Donna

This was interesting, thoughtful and a very hard read, given that the consequences of what appears to be hubris and enabling might have been avoided, though I’m not sure anyone in this timeline would have been selfless enough to suggest the law that the authors propose about presidential health disclosures and now under the current administration, it’s not likely to happen. Note that Tapper is an animated audiobook narrator, and gently impersonates Biden, Harris and Trump. It’s another interesting choice, probably acceptable given that this is only one of the first Biden postmortem books, surely not the last or most definitive.

I liked the idea of this book, and picked it up after hearing an ad on the Fated Mates podcast. There’s so much missed opportunity to fully describe the world that Kyleigh and Rowan inhabit that would make things feel more real and help readers feel invested in the story. Kyleigh is a talented wedding dress designer but we hear so little about that I ended up not really caring whether she got to keep doing it. Most of the detail is in the sex scenes, which is fine, but do we really need to hear about every single time Rowan throws a condom in the trash when they’re done? Every Uber they call when they’re on the way to brunch or his apartment? Product placement is not a replacement for world building, which feels like a harsh critique, but I could see the book this could have been in what I was reading, and I wanted that: rich in detail, full of context, asking me to care about the characters because the story made them fully alive, not just because they were barreling toward the inevitable conclusion.

I heard an interview with the author, and a quick online perusal of the projects left me keenly interested - the book itself did not disappoint. There are a range of fresh, interesting projects in different styles that are really charming. How I wish I already knew how to crochet...

Thoughtfully delightful from beginning to end.

I found this charming from beginning to end, worth the fiddly embroidery and sewing in order to make up these inventive zombies - I am tempted to make each of them; it would be hard to choose just one or two from the nine different patterns.

This companion book to Knitting Scarves From Around The World proves that I'm a hat and mitten person - I read it for the Min Ulla pattern, but found 3 or 4 more that I'd love to make, from a British driving cap to several other styles of two-color hats. If you like colorwork or want to try it, this is a great book for you, and me.

I have mixed feelings about this book, hence the full-on review. If I could, I would give it 2.5 stars. The concept is such a good idea, and there are people who will benefit from this book, but here's what I wish I had known:

1. The tone of this book is so casual and flip, it's off-putting. People older than 25 will find it distracting, and new college graduates will find it eye-rollingly uncool.

2. The jobs profiled? Not as innovative as I would have hoped. Pharmaceutical sales rep? Psychologist? Actor? Really? The coolest job I have every heard of remains “person who coordinated the logistics of delivering US Olympic athletes' equipment (for all teams!) to Bejing.” All the jobs in Rosen's book were ones I knew existed, and the definition of cool here seems to be “may not be a desk job.”

3. The research for each position is...thin. While he does quote people in the field about what they like and don't like about their jobs, it's often one person per profile, sometimes two. Also, it goes without saying that many of the links featured in the book are out of date, so you will be left Googling industry terms to find new sources, which is what you might have done anyway.

All this aside, he does give a good overview of each position, including a general idea of how people working in each field spend their time and what a typical day is like, so it's a low-risk way to find out if a particular career is worth considering further. If I ran a career counseling office on a college campus, I would offer this for students to skim through - which is too bad, because I think lots of kinds of people look for jobs and the idea deserved more.

The ending seemed abrupt but this still remains a thoroughly charming audiobook, a cousin to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Beautiful and inspiring, New Lace Knitting has projects for all skill levels featuring classic, romantic style in new, fresh ways. I suspect after knitting a few of these projects I'll give the book 5 stars, since my previous experience knitting Romi's Zephyr Cove was so enjoyable. I'm particularly glad to see a shawl without a center spine (my least favorite design element) as well as several smaller projects which could be tempting stashbusters. Well worth the wait; it's a lovely book.

This book has an interesting premise and an engaging family of projects: techniques, motifs and ideas reappear, so the projects feel cohesive and look fun. The more I read, the more projects I wanted to knit, and I enjoyed that techniques I find challenging were sprinkled among those knitting skills I really enjoy and am more familiar with. The book is nicely printed, well-laid out, easy to follow, and the first printing comes with a code to download an ebook version to your Ravelry library. If I had already knit a few projects, I would be tempted to give Minnesota 52 5 stars.

