nicolinebl's reviews
254 reviews

Babel by R.F. Kuang

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book was phenomenal and surely will be named among other greats like The Great Gatsby and other classics as it is just that good.

My only real point of criticism is the footnotes. They were distracting for the story and would have been better fitted at the end in a long list. The footnotes seemed somewhat condescending as if expecting the reader to basically know absolutely nothing on the mentioned topics. On the other hand I do appreciate that there was information and context available for those who might not be familiar with the themes. 

Absolutely wonderfully written story with some incredible characters; and that ending absolutely blew my away and gave me goosebumps. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Grief, Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, War

Minor: Racial slurs, Death of parent

Garlic & the Vampire by Bree Paulsen

hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A very sweet graphic novel for all ages!

One Day by David Nicholls

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I feel like someone just hit me with a bus (complimentary).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent

Minor: Infertility, Medical content, Car accident, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wasn't aware that this story was based on real life, so reading the author's notes was certainly a surprise. It makes me excuse the ending a bit more, I suppose, as I was surprised with how quickly things seemed to go near the end of the story. 

I so deeply loved this book. It felt very open and true to my experience as a shy goody-two-shoes fourteen-year-old who was secretly gay all along. 

I haven't been fourteen for a long time, but I was very much able to slip back into those times. Emma Donoghue is a phenomenal writer, so I absolutely devoured her words (and definitely will read more of her work). 

I wasn't sure how to feel about some parts of this book. The pacing near the end felt very rushed, especially the last chapter. Like too much information had to be told in that last chapter. And although I always like a past-present chapter switch, it almost felt too "spoilery" to already know (somewhat) how things would go.

I don't know, it kind of makes you sad reading the chapters of the past - which take up the biggest part of the book (about 90%).

Besides that, I did very much enjoy this book and I'm very curious to read more about this topic as Emma mentions some of the sources of information she used for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Lesbophobia

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

Beautifully poignant and sad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Dementia, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail

DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

Wonderfully sweet and wholesome; like a warm hug!

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Even nurturing a reading slump and several migraines, I flew through this book. If that doesn't tell you how good and compelling it was, I don't know what will. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Racism, Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Alcohol, War

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Knowing all the heavy topics mentioned throughout this book, one would thing it'd be a hard read, but Jennette's wonderful writing style never makes it hard. She bravely and humorously writes about it, and boy oh boy does it make you cry at times. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to watch anything she starred in, because knowing what was going on just sours everything. I'm happy she's doing much better now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual assault, Stalking

Mindhunter: Achter de schermen van de serial crime unit van de FBI by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker

challenging dark informative slow-paced

4.75

This is probably the best start to learning more about criminal profiling. Douglas is thorough and gives an insane amount of interesting information through his experiences. Not a quick read, since the contents are quite heavy. I think just about every possible trigger warning you can think of should be applied, so if you don't think you can handle it, please don't read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism

Verslaafd aan ons eigen gelijk: Pleidooi voor perspectivistische lenigheid by Lammert Kamphuis

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.0

Super praktisch en overzichtelijk is dit boek. Zo af en toe vond ik de tips en opdrachten een beetje onrealistisch, maar het is dan ook een uitdagend boek als je nog weinig ervaring hebt in de perspectivistische lenigheid die wordt aangekaart. 

Ik ga zeker m'n best doen de tips en opdrachten toe te passen; vooral de technieken in conflict lijken me ideaal toepasbaar en relevant.