zinelib's reviews
577 reviews

Kimiko Does Cancer: A Graphic Memoir by Kimiko Tobimatsu

reflective fast-paced

4.5

This is more of a book about having had cancer than having it, which I think is an important part of the story that isn't always told. Kimiko is young, only 25 when she feels a lump. She undergoes a lumpectomy and radiation, negotiating relationships with her family and her girlfriend because that's what happens. Cancer doesn't just happen to the patient, it happens to everyone in their life. 

Unlike many graphic memoirs, this one is illustrated by someone else--Keet Geniza, who is a zine maker! 

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

The concept of this book is fun--four black ops assassins are retired from their jobs the year they turn 60. 40 years of service in, they've still got some skills and as older women, they are often underestimated. It's cute and fun, but a little too pleased with itself. You might expect this from the title and premise, but the book is very murdery. 

Melania by Melania Trump

lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

Read the Melania Trump (or a ghostwriter plus AI) memoir if you want to. It goes down pretty quickly. It's not remotely informative, and even the pictures aren't good, but I won't stop you, just as no one stopped me. I screenshot like a million pages, and expect to make a lil carousel of them on my Instagram (@zinelib), so head over there if you want more of my take. 

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

My Plain Jane has a similar energy to My Lady Jane, but where the joking, fourth-wall breaking humor worked in the first book, it feels a little self-conscious or self-aggrandizing in the second. The "plain" Jane is Jane Eyre, who in this version of her story can see ghosts, and they are drawn to her. Charlotte Brontë is also in the story, which is cutely meta. 

Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine by Mohammad Sabaaneh

challenging sad fast-paced

5.0

I started this at a Read Palestine Week event and took it home because I hadn't finished it, and it was so good--and so awful. Sabaaneh, who spent time in an Israeli prison reveals what it's like to live an work under apartheid. 

The pages are black and the illustrations are white, with the look of wood or linoleum prints. Every page is a heart wrenching visual poem, like the art that accompanies this text

As a teacher in Palestine, you have to suddenly stop class on account of a visit by a woman, who stands there in tears, silently screaming: "I am the mother of that void that sits between you."

What never fails to amaze me, though, about Palestinians, is their sustained hope and belief in a better future. Even the birds in Palestine uphold that vision, with prison birds flying around telling the stories so they won't die. 

But the purpose of these stories is to give them strength and keep them from leaving. I like them. I'm not leaving. 

Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 by MK Czerwiec

emotional hopeful fast-paced

4.5

This is a heartwarming story about the AIDS crisis?!? In fact, it is! Czerwiec is a nurse, fresh out of school in the early 1990s, and she's working on an AIDS ward. The ward, despite being full of dying people, is actually a place of incredible care and goodness...and also death. She connects with a patient, and they make art together, which helps both of them cope.

In addition to being a memoir of the period, Taking Turns is also meant to document the magic of the place. She interviews doctors, nurses, patients, and family members. tbh I was more interested in Czerwiec's story and skipped over some of the more documentary panels. Still, it is a sweet, straightforward book that brought me to tears. 

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The title character is a 17th century shipwright from Hispaniola, having done her apprenticeship with a lovely man who died and left her the business. Jacquotte has a white father, a French nobleman and drunken asshole Arnolde. Her mother, died while birthing Jacquotte's brother, Marceau. For most of the story, Jacquotte is about 20. A bunch of shit happens, and Jacquotte, Marceau, and their friends find themselves indentured on a pirate ship, working for a captain who is a drunken asshole. 

Lots more shit happens, including a lot of gnarly violence, but also some same sex lovin' for Jacquotte and her BFF. It's not a bad read if you can handle the gnarly violence! If you have an interested in Haitian history and/or women legends, you might be able to tolerate the icky stuff. 

Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

This book is fine. Not super compelling, but I might read the next one.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Protag Emmy Harlow (f/bi/26) returns home to her witchy town after nine years in Chicago where she fled after a boy (Gareth m/?/26ish) did her wrong. When she comes back, she connects with her old BFF Lindsey (f/het/26ish) and the scion of the other major witch family, Talia (f/les/26ish). It turns out the three women have something (someone) unpleasant in common and unite to destroy it (him). 

"There are much worse things than documenting this town's history, scoot. Being its voice, its quiet champion."

observes Pa Harlow to Emmy. I appreciate that take in this context of a competition to identify the most powerful witch family in twon. 

While You Were Dreaming by Alisha Rai

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This was a cute desi YA take on the movie While You Were Sleeping. The protagonist, Sonia, while she happens to be wearing a superhero costume, saves the boy she has a crush on, James from drowning in a river. Sonia was born in the US, but her 19-year-old sister Kareena wasn't, and their mother was deported to India less than a year ago, so she wants nothing to do with publicity or police. Things at home with Kareena are tense, and Sonia's BFF Candice dropped her after Sonia told Candice about her mother. Despite having a FaceTime mom and a live-in sister, Sonia is as lonely as Sandra Bullock's character in While You Were Sleeping. Just like in the movie, there's a brother and a family that Sonia finds herself falling in love with.

It was a compelling-ish read, but the WYWS storyline felt constraining. The WYWD title doesn't make a lot of sense, unfortunately, but whatever, it's a YA romance that goes down easy. 

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

challenging informative sad fast-paced

5.0

Coates lays out the facts about Palestine like the long-form journalist he is. It's a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. And devastation from one who knows large-scale trauma when he sees it.