heathero621's reviews
641 reviews

No Land in Sight: Poems by Charles Simic

hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0

This is a book of poems about the author's reflections on modern day life for him.  The poems are short, the book is short, so this is a book that you will get through fast.  I really liked his poems and they were easy to get and comprehend.  There was a lightness to them and I didn't feel like I had to dig deep for the meaning.

Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

This book is about David Win's life following him from when he is a teen at a boarding school in England to when he is in his 70s.  This book was highly rated by someone that I like, but I've discovered that we do not have similar tastes in books.  This book is a very literary book and sometimes those just don't work for me because I find myself getting bored and my mind wandering.  I wasn't invested in David's life and I really just wanted the book to end.  I contemplating DNFing the book, but I have such a hard time doing that.  The book is very well written, but it just wasn't for me.  I did think that it picked up towards the end

Just Add Water: My Swimming Life by Katie Ledecky

hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

This is Katie Ledecky's memoir (even though she isn't even 30 yet!).  I wanted to know more about her since this last olympics.  The book definitely gives you more background on her and her swimming career.  I listened to the audio and I really enjoyed it that way.  Katie comes off as so likable and such a genuinely nice person.  Since she hasn't had a long life there are parts of the book where she talks about her Grandparents' and parents' histories.  Katie's life is basically swimming, so there isn't much outside of that in the book.  It was interesting to learn more about her trajectory.  I also watched some videos of her swimming to see the races or moments she was talking about.

It definitely was a good book to get me out of a slump and something easy to listen to post election week.

A Well Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This book is Tia's memoir about being in a Christian Fundamentalist church and how awful it was for her.  What she wrote about was not surprising at all.  There have been a lot of documentaries that have come out about these groups of people and so I had a good understanding of what she was talking about.  It is really sad for all that are involved and it boggles the mind that they would think this is how "Jesus would want it to be."  I listened to the audiobook and it was really good that way.  My attention was kept throughout the whole book.  I looked Tia up on IG and I enjoy what she has to say on there and I'm glad that she was able to find a way to leave.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

emotional funny reflective sad 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? No

3.75

This book is the story of two brothers Peter and Ivan.  It follows them shortly after their father has died.  Peter is in his early 30s in a successful job and is dating one woman, but is in love with another one.  Ivan is in his early 20s and is still trying to figure out his life.  He is really into chess and is good at it.  At one of his chess matches he meets an older woman and they start dating.  I enjoy all of Sally Rooney's novels and this one was no exception to that.  I liked the dynamic of the brothers and how they were so different from one another.  The story alternates between points of view and I really did not like how Rooney wrote Peter's point of view.  It didn't feel natural to read and just felt off.  I wish that she wouldn't have done that.  This one wasn't my favorite of hers, but still enjoyable.

The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi by Wright Thompson

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

This is the story of Emmett Till's murder in Mississippi and the history around the area that he was killed.  The story is told from the author's perspective as a white native Mississippian to that area.  I listened to the audiobook and it did take me a little bit to get into the author's voice/narration, but then I was fine with it.  There is so much about Emmett Till's murder that I did not know and this book really gave me a much great understanding of what was going on.  I did think that there were times when Thompson meandered too much into the history of the place and I wished that he would have mostly focused on Till's story.  I understood the reason of wanting to explore the history, but some parts felt like they were really long and could've been edited down.  I appreciated that he was telling this story and owned up to all the harm that white people in that area have done.  

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-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

3.75

One day all of the white people in the US randomly look up to the sky and then start walking to the nearest body of water and drown themselves.  The only people left in the US are people of color.  Sidney, is a teen that is half black and half white.  Her family has all died, so she gets in touch with her biological father, who she has never talked to before.  He comes to help her and they go on an adventure together trying to figure out what happened and how they and everyone else are supposed to navigate this new world.

This book had a very interesting premise, but I think that it fell a little flat on the delivery.  For more than half of the book it is Sidney and Charlie meeting each other and navigating to Alabama.  I think that once they got there it started to pick-up. It really wasn't until towards the end where we finally got some answers about what was going on.  I feel like the author could've done so much more with exploring what the US would be like without white people.  I would have loved more on the Orange Beach "colony" too.  The ending was a bit dramatic for me, although I did appreciate the way Sidney's story ended in the book.

Severance by Ling Ma

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

There has been a fungal outbreak called the Shen Flu and it is spreading all over the world and people are dying.  Candace is a woman that is living in New York, who has not been affected by this disease and is surviving.  She meets up with a bunch of people that are still alive and they go around NY to see if other people are living, but the leader, Bob, is a sinister guy.  The story goes back and forth to before the virus and current times.

This book was written before COVID was a thing and it is eerily crazy how there are similarities to what happened.  Thank god, COVID was nothing as bad as this book.  Also, I appreciated the fact that the fungal disease did not turn everyone into Zombies ala The Last of Us.  I liked how the story went back in time, so that we got more information about Candace and how her life led up to her current point.  I did get a little lost when the "gang" was all together.  This was another book that I read before bed, so I'm sure because of the sleepiness I lost some context to the story.  The ending was good, but I wished that there was more.  

Tarta Americana by J. Michael Martinez

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

This book is about the author's experiences in the world and for most of it he is either telling Richie Valens about it or comparing what Valens went through with things going on in the world.  Some of the poems I really liked and felt like he made some good points.  Some of the poems really confused me and went right over my head and I felt like skimming those ones.  Overall, it was a good collection.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

This is a story about three sisters that are dealing with all of their issues a year after their sister has died.  The three sisters, Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky all live in separate countries and don't talk to each other often, but when they learn that their parents want to sell their NY apartment, the one that their dead sister Nikki lived in, they all get together to go through Nikki's things and deal with their own issues.

I thought that this was a good book.  I liked the dynamic of the sisters in the book and I liked each of the sisters and their stories.  I liked how each chapter is told from one of the sister's points of view.  A lot of the story was about each sister's lives and I thought that there would be more interaction between the sisters.  More towards the end there was and I liked that more. I wish that there would've been more of the parents in the novel.  I really liked the last chapter where the mom finally makes an appearance and we get more clarity about things.  I really loved Coco's first book and I didn't think that this book was as good as that one.  I will still read whatever she writes next.