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emilyinherhead's reviews
1046 reviews
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna
dark
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Kathleen Hanna tells her story in a fairly straightforward memoir style, working her way chronologically from her childhood all the way up through the early-2020s reunions of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. And there’s a photo insert section in the middle of the book, which I always love.
I’m already a fan of Hanna’s and knew that she is a sexual assault survivor, but learning about the difficulties of her early years just further increased my respect for her. Every time I thought her dad couldn’t possibly get any worse, he did something that made me gasp in horror. That she made it past this, and so many other terrible experiences in her teens and twenties, is awe-inspiring.
Something I especially admire about this memoir is Hanna’s clearly evident growth as a feminist and human. She acknowledges her place in the 1980s-90s pacific northwest punk scene, and the work she did in creating the Riot Grrrl movement, but she also owns up to her missteps and the harm she unintentionally caused back then. I appreciated this accountability and openness.
What a life. Reading this book made me want to go listen to all of Hanna’s music, to rewatch the documentary The Punk Singer (which would make an excellent pairing with the memoir if you haven’t yet seen it), and to YELL and TAKE UP SPACE and make room for people from traditionally marginalized groups to do the same.
I’m already a fan of Hanna’s and knew that she is a sexual assault survivor, but learning about the difficulties of her early years just further increased my respect for her. Every time I thought her dad couldn’t possibly get any worse, he did something that made me gasp in horror. That she made it past this, and so many other terrible experiences in her teens and twenties, is awe-inspiring.
Something I especially admire about this memoir is Hanna’s clearly evident growth as a feminist and human. She acknowledges her place in the 1980s-90s pacific northwest punk scene, and the work she did in creating the Riot Grrrl movement, but she also owns up to her missteps and the harm she unintentionally caused back then. I appreciated this accountability and openness.
What a life. Reading this book made me want to go listen to all of Hanna’s music, to rewatch the documentary The Punk Singer (which would make an excellent pairing with the memoir if you haven’t yet seen it), and to YELL and TAKE UP SPACE and make room for people from traditionally marginalized groups to do the same.
Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Slocumb’s first book, The Violin Conspiracy, was a hit for me, and this one did not disappoint either. He seems to have secured his spot as the musical thriller writer. He knows the world and the language, so the details are spot-on, and his characters feel very sympathetic and real.
I guessed part of the reveal this time around, but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all. It was so exciting to watch everything unfold and to be shocked by a few details that I didn’t see coming (I literally gasped and went “oh, damn!” at one part). And, like in The Violin Conspiracy, Slocumb is digging into some deeper issues here, like race and authorship and giving a voice to people who have been too long silenced. I heartily recommend Symphony of Secrets for mystery lovers of all sorts, but especially for musicians. Looking forward to whatever he writes next!
I guessed part of the reveal this time around, but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all. It was so exciting to watch everything unfold and to be shocked by a few details that I didn’t see coming (I literally gasped and went “oh, damn!” at one part). And, like in The Violin Conspiracy, Slocumb is digging into some deeper issues here, like race and authorship and giving a voice to people who have been too long silenced. I heartily recommend Symphony of Secrets for mystery lovers of all sorts, but especially for musicians. Looking forward to whatever he writes next!
Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane
Rules for Visiting is a book about friendship and trees. The main character, May, is a university botanist entering her forties, who is single, childfree, and living with her 80-year-old father. Her mother died years ago, but we don’t fully learn the details until the end—all we know is that it hit May hard, and that she has struggled with feelings of isolation in the intervening years.
When May unexpectedly receives a month of sabbatical leave from her job, she decides to split the time up and use it to make short visits to the four women she considers her closest friends, even though she hasn’t been very in touch with any of them in quite some time. Along the way, she ponders the role of these relationships in her life, and slowly learns how to be a good guest and a better friend.
Meanwhile, her aging father has been attempting to select a species to request as his memorial tree when he eventually passes away, and he periodically sends May “tree sheets” with facts about the ones he is considering. I loved all the tidbits I gleaned from these interludes in the book! One of my favorites was about Ginkgo biloba, which is so tenacious that several of them located just one or two kilometers from the atom bomb explosion in Hiroshima not only survived the blast but are still standing today. I also went down a Google rabbit hole about the 3,000- to 5,000-year-old Fortingall yew tree in Scotland. Am I about to plan an epic pilgrimage to see all the cool trees I just learned about??
