spicycheesecake's reviews
47 reviews

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Ermmmmm.... what the sigma? Why did Woolf write this book

Weird ass book. No clue what was going on half the time

But I did feel that things got better as the book progressed. I was able to pick up more info, understand things, but also come to terms with the fact that maybe not everything is going to be understandable. Weirdly enough I felt really good as I was reading the book, even though I often hate the feeling of being confused.

Also kinda random, but I found chapter 5 to be the easiest to read. Not sure if it's was because I gained "Woolf XP" or because I was listening to a good as hell playlist 

I will say that the weirdness of this book wasn't appalling at all, the confusion I felt made me want to read even MORE. Thank you Virginia Woolf for blessing me with the habit of reading daily! 

As my first Woolf book, I am proud to announce that this will be my last Woolf book.

I'll rate it 2.9999 stars for the book overall. And 0.0001 stars for getting me back into reading routinely. 
3 stars total ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

All Is Beauty Now by Sarah Faber
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.

I'm doing my very best to read this, and have made it to chapter 5.

But there are quite a few characters from the beginning the scenes jump around everywhere from past, to present, to stream of consciousness, and I can't differentiate what's going on :devastated:

This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

I love Busy

Unhinged by Vera Valentine

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.0

Weird

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Will I Ever Be Good Enough? Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers by Karyl McBride
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

No longer in the headspace to read about this topic

Yokai Cats Vol. 1 by PANDANIA

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

sooooooo cuteeee <3 <3

Becoming a Matriarch by Helen Knott

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

“I don’t have anyone left to help put me back together if it goes sideways. Another loss will leave me devastated.” “But haven’t you been doing that all this time?” she asked. “What?” “Putting yourself back together.” 

Becoming A Matriarch is so fucking raw, beautiful, emotional, inspiring, and thoughtful.

yowowowoweeeeeee was this book GOOD! I am so glad it was my first read of 2024 as well. Knott is an incredible writer (and is super pretty, like... have you seen her? how can i be like her?) and had me unable to put this down.

I find myself being drawn to the memoir genre more and more as I keep reading, they're just so good? They keep being good? omg

Becoming A Matriarch had bits of feminism and Indigenous identity that kept my eyes glued to the page. I love how honest, and easy-to-read the writing was. I loved everything that Knott put on the page (fr gobbled that shit UP), and I felt like I was riding the emotional rollercoaster with her.

I don't know what else to say, but this book was good. I think it's a must-read. Diversify your TBRs, read more about the people who's land was stolen and you now reside on, read books from women authors, read books from BIPOC authors. Read. Read this book.


Thank you to the Organized Book Club's Winter Bingo to prompt me into reading this for "a popular book of 2023", as it was a popular Canadian pick in 2023 <3

favourite quotes (there are so many):

All I know is that when we enter this physical realm, we begin to believe this is all that exists. Our pain and suffering can narrow our understanding so significantly that we cannot see beyond what is in front of us. We become trapped here in this plane of existence, blind to the knowledge that flesh, bones and bank accounts are all so humanly temporary. The spirit version of us knew of our mortality before choosing to come back and settling into the skin that separated us from the unseen.

As I drove, I held Asu’s hand in mine, just like I held my mama’s hand, my auntie’s hand, or my best friend’s hand. I am grateful that I have so many women in my life to love and hold hands with. I drove on a straight stretch with one hand on the wheel. I wondered who would hold my hand and take me on endless drives when I am old.

“My girl, I love you very much. You can do anything. You know I am always here, praying for you,” she would say. Her eyes saw me. She saw me every time. She saw me when I couldn’t see myself. She didn’t see the addict or the woman with shaking hands. She saw me. I was the little girl she gave back scratches to until she fell asleep—the girl who she would surprise with bowls full of hand-picked wild strawberries. I was the child full of possibility with the world stretched out in front of her.

“Leaving your country is like losing your first love,” the taxi driver said. “You are always searching for things that remind you of her. You go to places where you can feel her beside you. You eat foods that remind you of her. You listen to music that brings back memories. You are always wanting ways to feel close.”

No one told me that such a big part of being an adult was learning how to lose and figuring out how to make yourself whole again in the face of those losses.

The women were the keepers of burdens. The women were the shores the waves first crashed upon. The women were the buffers between the elements of the world and the men they loved and cared for. The women in my family are medicine. They are backbones and ribcages and hearts. They are the whispers in men’s ears. They are the guardians that keep us whole. The women in my family cry alone behind closed doors. They are islands that keep their mysterious secrets to themselves but offer the best they have to those who inhabit them.

What else have I made my responsibility that no one asked me to take on? In answering that question, I found permission to take care of myself.

"All this time, you have been trying to become something predetermined, baby. You have been trying to become some idealized version of your mama and some form of your grandma. You have been focused on fitting into a role instead of allowing yourself to let go and become who the hell you’re supposed to be.”

I learned that day that I was my own sense of safety, and I was stronger than I imagined.

Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and being alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You have to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes too near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could. —Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum

Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 1 by Kamome Shirahama

adventurous inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre

dark mysterious 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

2.75

Hell is -- other people.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

2.25

Ok! Kinda cute. The non-sexual parts were cute and wholesome.

I do think there was too much cringe sex and horniness between the two. I can't get over it. The sex wasn't even that good 😭😭😭 

I think the idea of having such "different" main characterS -- with chronic pain, Black, and has had shitty past relationships -- as well as Red -- having an abusive past relationship -- was super cool and interesting. But I just don't like the way they were written.

Chloe being a lil CS nerd, Red's lust, the camping trip, the fuckin'... knicker whisperer?, Red's lil casserole situation in the beginning, ....and so many other things just felt so random and unecessary for the storyline? 
Like, I get it, they needed to have:
- that professional baseline (the website making) in the beginning to get close to one another, 
- they needed to have all the steamy sex (which I totally applaud because YES disabled people can still have lots of sex) and because many romance fans love a hot, hunky, horny man (good work on TH for making use of that), 
- Chloe needed to have some sort of non-love interest type of growth (which I guess is fulfilled by befriending the knicker whisperer?)
- etc... lol

I dunno. I feel similarly with 1984. I enjoy the concepts of the story, but I did not enjoy how it was written. I am nitpicking alot, because I (think) I liked the general, vague storyline and how it was played out... but the specific details? Things seemed to be thrown together and lazily justified by butterfly-effecting it into the broader plot.

Also, after reading the Author's Note in the beginning, I was excited to see some representation of what healing/life would be like after an abusive relationship. But IMO it was just *barely* touched on. There was one big blowup near the end, and they resolved it quickly. But they barely even talked about it! I wanted more. But I guess that wasn't a central point of the story? I thought it would be.

Yeah. This book was fine. I don't *hate* it. But I don't like it. I would probably only recommend it under specific requests. Looking for a book with a disabled MC? Read this. Looking for a book with a goos lovestory, or good sex? Read something else.