Josh Bokor

If you're even the slightest bit curious of Bob Odenkirk's life and career as a sketch comedy obsessed actor/writer, then this is for you. His new memoir is written in a personal and charming way as if he's talking directly to the reader. It's quite interesting to read about his wild trajectory from sketch comedy writing for most of his career to drama acting to even being a recent action star. Don't expect this book to be entirely about his late career high Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul performances, but when he does cover it, it's very interesting and fun to read. Overall this is an enjoyable memoir that will suffice any fan of Odenkirk's work. If you don't like sketch comedy, though, then I'd suggest reading another memoir.

A book about the history and cultural phenomenons of chess, checkers, backgammon, bridge, poker, scrabble, and go? I had just a general idea of what to expect going into “Seven Games” but Oliver Roeder makes such a riveting case on not just the historical and cultural origins of each game, but more so how and why humans play games and the argument of what may or may not constitute as a game. There's a surprising amount of in depth analysis about how AI and computers attempt or succeed in “solving” these games and what grandmasters feel about this. I can't say initially I considered the AI / computer vs human debate but it's super interesting to read about. I highly recommend this book, even if you're not super familiar with the majority of these games like I am. This book is not just enjoyably insightful but impressively and artfully decodes the truer meaning of games and life itself. A much deeper and enriching experience than I expected.

Bullet Train is a thrilling, fun, and entertaining read by Isaka. The upcoming film adaptation peaked my interest into reading the book and I'm glad I did. The intensity of the action sequences and dialogue reminded me of violent thrillers like John Wick while the back and forth between different characters' perspectives added plenty of variety. It definitely kept me on my toes the entire time, guessing and speculating what was going to happen next. I totally recommend this if you're looking for a thrilling, bloody page turner that has plenty of quirk too. Can't wait for the movie in August!

Just like the breakfast dish this book is named after, Jessie Ware's “Omelette” is light, fluffy, and delicious. The British pop singer details her love of food and how food connects people and helps build relationships, memories, and bonding. She shares short stories and experiences from her life that can be hilarious, heartwarming, and also heartbreaking at points. I also really commend Jessie for touching on numerous difficult points in her life and the section where she writes about embracing her Jewish heritage and standing against antisemitism is very touching. This book was in fact so fun, breezy and easy to digest that I finished it in one day (a rarity for me). I wish it was a bit longer but like all omelettes, they're consumed graciously and quickly.

This is a great follow up to Schrier's previous book and this time it focuses more on stories about video game studios closing and the aftermath of what happens to the workers themselves. Enjoyed these stories and it's both engaging and heartbreaking to see how these closures affect so many people's lives. He touches on possible solutions to the video game industry's volatility and unfairness and doesn't go too in depth, but I feel like that's for another book.

I've been wanting to read Michelle Zauner's debut memoir for a while and I'm very, very happy to have finally read it. As a casual Japanese Breakfast listener, I didn't know what to expect going into it. I actually found it to be more interesting that it focuses more on her life rather than her music career. I found her story about her coming up and her relationship to her mother to be very heartbreaking and captivating. Her cathartic experience of cooking and food as a connection point between her and her mother was very descriptive and beautifully written (emphasis on beautiful) in a very graceful way. Its subject matter covers on loss and death so although its page length is light, the subject matter itself can be quite heavy (but not all heavy). “Crying in H Mart” is absolutely a must read for me and it's right up there with Tegan and Sara Quin's “High School” as one of my favorite memoirs. After reading, it definitely makes me appreciate Zauner more as a writer and makes me want to listen to her music a lot more now.

A funny, introspective, motivational book from the Queens-based chef turned rapper Action Bronson. It's part memoir, part short storytelling, part self help, part stream of consciousness while also being surprisingly enlightening. I enjoyed it. It's interesting reading about his perspective on his family heritage, life in NY, overeating, steroid usage, working out, cooking, being creative, putting a positive impact on others, and living life to the fullest.

I love Jeopardy! and Alex Trebek and you'll love him even more after reading his memoir. What I love about this read is that there are so many different themes/opinions/events that are covered throughout from his upbringing to his career to even his thoughts on certain topics. Though each section is simply scratching the surface, Trebek lets us in on just enough of these aspects of his life to a point where you'll be more than just satisfied. You'll find so much more about the man than what you initially thought you knew on TV: the humor, quick wittedness, passion, love, and the overall selflessness in how he had approached his life. It's definitely one of the most fulfilling reads I've had in awhile. You'll cherish every page turn until the last one. I absolutely hate that he's gone but his lasting memory will always remain with us. This is a must read, folks.

What a very fun read. It's quite the page turner and I pretty much read the majority of this book in a day. I typically don't read much fiction and was recommended this book, so I decided to try it. I've only read a couple of mystery novels so far but this one is really entertaining and kept me guessing until the very end. It reminded me of Big Little Lies, but I enjoyed this one much more. I thought this story was more gripping.

