Jennifer

This was a five star book until the end. It did not go as I thought it would. I loved most of this story.

This book is one big build up to the chapter called “The Challenge of Israel”. This is the most relevant and educational breakdown of current affairs involving the Middle East crisis. The rest of the book is very educational as well and doesn't force one point of view. The reader is left to make their own decisions of how Jewish identity is defined. The author expresses his own opinions and where he stands but doesn't necessarily encourage the reader to agree with him. He discusses each side to the issues.

I learned a lot, especially that the matrilineal rule of Jewishness is not in the Bible, and feel confident that I can dive into more complicated Jewish literature with a good foundation of knowledge. The chapters about intermarriage are a good overview of the issue at hand. Again, no solutions but a good foundation for understanding.

Autistic woman falls in love with a gigolo. Misunderstandings ensue. Ok sex scenes. Ridiculous, easy, entertaining read.

Entertaining, quick read. Pretty straightforward plot. Has a little bit of everything: laughs, sex, violence, etc.

Kya lives in the backwoods swamp with no family around her. Her mom leaves, her brother leaves and then her abusive father. She manages to make a living without schooling or friends with the help of local grocer Jumpin and his wife Mabel. Later, Tate, a local boy spends time with her and teaches her how to read. She's been ostracized by society, villagers calling her Marsh Girl, and is at the mercy of made up stories about her.

Tate and Kya fall in love and the story becomes a YA coming-of-age novel. Enter the antagonist, Chase, a womanizing devirginizer who, as we know from the first pages, ends up dead. So then can we ascertain who killed him? How does this end?

Boringly. So boringly. The courtroom section of this book was hands down the worst part. It felt like it was inserted to make this a “better” story. It felt like a short story in between a good story and downgraded this a couple of stars.

To summarize:

Murder mystery + nature imagery and lessons + love story + poetry + courtroom drama = some heartwarming times + yawns

Entertaining memoir about a psychiatrist's journey in an emergency psych unit over nine years.

Thanks to Netgalley for this read.

This was a bit hard to get into. I was much more into Nedda's real life vs. her sci-fi world. The sci-fi works threw me off every time when I was just getting into the other storyline. I ended up skimming a lot of scientific description to get to the plot.

Nedda's real life story gave me A Wrinkle in Time vibes regarding her dad being a type of mad scientist and her following in his footsteps. I get that the sci-fi fantasy relates to her real life but I felt ambivalent about it.

I honestly liked Betheen's character more than the others. I want to know more about her.

Overall, it was heartwarming even amongst the science themes.

Thanks to BookShout for letting me read this book!

In order to fully appreciate this book, one needs to take anatomy and a medical terminology class. Or google everything they don't understand and take forever reading this.

It also could use pictures to demonstrate what he's talking about with crossing or connecting the veins and arteries and where people have put kidneys in the past, etc.

There are also a lotttt of historical figures whom I've never heard of before to keep track. I need a timeline. I understand the need to appreciate medical marvels throughout time but I didn't know that's what I was getting when I picked up this book.

I would've enjoyed this more if it was only the author's experiences without the history and anatomy lessons. Does the average reader really need this much surgical detail? To whom is this book targeted? Med students and residents only?

Written as one would expect a researcher to write about themselves. Much like an academic paper, Jamison makes her point succinctly, adds fancy vocab to make her point, then finishes it up with some astute poetry. Perhaps her Lithium is working too well, because the writing was so cohesive and academically sound that my eyes glazed over at some points. I guess I was looking for more emotion and drama in her descriptions. She tells the reader what happened but I lacked the feeling like I was there with her, experiencing what was happening and how her moods were so variable and volatile.

This was a great personal overview of bipolar disorder but I wish she had gotten more personal à la My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward and Haldol and Hyacinths.

Another memoir about bipolar disorder, but this time with an Iranian-American Muslim woman. Her cultural take does make her story unique compared to the other books about bipolar disorder vs. American white people. She is funny and witty, but her writing isn't as compelling as other memoirs I have read about bipolar disorder. She can be all over the place with her activities, which does help her demonstrate the disorder, but made me tired to read it. It was easy to put down. Still enjoyed this when I could focus and follow her and hope to read more from her in the future.

It made me laugh out loud several times so it gets five stars.

My ebook copy messed up the italic sentences so I'm pretty sure I missed out on some important quotes, which is why this gets four stars.

An addictive story about a psychopath/sociopath. He seems so normal until you go on this journey of discovery with Jen and unravel the real life horrors of being with someone who doesn't have a conscience. Five stars for honesty and for gripping storytelling that I will remember.

The last 25% of this book felt rushed. It took me a couple chapters to get into it but then the pace quickened as it went on. Probably one of the happiest stories involving the Holocaust I've ever read, which feels weird.

Fun, quick, easy read. Love the illustrations. Cute, quaint, and poignant.

Easy, quick read because it's more poetry in broken sentence fragments. I highlighted three poems I liked. The rest were meh.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into this but once I found my groove, I really enjoyed it. Poor Rill and co. What a tragic turned happy ending story. It would be a great movie on Lifetime.

I was gripped by this story but I don't think I “got” it. Or maybe I do get it but I'm underwhelmed. I wanted to find out what happens to Candace but when I did, I was like meh. This was like an episode of the Walking Dead, except less gory and violent, and one of those episodes where we focus on a character's backstory for the whole episode. Interesting character but not sure about the rest.

Also, the cover is too plain, even for the file or whatever it's supposed to represent. The innards of this novel deserve more.

Painful, realistic view of dealing with your parents' aging and end of life situations. Caregiving and dementia are hard topics to make entertaining enough for a book and Roz has done it! Highly recommend for those who are dealing with aging loved ones and are struggling.

This graphic memoir is unlike anything else I've read. It is entertaining (because of the pictures...and content...but pictures) and gripping with its unique tone. I wish there were more graphic memoirs like this. I now have a renewed determination to read Ulysses and the Odyssey to better understand this book but we'll see how long that feeling lasts.

Inspiring. Made me take a hard look at myself and the areas where I need to be more vulnerable. Of course, easier said than done. I think every person should read this and do the same!

I thought the illustrations were offputting and didn't support the vibes of the message sall the time which is why I gave this 4 stars. The poems were great.

Hard to care enough to finish. However, it did not end the way I thought it was going to. Still not sure if it was worth it.

Kinsey is emotionally-stunted, -unavailable,and -unintelligent, usually a trait seen in men. She has tunnel vision unmatched by a normal human being.

The descriptions of the settings were too much. So boring after a while. The technology is outdated so that made this less realistic too.

Couldn't put this down. It reminded me of Get Out, but British. Worst mother ever award goes to Pammie. Pammie is an insane, melodramatic nut job, which is funny but also horrifying.

The twist is crazy, just like all the reviews say.

This story is a lesson in the most inefficient way to tell someone something important. Passive aggressiveness is never the answer. Direct, honest communication is everything. Sigh.

Quick, easy read. Easy to put down. Entertaining but not necessarily good. The characters were realistic enough where everyone was kind of an a-hole. This would be a good Lifetime movie that I would watch once.