Jennifer

I laughed out loud and cried on the inside.

This reminds me of Carrie Bradshaw's column but more thoughtful and helpful because it is backed by research and talking to all kinds of people from all over the world. The quotes from other sources are poignant and insightful.

With a little bit of anthropology and a little bit of wit, I enjoyed reading this. She is relatable and honest.

The chapter I related to the most was Holland.

Nice stories to remind you how to treat your loved ones, especially your significant others. I appreciated her candor about marriage especially because I can't find anyone who doesn't talk about marriage in extremes. The last chapter was helpful and I plan on referring back to it when I feel at a loss.

This one focuses on Ah Ma's backstory/her legacy, more Kitty Pong, and Astrid/Charlie. Fun, light, ridiculous read. Not to be taken seriously.

Remember the scene from Sex and the City when Samantha comes back from California with a little pooch? And Carrie awkwardly says, “you're beautiful at any size but what happened?” Or something like that? Remember how awkwardly inserted that line was? Well that's how the dialogue is in this book. Especially between Nick and Rachel.

The ending was happy so that was nice. The Peik Lin story at the end was random but nice. I am interested to see how this plays out in movie form.

The first half was gripping. I couldn't put it down. We find out the plan halfway through, which is sort of a surprise.

Definitely formulaic but still intriguing. I still wanted to know what happened at the end. But at the halfway point I called the thing about the father in law. Then as Cynthia's role played out, I kinda caught on to what her role might have been. After all, the book is called The Couple Next Door. I was pretty spot on about the father in law though.

I'm glad justice was served at the end, but I wasn't expecting the plot twist with 5 minutes left in the book.

Side note:

Marco is a freaking idiot.

Man, I haven't read comic strips like this since I was like 14. What a nostalgic feeling. The jokes are still cute and witty even with this character I wasn't familiar with prior to randomly picking it from the library. I knew it was a popular series, but that's about it.

Nate is a typical self-absorbed kid with a touch of ADHD. He has good friends who give him an equal amount of crap as he gives them. The females in his life also give him crap, so his selfishness is addressed, which is refreshing.

This is Black Mirror in book form before Black Mirror was a thing. Mostly corny, kinda brilliant, at least in parts. Very thought provoking especially in terms of the current argument that there is too much conflict and offense these days. What would happen if we eliminated conflicting thoughts or perspectives? What would happen if we censored anything that offended anyone?

But I got bored with it. This was easy to put down.

Although I can see how this might have inspired books like Ready Player One, I think the more contemporary books are better and this one was...corny. There's no other word that describes how I feel about this.

I get why it's a classic. I understand the innovative ideas it ponders, but I still thought the plot was unexciting. Sue me.

I don't think I've ever been as chilled and gripped by a beginning of a story ever. The first 10 pages got me messed up. And the first 30 pages are riveting and heart wrenching.

If you're a fan of Room, you would like this book.

Super painful to read of the child's point of view of how he copes with his PTSD. It feels exploitative but it is fiction. It kind of makes me think that this is Newtown fan fiction but helps the reader see it from the child's point of view, considering we are not going to get that in real life.

I enjoyed reading this even though it was painful.

Moral of the story: Gun control NOW. Enough is enough!

I liked around 10 poems from this. Otherwise it's another poetry book of
broken.
sentences.
Is it the moon?
Or is it
Me.
Or is it
Maybelline.

“The key to a good life is not giving a fuck about more; it's about giving a fuck about less, giving a fuck about only what is true and immediate and important.”

Finally! A book that speaks to me in my language. I've been waiting for this. Thank you, Mark. This may be the best self help book I've ever read.

I wish I had a Disappointment Panda in my life.

True confessions: I liked Hillbilly Elegy more in terms of small town social justice problems. BUT I liked this book because it focuses on towns that I am very familiar with since I grew up in one of the towns mentioned in the Shenandoah Valley. Sadly, I also know of 3-5 people (friends of friends) who have overdosed in the area as well.

I really want this to be a documentary. The book is good but I think would be better in a visual medium. The storytelling is great but as a “normie” or someone who hasn't experienced this lifestyle, I think it would be helpful to see.

Ronnie's story was the most interesting to me. Tess's story is one I have heard too many times.

