bijou3owl's reviews
167 reviews

Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality by James Kwak

informative medium-paced

3.0

The discussions on the theory, framework, and history of economism were very good. As were the detailed applied examples.

However, when it talks about specific modern policies and politician stances, it feels *incredibly* dated reading in 2024. Like "oh you sweet summer child you wrote this in 2016, didn't you."

Not that the author could have predicted that, within a year or so of publication, the conservative platform would flip itself on its head, and that the majority of the political figures and policies they talked about in detail would no longer be in the picture, but still.

Viscera by Gabriel Squailia

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dark lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Plot? What's that?
Character Development? Never heard of her.
Trans character whose only personality trait is that they're trans? obvs
Prose? Mid at best.
World building? the remains of dead gods are drugs, that's sufficient, right?

Basically it *seems* like there's probably a cool world in the author's head; they just absolutely do not have the skill with which to execute. It's going in my "cool worlds that I'd like to see skilled fic writers and/or screenwriters run with" pile.

Content Warnings

Palm-of-the-hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata

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reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

- uneven, but I knew that going in. It's the dude's entire body of short story work in one collection
- a LOT of them were Weirdly Horny. Did not enjoy those much
- But also really poignant. Lots of stories that made me think of things like two paragraphs in that I had to pause and reflect on before finishing, even though the story itself was often only 2.5 pages long
- liked the war and post-war stories a lot better. There was a decided tonal shift that jived with me
- pretty sure a lot was lost with the translations. One translator was clearly better than the other, but both had a stilted quality

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced