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illtakethenightshiftx's reviews
192 reviews
Instructions for Traveling West: Poems by Joy Sullivan
emotional
hopeful
reflective
4.0
I loved this collection! There were some poems that missed for me, but I really liked it, overall. It feels like essential reading for anyone who feels like they’re at a transition point in their life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Body shaming
A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a strange little novel that really wasn’t for me. Usually I like a story about messy women, but Helen was just a bit too messy for me. I really didn’t like her at all (which is the point!) and truly didn’t care whether or not she came out the other side in the end. This story is like a train wreck, I could not look away, even though I considered not finishing it. The side characters are intriguing and I want to know more about them outside of Helen’s POV, especially the wives and Emma.
The lack of quotation marks made it difficult to follow at times, but added to the chaotic frenzy of Helen’s internal monologue. The overall feeling of the novel is bleak, although there are moments of dark humor that contrast moments of profound sadness that hit me right in the chest. Overall, I don’t think this was for me, but I know folks who would absolutely LOVE this!
The lack of quotation marks made it difficult to follow at times, but added to the chaotic frenzy of Helen’s internal monologue. The overall feeling of the novel is bleak, although there are moments of dark humor that contrast moments of profound sadness that hit me right in the chest. Overall, I don’t think this was for me, but I know folks who would absolutely LOVE this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Child death
Additional CW: Elder abuse (moderate), incarceration (moderate)
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation by Sunaura Taylor
informative
5.0
Beasts of Burden by Sunaura Taylor examines the interconnected, yet different, issues of disability rights and animal rights. Throughout the book, Taylor examines this while taking care to highlight their differences by using both historical, contemporary, and personal contexts. Throughout her analysis, Taylor pulls the curtain back on many of the historical and dominant views on both animal and disability rights which are rooted in white supremacy, heteronormativity, patriarchy, ableism, and capitalism.
There were many instances reading this where my jaw dropped and I marked, starred, and underlined passages multiple times because Taylor’s words helped me to articulate things I believe and try to convey to others, but somehow always come up short in my attempts. She dismantles the ideas of human exceptionalism, anthropocentrism, among others, and forces us to think critically about so much - including factory farming, treatment of disabled people, conscious and unconscious biases, language, and the historical and systemic reasons behind them.
Taylor doesn't shy away from addressing gaps in her analysis and framing and poses thought-provoking questions that are left unanswered, which is something I appreciated. Some questions don’t have an answer, or have an uncomfortable answer, and that’s okay. She challenges us to sit in our discomfort and really think critically about what is being asked.
Beasts of Burden is an urgent call and a critical lens to reframe what it means to be vegan and an intersectional approach to understanding the connections between disability justice and animal rights. This book was published prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I think it’s thesis and message need to be spread because the pandemic disproportionately affected the disabled community and is a disabling virus; long COVID is real and the full extent of the effects of the pandemic are yet to be realized.
All of this is to say - read! this! book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Racism, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain
Did not finish book. Stopped at 36%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 36%.
Will return to this eventually, but I really can’t listen to anybody talk about killing, preparing, and eating animals rn
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
emotional
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
4.5
Absolutely loved this!!! I wish the ending wasn’t so quick, but besides that it was an fantastic read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
funny
reflective
I’ve been wanting to read this since I was a teenager and saw an episode of No Reservations. I’m so glad I decided to listen to the audiobook instead of picking up the print. Memoirs read by the author, especially by an author who has an amazing voice, are so much more powerful. You can tell how much food meant to Bourdain, even during his early years.
(Rating memoirs feels weird so I’m not doing it)
(Rating memoirs feels weird so I’m not doing it)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
I’m so sad the series is over, but this was such a wonderful way to end it!! These books feel like a warm hug and never fail to make me cry and The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is no different.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Confinement, War
Minor: Colonisation
Perfume and Pain by Anna Dorn
dark
funny
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
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster* for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I loved every second of this!! Astrid is the messiest character I’ve met in a long time. She is a tornado of booze, drugs, sex, and transactional relationships that leaves a path of destruction 100 miles wide in her wake. And yet, you can’t help but root for her the whole novel and want to see her do better and make better choices.
Dorn’s prose is brash, unflinching, honest, and compulsively readable. At times, it feels like you’re reading someone’s journal or secret Tumblr account. I also got major Ava from ‘Hacks’ vibes (just less funny) from Astrid, which I enjoyed. I liked how Dorn wrote the side characters and how the reader gets to watch their relationships to Astrid evolve over the course of the novel.
There was one point towards the middle of the novel where Astrid’s cyclical shenanigans got a bit old for me, but that feeling quickly went away as the story progressed.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and will be reading the rest of Anna Dorm’s catalogue immediately!! Perfume and Pain is for anyone who likes to watch mess and drama from a safe distance, until you inevitably get swept up in it in some way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Moderate: Fatphobia, Stalking
Minor: Ableism, Homophobia