the book of unsorted thoughts

by Soph Tang

82 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2025

About the author

Soph Tang is a queer author based in the American PNW. She used to publish esteemed cognitive science research, but after the Great 2020 Collapse of Everything™, she embraced a new dream: becoming an independent author with absolutely no marketing skills and a flair for melodrama.

Now, she publishes emotionally devastating fiction because it's more fun–and somehow less soul-crushing?

Her debut story, Osea (2024), is a dark fantasy full of love, trauma, and vengeance. Her second novel, Decadence (2025), is a queer literary spiral into shame, indulgence, and, well, lesbians. Her latest project, black&white (2025), is a serialized psychological thriller that drags you like a frayed brush across the canvas of a broken heart.

In her free time, Soph also enjoys painting, her electric guitar (Nessie), and occasionally screaming into the void.

Reviews

[Soph Tang · Rating 1 out of 5]

honestly, not her best work. it's a little too self-absorbed and where did those quotes even come from? none of them are attributed so i don't know if they're from the author or her books or philosophers or what.

the art is mediocre, and the whole thing just seems like some weird little inside joke. the "poetry"–if you can even legally call it that–is just weirdly spaced anecdotes. most of them don't even make any sense and the ones that do make me sad or confused.

it's weirdly authentic and kind of true to her brand, but would not recommend. i expect more from the author of Decadence and black&white – Episode 1: HUE.

one out of five stars, made me laugh a few times.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75⭐ (book 42/25 - 2025) I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, BookSirens and author, for the ARC. The book was fine for my boring Sunday afternoon. I can't say what about it was good🤷🏻‍♀️, but I will leave some quotes that I liked.


if i could go back in time
to talk to my 16-year-old self
i wouldn’t tell her what to do
i wouldn’t tell her who to be
all i would say is:
“i love you
i’m sorry
thank you
i forgive you”

↕

i think the key to self-compassion
is to treat yourself as a friend
rather than as “yourself”
for example:
if your friend didn’t finish a painting
or a project they were working on
your first thought would never be:

“wow you’re so lazy”

“you’re such a quitter”

“you’ll never do anything”

so why would you say it to yourself?

… unless you’re a really shitty friend

↕

i have little bits of memories
of things people have said to me
over the years

i wonder if they know
how much their words affected me
i wonder if they know
how much i think about them

i wonder if they ever think
about things that i’ve said
in the same way

Thank you again, BookSirens and author <<3

[Tia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I swear I had a review here and had rated it when I read it - but good reads hates me?!?? The heck

People might think it's a little bias to rate this book so highly when it was dedicated to me... encouraged by me... how presumptuous HAHA. No but in all seriousness I couldn't be happier and prouder to see this book in its physical form and glory.


I value and respect authenticity and vulnerability above all, and Sophie without a doubt always gives you that. This book is a wonderful whiplash of emotions and thoughts. At times I thought; "Sophie, get out of my head, this is so invasive, how did you know that?!" And times I laughed and smiled. I had moments of understanding and moments of just silent appreciation. I think it's truly special to find an author that can be real and not take themselves too seriously - that's when the best stories and books are written.

“if i could go back in time to talk to my 16-year-old self
i wouldn't tell her what to do
i wouldn't tell her who to be
all i would say is: "i love you i'm sorry thank you i forgive you"

I wish people lived more authentically and uncensored.

Oh also id like to insert a comment i got on my initial review of this when it was posted:

set: excuse me i don't think this is how reviews work please take goodreads seriously it's a very serious website with very serious consequences and is most definitely not a place for tomFOOLERY. thank you very much for your time and attention.

Thank you ;) HAHA

[JT Milam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to BookSirens and Soph Tang for a copy of the book for my review!

Some of this was funny, some of it was kinda corny poetry that feels like it really wants to sound cool and introspective, and some of it was just whatever. Honestly, the best parts were the short little quips—those made me want to follow Soph Tang on social media. She’s actually pretty funny, and her voice shines more in those bite-sized moments. That said, it should’ve been longer. 80 pages with super spaced-out formatting felt a little underwhelming. I would’ve gladly taken more—especially if it was just more of her tweet-style humor.

[Misha L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book of poems. It felt very online in the best way, funny and raw. I had some visual access issues though on the whole I enjoyed and was able to read nearly all of it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Emmie Mere · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sweet, weird, fun, short book! Randomly came across this in an LGBTQ list of books from Book Sirens, and glad I took a chance.

