mossybookworm's reviews
1107 reviews

Gaytheist: Coming Out of My Orthodox Childhood by Lonnie Mann

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

3.0

it's always weird to rate a memoir. i thought the author told his story well, but with the title I expected this to cover more how he left the faith and embraced his life as a gay adult. this story is entirely about his childhood and ends on his first kiss with a boy, so you see him questioning and asserting himself, but not the conclusions/his path into adulthood. 

PTSD Radio Omnibus 1 by Masaaki Nakayama

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

interesting connected flashes, but not quite enough there for me to pick up the sequel.

Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth

informative slow-paced

3.0

SPA by Erik Svetoft

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

in the words of Benoit Blanc, "It makes no damn sense. Compels me though."
something about the freaky art style, repeating imagery, and haunting and nasty atmosphere pulled me in here. don't expect me to be able to explain absolutely anything about the plot though.

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price

informative inspiring reflective

2.0

I leave this book feeling pretty frustrated, because there are a lot of concepts here that were very helpful to me personally understanding myself better - and that was precisely my problem with the book. I, like the author, am a relatively well off white transmasc person with overall low support needs that give me the flexibility, privilege, and ability to unmask in specific ways. I really wish the author had done more to say that this was the case. You can see he's making an effort to include more perspectives, but it comes off as just interviewing his personal friends and having the same lines worded slightly differently in each chapter about how unmasking is unsafe and even deadly for Black and brown Autistics. it almost feels tokenizing to say that over and over but not offer more insights through more interviews? I was also frustrated with the description of cluster B diagnoses - there was not even the basic sentence I was hoping for expressing empathy for how poorly cluster B folks are treated in mental health spaces, just "Autistic people can get misdiagnosed with BPD and that's bad because BPD is so stigmatized" - like yes but can we go one step deeper here please about how that's ALSO bad? literally one sentence would have made me less frustrated and the fact that it's not there really rubbed me the wrong way. I think overall the book bit off more than it could chew with how it's framed - I agree with other reviewers that if it was pitched differently and couched in a little more genuine self awareness I think I would have been less frustrated.

My Husband by Maud Ventura

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i think if either of them encountered a situation they could not control in their relationship they would both explode

Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

a scary and compelling story even without the critter cast! this was better than I was expecting - I thought it was intriguing that wild animals exist alongside the "people" animals and the ending was satisfying.

Rose/House by Arkady Martine

adventurous mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this scratched an itch I didn't know I had! I loved martine's teixcalaan books and was excited for this, but I didn't expect it to be such an excellent Hannibal readalike while looking very different on it's face. Definitely check this one out of any of the following appeal to you:
* Unsettling possibilities of future AI - especially in regards to tangibility
* futuristic but dingy film noir vibes
* Richly described desert imagery - you will smell and taste it
* Unsettling murder investigations with artsy corpse tableaux
* Architecture and archive thriller (you will instantly understand that an academic thought this up and wrote this) 

Chique: The Sunken City by Taylor Titmouse

adventurous funny

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

i continue to love the humor, lush detail, and worldbuilding titmouse brings to queer fantasy erotica. always a good time! 

The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty by Valerie Bauerlein

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

i followed this in real time and there were still details that surprised me here. removed any doubt that he is guilty