stwriter92's reviews
458 reviews

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

I have been meaning to read this book for months (added it to my TBR last December!) and finally got my hands on it while on layover at Heathrow! 

The story centers on a small, windowless cafe in Tokyo that claims that it has the power of sending people back in time. However, there are some rules that each person must follow:
  1. They must sit in a specific seat, which they cannot leave at any point.
  2. They cannot change the past and anything they do will not change the present.
  3. They can only meet people who have been to the cafe.
  4. They MUST come back before their coffee gets cold.

The book itself is divided into four parts, each one focusing on a customer that travels through time for some reason. While the novel itself didn’t seem to be a lot of people’s cup of tea (going by the reviews), I still believe it was really good. It did not follow the usual western story telling structure. Instead, it gave us windows into the lives of each of the customers. At its core, it’s a story that shows that all of us crave connection. It displays the bittersweetness of life in the same way it serves its coffee: quietly, subtly, and with a tinge of magic.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

Go to review page

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Reading Sim Kern’s The Free People’s Village gave me many other books to read and this was one of them. This, paired with my desire to understand more about the genocide currently taking place in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied Palestine in general encourage me to grab this on Libby. This book was definitely one of the most eye-opening books I have read. It forced me to reconsider everything I thought I knew about the struggles for freedom

This book is really a compilation of interviews, speeches, and essays by activist and scholar, Angela Davis. Freedom is a Constant Struggle highlights the interconnectedness of the struggles against injustice around the world. I feel that when we learn about injustices, we learn about them in a vacuum. Rarely is injustice taught to use through the lens of how it connects to other injustices taking place. Angela Davis urges readers to view injustices on a global and historical lens, pointing out how all injustice in the world is connected and how fighting for one freedom implies fighting for all freedom. 

The book emphasizes the need for mutual aid and and danger of neoliberal individualism. To see oneself as the center of the movement is to sabotage the movement. Revolutions must center on ideas and goals rather than individuals. I have seen this in what I have learned of the Palestinian freedom movement since looking into it on a deeper level. It also brought me to question the role of the American government (something I have done for a long time now) and its intentions. Its treatment of such revolutionaries as Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Assata Shakur shows me that white America will only accept the protests of the global majority if they stick to a narrow set of prescribed rules (respectability politics, basically). Those that step outside of these parameters will be seen as enemies of the state. I didn’t even know that Nelson Mandela, now hailed as a hero who fought against South African apartheid, was on the US terrorist watch list until 2008! 

Also, seeing how the struggle of the Palestinians and the struggle of movements like Black Lives Matter are connected, especially when it comes to police brutality, was fascinating and frightening. I think that this book has made me even more of an anti-capitalist than I already was. This book is still and, I believe, always will be relevant. It should be required reading for all people.

The Free People's Village by Sim Kern

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I pre-ordered this book after searching up "solarpunk" on TikTok and coming across Sim Kern's page. It quickly became one of my favorite pages on that godforsaken app and when I saw that they were publishing a book, I knew I had to pre-order it immediately. When it came, I was still in the midst of finishing up other books (which I have yet to write reviews on, oops. I feel super behind. Oh well.) but something drew me to it on Friday and I slipped it into my bag to read while I was out. Perhaps it was because of everything that has been going on in the world. I felt that I needed a bit of hope, fictional or otherwise.

Let me say: I have not sat in a cafe reading for so long in my entire life. I read the first half entirely in one sitting.

The novel centers on a greenwashed solarpunk alternate universe in which Al Gore won the presidential election and declared a War on Climate Change instead of a War on Terror. This has led to a society that has been built with the intentions of creating a more environmentally friendly society. However, it soon becomes clear that the entire thing is one big greenwashing ruse. Our narrator, a young white woman named Maddie Ryan, soon realizes that without fixing the deep rooted problems of racism, classism, and capitalism, the "environmentally friendly" society will be nothing but a greenwashed facade built to protect the capitalist endeavors of the ruling white upper class. 

In their novel, Sim Kern has masterfully navigated themes of racial injustice, intersectionality, and activism in what seems to be a hopelessly bleak capitalist country. How can we have any sort of hope when we are up against a seemingly all powerful government? How can we have a voice when every shout feels like it's being swallowed up by the void? We do it slowly and consistently. As Shayna says towards the end, "we grow our network--we spread our mycelium, we strengthen our community." Change must start from the ground up. To make a change outside, we need to start by making a change in our own communities.

I would encourage anyone and everyone to read The Free People's Village. I feel that, especially in the current geopolitical climate, the message needs to be spread far and wide.

