly turned me into her biggest fan.  No one who grew up in the 2000s—and later, chronically-online—could have come out unscathed by the constant barrage of anti-fat media.  I was impressed and moved by Gallagher’s willingness to portray her most shameful (and heartbreaking) moments in the hope that readers will understand they’re not alone.  A throwback godsend for Gen Z, and for Millennials, a connection to our childhood selves.  It’s got me ready to relive my Lisa Frank® days, minus the self-hate.
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Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other by Danielle Dutton

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4.75

Beginning with stories set amidst the horror of a disappearing prairie, going on to curate and comment upon literature and art, and finishing with a sort of combination of the two in a kaleidoscope of forms, Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other is a writer’s playground.  Dutton talks about getting writing inspiration from visual art in a way that emulates the experience of viewing that art.  This entire book is in conversation with art and with the prairie and with many other things.  Dutton’s words disobey the page and weave into the world.  A delightful, weird little book.
Alebrijes by Donna Barba Higuera

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

With Spanish thoughtfully sprinkled throughout, Alebrijes is set in a post-apocalyptic North American dystopia in which Indigenous survivors live amongst white settlers, whose regime wishes to erase their language, culture, and people.  The Cascabeles have been forced into slavery, with never enough to eat.  Orphans Leandro and Gabi make ends meet by stealing from the rich, but when Gabi gets caught, Leandro takes the fall.  He is not banished to the outlands to be eaten by giant worms like many before him—instead, a renegade physician places his mind inside a metal hummingbird drone, and he’ll never see Gabi again unless he completes a special mission.  I was stunned by Donna Barba Higuera’s imagination, especially regarding the Cascabel music and dance.  Fans of The Last Cuentista will love this book, especially the epilogue!
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Olivetti by Allie Millington

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Much like an antique typewriter, Olivetti isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty darn special.  Ernest is a quiet, sensitive kid who counts words from dictionaries as his friends, but when his mom disappears soon after selling her beloved typewriter to a pawn shop, he’s determined to bring her home.  Never would he have guessed that the typewriter could communicate, and, through its countless stories, help him find his mom.  With the help of a new friend, and Olivetti, of course, Ernest learns to confront the past and put his feelings into words.  It turns out, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.
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