punkhunk's reviews
13 reviews
What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, by Raymond Carver
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
this book is, like, fine. it just doesn't do it for me. it's not describing what i would describe when i talk about love. maybe it's outdated, or maybe my love is just different than Carver's. it just didn't resonate for me.
my favorite story, the one i connected to the most, was the one told by the boy who had just lost his father. (i will find it's name and edit this later)
my favorite story, the one i connected to the most, was the one told by the boy who had just lost his father. (i will find it's name and edit this later)
Homie: Poems, by Danez Smith
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
i love Smith's poetry. this is my second time reading through this book, and i connected with it much more on this read through than my last. mostly the parts about grief, i had tried to protect myself by not engaging with it. i did this time and sat with the words.
Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
Octavia Butler managed to reel me in immediately. i was so captivated by this book i struggled to put it down. highly recommend this, all of the themes are relevant to now, especially important now.
this book may end up influencing my own religious beliefs, and it's a work of fiction. the belief is real, despite the book taking place in an alternate future of our world.
i do see where Butler is coming from with her depiction of what she was observing 30 years ago. we may still even get to the point of ecological and societal collapse she describes here, if we don't snap out of our war ridden ways.
amazing book. please read this.
this book may end up influencing my own religious beliefs, and it's a work of fiction. the belief is real, despite the book taking place in an alternate future of our world.
i do see where Butler is coming from with her depiction of what she was observing 30 years ago. we may still even get to the point of ecological and societal collapse she describes here, if we don't snap out of our war ridden ways.
amazing book. please read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Classism, Injury/injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Car accident, Incest, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Excrement, and Murder
Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs, by Rachel Jeffs
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Rachel Jeffs depicts her life, from her childhood with her father Warren Jeffs, her relationships with her own mother, her mother's sister wives, and her siblings. She describes the rate at which her family grew larger and larger as she grew, her grandfather (the previous prophet of the FLDS before Warren) passed, and her father reacted to the law and his own actions.
I was floored by this book. Jeffs wastes no time in throwing the reader right in- from the prologue she gives the reader a warning of what is to come- her abusive relationship (sexually, emotionally, and spiritually) with her father within the FLDS cult. Once i was about a third of the way in, I had trouble keeping the book down and ended up staying up late just to find out what would happen next.
Jeffs ends up with quite a happy ending despite this being an overall dark memoir. Much of the book is filled with her trials and tribulations as she navigates life in the FLDS church, but she maintains strength and dignity throughout. I highly recommend this book to those who appreciates dark memoirs- my friend recomended it to me for those reasons and she hit the nail on the head.
I was floored by this book. Jeffs wastes no time in throwing the reader right in- from the prologue she gives the reader a warning of what is to come- her abusive relationship (sexually, emotionally, and spiritually) with her father within the FLDS cult. Once i was about a third of the way in, I had trouble keeping the book down and ended up staying up late just to find out what would happen next.
Jeffs ends up with quite a happy ending despite this being an overall dark memoir. Much of the book is filled with her trials and tribulations as she navigates life in the FLDS church, but she maintains strength and dignity throughout. I highly recommend this book to those who appreciates dark memoirs- my friend recomended it to me for those reasons and she hit the nail on the head.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, and Miscarriage
Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Infertility, and Medical content
much of part one contains Jeffs' major graphic experiences of child sexual abuse and incest. it is not graphic later in the book, but is mentioned throughout the text.
this is mostly obvious, but the whole book is about Jeffs' experience in the FLDS cult, which was not a choice of content warning.
there are a few points at which her children are hurt badly and cannot go to the hospital due to FLDS rules, im not sure whether to mark that as "medical abuse" (which i thought was doctors/medial professionals abusing their power over patients).
Life and Love: Positive Strategies for Autistic Adults, by Zosia Zaks
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
i liked this book a lot- aside from all the bits encouraging police interactions. it was helpful and gave tangible strategies to real problems i, and many other autistic people, face. the book does not demean or put down autistic people for struggling with what might seem like simple struggles for allistic people. Zaks is very encouraging and advocates for autistic independence throughout the book.
a lot of the info is still relevant in 2022 (published in 2006), and i also could see how a lot of the processes described in this book are streamlined by advances in technology and social media.
additionally, i am polyamorous so the dating advice was a bit odd to read since the author pretty clearly outlined that romantic relationships only happen between two people and no one else, which is not true for me and many of my autistic friends.
overall, pretty good, and yet, there is a lot this book left out. there are huge correlations between transness and being autistic- something this book doesn't mention, which i am sure is due to stigma and lack of information, not the author.
a lot of the info is still relevant in 2022 (published in 2006), and i also could see how a lot of the processes described in this book are streamlined by advances in technology and social media.
additionally, i am polyamorous so the dating advice was a bit odd to read since the author pretty clearly outlined that romantic relationships only happen between two people and no one else, which is not true for me and many of my autistic friends.
overall, pretty good, and yet, there is a lot this book left out. there are huge correlations between transness and being autistic- something this book doesn't mention, which i am sure is due to stigma and lack of information, not the author.
