en-US Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:18:14 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7475933503 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:18:14 -0700 /review/show/7475933503 Sally has read Forgotten Tales of Tennessee (Paperback) by Kelly Kazek
Lots of plot possums in here... ]]> Review7475924307 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:17:30 -0700 /review/show/7475924307 Sally has read Kills Well with Others (Killers of a Certain Age, #2) by Deanna Raybourn
The series, in general, and this book, in particular, are such a delight.

It reminds me of the movie reviewer who sneered at Pitch Perfect 3 saying it was okay if you liked silliness and female camaraderie.

Well, I do.

Which is not to say that Raybourn's work is silly because it's not. It's like James Bond + female camaraderie complete with action and humor and...a chicken? I love that Billie, Helen, Nat, and Mary Alice are in their 60s and still kicking ass. They also have their own little squabbles still just as any family would.

Taverner is, of course, dreamy. ]]> ReadStatus9290494605 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:16:59 -0700 /review/show/7475924307 Sally has read Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn
]]> Review7462378188 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 11:59:13 -0700 /review/show/7462378188 Sally has read Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care (Paperback) by Kelly Hayes
If you're new to the injustices in the world at large and in this country in particular, then this book may very well radicalize you. If you are already familiar with a lot of what's going on, then large swaths of this book may weigh you down with reminders. [Edit: while I was going through my highlights, I came across the theme of hope. How hope is necessary. So...keep going. Find the hope. Remember that, as this book says, "cynicism is a creeping enemy."]

I, of course, chose to read this book at a very heavy time, a time full of wrongs that need to be righted. It feels as though there are more wrongs than usual, but that's probably a function of my privilege. I admit that.

I think I was hoping for more directives, more ideas. This is, instead, a book from those who have been in the trenches far longer than I have. They know far better than I do that there are limits to what individuals can do. At the end of the day, the directive of this book is to take care of each other.

I'm going to repeat that: at the end of the day, all we can do is take care of each other.

Those who are in power right now are counting on the divisions they have sown. It's hard to fight for justice when you don't trust your neighbors, much less strangers. The ultimate activism, best I can tell, is to maintain your trust and to continue to extend a helping hand.

I'll be adding highlighted passages from this book eventually, so be on the lookout for those. I know this review isn't as coherent as my reviews usually are because I read this book in bite-sized chunks over time and because I have deadline brain. [Edit: I have added those highlights. I suggest you read them rather than relying on my deadline review] ]]> ReadingNotesCollectionPlaceholder4272930 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 11:27:19 -0700 Review7467414179 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 11:24:58 -0700 /review/show/7467414179 Sally has read Black Butler, Vol. 33 (Paperback) by Yana Toboso
I really should gather these and then read them together. I keep forgetting what has happened since last I read. Still, I love this series for whatever reason. Maybe it's because Toboso and I are birthday buddies. ]]> Review7467393576 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 11:19:25 -0700 /review/show/7467393576 Sally has read The Duke I Tempted (The Secrets of Charlotte Street, #1) by Scarlett Peckham
Why it took me so long to read this book, I'll never know. It was a sheer delight.

First, Poppy is the kind of historical figure we're all looking for, someone who is very aware of the ways historical society is holding her down but also very determined to live life on her own terms. She's also curious and pragmatic and passionate all at once.

Archer was created for all of us girlies who love a tortured hero. All buttoned up. All afraid to care and yet...so kind to Poppy. He sees her as a person, a quality not often seen in some of the best romances. His respect for both her and her interests? *chef's kiss*

This is the sort of angsty push me pull me that I was was in my repertoire.

Oh...and there's some kink--very much a part of character, which is always a nice touch. ]]> Review7440448561 Thu, 27 Mar 2025 14:12:35 -0700 /review/show/7440448561 Sally has read The Berry Pickers (Hardcover) by Amanda Peters
I'm trying to figure out why this book didn't speak to me the way it spoke to so many other people. I think it's a combination of things: 1) I'm on deadline so I'm cranky and very hard to satisfy right now, 2) this story is more of a how and less of a why, and 3) it's a very serious book, as well it should be.

I'd say this book will really speak to people who want to sink into a place and time. It probably also appeals to those who haven't come across the types of discrimination Peters details. Definitely a must for folks who like multiple POVs and present and past timelines intertwined.

Since the writing is very evocative of time and place and the subject matter is interesting and necessary, I can only conclude that I skimmed parts of this because *I* was in a mood.

Oh! I can see this book really appealing to folks who loved Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours. ]]> Review7437276359 Wed, 26 Mar 2025 11:46:59 -0700 /review/show/7437276359 Sally has read 90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality (Audiobook) by Allison Yarrow
Imma have to hit pause on this one because it's making me soooooo angry.

Why? Because I lived through the nineties, and looking at that time in retrospect proves Yarrow's point that the 90s were a backlash to any strides women made in the 70s and 80s. Rolling back Roe v Wade, Title 9, the Voting Rights Act, ACA, and anything else the current admin can get their hands on is rolling back any strides made for women and/or people of color. I'm tired, and I know I'm only tired from one intersection of my being, so all y'all who have multiples points, I salute you. You are incredible for pushing back against all of this unnecessary hatred.

Anyhoo, I've made it to Chapter 4 where Yarrow has discussed reclamation of the word bitch, Buffy, Charmed, how the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was ultimately sexist, and what happened to Dr. Elders. I got too mad to function. To sum up, Elders suggested that sex education should start when kids are younger (it should--in an age appropriate way), that sex ed shouldn't be abstinence based (because that doesn't work), and that masturbation should be taught as a part of sex education to combat AIDS and teen pregnancy ("self abuse" only "abuses" the self, yo). My takeaway was that Clinton should've resigned for being a horndog. Elders' comments were misrepresented and became the fodder for late night jokes. Because she was fired, our nation still suffers from higher rates of STDs than other developed nations.

Because she was fired, we also have among the highest rates of teen pregnancy among developed nations.

Maybe we should've listened to the Condom Queen.

So, maybe I'll come back to this book when I can handle it.

more on elders: ]]> Review7437256103 Wed, 26 Mar 2025 11:31:07 -0700 /review/show/7437256103 Sally has read The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic, #2) by Amanda Lovelace
I also checked this book out of the library. The style is very similar to rupi Kaur, and I'm still not sure how I feel about the -[thing in italics] situation, but here we all are.

I like the premise of this collection, but it's angry. I'm not in an angry place right now. I'm in a tired place. I looked Lovelace up, and, yeah, she's younger than I am. I'm thinking this collection would really appeal to the thirtysomething women are just now getting to that part of life where men start dismissing them because they don't look as young and/or have put on weight and/or are crowding in on higher level positions. Bless. It gets both better and worse, my little chickadees.

I doubt there would be a market for my tired middle-aged woman poetry, so I don't mean any of that as shade. Twenty-five-year-old Sally would've loved these poems and thought she understood them only to reach thirty-five or so and go "Ooohhhh, I get it now."

Anyhoo, I did like quite a few including this gem

say it
with me
now:

"women
owe
me
nothing.

not
one
thing."

-dear men ]]>