Sarah
Felt kind of aimless and unsure of what it was about. But I always love the melding of Western psychology and Buddhism.
Carrie has an amazing way with words that I don't know how to describe. She's hysterically funny and devastatingly honest at the same time. Her affair with Harrison was depressing and lackluster, and something that affected her a great deal at the time. Her diaries from that time were full of pain and confusion that broke my heart and made me laugh all at once. The way she talked about her fame too was both sad and funny. Carrie was expected to be as perfect and gorgeous now as she was in her metal bikini days, and it's depressing. But Carrie is unapologetically critical of that and honest about how stupid that is. Carrie, completely separate from Leia, was an amazing human being all on her own. It's sad that she had to spend most of her life convincing herself of that.
I loved seeing how obviously this inspired Tolkien in creating Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
Easily one of the most tangibly painful and depressing books I've ever read. Gorgeous art though and the perfect depiction of such a bleak and awfully sad story.
The world of sex research is just as wild as you'd think it would be and then some. Mary Roach is also the perfect person to explore this field and make it hilarious and fun the whole way through.
“Roses are rose. Violets are violet. I love you.”
I definitely enjoyed reading B.J. Novak's short stories. Most of them were witty and entertaining, like the one quoted above. That was a full story in Novak's book, and a lot of them were that short as well. I loved how Novak's stories were all so diverse and all still very comical. They weren't stand-out to me though. I don't really think any of them were particularly memorable or extremely funny to me, they were just good. I really enjoyed seeing Novak speak at my school, and when he read some of these stories out loud I found them even funnier. Maybe they would all be funnier if he read them out loud, but in any case, it was a good, fun read that was a much needed lighter break from some of the longer, heavier stuff I've been reading lately.
Yes, I know, I read this. I actually did. I got sucked into the (pretty awful) show and was curious how the book was because I'd never actually read a cheesy romance novel. And what a wild ride it was. Yikes.
I don't usually read books like this. I generally dislike those “summer beach reads” but this one seemed like it at least had some interesting stuff going on from the description. Plus, I read a ton of reviews where people were raving about it and the twist at the end. I managed to read this book all in one sitting, and I'm glad I did, or I probably would have just given up on it and never finished. I didn't care for the writing style at all. It would randomly break up into a free-verse poem kind of format and it just felt weird and annoying to me. I also disliked some of the ways the narrator described things, because she would way over dramatize everything and it caused a lot of confusion. When she described her father leaving her and her mother, she said something about how he pulled out a handgun and shot her in the chest and it was actually hard to tell if she was being serious or not. Or how she was always saying she was bleeding all over Gat, and he would clean up her wounds. I get that these are metaphors but they were very extreme and not well placed. The family drama was so annoying throughout the story and I would have been fine with it if there was at least some sort of resolution to it at the end but it really didn't feel like there was. I saw that this book was trying to satirize or at least draw attention to the snobby, upper class, white people stereotype but it didn't feel like it was done that well at all. The narrator's mother was still overbearing and nasty by the end, and they still only cared about the grandfather's fortune and which house they would inherit. I really didn't even find the twist surprising either. It didn't feel like much of a twist at all, just the narrator finally realizing that something horrible had happened, which I kind of expected anyways. The twist was a letdown. I was expecting so much more and was more shocked that people thought it was shocking and emotional. Maybe I read this too detachedly, but I honestly felt nothing except maybe happiness that I'd reached finally reached the end.
Okay, I don't usually add picture books to my Goodreads but OH MY GOD THIS IS THE CUTEST ONE EVER. I love sloths infinitely and this is just the most adorably illustrated sloth I have ever seen. I feel inspired to also find my own Sparky as a pet (hint hint Daniel hint hint)
My friend made me watch the show and I (begrudgingly) fell for its charms. And of course, the book was no different! I love how closely the show followed the book and pretty much perfectly captured its spirit. And, Dash reminds me a lot of a certain someone in my life and I couldn't help but laugh out loud at some of the pretentious things he said because I could hear my boyfriend saying the exact same things.
It made me think a lot about how our relationships shape our lives in large and small ways.
Definitely had some interesting thoughts and points throughout, but overall was a little tedious to finish.
Utterly fascinating and unique. Vandermeer's world-building (not sure what to call it?) was compelling and exquisite. His writing about nature (or, whatever we can describe Area X as) was captivating for me. And I loved how much this book served to ponder the nature of the self and what that truly is or can mean.
Cute, and a great tribute to one of he greatest characters in this series, but kind of pointless. I love Tyrion and all but please just give me Winds of Winter!
This was NOT about changing “fattitude.” This was not body positive like I expected at all. I expected something about accepting her body the way it was but no, it was all “I'm skinny and thus living happily ever after”
I've always loved Greek mythology so I figured I'd love this. But it was just alright for me. I kind of struggled to get through it.
I never thought about how resting could be a form of resisting capitalism and “grind culture” and this just makes so much sense. Especially for those who say they don't have time to rest, to take breaks, to take care of themselves. Giving yourself even just a minute's rest is taking a step to push back and say that you are not a machine.
The organization was a little wonky and it felt repetitive at times, but I loved the overall message.
Not my favorite in the series, but still extremely good. I'm absolutely in love with this series and I just want to reread all of them over again. J.K. Rowling has this uncanny ability to create the most amazing characters and settings for them and while this is obviously more realistic than Harry Potter, it still felt like the novels took place in a world of their own too. I really love Robin and Strike, and while I'm still uncertain about the direction that their relationship is headed in, I am mostly happy with how everything has worked out so far. This case this novel focused on, in particular, was so much more personal and allowed for so much more to be revealed about Robin and Strike's characters and their backstories and it made me really happy (even though their backstories weren't all that happy at all). Overall, I adore this series and I can't wait for Rowling to write the next one (it had better be soon).
Amazing amazing story. Reminiscent of The Night Circus, but it was more devastating and painful at the same time. In love with the characters and everything about the story.
An extremely compelling look into how we understand the minds of others. It seems so obvious on the surface and so easy, but it was fascinating to see how we're not as good at this as we think we are.
This book said a lot of things that really needed to be said about the way our culture is geared toward extroverts and how being introverted is seen as a problem. It was great to read about all of the research done about introversion and extroversion and to see how we really can't help being introverted and that it really isn't a bad thing at all. I loved reading about the psychology behind all of this personality stuff and it was really a fascinating read.
Finally finished reading one of the greatest fantasy series of all time and it definitely did not disappoint! This series was amazing and although it took me quite a long time to read, I absolutely loved it.
This was one of those annoyingly transparent books that offers a clear warning to readers but isn't subtle about it at all. It's not entirely bad, of course, just not always the most entertaining to read when you can see what's coming a mile away. Also couldn't stop rolling my eyes at the blatant shark symbolism throughout the second book. Seriously? It felt almost insultingly condescending, as if the author felt we'd be too stupid to pick up on that on our own. On the whole, it was a good story and is definitely pertinent to the present and future of society. We do have to be concerned about privacy and exactly what information we share with the world. This book, however obviously and patronizingly, asks the question of how much is too much? Clearly, this is meant to be a cautionary tale that provides us with clear evidence as to why we still need our privacy. I completely agree and understand, I just found myself annoyed with the author's method of conveying these ideas. No need to be so obvious and blunt about the underlying messages of your text. Most of us can pick it up on our own and don't need it shoved down our throats.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly why I disliked this one because it was similar to Evelina, which I really liked. It just felt like this one had no plot and was just slow and dull.