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I can't give this book enough stars. I didn't know what to expect going in, except an interesting story. I didn't even know what it was about. But I loved every page. The way characters' stories are interwoven, complex, and layered reminds me of a tapestry. The way Ng weaves so many threads together, countless threads, is masterful. Both metaphorically and narratively, it could be enough to make your head spin, but Ng gently guides you to realizations, emotions, challenges, and, of course, plot lines.

Little Fires Everywhere is about family: what a family is, what a family looks like, and what a family means. There is no main character you follow really, but Mia Warren may be a center point. She is an artist and a vagabond with her daughter Pearl. They live somewhere for a while, Mia works on her art, and when the inspiration dries up, they move on. Now, they've slightly settled in Shaker Heights and the story unfolds with the members of different families intertwining.

I found this book beautiful in many ways. It made me emotional and even burst out crying. Knowing less about a book before reading it is my preference, so I truly don't want to say much more. I would love to re-read it some day, and I can't wait to read Ng's other work.

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I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

I can't say much about this book because it's so short, and therefore I'm not sure what's a spoiler. But it's a story about a woman and her baby and how they're surviving in a dystopian type of future. The writing is good and very descriptive at times, but it surprisingly lacks emotional depth. There's also no big, overarching plot points or character descriptors. For example, none of the characters have complete names. They're just referred to as letters - R, Z, O, etc. For the first third of the book, I thought this may be because the author wants the reader to latch onto the emotions of the story, which center around a woman trying to survive with her baby. But without anything of substance to hold onto, the story came off as shallow and underdeveloped. I have a lot of questions that I can't pose here because they may be spoilerly, and the story just fails to answer any of them. After the first third, I thought the book was hitting its stride, and I was really enjoying it. I read the entire thing in two sittings, which is rare for me. But as I was reaching the end, I realized I wasn't going to get any answers, and became annoyed and frustrated. I think this is one you can skip.

These are just my quick thoughts after just completing the book. A more comprehensive review will be coming on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/allisontheresa) and on my blog (allisontheresa7.wordpress.com).

In continuing my reading of short books, I picked up All Systems Red, the first of The Murderbot Diaries. It's about 90 pages long, and I highly enjoyed it. I want to continue the series right away, which rarely happens for me. Usually I want a break so I don't get tired of a series and its characters. I know many people can binge things – such as television – but I can only take things in chunks. (Usually.)

The story is from the point-of-view of a “murderbot,” a type of rented android on a mission with some humans in order to protect them. Since the story is so short and things about the murderbot are revealed, I don't want to say too much. But what happens in the beginning is unexpected, and our murderbot has to work with the humans in ways it didn't think it would. It's an unusual situation.

All Systems Red really throws you into its sci-fi world and I did find it a little difficult to orient myself. It wasn't until maybe a third or even halfway through the book until I started to understand the “feed” system. I still don't know how it really works. Somehow humans and murderbots all have some neurological link to a feed. They are able to access information and even talk to each other through it. I don't know how it works. Additionally, it became clearer what exactly a SecUnit/murderbot is as the story progressed, but it wasn't spelled out.

I can't say I dislike that. I like stories that don't just lay everything out in exposition. In my opinion, it's better to let the reader see how the characters live their lives, and then the reader can make their own conclusions. Perhaps it could have been a little cleaner, though. I wasn't sure if there were typos, unclear editing, or just poor sentence structure, but sometimes I was a little confused on what was happening.

The action of the story really kept it moving and I could hardly put the book down, which is impressive to me since so few things hold my attention these days. I love the ending of the book, and like I said up top, can't wait to continue the series.

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I can't really say I enjoyed this story, and that's for a number of reasons. The plot of this book focuses on Starr, who was with a black boy named Khalil when he is murdered by a white police officer. Throughout the book, she has to deal with the trauma of that and with, basically, living in a racist society and bringing together two different worlds - she goes to a wealthy, all-white school yet lives in an all-black “hood.” Starr goes through a lot, and it's tough and dark and unpleasant. She has good times with friends and family, of course, but there's a lot of darkness here. I guess I had two main issues with this book. One would be that the darkness, the trauma, is handled almost casually, and when Starr does have outbursts, it feels over-the-top. This book is taking on a very complex issue that is intertwined in our culture in more ways than can be described, and yet there's little nuance or subtlety reflected in this story. I think the reason for that is due to my second issue with the book: I really disliked the writing. It felt stilted, unedited, shallow, amateur. In creative writing classes I've taken, professors would always say, “Show, don't tell.” All this book does is tell. The language is clunky and unpolished. It was seriously a chore to read this book, and every time I went to pick it up, I was not excited due solely to the poor writing. I feel bad saying this because I think this story is important and should be told and should be published and should be read, but this may be some of the worst writing I've encountered.

