Court

My bad for expecting linear storytelling, but I really liked this. The art is gorgeous, loved the musical references, and the characters are fantastic.

I loved Alvin who loves Chuck Berry. A male classmate asks him if he's going to the sock hop because he loves the 50's and Alvin launches into this awesome rhetoric: how can you have so much nostalgia for something you know nothing of and has only been recollected onto you through a lens of blind idealism and the erasure of anything outside of the white heternormative middle class perspective? How can you ask me (a young black man) to go to a ‘sock hop' and ignore the impact Black communities have on American culture, while simultaneously being systematically barred from its society. With our identities seized and manipulated for the sake of commercial and political gain.” And then when a girl asks him if he's going he says yes and offers to pick her up.

I was a little confused but still enamored with the reoccurring story of Miriam and George and their love of the Beatles through the decades.

I really enjoyed the story of Kennedy and Rhea who want to be writers.

Loved this book, it made me laugh and think

If there are only women is feminism still relevant?

I really like one of the pages of texts near the end: “At the moment a lot of days don't make sense. I run out of postage stamps, or I run out of pencil erasers, or I find myself running out of feelings. This will pass, yes, but I suspect this time will be felt, like a leftover bruise, for longer than we might imagine.”

This delighted me. It's honest and culture (as well as cultural differences) interest me. I especially enjoyed a part towards the end when he meets another Canadian and they talk of “Canada's only national issue: cultural identity” and Delisle says:
“The problem with Canada is that it's missing a cardinal point. The South is ok, everyone's glued to the border. East and West are fine too... but the North, no one really knows where it ends! Hudson Bay? The Northwest Territories? The Arctic Circle? Baffin Island? After that it's all ice. You can't even tell if there's ground underfoot! How can anyone expect to know where they're going in a country that has no North? The problem doesn't exist anywhere else... France even has an administration called ‘The North'. If you ask me Canada needs to redraw its Northern border so people can situate themselves, psychologically speaking.”
I also liked his general observations about the Chinese cities he saw.

3.5 rounded
Great art style. Rounded up for the bonus of the little cat that was above each comic.

What fun it was to explore an artist I didn't know much about while also encountering many other familiar artists.

Some stories were fantastic — looking at Walden and Tan, others less so.

Loved Evelyn, felt lukewarm about Monique, but I understand that she's supposed to be the ‘everyman' who's eyes we look through. I called the connection between Monique and Evelyn, but it was satisfying.

I love this concept. The reason it's four stars instead of five is that I longed for a pronunciation guide.

Some words did have an English equivalent, for example trepverter Yiddish for literally staircase words is what we in English would call staircase wit or in French L'esprit de l'escalier.

I read the original so long ago, but do not recall it. I remember The Little Princess much better it may have been given to me as a set, and my ‘The Secret Garden' copy came with a gold key necklace. The author has a note at the end explaining the choice to alter the story by removing any mention of India.


This does seem like just a pretty orphan story: girl becomes orphan, don't worry she's pretty, she makes friends, she has a somewhat absent male figure, there's animals so girls will like it, and in solving other peoples' problems hers are solved.


The art was ok.

Strong and weak stripes of story with good characters and lovely art.

Might warrant a reread at some point, so thanks Hoopla

Recently watched Nightmare Alley, so yay for carnivals, circuses, sideshows and the like. I also very much love Neil Gaiman, so his endorsement was a big draw. It's a good story, a little repetitive and uneven at times, but overall good. Bonus star for saying that Florida is “where the freaks retire” even though it's based on historical carnival workers retiring in Gibsonton, FL and it's sometimes called Gibtown. I appreciated the author's note at the end that gave a little history and perspective.

This is a 3.5 rounded up
The writing style is that of a young writer and it would distract and annoy me from time to time. However, that is fully outweighed by his authentic voice. Some sections are more helpful than others. I think that kids and young adults would benefit from and enjoy the book. Blake does well being personable, honest, interesting, and likeable.

I was irritated at two instances where he talked about medication: the first when he said “Religiously take your medicine.” sigh I think that this would have been much better to talk about ‘medical adherence' Take your medication in the way that works best for you, ideally around the same time each day (I assume), build it into a routine so one is less likely to forget, if possible/if it works for you have a back up such as a parent having a dose handy in the car or in a purse/briefcase, etc.
The other time is when he talks about tics: “In some young people, the frequency of tics can also be intensified by higher dosages of medications you take for ADHD (Pliszka, Carlson, and Swanson 1999). So you may want to look at your dosage, altering your medication or combining your medication with clonidine, which treats mild tic disorders.” I love that Blake cites his sources, what I don't like is that the second sentence is missing the word doctor or ‘medical professional'. I'm all for medical changes, but they need to be made in the right way and I view this a self help book intended for minors, it cannot be said enough that anything involving medication should be done by consulting a medical professional. I assume that it's implied, but I don't think that's good enough.

