This book is one of the best I've read. Stories range from skin-crawling creepiness to weird horror. I liked how it didn't resort to traditional horror tropes. On the whole, the book was imaginative and scary. My favorites were "Shark", "Conspiracy of Fuckers", "Homeland", and "Sido". There were a few stories that were kind of snoozers, but the good stories more than make up for it. Highly recommended.

I had high expectations for this book, but it fell completely short.

"Quantum Femme" was terrible. The meaning of quantum is, according to the internet, "the Latin word for amount and, in modern understanding, means the smallest possible discrete unit of any physical property, such as energy or matter." I feel like the writer was trying to describe this super-sexy powerful femme, which is nice, but with every description of what the quantum femme does or does not do, I found myself comparing my own actions and falling short. Who is the quantum femme? Obviously not a scientist, or she'd pick a better word.

"Clay Pigeon" read like a veiled threat. To whom? I don't know. Someone obviously pissed the writer off. I found the whole piece boring and offensive. A page and a half of I-don't-care.

"Blessed Be" was the worst one. Yuck.

There were a few good ones, mainly "Femme Fables", "gonna get my girl body back: this is a work in progress", "Two Poetic Incantations", and "Wheels Plus".

But mostly, a lot of this book was either forgettable or shoddily-written. I feel bad for writing such a mean review, but this book had so much potential, and I wish the editors had picked better pieces.

What can I say? I love a good dysfunctional lesbian book. The IHOP Papers chronicles the life of Francesca, a nineteen-year-old lesbian virgin who moves to San Francisco because she's obsessed with her Philosophy teacher.

Irene, the Philosophy teacher in question, is a real piece of work. She wants to "live simply and responsibly" but she is completely bonkers, leading a controlling and emotionally uneven polyamorous relationship with three of her former students. She favors Gustavo, the only male out of the three. Gustavo is violent and abusive.

Francesca's over-emotional crushes dominate the majority of her life decisions. She has the hots for her AA sponsor and routinely fantasizes about a TV actress from Days of Our Lives. At times I felt like I was reading the thoughts of a fifteen-year-old boy. She is so obsessed with sex and women, and it's unfortunate. She has a lot of potential but is always thinking with the wrong part of her body.

I think everyone has that trainwreck friend who makes a lot of irresponsible decisions. Francesca is that trainwreck friend. I cared about her, but at times I wished she exercised more critical thinking skills. At the same time, if she did, we probably wouldn't have as interesting of a book to read. I was glad to see some character development by the end of the book. Finally, she grew a backbone. Finally, she stood up for herself. Thank god.

I liked this book, and I would recommend it to others. It wasn't my favorite book in the world, show more but it was a fun trip. show less

Beau Sia's back with another great poetry collection. His first book, A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge, was funny and perverted. This book is not quite the same. There are no dick jokes in this book. Okay, maybe one dick joke. But not very many. He still writes about sex, but in a way that suggests he's done some reading on feminist rhetoric. There are a lot of political poems about race, about the family unit, about looking back at your past self. Sia has clearly matured as a writer, and it shows in his work. His style is less sparse than before; he uses repetition and does a few neat artistic things with line breaks. I enjoyed this book. My attention did start to wane after a while, and I got bored by the last few pages which is why I gave it four stars instead of fine. Still, this is a good book, and I recommend everyone to go out and buy a copy because this guy knows how to write.

This book messed with me. I read it over a period of several weeks, and by the end I'd grown so attached to the characters that every bad thing that happened felt like it was happening to a close friend. I loved it, but it was painful.

The book is written in such a way where it's evident that Jesse is the main character, but a few other characters (Kapika, Janice, and the Marine guys) are given time to tell their stories as well. I like revolving-point-of-view stories, but it's not everyone's style, so I thought I'd mention it.

I'm not a user, drugs don't appeal to me, but the book described the feeling of a meth high in a way that anyone could understand. It doesn't pass judgment either. The author included a Q&A where they advocated for treatment over imprisonment. They also mentioned plans to write more books. I'm definitely interested in reading more by this author.

Linda LeGarde Grover's work is interesting. Her poems read like stories, and her stories read like poems. This pattern continues with her newest work, a collection of poetry titled The Sky Watched: Poems of Ojibwe Lives. I liked the variety in the poems. Topics included boarding school life, Ojibwe legends, language, exoticizing of indigenous culture, and the hypocrisy of the 1970's hippie movement.

The poems also provide a look at life from various bad guys - one poem from the POV of a wendigo, another from the POV of a boarding school teacher. It seemed like those poems were written to invoke sympathy and not just scorn. I respect that. Every villain has a story, and it doesn't excuse their actions, but it does make it hard to hate them.

