jess

This was a book club book for me - my data science book club. I did not enjoy the book. I like the idea of taking solid business/software skills /practices and turning in to fiction, but the delivery did not work for me.

Some of our group enjoyed it, so maybe it is just me.

I love how Steinbeck invites you in for coffee or drinks with his characters. They slowly unfold their nature rather than being thrust upon you. A couple of characters in this story were almost too themselves - too predictable or repeating the same bits- not so much to spoil the story, though.

I still say that “The winter of our discontent” is Steinbeck's best.

What an engaging book about a cringe-y topic. Brené argues for becoming willing to be vulnerable so you can show up with your whole self to your life. She breaks down the difference between shame - I am bad - and guilt - I have done a bad thing - and how shame is toxic but guilt can be something we build on.

I'm going to go watch her TED talk now.

Interesting anecdotes. Our decision structures can be so weak!

Surprise through and through. I love how Goodkind keeps it interesting. The characters are engaging and different. The world is believable but mysterious. A bit more exposition than I wanted, but most of the plot is driven by action.

I did not like this book.

I see value in the premise: rather than try to pursue some passion, we can find greater success by deliberately getting good at whatever it is we are doing. This is a beautiful idea, and it is one that most of us can follow, however unsexy. It also takes away all the pressure of identifying WHAT your passion might be - if only you could find it under a rock or something.
However, the book is written poorly. The examples of ‘success' given generally haven't followed the books premise, and the examples of ‘failure' have done similar things as the successes and also get treated rudely by the author. Whatever the reason, these people have already failed publicly at some endeavor - and to have a singular action called out over and over again by Newport as if it defined their character and the rest of their life is not okay IMO.
Book was not worth reading.

Bookworm pod summary of the book was better. They were too positive on the review of this one, though.

Nice mix of speculative fiction short stories. We've got witches, vampires, unicorns, and more. I enjoyed this collection.

This is a fun exploration of engineering principles for when you never really need them.
Well, I dunno, I do need to cross rivers sometimes. Maybe I could use this advice.
The pictures are fantastic.

You will probably laugh out loud and have trouble explaining what is so funny.

Wow. This whole series invites you to rethink life.

The Toll is the third book in a series that imagines a future where humans have created sentient AI and advanced medicine and technology to the point where no-one has to die. But, alas, folks do still have to die, so there is a whole group of people, the Scythes, who are charged with killing people to keep the populations down. There is a religious movement in this post-mortality age, where some adherents are quite fervent (as always), but they believe in one true resonant sound. Some stuff happens in the books where there is a big noise - because the AI gets mad/sad, and these religious people get pretty excited about it and set up a hero/prophet (The Toll).

This whole third book is set up with three “people” perspectives: The Toll, The AI, and The Sycthes...and we see how these things play out. There are actually a lot of fantastic characters, and quite a bit is happening, but that is the gist.

Surprisingly, Shusterman is able to wrap this up with an ending that is both a bit of a twist and somewhat anticipated - bringing all of our worlds together and apart.

Recommend the whole series - you cannot start with this book, though, start with Scythe.

Gregory Maguire sets us out on a journey through Russian folk tales with believable human characters and fantastical others. The lines between real and imagined blur in this adventure. Baba Yaga is the best.

If you are already reading the series, keep on coming. Goodkind keeps up the drama with Richard, Kahlan, and all that is terrible with the world. This book was a little more graphic than the first three. The plot and characters remain interesting. Some new ideas surface that create opportunities and expand the world. My only frustration is with extensive exposition in dialogue...which at times did not feel like dialogue.

Fabulously fun twist on Victorian England from the creative Terry Pratchett. The main character is lively and colorful and surrounded by an entire cast of fascination.

The historical facts are not exactly on point, but they are close enough to keep things interesting and astute readers in their toes.

I would recommend this to anyone over the age of 12 who likes fantasy, humorous novels, and historical fiction.

I couldn't devour this story fast enough. What will Darrow do? It's a great second book in a series, and I must go get the third.

The Book of Ember is quite a lovely imagining.

This one goes back in time and fills in some of the world, but I did not find it as well done.
I did not feel as connected to the characters or the story. It seemed not quite real even when set in a more real world. There was so much potential, too - a bit of cultish behavior, some interesting science, political upheaval, etc.

You don't have to read this one to enjoy the rest of the series.

Fascinating bit of historical drama.
There is so much in here regarding national positioning, personal relationships, science, and even baseball.

Be ready to be surprised by the characters... be shocked by the names you recognize for something other than espionage... and be saddened for personal hurts that can never be recovered.

It's a fast-paced and shocking sort of book. And you thought war was just battles. This is on par with Monuments Men for highlighting the efforts taken to address something beyond the battle.

The characters are compelling. As a reader, you can relate to Isaac and Poe. The choppy writing got to me, though. I had to rush through, so I knew how it ended and could walk away.

Following the first year of development of our young protagonist is full of wonder and curiosity...with just enough drama and intrigue to keep readers interested.

This story, though targeting middle grades, brings a world of magic to border on our own world.

A light and fun adventure awaits us inside this book. Ben Tripp doles out a take full of magic and wrongful accusations and good guys framed for bad stuff and good guys who really are bad guys and altogether everyone struggles with just doing the best they can. The pages fly by. Fun for a day at the beach, a rainy day on the couch, or consumed in little bits over time.

I'd recommend this for kids & grown ups who like fantasy or adventure.

Karla's voice makes such an impassioned plea for acknowledging that the undocumented Americans are real humans with hopes and dreams and downsides...just like those humans who were born on this soil.

I thought this book was going to be a little dry, and probably full of stats about what kinds of people are being lumped together. I was surprised and awed instead by the work that Karla gives us.

I highly recommend the audio version. Her voice voice makes the words in her written voice even more powerful.

Ugh, ugh, ugh, and more ugh. It just ends.

A fascinating premise. I had to stop between chapters to let my head go and look up the referenced historical events.

Enjoyable protagonist - I don't think a reader could avoid rooting for him...and plot twist, well - get ready for a doozy. I love books where you do not know what is going to happen the whole time.

Immersive story for middle grades about loving yourself and your family

Good basic knowledge - I liked this as a primer and a reminder for some things that I was surprised I already knew. A few chapters are really only for younger folks, but the concepts are useful for everyone.

I could not follow this book. There were layers of something I just did not get.

This book is fascinating! I kept wanting to share the findings with everyone. The format makes it easy to understand what the author claims about our behavior - each claim is setup with a story, so we can relate to it in real life, then there is a description of the experiment, and then the findings are very simply described. I think that some of the research could have benefitted from more subjects or more repeats to get stronger indications of the measure, but all in all it was good.

Perhaps the best part is that you can walk away from this book with an idea of how to prevent yourself from lying to yourself or others...and how you might setup situations such that others are less likely to lie or cheat you.

Also, the author conducts interviews all the time, and you can find them on his website to hear more about behavior research from other researchers.