As subject matter, this little collection of Greta Thunberg's speeches are extremely important, vital, and full of urgency when it comes to the climate crisis. As an actual read, it can be repetitive and a little dull. That being said, it's still a very important little book and great to have in your collection. I can't wait to read her book “The Climate Book” at some point too.

This book was SO fun and SO interesting to read about the intricacies, details, and quirky tidbits about everything around where you live and interact with on a daily basis from biking to mail to sewage to squirrels to graffiti to street signs. This book is such a joy to read and I would say it's essential and educational for anyone who's remotely interested in what's going on with how things work in your community, along with what we and others can do to make it better. Also shout out to Spike Carlsen and Stillwater, MN! It's awesome to read about his journey and exploration through his community and the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

I kind of dig crosswords now and then (the majority are just too difficult for me) so this book definitely sparked my interest. Raphel is a superfan and I appreciate her love of the puzzle. I like that there's a lot of insightful and entertaining stories about the puzzle that include its history, originators, famous fans, massive obsessive fandom, and her personal connections with the puzzle. This book is a little dry and could've been written a bit better with more of her personality put into it but overall I enjoyed this one. It's not A.J. Jacobs' “The Puzzler” nor Oliver Roeder's “Seven Games”, but “Thinking Inside the Box” is a good book for those interested in learning more about the crossword. FYI, these Goodreads reviews for this book are way too brutal and it's not nearly as awful or unreadable as some are saying it is.

With Xiaowei Wang's ‘Blockchain Chicken Farm,' it was one of these cases where the title intrigued me before knowing anything about it. It was quite interesting to read their main theme throughout these short essay-like stories that tie together, which is about the disconnections and connections between China's rural and urban tech sectors, mainly having to do with the interesting tech innovations that rural Chinese communities are doing, especially in agriculture. Topics include chickens being tracked through the blockchain, pigs being tracked with AI, pearls being harvested on livestreams, Chinese made goods' common stigmas, and even the future of technology that's being presented versus the future we would actually want. I liked the tie ins of Xiaowei's perspective, storytelling, and interviewing rather than the author just being black and white with the reporting. At points it was a bit difficult to follow everything since this isn't a topic that I'm at all knowledgeable in but it's an insightful read regardless.

I've been in quite the Radiohead phase for several months now, especially the band's “Kid A” album and the band's more experimental era. So when I stumbled upon this book, it seemed like it was going to be a home run for me. Steven Hyden seems like a good guy. I'm assuming he's pretty knowledgable considering he's a well accomplished music journalist. Gosh darn it I wanted to love this book but I just can't. If you've read just a little bit across the internet about “Kid A” then you would already know the majority of the anecdotes Hyden mentions here. His book is neither as informative or informational as I would've wanted it to be. It's increasingly repetitive (how many times I read Thom Yorke's ‘sucking a lemon' lyric was borderline nauseating) and Hyden's attempts at loosely connecting “Kid A” with the looming themes and cultural events during the time of its release (as well as the future/current day) is amateurishly surface level and it simply scratches the surface at best. The book's worst and most frustrating moments is when Hyden will make cultural references and try to connect them to Radiohead or “Kid A,” whether it's films like “Fight Club” or bands like The Smiths or The Strokes. They're just half assed, seemingly random, and not fully fleshed out just like the majority of this book. There's so much unnecessary fat and if it were to be trimmed, this could've easily just been a think piece on Rolling Stone or something. During the entire time I was reading this book, I simply wanted to just be listening to “Kid A.” And immediately after I finished this book, that is exactly what I did. I got a whole lot more out of listening to it once than reading this book.

Cazzie isn't well liked because of her grumpily selfish personality and she's pretty upfront about that throughout this book. I found this book to be mildly entertaining and enjoyed it mostly through its first half. I don't know why but finishing the second half was a slog and it was difficult to finish. Maybe it's because her repeatedly and repeatedly being annoyed over the most mundane and nonessential things was in fact starting to get increasingly annoying to me... or maybe it's because this book of ‘essays' was tougher to read in a long setting and much easier to read in short bursts. This book isn't written well and is often written as an elongated rant but this isn't supposed to be taken too seriously, so take that into consideration if you're going to reading this. Overall I generally liked this book and her perspective on her millions of anxieties is interesting but I wouldn't say this is a must read by any means, especially considering all of the better and more entertaining comedy memoirs out there.

I really found this book to be quite interesting and insightful on the Beatles' final year. It takes you through month by month during 1969 into great detail, covering from the album process behind their final two albums (more so ‘Abbey Road') to what each individual Beatle was doing at the time to all the crazy, extremely messy legal troubles the band and their Apple Corp dealt with. I don't normally read quickly but I couldn't put this one down at all. I just had to read what happens next. I learned quite a bit from this book with some excellent little nuggets scattered throughout and it's a great companion to the ‘Get Back' documentary since this book picks up where the doc left off. It goes a little too in depth with the band's legal troubles to a point where it gets hard to follow, but it's still quite insightful and interesting nonetheless. Highly recommended for any who is interested!