The end of May’s story is lovely and satisfying without being too tidy. I appreciated her acknowledgment of the difficult and awkward parts of existing in community, even as she grew in her ability to relate to her friends and neighbors. And the solution to the memorial tree quandary felt pretty perfect to me.
I’d recommend this book to folks who enjoy reading about well-intentioned messes. May wasn’t quite as quirky as an Emily Austin protagonist, but the vibes were similar. I was also reminded a little of Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. Rules for Visiting was squarely in my wheelhouse and will definitely be among my favorites of this year.
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Beowulf is a violent epic about the dangers of being friendless. There’s a party, the misfit is not invited, he sulks outside, then comes in, wreaks havoc, and is killed. (50)
I’m aware not everyone feels the way I do about trees, but I have no idea why not. (246)
Rules for Visiting is a book about friendship and trees. The main character, May, is a university botanist entering her forties, who is single, childfree, and living with her 80-year-old father. Her mother died years ago, but we don’t fully learn the details until the end—all we know is that it hit May hard, and that she has struggled with feelings of isolation in the intervening years.
When May unexpectedly receives a month of sabbatical leave from her job, she decides to split the time up and use it to make short visits to the four women she considers her closest friends, even though she hasn’t been very in touch with any of them in quite some time. Along the way, she ponders the role of these relationships in her life, and slowly learns how to be a good guest and a better friend.
Meanwhile, her aging father has been attempting to select a species to request as his memorial tree when he eventually passes away, and he periodically sends May “tree sheets” with facts about the ones he is considering. I loved all the tidbits I gleaned from these interludes in the book! One of my favorites was about Ginkgo biloba, which is so tenacious that several of them located just one or two kilometers from the atom bomb explosion in Hiroshima not only survived the blast but are still standing today. I also went down a Google rabbit hole about the 3,000- to 5,000-year-old Fortingall yew tree in Scotland. Am I about to plan an epic pilgrimage to see all the cool trees I just learned about??
The end of May’s story is lovely and satisfying without being too tidy. I appreciated her acknowledgment of the difficult and awkward parts of existing in community, even as she grew in her ability to relate to her friends and neighbors. And the solution to the memorial tree quandary felt pretty perfect to me.
I’d recommend this book to folks who enjoy reading about well-intentioned messes. May wasn’t quite as quirky as an Emily Austin protagonist, but the vibes were similar. I was also reminded a little of Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. Rules for Visiting was squarely in my wheelhouse and will definitely be among my favorites of this year.
McSweeney's #69 by Dave Eggers, Claire Boyle
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
This is one of the strongest McSweeney’s collections I’ve read in recent memory. Usually there are a few stories that aren’t for me, or about which I have “meh” reactions, but not here. No skips! Even the letters at the beginning were especially strong.
These stories are all over the place in topic and plot details, but there’s a common undercurrent of weirdness that I really loved.
A few favorites from the collection:
These stories are all over the place in topic and plot details, but there’s a common undercurrent of weirdness that I really loved.
A few favorites from the collection:
- “The New Toe” by Zach Williams, about a father who is giving his son a bath when we notices a sixth toe that has sprouted on his son’s left foot
- “18 or 34 Miles from Perennial Square” by Max Delsohn, in which two trans masc lovers go camping, and when one wanders away from the campsite after a disagreement, he finds and hunts a wild dick in the woods with the hopes of having it transplanted onto himself
- “True, False, Floating” by Mel Kassel, about a young woman who, as part of her bachelorette party, invites three friends to have a bizarre and invasive rib-reading procedure
- “The New Maite” by Yohanca Delgado, in which the titular Maite, mentally and emotionally struggling after a couple of miscarriages, goes to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and ends up meeting a clone of herself
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is a book about a lot of things: money, work, race, shame, gossip, misunderstanding, queerness, family, trauma, power, and more. It’s told from a few alternating points of view, which really plays up some of the drama.
And wow, what a ride. On the surface, not much happens, but when you tune in to the nuances of college dorm life, there’s a whole world of delicious detail to notice and sink into. The chaos of the 37-year-old journalist character, Agatha’s, life as well—girl.
