tracithomas's reviews
984 reviews

A really ambitious debut book that mixes memoir with cultural reflection. The questions here are so good and compelling. Some of the structure is confusing or clunky—needed a touch more focus. Overall interesting with some fantastic bits. 

I appreciated this trans memoir from an older perspective— a person transitioning late in life. The writing is good but extremely cold and removed. Matter of fact. I struggled with the straightness of the narrative and who the audience might be and why the book has become so beloved. I think it’s a solid memoir but it didn’t really resonate with me because of the remove. 

I liked this book but was ahead of the author for much of it. I like the way it all rolls out but was annoyed by the dialogue being full of fits and starts with much unsaid. I don't like that choice in novel because there are other ways to do that. It is a good book and a very good debut.

A solid parenting book. The writing is easy to follow. The advice seems to work. Some of the format (multiple parents weighing in in 1st person) is tedious. 

This was a solid celeb memoir. I loved the early parts but found the back half to mostly be a resume. I found her so likable and loved listening to bishop tell her own story. I barely knew anything about her and still found it overall good but not outstanding. 

A poetry collection about life in Gaza from a Palestinian poet forced to flee his home following the relentless bombings from Israel that began after October 7. 2023. These poems are emotional as hell. I didn’t cry, but I certainly welled up. More than once. There is a lot of range in this collection while still remaining extremely accessible, even fore a poetry newb like me. 

This book was darker and more intense and deep than I thought it would be. I really liked the author and related to many of her cultural references if not her actual experiences. I was hoping for more essays that took on tackiness and not so much memoir. But what she did she did well, it’s just not what the book was billed as. 

I think I liked this book but I really do not understand finance and so I feel like goof chunks went over my head. The audio was cool because you got to hear actual conversations between the author and Madoff. The book does pull everything together and speculates on what really happened, but at parts tries to do too much tying Madoff to Trump. I would gladly read that book, but this is not that book and it doesn't need those sections. Also, not sure Behar is the guy to write that book.

I appreciate so much how McInerny writes about grief. She is unique in her tone and approach. She is so relatable as a sarcastic person who feels deeply but that also includes joy even in the darkest moments. This book is her first and it isn't as strong as her other books from a writing standpoint but this one is still really good and entertaining and hits home.

This is a speech and a short essay on the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the narrative arch of the story of Palestinians since the Nakba. This book is so slim that once it got cooking, in the essay, it was over. I liked it but wanted so much more. Hammad writes beautifully and I loved her thinking through Palestine and Palestinians as part of a narrative lineage.