Allie

Read most of this on a quick weekend getaway for our 12th anniversary! Delightful to dive into, though I actually loved the “found family” aspect more than I loved the romance itself. Even though I thought both Jane and August were great characters? But so were all August's roommates and friends (Niko/Myla/Wes, Isaiah/Annie, her coworkers at the pancake place) - McQuiston is very good at writing fully fleshed-out characters. Parts of it were a tad overlong, but small complaint since I enjoyed this so much.

“It's impossible to be unarmed when your Blackness is the weapon they fear.”
- The Hate U Give (film)

I learned so much from The Second. It's short but dense (it reads a touch academic) but please do not let that put you off reading it. It is devastating, and at times I had to set it aside for minutes or days. Anderson reframes the history of the Second Amendment, and posits that this amendment was intended only to keep Black slaves and free Black people subjugated. She then proceeds over the next 160 pages to delve into that history, and oh goodness was this fascinating and horrifying. I absolutely recommend this to everyone.

I cried. Even though I knew Vanessa couldn't possibly die because that would ruin the point of a romance novel.

So here's the deal, the women in her family have tended to get a genetically passed-down disease (ALS) that tends to claim them in a very short period of time. She watched her sister and her mother both die of this before age 30, with and without treatment attempts, and decided that she would experience everything she could, with the expectation that she likely wouldn't be around for the long-term. Which is then complicated when her half-sister Annabel drops her infant off at Vanessa's house and disappears.

That whole side of the family is REALLY damaged, from all the death and the unpredictability of this illness. There's a lot of unhealthy coping all around.

But then Adrian comes into the picture! He's like, all stability all the time. They become friends. But ONLY friends, because Vanessa doesn't want a relationship on the basis that she could be dead like any minute.

[Sure Jan gif]

I love that Abby Jimenez puts in the work to get her characters' jobs right. However. The baby, Grace. Other than in Vanessa and Adrian's meet-cute, having an infant doesn't seem to interfere with their lives like at ALL?? They're always feeding her and changing her and putting her in the swing or letting her sleep, but otherwise Grace sometimes felt like a Plot Device. Infants require other things too! Sometimes they scream for no reason! Sometimes they need tummy time and peekaboo and stories! I know this is a romance novel and therefore maybe the stuff happening with the baby didn't need to be on-page all the time, but I kept going, okay but where's Grace?

The issue here isn't one of lack of communication, but rather a misunderstanding based on communication that seems very reasonable to me. I wasn't mad at it at all.

The ending felt a little rushed. I could have done with more of Adrian's therapy/recovery from the shock of learning the extent of Vanessa's family history.

Overall, I really liked it, just not nearly as much as the other one I just read.

CW: fatal illness (anxiety over it, lack of treatment options, family members who have died of it), medical trauma, addiction and how the medical establishment treats addicts, anxiety/panic attacks, hoarding, mental illness, adoption, end 0f life preparation, abandonment, cheating (not by main characters)

Edit: Bumping up my rating because I'm still thinking about this weeks later.

Gripping and entertaining, even though I really have no interest in stories involving alien species. (It was recommended by a LOT of people whose opinions I trust.) The structure of the story was fantastic, flipping back and forth between Grace's life on earth and his time on the Hail Mary, to provide context as the story continued.

It felt timely in that it involved issues like climate change, food scarcity, apocalyptic catastrophe that could only be solved through cooperation, etc. While ultimately sci-fi, Project Hail Mary felt like it very much could be reality, with a few tweaks in the current environment.

My only gripe is that at times it felt a little heavy-handed with the science and math. I understand that travel to another solar system would require a lot of science and math, but even with the relatively simple explanations of things, I don't know that it really added a lot to the story, especially since we're already suspending belief re: Rocky and xenonite. Didn't hamper my enjoyment of it though.

This was a fantastic primer on Israel, and you can tell how hard Tishby tried to present the material with an even hand. My friend and I are having our final discussion about this book tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to reading more about this region of the world, perhaps from a Palestinian and/or Arab perspective next.

One thing though, she describes that sometimes when Israel is attacked, she hits back too hard, and to that I say YA THINK. This was published in 2021, and as such Tishby couldn't have known about the Oct. 7 attack of Hamas on Israel, and the massive retaliation Israel would rain down on Gaza.

I keep trying to think of other things to say about this book but I'm at a loss at the moment. Maybe more later after we discuss.

