Laura's blog

If you read my review from last week, you'll know I hated Valentina Goldman's Immaculate Confusion.  So why the hell would I read the sequel? Well, I got these as a pair to review. I thought they were going to be funny and sharp, and I looked forward to a worldly, sarcastic protagonist. The book WAS funny and interesting in parts, with enough serious drama and suspense to hold my interest -- but I had to slog through LOT of bigoted crap from Valentina. I got to her lecture on how poor women are ruining society and was finally like, NOPE. DONE. DNF.  BUT! Free books are free books! And I was hoping for some character growth in the sequel. I did end up skipping to the end and listening to the final chapters. The conclusion was such that I found myself wondering what the heck this character was going to do with her life now.  This is a lone case of me hating the first book and liking the sequel. Usually if I hate a book I don't even read the sequel.  ...

I turned 25 in March. 25 brings some new things and new thoughts, but I'd like to make a silly post sharing 25 old facts that you may or may not have known about me. 1. If it were healthy or possible to eat nothing but raviolis every day for the rest of my life, I might do it.  2. I'm a sucker for cheesy, bad, over the top movies -- especially horror movies.  3. Speaking of which, I watched The Blair Witch Project for my birthday. Ha. Ha. 4. I like puns.  5. I love cats and barely tolerate dogs. I've met some good dogs, but...Dogs are nice and all, but dog smell actually makes me nauseous and want to vomit, dogs drool and jump on me, and they generally make me anxious.  6. My least favorite book of all time is The World According to Garp . 7. My favorite book of all time varies week to week, honestly.  8. I don't really date, though I've had relationships in the past.  9. I went to a women's college.  10. I volunteer for a nonprofit...

This may have been my first graphic novel in...well, ever. I don't remember reading many of them before.  I read several web comics and have been known to read comics and comic books when I was younger, but for the most part I've avoided graphic novels and comics. This is because I used to be incredibly anxious about people reading over my shoulder or teasing me for whatever I was reading. The idea of a graphic novel, where anybody could just look over your shoulder and see what was happening, was horrifying to me. I think this sense has stayed with me as an adult. I still tend to stray away from graphic novels and choose books with less flashy cover art, and I still obsessively hide what I'm reading.  Anyway, this is my review -- as a total graphic novel novice -- of The Shadow Hero.  First, some background The Shadow Hero was created to give an origin story to The Green Turtle, a hero in a short-lived comic series during the Golden Age of comics. The Gre...

Oh, man. This book.  I received Valentina Goldman's Immaculate Confusion in audiobook form for free to review from the publisher. I didn't finish the book before writing this review. I got over halfway into it -- and I plan to finish it, especially since I also received the second one to review -- but I reached a certain point and had listened to everything I needed in order to form an opinion.  So here's the review. Be advised that this is going to contain spoilers as well as discussion of racial and ableist slurs and language, and rape. I'd flag these things so you can skip to the next section if you want, but you'd literally have to skip this whole fucking review. Still, I've tried to be like "heads up slurs incoming." Well, that made it sound like a super-heavy issue book. It's not. Well, not really.  The genre is humorous fictional life story or maybe what you'd call women's fiction. It was pitched as edgy and shocking in v...

Today's plan was to make a book review but...let's just say the book requires a full night's sleep and mental fortitude to write about in the way I want to cover it.  I have been thinking lately about starting a Patreon. Patreon lets people who like your (free) content become patrons, or "patreons," of that content so that you can keep making it for everyone to enjoy.  As with most shiny ideas, this one crops up in my brain sometime between midnight and 3 A.M. Alone, looking at a computer screen or a book, this seems like a really great idea. In the light of day, I realize I wouldn't know the first thing about what I was doing. I've read very briefly about the process, some pros and cons, and how you set up an account. But I don't know the first thing about promoting, tiers (whatever the hell those are), what I would do to give patreons/patrons individual exclusive content as an incentive, or even where I would publish my content. Here? An entire...

I got this book as part of my "nonfiction books that I've been meaning to read forever and am now going to sit my butt down and actually read them" New Year's Resolution. It's been reviewed and praised widely by people around the globe, and the writer has even won a Nobel Peace Prize. She continues to advocate for girls' education and the right to education of all children generally. So without further ado:  I checked I Am Malala out from a county library, where I had to return it today. Otherwise, I think I might like to own this memoir. Even if I didn't read it cover to cover every time, there are sections, stories, and other pieces throughout the book that I would have loved to mark to come back to.  [Image description: Malala wears a bright pink headscarf and a slight smile on her face; blue background. Text reads "I Am Malala: the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban. Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb.] ...