strauberry's reviews
514 reviews

Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The Ghost in the House by Sara O'Leary

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

A sweet, aching story. Made me cry which is not the easiest thing for books to do. 

Pod: A Novel by Laline Paull

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Haar by David Sodergren

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

Not usually a horror reader but quite enjoyed this. Its is gross and gory and grotesque at some parts but I was kinda able to tune out some parts as I was listening to the audiobook. Great spooky book for the season (or whenever). Plus you don’t usually get a story about an older woman, a grandma specifically, so that was quite refreshing. 

Thought it was very sweet that the author included his grandmas memoirs at the end!

If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Acts of Service by Lillian Fishman

medium-paced

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

This book is a thought experiment and there’s essentially no plot. It’s characters thinking and talking. I thought it was interesting and I know I will be thinking about this book for awhile 

House of X/Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.75

I know very very basic stuff about the X-men and I’m not heavily into comics (I pick up a collection occasionally when someone I trust raves about it), I just have a general awareness. So going into this u knew I wouldn’t get a few things however I think as someone not heavily knowledgeable in X-men stuff this was pretty confusing and while I started picking up on stuff, the jumping around a lot between timelines really confused me and I felt pretty dumb sometimes because I couldn’t keep track of what was happening. 

However if you like X-men and know more about it than I do, I’m sure this is a great work especially if you like timelines and stuff. The artwork is beautiful. 
This was just not for me as a very surface level comic reader

The Mindful Art of Space Making: How to Declutter When You're Overwhelmed by April Scott Tandy

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

I love April’s YouTube channel. This book is her expertise in decluttering and organizing (space making!) distilled into a readable and clear process guideline on how to start your own space making journey. I think if you’ve looked at other decluttering/organizing/minimalist manifestos or rules you will find April’s book refreshing as she doesn’t encourage you to get rid of everything or only have a certain number of a specific item. April encourages you to slowly review the items in your home and get rid of things that you want to get rid of but keep all the things you love and use or will use in the future. In short, April keeps it realistic for the average person and knows how to help the average person figure out how to make their home work for them instead of trying to copy HGTV and Pinterest.  She also gives guidance on how to keep up the maintenance of your home and continue to make space to have a calm life with just the right amount of stuff for you! 
April’s YouTube channel, the space maker method, has excellent evidence of her guiding clients through this process ( she includes anecdotes on the book too). 

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow what an interesting read. 

Daindreth's Empress by Elisabeth Wheatley

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Definitely the best book in the series! I think the ending was wrapped up very nicely and didn’t want me wanting for more explanation. Ending a book, or a series, is quite difficult and I think the author did well. At the same time there is still enough set up to have another book which I’m excited to read when it is released