Sarah

A romance novel that doesn't insult your intelligence. Hibbert would only use words like “petal” or “member” to describe flowers or politicians. Make no mistake, there are sex scenes to make your grandmother blush, but there are also diverse and complex characters.

A sweet middle-grade read that almost transcends the genre. It could almost be so much more, with slightly more sophisticated descriptions and a hint of complexity to the “bad” characters, but it will be appreciated by young bookworms.

Excellent navigation of the complicated palimpsest of the Troubles.

I don't know why I keep reading these comedian memoirs expecting something other than occasional hilarity and a lot of boring ego stroking. I think I'm seeking something funny and light, but also honest and well-crafted. Dear Girls is not that book, but it is occasionally very funny. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on pregnancy and childbirth.

I thought the pacing was off, but appreciated the story and concepts.

I never realized the similarities between Irish storytelling traditions and the telenovela. This was a tragicomic drama with all the best and worst parts of being human. I would have replaced 100 pages of Cyril's 20's with more detail of his later years, but oh well :)

Moments of hilarity. Lockwood's family is made up of see-to-believe characters, and she does a beautiful job of capturing them.

Is this what we, as readers, have come to applaud? Books by perfectly average writers where nothing happens, nothing is described in a new or interesting way, all in the name of ‘psychological suspense'? Much like The Woman in the Window, this book is ridiculously overhyped blah-ness.

Sweet and relatable.

Great, important. There are A LOT of people in this book, which gets a little confusing tbh. I found the last third of the book more of a separate, but related, article.

It feels wrong to rate someone's memoir, as if you're ranking their life and pain. My two-star rating is based only on the writing and pacing of this book and is no way reflective of JVN's struggles and triumphs. Jonathan is an amazing and powerful presence, and I hope this book is inspirational to many. It's not, however, well crafted or edited. The timeline, especially in the beginning, is all over the place, leaving the reader immensely confused about what happened & when. Cliches abound, and JVN doesn't really touch on how he overcame addiction, abuse, and depression, other than the generic “self-love and care.”

Some chapters/essays were great and funny, especially when Ellis applies Southern Lady Code to modern life in NYC. Other chapters were less successful, particularly the ones that were just long lists.

Until about 2/3 of the way through, I believed this was two different books trying to live in one pair of pants. Then Russo brought them together in a poignant and unexpected way, given the way female victims are often portrayed in literature (that is, as objects or flashes in someone else's - a man's - life).

I do not understand the hype. Nothing happens and there's a lot of plodding explication.

Perhaps this grievance is unique to those who have lived in Colorado, but this story centers around the unique culture of Boulder - the 1%ers striving for authenticity through exercise, nature, food, and ethical shopping, reliant on those who can't afford to live there to keep the city functioning - but renames the town. Pearl Street Mall is rechristened Emerald Mall, the Flatirons are now the Redirons, Boulder is Crystal, etc. This drove me B-A-N-A-N-A-S. We all understand what fiction is - just use the city's name, for pete's sake.

A lot of explication to be completely engaging.

I loved it - layered and powerful with philosophy, botany, stories, cultures. Most of my book club didn't like it. Oh well.

While it may lack cohesion and some snippets are stronger (and funnier) stories than others, Haddish is incredibly funny. I enjoyed her reading the audiobook - I think some of the repetitions wouldn't have worked as well on the written page. With the exception of the chapter on her ex-husband, this had me laughing for sure. Haddish is strong and overcome a lot to fulfill her dreams.

This was powerful and engaging, as well as a window into the life of Muslim immigrants in America. I think it would be even stronger if we had Fareeda's back story in parallel with Deya and Isra's stories. I felt the author was unsympathetic to Fareeda, even in Fareeda's chapters. It could be enlightening to see more of how Fareeda's life in the refugee camp shaped her future, and the lives of her daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters.

So boring. Not worth my time to finish.

Name dropping a bunch of mystery novels does not create a new book worth reading. The first chapter could have been a great short story, though.

A humane and nuanced recounting of a troubling event which continues to reverberate today.

There are clever conceits here, and I appreciate the tongue-in-cheek, reflexive mystery tropes. I'm not overly fond of “Tony” (Horowitz's self-styled narrator), which puts me off the author himself. Oh well.

Can I give the first third of the book 4 stars and the remaining 2/3 1 star? I thought this would be a collection of essays about, you know, dead girls in popular culture. The first part does that exceptionally well, with lots of fodder to re-think all the mystery and crime novels I've been reading. I found most of Bolin's own essays to be navel-gazing L.A. bullshit.

It's hard to read this 1970s collection in 2019. Trillin captures the pervasive racism, sexism, and injustices of each murder case in concise vignettes. He's more interested in the nuances of life than the particulars of death, which is refreshing.