Didn't love this - and I read it over such a long period of time that I kept forgetting who characters were or why they were important to the story. But we've established that I'm not much for civilians investigating murders, and the tone this struck was kind of off-putting to me - it was almost TOO light, and none of these people in the town seemed to care very much that people were turning up dead - no one behaved in a reasonable way around death. Did like the diversity of the characters and the restaurants around this town. Also, there are yummy-sounding Filipino recipes at the end, but strangely my copy (from Book of the Month, so I don't know if this was a pre-print run or something) cut off the end of the instructions for one of the recipes!

I thought this book was significantly better than Scazzero's [b:Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life In Christ 249014 Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Unleash a Revolution in Your Life In Christ Peter Scazzero https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380855746l/249014.SX50.jpg 241288]. Similarly to EHS, this book was used as part of a church-wide series, but unlike the former, Emotionally Healthy Discipleship felt like new ground in that it focused primarily on the individual as a disciple of Jesus (rather than transforming the way one would disciple others). Not only that, but moving from the I've-got-all-my-ish-together Christianity to more complete vulnerability within the church community, especially in leadership, but applicable for laypeople as well.EHD felt more practical/applicable, which was one of my big complaints about EHS; this one was also more rooted in biblical scripture.Chapters:Be before you doFollow the crucified, not the Americanized, JesusEmbrace God's gift of limitsDiscover the treasures buried in grief and lossMake love the measure of maturityBreak the power of the pastLead out of weakness and vulnerabilityI underlined a ton of stuff in this book, and took copious sermon notes, neither of which are things I normally do, if that tells you anything. Really good, useful stuff.

“Complementarianism is patriarchy, and patriarchy is about power. Neither have ever been about Jesus.”

This is not so much a review as a list of things I want to remember prior to discussion with Jeananne.

• Phoebe the Deaconess, being demoted in different versions of the Bible
• Bible translations moving back and forth between gender-inclusive language and gender-exclusive language depending on the time period.
• And also people specifically creating translations to remove women's agency
• Rise of inerrancy, if you don't literally believe the beginning of the story (Creation, Flood), then you can't believe that the Jesus stuff is accurate either. And this is how Paul's words are used too.
• Evangelical heresy (Arianism) that Jesus was subordinate to God, and that's why women are subordinate to men. Triune God = Father Son and Holy Spirit all the same and all equal.
• The shifting of patriarchy as society evolves, to continue to keep specific groups of people out
• Medieval women preaching! Things have ebbed and flowed both pre- and post-Reformation. Women in the 1930s preaching!
• We all have different giftings, doesn't make sense that only half the people should be able to serve with theirs, or that only one group “gets” to be gifted with things like speaking, teaching.

This book made so much sense to me, and gave me so much. Dr. Barr is a medieval historian at a Baptist university about an hour north of me, and her framing was perfect and reasonable. I got this from the library but I think I need to get my own copy. Also I need to buy a different Bible translation for my Kindle, because it turns out the ESV was specifically translated in such a way as to cut women's roles as prophetesses, deaconesses and apostles out of the Bible.

I ... have no idea how I feel about this one. Oddly detached? Sometimes Eugenides got in his own way and the flowery writing dragged me out of the story? I'm glad I'll get to discuss it with my book club.

Peaceful little book - perfect for reading in snippets before bed. The author grew up Jewish and later converted to Christianity, and this book reflected on 11 practices of spirituality and how the traditions of one faith can impact and provide a framework for other faith practices. (Included mourning, Sabbath, doorposts, weddings, and more.) I found this a very accessible read, and really appreciated its notes on both religions, as my relationship to Judaism is complicated. (Dad's side of the family is Jewish, but he's an atheist, so I was not raised on religion until my Protestant mother decided we needed to get churched, and I didn't meet my small extended Jewish family until I was an adult. I would like to say I wish I had been able to experience more of my grandparents' faith for myself, but I'm not even confident Judaism was more than just tradition for them, rather than a true experience of faith. I'm having an existential crisis writing this review! Nothing I'm writing about my own life is is sounding right!)

I know I said I was going to wait a while before starting the sequels to “Outlander”, but I lied. I have to admit, I was curious how this series was going to last, because from the start, this book takes place 20 years after the last one ended — and Claire is back in her own time. So I was super worried that the storyline with her hot Scottish husband was over, but I really shouldn't have worried. It was still a good book, though it kind of messed with the plot of the original and I didn't like that. Also, this book was over 700 pages, so now I really feel like I need a break. I think I would still like to continue the series, but I don't feel quite as compelled to jump right into the next one, since I figured out how this one ended fairly early on. I had time to make my peace with it. :)

I really wish I had enjoyed this more. It's a series of essays, some autobiographical, about the city of Istanbul, its culture, and the author's life there. The autobiographical essays were my favorite part. They were mostly well-written and interesting, and I enjoyed the perspective on the city. These chapters made me want to go visit Istanbul, rent a yali on the Bosphorus and count the boats.

