Danielle
Dang. This is an emotional ride. Maybe the cover image should have tipped me off.
I am fascinated by complexities of human behavior and emotion, so this book was right up my alley. Gottlieb's story shows how therapists are not immune from needing help to deal with life's challenges, while also depicting how meaningful the relationship is between therapist and client. Her stories are deeply impactful, and the therapeutic theories, strategies, and insights woven throughout were both interesting and helpful. Loved it!
It took a little while for this book to resonate: it's depressing, and feels a bit like getting pushed down again and again without being able to get back up. But after the first section or so, something about these poems does seem to stop time a little, and I got absorbed in the poet's grief over the death of his mother. I never thought a poem that details an Amazon shopping history could make me so emotional!
However, I'm finding more and more that this particular brand of poetry — filled with obscure hurt, little tangible to hold on to — is less enjoyable to me. It's too opaque. But that's just a preference; this is still a lovely collection that beautifully inhibits the world of grief. Just not so much my cup of tea.
After a bunch of work book-club duds, this one was actually enjoyable. Was it cliche and expected? Yes. Are there plot holes and unresolved plot lines? Yes. Is the plot, on the whole, unbelievable? Also yes. But I still found myself engaged in the mystery, and even though it's about a murder, it was such a light and easy read. The characters were charming, and there was self-awareness to the formulaic nature of the mystery, as if the author knew it was more like a silly cartoon than a gritty novel. I enjoy books with NYC as the setting now that I know all the neighborhoods, and I can appreciate a plot line that revolves around dating apps, as I have my own wealth of experience! (RIP) So overall, it was a fun read!
Wow. This was a ... commitment. As in, a mega-long book. But what else could I expect from Brandon Sanderson?
For the sake of my attention span, I wish it had been broken up into at least two books. But I did quite enjoy it; it's satisfying to get more and more answers that build the puzzle of Roshar and its history. There was some fascinating character growth, particularly for Dalinar and Shallan, and as always, Sanderson slips in delightful nuggets of wisdom (some of which I've included in the highlights). I continue to be amazed by the detail and sheer imagination that goes into this series. I maintain that Sanderson is an absolute genius.
The parts that lost me are the parts that always do... I get easily bored by the political conversations (hate me a game of Risk), and drawn-out battles lose my attention in books as much as they do in movies.
Now I need a rest from The Stormlight Archive – but I am looking forward to the next two after I recover!
This was such a fun novella! It's been a few years since I've read something from the Cosmere, and this was a delightful re-entry (I couldn't stomach 1000+ pages of Oathbringer just yet). Lift was one of my favorite characters from Words of Radiance even though she got so little space – so I'm so glad she got the attention of an entire short narrative. Her character development was great, and this was light while still bringing some additional detail to the overarching story.
2.5 stars. It isn't terrible, but it isn't good either. This book follows two parallel stories of a woman (who happens to be my age) trying to get her life together in LA. By exploring two different narratives, we see how life can change drastically because of one small decision — but also, how some things stay the same. It brings up (too explicitly for my taste) questions of fate. But really, at its core, this is a predictable romance novel. And romance novels aren't my thing.
This one was interesting, and I'm still processing it. I'd have to read parts of this again to fully understand it, which is fun. I knew this was going to be a good time because A) I loved Laymon's memoir, so I knew this would be well-written and B) the book has a physical structure unlike that which I've seen before: two parts that start from opposite ends of the book (as in, an identical front and back cover, and the second part of the book is upside-down from the first, starting from the back cover which could be the front cover, starting the pages over at 1).
The books are somehow the continuation of the same story, but I'd have to read it again to see how all the puzzle pieces match up. Beyond the interesting narrative structure, the writing style of this book is a GD delight. The main character, a teenager named City, is hilarious, but also complex and heavy with the realities of growing up black in our society. His character feels incredibly true, while the other characters feel magical and unreal in a way that fits perfectly with the story.
This book makes us ask big, hard questions of ourselves and the world we live in, but is fun and fantastical at the same time. Absolutely recommend for a simultaneously fun and challenging read.
This is science fiction with huge emphasis on SCIENCE. To truly enjoy this, you should take a prerequisite course in astrophysics. Thematically & philosophically, it's quite interesting, and the first half of the book has great pacing. But towards the end it devolves into “action” scenes involving some ridiculous science that I had to read twice and still couldn't really understand. The pacing gets super wacky with a ton of rapid-fire crazy events and awkwardly forced plot descriptions (lots of telling, less showing). The dialogue is a bit wooden and generally there's a lack of beautiful writing in favor of a very practical style, but that could be more the translator than the author.
Basically, I understand why a lot of people (science fiction nerds, mind you) love and recommend this book, but I thought it was on the worse side of just okay.
Can't wait to delicately shred this to pieces at my company book club on Tuesday! This became a hate-read with a skim-finish about 3/4 of the way through, but it was terrible the whole time. It's melodramatic, very dark, and sensual in strange and unsettling ways. The plot twist didn't make any sense and turns happened way too quickly. None of the characters are at all likable. It reads distant and nightmarish for a book that isn't a thriller (at least, I don't think it is?). In the end, this is a story that spends a lot of time complaining about the plight of women in patriarchal societies while playing into every dumb trope of female hysteria. Just awful.
