rpmirabella's reviews
463 reviews

Nobody Gets Out Alive: Stories by Leigh Newman

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

5.0

High-Risk Homosexual by Edgar Gomez

emotional funny inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

 I'm not the most frequent memoir reader, and I have to be honest, I'm often left wondering if the memoir I'm reading needed to exist. Sometimes they feel padded by non-events without much backing them up. This book, however, is sharp, funny, emotional, troubled, sad, and has a direction. This book needed to exist. It needed to be written. It's beautifully shaped. Charming. Serious. I loved it. I felt so much when I was reading it. I'm happy it exists. 

I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir by Harvey Fierstein

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

4.0

Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon

3.0

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

4.0

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman

4.0

I surprised myself by loving this book. As an EX-Catholic and a total athiest, I never imagined I would fall so deeply into a book about faith, and feel so intensely for the main character, a nun, and her struggle. This is a powerful but quiet book. It has been cut down to the bone, and yet it is so vivid and beautifully paced. Sister John of the Cross'problem is fascinating and her story was a pleasure to read.

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

4.0

The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner

3.0

If you're looking for encouragement look elsewhere. Useful, yes, and a good foundation, but also scary. If you write any kind of "genre" fiction, Gardner has nothing kind to say to you.

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

2.0