I decided to buy this book on Audible when it was offered during a sale (I think 2 for 1 or something similar). I had heard good things about it and was expecting to be blown away by insightful thoughts about our culture. However, I felt slightly disappointed because many of the things Dyson describes are things I am very aware of since I'm active on Twitter and Tumblr. On those sites, I have a constant feed of political and social issues, and people's perspectives on them. The people I follow are almost all (very) socially liberal. So nothing in this book shook me or moved me. I feel like I've seen it all before. However, I'm giving it four stars because the thoughts are written clearly, thoroughly, and topically. I want to shove this book into the hands of so many white people I know. This is an important read for people who do not keep up with what is happening, and what has been happening, in America. And even though the book is centered on the race problem in America, we all know there is a race problem in most countries. I feel anybody from anywhere could read this and learn something about themselves. While I didn't really learn anything new, Dyson calls out the white people reading the book - addressing them directly throughout the entire thing - by saying they need to step up and educate themselves. I believe in that, but when I heard him saying those words (as the author narrates the audiobook), I realized that I really don't do enough to learn about the things he suggests - black culture, for example. Music, art, etc. I love books, but I'm not going out of my way to learn about anything else. I need to. Everyone needs to. I'll also just quickly add that I thought the part about police close to the end was my favorite part. I thought that was particularly powerful.

These are just my quick thoughts after just completing the book. A more comprehensive review will be coming on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/allisontheresa) and on my blog (allisontheresa7.wordpress.com).

I'm so happy I was able to finish this book before the end of the year. I have to say upfront how much I enjoyed it. I felt so hard and so many things while reading this story. That hasn't happened in a while. I don't mean to sound old (I'm about to be 36), but a lot of new media I consume doesn't make me feel much. I thought it was because all stories had been told, that I had seen all the formulas. But now I think it's the way stories are told. The story of The Bean Trees is not necessarily groundbreaking. But Kingsolver's prose, the way characters interact, the facts of the world around them, and zooming in on small moments are what make this book great. Those, and so many other things. With this in mind, I've started looking more at books published in the past rather than the newest ones. Don't hold me to that, though.

The Bean Trees can't really be summarized. A girl leaves rural Kentucky, practically fleeing, because she doesn't want to die in the dirt there. She ends up in charge of an Indian toddler and living in Arizona with another woman who has her own baby. (As friends. Nothing queer here.) She works in a used tire shop for an older woman who helps refugees trying to make their way to safety while the American government wants to send them back to be killed in their home country. There is so much in this novel, and that's because life itself is complicated and messy.

I read this book in high school, and for all these years, I've remembered that I liked the book. However, I'd forgotten anything significant about it, only that someone (I thought the main character) helps refugees to safety. I bought a copy a long time ago, and I can't say how happy I am that I've read it.

This book deeply affected me. A big theme is motherhood, and the fear of taking care of a child. I don't have or want children, but my mother died in 2018 and we did not have a wonderful relationship. Certain things resonated with me, and other things I probably just projected my own issues onto. But that happens for all readers, right? Every reading experience will be different. Being able to connect so strongly to a book, though, is a sign of the strength of the book, of the book's own character and power.

There's a scene near the very end where the main character calls her own mother back in Kentucky on a payphone. They don't want to hang up, saying goodbye to each other several times, until the main character finally says she has to go. This moment just made me bawl. I see how it's because I miss my own mom, that I'd love to talk to her on the phone again. I see exactly how we wouldn't be able to hang up on each other. Moments like this, the reality of it all, is why this book is so moving and why I could connect with it.

Anyway, I recommend it.

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I read this book rather quickly, which was easy since it's so short. The ebook (from Google Play) was about 20 pages. Because it was short, there wasn't a lot of room to flesh out the details. I kept wanting to know more - about the main character, Siew Tsin, and about how this fantastical world worked. It's the Chinese version of hell, and I honestly know nothing about this. I probably missed a lot of symbolic messages here. How is terracotta significant? How long do people spend in hell? How do they get to heaven instead of hell? I had a lot of questions, which is both on me and on the story. I think if there was more space, this story could have detailed how everything worked. (Since it was not only a foreign subject to me, but also a fantastical story, I wasn't sure what was traditional Chinese myth and what was invented by the author.) With all that said, I did enjoy the story. I was pulled in and interested. I just wanted more. The writing at times was lyrical and moving, and yet at other times it was a bit basic - just telling the reader what we need to know. I would have loved this story if it had been expanded and developed more.

