ryliereadss's reviews
247 reviews

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

I love reading books written by poets. This was absolutely phenomenal. Cyrus's obsession with martyrs is fascinating and makes you think about the mark you will leave when you die. The flashbacks we get that are narrated by Cyrus's relatives were really great, I loved reading about his family history. In those chapters we also learn about some of Cyrus's family trauma. I really enjoyed the observations made about grief, death, wanting to die, and writing. I also really loved the queer elements in the story that I didn't expect. I thought Roya was such a unique character. The ending really surprised me. I can't wait to reread this.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

This was a great first read of Murakami's work. I really liked Tengo and Aomame, they were great characters, Aomame especially. It's crazy that their love lasted so long. I liked that not all the questions were answered at the end. The magical realism aspects were cool and kind of scandalous, kind of made me uncomfy at one point. The plot was good but I wasn't itching to pick it up to see what happened. The parts where Tengo went to see his dad in the nursing home were pretty slow and not as entertaining, kind of just waiting for something to happen that never did. But for the majority of the book I felt like the pacing was slow but not without reason and I didn't feel like it dragged. I hated all the mentions of boobs, so unnecessary and annoying. Would still recommend tho. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Sexual content

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

Such an important book that puts words to feelings that others might find difficult to express. I learned so much about feeling nonbinary and was reminded how important it is to correct people when they get my friend’s pronouns wrong!!

Every Dog in the Neighborhood by Philip C. Stead

adventurous inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

A sweet book about taking action when you see something you want changed. I loved meeting all the dogs and people in Louis and Grandma's neighborhood. I liked that they both wrote to the city before they took action. The reveal of what grandma was working on was a great ending.

Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood

dark mysterious tense 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 new favorite!! The concept is something I’ve never read before and I think it was done really well. It’s about friendship and mother-daughter relationships and modern technology and young love. Mitty’s character was lovable and complex and held a lot of shame. Lena was sweet and innocent, at least in the beginning. I didn’t expect the open door spicy scenes in the first part of the book. I thought the pacing of the story was good and I liked the duo perspective and the flashback scenes. I really liked that Mitty and Lena are both unhinged to a certain extent. Bethel was awesome and such a great grandmother figure but also friend. The ending was shocking and awesome. I can’t wait to read more novels by Gatwood!

I do wish we had revisited Lena’s fainting spells and had gotten a little more explanation of them. Of course a guy makes a robot that he can also fuck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Blood

Lena puts tweezers in her leg and digs around for a bit.

More Than Peach by Bellen Woodard

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective

This has been my favorite of the Golden Sower books so far. Skin comes in more than one color! It was so cool to see the language in her classroom and then her school change when she pointed out to her classmates that skin isn't just peach. I loved the informative pages in the back about the steps to make changes just like she did. Bellen is an amazing kid and it's awesome that she had such a great support system at home and at school.

Agatha May and the Anglerfish by Nora Morrison, Mika Song, Jessie Ann Foley

hopeful informative lighthearted fast-paced

Such a cute story about a girl obsessed with anglerfish. I loved the rhyme scheme and the facts at the end of the book. I liked that Agatha wasn't a perfect student but could still do a project she cared about really well, I thought the message was great.

The Pigeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

I think many kids can relate to how Pigeon feels about going to school. The Pigeon is funny with his extreme reactions as always but they also admit that they're scared about going back to school.

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

funny hopeful fast-paced

It can be hard to make friends, especially when kids are so delicious to a dinosaur! Penelope learns to have empathy for her classmates which I thought was great to see.

Giant-Sized Butterflies On My First Day of School by Justin Roberts

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

A great back to school book that shows that we all get nervous with butterflies in our stomachs.