nicolinebl's reviews
254 reviews

Socrates op sneakers by Elke Wiss

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Een absolute aanrader! Waarom? Makkelijk geschreven en te volgen & theorie met praktische voorbeelden waar je echt wat mee kan. 

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Incredibly weird sometimes, but also wonderful and reflective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cannibalism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual content

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Stalking

The Anxiety Sisters' Survival Guide: How You Can Become More Hopeful, Connected, and Happy by Maggie Sarachek, Abbe Greenberg
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.

Haven't really learned anything new yet and I'm at 1/3 of the book so I'm giving up, sorry! I can see this being helpful for people who don't really know anything about anxiety yet, though.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I don't know what to say other than I adore Neil Gaiman and his writing, and this was yet another fantastic novel by him. The beautiful illustrations from Elise Hurst made it even better, and are very fitting to the story. An element of spookiness, but not too spooky.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Gaslighting

Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

The movie was certainly better. 
Better thought out and with scenes that really hit. I still got some enjoyment out of reading this book, but the movie was just so much more emotional. The characters more loveable. 

And there were some weird scenes written in here to be honest. Like the part with Knox and Chris and the scene where Keating shows questionable photos to some teenage boys. The movie came first and had some great scenes that weren't put in the book but they added these weird and uncomfortable ones??? Like, just no.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, Stalking, Sexual harassment

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Alcohol

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

This book was definitely an experience. I honestly didn't expect this book to be so dark so it was a bit of a shock. Definitely well written but my god is it gruesome. Heavy topics, a story that keeps you on your toes till the end and a very special main character. I'm still not certain if it's real or fake. To them at least it was real. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Pregnancy

Minor: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Those Who Wait by Haley Cass
Did not finish book. Stopped at 53%.

My god. Could not finish this. It was just too boring and I don't care what happens. Don't care about the characters either. Just ugh

Gesprekken met vrienden by Sally Rooney

reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Definitely prefer this book over Rooney's other novel Normal People, although, to be fair, I was probably a bit too young to read that book back then (time for a re-read!). Her characters are never very likeworthy and  definitely remind me of the main characters in Exciting Times & A Year of Rest and Relaxation. Even though Frances wasn't likeable, she was quite relatable in other ways. I guess you will always relate more to a flawed character than some miss-perfect. 

I'm not quite sure how to describe what I thought of this book other than it feeling like taking a road-trip, getting to know the characters through observing and listening to them. It is a book that is very much about its characters and their actions. It's not a wild adventurous story but I was still on the edge of my seat, curious where the story would go. This is the second book by Sally I've read and her characters tend to be quite pretentious, not sure if that is on purpose or not. I do like the philosophical and intellectual conversations they have with each other though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Self harm, Alcohol

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

challenging emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.75

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. As someone who is very far away from Christianity (was one when I was young tho) it felt a bit preachy at the start of the book. I honestly found Jo a bit annoying because of how preachy and holier than thou she sounded.

But honestly, it's been a while so I had to get used to that. And when I got over myself, I quite enjoyed the book. Look, Dana was an a very annoying best friend imo. The homophobic people from Georgia weren't the greatest either (fuck Jessica!). But my goodness, I loved BTB, Mary Carlson & George. Not everything about this was the greatest like the plot basically being her having to hide her gay which just gives us some miscommunication and lying to have a plot. But I enjoyed the ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

emotional funny 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

3.75

Oh my goodness. I have so much love for this book. So many topics are brought up in such a nice way. It didn't feel like too much. It didn't feel like a list of representation points they were checking off of a list. It was done tastefully and it felt natural. OCD, anxiety and depression. Heavy topics but dealt with so well. And the representation of not only non-binary characters but also asexuality, characters finding out they're gay & lesbian.  

The story itself: I loved that it was basically like the bachelor but with a very great, very gay twist. Very engaging for most of the book, but got a little boring around 65% in. Got interesting again very quickly though :) And to be honest, I love when it takes a bit more time before they actually get together. I love the pining for each other without daring to make a move because "no way they like me". So I was a bit sad they got together so quickly lol. But that's definitely not a big issue to most people, probably!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying, Racism