Some of the poems I didn't understand right away. One of the poems involved some boarding school girls being taken to lie outside in a ditch, and I didn't get it. Later in the book, a poem mentioned the Wounded Knee Massacre, and how a nun had the students lie in a ditch for their safety. So then it made sense.

The poems often repeat Ojibwe-language stanzas in English, so I can imagine The Sky Watched would be a good language-learning resource. A good book - I give it five stars.

An overwhelming book about a man named Florentino who pines after the same woman for fifty years. At the beginning, it seems his affections are returned. They write letters to each other and plan to marry. Then, she calls it off, claiming their love was only an illusion. She marries someone else, a rich and well-liked doctor. Florentino is despondent. He has sex with anything that moves in a futile attempt to forget her. Then her husband dies, and he decides to try again.

This book was more than a little ridiculous. It was over-the-top and there was way too much sex for my liking. I had to skim past pages and pages of sex scenes. I was glad when it was over.

That said, there was something about it that I liked. Fermina was my favorite character; I loved how dignified she was and how adept she was at maintaining the house. To me, she seemed to have all the qualities a woman should have. I can see what Florentino saw in her. I did not like Florentino's character so much, though I do respect the author for giving us such a flawed protagonist.

I used to think I was a writer who took risks, and then I read this book. I recommend for more tame readers to only read a few stories at a time. Reading too many stories at once will make you feel dirty and disgusted with yourself. It's a very indulgent book. The author took great care not to leave many details to the imagination. It's an interesting read, but filthy. I thought at first glance that all the stories in it were true, but somehow I feel like most of them were fictional. Who jacks off in a tree? Who walks around in a torrential rainfall wearing nothing but torn underwear? Maybe the stories were true, maybe not, I don't know. I think I am just too boring. I really like the cover design though, and I liked that the stories were about both men and women. I feel like bisexuals don't get enough representation, and this was a decent collection overall.

Groomzilla is a funny book with likable characters. (Great title, too.) I liked that the author turned the "gay best friend" trope on its head by having a gay character with a gay best friend. My favorite character was Ander. He reminds me of a few people I know (and sometimes myself, to be honest).

At first I thought Owen was too perfect, a literal "Prince Charming". It bugged me, but then he grew on me and I began to enjoy the story more. I was glad with the surprise twist ending. It seemed fitting.

Groomzilla Does Vegas is, in my opinion, a fluff story. Owen and Daniel get married. There is little-to-no conflict, and about as much content. It's still cute, though.

I'm giving this three stars. I wish the books had more conflict, to be honest. It seemed like all the obstacles were resolved very fast. Everything wrapped up a little too nicely.

I loved the main character for her ambition. Far too many books portray romance as the goal of womankind. This book was different, not because the main character loved women, but because she kind of didn't give a fuck about anything except furthering her career. She was observant about classism, sexism, racism, etc. I liked that she was written as a redneck who still had the sensitivity to care. She was an outcast in her film class. Everyone else was doing ridiculous gonzo pieces with no heart, but she chose to do a documentary on her mother. I thought that was really cool, and a fitting tribute to feminism, which is what this book was.

The "polyamorous Bible" that, in my opinion, did a lot more harm than good in the community. Instead of a relationship guide, it reads in some ways as a book about how stupid monogamous people are. It's a bit snobby. Beyond that, it relies too much on sex as a way to fix problems in a relationship. Although sexual attention is important to many people, and make-up sex is nice, it's not going to fix things like a breakdown in communication, a partner's refusal to clean the litter box, or badly-matched life goals. I could have done without the vivid orgy house-party chapter as well. For those new to the polyamory scene, I would instead recommend books on relationships written by marriage counselors, books on the "five love styles", books on healing from abuse, books on psychology and communication styles, etc - being polyamorous is not that different from being monogamous. This is just my opinion, and you don't have to agree.

I remember when Twilight first came out. Suddenly, everyone hated it. It was sexist! It encouraged domestic violence! I saw the movie a few years ago and didn't think much of it.

I read a few pages of the book back in 2012, but couldn't get past my own prejudices. So when I found a free copy of Twilight a month ago, I was determined to read it and decide for myself. Was it really as bad as people were saying? Surely I could be open-minded.