These are just my quick thoughts after just completing the book. A more comprehensive review will be coming on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/allisontheresa) and on my blog (allisontheresa7.wordpress.com).

I recently decided to start reading shorter books so I could finish a story. In 2022, finishing a story was often impossible for me. I read Bodies of Water in about a month and it's only 130 pages. I'm happy with that, and I hope I can continue to finish stories throughout the year.

This may be the first review I've done with spoilers. My issues with the story can only be addressed in that way. But before spoilers, let me explain the premise: Kirsten is living in present day and just moved into an apartment complex which was used as a hydrotherapy hospital in the 1870s. It's close to the river, and Kirsten is fascinated by the water. But then strange things start happening. Every other chapter is from Kirsten's point-of-view. The other chapters are Evelyn, who is a patient at the hydrotherapy hospital in the 1870s. In my opinion, her chapters are much more interesting with much more happening. There are more characters and action.

In general, though, the book is filled with exposition which gets very boring. The author also uses the word “water” and/or “river” in almost every single paragraph. I felt like I was getting hit over the head with something, and I just don't know what it was. The story doesn't connect any dots to really say anything. At the end, there are some lines about women being confined across centuries and needing the wide space of the river to, I'm not sure, have their own space?

SPOILER WARNING: After finishing the book, I realized my biggest issue is the lack of connection. There is nothing between Kirsten and Evelyn, other than Wakewater Hospital/Apartments. Kirsten's story ends up being about satisfying the needs of female water spirits who are murderous, and for some reason water is leaking in all over Wakewater. There is no reason given for this. On Evelyn's side, there is no mention of such water spirits until the very end, and even then they're not murderous. Evelyn just sees them in the river. Kirsten apparently is seeing the character of Milly who was Evelyn's lover, but why? Why is Milly out for an offering in the present day?

The more I write this, the more I am annoyed. I feel like the author wrote half the book and then didn't know what to do. Or maybe they wrote Evelyn's side since it was so much more interesting, and then needed something else and came up with Kirsten.

I'm giving this two stars instead of one because I really only give one star reviews to books I don't finish. I obviously do not recommend it since it falls flat. It leaves you with questions, but not the curious kind. They're the kind of questions that arise when a story doesn't make sense from beginning to end.

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I knew the plot of Red Dragon from seeing the 2002 film several times, but this is my first time reading the novel. I highly enjoyed Harris' writing style and attention to detail. I can see how the forensic descriptions could be tiresome to some, but I found it added to the lives of these federal officers. They need to know the ins and outs of forensics in these crimes and all crimes they investigate. It pulled me in. While it took me a while to finish the book, that's on me. I just didn't pick it up often until this past month when I was excited to read it and find out what happened. I do feel the ending was a bit rushed, but other than that, I loved the whole thing.

I won an ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Opinions are my own.

I never rate things half stars or quarter stars, but I'm going to make an exception for this book: It's a 3.5 stars from me. The first third or half of the book I really struggled with and almost DNF'd it because I felt like I was just watching women get beat up. Then, in some stories, it seemed as though the reader was meant to sympathize with the abusers. I was getting rather frustrated. But I kept going, and eventually the stories came around to the emotion and meaning of relationships. These relationships were mostly romantic ones between men and women. I don't think there were any homosexual relationships in the book, and that does annoy me because there was story after story after story that focused on a male/female romantic relationship. Enough seemed like enough. As you can tell, I have some issues with the book. However, the writing is wonderful and moving and powerful. It pulls you in and makes you really understand what these characters are feeling. My favorite in the collection is “North Country.” I also wanted to mention the fact that there are a few fantastical stories in this collection, but I think they fit because, on the whole, this collection seems to be about relationships, either good or bad ones. That's why I'm also annoyed with the title of the book. Yes, we have some “strong” women in here that may make life “difficult” for men, but that doesn't seem to be the focus here. I'm left wondering why this title was chosen, and part of me believes it's because Gay is known to be a feminist and a feminist-y title would sell well.

These are just my quick thoughts after just completing the book. I more comprehensive review will be coming on my YouTube channel (youtube.com/allisontheresa) and on my blog (allisontheresa7.wordpress.com).