There were also quite a few essays on the author's favorite Istanbul writers. Some of these were interesting, and some of them I ended up skimming or skipping altogether, because I don't know these writers, haven't read their work, and I wasn't personally getting anything out of an analysis of their work. I found myself getting bored. Same with some of the chapters about various Turkish artists.

So let's go back to the “Memories” part of the title. Even though I enjoyed them overall, they alone would not have made this a five-star book for me. The last chapter, in which the author has an extended (repetitive, dull) argument with his mother about why it would be a terrible idea for him to become an artist is what finally drove this three-star review into two-star territory. What drove it from a four-star to a three-star book for me was the frequent references to the author's teenage masturbatory practices. (Why do so many men think this is important information to include in their autobiographical work? It's not unique, it's not interesting, and it was completely unnecessary to mention it in like, six different chapters. WE GET IT.)

I enjoyed the descriptions of the melancholy of the city and the pictures scattered throughout. Ultimately, I think you could probably read the first half the book and put it down and not miss anything, and that's very disappointing considering how many good ratings this book got on the first page of Goodreads.

I'm real bad at plants. Once, I had these cute little succulents in these pretty tea tins. They lived for a while. But then one of them started looking sad, so I watered it, and then it looked sadder so I watered it some more, and apparently that was the wrong choice.

But I still love the idea of growing vegetables even though I am totally intimidated by all things outdoors. I mean, our current house is the first time I've ever even consistently weeded the flowerbeds that were already there. Progress? ...

Anyway, this was a charming comic featuring George, an older avid gardener, and Mia, his next door neighbor who is probably a millennial, who is so pumped about growing stuff but knows nothing except stuff she's found on the internet. Together, they walk through choosing plants, making sure you have the right environment for growing, and all sorts of things (all of which George tells Mia are the “number one rule of gardening!”). It seemed ... like maybe it wouldn't be so hard to grow a few things in the spring? The people who lived here before had a small in-ground bed plus some fence thingies for herbs, but it's all overgrown and not pretty right now, so my work might be cut out for me, but this gave me hope, and it was fun and funny to read.

First book of 2024! Mae Harden is a new-to-me author (that's gotta be a pen name, right?) and I had this on my Kindle probably from the last time I did that whole Stuff Your Kindle thing. I will definitely be checking out some of her other work, because Stripped Down was THE perfect combo of sweet and smutty.

The only reasons this wasn't a complete 5 stars for me are two-fold, and both completely personal preferences: 1) even in romance, which gets away with a lot, I don't love it when the hero is overly possessive; and 2) the tiny-baby-woman (even if she's described as curvy) and giant-hulking-man thing. (See also: Ali Hazelwood.)

Somehow, I'd never read this before, despite knowing the story and having seen the “Scrooge McDuck” cartoon (and a Muppets version?) and even being in the play when I was little. (I blame the fact that I got to “Great Expectations” first and decided none of Dickens' other books were worth reading.) It was actually quite good, and now I'm considering picking up more of his books, now that I'm not forced to read them for school.

Well, that's that for the time being, since I've officially reached the end of the published works. I enjoyed this installment, but was disappointed that it was back to novella length and that there was no ART. Some of the fast action confused me toward the end, in regard to the planet the refugees were from and what was going on with attempting to smuggle them to safety. But Murderbot gets the baddie and saves the day, like you know it will, with the help of its guns-for-arms and continual sarcasm.

This can be summarized as: bleak bleak bleak stillbirth Depression Dust Bowl death Communism

Matt said it sounded uplifting. /s

And there were parts of it that were very engaging! But a lot of it was overlong and drawn out. Which, I guess if your goal is to make people really feel how endless and miserable and horrific things were, Hannah succeeded. I have a lot of feelings, but my biggest one might just be that I'm not in a good headspace for this much darkness right now. 3? 2.5? I dunno.

CW for at least five stillbirths talked about during the course of the book, one of which was actively on-page and made me cry at work. Stupid Past Allie for picking this book for book club.

