emily_britton's reviews
787 reviews

The Wilder Shores of Love by Lesley Blanch

adventurous informative inspiring medium-paced

4.75

Fascinating stories and substantial writing! I was less of a fan of the first and fourth biographies, but the second and third were amazing. For having been written in 1954, it is only slightly dated in its use of stereotypes as descriptions.

The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Way too YA for me. I like complete sentences, unlike the previous one, and the main character was just too immature for my taste. I liked the premise, but I think Rossner tried to do too much in some ways -- that was a lot of folklore to combine into one story! That being said, I really did want to know what was going on, so I kept reading.

Redwall by Brian Jacques

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adventurous funny fast-paced

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

5.0

My kids loved this! It was especially gratifying to see Zavier respond so enthusiastically to certain plot points. He's twelve, after all!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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adventurous challenging funny informative tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Fantastic story, very satisfying. The science stuff did get a little dry in the middle, but I think it was actually necessary to the story, so keep going if you get bogged down there. There were several occasions on which I could not put this down, so beware!

Content Warnings

July's People by Nadine Gordimer

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dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Evocative? Yes. Deep and thought-provoking? In spades. But if, like me, you like resolution or even clarity, this book is not for you. Interesting stuff.

Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? No

3.5

The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by Gunther Siegmund Stent

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challenging funny informative inspiring medium-paced

3.75

I am rather proud of myself for reading and making sense of this book, since my education in genetics (besides watching my children develop) ended in ninth grade. Watson's account is really quite charming and does not go far beyond that ninth grade biology lesson, which is to say that it was also mindblowing to think about how much it took to get to a discovery that now all high schoolers learn in the most basic of science classes. I also enjoyed the reviews at the end more than I thought they would -- they added a good amount of context and were highly amusing.

Call It Sleep by Henry Roth

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dark sad tense slow-paced

3.0

Having finished this, I can recognize Roth's genius, but it was not an enjoyable or easy read. The dialog was especially difficult.

Content Warnings