The first solution in the chapter about tics is “force yourself to stop the tic”... he goes into it a little bit more, but I think that this could have been reworked and improved.

He did a great job with the chapter on being rigid.

Another note, Blake had a very privileged childhood so some of his advice – at least the way it is given – is not feasible for everyone, but it is still good advice. Some of the the things he mentioned that I thought might be a little difficult: get the best teacher, etiquette class, having a job as a sales associate at Banana Republic, and doing all these expensive activities such as sailing classes, swim team, classical piano etc.
There are probably other avenues to achieve similar results as if one can't afford something in terms of money or time or if it is otherwise unavailable.

Some of the things on the list of attributes at the end felt a little cheesy to me, but someone might need to hear it :)

Picked this up because bookclub had read [b:The Silent Patient 40097951 The Silent Patient Alex Michaelides https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582759969l/40097951.SX50.jpg 59752778] and it referenced Alcestis, which was fantastic. I'm a sucker for a personification of death and Heracles literally wrestles with Death for Alcestis' return. I was a little confused by there being so much made by Alcestis' silence made in The Silent Patient, when at the end of the play it's said "She is still consecrated to the gods below. Til she is duly purified, and the third dawn has risen, it is not lawful for you to hear her voice."I also thought of [b:L'Esprit de L'Escalier 58772854 L'Esprit de L'Escalier Catherynne M. Valente https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1642588606l/58772854.SY75.jpg 92535817], a retelling of the Eurydice myth where Eurydice is recovered from the underworld and it leads to marital strife. We're not really told how Alcestis feels about her resurrection as the play ends before she can speak, but I imagine that she might feel similar to [a:Catherynne M. Valente 338705 Catherynne M. Valente https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1220999852p2/338705.jpg]'s Eurydice.I thought that the Introduction about Alcestis was excellent as well: “In the first scene the serving-maid reports Alcestis' words spoken with tears to her marriage bed: “I am dying because I cannot bear to fail in my duty to you and my husband.” The view of a wife's duty the chorus recognize as being an ideal which is generally accepted and thought honorable; which in principle every husband with regard as his do, without ever expecting to see it fulfilled. The ideal of marriage, in fact, carries to its conclusion the universal assumption that a woman's life is a rational price for a man's life, being of less value; that the women of a family are expendable, their lives at the disposal of men's lives. Admetus has never questioned this principal and is there for hardly aware of it. Alcestis did not set this ideal for herself, but finding it already part of the fabric of society she embraced it with a thoroughness which was her own rare and heroic achievement. We see, then, that even if it was theoretically possible for Adetus to decline, yet when his wife made the offer it would actually seem to be above all things right – right in a degree above the achievement of most men's wives. To refuse it would seem to flout an order of nature and to enroll adjuster of unique beauty.”I also enjoyed Hippolytus; the chaos that Aphrodite inflicts, the double meaning of chastity (pure, but also of sound mind, modesty and forbearance in social behavior), and the way consequences unfold.Iphigenia in Tauris felt oddly familiar...did I come across this - or some excerpt or summary of it- in my school days? Regardless, I love the Furies and a good trick that is then forgiven.

I wanted to like this, but like most collections it's quite the mixed bag — with photos that didn't land well with me. The photos came off as average, as if found or submitted by amateurs. It took me a few names to realize that all the essays were by notable authors. The essays probably mean more to someone a little more familiar with these authors.

Wasn't a fan of the rhyming text, but I did like the Hawaiian vocabulary, helpful/well meaning friends, wise grandmother and most importantly the blurb at the end of the book about ‘opihi being raised in a lab and how they needed the powerful ocean waves to become their usual shape.

Loved the Art Deco aesthetic of the cover and chapter breaks, the rest of the art is lackluster and the story kind of bland, like a predictable scooby-doo episode with somewhat flat characters.

So satisfying and great art.

I love that a happy ending to a bad break up is coping.

