Court

I love how Valente writes, her style and premises. This was an audible treat as listened and lounged, recovering. It reminded me a little of Discworld, fantastic world building and characterization of the people and their regions.

Fantastic.

The riffs look especially good, a breakfast version and a filling with butternut squash, kale and mushrooms.

I got excited when they brought up momos. I was hoping they'd cover sweet momos as an Indian coworker told me about them and they sound amazing. Oh well looks like I'll have to keep exploring.

Enjoyed the first half more than the second. I like Charles and Edwin and Thessaly is my favorite, however I did not find the snake ghost likeable. I understand that not all kids are pleasant, but his excessive use of mother effer at one point was even more awful than his referring to the girls' chest.

I liked Jai's message about trying, I love Thessay being a badass (wanted more of her), and Charles letting go, his message about how we transform when we fall out of love, and maturing.

I like the premise and that this can be a catalyst for discussion. I didn't much like Juniper, but I figure that one isn't really supposed to (although I do like many anti-heroes). For me I disliked how immature Juniper read, but maybe that's part of a point the author is making? Juniper is also one note, although that might have been a saving grace as I hate when a random romance is thrown in.

The author makes valid points about racism and biases, both subtle and overt and mentions tokenism and stereotypes. I also liked her commentary about online discourse (Twitter, blogs, goodreads, and her comment about reductress made me laugh).

I didn't love the whole book though, I more appreciate its message. I get that the book wasn't supposed to make me feel warm and fuzzy. However some people mentioned a twist and I didn't feel that it was much of a twist or a reveal. I kept waiting for Athena's mom to reappear or Athena's journals/her past although it is revealed that Athena's dad commits suicide on an anniversary of Tiananmen Square and ‘atrocities in Cambodia' perhaps that was the past Athena's mom wanted to keep hidden.

The art was a bit odd, but it worked, it fit.

I love the concept of the furies and loved how everything was solved.

I didn't love every piece, although I do enjoy most of them, but I appreciated how the book was organized. I was familiar with many works and liked that there was a mix of familiar and novel.

Not a memoir in the truest sense, but it is a collection of true stories (memories), most of which come from their own experiences and those of family members and friends. This made me laugh, wince, and shake my head at white people. I have been curious about Black peoples' hair but instead of burdening a Black person I remembered that Google is free.

I think I missed out on the bonus PDF images, but so glad to hear their singing and excellent delivery, also one of them laughed during a segment but I think that made it all the more authentic.

I laughed out loud when she said she could hear the woman's Karen haircut.

I like this flavor of cozy mystery

I started this as an ebook, but then my hold expired and I started it over as an audiobook. I didn't mind hearing what I'd already read because it's that good.

I'm not normally one for romance, so instead I'll think of it as a love story.

This hit so many of my favorite things I can't help but wonder if the algorithm works. I mean I purposely sought some of it out, such as goodreads choice nominee.

More review to come, probably.

Such a fun read, first there was a day at a theme park with the brother and sister that make crepes, Masa looks for a new place, the little cafe where Tatsu works part time serves an overworked man a delightful meal. I really liked Tatsu jonsing for the concentrated yogurt drink and the rich steak that Tatsu and his wife look forward to all day. Also liked Masa attempting to make instant ramen better and Tatsu teaching him how it's done. I thought the young woman doing the neighborhood news piece was great, hadn't expected to see the rapping man again. I had also forgotten about the stray cat, glad to see him in a cute bonus story.
LOVED Tatsu's teatime.

The premise is interesting but some of the narrative focus wasn't the best

“I guess there were a few holes in that story. It's hard to remember all the details — you just gotta tie together what you haven't forgotten and hope it can stand on its own two feet.” — Woodman Pete telling a story about Paul Bunion

I think all the blurbs exalting had a negative effect for me as I went in thinking this is going to WOW me. It's a great message (when we forget to be afraid we open ourself up to wonderful things) but the execution didn't blow me away. I actually had to turn back a few times, wait how did he get here?

After reading thousands of stories I love finding one that feels classic but is also able to surprise me.

Well done Klassen.

An ambitious attempt to cover the history of many dessert categories: ice cream, donuts, cake, pie, brownies, gummies, cookies, and the last chapter was specifically about macrons.

Loved that science was included and that while the history was age appropriate it wasn't completely sanitized, such as using words like ‘enslaved people'.

I thought this was really well done with how it talked about the gods without including them.

I was so excited for the part about Iphigenia that I had forgotten about Cassandra showing up later, which was also well done.

There's a lot going on here, also a higher body count than I anticipated.
There were

Glad I previewed this as I'm looking for picture books that discuss jealousy. I think this would work for others, but not for the kiddo I have in mind. Not terrible, but I think it's for a specific type of jealousy, the jealousy between siblings and besides parental attention the main character isn't specifically jealous of something. I liked the mom talking the to daughter about loving more than one person and the end has a good message about how it's okay to be angry and great examples of ways to cope with anger.

