Reviews and Comments

Scifi you can't put down!

This is another book of women disguising themselves as men to go fight their enemies BUT this one is hilarious because it’s Pratchett. It’s hard to put down. It’s also a great critique of the military complex. Spot on, as usual. If you’re familiar with Discworld, Vimes is in this one, and dear old Death makes an appearance.

I've read this book twice and love it to pieces.

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A man labours in a dorayaki shop, making pastries for customers he doesn’t really care about. Then he meets an old, disabled woman who asks to work in his shop. I don’t want to give too much away, but mass illness features in this book in a way that reminds me of covid19 now. So I liked to read it, since it reminds me of these times we’re going through now. This is a very sweet, sad story.

Damn, this book was good. SO GOOD. So funny, articulate, and wonderful. I will definitely reread this one day. I would love to read her other books. I learned a lot and pondered some more about what I want in my will. This prompted me to take a look at ritual practice, and using ritual for transformation. It really sparked my thinking towards what the fuck do I do ritual for? in my own life.

Hmm. I've been reading lots of hard-hitting novels by Angela Davis, Desmond Cole, and Assata Shakur. This book felt like skimming the surface of poking at one's privilege. For sure the essays are good in helping white folks feel less alone in this journey, but... I thought it would be deeper and more detailed.
For the record, the book does not follow Campbell's hero's journey, in case anyone else was misled by the book description.

Second re-read. I enjoyed Kerouac's ramblings about Buddhism, hiking mountains, meditation, and train-hopping. I forgot how he talks about women though--they are mostly present to have sex with, which is pretty awful. (He definitely fails the Bechdel test).
So he's inspiring, but not in how he talks about women.

I miss being in the world of this book. I keep coming back to it.

Stunning. Startling. Scary. I need to geek out about this book with someone! It was so cool!