I think you would have to be made of stone not to enjoy this book. I may never make any of these, but it won't be because the instructions weren't clear and complete and the pictures weren't beautiful and inspiring. I may even prefer this to their first book.

Sweet, whimsical and odd.

Really extraordinary. It won't strike everyone the same way but for me it's of a piece with Four Thousand Weeks and The Rules of Inheritance and Crying In H Mart. What do you hang on to when there's only so much time left, when you lose people you love, when you can see you're losing yourself? Friend's dry, quiet delivery in the audiobook makes the story more powerful.

This was not the book I expected, surprising, given I heard Elison read an excerpt. Can you draw comparisons to other books? Maybe. But the point is that is book feels deeply personal; it feels like a response to the people who have been complaining incessantly about diversity in SFF squeezing out white male writers. It feels like a reminder in these terrible days that everything is a mixed bag, there are no happy endings, but there are things that happen that are enough. I'm here for it.

Incredibly evocative, there are a number of unexpected turns in this book which kept it fresh for me. Lee is pretty unsympathetic because she spends most of the book stuck, stuck in her own head, her own fears. I can see why that perspective might have put some readers off, but to me, it made the moments of contrast with her dad, her older self all the more poignant. The chapter with Parents' Weekend is worth a star all by itself.

I felt like this got stronger and more suspenseful as it went on. The voice feels very authentic to me.

I enjoyed Rachael's first book even though I am not a romance reader - her second book is even better, in part because it was nice to see characters I had come to really like make reappearances in book 2. There's a big dose of knitting in here (the bonus knitting pattern is perfectly integrated with the book' plot), but the real appeal is just darn good writing - looking past this book because it's “just a romance novel” will mean you miss quite the page turner.

An extra star for the ending - well done.

Thoughtful, engaging and deeply respectful of both those who hoard and the families affected - I wish more books about complex, newsworthy issues were this good.

I actually preferred her first toe-up sock book, but there were some interesting and pretty patterns in here. If I could give this 3.5 stars, that would be perfect.

I thought this was so well-written, but it just didn't grab me the way I'd hoped.

The book itself was uneven and so was the world building, which is why we care about the story in the first place. I wanted more detail and context in setting up the competition and getting to know the girls competing. Several key events inexplicably happen offscreen, so the early part of the book lacks some of the momentum and violence that propels the absolute banger of an ending worth a whole star on its own. There were also some unfortunate mispronunciations in the audiobook that took away from the luxe upscale vibe, and I straight up hated a couple of the character names as too pretentious and distracting. But I was entertained and I love a strong female protagonist, so 3.25 stars.

A reminder that even an ordinary life is not really ordinary; the details of Cooper's adventures in and out of birding are interesting and the eventual recounting of the Central Park incident and its aftermath, as well as Cooper's thoughts about it are well earned. It made me wish for more unexpectedly great deeply personal stories, but they would all have to live up to this very high bar. An extra star for the audiobook, which was fantastic.

I liked a lot about this book, and I've enjoyed Elise's interviews about it. It covers a lot of ground largely successfully and is an interesting overview of an industry and culture I only know as a Soko Glam customer. It is less successful as an audiobook, pleasant to listen to, but perhaps harder to follow than intended just because chapters don't have numbers and section headings often stand alone in a slightly odd way. Ultimately I give it 3.5 stars for solid journalism even if I find the standard self help march from societal norms to conclusions about individual behavior at the end less helpful.

Also, be warned, there are at least half a dozen instances where medical procedures or beauty mishaps are described in enough detail that you might be momentarily squeamish.

I have never wanted to hang out more with an author that I wanted to hang out with Jamie Loftus after finishing Raw Dog (I read the audiobook). It's a special book not quite any one thing, but enough of everything. It holds together in a glorious winding tale that's funny, moving, and infuriating. I feel like it's not a spoiler to say that we are both team #ToastedBun.