(Also, I have added all of Gestas's books to my TBR. I encourage you all to do the same.)
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read this book because I got sick of Murakami’s description of women in his books. I used to really like them, but now I can’t get back into them because the way he writes women is just so icky. I had heard that Mieko Kawakami was much better and I do agree! 

All the Lovers in the Night centers on a mid-thirties woman named Fuyuko Irie who works as a freelance copy editor. She lives a lonely life and does not seem to mind this solitary existence. However, this changes when she finally takes a long look at her reflection and decides she need to change. She wants to feel alive again. However, as past traumas resurface, she turns to alcohol as a coping mechanism and forms a friendship with an older man.

The bittersweet story of Fuyuko Irie is the story of all of us. We are all aching to connect with the people around us and each of us feels, at times, like we are alone at sea. This book reminds us that, no matter how alone we are, we can always form connections and reach out. We are not alone.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud

Go to review page

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

4.0

This installment in Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. series was a delight like all the previous ones! In this book, we are introduced to a new addition to the dynamic group: Holly Munro. This, paired with a startling increase in hauntings and an assassination attempt thrusts Lockwood & Co out of their cozy home in Portland Row into the politics that surround The Problem.

This installation added to the tension that has been rising and the mystery was spectacular. The only qualm I had (and this probably contributed to the amount of time I took to finish this book) was the tension between Holly and Lucy. Holly seemed like the usual “girly girl” caricature that we see in many middle grade and young adult books that seems to only exist to show how “not like other girls” the main protagonist is. It did show us how insecure Lucy is and how this insecurity drove her to make some questionable decisions throughout the book, leading up to the depressing ending to the book (which, I am assuming, is fixed in book 4). 

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was lent to me by a student at the school I teach at and it was definitely a surprising read. I don't think I've read such a raw depiction of grief and depression before. At first I strongly disliked the main character, who remained unnamed throughout, which I think was a good thing because it removed a barrier between her as a narrator and myself as a reader. Watching her spiral more and more, becoming more and more dependent on sleep medication (an echo of the sort of thing that killed her mother) to keep all feelings, relationships, and truths away. 

I know that we were supposed to see her friend Reva as a pathetic person, but I think she was a better character than the narrator. Was she pushy and overbearing? Yes. However, she seemed to also be going through a similar thing to our narrator. Instead of burying herself, she reaches out. Her story, I think, was the real tragedy of the book.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Go to review page

dark 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

5.0

The ending off this trilogy definitely did not disappoint! This entire story went from one girl making a decision to call bullshit on the stupid rules of a cruel game created by horrible people to becoming the reluctant mascot for an entire uprising. What I loved even more was the fact that the rebellion was also seen as a morally bankrupt organization at times. Watching her go from becoming a puppet for the Capitol to a puppet for the rebellion was depressing but so realistic. I know that the epilogue is a disputed part of the book, but I actually really liked it. I liked that Katniss was able to have a life that would have been robbed from her if she had not thought to lift those berries to her lips at the end of the first book. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense
  • 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

I listened to this entire book in five days and it was amazing!! I know that most book series suffer from the "second book slump" but this series seems to just improve upon each installment! I loved learning even more about the political intricacies of the different districts and meeting other victors. The slow simmer of dissent throughout was extremely interesting to watch, especially when I know it was going to all explode in the third and final installment in this amazing series!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Okay. It has been over a month since I finished this book, so I'll try and say as much as I can, but this will be a short review. All I can remember is that I really enjoyed it. These books are just the perfect balance of comfy and creepy. I am currently reading The Hollow Boy, so hopefully I actually remember to write about it while it's still fresh in my mind!
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Go to review page

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? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I know it's hard to believe, but this was my first time reading The Hunger Games. After one of my students found out I had never read the books or watched the films, she immediately started badgering me to read them. I finally got the audiobook through Libby and was immediately sucked into the story. I knew that the Hunger Games were amazing but I don't think I had grasped just how amazing they were. 

Being inside Katniss's head throughout, watching her reluctantly becoming a player in the fatal hunger games, and watching her puzzle her way through everything and everyone was such an interesting thing to see. I found myself doubting everything with her.

I do think that the way celebrity is forced onto these young children is quite similar to what we see in the real world of influencers (especially influencer parents who force their children into the spotlight). Nothing is genuine and everything is meticulously tailored to cause scandal and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. I have no doubt that if the Hunger Games were a real thing, people would be watching eagerly on TV (or their phones) and placing bets. 

I already have Catching Fire on hold at the library and can't wait to start listening to it! 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings