small_gift811's reviews
562 reviews

Winter Solstice: An Essay by Nina MacLaughlin

hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.75

This book is worth the price of admission for the 4th essay, “Burn Something Today.”  The rest were ok. 

Which Side Are You On by Ryan Lee Wong

challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Up until the last chapter of this book, I was in a zone of irritation with the narrator. His rigidity and authoritarian belief in his own correctness made me consider DNFing this book. However, I enjoyed the mom and the discussion of history I lived through (Rodney King riots and aftermath) so I kept going. In the last chapter the narrator has an abrupt change of heart which at least led me to feeling the author was aiming for this throughout the book. 

Any “movement” or “revolution” that cares more for ideological purity and not for the living, breathing people surrounding us is not for me anymore. 

In Between: The Poetry Comics of Mita Mahato by Mita Mahato

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

4.25

Beautiful collage comics exploring identity, ecology and more. 

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Susan Wiggs

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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? Yes

3.25

A sweet romance with a sparkle of doggie dust over it!

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a printed version of a short story Susanna Clarke wrote for BBC in 2022. It is the story of a woman who might be a saint that no one understood. She loved all animals including spiders that she let nest in her room. She goes into the woods at midwinter and is promised a child, but not a human one. 

The beautiful pen and ink drawings enhance the wistful, melancholy mood. 

Woodworm by Layla Martínez

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a multigenerational horror story. Caught by abusive men, the women become their own form of monsters. Add in a house that is home to shadows, that hides things behind walls and in cupboards, and the tale is grimmer still. 

I do not know a lot about Spanish history, but I assume the subtext here is the repression during the Franco era. 

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

A solid romance of two independent people meeting and falling in love. Part felt a little too safe and I wished for more setting description. 

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

This book is about the friends and lovers of the MC. As a gay man in Korea, he has lots of casual sex, and relationships with two men who are 1) homophobic our 2) distant. It may be that books by US young gay men have similar themes - IDK because I don’t read them. But this book felt like it could have been written in the 1980’s - lots of conservative, self-hating takes on being gay with all the characters. I am ambivalent about this book. 

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

This book consists of 52 essays about aspects of the seasons in the author’s area of Tennessee. It is beautifully illustrated by her brother. Renkl weaves her own life experiences through the tapestry of the changing seasons. I read a chapter per week with the seasons. 

There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This is a book about coming to grips with work life. After suffering burnout in her career, the unnamed narrator is placed into 5 different jobs - watching surveillance footage, writing audio ads for a bus service, writing bon mots for the back of rice cracker packets, hanging up posters, and inhabiting a hut in the midst of a national forest. The heroine struggles with being detached from these jobs, but eventually is sucked into some emotional vortex hidden in the work. A playful thread of possible magical realism lurks under the surface.