Very entertaining! No surprise that Seth Rogen is a talented comedy writer. I laughed out loud quite often. Also fun to read about the real-life experiences that influenced his movies, and to get some insight into the strange world of Hollywood. While it's mostly a surface-level memoir of his life's funnier (vs most impactful) moments, Rogen does skirt some interesting deeper questions (about drug use, anti-Semitism, free speech, etc.). Definitely recommend this delightful read!
“That's the ruling story on our planet. We live suspended between love and ego. Maybe it's different in other galaxies. But I doubt it.”
This book is a beautiful build oscillating between awe and horror, leading into a heart-wrenching crescendo. If you wove together Everything is Illuminated, Flowers for Algernon, and Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities (except with imagined planets), you would get this book. It's very topical, but will clearly transcend; I could see it being taught in schools someday.
Might put this closer to 3.5 stars.
Even though I'm a fan of Will Smith, I was not expecting this audiobook it to be good, because celebrity memoirs often aren't. But I enjoy them for the same reason I like reading/listening to memoirs by anyone with a different background than me; they have a vastly different lived experience.
I can certainly say that of Will Smith, who repeatedly refers to himself as the “undisputed greatest movie star of all time,” and will then go on to list TV and musical accolades. Now, this would seem egotistical - and for sure, it is - but it's essential to his personality (i.e., relentless drive to be the best), character arc (actually becoming the best, though that's subjective), and eventually to his self-actualization (or, at least, his continued journey towards it). He tells the story of having it all - unbridled success, a “perfect” nuclear family, hundreds of millions of dollars - and how none of that's the answer. He had rocky relationships. He lost sight of what matters. He suffered. And slowly, he comes around to realize that all the things he strove for his entire career have nothing to do with happiness.
Okay, sure. It's a cliched message. But it's a good story, and Will Smith is a good story-teller. Also, the production value of this audiobook is bar none. The musical interlay is excellent. It's.a fun listen; in fact, this is one of few times that I would unequivocally recommend the audiobook over the print book.
Preaching to the choir? Maybe. But the principles laid out in this book really resonate with my experience and personal philosophies. I like the sampling of examples the author chose to illustrate each, and I think he has fairly practical advice for incorporating groundedness more into your life. A great read for athletes, those struggling with mental health, and corporate crazies.
This book is – spoiler – about why we sleep and the importance of sleep. It starts with theories of why we sleep and dream (it is quite interesting that we still don't really know), how other animals sleep, why we need sleep, why we will surely die an early death if we don't sleep, why society is not set up to accommodate our sleep needs, and then, at the very end, literally 12 bullet points about how to improve your sleep.
I won't argue with the importance of sleep, nor that its importance is undervalued in capitalist hustle cultures. But I don't trust any author that claims one thing will radically change your health. Health is a complex myriad of things, only some of which are in our control.
For me, sleep often feels out of my control. Insomnia is barely addressed in this book, and when it is, it's treated flippantly. Just do some CBT and you'll be good!! The author makes it seem like it's so easy to just sleep more. Sleep does not, and probably never will, work that way for me. For over a decade I've sought the answer to consistent quality sleep. I've tried nearly everything (including CBT), and yet still go through periods of days and weeks (and in some very rough patches, months) where sleep eludes me. Despite all best efforts and having read a bunch of books like this. (Why do I keep reading books like this, you ask? In the dwindling hopes that one will eventually have the key to this particular misery.) I'm beginning to think that it's just genetically hard-wired, and like a chronic disease, all I can do is manage it.
If anything, this book should come slapped with a big warning for insomiacs – this book WILL make you panic if you put stock in its alarmist messaging, so maybe just don't!
A Very Readable Book, though it's less standard memoir than it is a slew of jokes about the milestones in the authors' life (mostly as it pertains to comedy). From the outset, the jokes come on strong, and most of the time they deliver. I chuckled, if not laughed out loud, throughout. You would think a pretty white guy in the entertainment industry who's from Staten Island, went to Harvard, and is married to Scarlett Johansson would be a cocky asshole. But he's just the right amount of self-deprecating, self-aware, and seems like an okay guy (and a funny writer, which one hopes is prerequisite for being the Head Writer at SNL for so many years).
I do wish he went beyond the surface level, but I get that this is not that kind of book. The chapter about his mother felt like a departure, even though it was interesting to read. The chapter on commuting in New York City, which I read on the subway, is probably my favorite. Too accurate. I didn't like the inclusion of footnotes, because I kept missing the asterisk and having to backtrack to then read a joke that wasn't that great. But that's a minor complaint.
Anyways, if you like LOLs, and especially if you like sketch comedy, I recommend this one. Not a life-changing read by any means, but definitely a fun, quick one.
