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sittingwishingreading's reviews
810 reviews
No Bad Parts: How the Internal Family Systems Model Changes Everything by Richard C. Schwartz
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
No Bad Parts is a great primer for Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. It’s for clinicians and clients alike, has a lot of great experiential exercises, and spanned from the individual to the systemic. The audiobook was a little funky - they had a great voice actor read most of the book, but Dick Schwartz, the creator of IFS, facilitating the exercises and in the interviews.
There are parts of this that kind of feel like you have to be fully bought in to IFS to get on board with, but I think there is a lot to this framework, and I, personally and professionally, find it compelling.
There are parts of this that kind of feel like you have to be fully bought in to IFS to get on board with, but I think there is a lot to this framework, and I, personally and professionally, find it compelling.
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Conceptually, The Safekeep is fascinating. It is one of those books whose plot twist fundamentally changes the reader’s whole understanding of the plot. It is set in a place and time far from where I am located, and the secondary character, to me, is far more compelling than the main character.
This book is sexy and precarious and defensive and sad. It is queer and bold and wounded and yearning to speak its truth. I personally wish the book were longer, parts were more fleshed out, but I think it’s more of a thematic art piece than a character study.
I am fascinated by the facets of this book. It asks a lot of questions, answers a few, and leaves a lot for the reader to fill in. It asks who has come before us, what happens next, and what does authenticity ask of us in this one and precious life.
This book is sexy and precarious and defensive and sad. It is queer and bold and wounded and yearning to speak its truth. I personally wish the book were longer, parts were more fleshed out, but I think it’s more of a thematic art piece than a character study.
I am fascinated by the facets of this book. It asks a lot of questions, answers a few, and leaves a lot for the reader to fill in. It asks who has come before us, what happens next, and what does authenticity ask of us in this one and precious life.
Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
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? Yes
4.75
I loved the short stories in Behind You is the Sea. Unlike many short story collections, all or the stories were good, no story felt like it lagged, and all of them remained distinct in my mind, which is super unusual for me and short story collections. I listened to this one on audiobook and loved it.
These stories revolve around a Palestinian community in Baltimore, MD. It covered the gamut for ages of characters, values of characters, and acculturation. The characters interconnect in unexpected and often surprising ways, and the woven web of diaspora identities and experiences are plucked multiple times throughout each of these stories.
I liked all of the stories, but the two that stuck out most to me were the one about the divorced lawyer and the last one. Susan Muaddi Darraj really skillfully already shows the shapes and whispers of the main characters of these stories in other previous stories, and these stories bring these characters’ internal worlds and tensions fully into the light. This turns a two dimensional understanding of these characters into a full three dimensions, and allows the reader to see how these folks exist to themselves and within this Palestinian community in Baltimore.
These stories revolve around a Palestinian community in Baltimore, MD. It covered the gamut for ages of characters, values of characters, and acculturation. The characters interconnect in unexpected and often surprising ways, and the woven web of diaspora identities and experiences are plucked multiple times throughout each of these stories.
I liked all of the stories, but the two that stuck out most to me were the one about the divorced lawyer and the last one. Susan Muaddi Darraj really skillfully already shows the shapes and whispers of the main characters of these stories in other previous stories, and these stories bring these characters’ internal worlds and tensions fully into the light. This turns a two dimensional understanding of these characters into a full three dimensions, and allows the reader to see how these folks exist to themselves and within this Palestinian community in Baltimore.
Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Noopiming is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous and lives in the liminality of so many tensions - past/present, urban/natural, colonized/decolonial, living/dying, survival/thriving/living with trauma. It is a fragmented book of mostly poetry, some prose, and so, so much emotion.
Simpson is an incredible storyteller, and this book flows from character to character, between time and place to create a deeply spiritually focused story describing the pain and purpose of living and community, even in the liminality, even with deep pain, in times of ritual and celebration, in times or survival.
Simpson also writes in, of, and for Anishinaabe people. My understanding of this book is limited by my Whiteness. I know that this book holds so much more for Anishinaabe people. I am grateful to have read it, and I loved it, and. If you read it, know that unless you are Anishinaabe, it is not written for you, and that frame is essential in holding this book.
Simpson is an incredible storyteller, and this book flows from character to character, between time and place to create a deeply spiritually focused story describing the pain and purpose of living and community, even in the liminality, even with deep pain, in times of ritual and celebration, in times or survival.
Simpson also writes in, of, and for Anishinaabe people. My understanding of this book is limited by my Whiteness. I know that this book holds so much more for Anishinaabe people. I am grateful to have read it, and I loved it, and. If you read it, know that unless you are Anishinaabe, it is not written for you, and that frame is essential in holding this book.
White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy by Paul Waldman, Tom Schaller
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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
4.25
Brotherless Night is a book about moral ambiguity and how we decide what we decide in unimaginable times. Ganeshanathan wrote this lit fic novel filled with immense grief, a woman trying to make choices in a world filled with no good choices, and the power of a clear-sighted mentor whose care made a world of difference.
The professor/mentor was absolutely my favorite character, and was the backbone of this story imho. There are so many traumas enumerated in this book, and although the protagonist, Sashi, tried her best to navigate them, I think the professor/mentor was a shining light and a foil of sorts for Sashi in this novel.
I would put this book in a similar but different category as Cutting For Stone, a book about how one’s desire to help and save as a medical student/doctor often cannot protect the ones we love. I thought this book was solid litfic, and passed it along to my mother, who likes really middle-of-the-road historical and literary fiction. This is a book about war and how, sometimes, when we gain power, we become the exact thing we are trying to change.
The professor/mentor was absolutely my favorite character, and was the backbone of this story imho. There are so many traumas enumerated in this book, and although the protagonist, Sashi, tried her best to navigate them, I think the professor/mentor was a shining light and a foil of sorts for Sashi in this novel.
I would put this book in a similar but different category as Cutting For Stone, a book about how one’s desire to help and save as a medical student/doctor often cannot protect the ones we love. I thought this book was solid litfic, and passed it along to my mother, who likes really middle-of-the-road historical and literary fiction. This is a book about war and how, sometimes, when we gain power, we become the exact thing we are trying to change.
Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West by Justin Farrell
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A Time of Questions by Devakanthan
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
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
3.25