sittingwishingreading's reviews
817 reviews

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Devil Is Fine by John Vercher

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

The Getaway by Lamar Giles

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adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

State of Paradise by Laura van den Berg

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adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

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mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The New Breadline by Jean-Martin Bauer

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

No Bad Parts: How the Internal Family Systems Model Changes Everything by Richard C. Schwartz

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

No Bad Parts is a great primer for Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. It’s for clinicians and clients alike, has a lot of great experiential exercises, and spanned from the individual to the systemic. The audiobook was a little funky - they had a great voice actor read most of the book, but Dick Schwartz, the creator of IFS, facilitating the exercises and in the interviews. 

There are parts of this that kind of feel like you have to be fully bought in to IFS to get on board with, but I think there is a lot to this framework, and I, personally and professionally, find it compelling.
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Conceptually, The Safekeep is fascinating. It is one of those books whose plot twist fundamentally changes the reader’s whole understanding of the plot. It is set in a place and time far from where I am located, and the secondary character, to me, is far more compelling than the main character. 

This book is sexy and precarious and defensive and sad. It is queer and bold and wounded and yearning to speak its truth. I personally wish the book were longer, parts were more fleshed out, but I think it’s more of a thematic art piece than a character study. 

I am fascinated by the facets of this book. It asks a lot of questions, answers a few, and leaves a lot for the reader to fill in. It asks who has come before us, what happens next, and what does authenticity ask of us in this one and precious life.