First, a synopsis:
There are three distinct books, each taking place 100 years apart: 1894, 1994, and 2094. The majority of the action happens in New York City – at least, a reimagined version of what it could be, or would be, in and alternate history (or real future, who tf knows).
In the first book, a young man of dynastic wealth lives in New York, which is the capital of the Free States, which have seceded from both The Colonies (what we know of as the South) and The West (CA, WA, OR, and uncharted territory). In the Free States, citizens are encouraged to marry regardless of sex, and homosexual relationships are just as common (and often, practical and loveless) as hetero ones. The young man, David, falls in love, and has to choose between continuing to live a sheltered life under the protection of his grandfather, or risk it all for the man he loves.
In the second book, a young paralegal with ties to Hawaiian royalty in New York is dating the partner at this firm that is twice his age in the height of the AIDS epidemic. He has all but considered his father dead when he receives a letter from him at an emotionally vulnerable time that exposes a fascinating and painful family history.
In the third book, regular pandemics and global warming have turned New York into an authoritarian nightmare that a young neurodiverse woman is forced to navigate on her own following the death of her grandfather.
Next, my feelings:
I predict this is going to be a divisive book; either you love it, or you DNF (it is not for the faint of heart!). I loved it.
After each book, I had to pause and contemplate what I just read – both to relive the joy of having read it, but also to unpack the complex ties and more nuanced plot points, and their significance. Each book is so consuming, that while the memories of the past book echo in silky vestiges throughout, I was afraid I would forget the prior book as I became enveloped in the world of the subsequent story.
The second part of Book 2 lost me a little (in that I think it was about twice as long as it needed to be) and it took a while to work into Book 3, I think because of the narrator and the stark scene of near-apocalyptic New York – but it paid off to stick with it, because Book 3 comes back to hit hard at the end. Book 1 still comes out as my favorite, though, and I'm so impressed with the author's ability to write so convincingly like a late-19th century writer would.
It's so tempting to believe that each of these stories are in the same world, and are maybe even part of the same story – but that's not a clean interpretation. This book resists clear connections and clean interpretations, and I LOVE IT. This is major book-club fodder for lit nerds.
Each book deals with powerful themes that transcend 300 years: how radicalization is born; our most passionate attempts to protect the ones we love, and the pain that comes with realizing it is impossible to do so; and, of course, our unending quest for paradise.
I was looking for a new audiobook when I read (er, skimmed) an article in the NYT about the stoics, and this book was mentioned as a recommendation. The snippets of stoic philosophy I read seemed like the perfect way to start 2022, so I nabbed this audiobook and Seneca's Letters (on Kindle, bc it was $1.99!). I was expecting this to be a memoir that incorporated bits of Seneca's text, but no. This was more like some queasy mix of textbook and self-help book. Spare yourself the read by jumping to the last chapter, where he summarizes the entire book in a numbered list. Note – I did really enjoy, at least conceptually, the stoic teachings. This was just a boring package for them. Looking forward reading the first-hand version when I get around to the Letters.
This collection of nine short stories reflects on the generational trauma of the Khmer Rouge through the perspective of the Cambodian community of Stockton, CA. The stories tie into each other nicely such that it reads like a cohesive whole, and shows characters at different points in their lives and through different lenses to show the interconnection of this community, and the ways that such intense violence and loss refuses to be contained in one location or one point in time.
I found this equally funny and devastating, and a deep-dive into a culture that I knew next to nothing about. There's an added weight knowing this is a tragically posthumous work. It did read to me like a first collection, lacking the maturity of a more seasoned writer. But it shows such promise, and so it's really sad that this is all we'll have from Anthony Veasna So.
If, like me, you're a ripe combo of English major and Harry Potter fan, this is the book for you! It's a close reading of all seven books from the perspective of Snape, framing him as the true protagonist. While I think the author made some leaps, it's a wholly well-constructed work, and I'll take any excuse to be transported back into this world. Hit me in the feels all over again.
This is a unique collection of poems with a distinctly queer, playful, slightly anxious, self-aware voice. Settings range from a cat cafe to a former lover's apartment to visiting a prison. The collection is an interesting mix of heavy and light. I never got that sock-punch to the gut feeling though, the feeling of a poem really resonating.
This one was weird. At times interesting, funny, emotional, and poignant — but very weird. The back cover calls it “genre-defying,” which feels right. I'd say this sits somewhere between poetry, satire, and internet speak. It's a novel made up of nearly schizophrenic, barely linear fragments of internet culture: a little bit of everything all of the time. But then towards the middle it starts dovetailing into a family drama, which feels like a departure from the earlier part of the book. Some really quotable lines throughout.
My goodness this was devastating. Beautiful and visceral, but devastating. Zauner writes about her relationship to her mother through the experience of cancer, but more so through the experience of food, and how that connected her to her mother and Korean identity.. If the old adage about the stomach being the way to one's heart, this book proves it. It has a slow start but once it picks up, it takes a firm grip on your heart (and stomach) and doesn't let go until long after you're done (so much so that I went on a special trip to H-Mart the very day I finished it!).
