alekz's reviews
42 reviews

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The audiobook is fantastic. The story is written as a podcast documentary and the production and cast of readers absolutely tells it as one. The writing and story is gripping as well. 

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The very beginning seemed a bit YA for my tastes, but once past that it’s one of the most beautifully profound books I’ve had the pleasure of reading. 

The New Topping Book by Janet W. Hardy, Dossie Easton

informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

Really informative and eye opening. 
For people for whom this could be sensitive I wanted to say that the authors use the word/fantasy “slave” “master” at points throughout the book, and once, in reference to potentially taboo cultural/race play, the n word. 
The authors are white. There is a section where the authors cite feedback and conversations they’ve had with kinksters of color as well. 

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

Despite the god awful title and almost equally bad cover, this is actually a good book. Less of a winding murder mystery than some of Feeney’s other books, but doesn’t suffer from it. I found it to be quite charming and sweet, ultimately. 

Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy by Jessica Fern

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

What a rollercoaster of events 

I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Absolutely bonkers insane stuff /derogatory. I usually love this author’s stuff but this was …. odd. Tw incest, kidnapping, abuse, csa, moreso than her other works.  

Tastes Like War: A Memoir by Grace M. Cho

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

"Tastes Like War" by Grace Cho is a memoir that also straddles the line toward academic. 
Cho is a professor and writes about her life as it relates to her mother and their immigration to the US from Korea. Cho tells us of her mother's development of schizophrenia, her upbringing in the Korean War, her experience as a state sanctioned sex worker for the US military, and their experiences as Korean immigrants in a very small, white town in the Pacific Northwest. Cho both lets us into her life and her family with beautiful clear prose and vulnerability, and contextualizes the generational trauma of herself and her mother through memoir and academic dives into these huge looming societal and cultural traumas. You learn so much about colonialism, imperialism, the culture of sex work not just in Korea but most notably in Korea in the beginning of the 20th century, about schizophrenia and the huge difference in its manifestation in the US and other countries - that schizophrenia is a social disorder, that our culture exacerbates it, that people from India (for example) can experience remission in far higher levels. You learn about the importance of food as love, as communication, as communion, as memory, as survival. 

And all of this told from Grace - a Korean American who loves her mother deeply, who wants to untangle the knot of trauma from her mother's life to free her - or maybe herself - from it's oppressive power as inexpressible. This book is a must read. 

As the child of a mother with mental illness, as the child of a father whose love language is cooking, as a writer, as a reader, this book was phenomenal. It had me gasping out loud, it had me choking up, it had me remembering my mother and my lifelong personal work of trying to untangle the knot of her trauma. 

As a white person, I am so grateful to be able to hear the stories of those living lives I'll never be able to fathom. 

And, professors! This can be assigned for classes anywhere from Women's and Gender Studies, Social and Cultural importance of Food, Korean History, Race in and Out of the US, Psychology classes, Social and cultural relationships with Mental Illness. It's written very clearly, very eloquently, and without any jargon. It's easily understandable for people unfamiliar with any of the above things, and is primarily a memoir, so don't be afraid of the nod to academia!

Jaws by Peter Benchley

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed the way the attacked were described almost from the shark’s point of view, and the added context to the reasons why the town couldn’t shut down. There’s a random chapter of erotica and the book is problematic a few times in way a book from 1972 often is. A couple weird moments of racism, use of the word r+pe to refer both to actual acts and to describe violations of other random types. Used at will. Definitely not the best thing ever but some parts were interesting.