Phoebe LaMountain
Entertaining but so dumb. It didn't really make anymore sense by the end. The idea was interesting but the execution only left things to be desired. Why was it worse for Bailey to move and start over vs never see her father again? Because of the “leak”? I just don't really understand why that pay off would be worth it? I was half expecting Bailey to be like no I want to give up what I have to see my father again, but she was just like... okay :(. Dafuq????? Idk I felt like the writing didn't bother me as much as some readers because I was listening to the book rather than reading, and the characters had pretty distinctive voices. But I can imagine if I had read the physical book it would have annoyed me.
This book was much different than any sort of biography or memoir based book I've ever read. It provides immense detail into the 1996 season of Rob Hall's Everest team.
I used to think about Everest as kind of an adrenaline junkies playground, but after reading this book, it really opened my eyes to what climbing Mount Everest actually entails and the devastating actions survivors have had to take to save themselves in theface of imminent death.
I've always loved into the wild by John Kracker and this book is highly rated so it's always been on my to read list. This book is highly researched and highly analytical. So much of the book is going over timelines, collecting information and trying to divulge that to the reader. But at some point there's so much information that it's hard to even know what's going on. so many proper nouns, names, and time points that you wonder while reading it how Krakauer was even able to figure this out.
It's easy to say It seems like leadership made mistakes. that they should've turned around at the turnaround time, that prefixed line should've gone up way before they did, but I think the very end of the book really summarizes it properly that people wanted to make it to the top and with your brain working at 29,000 feet altitude You will do anything to get there .
Definitely shed tears while reading this book, just such a loss of life in a way that doesn't mean anything. What you would give to say you did something. Something I don't know how you would ever recover from being even a survivor.
4/5
How to say Babylon is a perfect mix of direct prose and poetic writing all mixed up into a beautifully told memoir.
This book was recommended to me by a friend whose book recommendations I always take a serious as gold. When I check this book out from the library, I expected it to be a similar telling of “Educated” where the writer is very direct and detailed with what they have survived and how it affects them into their adulthood. “How to Say Babylon” is much more detailed into what is expected as a Rasta woman and the history of Rastafarians.
I learned so much about Rastafari culture and the ingrained misogyny into an almost organized religion created in the confines of Jamaica. Some of it being very beautiful, the importance connected to nature, the liberation of Black people in Jamaica & the world, and creating a society of peaceful likeminded individuals. I also had no idea about the poor reputation of Rasta bredren in Jamaica and the amount of disrespect and cruelty thrown at this community of people. Like almost all sectors of religion, although well-meaning, may end up being perpetrators of their own oppression, especially towards women and their roles within these societies.
How to say, Babylon is extremely eye-opening to how seclusion and purity culture within certain “sects” of Rastafari can be extremely isolating and eventually abusive . Though the tenants taught and believed is so beautifully represented in this story, so much of what it means to be Rastafari went directly against what Sinclair wanted for her life, which was to be a poet. This story is written in a way that feels like the waves coming in and out from the shore. You wait for her to stand up, but then she has to retreat again because the waves call her back. So much of what she was ingrained to do was represent her father, and to be a part of this culture that defined her, but didn't represent her.
At the end of the book, the climax of abuse happened so quickly in terms of page count that the eventual reconciliation felt somewhat rushed to me. For Safiya, it was years of time spent away from her father learning how she felt and coming to terms with her childhood, but to the reader, it happened so quickly, I didn't feel that the emotional payoff really reflected how she felt in her life. I don't feel privy to her emotional development, but I wish that had played out a little bit differently at the end of the book.
I think this book is a great way to understand another culture and the history and beauty behind it. Sinclair's writing of Jamaica is astounding and transport you directly to the island. One of my best reads so far in 2024.
4.5!!!
Wow, I don't think I've read a book about loneliness that's so personal in its experience.
In Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine you slowly but surely develop a picture of a whole person. She's not a great person, but she's not a bad either. She doesn't know who she is, she doesn't know she's struggling, which I think is the part that got me the most. This book is a perfect encapsulation of the simple fact that the small moments that we share with others may mean nothing to you, but so much to others.
Definitely a tough read if you're struggling with any sort of mental illness, loneliness or depression. It's a beautiful book of resiliency, but it doesn't mean that it's not hard to read.
4.25
Stephanie land has the uncanny ability to remember details of her life that are so beautiful and mundane.
In Class, Land addresses themes from her first memoir, but really dives into the loneliness and struggle for single parents attempting to get their bachelors degree. This book perfectly addresses the main content of the story as well as the society, implications surrounding impoverished people class and who is considered “worthy” of government assistance, education, or family. Land is a beautiful writer and it's inspiring to hear how she felt before she thought being a writer was ever an opportunity she was going to be able to have. Her personal experience with poverty and systematic issues in governmental assistance agencies opens your eyes to how difficult and redundant so many of these system are. I will read anything she writes.