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley. I went into this thinking it'd be a fun, silly, humorous road-trip novel, and while it hits some of those points, I felt the story was trapped between wanting to be funny and wanting to be dramatic. Most of the story focuses on the Wangs - there's Charles, Barbra, Saina, Andrew, and Grace. Some chapters are dedicated to one character and his/her thoughts, and others will jump around between characters. There are even two chapters that are from the car's point-of-view, which was definitely strange. There is tension between the family members, but then the story falters because it wants to be amusing. Absurd scenarios take place throughout the novel, and I was particularly annoyed with the third and final leg. If the author had focused on one or the other - either humor or drama - the story would have been much more successful. I did decide on a three star rating because the writing, at times, was very poetic and moving. I believe this is Chang's debut novel, and I would definitely pick up her next book, especially if it were more subdued and didn't strive to be humorous. Additionally, I did keep reading it! I wanted to know how it would all turn out. However, around the 70-80% mark, I was getting very frustrated and considered putting the book down. At that point, though, I figured I'd come far enough. I might as well finish it. I don't know if I would recommend this book to anyone, though. Like I said, it's trapped between two worlds - the family drama and the absurd, humorous plot devices. I suppose if you interested in both of those things, you can check this one out.

I don't frequently read memoirs or non-fiction books in general, but I do enjoy listening to podcasts. I decided I would start listening to non-fiction books on audio because it seems similar, and it's gone well. Whenever I've tried listening to fiction on audio, I always miss something. But I really enjoyed listening to Tig Notaro's memoir and was able to keep up with it. I think it's hard to review or rate a memoir since it's really about your own emotional connection to the work. I mean, it's someone's life story. How can you judge that?

In the memoir, Tig talks about the trajectory of her career and how she was becoming more famous, but I honestly didn't know who she was before Star Trek: Discovery. Forgive me. I do think she's incredibly funny and smart. I love her sense of humor. The memoir is full of that dry, sarcastic way about it. And the audiobook is narrated by her, which made it even better.

The subject matter is very heavy as it deals with the death of her mother and Tig's several illnesses that occurred during and after that event. My favorite moments were when she discussed her mother because my own mother died in 2018. Tig's relationship with her mother is different than mine, but the way she described her mother really reminded me of my own. Also, the things Tig said when she sat beside her mother in the hospital resonated with me.

Is it normal to re-read memoirs? I don't know. I feel like I would re-read the moments regarding her mother because of how much I felt during those moments. I don't know. It just felt very honest.

The entire memoir is honest, and I haven't read a memoir in quite some time, but the ones I have read sometimes feel like the author is trying to create a narrative for their life. Not that it's fake, but just polished. I'm sure things are polished here, but I connected with it in such a way and it was written in such a way that made me see Tig as a whole person with flaws, desires, struggles, setbacks, and ultimately the drive to keep going. I believe I will carry these stories with me, and perhaps return to this book at some point. I do recommend it.

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Full Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8te-WLP2-jg

There were several essays that I really enjoyed and I thought, “Wow!” when I finished them, but the majority of the essays in this collection were just okay. This isn't a bad book. It's just very basic. I think it might be good for someone who is new to feminism, someone who is trying to find their way. At the beginning, there were several solid essays in a row and I thought to myself that I'd love to thrust this into the hands of all those people who say we don't need feminism. At the same time, the topics covered throughout the book covered a very wide variety. I thought the ordering was strange since it just jumped around, and one essay oftentimes had nothing to do with the other essays around it. I think the book could benefit from some better organization. Additionally, the book added in so many pages of “feminist” quotes, which made me feel like it was trying too hard. Some of these quotes came from people like Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, and Joss Whedon, and that did not impress me at all.

For more thoughts, I'll soon be doing a video review on my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX7G3PoEDUyzlHHFSOYpDNg

[TW: Brief mention of rape.] Wow, this book was painful to read. I mean that in a good way. This memoir is amazing. I've never read anything like it. I connected to it so strongly, and yet I didn't because I don't have the same experiences as Gay, but still I did connect to it because of her raw honesty. That's what this book is: raw honesty. And because of that, it's incredibly powerful. Many chapters made me have to stop and take a breather. Gay has such a strong voice. I love this book, but it was painful. I think there's the misconception out there that this book really focuses on being a fat woman in the world. Yes, that is a factor. But if there were a title and a subtitle, being a fat woman in the world would be the subtitle. The title would be her rape when she was twelve. That event changed the course of her life. In the book, she says she ate food, making herself fat, to try to protect her body. I have not had this experience. I am a fat woman, but I have been fat as long as I can remember. I am just built this way. It wasn't a conscious choice. In a way, it may not have been a conscious choice for Gay either. No matter what, we are similar in that we are fat women trying to move through the world. In the chapters that focus on her experiences as a fat woman trying to move through the world, I could really agree with what she was saying and feel a connection to her. That means something to me. It also means something to me that she is willing to be so open and honest and raw with her truth and her pain. We don't have to have shared experiences for me to sympathize and empathize and see some of myself in what she has gone through. I loved this book, but it's not enjoyable. I also fear what some critics might say. I fear they won't understand, or they will purposefully not want to understand. But I'm happy this book exists.

