wtb_michael's reviews
2165 reviews

Lucky Breaks by Yevgenia Belorusets

challenging mysterious medium-paced

3.75

Abstract microfiction, sharp scenes of women displaced in various ways during Russia's shadow invasion of Ukraine 

People who Lunch: Essays on Work, Leisure and Loose Living by Sally Olds

challenging funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

Incredibly smart essays that dig around in subcultural spaces and put forward messy, sometimes frustrating arguments about how to be in the world. I found myself equal parts annoyed and enthused tbh, but I wonder if I'm just too old to really connect with some of this? 

Willowman by Inga Simpson

emotional inspiring fast-paced

3.5

 A pretty lovely book about cricket - not sure how it would hit if you didn't grow up playing juniors on the sunshine coast, but it captured something pretty compelling about the emotions sport can activate 

The Impersonators by Jessica Anderson

emotional reflective slow-paced

3.5

Moon Sugar: A Novel by Angela Meyer

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

3.0

Bold ideas and a propulsive plot meant I zipped through this in a day, even as it all got a bit silly in the back half 

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag

dark tense fast-paced

4.25

Short, precise and kind of ominous - definitely interested in reading more of Shanbhag's work 

An I-Novel by Minae Mizumura

reflective slow-paced

3.0

This had a lot of interesting things to say about language and race and belonging, but it was incredibly slow moving and I kind of had to drag myself through 

Sterling Karat Gold by Isabel Waidner

challenging dark funny fast-paced

4.0

Incredibly strange, utterly scathing and pulsing with energy 

Hovering by Rhett Davis

adventurous challenging hopeful fast-paced

4.25

This is bold and strange and compelling in incredibly interesting ways - glad I finally read it 

At Dusk by Hwang Sok-yong

sad slow-paced

3.5

Quiet, deeply political and just slightly too neat