So, here's my review. As far as books go, it's not so bad. It's a Young Adult book. The main character is a high school girl, and the book laboriously details everything from homeroom to gym class to the final bell at the end of the day. Will Edward be in school that day? What will Bella's friends discuss at lunch? And so on. I give the author credit for making it seem like the life of a high school student. I know when I wrote Deathskull Bombshell, I was guilty of the same mistake a lot of TV screenwriters make - writing the high schoolers like college students (see also Dawson's Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc). So it's nice to see a book written about a normal person who goes through normal everyday things. I would call this a slice-of-life book if it didn't have the supernatural vampire elements.

One problem with this book? It's really, really slow. I got about halfway through and then gave up. The plot sort of drags on. Entire conversations are written in great detail, even when they seem not to have much relevance to the plot. show more I quickly saw a pattern of Edward taking Bella out so Bella could grill him with questions about his mysterious life, which is cool if you like chaste interrogation scenes, but even the ridiculousness of this book or the twee baby cuteness of Jacob Black couldn't save it.

I tried, I really did.

Personally, I feel that all this hate for Twilight is unwarranted. While I'm not a big fan of the book, I don't see much a point of griping about it either (except in this book review, lol). Some of the Twilight haters are just as enthusiastic, if not more so, than the Twilight lovers. I don't find it especially sexist. It's a book about a girl who reads a lot. Her reading list includes, what, Jane Eyre? Sense and Sensibility? The author obviously wanted to write a character that appealed to nerdy girls who felt they were plain-looking and wanted an imaginary superhero boyfriend to whisk them off their feet. I see no shame in that.

I also feel that the people who are complaining that Twilight encourages domestic abuse aren't giving young people enough credit. Most kids, once they reach a certain age, are able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. I watched Aaah! Real Monsters a lot as a kid, but I knew it was fake. Because I wasn't a dummy. I think (I hope) the vast majority of today's youth know vampires aren't real and no vampire is going to date them. And while the commandeering presence and dominant personality of Edward Cullen might be a concern, let's pause and remember: this is a vampire we are talking about here, and no matter how "pretty boy" they are written in this book, they still have to have some "creepy Lothario" qualities in order to seduce their victims and suck their blood. This whole book is basically about a vegetarian who suddenly craves meat, told from the point-of-view of a strip of bacon.

That's my review. :P Thanks. show less

This book was good, but I feel like it started too fast. A lot of the conflict in the book had to deal with the death of Anna's mother in the previous year. Anna became emotionally distant after that, and her best friend Katy had trouble dealing with it. I understood that, but mainly from the dialogue that recounted the past year, which as a reader I never got to see. I feel like if the book had started earlier, like with the house-fire scene and then a few chapters illustrating Anna's change in behavior, it would give a better picture of the emotional dynamics. Less "tell", more "show". That said, the book definitely had some good points. I liked the secondary characters and I thought the scene with the bear was great. I felt the confused/unlabeled romance was too fast-paced, but definitely sympathetic. It's hard not knowing where you're at with someone. I wish we could have seen more of Anna's dad - he seemed like a promising character. So I'm giving this one three stars. Looking forward to seeing more from this author.

I think I read this book too late in life to enjoy it. It doesn't give me gooey feelings of gratefulness and nostalgia like it seems to do for everyone else. I'm glad other people can find something in this book to love, because it seems to mean a lot to them, but I'm just not the same, I guess.

For all the rave reviews this book was getting, I expected better. I felt this book was trying too hard to be weird. Pretty much every story involved a twist ending, either necrophilia or child molestation. Like, "blah blah blah, I went to school, I went to work, and then I came home and FUCKED A CORPSE LOL". It stuck me as immature. The author obviously has a way with words; I feel like her talent was wasted on this sort of shock-value prose.

I read this book when I was in high school, and I would recommend it for high school audiences. I feel like the writing style would appeal to them, as would the weird character names, and the heavy angst/confusion. Definitely a good "emo kid" book.

Dancing on Tisha B'av is a collection of short stories about being gay and Jewish. It was published in 1990, but many of the stories were published before then, in the 1980s. There is a lot of talk about AIDS, which makes sense considering it was a prominent fear at that time. A few of the stories feature men who are proudly, happily gay but stuck in relationships with closet cases. "Betrayed by David Bowie" was a good one (oh, but it made me sick). There are some stories having less to do with homosexuality and more to do with the Jewish family unit. I appreciated the female characters - the strong, beautiful sisters and the mothers who were Holocaust survivors. They never seemed shrill or stereotypical, and their concerns were given as much weight as those by the male characters. I was expecting all the stories to be from the POV of gay men, but they weren't. The author did quite a good job with characterization and story-telling. Each chapter was unique. Good job!

