meganchair's reviews
743 reviews

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

5.0

Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov

reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.0

The Atheist's Mass by Honoré de Balzac

challenging mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

Lots of new words to look up. I thought this one would be too difficult of a read, but once I got into it, all was well.

Woman Much Missed by Thomas Hardy

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed this, though I don't usually read poetry. It piqued my interest at "moving, elegiac verse," and reeled me in with "grief-stricken" and "his wife's death." This also led me down a rabbit hole toward one of Hardy's other poems, Ah, Are You Digging On My Grave?, which is a new favorite.

The Dhammapada by Anonymous

hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

I absolutely enjoyed reading this little black classic. It's filled with words to live by, no matter what practice you follow. I found myself reflecting upon each line, envisioning how it fit into my present life, and enjoying how poetic it sounded, as I read this treat aloud. I also couldn't help but think so much about propositional logic nearly the entire time!

The Night is Darkening Round Me by Emily Brontë

challenging mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.0

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I loved that this is an epistolary novel told from Charlie's point-of-view. The gradual progression of his IQ made me think of a bell curve, and I've never seen any other book with this type of storyline. The ableist language didn't age well, but what can you expect from a novel published in 1959, am I right?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, and Dementia

Minor: Animal death

The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

3.75

Wow. Every other word was "said."

Way Out in the Desert by T. J. Marsh, Jennifer Ward

challenging informative lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

5.0