reedalong's reviews
539 reviews

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

Daaaaaaamn.

Honestly a lot of this book was slow for me. So much talk of accounting, and a lot of it felt like exposition dumping. And while the political intrigue of it all was interesting I had a hard time remembering who was who and could have used a dramatis personae at the front of the novel.

(I did enjoy how counting and mapping birds became a way for Baru to step away, mentally, from the choices she was making.)

I also enjoyed the various reveals at the end. This is an intricately plotted novel, even when the execution through pacing lagged.

I might read the second if the library has it. Time will tell.

Cheddar Gorge: A Book of English Cheeses by Ernest H. Shepard, John Squire

funny informative medium-paced

3.5

What to expect: A mishmash of writers focusing, chapter-by-chapter, on traditional English cheeses that were clearly assigned to them. I found it all rather funny and silly. One writer even calls his assigned cheese "dull" and goes on to name other cheeses he seems, rather blatantly, to prefer.

Overall this book provides a weird little window into what some writers thought about English cheeses in the 1930's. Working in cheese now, and being previously familiar with all but one of the mentioned cheeses, undoubtedly makes this a more entertaining read than it would otherwise provide. Stating that a couple, with little problem, should be able to polish off half a wheel of Stilton before it spoils? Advising against ever selling that same cheese by the pound? Hilarious!

Also I find it immensely funny that the chapters are so varied. Some writers wax poetic about the land from which their assigned cheese comes, some basically spend their entire chapter giving step-by-step recipes for making their cheese, and others go into great detail on what is undoubtabley, according to them, the *only* way to eat their cheese. Very funny, imo.


Worth the read if you work in, or are very passionate about, cheese.

Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary

funny fast-paced

3.5

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

challenging dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

So fucking good. Very dark. The MC is amazing, and I so thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price

hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.75

Educational, clear, motivating, and good. Well worth reading.

Mindhunter by John E. Douglas, Mark Olshaker

challenging dark sad medium-paced

Read this because I watched Mindhunter on Netflix and have an interest in how terrible crimes are analyzed and processed. Specifically, I have an interest in how the methods of profiling have been developed. (I enjoyed those aspects of the Thomas Harris books and in other related media too.)

This work contains a lot of information about the development of this skill. I find what Dougals did, and what he learned, fascinating, even if I find his tone and opinions about certain topics personally disagreeable. (Thinking that violent crime is a moral issue that should be primarily addressed through more policing and prisons while also arguing that it is perpetrated almost exclusively by those who have gone through trauma and abuse sure feels like mental gymnastics, but we all suffer a bit of cognative dissodence now and again I suppose.)

Overall an interesting and engaging, though obviously dark, read.

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins

lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Genuinely enjoyed this solid debut. The MC goes through a study in solitude, paranoia, shame, fear, panic, and trauma. And I found the arch Em travels, and the development of tension, distrust, and all the rest between the two characters, believable and intriguing.

Would, and will, recommend to people looking for horror-adjacent aci-fi (not straight horror, imo) featuring two strong, if complicated, women.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0