I turned the pages of this book so fast, and I will be thinking about the trainwreck ending for quite a while. Come & Get It might not be for everyone, but the fact that Kiley Reid can tell a story is truly undeniable.
And wow, what a ride. On the surface, not much happens, but when you tune in to the nuances of college dorm life, there’s a whole world of delicious detail to notice and sink into. The chaos of the 37-year-old journalist character, Agatha’s, life as well—girl.
I turned the pages of this book so fast, and I will be thinking about the trainwreck ending for quite a while. Come & Get It might not be for everyone, but the fact that Kiley Reid can tell a story is truly undeniable.
Erasure by Percival Everett
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
If I didn’t already know this book was published in 2001, I would have completely believed that it just came out.
The plot is something I could see happening in 2024. Diligent, well-educated Black author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison writes a string of academically-focused books on a variety of subjects, yet fails to reach wider readership or gain critical acclaim; meanwhile, another Black author produces a pandering, over-the-top, dialect- and stereotype-laden novel about The Black Experience, and gets an enormous advance, a movie deal, and widespread popularity. And then, when Monk hastily dashes off a similar book under a pseudonym, as a mockery of the massively successful one, it instantly takes off.
Erasure is funny, sharp, and also deeply sad—as Monk’s life is exploding with new wealth and opportunity, he is also going through staggering personal loss. My only complaint is that when it ended, I wished there were more to the story.
The plot is something I could see happening in 2024. Diligent, well-educated Black author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison writes a string of academically-focused books on a variety of subjects, yet fails to reach wider readership or gain critical acclaim; meanwhile, another Black author produces a pandering, over-the-top, dialect- and stereotype-laden novel about The Black Experience, and gets an enormous advance, a movie deal, and widespread popularity. And then, when Monk hastily dashes off a similar book under a pseudonym, as a mockery of the massively successful one, it instantly takes off.
Erasure is funny, sharp, and also deeply sad—as Monk’s life is exploding with new wealth and opportunity, he is also going through staggering personal loss. My only complaint is that when it ended, I wished there were more to the story.
Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith
Patti Smith has a beautiful way of writing that is both mundane and dream-like. She describes what she’s doing and where she’s going in the physical world, but as she goes, she is making references, drawing connections, and remembering and learning from the past. To sum her up in a phrase, I’d call her a philosophical tumbleweed. Always observing.
Her book M Train is one of my very favorites, and while it may take Year of the Monkey some time to grow on me to that degree, I did immediately love the way Smith tidily encapsulates a calendar year. The added epilogue to an epilogue, which addresses the approaching coronavirus pandemic, is also excellent.
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
I could feel the gravitational pull of home, which when I’m home too long becomes the gravitational pull of somewhere else.
Patti Smith has a beautiful way of writing that is both mundane and dream-like. She describes what she’s doing and where she’s going in the physical world, but as she goes, she is making references, drawing connections, and remembering and learning from the past. To sum her up in a phrase, I’d call her a philosophical tumbleweed. Always observing.
Her book M Train is one of my very favorites, and while it may take Year of the Monkey some time to grow on me to that degree, I did immediately love the way Smith tidily encapsulates a calendar year. The added epilogue to an epilogue, which addresses the approaching coronavirus pandemic, is also excellent.
Yet I keep thinking that something wonderful is about to happen. Maybe tomorrow. A tomorrow following a whole succession of tomorrows.
Felicity: Poems by Mary Oliver
I don’t have much to say about this collection, other than Mary Oliver is a master of what she does, and what she does is write some of my favorite poetry I’ve ever read. In this collection, which is largely about nature and love, she made me cry several times, the most notable of which was about a cricket. So.
Favorites:
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
There is nothing more pathetic than caution
when headlong might save a life,
even, possibly, your own.
(9, from “Moments”)
I don’t have much to say about this collection, other than Mary Oliver is a master of what she does, and what she does is write some of my favorite poetry I’ve ever read. In this collection, which is largely about nature and love, she made me cry several times, the most notable of which was about a cricket. So.
Favorites:
- “Moments”
- “Leaves and Blossoms Along the Way”
- “Nothing is Too Small Not to Be Wondered About” (THE CRICKET ONE)
- “Storage”
- “I Did Think, Let’s Go About This Slowly”
- “A Voice from I Don’t Know Where”
Things take the time they take.
