readingagwen's reviews
17 reviews

The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

This book is told in a first person stream-of-thought style from the pov of our 12 year-old protagonist, and I'm still figuring out how much I enjoyed that. Two things I am sure of, though, is that I would absolutely die for Simon, and that this book will keep you guessing until the very end over whether Simon is a reliable narrator or not. I overall did enjoy this and will be picking up more of Roland Smith's work when I can!

Flunked by Jen Calonita

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed this and will continue the series, but it does lose a bit of sparkle reading it as an adult. Which is fine as this is a middle grade book, but there plenty of middle grades that hold up so something to think about. I will say while the world and characters were enjoyable enough, be prepared to sit through a lot of "not like other girl" sentiments. Like 2000's level which is a bit disappointing considering this book was published in 2015. There is character growth out of it, but given this is the first book in the series and the star of our main character's journey, there's a lot of it.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was quite the fun read! For a middle grade book, t was a lot creepier than I was expecting. It's certainly not giving me nightmares, but perhaps if I'd read it when I was in middle school it would have. While it wasn't wildly fast-paced, it did hold my attention and it's different enough from the movie that I would consider this a completely different experience if you're like me and tend to only consume one or the other.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

When anyone asks me to recommend a cozy read, Howl's Moving Castle is always on the list. Even without the action scenes with the Witch of the Waste, I could go on forever reading about the daily lives of Howl, Sophie, Michael, and of course everyone's favorite fire demon, Calcifer. I will say the only bit I'm not fond of is the bits set in/around Wales. Not that there's anything wrong with Wales, but I much prefer having it grounded in it's own world. The romance between Sophie and Howl seems to come to a rather abrupt head, but I so love these characters, no matter what age I have read this story at, I only appreciate it more as I get older.

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu by Brian Browne Walker

challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

Funny enough I was brought here by a video about Kung Fu Panda. I was curious about the general belief system of Tao and this seemed to be a good place to start. I can't speak to the translation quality, as I can't read the original text, but it seemed like it got the ideas across. I would have loved to see little footnotes and such here and there with historical notes or clarification on some of the more cryptic ideas, but while I won't be following Taoism to a T, it definitely holds lessons that I think we could all take to heart, mostly that not everything can be forced into place, we need to let the natural flow of things, well, flow a little.

Brute: Poems by Emily Skaja

slow-paced

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

2.0

I'm going to go into this by saying I am not at all a poetry person. I rarely enjoy it, and unfortunately this was one of those times. I had to read the back to see what reviews were saying to get a grasp of what the theme was, and even then only a few verses actually stood out as making any sense. Everything else felt like pretty words that didn't actually mean anything. If I was someone who like and regularly read poetry, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more and gotten more out of it, but I wanted to give it a try and we just didn't gel.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

The story was short, but certainly not sweet. A powerful short in verse about being trapped in a cycle that you know will only cause harm, but how clearly do you think things through when your loved ones have been brutally taken from you? When there's a cycle that's been rolling for generations and you've suddenly found yourself the next in line to be swept along it, do you really have the power to stop it?