neuroqueer's reviews
375 reviews

The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.

Will switch to the book form of this.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Quick takeaways:

Protagonist(s): Strong

Antagonist(s): Dangerous

Plot: Interesting

Writing: Great

Overall: A

Thoughts:

This book had been on hold for a while on Libby and it was worth the wait.

I’ll admit I was not drawn in immediately. It took a few chapters for it start feeling creepy.

Kingfisher does a great job creating a spine-chilling atmosphere, interesting characters with distinct personalities and an intriguing mystery.

I can easily recommend this book for someone wanting a quick but satisfying horror read.

Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron by Julia Quinn

Go to review page

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

Quick takeaways:

Protagonist(s): Amusing

Antagonist(s): Jackasses

Plot: Crazy

Overall: C

Thoughts:

One fateful night, I wanted to read something short, browsed through Libby and came upon this.

I have never watch Bridgerton and still am not interested. But, I figured this could be one of those related medias that you don’t need to follow the main story to get.

I was right about that but didn’t realize this was going to be bonkers.

This story is like if Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre while high off her ass and trying to evoke giggles from her equally high sisters. This is just a silly story with a bit of raunchy humor. Miss Butterworth ends up in terrible situations with other wacky characters but does the whole "keep a stiff upper lip" thing.

The artwork took a bit to get used too. At first it looked unappealing but after a while, I got used to and it works with really well presenting the ridiculous story going on.

Maybe if I were a fan of Bridgerton, this would be even more amusing to me but I’m not. No regrets reading it but I could have gone my life without reading it too.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Go to review page

emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

Quick takeaways:

Protagonist(s): Typical

Antagonist(s): Easily resolved circumstances

Plot: Typical

Writing: Fine

Overall: C+

Thoughts:
I wanted to try 1) 2022 best of books and 2) other genres outside of my wheelhouse. I landed on this novel. I'm not a romantic person at all but once in a while, I do find a relationship adorable. This wasn't one of them.

On one hand, the main characters are fleshed out. I can see what the author was going for with their personalities and psychologies.
On the other hand, with all of the characters, I either don't like them (LIBBY) or don't really give a toss about them.

On one hand, the change from the typical Hallmark city girl falls for country boy cliche is a good idea.
On the other hand, the story still feels generic and predictable.

A big negative to me (and this applies to any book that does this) is when the core problems that are going on can be easily solved if people just talked about it.

I can see why this book is popular but this just isn't for me. I think you can't go wrong if you are looking for a romance novel but I don't think this will convince a skeptic to jump into the genre.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

Quick takeaways:

Protagonist(s): Complex

Antagonist(s): Society and time periods

Plot: Heavy

Writing: Deep

Overall: B+

Thoughts:

I went into this book thinking it was going to be similar to another comic-form memoir, Genderqueer (one of my favorite books ever). I figured it was going to touch on themes of sexual identity discovery similar to Genderqueer but didn’t realize how deep it was going to go.

The memoir is about Allison and her father’s sexuality and who they were/are as people. We watch Allison discover her sexuality while she tries to understand her father, a closeted gay man. I don’t want to get into spoilers but you learn so much about this man and it leaves you feeling so many ways about him: anger, empathy, pity, confusion.

I usually plough through comics and graphic novels and I admit I was expecting this to be a quick read but this is a slow and challenging book. Allison’s writing is very heavy in terms of subject and word usage. The artwork is simple since the focus is Allison’s story telling and I feel it makes it an easier reading than if she wrote a text only memoir (bias here as I’m not the biggest memoir person).

It felt inaccessible at times language wise but I think that’s because I have been living in the YA sphere for a bit (And it feeling inaccessible is not a bad thing! You should be challenged when reading sometimes}. Going back to my earlier comparison to Genderqueer, I think that book is more for high school age and above while Fun Home is more for college age and above (in general). Either way, I think both books should be required queer reading.

High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson

Go to review page

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.25

Note: I’m still figuring out how I want to format my sporadic reviews

Quick takeaways:

Protagonist(s): Happy-go-lucky lothario (lotharia?)

Side Characters: Uninteresting

Antagonist(s): Exist

Plot: Confusing

Writing: Good

Overall: C+

Thoughts:

I randomly added this book to my holds list on Libby, forgot about it, dove in when it showed up and was confused with what was going on. So in this female only world, fairies and humans made a pact. They have a parliament which votes on various things (humans are the legislators and the fairies are more like enforcers). If votes keep coming up as hung, all the humans in the building will drown and war will break out as a result. It’s weird how everyone says the parliament is not important but isn’t it important if their votes can change the course of history? I didn’t get it or I’m too sleep deprived to.

I liked Lana, our lead character. She is an unabashed womanizer. It wasn’t taken to the extreme where you get annoyed with her constant flirtations. She is just a character that operates on emotions but not to the point of screwing up constantly. It was fun following her around. I liked her and Bugbite’s friendship which went from tenuous to busom-buddy after a few hits off of yeast (this world’s equivalent to weed). I didn’t really feel the romance for Eloquentia. Felt generic. The other scribes and fairies were forgettable.

As stated before, the plot is kind of confusing in the beginning (if you didn’t read the blurb like I didn’t). The bad guy’s endgame did not make sense at first but then I got the allusion to Brexit and figured it out. The novella was silly so makes sense the ending is silly too. This is supposed to be a stoner comedy but I didn’t really guffaw at anything. I wasn’t rushing to see what happens next but it also wasn’t bad enough to drop.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.

It is a too long product of its time.

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced