tracithomas's reviews
935 reviews

Feeding Littles Lunches: 75+ No-Stress Lunches Everyone Will Love: Meal Planning for Kids by Megan McNamee, Judy Delaware

informative fast-paced

4.0

I enjoyed this no frills guide to making kids lunches. It’s a cookbook but also not one bc there aren’t recipes just combos and philosophy behind kids lunches. 

The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I really liked this book. It captured me from the start and I was invested in the characters. I think this is a very strong "COVID novel" and it explores a lot of ideas around who we become in moments of crisis. I think there were a few too many perspectivs in the book overall, but think Porter pulled off a really solid book.

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo

adventurous informative medium-paced

5.0

Incredible research and detail. A real stunner as far as telling a story that is lesser known in US history. Some of the writing verged on corny in places. I enjoyed over all the scope and detail and was impressed by all the connections that author found and how she explained so much of US history through the Crafts.

The Furies: Women, Vengeance, and Justice by Elizabeth Flock

dark informative tense slow-paced

3.0

This was a pretty uneven book. The first section on Brittany was far and away the best section. The author has made a movie about that woman as well as articles etc. She had a great sense of this story and should have done and entire book on it. It felt like she tacked on the other stories to fulfill a thesis that got murky as she added people to it.

Liars by Sarah Manguso

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really liked the writing in this fragmentary novel. It is relentless in how fucked up everyday marriages can be. There is nothing extraordinary here and yet it is brutal. The husband here is a total jerk and the author does not let up on that. We can feel how trapped she is. It reads like a memoir. My biggest issue is this book is too long and bc not a lot happens, it could be shorter by 75 pages and been a really tight strong book, instead it get a little redundant in the end.

True Grit by Charles Portis

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

I had so much fun listening to this book. It is a total delight. It is a bit of a send up or maybe subversion of the western genre and I loved it. I loved the characters and the story. It is so wholesome while still having, well, grit. Portis captures the voice of a teen girl so well. There is fun. There is drama. I really liked this one.

The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA by Jesse Katz

adventurous dark informative tense medium-paced

4.0

I liked this one, pretty fast moving (though the pacing does stall out in sections) and interesting. Presented as a mix of true crime and investigative journalism. Enjoyed being embedded in the subcultures of LA gangs, street vendors, and law enforcement. There are moments when I rolled my eyes at the way the author would present certain things, a little copaganda here and there and sometimes little paternalistic. 

Consent by Jill Ciment

reflective fast-paced

4.0

A really sharp meditation on memoir, memory, art, power, and of course abuse. I appreciated how Ciment would pull chunks from her memoir to compare with her current thinking. I liked the writing style so much. Its a short book and lost a little focus for me in the middle, but overall really good. I would have loved for her to share why she wanted to go back and tell this story in a new way. 

Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This is a YA book about a magical Black HBCU, I loved the idea but think the execution was flawed. The book is way too long, and slow, and I felt like most of the twists were just there to twist, but didn't move the plot forward. It was hard to follow and I never really cared about the characters, I also struggled to keep them all straight. The book has potential and the author has a great imagination, but the editor needed to be considerably more rigorous with this story.

This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is one of those books you have to piece together as you go. There is a murder mystery at the center and you're trying to figure it all out. I liked the world building and the characters. I did sometimes feel lost in the motivations of the characters and who I was supposed to be rooting for (which I think was intentional). I saw the big twist coming from pretty far away (at least 150 pages out). Overall this is a solid book but I do have some smaller nits to pick (pacing mostly). I saw so much growth for the author from their debut to this.