Indira
I get the point of this book but in the end I just thought it was a little... odd? I did enjoy Keiko's commentary on society and how everyone conforms to the same made-up rules though!
This book made me both mad and sad, but mostly mad. In a good way though!
I love that it's fiction but also kind of non-fiction (the author interweaves some statistics throughout the book), and I absolutely love that it's feminist. It's a pretty short book so I think it would also make for a good book club kind of book.
4.5/5
Good book, but slightly underwhelmed (especially after all the hype).
I liked that the main characters were relatable (and likeable to a certain extent), and it did almost make me cry... but it just didn't feel “wow” enough for 5 stars.
Read this cause it was recommended by Ali Abdaal, but it was just OK. A lot of it felt like general advice, a lot of it felt like common sense, some of it felt just random advice that I'm not sure would apply (e.g. “Hire your friends” is cool and all but diversity is also cool!)
This is a book about loss, about a mother's love for her children, and also a glimpse ito what life was like in the 16th century in rural England.
It won the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction, and while I don't think it was must read, I do think it was a good read!
My first thought after finishing this book: “Did anything actually happen?”
The prose was beautiful and it wasn't necessarily boring, but it honestly felt like nothing of importance happened. I can't figure out what exactly I'm supposed to take away from this book and I just have mixed emotions having finished reading it.
Wow, what an incredible book. Incredibly informative and thought-provoking yet easy to read. I love how Kolbert starts each chapter off with an animal and uses the history of that animal to ease the reader into the greater arc of the story. I like how Kolbert makes her point in a matter-of-fact and non-judgemental way whereas I feel that some other climate-change-oriented literature tend to be rather sassy in a “we're screwed, this is XYZ's fault” kind of way.
Overall, such a great book and an essential read for everyone.
It was little dull compared to the first novel; not a lot of action but felt like more of a backstory for what's to come next. Or at least I hope so!
It was generally a good book, but honestly, I don't think I would've found this book as interesting if I wasn't already invested in Paul Muad'Dib and the rest of the Dune universe.
I originally picked this book up because I thought the cover was interesting and I saw it won the National Book Award for Translated Literature so I thought I'd give it a shot. I assumed it would be an upbeat story because of the colorful cover, but I quickly realized that assumption was incorrect
This book is so strange and unique, but at the same time it was such a drag to read... like honestly, what did I just read lol.
The fact that almost everyone had the same name added to the strangeness of the story, but at the same time, I had to stop multiple times in the book to look back at the family tree and remind myself which Aureliano he was talking about. It was also filled with so much sex, and more than once it happened between family members... which is just gross. It also happened between people with massive age gaps (e.g. old man with teenage girl), which is also gross. And let's not forget about the 17 Aurelianos.
García Márquez's personal style of writing definitely shines through this book, and it's what makes it really interesting to read. The writing is beautiful. But also, why did you have to make each paragraph are so long?! It's not uncommon to find paragraphs that are 2 pages long. Heck, there was an entire sentence that spanned 2 pages!
Overall it was an interesting read, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I hadn't found it in the “English books” isle of a bookstore of Mexico City. I've also read 3 García Márquez books in the past month alone, and I think that's enough García Márquez for me lol.
Honestly... this book felt like a bit of a joke to me? Roughly the contents of the book are as follows:
* The first third of the book talks about how you can be a jerk to your colleagues
* Ferriss very enthusiastically recommends everyone to get a virtual assistant (VA) in India who you can pay dirt cheap to do your actual job for you (and also send your spouse gifts if/when they get mad you)
* In the last third of the book, it shifts gears and starts becoming more of a travel book. Ferriss recommends everyone to move to Southeast Asia or Central or South America where the cost of living is much cheaper than in North America or Western Europe. This assumes that everyone can do that easily, but people like me and so many other who have weak passports can't just pick up their bags and move to a different country. I don't think everyone would want to just pack up and move around the world either.
Overall this book feels like it was written from a privileged viewpoint without regard to the fact that the world is so diverse and people come from all sorts of backgrounds. I'm really surprised that this ended up becoming such a big hit and was even on multiple best sellers list. There are actual small bits of useful productivity tips sprinkled throughout the book but overall... not worth the read.
