Take a photo of a barcode or cover
pekoparty's reviews
217 reviews
Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette
3.0
A quickly-moving read that keeps pace, introduces many obstacles, and doesn't shy away from visceral descriptions of violence. Nothing lasts long, but what does happen are quick gut punches with brief quips of humor. It's almost too unbelievable and believable at the same time. Lots of urgency and tension. I both liked and hated Gerfaut! I also enjoy a story that comes full circle. Manchette does good work with the last few lines of each chapter in propelling the action and tension forward.
Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown
3.0
Content elevated my already developing understandings of ACE spectrum and experience, as someone working toward better defining the self and processing harm caused by heterocompulsory sexuality, but I also felt unwelcomed by the delivery of the information. Part of that is the long-winded academic writing I often find destabilizes my confidence and brings up learning difficulties (lots of "why don't I know this word, why don't I understand this phrase, am I foundationally unfit to read this?" This is obviously a me problem, and not a book problem, but my experience reading it felt challenging. I wanted (badly) the information (as I explore ACE spectrum for myself), but the format kept me scraping by and wrestling with myself to go forward. I also found it to be drilling repeat information to the reader as opposed to flowing toward concrete analysis or ideas or further thinking. I struggle with this kind of repetition in nonfiction. I appreciate smaller reminders of where I've been in the text.
How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum
3.0
I typically like books that are written in vignettes. Vignettes that cover clips of memory from past to present. This book failed to keep my interest. I enjoyed Leah, but so did not enjoy her mother, the primary narrator. But I think what I mostly did not enjoy was the lack of insight that the mother had on her own behaviors. There was no character development whatsoever. But maybe that is also a reflection of the difficult cycles that women and mothers get into. Overall this book was very boring and had a more intriguing synopsis. The "big thing" didn't really feel like a big thing, in my opinion as a reader. Maybe I do not have enough of a cultural understanding of Israel (I certainly have my cautious and justified judgements re: Palestine) and the way life is navigated in that region. It could just not be for me. I so wanted it to be, though.
This Is Not Miami by Fernanda Melchor
4.0
I really needed a book that was short, but packed punch. Sophie Hughes translates Fernanda Melchor in a way that captures her sharpness. Her bite. From aliens to crime to the devil. I liked best when Melchor wove herself into the vignette.
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
4.0
Listened to this on audiobook. Michelle Williams does a brilliant job capturing Britney's energy and intentions. As someone who loved Britney as a child and in my college years, mapping her life reminded me so much of my own--what my life was like when she shaved her head in 2007 or when Circus came out and it was on repeat at our art school parties. What I experienced was an "oh yeah, of course!" in learning all that she uncovers and admits. Britney has an ability and self awareness, to admit her wrong doings and harm caused, while also awakening to harm she endured. She holds both/and.
Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom
3.0
I think I anticipated and expected this book to be very different than it was. It felt too ambiguous, too immediate to KCT's human experience that I didn't always know what was being spoken to. I didn't find a common thread, or really 'love' in each letter, so much as I found observation as a theme. Maybe I just read this at the wrong time in human history.