bamboobones_rory's reviews
438 reviews

The magical realism in the book is amazing...the metaphors, the magic, wow. 
The magic of the real life river is paired with the MC's river of the mind- and how it can overwhelm and impair her - and the magic from the river that splits her body into pieces upon waking, there are so many interpretations and ways I think this book is not just about a people's revolution and magic and rivers, but the ways brains and bodies process trauma and immense grief. Perception of color - literally- is another major way this book says things about despair and hope. Not a "happy" book- mostly sad and hopeful and beautiful. 

very interesting read. As someone with an autism diagnosis (late diagnosed), it was interesting for me to see the ways I have masked in the past and how I currently use masking to function at work and those settings. It was also eye-opening to me that people who may not appear to be autistic in all parts of their life at all might be, and might save the unmasking until they get home. For myself, I can mask at work or in public but I have a "time limit" and cannot remain masking all my traits when I am at home. This book seems important in documenting the experiences of women, girls, and GNC and trans people with autism. Lots of autistic people joke about "boy autism" and "girl autism" and this author examines the societal factors in this- and how the way we view young girls and enforce and police gender impacts what is seen as "different" or needing help in school. A young autistic person obsessed with reading romance novels to the extent that she cannot eat or sleep otherwise might not be detected- despite the level of engagement with interests and sensory issues, since girls are rewarded if they are quiet, shy, and isolate. Many factors go into autistic traits- and if a kid only shows socially acceptable ones, they might not get a DX- but be deeply struggling with social and sensory issues and emotional isolation. I give this less than 4 stars because the writing style was not for me at many times- so that's for my storygraph algorithm, and about the writing style and not the content itself. 

Collection of essays by activists, scholars, and more- I loved this collection and how it addresses transgender issues and gender from the perspectives of religious Jews and how this impacts navigating religious community and halakha. Any reader who is religious and practicing (of any religion) and transgender will enjoy these perspectives on engaging with tradition and religious law while not compromising your identity and self. 

This was very difficult for me to get through- a friend who is studying to be a druid rec'ed it to me. It was hard to get through because I am familiar with Irish mythology and folk religion, and have spent time digging into mythology and the early celtic church. While this has an anglo-saxon focus and was focused on recreated traditions, it was so rife with historically inaccuracy it was so hard for me to read. I appreciate that people of European descent should engage with their past, traditions, and connection to the Earth, without appropriating closed cultures. I can get behind all humans seeking to connect with the Earth that we cannot disentangle ourselves from, and looking to our family histories. But I wish this book was more open and clear that they are created a modern practice- while helpful to some people in connecting with the land and their inner work- and that it is not based in history, but inspired by. It is also frustrating to me that the English men who founded "modern druidry" are the same who looked down upon the Irish language (and Gaelic and Welsh)- and did not seek to look those existing and living folk traditions due to ethnic prejudice. 

"Story of your life" was my favorite in this collection- about grief and loss and thinking out of linear time and all at once. And if you already know what will happen, what is language for? Ritual and actualization is the answer given here. A story of a parent losing a child in a freak accident, a parent who also spent time learning an alien language from a species that forms their whole sentences and thoughts at once instead of in a linear way. Reminded me of the prophets/wormhole aliens in Star Trek Deep Space 9, and their relation with Captain Sisko and his processing of grief. Some of the other stories were just so-so to me, very hit or miss, but I expect that in a short story collection. 

This was an interesting one. At first I was worried it would be a covid-skeptic book, based on the publisher, but the author goes on to highlight an increasing desire of the masses globally to trust technology or governments instead of thinking with nuance but does not deny that COVID is real. He doesn't claim that this is new- but that it's a concerning recent trend that probably foreshadows totalitarianism on the rise. Desmet mentions reliance on technology, blind trust of government in the pandemic, and lack of nuance in social justice movements. In my own opinion, I think he misses some major points of #MeToo and BLM movements. He is a European scholar looking at the reactions and bandwagoning, and it's clear from his writing he has a liberal view of these issues, and it doesn't come through that intersectionality and feminism has been warped and distorted by neoliberal ideas. I think it's not responsible of him to reflect on those movements while equating them with the liberal reactions, and not mentioning or considering how they arose, and what intersectional and racial justice activism looks like to organizers and others on the left (not liberals). While the way the general public interprets it is important for how he talks about the masses wanting everything to be simpler in a move towards accepting being told what to do- it's not ethical journalism or writing to not fully cover what a movement is at the beginning, and only what the pop culture interpretation became. Good points about the trends of rising fascism and more importantly people's acceptance of it. But I would recommend many articles (which are much shorter) making the same point before this book. 

Historical & rural trans/gnc/queer representation with a dark twist in the face of Evangelical Christianity's homophobia and transphobia, as well as painting outcasts as "of the devil". Main character is a pioneer nurse assigned to a rural town with secrets. 

Escalates quickly into t4t monsterfucking. 

Must-read for sustainable grazing management