Overall this was an enjoyably light read. The writing style itself isn't for everyone since it is based entirely on a screenplay. I found each story and character dilemma to be emotionally compelling. Although the dialogue can be a bit cheesy and predictable, the stories are very sad and dramatic, which I wasn't expecting judging by the book's premise. If you want a quick, light, and kind of over dramatic read focused around coffee then this is for you.

This is an intelligent, personal, and moving memoir that chronicles Vice President Harris' life and career by blending her personal stories and experiences with policies and actions she's implemented as senator and attorney general. It's a very solid read that showcases who she is and what she aims to do for her 2020 presidency campaign since this was released back in 2019. It covers a variety of issues including housing, immigration, addiction, climate change, gay rights, and more. There's empathy, personality, humor, emotion, and grit throughout this book and it's a powerful read. I definitely recommend it!

As a fan of the majority of Wilco's catalog, I definitely wanted to check out frontman Jeff Tweedy's memoir and it does not disappoint. I'm not too aware of Wilco's early days or really much of anything during the Uncle Tupelo era (Jeff's previous band before Wilco) so that was really cool to read how/where Jeff grew up and where he got his inspirations from. Jeff writes in a very conversational way as if he's directly speaking to you, which makes this even more enjoyable. Wilco's catalog is essential in my opinion, so I highly recommend getting familiar with the band's amazing array of albums too if you haven't already (Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born, Star Wars... etc etc).

I read The Guest List, so I wanted to check out another book from Lucy Foley. Despite this story having a different setting, a different set of characters, and different backstories for each one, I was just getting a whole bunch of deja vu from the other book I read from her. It feels like I'm reading the same exact book but only with a different coat of paint... I don't know why anyone would ever paint a book, but I hope you get what I'm saying.

I love Jacobs' book “The Puzzler” and I really wanted to dive into his other books. Whatever topic he writes about (the Constitution, the Bible, fitness, knowledge, puzzles), he dives into it with so much fearless commitment, it often ends up being interesting, educational, ridiculous, and hilarious. “It's All Relative” is all of the above, even more so than “The Puzzler.” Jacobs dives into genealogy head first by embracing the fact that we are all family and we are all cousins, no matter how distant. He even attempts to host the world's largest family reunion. I won't spoil what happens with that, but this book is engaging, insightful, and funny that I can't put it down. He approaches this topic with such an open and creative mind and he also shares much of his own family roots and history. If you don't know much about genealogy already, you'll learn a lot from this book. I also appreciate the many resources on how the reader can personally dive into their own family's roots. This book is an absolute blast and I cannot wait to read his other topical observations and ridiculous challenges he sets for himself. With all the hate, racism, and division in this world, “It's All Relative” certainly proves that we're all more similar than you think, and asks the fair question: can we all just get along, at least a little...?

5/5
I couldn't put this one down! As someone who loves video games, it's fascinating to read about how video games are made both big and small in scale and how grueling, top heavy, and unsustainable the gaming industry currently is. It's super entertaining and engaging to read about each game Schreier covers here and although I've only played one of the games he's written in depth about (Stardew Valley), it's all the more interesting. For anyone who is remotely interested in video games, how they are made, and a look into the actual humans behind them, then this is a must read. I loved it and can't wait to read his next one (“Press Reset”) and his new one about Blizzard that comes out this Fall (which sounds like it's gonna be a real juicy one).

Fantastic. Honest, humbling, entertaining, motivational, inspiring and (no surprise) funny, “I Can't Make This Up” is an excellent memoir that stacks up with some the best memoirs from modern day comedians. Kevin Hart isn't afraid to be confrontational about himself and it's really refreshing. He proudly accepts his weaknesses, learns from his many mistakes and ultimately he becomes a stronger individual because of them. It's great to see how his humbling and difficult past has positively impacted him to make massive successes within his career. Also one other thing, I have zero idea why the book's cover has a bunch of puppies on it...? It's cute regardless!

It's fun and nostalgic to look back on the internet and how things have (and haven't) changed since the 90's and 2000's. Leslie's writing is entertaining to read, especially the first half of the book where she goes in depth on her childhood and young adult life. The second half for me goes off the rails a bit where she's quite annoying and bullies others way too much (sorry, but I just frankly don't care about your dog or your dog mom Facebook group) and goes to show that maybe I'd prefer not to be judged if I ran into her at a park. It's a light read that doesn't go way too in depth on things but I would prefer her writing to be less obnoxious and more focused on the internet itself as a whole.

I thought this was a decent read where I can respect Tim's messaging about living your life to its fullest and making a positive impact on others within your life. At times it's pretty preachy and straightforward, which is understandable but overall it's interesting to read from a professional athlete's perspective. I would love to read more memoirs from professional athletes.