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Kat C

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

June 30, 2023      Leave a Comment

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

The Measure exists in a world where adults 22 and older find a box on their doorstep that contains a string that shows the length of their life. The book follows a group of loosely interconnected people Gary Marshall style as they reckon with the new reality.

Me and Jenna Bush about to fight. 

I love a good high-concept “book club” novel so I went into this book with high hopes, but found it ultimately disappointing.

The book started out strong for me as we see how the world reckons with the existential question of ‘What you would do if you could know how long you’d live ?’ Some choose to look at their strings while others throw them away. People with long strings suddenly no longer fear taking risks while short stringers form support groups based on how many years they have left. 

Then the book slowly turns into a deeply uninteresting and mealy-mouthed metaphor for marginalization. People with short strings are seen as a threat and discrimination forms that mirror a lot of what happens to people of color, gay and/or disabled people IRL. But the thing is, there are characters of color and gay characters in the story and I don’t think Elrick had the range to contend with the intersections of existing prejudices and this new form of prejudice. This book acts like workplace discrimination and people protesting for their rights is a new thing ? 

I think there is a certain segment that will find this book poignant and revealing about how quickly your identity can be criminalized but if you already understand that, the book ends up with nothing to say.

I’ve been DNFing a lot lately but I kept going with this book because Julia Whelan narrates. She truly is such a solid narrator but, lol, she keeps steering me wrong.

The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson

June 26, 2023      Leave a Comment

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I don’t think I’ve read (for lack of a better genre description) Women’s Fiction book in YEARS and I really need to get back into it because I enjoyed a lot about this book. 

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You Got Anything Stronger by Gabrielle Union

December 31, 2022      Leave a Comment

In this ambitious follow-up to her 2017 memoir, actress Gabrielle Union offers a new crop of essays on identity, trauma, love, and family. There is a self-help bent to parts of this book that I never completely got on board with but overall this follow-up offers fun stories and that catching-up-with-your-wildest-friend over coffee feeling from the first book. 

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A Little Bit Country by Brian D Kennedy

December 31, 2022      1 Comment

Debut author Brian Kennedy swings for the fences in this charming debut about a pair of teens who get more than they bargain for when they accept jobs at Wanda World–a campy amusement park themed after charismatic country musician Wanda Jean. 

Think Dolly Parton/Dollywood.

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Escaping Exodus and Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden

December 30, 2022      Leave a Comment

This book series is weird as heck but I was all in.

These books share a lot of DNA with the Dr. Who episode The Beast Below, and if you like that you need to read this.

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This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

December 22, 2022      1 Comment

I’ve been meaning to read Straub forever so when I spotted this pretty cover (it’s so shiny in person) on the library shelf and saw it was about a 40-year-old woman who wakes up as her 16-year-old self, I decided to give it a go. This was an introspective and gripping speculative novel. It shares a lot of DNA with the second season of Netflix’s Russian Doll (the book came out a month before) so if you were a fan of that I think you’ll love this.

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