Powered through in a matter of two days - couldn't help happily escaping into this romantic fantasy where eligible men vie for Bea's hand and heart through elaborate dates, where Bea is draped in couture and drama is both manufactured and painfully real, but real people with real complications abound. I liked the format, filled with the internet detritus that make up an (online) life - articles about Bea's blog and stint on Main Squeeze, group chats and betting pools, podcast transcripts, all interspersed with her own perspective on the things that were happening on the show.

Bea is a lovely character to be around - she's funny and loves her family, she doesn't shy away from setting boundaries with the producers (and men) where she needs to, and doesn't let people walk all over her, but she's still human and has doubts and falls apart, especially when people are cruel assholes.

I loved several of the men that were picked for her - some of them were genuinely wonderful guys even if she wasn't meant to have a relationship with all of them. There were lots of surprising twists because reality TV, but I liked that at the end of it all, Bea is the one with a happy ending and is the one who ends up the hero of her own story.

CW: fatphobia related to internet comments and fetishization

Maybe later. The writing is wonderful, but the audio is not holding my attention.

I won't even complain about my journalism pet-peeve this time around. This book was g-r-e-a-t GREAT. (The only not-great thing about it is the cover, which I hate.) I'm glad Farrow is continuing to work on these stories of serial predators, and that there are people willing to stand up for what is right, even at personal risk. If not for those individuals in this book, I think I would have been hulking out with RAAAAAAAGE for the entire thing. (Farrow's boyfriend, Jonathan, also helped bring moments of levity.)

Corruption! Blackmail! Scandals! Misunderstandings! Marriage proposals!

Reading An Ideal Husband was a lot of fun, and I bet this would be super fun to see the stage production. Mrs. Cheveley is such a good love-to-hate-her character, and Lord Goring was just enough of a dandy that I enjoyed him and his over-the-top personality without getting annoyed by him.

Also kind of amusing that I read this as we're in the midst of Trump's impeachment hearings, as the story hinges on Lord Chilton doing something illegal to get some wealth, and someone threatening to expose that thing, when Lord Chilton has a reputation of being Upstanding and Honorable, etc. (Okay, I guess most of that is irrelevant to impeachment, president, et al., in actuality, but I thought it was funny.)

My only eyebrow-raise is a kind of confusion about Wilde's intent. I mean, he's known as a satirist, so in the end when the women are all, “Men's lives are more important than ours, and if we say otherwise they might not love us!” ... I'm not sure if that's a sign of the times or Wilde poking fun. Maybe both!

Anyway, this was fun. :)

As I was telling Matt last night about the stuff I was learning from this book, he commented that this was going to be a really awkward book club (which is why I'm reading it). We'll see, haha! I suspect it will be just fine, since I've found that women are usually more open to talking about sex with each other than men seem to be.

The chapters are suuuuuper short, and Kerner combines a lot of literary references into the Elements of Style framework, but all in all I feel like this is a really informative and interesting little manual on oral sex and female anatomy, and it gave me a better framework for having conversations with my partner.

The cover is a little misleading - this is not a light, fluffy romance. It has some very dark segments, in both January and Gus' family histories, and the stories they choose to investigate/write about. I still enjoyed reading it, but it is not what I expected.

P.S. Matt likes to guess the endings of the romances I read, and when I told him that their bet was a genre-swap, that Gus was supposed to write a romance while January was supposed to write a work of Serious Literature Lol, his bet was that Gus was going to write the story of his and January's romance. Which would have been really lazy of him, a Serious Man Writer Who's Still No Jonathan Franzen, so I'm glad Matt was wrong, because I would have been pissed if that was the complete amount of effort put in (especially if he won by selling his book first).

I think I need to call it, at least for now. I've been reading this for the entirety of July and am still only 40-ish pages in, and it's keeping me from reading other things. I was hoping this would be more about friendship in general, and HOW to keep friendships close (especially since I just moved across the country), but I think the subtitle is meant to evoke just the authors' friendship with each other, rather than how to apply this to one's own friendships.

Nothing groundbreaking if you're even a little bit aware of feminism, social justice, white privilege, etc. A lot of Gouveia's Parenting Tips are things we already do without really thinking about it, but there were a few things that I hadn't thought about (mostly that Ethan will someday not be an adorable toddler but will be a hormone-fueled teenager and we'll have to have Some Uncomfortable Talks with him). I wish the book hadn't focused so heavily on current events, but Gouveia was writing during Toxic Masculinity #1's presidency, and he talked about 45 a lot, and I am still not ready to think about or relive those years in any way. Audio was fine.