toolittletime's reviews
49 reviews

Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
Did not finish book. Stopped at 45%.

I stopped listening to the audiobook and it just felt weird getting back in. I’ll try again later. 

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

Beautiful art and really well presented complicated subjects.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

emotional inspiring lighthearted 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? No

3.75

A sweet, cozy little read. I really want to live in a book store.

Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra

emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed the characters and how they were complicated, fully formed people. Really interesting exploration of the Chilean poetry scene that was really fascinating! 

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Love hanging with the Witches! Funny and interesting look at the stories we tell others and ourselves and how that affects the world around us. 

I was worried about a Terry Prachett audiobook (the footnotes are important), but I think they did a good job of making it obvious. 

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Bulter as always is creating a wonderful, immersive world that I wish I could have explored more (I did see online she had been planning a sequel to this!). The way this explored race and racism and different ways to build a family was really fascinating.

I found it interesting how the Ina considered themselves "above" being racist, since they're not human. But still being so symbiotic with humans, of course the best and worst of human society would affect them!

I will admit the first time I read this, the sexual relationships Shuri engages in with adult humans made me incredibly uncomfortable, so that is good to keep in mind before starting. 

By the end of the book, I really did grow to love Shuri and the little family she was creating. Except Wright, I hated him the whole book. 

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao

adventurous funny informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A really fun adventure that is a really fun way to learn more about Chinese history/mythology. While I did like learning about these myths, I did feel like sometimes there was explanations and information that was put into the middle of the action, stopping to give an explanation that could have been given later. I do commend Zhao for really showing the nuance of modern China, and how the country/culture isn't always the same as the government that is ruling it. Seeing Zachary learn about China and seeing all the cool, great parts about it and appreciating that, while knowing personally about its darker side, was really exciting. Looking forward to the sequel~!

Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

A wonderful exploration of growing up queer and also one of feeling like the home you love doesn't love you back. In this case, that feeling comes from both Arjie's sexuality and his ethnicity as a Tamil in 1970-80's Sri Lanka. Each section of the book covers a different age/time period in Arjie's life, and Selvadurai did a good job of creating a different feel for those sections. Though there is also tension in Arjie's life, starting when he is 7 and his "funny" ways are starting to be noticed and stopped by his family, his knowledge and understanding of those tensions are giving more understanding as he ages. Since I was unfamiliar with Sri Lankan history, I felt like I was learning and understanding more of the rising ethnic tensions as Arjie was. 

Selvadurai's prose was wonderful and I loved watching Arjie grow into his queerness.   

The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Beautiful prose, felt like a old fairy tale being told to me. The way McKillip writes, I felt like I was at the sea. Though the book is short, it is rather slow paced so keep that in mind. The book was moody and magical. The ending was also good and I am

glad she ended up with the magician and not one of the princes.

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 5 by Nagabe

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0