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, by Mary Oliver
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
this collection is the span of Mary Oliver's published literature. it is huge and a bit daunting. it took me four months of consistently reading the book collection by collection to finish it.
overall, it's pretty good. i love her work, and i love nature poetry. she has such a great way with words, and it is fantastic to see how her voice changes over time. some of the poems are a bit lackluster imo, but i still really like it as a whole.
she does mention g-d or "the lord" a lot. i try to take that less literally than she might mean it. im not christian, so i wouldn't be able to relate or understand the kind of diety she is describing anyway. take that for what you will.
i personally think the book should progress from her first work to her more recent work rather than the other way around, but it's her book not mine.
my favorites: wild geese, when i am among the trees, the pond, i own a house, the summer day, just as the calendar began to say summer
overall, it's pretty good. i love her work, and i love nature poetry. she has such a great way with words, and it is fantastic to see how her voice changes over time. some of the poems are a bit lackluster imo, but i still really like it as a whole.
she does mention g-d or "the lord" a lot. i try to take that less literally than she might mean it. im not christian, so i wouldn't be able to relate or understand the kind of diety she is describing anyway. take that for what you will.
i personally think the book should progress from her first work to her more recent work rather than the other way around, but it's her book not mine.
my favorites: wild geese, when i am among the trees, the pond, i own a house, the summer day, just as the calendar began to say summer
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
this book is fantastic. well paced, informative, and filled with love for people of all forms. i highly recommend this book for anyone struggling with their relationship to the environment and especially those who are aspiring restoration ecologists.
Kimmerer is an amazing writer and a fantastic teacher through her words. i read this book very slowly, over almost two months, to soak in the information as well as i could. she has shown me a new side to ecology and challenged me to change how i view our natural world. i cannot recommend this book enough.
Kimmerer is an amazing writer and a fantastic teacher through her words. i read this book very slowly, over almost two months, to soak in the information as well as i could. she has shown me a new side to ecology and challenged me to change how i view our natural world. i cannot recommend this book enough.
The Heart of Tantric Sex, by Diana Richardson
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
this book was a good read, even as a trans/nonbinary queer person. if you can push past the cis centrism (woman = breasts & vagina, man = no breasts & penis, which there is a lot of) and learn from the messaging of the book, i highly recommend it if you are interested in the basics of changing your sex life to be more present and reflective.
the main question i am left with, is how to partake in tantric sex if you are two partners with the same genital parts. i left off some stars for this, because there is zero mention of gay or queer people in the book. i still learned a lot, but it was a bit disheartening to see a lack of inclusive education (and sure, the book was written almost 20 years ago, but gay people still existed far before then)
the main question i am left with, is how to partake in tantric sex if you are two partners with the same genital parts. i left off some stars for this, because there is zero mention of gay or queer people in the book. i still learned a lot, but it was a bit disheartening to see a lack of inclusive education (and sure, the book was written almost 20 years ago, but gay people still existed far before then)
Can the Monster Speak?, by Paul B. Preciado
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
fabulously laid out argument with references to real world examples of change outside the realm of psychology to show the impact individuals can make in regards to change as a whole.
an exploration into psychoanalysis in comparison to the experiences of a psychoanalyzed trans person who transitioned in adulthood. a plea to the psychoanalyst community to break free of previous confines of their practices to listen to trans people about their persecution and history.
my one critique, which is extremely niche, is that he could have delved further into specific community interactions between psychologists and trans people, the power and violence wielded by psychologists against trans people, and the setbacks that sexologists and previous psycholgists faced in the name of progress. i highly recommend reading into Sandy Stone and Susan Stryker for more on this, who are both mentioned in this book.
an exploration into psychoanalysis in comparison to the experiences of a psychoanalyzed trans person who transitioned in adulthood. a plea to the psychoanalyst community to break free of previous confines of their practices to listen to trans people about their persecution and history.
my one critique, which is extremely niche, is that he could have delved further into specific community interactions between psychologists and trans people, the power and violence wielded by psychologists against trans people, and the setbacks that sexologists and previous psycholgists faced in the name of progress. i highly recommend reading into Sandy Stone and Susan Stryker for more on this, who are both mentioned in this book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
mention of John Money, known child sexual abuser, and mentions of rape and sexual abuse of colonized persons.
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History, by Art Spiegelman
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
beautifully written, artistically fulfilling, Spiegelman weaves a story from his time talking with his father about his time in the holocaust.