Don’t worry.
(3, from “Don’t Worry”)
Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee
Jonathan Abernathy is a young man who is deep in debt and willing to do almost anything to get out, including accepting the bizarre job of “dream auditor,” which involves entering other people’s dreams and identifying troubling elements for removal. But, though the stated goal of this work is to reduce the dreamers’ anxiety and increase their productivity, the actual result of Abernathy’s employment can only be described as chaos and, frankly, horror.
Through a surreal and dream-like story, Molly McGhee examines the real-world issues of poverty, burnout, and the American system of debt. Her writing creates a constant sense of unease and fear, even while much of this novel is simultaneously quite funny. I wildly cycled between feeling bad for Abernathy, despising him for being so clueless, and wishing I could shake him and give him a hug. The way McGhee lays out “what could have been” had Abernathy only acted a bit differently in a given situation, and then goes on to detail what he actually does and how it goes, is devastating.
This novel left me with a horrible feeling of dread, but I loved it. If you’re into weird books, pick this one up.
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It is better to feel dread often, rather than always—isn’t it? Abernathy has already resigned himself to the trade off. He forgoes his fanancial instability and constant anxiety and instead accepts a shitty boss who he, somehow, both hates and empathizes with. What worker hasn’t made the same sacrifice?
Jonathan Abernathy is a young man who is deep in debt and willing to do almost anything to get out, including accepting the bizarre job of “dream auditor,” which involves entering other people’s dreams and identifying troubling elements for removal. But, though the stated goal of this work is to reduce the dreamers’ anxiety and increase their productivity, the actual result of Abernathy’s employment can only be described as chaos and, frankly, horror.
Through a surreal and dream-like story, Molly McGhee examines the real-world issues of poverty, burnout, and the American system of debt. Her writing creates a constant sense of unease and fear, even while much of this novel is simultaneously quite funny. I wildly cycled between feeling bad for Abernathy, despising him for being so clueless, and wishing I could shake him and give him a hug. The way McGhee lays out “what could have been” had Abernathy only acted a bit differently in a given situation, and then goes on to detail what he actually does and how it goes, is devastating.
This novel left me with a horrible feeling of dread, but I loved it. If you’re into weird books, pick this one up.
Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin
Enid is a young, queer, neurodivergent woman who is deaf in one ear, terrified of bald men, obsessed with space and true crime, and convinced that someone is following her. She is both a mess of a character and a deeply lovable and relatable one.
Over the span of this story, Enid is worrying about her depressed mother, trying to succeed at work despite needing to collaborate with a bald collegue, finding her place amongst her late father’s “other family,” and trying to figure out who might be lurking around her apartment and why—all while navigating the complexities and nuances of her hearing loss and mental health.
Emily Austin is somehow able to balance humor and deep feeling in the most perfectly compelling way. I laughed, I got teary, I felt seen and comforted. I wanted to hug this book to my chest when I finished it. I’m already eagerly anticipating whatever Austin writes next.
(Thank you to Net Galley and Atria for my digital advance copy)
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Sometimes you have to joke about things like pickling murdered teenagers. It’s a coping mechanism. It takes the darkness out at the knees.
Enid is a young, queer, neurodivergent woman who is deaf in one ear, terrified of bald men, obsessed with space and true crime, and convinced that someone is following her. She is both a mess of a character and a deeply lovable and relatable one.
Over the span of this story, Enid is worrying about her depressed mother, trying to succeed at work despite needing to collaborate with a bald collegue, finding her place amongst her late father’s “other family,” and trying to figure out who might be lurking around her apartment and why—all while navigating the complexities and nuances of her hearing loss and mental health.
Whenever I see my mom watching her food cook in the oven, I sit next to her and look in. You can’t kill yourself in modern ovens. Well, I’m sure you coud. You could kill yourself with anything if you tried hard enough. When we sit there, though, I feel like we are moths drawn to the memory of what an oven can do to sad women.
Emily Austin is somehow able to balance humor and deep feeling in the most perfectly compelling way. I laughed, I got teary, I felt seen and comforted. I wanted to hug this book to my chest when I finished it. I’m already eagerly anticipating whatever Austin writes next.
(Thank you to Net Galley and Atria for my digital advance copy)