nere's reviews
86 reviews

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

challenging dark slow-paced

3.0

monday, january 22, 2023

its hard to say anything that doesn’t feel like a personal affront to the experience. it isn’t. i’ve heard praises and back about this book and unfortunately, for me, it didn’t live up to the hype. though, it is no doubt an important work of nonfiction given its scarcity in the current climate.

“What is the value of proof? What does it mean for something to be true? If a tree falls in the woods and pins a wood thrush to the earth, and she shrieks and shrieks but no one hears her, did she make a sound? Did she suffer? Who’s to say?”

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Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

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informative fast-paced

4.0

wednesday, january 18, 2023

method: audiobook, ebook

rigorously researched and also happens to admit to the shortcomings of research in medicine, as well as the naturalistic realm. without dismissing either one outright. it’s rare i leave a nonfiction book of this type actually feeling like i looked at a topic from all sides. a breath of fresh air… so to speak

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A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

thursday, january 5th, 2023

lots of fun and splendidly written. prose to seek to emulate.

my major complaint is that though this book is character driven (which i love. i'm a character driven reader first and foremost) the characters aren’t nearly as developed as you would expect them to be. or at least not to my liking.

Magdalena

never progresses past her political savy and bouts of depression.

Alexi

is never more than a young boy.

the unnamed You

is yes, cruel, abusive, charismatic. but i didn't fall in love with him in a way that would be expected in a novel of this nature, gutted to be betrayed by his cruelty. it results in the feeling of being held at arms length, not quite the whole picture but not the minute details either.

there are moments of reprieve where we do see bits of their daily lives beyond just summary of it. i just wish they weren't as scarce.

this really had every potential to be a five star for me but chipped its way down to four. still a delightfully fun time i will admit, and exquisitely written as i mentioned. it gives me such an urge to write and thats one of the highest compliments i can give it.

"I still wake to the smell of smoke sometimes."

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

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dark informative medium-paced

2.0

Thursday, December 22, 2022

"I often have to cut into the brain and it is something I hate doing."

unfortunately this very much reads like someone who loves to hear themselves talk

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I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

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challenging funny fast-paced

4.5

Saturday, December 3rd, 2022

“Plus, who wants to read a review from someone who takes the time to write a review? Can’t trust ’em, too much time on their hands.”

i am admittedly not one for memoirs. especially celebrity memoirs where people take delight in talking about their lives and expecting others to find it fascinating by virtue of their fame and ego. this, however, is not like that. it’s honest and an incredibly heart-wrenching account of her life. jennette is an enticingly meticulous writer and has such an incredible ability to engross you in anything she writes. many content warnings for this one, make sure to brief yourself before diving into this if necessary. looking forward to other things she may write in the future, fact or fiction.

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Book Lovers by Emily Henry

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

Sunday, November 13, 2022

“This book has crushed me with its weight and dazzled me with its tiny bright spots. Some books you don’t read so much as live, and finishing one of those always makes me think of ascending from a scuba dive. Like if I surface too fast I might get the bends.”

i hate this book cover. detest it utterly. my first order of business if i were to obtain a physical copy would be to rip it off and give it that “so used the cover fell off” look. i hate the trend of colorful silhouetted romance covers. it tells me approximately 0 about what the book is actually about.

in all honesty, i loved this book to pieces. i was ready to give up on the romance genre since so many people preached about this one and that and i would consistently pick them up only to put them back down again. i accepted the fact that the contemporary romance genre just wasn’t for me and i could find joy scratching that itch through other genre books and fanfiction—but as is often the case, i just hadn’t found the right book yet.

Book Lovers opens with a rather tongue-in-cheek, meta, and very-aware-of-it’s-genre passage—owed to our main protagonist, Nora, who is working as a literary agent in the publishing industry. it’s a gimmick you’d think would get tired quickly, but it works like boiling a frog slowly since at first you are with Nora eye-to-eye and sure-footed, and in the next moment the fourth wall gets rebuilt and you’re nothing but a powerless observer on the other side. it, like many other books of its genre, falls into many traps of cheesiness and clichés, but it remains just charming enough throughout that you forgive it. It's laugh-out-loud and funny, the tension is immaculate and despite the gripes of genre expectation, it’s HONEST.

moral of the story. truly. for the love of god and i mean this you have never heard this before in your life: NEVER judge a book by its cover.

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