Overall, this was a good collection of horror stories. Body horror, grotesque imagery, and psychological horror are a few of the types you will find in this book. Boyczuk's use of language is skillful - he says a lot in only a few words, just enough to give the reader an unsettling feeling. Gay and straight pairings are treated with the same approach; Boyczuk never meanders over his gay/bisexual characters or tokenizes them, which I appreciate. I gave this book three stars because I felt some of the stories weren't really as good as the others.

Well, I read this book before reading Reviving Ophelia. It's my understanding that the book was written as a rebuttal of sorts. Instead of analyzing the struggles of young women, the idea was to have them write it out themselves. It was a good read when I was a kid and I would recommend it to any YA readers who are dealing with life's tough issues.

I tried to read it, but it sucked.

The art in this is beautiful. Dialogue is perfect, both funny and depressing. The characters were likable, even (especially) Mr. Gone, who is the perfect creepy flamboyant evil villain, giddy with his own twisted cruelty. I liked the way Sam Kieth parodied the entertainment industry in the part about the shark man by interspersing dialogue about society's obsession with violence. This is the standard great comics should aspire to.

This was a powerful book. I first read it when I was about ten, probably a bit too young, but it was a really good book about cause-and-effect and restorative justice. It's intellectual without being too heavy-handed. The writing is poetic and angry, sometimes funny. Great book.

It scared me when I was a kid, but now it invokes a weird feeling of nostalgic camaraderie with other people of my age group. The illustrator really knew their stuff. I guess they re-published it, a new edition with less scary illustrations. The stories are good, anyway.

"Hey guyz, let's drink an entire bottle of Robotussin and then go on a car ride!"
- this book

Bad things happening to a pristine waif. She was a true symbol of feminine modesty and virtue. This is why it was especially sad that so many bad things happened. It was a long time ago. Life was bad back then. Men were especially wicked, evil man-demons who existed only to exploit delicate women.

It's a classic, but not a good one.

Finally, a naval-gazing book that is actually funny!

Spoilers, don't read this. The main character, Cyd Charisse, is an asshole. She treats her family like crap. Cyd used to date a rich guy, but he was a worse asshole than she was, and it didn't work out. She dates Shrimp, a weird surfer dude, but she has a crush on his older brother. She gets a job, but ruins it because she's too busy whining and lusting over her boyfriend. Her mom sends her to meet her biological father, a typical workaholic New Yorker. Oh, and she's the product of an affair (I think?) so he's kind of embarrassed of her and sort of leaves her at home to her own stupidity, and she gets in tons of trouble. It has a happy ending. It was a really good book when I first read it, about ten years ago (yikes), but I tried reading it again last year and it wasn't as good. I think it's because it captures the annoying "teenage rebel" phase so well that once you're older, it's kind of like... jeez dude, just give your mom a hug and stop being a douche.

Read this in psych class. Good times.

The book was much more clinical than the movie. It felt like the movie emphasized the strong friendships between the female characters, while the book's focus was on the failings of the mental health industry.

Like many people, I was obsessed with Japanese culture as a kid and read this book partially because of that. I grew up and grew out of my obsession, but then re-read this book in 2016. Here are my thoughts on it. I knew, going into it, that Arthur Golden was not an actual geisha, that he was an American man writing from the perspective of a Japanese woman, and a lot of people found this offensive. However, from the Acknowledgements section in the back of the book, it's evident that he did his research. The book was first published in 1997, and the book mentions research going as far back as 1992. This isn't the case of some fanboy writing shit just because he could. In my opinion.

I also felt that the prose style was good. I liked the comparisons and I felt that in most cases they made sense. I liked the way Golden described the male customers best; you came away with a good idea of their personalities and their appearances. There was a wide variety there, which I appreciated since I think most of the writing done on Japanese culture often relies on stereotypes and only has like two archetypes of Japanese men (the Wise Old Man and the Hot Martial Artists). So it was nice to see writing that reflected a wider range of masculinity.

I felt like the beginning and middle of the book was best. At a certain point, about the time Hatsumomo disappears, the book sort of drags on, and Sayuri's obsession with The Chairman becomes the main focus (moreso than at the beginning and show more middle, since at least then she was doing her apprentice training and going to parties). I thought the chapter taking place on the Amami Islands was fairly ridiculous, but maybe that was the point. I also really, as much as I empathized with Sayuri's character, couldn't take the way she treated Nobu. Becoming friends with someone is one thing, but leading them on for financial gain for fifteen years and then dropping them for their best friend is kind of shitty. I'm still giving this book five stars because it's the first book in a long time that I really really loved. It's a long book, over 400 pages, but I was so caught up in the story that I finished it in a short amount of time. show less