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moholub's reviews
114 reviews
Free Throws, Friendship, and Other Things We Fouled Up by Jenn Bishop
4.0
Never knew I needed a book to combine my love of college hoops with my love of the Home of the Worlds Greatest Food Skyline Chili until it fell right into my lap. Bishop seamlessly combines the generational rivalry of hometown basketball with the down-to-earth drama of middle school friendships, introducing us to two teenage characters that jump off the page- not afraid to be themselves, pursue their dreams, and work hard for them. This fun middle grade read has it all, even a dunking nun. 4.5 stars only because they picked Graeter's over UDF as ice cream of choice (c'mon Jenn).
Duel by Jessixa Bagley
4.0
A story about what it means to be a family wrapped up in a story about fencing.
Sisters GiGi and Lucy are always at each other's throats, but things get a little more literal when Lucy challenges GiGi to a duel. Now the whole school is picking sides while the girls' personal lives seem to be spiraling. "Duel" is a charming middle grade graphic novel looking at the things that pull us together even when everything is falling apart.
Looking forward to what Bagley and Bagley bring us next!
Sisters GiGi and Lucy are always at each other's throats, but things get a little more literal when Lucy challenges GiGi to a duel. Now the whole school is picking sides while the girls' personal lives seem to be spiraling. "Duel" is a charming middle grade graphic novel looking at the things that pull us together even when everything is falling apart.
Looking forward to what Bagley and Bagley bring us next!
Look on the Bright Side by Lily Williams, Karen Schneemann
5.0
A new year of school brings new challenges for best friends Abby, Christine, Brit, and Sasha: confidence, crushes, class work, and coming out. While "Look on the Bright Side" is less of an activist manifesto than the first volume, it does feel like a natural continuation of character development as our four girls navigate their own personal obstacles and their friendships with each other. Williams and Schneeman's token style of compassionate and endearing storytelling is perfect for tackling some of the tougher conversations that come along with growing up and figuring out where you fit, allowing the characters to open up some of those emotional doors we tend to keep locked.
Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis
2.0
The premise of this book intrigued me and it definitely started out strong- the plight of Amber and Kevin was a great hook and the competition had an originality to it. I enjoyed Willis' more casual writing style- I usually stay away from books that flip between character POV's, but I think switching writing perspectives as we switched characters helped me keep with this one. I do think the book fizzled out about halfway through- by the time I hit part 2, I was dragging myself through the last few chapters. The lack of character development tested my patience and both storylines became quite draining. While I liked Willis' descriptive style, I don't need to read another book with characters who spend 90% of the book high on weed anytime soon.
The Enterprise War by John Jackson Miller
5.0
Another great space adventure from Miller, takes all the things we love about the shows and expands on them ten-fold. Thoroughly enjoyed the world-building and Miller's writing of our lead characters was on point, especially for a prelude/bridge story with a cast we hadn't truly met yet on screen. Couldn't stop reading but also did not want it to end.
Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer
5.0
“Dead astronauts were no different than living astronauts. Neither could shed their skin. Neither could ever become part of what they journeyed through."
"Dead Astronauts" is Jeff Vandermeer's surrealist "New Weird" genre at its newest and weirdest. Experimental, hypnotic, all-consumingly weird. The trippy, poetry-prose style is on the surface an eco-horror apocalyptic epic trailing characters through a hopeless wasteland, and underneath an abstract exploration of how we form bonds with the people (or things, or creatures, or blue foxes and ducks with broken wings) around us, especially in processing grief. The disjointed, non-linear storytelling feeds into the confusing tone of the world...none of them really know who they are fighting or why or for how long they have been trapped in this cycle, which itself is commentary on war, conflict, and the blind following of orders.
To me, this book is less about what it means and more about the experience of reading it, of engaging with the emotion and horror of the world these characters have found themselves in. The abstract ideation and open interpretation of any given part of this book--full of religious allegory and apocalyptic warnings--make reading it an immersive exploration of our own humanity.
Even if you are apathetic towards the book as a whole, parts of this story will stay with you long after the final page. I have thought about this quote at least once a week for the last five years: "In the end, joy cannot fend off evil. Joy can only remind you why you fight."
*Full disclaimer, this is my second time reading "Dead Astronauts," and I've spent the last five years contemplating how to explain it to people. Sorry Jenny.
"Dead Astronauts" is Jeff Vandermeer's surrealist "New Weird" genre at its newest and weirdest. Experimental, hypnotic, all-consumingly weird. The trippy, poetry-prose style is on the surface an eco-horror apocalyptic epic trailing characters through a hopeless wasteland, and underneath an abstract exploration of how we form bonds with the people (or things, or creatures, or blue foxes and ducks with broken wings) around us, especially in processing grief. The disjointed, non-linear storytelling feeds into the confusing tone of the world...none of them really know who they are fighting or why or for how long they have been trapped in this cycle, which itself is commentary on war, conflict, and the blind following of orders.
To me, this book is less about what it means and more about the experience of reading it, of engaging with the emotion and horror of the world these characters have found themselves in. The abstract ideation and open interpretation of any given part of this book--full of religious allegory and apocalyptic warnings--make reading it an immersive exploration of our own humanity.
Even if you are apathetic towards the book as a whole, parts of this story will stay with you long after the final page. I have thought about this quote at least once a week for the last five years: "In the end, joy cannot fend off evil. Joy can only remind you why you fight."
*Full disclaimer, this is my second time reading "Dead Astronauts," and I've spent the last five years contemplating how to explain it to people. Sorry Jenny.
Transient and Strange: Notes on the Science of Life by Nell Greenfieldboyce
4.0
As the kid of two scientists, reading Greenfieldboyce's collection of musings felt like another night at the family dinner table: the warmth of the personal, but you're also going to learn something. Her journalistic voice seamlessly layers science-fact with the soft moments of the day-to-day, equal fascination and reverence granted whether she is discussing conversations with her kids or the biological make up of a flea.