Full Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL73DfvnQhQ

This book was really too short for the subject matter. I wish there was more time and space to really go deep into all the new, fascinating things the reader is introduced to. I'll pick up the next one as I'm sure it will expand the universe, but I feel this little story really could have been more. It felt like base ideas that weren't fully explored or fleshed out yet.

I read this book in about two days for a class. I'm not doing a full review.

Full Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdd7NOQ5ciE

This was a strange one, but after taking some time to think about the story, I decided to give this four stars. The story's structure was completely new to me. It's told in three parts. Every part surrounds the character Yeong-hye, but we never get her point-of-view. Instead, we get her husband, her brother-in-law, and finally her sister. I'm not sure what's a spoiler, so I don't want to say too much else. I feel it's important to note that there are many disturbing images throughout this book, so it deserves all the trigger warnings. Sexual assault, eating disorders, mental illness, self harm, copious amounts of blood. The book is short, but it's powerful. There is beautiful writing in here, and I would definitely read this again.

Re-read. Flawless book.

This book is a great work of historical fiction. The characters are what move the story along, and I enjoyed the somewhat mundane details of the sisters' lives on a farm in New Jersey in 1914. I think when this book first came out, we didn't know it'd be part of a series. But I'm glad that there is a second book! I can't wait to pick it up. While the book is classified a mystery, that is a rather small element of this story. This is the story of Constance and her sisters, Norma and Fleurette, and how they're getting on when they're unlucky enough to run in to a rather pathetic gangster. I did thoroughly enjoy this book, and I read it quickly, but sometimes it felt a bit too slow. Some bits could have been left out to make the plot move along a bit faster. The one other con I have against this book is that Constance, our protagonist, is almost the weakest character. I have a good sense of who Norma and Fleurette are - what interests them and what their personalities are like - but with Constance, she sometimes seems like a doormat and at other times she jumps up and manhandles people. Maybe Constance is uncertain of herself, her life, and her own wants, but I still think that, by the time she's in her mid-thirties, she'd have more personality traits.

Full Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7zXGLu_1Zc

I haven't finished reading a book since May of this year. I've started a few, but I just couldn't continue with them. So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to officially stop all of them and pick up a short book. I have a shelf on Goodreads for books I'm interested in which are 150 pages or less. The Beauty is very short. Goodreads gives it 99 pages, but I doubt it. I read just about everything on my phone, and the edition I have has another short story at the back, so I can't say for sure how many pages it is. The point is, it was short, which is why I was able to finish it.

That sounds mean. The story was intriguing and I wanted to see what happened, so I kept going. But, due to my own inability to read, I would stop for several days at a time. I'm hoping that in the new year I will be more dedicated to reading. Since it's so short, I don't want to say much about the plot. I will say that the story opens with a group of boys and men living on their own. All the women have died from some sort of disease that does not affect men. I personally wasn't clear if it was a fungus that started in the women's bodies, or was something that came from without and entered them. Either way, they are gone. But something comes to the men which will seemingly replace the women, or offer something new.

The book is fascinating, sexual, and gross. It might be something I would visit again, but it's definitely something I will be thinking about for a while. I thought about rating it four stars, but there are so many things that I'm unclear on. That can happen with a story so short. But the premise doesn't really allow for something to be developed further. So here we are.

The Beauty was published in 2014, and more recently there has been a lot of talk surrounding trans rights, issues, laws, restrictions, etc. I am non-binary, and while I'm not sure if I would call myself trans, I am firmly on the side of trans rights. The reason I mention this is that this story is saying a lot about societal expectations of one's gender identity. It goes further into changing biology of people within the story. I can't help but read what's happening through today's lens. I don't know what I would have thought if I read it in 2014. But it just feels like it's screaming something about trans people here. I just don't know what it is.

Because the book is so thought-provoking, I would recommend it, but I wouldn't expect any clear understanding. It's kind of just there, showing you something interesting. I enjoyed it.

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See my entire review here: https://allisontshannon.wordpress.com/2019/05/19/things-slowly-degrade-review-of-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet/

fun read but a bit too cartoonish and silly for me. i may continue but I'm in no hurry.

Full Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnqzuPvMQA8