reading_to_write's reviews
208 reviews

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

fast-paced

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

2.5

It was OK until the ending, which was a totally stereotypical, damsel-in-distress resolution. I thought we’d come so far baby, but with authors like Ware, I guess we have not.

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.75

Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays by George Orwell

informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

Orwell is a classic, and this is a must read for that reason alone. He’s also an extremely good journalist. His personal essays aren’t my favorite but his journalism was and remains important

The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City by Kim Foster

challenging emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

This is a unique way to uncover and write about the various systems of power that exist in our world / nation and the complexities that causes. I recommend it, just make sure the author’s voice coincides with your vibe first.  In reality, I did not finish this book, but that’s because by the middle of it, I found the present-tense short sentence cadence of it distracting (and maybe also reductive given the subject matter). But that’s more of a personal preference. 

Severance by Ling Ma

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

informative slow-paced

3.0

Im sure there are people who love this author and appreciate the nearly-400 page deep dive into her mind and circular researched ruminations on our current world. I am just not one of them. 

The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet

challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Second time reading this book in a year, in large part because I read it so quickly the first time (I was very engaged). Many might find this moody or dark/ heavy, but I found it to be entirely true, like a through-the-looking glass cross-country trip through the wonky wide right turn that’s (seemingly) unfolded over the last few years among the religious right and those more recently recruited (but in fact started long ago…).

And while this starts off in religion, it by no means stays there, ultimately becoming a treatise on “if (when?) we fall” and what hope there may remain, a ribbon of hope that starts unfurling in the last section as  one big metaphor.  

Speaking of metaphor: both times I read this I felt like the book started out at normal pace, slowed down as it got more granular (in The Undertow section) and then sped up  quickly at the end- enough so that I’m convinced this was a craft decision by the author. 

Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor by Anna Qu

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

5.0

A groundbreaking approach to writing about abusive relationships. This book to me is what literary nonfiction is supposed to do- bring the felt experience of a thing to the reader, rather than providing a blow-by-blow accounting. Structuring it as fairy tale makes a hard subject an interesting reading adventure.

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

3.0