skconaghan's reviews
354 reviews

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

adventurous challenging hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Complex philosophy and political analysis amid fantastically odd storytelling. Couldn’t put it down. 

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Marvellous. 

First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Written a mere 15 years after the ceasefire and final liberation of Cambodia, and only 9 years after the death of dictator Pol Pot, this account does not attempt to give an extensive historical exposition of the political regime that was the mortifying Khmer Rouge reign over an otherwise peaceful and prosperous people. It is the memoir of a small child, stumbling in the dark, losing freedom and family in a flash followed by a long agonising journey that robbed her of her childhood. It is not meant to be a literary work of genius. It is a child’s memoir of what should never be the memory of any child. It is heartbreaking. It is stark. It is honest. And it is at once a warning and a plea to the world that this never happen again, and yet… 

I spent some time in Cambodia among the generation who survived and the children who came after; this was hard going. Names and faces of friends who still suffer nightmares and the pain of loss had me listening bent over as I sobbed for what cannot be undone. I’ve heard similar accounts first hand from numerous others. And it is a repeated agony each time. But somehow, miraculously, there is hope in the hearts of the Khmer people; the thing always said, as they share their horrific truth of loss and destruction is: ‘we tell our truth so we won’t forget, so it won’t happen again’. 

And yet… look at the world. How is this still going on dressed in a different scarf, a different face…?

Thank you, Ms Loung Ung, for sharing your story with us, for us. May your heart continue to find healing.

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Yes. All the questions. None of the answers. Such is our existence, and the only real comfort at the end is companionship…

Hold my hand.
Hold your hand? Why? …
Because that’s what people do when they’re waiting for the end of something.

McCarthy. What a writer.

Blind Goddess by Anne Holt

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

…keeping track of all the characters was one thing, but this was made doubly difficult in large portions or whole chapters where no names and only brief descriptions were used to indicate the identity of the character in action. So by the end, I’m still left wondering who actually did what—though all guilty parties somehow ended up behind bars or 6-feet under. I think.

It started off well, good intrigue and potential for plot and character development, but then midway it twisted itself so much in the lives of these numerous unidentifiable men doing nefarious things and the knots just never seemed to untie themselves. 

80% enjoyable though and only a tad perplexing. I will read more in this series. It holds potential.

The Women by Kristin Hannah

emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

It’s the hard story behind the this-then-that way it’s written that gets 4-stars. Writing style is a middle road 3 for me. 

Character development is not great, and rather than dig deep, these characters get flung across the pages, and we have to believe their emotions by the brief paragraphs of emotional ‘persuasiveness’ between reams of pages and sweeping over months of events and details.

The subject: A worthwhile remembrance despite the abominations committed (the politics are tricky here).

My Calamity Jane by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand

adventurous funny informative lighthearted 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? Yes

4.0

Silly and sometimes farcical, this is a new look at an old Western story with an underlying message we can all do with looking at again dressed in a different overcoat. Good clean fun, goldarnit.

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A generous 4 because too many bits made me cringe, gag, and roll my eyes, but it was entertaining, sure. 

My Plain Jane by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand

adventurous funny informative lighthearted fast-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? Yes

5.0

Comically absurd, witty, and charming. I love that Charlotte gets the romance and adventure in this one…

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Deeply Philosophical. Twisty and mysterious, humorous and heady, crossing the twentieth century times over in the most bizarre cat and mouse chase to save the world. Certainly unique, but also racing in a captivating prose. I read it straight through —and it would have been in one go but that I had to go work in between.