nvrrrdie's reviews
29 reviews

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

I can't really review this. It was more graphic than I could really handle and I still forced myself to read it, I don't think it was worth it to me. I really wanted to finish it because it was spoken of so highly as literature, and I think I can understand why, Butler's world is a strong and interesting one but I can't really judge this book objectively.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Slavery, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Incest, and Rape

What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte

informative medium-paced

4.25

This book is an opinion piece which aims to respond to propaganda and rhetoric about white poverty in Appalachia. It is supported by broad historical information about labour uprising and resource exploitation in the region. It connects the struggles of Appalachians to struggles across the USA throughout history and also highlights the dubious bases of classist rhetoric of poverty. In my opinion, it does all of that pretty well.

forallx: An Introduction to Formal Logic by P.D. Magnus
Did not finish book. Stopped at 16%.

Useful and a great resource, but I don't have the time right now for this kind of dedicated study.

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

slow-paced

2.0

I have no doubt that Virginia Woolf is an intelligent and contemplative writer. I think this book is of historical interest about theory related to opportunity, poverty, and success and the changing position of Englishwomen in society, and that this text was a very early contribution to a field that has since grown extremely more wide and deep. However I dreaded reading this and found the style very hard to parse. Overall it did not leave much of an impression on me and I will likely find more benefit from later generations of writing.

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Very thorough and informative. This is something I will need to come back to because I have to admit it is above my current reading level. 

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The Seep by Chana Porter
Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.

I'm just really not interested in the writing or in the world presented by the book. Also the preachiness of the utopian image

Animal Farm by George Orwell

fast-paced

4.5

Very literary. I'll have to read it more times over to fully analyze it.

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

I found this book very insightful. It was interesting and I thought the method of writing was quite effective. I personally had a hard time concentrating on some sections further into the book but I thought it was very interesting to learn how our current concept of "paradigms" were developed and the implications that it has for truth and objectivity in science and knowledge. This is something I might read again after further study and is definitely an influential text in modern philosophy.