“Understanding infidelity doesn't mean justifying it.” Infidelity happens all the time and Perel sets out to figure out why and to “initiate a more nuanced and less judgmental conversation about infidelity and its concomitant dilemmas”.

Helpful look at human relationships. This pleases me as a psych major.

Ariana Grande's “Thank U, Next” should be playing while you read this.

If I didn't already love Michelle Obama, this made me love her even more. I would love to meet her one day! She's an engaging, fantastic writer and I loved every moment reading this. It was hard to put down.

I can think of some people who would respond to Dave Ramsey's personality and fortune cookie-type wisdom. Otherwise this is a lot of fluff, including oversimplified testimonials and a lot of self-promotion. “I did baby step 1 of the Total Money Makeover and in 10 months we paid off $58,000 debt and put $18,000 toward our emergency savings!” Bish whettttttt how sway?!? One testimonial literally said all they did was cut up their credit cards and then they were able to pay off all the debts. We are skipping so many steps! It seems you should read his other book Financial Peace instead of this one.

FINALLY, 50% of the way in, we finally get to the first baby step. This book could easily be a bulletpointed pamphlet. So much fluff. If you're looking to avoid most of the fluff, start halfway in.

Also, most of his testimonials were from middle class white families. Eyeroll

Because his steps seem like they would work and I learned a little bit, I give this four stars. This book overall could've taken less time out of my life though, which is why I really wanted to give this three stars.

It's cool to read about modern day Native American people and their lives and how those lives intertwine around the powwow. All I know about Native Americans is what we learned about when I was getting my public health degree, so it's interesting to see how their lives are talked about in a fiction, but realistic, setting.

It's also cool that I've ridden on the BART and have been to Oakland, so that helps me relate to the characters more.

I loved the Interlude chapter. The sections called “Blood” and “Apparent Death” were beautiful and poignant.

This would make a good miniseries or short movie. I'd watch it.

Depressing realities of living in the US, supported by statistics with sources.

Topics include:

-women who can't afford to be pregnant
-PhDs who can't afford to live based off of their adjunct professorships
-parents who can't afford childcare
-people who make a lot of money but not really because they live in San Francisco or other ridiculously high cost of living area
-lawyers who can't afford living after law school
-immigrants who work in the service industry in the US to support their family in another country
-teachers who Uber to make ends meet
-for-profit institutions
-coparenting
-wealth on social media and TV
-automation/robots/universal basic income

There's a lot to unpack in these chapters. I don't necessarily disagree with the author on the conclusions but the writing style didn't move me enough to come to my own conclusions. I can't believe I got bored reading this. I'm not sure why. Maybe the topics were too overwhelming and too much to process in short chapters and quick vignettes. Important topic. It has all the elements of social justice books I like but for some reason I was bored and unmoved.

Merged review:

Depressing realities of living in the US, supported by statistics with sources.

Topics include:

-women who can't afford to be pregnant
-PhDs who can't afford to live based off of their adjunct professorships
-parents who can't afford childcare
-people who make a lot of money but not really because they live in San Francisco or other ridiculously high cost of living area
-lawyers who can't afford living after law school
-immigrants who work in the service industry in the US to support their family in another country
-teachers who Uber to make ends meet
-for-profit institutions
-coparenting
-wealth on social media and TV
-automation/robots/universal basic income

There's a lot to unpack in these chapters. I don't necessarily disagree with the author on the conclusions but the writing style didn't move me enough to come to my own conclusions. I can't believe I got bored reading this. I'm not sure why. Maybe the topics were too overwhelming and too much to process in short chapters and quick vignettes. Important topic. It has all the elements of social justice books I like but for some reason I was bored and unmoved.

File this under “Did Not Expect the Illuminati to Show Up In This One”

Wow, talk about messed up childhoods and cults. This reminded me of The Sound of Gravel (excellent book if you haven't already read it)

Shawn is the worst. And of course her dad. So messed up.

Because the first part is so painful, it felt like it took forever to get through. The pace picked up during Part Two.

Also, this made me think of all the women who are into essential oils now. Lol.

Part Three is absolutely amazing. What a wonderful writer she is. Wow.