Here’s 80 pages of the author’s random thoughts. Some silly, some romantic and some very real. I loved them all and immediately looked the author up on their social media to see more.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After an emotional week I was having trouble getting into the book I was reading and stumbled across this little gem. It was exactly what I needed. A quick read that made me ponder and release some of the stress I've been holding onto. This book was funny, thoughtful and sincere. The only complaint I have is that I wish it was longer. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to BookSirens for this free ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was surprisingly refreshing ! it kinda reminded me of writing and drawing in a diary as a kid ? like this freedom and joy that comes from creating something just for the beauty of putting thoughts on paper, almost unedited, raw and true. also the art is gorgeous.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent a lot of my time reading this collection wondering if I was supposed to already know certain things about the author and/or their background. It felt like reading pages ripped from a diary as there wasn't any framing or context for any of the pieces. I enjoyed them from a detached perspective, but that meant it was difficult for me to interact with them from an emotional level. Therefore, I found rating this book to be difficult. I ended up on 3 stars because the writing itself is fine and sometimes intriguing, but the lack of context made it extremely difficult to truly engage with and enjoy. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Darya · Rating 4 out of 5]

What first attracted me to this title is the genre definition on BookSirens: "nonfiction poetry." The book's subtitle expands on this: "like a shitpost but published" (and now I know that retail platforms will flag my review for this direct quote if I try to cross-post it).

So this is, as announced, a book of unsorted thoughts, observations, and comments on screenshots, but in poetic form and with the author's art, and where the layout on the page adds to the work of art that all of this together creates.

Some of the "thoughts" are expectedly trivial (because, yes, these are something each of us gets to discover over and over again, despite the billions of people wrestling with the exact same questions before us), but others are outwardly hilarious in their absurdity and relatability.

A nice book to flip through and then return to selected pages as the mood takes you.

I am grateful to the author for the eARC provided through BookSirens. The opinion above is my own.

[Izzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't tell which parts of this book were satire and which were genuine but I think that's what made me keep reading. Really kept me on my toes throughtout the entire thing and second-guessing myself; especially a lot of the "self help" quotes and phrases that were constantly thrown at our faces with random starry backgrounds gave me the Tumblr era 2011-2014 nostalgia. But this back and forth of writing styles (being unable to dechipher when something is meant to be serious and when something is meant to be humorous) leaves me to give a neutral rating of 3/5 stars. However, I did really appreciate all the varying forms of art (f*ck AI, like the author says) in between and amongst all the words.

Thank you to BookSirens for a copy of the book.

Favorite Page / Poem
"'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' -- "okay yeah sure but i don’t want to be stronger rn–
i want to nap and play video games??"

[Kira K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughts:
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Soph herself notes this is “like a shitpost, but published” and the format of jumping around and disorganised thoughts definitely feed into this. There are a lot of important thoughts in here, reminders of the importance of being ourselves and how our thoughts can filter the world around us. There are also a few ones that creeped me out like the eyes and brain thing which I didn’t already know. I also loved that Soph included some of her art in the book as she references being an artist and they were not only beautiful but complimented the book well.

Favorite Quote:
“ ”everything happens for a reason”
always felt like such a cruel sentiment

that my suffering
should serve a greater purpose

like you can have your “greater purpose”
…just leave me out of it”

[El | libro.vermo · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book of unsorted thoughts is warm and heartfelt, funny, and full of Soph’s own beautiful art (The crow! The cat! The clouds!). Reading it feels like a cross between looking through Soph’s diary (even the cover, which I love btw, has a sort of “keep out!” vibe), scrolling through their Threads page, and receiving bits of advice and encouragement from a trusted friend.

I should say they are my friend (we became friends after I read their first book and loved it, and I believe this is an unbiased review because I know they’d want me to be honest), but reading this book as someone who doesn’t know them will leave you with a feeling that you do.

Soph will tell you the book of unsorted thoughts is trash, but I say one Soph’s trash is my treasure. It’s honest, genuine, authentic, and the best trash I’ve ever read.

Also there’s a palindrome poem and it’s really cool idk how anyone does those. I feel like it takes so much planning? It’s not a really short one either. I was just really impressed by it idk palindrome poems are wild.

[John Oh · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the anti-doomscroll. i would even go so far as to call it a moodscroll. tang offers glimpses into the psyche of a creative through pieces of artwork, poetry, social media posts, and commentary in a way that paints a portrait that is both intensely personal, yet very relatable. my only criticism is that it ends too soon.

[Cavak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet. Felt like a perzine. Longer than most perzines, but the freedom of expression was pretty similar. It's simple and full of heart. Sure to be relatable to many readers who are about Tang's age. Extra star for the author's self-deprecating troll review. That got me to laugh.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Sabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these types of quirky books; there are some fun lines here, and cool pictures that I liked which were a surprise.

But, frankly, I connected more with the artwork than the unsorted thoughts.

{I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.}