kelseyland's reviews
615 reviews

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

A very queer and very delightful rom-com/mystery.
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The Souvenir Museum: Stories by Elizabeth McCracken

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Every sentence in this book is breathtaking--McCracken strikes just the right balance of heartbreak and humor in these stunning short stories. 
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The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

The premise of this book is simple--recording a single delight every day for a year--but the result is complex and thought-provoking. The delights that Gay writes about are sometimes expected (nicknames, babies, hearing a favorite song in public) and sometimes not (a misheard word, the availability of public restrooms), but either way there is always a fresh, unexpected angle on offer. Will be thinking about this one for a long time. 
Switched on Pop: How Popular Music Works, and Why It Matters by Nate Sloan, Charlie Harding

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informative lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

Written by the musicologist and songwriter who host the eponymous podcast, this book is an incredible overview of pop music theory and production that uses these foundational concepts to help explain what makes some of the biggest hits of the 2000s and 2010s so great. The book also provides great historical context, citing examples from Gregorian chant to Beethoven to Tin Pan Alley to demonstrate the lineage of a category of music often dismissed as frivolous. And even with all that it's fun and easy to read even for someone with minimal musical knowledge, with playful illustrations to go along with the text. Highly recommended for any pop music lover, and even skeptics who wonder what it is about "Call Me Maybe" that makes it so damn catchy. 
The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book has almost everything I want in a space opera: galaxy-level stakes, weird time shit, and a band of misfit heroes who are doing their best with what they've got. 
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Firewatching by Russ Thomas

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A tense and intriguing mystery novel with plenty of twists. 
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Circe by Madeline Miller

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adventurous dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Miller is extremely adept at making these ancient stories feel real and alive, and Circe is no exception, blending tragedy and hopefulness in a beautiful and moving way. 
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First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara

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dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I think that readers who have extensive familiarity with or participation in fandom culture are the ideal audience for this book, which deals extensively in tropes/topics that are popular in fanfiction but might be jarring for other readers. It's an intense book and deals extensively with trauma, so I would definitely recommend reading and heeding the content warning printed in the book.

Content warning, per book flap: First, Become Ashes contains explicit sadomasochism and sexual content, as well as abuse and consent violations, including rape. 
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Thunderstruck & Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken

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emotional reflective
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A knockout collection of stories about trauma, grief, and getting by. 
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Devotion by Patti Smith

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inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

In this brief volume, Patti Smith answers the prompt "Why I Write" by instead providing a test case, a model for the ways in which inspiration weaves itself into fiction. The first section describes the circumstances in which she wrote the short story that comprises the second section, while the final part serves as a coda and broader meditation on writing. The specifics--a French book tour, an invitation to stay at Albert Camus' house--are obviously things that Patti Smith gets to do because she's Patti Smith, but I think the process of creative germination and synthesis she models here is useful and instructive for any writer.