4.5
I greatly enjoyed this book as well as the audio book. I definitely preferred the physical book more, just because I had a hard time linking the voice to the character.
I always enjoy TJR books, especially with how intertwined all of them are. I think they portray fame and love in an interesting way, and are always such an easy lovely read. Almost every book I have read of hers is about famous people, which gets tiring but she writes it so WELL.
My favorite part of DJ&6 was how it spoke about addiction. I think it was a little ridiculous at the end that all it took for daisy to kick the drug use was one stunt in rehab, however other than that I thought it was well written.
Also I always wish that time period of music was so interesting, so flaring a fake rendition of these stories you hear all the time was super fun.
Lady tans circle of women was my favorite fictional historical novel I've read in a very long time. I feel like I don't hear much about historical fiction being written in non-European countries maybe that's my own personal experience, but when this book was recommended to me, I knew I had to read it.
Learning about Confucius medicine and what's considered medicine at that point in time was extremely interesting . I felt like I was falling into China in the 1400s. though it's not what we would consider a happy story now, the way that the novel covers so many points in her life and ends in a way that connects her story all the way to the beginning, really gives you an encapsulation of what it would be like to be a Confucius female doctor!!!
4.0!
I had a harder time getting into this book than I expected but ended up giving it 4.5 stars!!
Girl, Woman, Other has been on my want to read list for a few years now and when I finally found it at a used bookstore, I wanted to start it right away. It felt hard at first with the style in which this book was written, free, flowing with lack of punctuation, capitalization, and other writing/typing rules. Once I kind of adjusted to the style, it flowed so naturally, like the conversations were coming off the page.
I really love the vignettes of characters throughout this book and could feel the dynamic web of connection between them the whole time. That being said, it is offputting when you finish a part of the book and don't get to hear from the character again.
I saw some reviews that people said “oh I didn't feel like I got to like delve into the characters and I wanted them to be more developed”, but I kind of liked that. We just had a snippet of time with them but it's still tells us so much about who they are in their lives. So many books give me too much information about someone and very few leave me wanting more, and I would always prefer the ladder.
Obviously, the characters are all flawed. I think that's what the point is when trying to capture this many women, from so many different time periods & experiences. However, I did not love the way Yazz was written only because I am her age and I didn't feel like it was very representative of our generation. But that being said it's not the fault of the author that she doesn't necessarily have the exact experiences as me and the people I know.
I think once I reach Dominique I really got the bug for this book which I finished pretty quickly once I reached that point.
Definitely recommend if you like reading literary fiction and English literature . it felt so different from my experience and I forget that England is so culturally different from the United States. I know that sounds dumb, but it really feels so different to read.
Loved loved loved 4.5
The way, Taylor Jenkins read writes, feels like I'm watching the “top” movie of the summer.
Genuinely when I read her books, it feels like I'm watching a good ass movie for 19 hours in my brain . Malibu rising is the third book I've read of Taylor Jenkins read and I liked it! Definitely not more than Carrie Soto is back or the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but way more than one true loves.
I like the characters it was kind of dumb and they were all kind of annoying with the surfing and stuff, but I still found them relatively endearing in the story. Interesting enough.
I did really like the contrast between the past storylines I enjoyed that immensely, and just like the coastal vibes .
3.5
I started this book because City Lights has about 1000 copies of it.
I love any book about San Francisco. Even just when it's referenced or when it's the backdrop of stories.I love living here and I love the city so much that when it's loved by someone else, it just makes me happy.
That being said, I did not like this books that much. I like the general storyline of a weird book store that has that has a secret that the main character has to solve. San Francisco is a great place to have that story, so many of the homes are so old and creepy and beautiful. I think it's a perfect set up. That being said, they fell victim to the Silicon Valley mindset.
So much of this book was just talking about Google and raving about Google and I just really did not like that. The society was so old and beautiful, and I like that Google didn't solve it, but I didn't like how intertwined it was into the story. I like the hacker guy that I can't remember his name but other than that I did not love the “googlers” (that's what they got them in the book)
Overall, I'm glad I read it. It was fun and interesting and I liked how deep the world felt. I like the meaning at the end and I think it wrapped up pretty. That being said, I think it lost points on missing out on how beautiful and wonderful San Francisco is in a local sense rather than just being a home of silicon valley Idiots.
3.2
I LOVE a good new age popular book. It feels like watching the best movie that everyone else has been talking about.
I loved this book, and I have never read a sports book before. I love that it made me fall into Carries world when before this I literally new nothing about tennis
It was so fun, but also real.
