en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 23:16:00 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7517033804 Thu, 24 Apr 2025 23:16:00 -0700 /review/show/7517033804 Mina gave 4 stars to On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (Paperback) by Timothy Snyder
bookshelves: 2025
Great read. The author produces some excellent notes on how to become cynical/complacent. By being active simple as saying hello to a neighbor. Getting into community. To fight fascism it’ll be a great fight for us all.

The ending provided such great knowledge. The concepts of “politics of inevitability� where we ignore history bc we don’t think we’ll ever go back to that and only go forward basically becoming complacent. Which leads to “politics of eternity� where we just are completely gone. history is some mythical past that can easily be manipulated (usually by authoritarians and rewritten, like w DT w maga, bc when was it great? He’s creating a mythical past of “greatness�)

My one disagreement with this book is its definition of communism. And how it failed nations. To my knowledge I don’t think there’s been a great example of what successful communism actually is. And it certainly weren’t the examples from the author. Those were all dictatorships.

The author ends it with saying that in order to make history once again, we have to remember history. Dissident behavior is necessary we must not “obey in advance!�
]]> Review7511385298 Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:48:42 -0700 /review/show/7511385298 Mina gave 5 stars to Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity (Hardcover) by Devon Price
bookshelves: 2025
Such a great novel, very refreshing. Felt liberating to read such a book with so much brevity and emotion. I see myself in a lot of the writing and it was very nice to be seen.

The author notes how unmasking is necessary to live an authentic genuine life. Where you can live freely without all the social restrictions and regulations. Where anyone can stim, be loud, selfish yet with pride.

The book covers the lives of marginalized people. How different and difficult it can be for them to unmask. Let alone know about their disability. So many go under the razor bc of lack of access to healthcare. This helps to explain so much. Why the prison industrial complex needs to be abolished, why we all need a seat at the table. And let alone reinvent the table. One in which was constructed under white supremacy logic.

A life where everyone is accepted for who they are. Not ridiculed and forced to be hidden in order to be accepted by the rigidity of society. It is what will benefit everyone not just autistic people. I believe it starts with ourselves the author writes that spending more time with other autists will help to destigmatized our own preconceived notions. With the rise of fascism comes along a lot of ableism. This book gives me hope that there are more like minded individuals out there rooting for change and striving for a better tomorrow. ]]> ReadStatus9261202243 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 21:28:49 -0700 /review/show/7455577057 Mina wants to read The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
]]> ReadStatus9261202058 Tue, 01 Apr 2025 21:28:44 -0700 /review/show/7455576931 Mina wants to read Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
]]> Review7435807245 Tue, 25 Mar 2025 21:37:09 -0700 /review/show/7435807245 Mina gave 4 stars to How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (Hardcover) by Jason F. Stanley
bookshelves: 2025
Great read. Perfectly exemplifies US current climate. With the deportation of thousands of immigrants without due process. And the inciting of us vs them rhetoric. We are dealing with scary things at an alarming rate. And they get away with it, because no one is stopping them. They’ll continue to bc no one wants to cross them.

The author note’s how fascists ideology uprises during times of economic strife. And hooks the masses through the memory of a “mythic past� when things were supposedly “better.� And blames the fall of a nation on the vileness of liberal elites, immigrants, gays, any ethnic group, etc.

That’s how it goes there is one “leader� and what he say is. Creating a mythic past of when things were “great�, and through his “rule� it will be here “again.� The “us vs them� logic is a tired narrative I thought we were over but here we are again. When economic inequality is rising with housing prices skyrocketing and inflation at the rise. It has the consumer by their necks. With private equity seemingly practicing their “free will� in the “free market� merely entrenching on our freedoms.

This book great in its writing and encapsulating how we must progress from dire times. Recognizing one another’s humanity and differences. Bc we are all flawed but we are not demons as the another so eloquently stated. ]]> ReadStatus9224642882 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 22:13:09 -0700 /review/show/7429815652 Mina wants to read Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence by Kristen R. Ghodsee
]]> ReadStatus9209453014 Thu, 20 Mar 2025 06:29:33 -0700 /review/show/7419271216 Mina wants to read Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
]]> Review7351560644 Sun, 09 Mar 2025 23:43:13 -0700 /review/show/7351560644 Mina gave 5 stars to Last Days at Hot Slit: The Radical Feminism of Andrea Dworkin (Paperback) by Andrea Dworkin
How can we expect to have a free and fair world when half of its population is constantly degraded and demeaned. This beautiful, raw, invigorating, and real collection of stories shook me to ever lasting core. I will never be the same. The changed me for the better. Radicalized me in ways never thought possible.

I will revere this book forever. I need to dissect every last word. Dworkins mind is ever present within me now. Her mind her words struck me like no other. I live better knowing there are women kind like her. I am in awe of all women in our fight for fairness and a life full of dignity. We will continue on. ]]> Review7341209072 Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:57:45 -0800 /review/show/7341209072 Mina gave 4 stars to Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent (Hardcover) by Katherine Angel
bookshelves: 2025
Great read opened the floodgates of that which is sex. Revealed so much to me about the complexities of consent and how much of a weight it is on women. How sex should be shared form of exploration. How sex will always be something worked on it is not static it’s more dynamic.

How things like “alpha� male-ism has stunted men and in turn affects women. How men try to run from all things feminine in order to establish their brute masculine. When we arguably need to work with one another as we both take on equal desire and risk. (The author states I believe it’s still riskier for women.)

“Not advocating for being any which way-top, bottom, vulnerable or gentle etc- simply to the value in the radical disintegration and dis-humiliation of the self.� Radical self acceptance, accepting you are not in control in this shared experience but you’re working collaboratively and open yourself up to the possibility of uncertainty. All great and refreshing sentiments from this story. ]]> Review7319581440 Thu, 13 Feb 2025 22:38:51 -0800 /review/show/7319581440 Mina gave 3 stars to All the Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right (Mass Market Paperback) by Ellen Fein
bookshelves: 2025
The book starts off saying how it is holding feminism back 25 years which there is some validity there. I do appreciate this book however. There are some truths amongst the ill advisory.

For one I do like that it tells women to center themselves and not get lost in a man. Prioritize yourself and if a man doesn’t like you onto the next. Somethings are just so.. passive hang up first? Don’t call? Also after marriage keep up the rules? If he doesn’t help you clean oh well move on? Huh? You want a partner who respects your time right?

Also there obvious tips that were out right sexist. I just took the book for it is antiquated. I took some tips here and there as there are some helpful ones. Mainly the ones that say to get active with your dating life and life in general. To remain interesting for yourself, and to not let a man know that you are “desperate.� I do value some sentiments but others were outright wrong.
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