This was surprisingly good. I honestly don't know much about Will Smith and wasn't planning to pick up an audiobook copy, but I recently got recommended Will's “Best Shape of My Life” series on YouTube in which he includes excerpts of his new book... and I was hooked.
From his audiobook, you can really tell how good of a storyteller he is. I loved all the different voices he did in it and all the music he included. Prior to listening to this audiobook, I only knew of Will Smith as a famous actor (heck, I had no idea he was a rapper, let alone the first person to ever win a Grammy for Rap), but I now have a newfound appreciation for how hard working and talented he is. It's inspiring to see a black man accomplish so many groundbreaking accolades!
The only thing I wanted to call out was the ending — I thought it was a little cheesy. I think I would have preferred it with less of the “life lessons” so that the audience can interpret his story however they want.
I have such respect for the work Jane Goodall has done as a naturalist/primatologist, so really wanted to like this book but it was just so meh.
I didn't quite realize this book is presented as a conversation between Jane Goodall and Doug Abrams, so I got the audiobook cause I thought it would be good to hear Goodall narrate her own story, but the whole conversation dynamic was just weird as an audiobook. You'd hear Doug narrate “And then Jane said” followed by Goodall narrating what she actually said... which was just odd.
I also completely agree that we need hope in order to tackle the current climate crisis, but I felt that what was discussed in this book was too handwavy. Yes, there were some nice tidbits here and there, but overall, I'd love to hear more concrete evidence.
I did finish the audiobook, but honestly I spaced out after 70% of the way.
Such a comprehensive yet quick read on the intersection between climate change, colonialism, and racism. I'd highly recommend this to everyone!
This is a fantastic book that's so relevant in this day and age. Prior to reading this book, I understood that fast fashion was a problem, but I didn't quite understand how much of a problem and how it relates to other issues like colonialism. Aja Barber makes a great case for why and how consumerism and fast fashion is destroying the planet, and she does it in such a helpful and easy to understand way.
My biggest critique is that some parts are repetitive and could have definitely been cut down, but considering it's not a super long book to begin with, and how easily digestible it is, I don't think it necessarily gets in the way of this becoming a great book and one I'd recommend to everyone.
If you're a young adult with spending power (or if you want to learn more about consumerist culture), read this!
Olga Dies Dreaming had all the necessary ingredients for a great book in my eyes: a unique backdrop, complex characters and strong political/cultural themes. It's generally an entertaining read, although some of the things that took place in the book did feel a little forced and far-fetched.
I was going to give this a 4/5 but dropped it down to a 3/5 because the ending for me was just disappointing. There was a lot of build up that wasn't fully resolved.
Sure there were some good bits, but Idk why, I just never managed to really get into this book.
Such a well-written book on race, religion, and identity in America that's extremely relevant in the current climate. I loved hearing bits and pieces of Lalami's background too as there were quite a few things that I was able to relate to from my personal experience of living here in the US.
Perhaps not as relevant unless you live in the US since most of the examples are US-specific, but I do think that a lot of the themes discussed in this book apply outside of the US as well.
Slow build up in the begining but in the end it was so worth it! This book is told from multiple perspectives at different points in time and it was really interesting to see how they all were connected to each other in the end.
If you enjoy reading historical fiction, I'd highly recommend this book!
Well-written and relatable! I didn't really enjoy the last part of the book where she started talking more about her friends — I just didn't feel it was as interesting as the other parts of the book.
Piranesi is unlike any other book I've read. I'm not sure if I would exactly put this under the Fantasy genre; if anything, it's a lot more subtle and perhaps more in between Fantasy and Magical Realism. It has incredible world building, such a unique story, and for me it was the kind of book that I couldn't put down.
Touching and honest memoir on Ashley C. Ford's childhood, growing up with an incarcerated father and an emotionally absent (and often physically abusive) mother. I consumed this as an audiobook, and Ford as a narrator did not disappoint.
I was originally going to give this a 4/5 but it's been a week since I finished reading it and I already started to forget some of the things I read in this book... which probably means it wasn't as memorable for me? 3/5 it is!
An incredibly somber story, yet somehow told in such an inspiring and uplifting way. Easy quick read!