Mr Fred
A great book. Not only the well known story of Mowgli, but a bunch of other ones too, and in each, the author does a masterful job of anthropomorphizing jungle animals, not as a cutesy caricature but as multi-faceted being, understanding their place in society, following their needs, desires, and a deeper honor code by which all animals of the jungle must abide.
No wonder this is a classic.
Great story with many twists and turns. Gut wrenching graphic violence in parts, which you can either like or totally ruin the book for you.
A great memoir from a medical illustrator turned forensic anthropologist, including her work on some of the most notable and devastating mass fatalities the US has seen in the 90s and early 2000s.
Craig describes her path, and her craft in detail, without sugarcoating the grosser parts of death that she deals with daily.
Some have noted that at times, she can sound mildly self-aggrandizing, but she shall be forgiven, for being a pioneer, in general, and a woman in a male dominated field, requires an exceptional amount of determination and confidence. Besides, it is what competence looks like, both the confidence about the tools of the trade, and the all-consuming struggle against failure and letting everybody else and herself down that she so often describes.
Ultimately Craig reveals little groundbreaking new, but her insightful, empathetic, and sincere account is hard to put down.
An epic (literally and figuratively) vendetta against the men that have destroyed his life. A literary masterpiece.
While the backstory of new characters gets lengthy at times, and the functions of the Paris high society can be confusing (so much so that Dumas towards the end repeatedly breaks the fourth wall to make sure the reader does not get lost entirely), if you make it all the way through, you won't regret it.
A classic children's story. Mildly predictable but full of interesting characters and an exciting adventure in a big city. What's not to like?
A classic, rapid, undoubtedly LSD-fueled descent into absurdity. And it turns out the Disney movie really does do it justice.
An exceptional book shining light on different aspects of relationship maturity, regardless of type of constellation, but especially in monogamous relationships turned consensually non monogamous. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
An enjoyable book. As it repeatedly builds up more absurdity it sometimes stops for some self awareness, and in the end all puzzle pieces somehow mysteriously fit together. Despite the assertions of whatever wasn't the plan and needed improvised, the plot twists land just a hair short of predictable.
And yet, if you routinely find yourself rooting for the villain (but not really) I think you too will have fun with this.
Fascinating book about the golden era of racing. Depressing how many lives was lost during that period and it is hard to miss the obvious question if all this was less about technical excellence and more about bolstering the egos of old industry magnates.
A great and very honest memoir by one of my favorite game developers. I've read masters of doom before, but this one is different, more heartfelt and personal and more real.
A decent book adding to the ever growing list of emergency physicians and other medical folk pouring their experiences into the written form.
I enjoyed the read, though I also found a one hour prologue consisting almost entirely of text messages during the COVID era a little off-putting. It felt less like a story the author wanted to tell, and more like a scaring indictment of the American medical system. Which it deserves, but seemed terribly out of place in a book dedicated to the experiences of an ER doctor at work. This was not about the people who suffered from the first COVID wave but about the Trump administrations unwillingness to provide proper medical equipment to healthcare workers.
However once you get past this extended rant, it's a an emotionally challenging journey through a single day of an ER doctor's experience, touching on a great number of ethical and medical dilemmas and insights.
I'm still trying to figure out why I finished this because it's all so absurd.
Maybe the repetitive oral sex scenes tied me over.
Yeah let's go with that.
This was straaaaange and so dark. Like a movie you really want to rage quit early on and then you don't and when the end credits roll you're like “the f did I just watch” and somehow you still end up giving it a bunch of stars because you keep thinking about it and you don't know if you love it or hate it.
We're following Mario on a downhill spiral in his life, and at every corner, it gets worse. So much worse.
An interesting little history of patent medicines and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages with made-up (and sometimes, rarely, real) superpowers.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be making myself a gin and tonic. Can't be careful enough about that malaria, ya know.
Well this was rough. “A house full of hostage takers and hostages, all horny for an opera singer” could have saved me a few hours and would have accurately reflected the entire book. Alas, most of the story I felt like I was watching paint dry, somewhat convinced that when it was done, a beautiful picture might appear. Details emerged, enough of them not to make me quit the book, but not enough to make me forget I was watching paint dry.
The ending was, oddly, exactly what you'd think it would be, chased by a preposterous epilogue.
Do I wish Patchett gave me my time back? No. But did the last page made up for the rest? Also no.
Still, I'm giving it three stars, for lukewarm, absurdist entertainment value.
A raw, genuine memoir from a remarkable musician. His humility and deep appreciation for the humans that have made his life such an incredible journey transcend every chapter. Amazing.
The memoir of a close work friend of Tony Bourdain sheds light on a lot of the madness that lay behind the scenes of the best travel food shows ever made. A solid 5 from me, for highlighting the good and the bad, some of the most iconic and some of the most terrible scenes.
Wooooow. The Roach is a classic antihero, and throughout the book it fascinated me how we simultaneously understand him more and more and also start to feel his sadness, weakness, and eventually, remarkable strength.
What I suspected was going to be a straightforward action novel turned out to be much more than that, with twists and turns until the very last page.
A remarkable book.
Note I received a free review copy on Booksirens for the promise to review it honestly when I'm done.
Perhaps the most appropriate day to finish this book, new year's eve, and I can't help but love it - a book about idiots. Idiots that are parents, lovers, children, friends, and anything in between, discovering the deep truths of their lives a little by force, a little by fortune. A reminder that other people are both the cause of, and solution to, all of the heartache, everywhere.
Dorian Gray is a master class in cynical misanthropy. Sir Henry, the ever so witty man shamelessly encouraging Gray to embrace his vanity, all for the thrill of it. Gray himself, becoming hopelessly enthralled with his picture and himself, at the cost of leaving everyone hurt or, quite literally, dead in his wake. And through it all we wonder, is Dorian the crazy one, or the “high society” that is too busy admiring his antics and enabling his narcissism to take him down to earth when he really needed it.
Intriguing, if only a little repetitive, story about citizen detectives and the cases the author himself has closed. Some of the techniques, namely geo targeted Facebook pages, are already starting to feel outdated, but so be it.