Allison Braden

Sympathetic to message, horrifically bored by delivery. Used audiobook as white noise for last few chapters.

I mean, it was ok. More conflict plz.

Superb and essential.

Luckily, when I read in Spanish, it doesn't have to be literary to be edifying.

Reminded yet again of the ocean of gratitude every American owes George Washington and that angel in the whirlwind.

Such incredible stories deserved a better telling. I could have done without the patronizing. Often Harvey would make final judgments as to the character and legacy of the liberators which came as a surprise–could have used more showing, less telling. Still a riveting history.

Note to self: This was incredible. After sitting on my to-read shelf for over a year, I finally pulled my way through the first chapters and was hooked by halfway. The structure, the language, the loftiness. Robert Penn Warren, like Conroy, paints a picture of the tainted South so gorgeously that it's hard not to want to escape to the humid languor of the Southern coast, despite the region's myriad faults.

I understood approx. 10% of this book. Will revisit later.

This book was helpful, but could have been 800x shorter.

the language can be so beautifully opaque that the emotion gets lost

My favorite book of this year and possibly now in my top 10 of all time. A billion stars. And I don't even surf.

required reading right now

I finished this book on the flight back from NYC and hid my tears.

Jamison explores themes I am fascinated with, things that are profoundly true, but the essays felt shadowed by the style. She seems enamored with her style and demands that we be too. Charles D'Ambrosio's Loitering was maybe my favorite book I read this year. It's easy to tell that he was the teacher and she the student.

drama drama drama!

This was unbelievably good and is now my favorite book.

yo 2 out of the 2 YA fantasy novels i've read recently set up love triangles and then end, like please write a complete story thanks

jfc a billion stars. this book destroyed me. this book resonated with me perfectly: summer, languorous heat, lit, art, travel, nostalgia, ephemerality of time, mortality. agh.

umm

I had so much fun reading this book. What a roller coaster. What a disgusting, repulsive, terrifying, fascinating roller coaster.

One of the best books I've read this year.

Updated from three to five stars in January 2023. Had to wait for the right time for this one.

The subtitle should have been “a history of” instead of “how to.”

a few nice turns of phrase did not make up for the fact that this was so flowery, my eyes sometimes glazed over

I'm still comprehending what I just read.