This book was...interesting. I didn't realize this wasn't a real memoir until 20% way through.

Also, Trevor is the worst.

This book is about grief? Death? Friendship? Loneliness? But ends with 9/11? I have no idea what to say about this. I really wanted to find out what happened at the end but I am struggling to describe it. It's not a bad book but I don't know who I would recommend this to or why.

I mean it's cool to read about successful people and their differing opinions. I definitely didn't know most of these people before picking up this book, so this is great publicity for them and their social media accounts. The biggest con is overly simplistic explanations of failure and success. The advice is really vague and redundant. Great for picking out inspirational quotes and temporarily uplifting though.

I read this book because it was mentioned as one of the most read books in prison on the HBO show The Night Of. Now I understand why. It has riveting intertwining stories with humor, suspense, drama, sex, romance, and violence. I can't remember the last time a book has intrigued me so much. I don't know what it is about the revenge/vengeance that gets me, but it gets me every time. Also, the introduction of Constantin Demiris read like gangster commandments. Badass. Unexpected enjoyment and plot twists at the end!

Obviously I picked this up because I watch Younger and wanted to know what happens on page 58. If I didn't watch Younger, I definitely wouldn't like this book that much. The ending was too perfect, which fits exactly into the show. I loved reading this because it adds more depth to the characters and drama of the show. It was an easy, quick read. A little cheesy at times but still enjoyable. I would watch an episode or two of this story for sure. Definitely a great complement to the show.

This is sadly one of the most realistic stories I've read in a long time. I can see how these things could happen in my or any community. It's a quick, easy read. I'm excited to see the movie!

Side note: I'm old as hell because the mom dances to Back That Thang Up.....sigh

I can see why this is a classic. It demonstrates the absurdity and humor in personalities and circumstances, especially when you put a bunch of strangers in a group together in the instance of the travesties of war. There are a lot of characters in this book and it's hard to keep track, even though the descriptions of each character are great. There are also a lot of “who's on first” type jokes and clever wordplay which all reflect the title.

The story is still relevant and has parallels with this current presidential administration.

I can definitely see why they're making it a miniseries with George Clooney. I'm excited to watch it! (I know there's a movie of it too so maybe I'll get around to watching that also)

I feel like a good song equivalent to this book would be “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette. Where things aren't really ironic per se, but just really unfortunate.

I kept falling asleep while reading this, so, four stars.

This is a memoir about Stalin from his doctor's and nurse's points of view. Professor (Dr.) Pletnev knew too much and spilled all the tea.

We learn about:

Stalin's second wife Nadezhda Allilueva's rebellious acts against Stalin and her controversial death. Spoiler alert: Stalin did it.

He also tortured and killed Nadezhda's friend Liza and his own son.

He married Rosa Kaganovich next and made her life miserable too.

He pretty much poisoned and murdered anyone he felt like. And this doctor witnessed it all.

A lot of this book also focuses on Yagoda, the director of the NKVD (secret police) at the time and how terrible he was also.

And surprise! Prof. Pletnev did bad stuff too and was obviously complicit in Stalin's horribleness. He eventually was stripped of his doctorhood.

This book reminds me of Blitzed by Norman Ohler because of the doctor-dictator relationship and its secrets.

The Introduction should be more like an Afterword because it references things in the memoir that I haven't read yet and don't understand. It was helpful to reread after finishing the memoir.

Overall, this was pretty confusing and not well written. I honestly still don't know who Petrova (the author) is and why they wrote this. But I learned of more specific examples of why Stalin was terrible.

Omarosa is trash and so is this book. I read the Prologue, Introduction, and Part 1 and I was so over it after the introduction, I'm surprised I made it through. All the eye rolls at her self-righteous, self-serving, vapid descriptions of her life. Her life story is/should be interesting, but her tone and arrogance is profound. No one cares. NEXT.

This is a stream of consciousness novel about a year in the life of a young woman who just broke up with her fiancé and is at home taking care of her troubled father with Alzheimer's. Kinda boring. Nothing really happens. I guess it was nice to see a young woman's thought process throughout a year of major life changes but honestly I didn't feel any depth or complicatedness of any characters. It felt like the author was trying to create a deep mood and kind of does, but then does nothing with it. Meh.