The light bulb went off around 70% I don't like it because it's such disrespectful fluff. I hate fake cheesy romance and if Gabriel is such the perfect, loving husband where are those actions? I understand that Alicia is an unreliable narrator but the way I interrupt this is either Gabrielle is a manipulative asshole and most of the others are so self interested – that or Michaelides didn't write Alicia crazy enough because all I hear is Alicia being gaslit, insulted, victimized, and mishandled.

I hated that Alicia was put on house arrest and that the door/gate was left unlocked - as a person who has experienced (mild) trauma that is simply unbelievable to me.

I hated Theo, he was unethical, gross, very negative, fairly stupid (climbing up to a roof with a guy that hit you in a head with a baseball bat), and bad at both being a psychotherapist and a detective; apparently was only a decent stalker.

I am also disappointed because I picked this up expecting a lot more Alicia and got about 80% Theo, like a bait-and-switch.

The book also barely passes the Bechdel test; the only conversation that two women have that isn't about a man is between Stephanie and Barbie, where Barbie demands to see Alicia and Stephanie is attempting to stop her. It's a short conversation because Theo interrupts and let's Barbie see Alicia, which I consider to be a violation of Alicia's right of freedom of association.

Other things that bothered me:
Gabrielle seems rich, why have sex in a park?
I read Alcestis, at the end of the play it's said that “She (Alcestis) is still consecrated to the gods below. Til she is duly purified, and the third dawn has risen, it is not lawful for you to hear her voice.” I get that Alicia being in a bad marriage and the killing of her husband may have left her impure or whatever but I dunno, it just seems like something that could have been expanded on and make it much more interesting.
Everyone at The Grove seemed to speak poorly of Stephanie when she was the most professional person in the book.
Jean-Felix, the gallerist, is French but says he feels more like a Londoner seemed like bullshit to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8rSxC0Tgv4

This starts off fantastic, but then seems to wander into sentimental sayings territory. Although they're not all bad, eg ‘sometimes a step back is the best way forward', which at least avoids toxic positivity. I liked the art and viewed the book as something that was hopefully cathartic for Lepage to create. I think the porcupine with balloons is a fantastic capture of anxiety.

I was not expecting the ‘poetry format' but I loved it.

4.5Gladwell is upfront that this isn't like his other books in the subject matter. At the very end he mentions that unlike traditional book this was created as an audiobook first before being published in print. This is a rich audiobook in that it is more than just Gladwell's voice, he uses audio clips of interviews, segments of news reports (pretty cool to hear Ronald Regan voicing some of them), music, and the sound of planes.The first half of the book is more about Britain's engagement with Germany and the latter half is of the US in the Pacific. I really appreciate Gladwell also giving some of Japan's perspective. He visits a Japanese museum, plays an account of a Japanese woman who had survived the fire bombing of her city, and some Japanese war propaganda. Gladwell also goes into the origin of napalm, oof napalm is some horrific stuff.I listened to this as I was also reading [b:Verax: A Graphic History of Electronic Surveillance 33911351 Verax The True History of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance A Graphic Novel Pratap Chatterjee https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499741786l/33911351.SX50.jpg 54876816] and wonder what he would have thought of drone strikes as I consider them to be the epitome of precision bombing. Near the end Gladwell mentions that ‘it has its own set of drawbacks. If your target is a single man inside a room then you have to have intelligence good enough to tell you that man is the man you want. And when you have a way of hitting that man inside a room then it becomes awfully easy to decide to strike, doesn't it. They all worried about that fact. The cleaner and the more precise a bomber gets the more tempting it is to use that bomber even when you shouldn't.'

Fantastic slice of life of living in Japan in the mid 1980's. Lovely relationship of a caring grandmother for a rambunctious three/four year old. A charming delight with Japanese culture and history. Also the art is great.

I read this while also listening to [a:Malcolm Gladwell 1439 Malcolm Gladwell https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1564001739p2/1439.jpg]'s [b:The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War 56668328 The Bomber Mafia A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War Malcolm Gladwell https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616422126l/56668328.SX50.jpg 88566827]. Gladwell talks about precision bombing, to me that's what drone strikes are. Unfortunately, like most tools of warfare they can be mishandled. I appreciate Chatterjee in shedding (more) light on: surveillance & information gathering, information being misused, those involved in drone strikes experiencing PTSD, whistleblowers & journalism, government structure in regards to intelligence (there's like 17 US gov. agencies) The word history in the title can be little misleading, as I think that other readers may have assumed a more comprehensive history, but he does well in covering the post 9/11 aspect of this subject. The art is well done.