This was fantastic. Similar to [b:The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History 43862307 The Golden Thread How Fabric Changed History Kassia St. Clair https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564592440l/43862307.SX50.jpg 63679455], I loved how etymology was discussed. Finlay brings up how history, economics, culture, and technology came into play in the creation of fabrics and some certain styles of those fabrics. Barkcloth, wool, cashmere/pashmina , cotton, linen, damask, silk, modern man-made fabrics and more were included.I loved how she talked about wool from the Falkland islands being added to a seat in Parliament as it reminded me of Eddie Izzard's comedy: “we need the Falkland Islands... for strategic sheep purposes”I was fascinated at the mention of the jute mill at San Quentin in the late 1800's.I was hoping she'd talk about the ‘silk' or other fabric that's made from eucalyptus, but it didn't come up, but she did briefly talk about the fabric from bamboo and to be aware of green-washing. I liked Finlay's inclusion of her life and the loss of her parents.

I thought the art style was great.

Bravo for forgiving your mother, reconnecting with your sister, and being a good dad.

I understand that life might seem like it's linear since it happens day by day, but it's rarely that simple and so I forgive Hawthorne's narrative retelling. More on his college years, meeting his wife, or becoming a husband and father would have been appreciated but I think this is mostly the memoir of him surviving his childhood.

Music teacher shared this in the classroom

I picked this up without looking inside. The art style is not my favorite and the three stories are separate but they're disjointed and bland.

In the third story about Tessa and Hope I get that no one died and that she's being ‘ghosted', it's the death of their friendship but Tessa is boring and flat while Hope is fleshed out.

Lovely and heartfelt, said aww a few times

Some people view this book as “fatphobic” but in the next volume we learn that it's because of the realtor that Gon the caretaker gained weight and that Gon wants to be healthier. So I don't think of it as fatphobic so much as just being aware of what's in the food and that foods that are less calorie dense can still be tasty and satisfying. That being said I can see how it can be triggering to others.

Anyway, I like the characters and that the creators show different ways to be LBGT+
Some are out, some are closeted or only out in certain places. The book also talks about some societal concerns, not all places are LBGT+ friendly.

I already devoured the second volume and have digitally checked out the third. I have a soft spot for the intersection of food and LBGT friendly manga, this is at least the third series I've found with both of those interests.

Originally I marked this as a four, but I've argued with myself to make it a 4.5

I thought I wanted more from it, but as a YA graphic novel — realistic fiction which I've decided to think of as nearly graphic memoir, it strikes the right balance. There were elements that I wanted more of but if she added in everything it might have been too long (for its intended purpose/audience) and due to its emotionality it works better as a single volume. And if she added in only some of the elements it might have come across as lopsided.

I thought I wanted more characterization of Valerie, but the things that I felt were missing either weren't (or weren't owed to me) or were missing on purpose.
Here's some specifics Valerie wants to go to Sarah Laurence College. When I hear about certain schools I assume certain things, for example I had friend who wanted to go to MIT for astrophysics, or one might want to go to a specific school due to a family connection or to be in a certain location. So if I hear someone wants to go to Sarah Laurence I expect their to be a reason, such as wanting to pursue journalism or becoming an author or because Vera Wang went there. Instead what she says is “in my heart, I've always wanted to go to Sarah Laurence College. Having lived on the West Coast my whole life, I want to see a real fall.” Her best friend Jordan then adds that if she gets into NYU then they can still be close enough to hang out. This feels a little...hollow? Like there's SO many colleges on the East Coast, why this specific —and famous—school to set one's heart on? But I think it also speaks to Valerie's stalled development, she doesn't have a passion to chase because she's too wrapped up in her disordered eating. I thought I also wanted more focus on her Taiwanese identity, but it's there. She talks about being ‘qwai', being a good daughter, Lunar New Year, cooking style, and her house has stone lions in front. Although it would have been nice to know about her parents attitudes about her wanting to go to a liberal arts college.I was surprised that there wasn't more talk about how men don't have to worry about what they eat, but I think it's there in subtle ways and that works too. Her mother doesn't police the brother's eating, but her mother and at least one aunt comment to Valerie to not get fat. What I know about bulimia is that it can have awful, unintended side effects, such as ruining one's teeth, hurting one's throat, and hair loss. So if one is obsessed or concerned about their looks they might do certain things to safeguard their teeth, take supplements, etc. But I don't know how long it takes for those side effects to occur. The story seems to start around Lunar New Year and wraps up around summer, so about 4-5 months, I guess that's not long enough for her to experience the other physical effects besides weight loss and of course the mental effects.