Terri
When someone complains about having to cancel a wine subscription in order to “make ends meet”, you've already lost me.
[b:The Talented Mr. Ripley 2247142 The Talented Mr. Ripley (Ripley, #1) Patricia Highsmith https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1634841836l/2247142.SX50.jpg 1817520] is one of my favorite books, and I was doubtful that anything could top it (or compare to it) when starting the second in the series. Ripley Under Ground is a high quality thriller in its own right, but compared to the original it falls short. After getting to know the character of Tom Ripley, the series of events that takes place in Ripley Under Ground feels less realistic for the character.Still, I enjoyed it, and Highsmith does an amazing job of describing the aesthetically rich life of Ripley and his peers. It was good enough for me to feel confident in continuing the rest of the series.
This was my least favorite of the entire Ripley series. Too much exposition and too many unanswered questions. Even if considered separately from the original Ripley novel, I don't think this story stands on its own. Glad I finished the series, but disappointed that they declined in quality
Much like Ripley #2 and #3, The Boy Who Followed Ripley pales in comparison to the original. Unfortunately, it also pales in comparison to the second and third. While those were decent mystery stories in their own right, The Boy Who Followed Ripley is tedious at times, cartoonish in others, and the character of Tom feels stale and lacking dimension. Tom is unusually trusting, stupid, and both feeling and unfeeling in bizarre situations. The ending felt thoughtless, and I was frustrated the untapped potential that the plot had. I'll be finishing the fifth book since I've made it this far, but I don't feel too optimistic about it.
I love Alan Alda, so I had high hopes coming into this book. I wasn't disappointed! Alda somehow managed to convey the same enthusiasm and tone from his acting style to his writing, and I enjoyed every second of it.
Even if you don't know anything about Alan Alda, or MAS*H, this is an enjoyable read simple for the anecdotes.
As usual, Thich Nhat Hanh provides calm, approachable wisdom and advice. Worth reading, and re-reading, whenever you need a spiritual pick me up.
I binge-read this one, and I did see the twist coming. Frankly, I don't understand how stupid a person could be to not notice their girlfriend is right in front of them. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Found the author's personality to be grating and self-obsessed. The book was less about living mindfully and more about the many ways in which the author was “not like other girls”.
Depressingly relatable, but not relatable enough for me to have truly enjoyed it. I kept reading in the same way people slow down when they see a car crash on the side of the road.
A decent book for someone entering the world of minimalism, but I gained nothing new from it. It would be better off as a longform blog post rather than as an entire book.
All I remember from this book is the sheer amount of bizarre vocabulary I had to look up (i.e soupçon)
I enjoyed this book enough to binge-read it, and while I found the storytelling and language to be vibrant while reading it, I did find myself confused here and there due to the inconsistencies and plot holes that seemed to occur in every chapter. First, I found it strange that the author used pseudonyms for her family members, when her own name was unchanged. I just don't see the point - half of her family members have their real names mentioned, the others do not. A simple Google search will give you their correct names, so what was the purpose of this?
I also had a difficult time pinning down the exact personalities of each character, but I guess for some (like Tara's father) that was the point. He's described as charming and loving in one paragraph, but paranoid and downright abusive in the next. Again, I get that this is to provide insight into the conflict and family turmoil caused by his potentially bipolar nature, but at some points I just didn't get what was going on. Which brings me to Shawn, Tara's mother, Audrey, and the rest of the characters who float in and out of importance throughout the story. I just wasn't sure if I was supposed to be as confused as I was while reading about their interactions, or if I was missing something.
All in all, it was an entertaining read, and I found myself invested in Tara's story though I will admit towards the end I just wanted the story to finish because her lack of agency was starting to grate on me. But as this is an autobiographical story, I can't be too picky - after all, hindsight is 20/20 and I'm sure even she was frustrated by the strange mistakes of her younger counterpart.
After hearing all the hype I decided to give this a try, and while the premise was cute and it was nice to see a relatable character with autism for once, the writing style was too much for me to overlook. This book read like bad fanfiction and the dialogue was unrealistic. I get what the author was aiming for here, but it felt forced at times.
The plot dragged at the beginning to establish the characters, but then suddenly everything was forced into the last three chapters. I didn't feel like Stella or Michael had any real dimension. They felt paperlike and artificial to me, and I couldn't imagine real, flesh-and-blood people as these characters.
I just did not enjoy the “possessive protector” role that Michael suddenly took on, and I was not expecting the detailed sex scenes either. I honestly thought this was going to be more of a rom-com style book, not a Silicon Valley 50 Shades of Grey. That's my fault though, for not reading reviews beforehand.
All in all, it's not something I would recommend or re-read.
I enjoyed this, until I didn't. I wasn't expecting it to be a heartwarming, fluttery memoir - that's not what I mean by enjoyable. But I felt lost, the voice kept changing, and once I was lost I couldn't find my way back into the flow of reading.
Enjoyed the recipes in this book, and the refresher on the basic tenets of a healthy lifestyle (sleep, nutrition, movement). Nothing groundbreaking, just simple common sense.
Suspensful, creepy, and requires willing suspension of disbelief but all in all enjoyable.
I loved this book. The magical academy element at the beginning had me hooked, the fact that Rin had to work and struggle for her abilities and her place in the world, and the likeable characters all kept me hooked. I admit I lost a slight bit of interest in the beginning of the second half, because I didn't care much for the descriptions of military strategy, but my attention was caught again and I kept it until the end. I'm looking forward to the second book in the trilogy.
“Almost anyone can be warm, kind, and generous when he is in a positive mood. However, a true indicator of emotional health is when a person can respond to the needs of another with care and patience even while in a low emotional state or under physical distress.”
“Everything in life is draining for the person who doesn't like who he has become. It's like working for a boss we despise; even the most minor task triggers annoyance.”
Foolishly chose to listen to the audiobook (my first experience with an audiobook). Even if I had read this in physical copy, I would have given up on it just as quickly. Only three chapters in and it was physically painful to endure. Right away the main character, Blue, has that “I'm not like other girls” syndrome which makes every cringey, pseudo-intellectual thing she says even more so.
Pair that with the awful narration style of whoever it was narrating this audiobook, the horrid mispronunciation of words, the over-the-top theatrical voices.
In short, this book is just bad.
An aesthetic exploration of Japan. One statement I found particularly interesting was that if Japan had been allowed to advance on its own cultural and aesthetic terms, instead of being forced to adopt Western inventions and practices, its inventions would have been more suited to traditional practices (i.e brush fountain pen). Would re-read.
“Now you need to take another piece of paper, find somewhere quiet to sit, and make a list of everything that is entangling you, everything you need to let go of—including your ideas about happiness. Just naming what you want to release will make you feel lighter. The more you can let go of, the more lightness and freedom you will feel.”
Samin Nosrat is a likeable narrator, and a good teacher. I learned a lot from this book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their cooking abilities.
I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. The closest literary comparison I can make is The Picture of Dorian Gray, though that hardly does it justice as there are no true similarities in terms of plot, merely the dark obsession with aesthetics.
Süskind's writing style is smooth, there is an abundance of detail but it never feels wordy or hard to follow.
This is a book I would re-read, and would definitely recommend.