redheadreading's reviews
1939 reviews

The Dark Queens: A gripping tale of power, ambition and murderous rivalry in early medieval France by Shelley Puhak

adventurous informative medium-paced

3.5

The Old Ways: A Journey On Foot by Robert Macfarlane

reflective medium-paced

3.25

Reading the first few chapters I thought this was going to be a new favourite because I loved the meditations on walking, on how landscapes change us just as much as we change them, on linguistics and poetry and more. 
 Unfortunately, whilst some chapters were super strong others really weren't. I'm not overly interested in the poet he loves so the biographical elements there were a bit dull. Didn't care at all for the chapter focused on the guy who bought a human skeleton for art purposes (explicitly through deceit!) and kills and eats loads of birds (?). Some of the travelling abroad chapters veer a bit into viewing landscapes as quite barbaric in a way that carries some real implications. 
 I was really moved reading the chapter on Ramallah, thinking about how even those discussions of walking as a dangerous and lost act will have only gotten worse by now. There is a moment in that chapter that feels incredibly disrespectful, when an older Palestinian woman is telling him about writing to President Reagan, he says "I stopped listening" and then goes on a waffley thought anecdote about the etymology of a word. Rude!!

Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim
Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.

Found her rude and snobby and the Man of Wrath deeply irritating. Alas, not as delightful as An Enchanted April!

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Adding to my list of excellent second-person narrated books!

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Elusive by Genevieve Cogman

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Tower by Bae Myung-hoon

challenging reflective medium-paced

3.75

The Button Box: The Story of Women in the 20th century told through the clothes they wore by Lynn Knight

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

There's a lot to love about this and I thought it was going to be a five star when I first started, but there were just too many strands and not enough engagement/depth for my taste. Exquisite writing about music and delicious descriptions of food, both of which I loved! I wish the book had committed more to exploring fewer plotlines but in a deeper way, plus properly delving into the darker parts of the narrative (six souls are writhing in eternal torment after all, to say nothing of the death that happens on page over the course of the story!)

Surviving to Drive: A jaw-dropping account of a year inside Formula 1, from the breakout star of Netflix's Drive to Survive by Günther Steiner

funny informative fast-paced

3.0

I most enjoyed this when it was sharing anecdotes about people like Niki Lauda or exploring how he got to wear he is now, particularly his rally career. The tricky thing with a diary entry style book is that I watched the season as it happened so a lot of it isn't wildly exciting! I liked when he went into details that you wouldn't know from just watching coverage, stuff like internal decision making, that kind of thing. I wished there was more insight like that e.g. don't just tell me how expensive it is when a driver crashes, tell me more info! What do you even do?? The tone was fun and this was a light read, but I would have loved a bit more.