rosiecotton_dancing's reviews
186 reviews

All The Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley

hopeful reflective relaxing

3.75

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Torture

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

2.0

I don’t give low star ratings often, but this one bothers me more and more as I sit with it. “Cultish” unfortunately comes across as a half-baked attempt to capitalize on the current obsession with true crime/cults.

At best, this book is a breezy overview of a handful of major Western cults/cult-y environments. At worst, it’s a disappointing pop psych puff piece that goes out of its away to avoid the premise, barely mentioning linguistic research, analysis, or examples in favor of personal anecdotes and snarky bios of cult leaders/followers. This is a really heavy and complicated topic, so Montell’s flippant tone mixed with the irresponsible lack of scholarly research, poor organization, and narrow lens make this a “do not recommend” for me. 

Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell

funny hopeful informative lighthearted fast-paced

3.75

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal death

Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

4.0

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

4.0

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

challenging inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

I feel like this book was written for me. I decided to finally start unpacking my tenuous relationship with time, and this was the perfect, no-nonsense philosophy that I needed to hear. Burkeman’s perspective is a little limited and the ideas are sometimes contradictory, but the overall takeaways (that time is not a resource to have or manage or control, it is simply life itself, moment by moment; that our mortality means we are far more limited than we delude ourselves into being, and that accepting our limitations leads to a richer and more peaceful life) are really powerful. I especially appreciated the five questions posed at the end of the book; I’ll be chewing on them for a while. 

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Babel by R.F. Kuang

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5