4.3
It weirdly took me a while to write this review. I feel like I read this book so quickly and deeply that I felt so much of it. I really loved this book my favorite in the series so far and I will continue to read them.
Firstly, I think that the world really opened up in this book, connecting all of the previous information that we've been building on in the world building of the previous books. By being able to see students from different schools and how the ministry is completely bumbling it's setting up really well for the next book.
For the characters, I really love the tension between Ron and Harry. It was kind of our first time seeing him lose what he thought was his friendship with Ron when in reality it's so much more. When the Weasley come and visit him for the dragon exhibition and he is so shocked that they're there like I think he's starting to actually figure out that there are family out there for him. He just needs to tell them that he loves them and when something goes wrong
Lastly, the end of the book kind of was disgusting finding out that Barty Crouch Junior was being held hostage was disgusting to me. The whole scene with Voldemort in the end was absolutely disgusting. I
'm so excited to read the next book.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. It was okay. It took me a while to read and kinda never felt like I became engrossed into the story. I was really excited to read something about an old circus, but it kinda just fell flat for me.
Idk.... I did really love the end when Jacob rejoined the circus. It really put into perspective the amount of time people are alive. 93 years is SO Long. I guess I just think it was too detailed at times and I didn't really like the story arch. That being said, it was better than most books
3.3
What the fuck? Like how did I read this entire book... nothing happened but... everything happened. I don't know how I feel yet.
I knew it was accumulating to the twin towers and I knew when she said that Trevor and Reva worked there that 911 had to be an important component of the story. when she starts sleeping consistently blacking out I knew it would be a few months before 911 but the buildup was insane...
Few days later. I feel the same, but more sad for her. I feel like there may have been no absolution for the whole time. Even with the ending.
3.4
I feel complicated about this book and the ties it has to the portrayal of our federal Justice system. I don't think Kerman‘s account of prison is like anybody else's but I kind of expect that of every person's experience. It's interesting hearing her learn about her privilege in not a theoretical way, but directly in the context of life in a federal prison. I do acknowledge that this book, one of the few revered books about women's correctional facilities, was written by an upper class white woman. That being said, it doesn't make any of the injustices addressed in this book less true. I really did enjoy this book, and I felt that I got to learn a lot. Even if it is one specific “more palatable for audiences” perspective. I think I'm going to try to read more books on this topic specifically women's prisons in the United States, let me know if anyone has any recommendations.
God, this was SO good!!!!!!! I loved how easy of a read this was but also how much of it was just them living at Hogwarts. so much of the movies is just action, action action, but I really just love the story of them discovering different parts of magic and learning through their courses. I'm not like a pothead or anything but the writing is just phenomenal.
Sweet & fun but so predictable. Sometimes it just felt too quirky like in a way that wasn't endearing, but almost like OK we get it you're quirky, but overall it was sweet and I had a nice storyline. I think I just need the storyline to be much less predictable so that I want to keep reading. Also, I didn't like any of the characters, except for the couple who is pregnant they were pretty cute. And I like the idea of two pigeons named mother and fucker.
2.4
I love and Patchett this book, took me a little bit longer to get into than the Dutch House or Commonwealth, but I ended up really falling into the characters and the story. I thought it was so interesting that the story took place during Covid . I normally don't like those kind of storylines because they take me out of the world, but I think it really worked in her favor. The line that sticks with me the most was the stories of happy marriages are never as good of stories of love affairs with movie stars.
Amy is completely completely diabolical in the strangest most severe way I've ever read in a character. It didn't even feel like Gillian Flynn wrote her but like unveiled her to the world. I really like this book it made me very sad so I can't give it more than three stars. Some of it was just so demoralizing. I just felt so depressed reading it.
3.0
Interesting to an extent a little boring but I did like the characters and how the author attacked transactional relationships. I am glad that Alex was written in a way that made the reader slowly question her motives, but overall it wasn't punchy, but I feel like that was the point. I don't know if it's a situation of it wasn't punchy because it wasn't supposed to be or just because it wasn't great......
2.8
I did really like the premise of this book but the writing was really subpar. I didn't think that it was gonna be revolutionary or anything. I just wanted something fun and I genuinely did enjoy the story. The idea of meeting your mom in the past after she's passed away and getting to know her not as your mother but as a human, I think that that's really endearing. That being said, so much of it felt like amateur writing.
2.3
I thought that the storylines in this novel were so interesting and dynamic for a thriller. I felt like I was learning so much as it went, with new things being revealed so often. Often times thriller falls in the same category to me as romance that I enjoy them but they're never incredible. but this hit it out of the park!! I listen to the audiobook, and there were different voice actors doing different accents and it was just like so fun and suspenseful. I think I might read more of these loll
3.9