Katie

This was such a fabulous book. It covered history (but not anything boring!) science, nature, people, etc. etc. I loved it.

Maybe a 3.75. Your typical heartwarming fare involving a young child winning over grumpy folks.

I really enjoy Marisha Pessl's sort of tame brand of horror. I wasn't sure at the end of this if everything quite added up, but I enjoyed it all anyway.

I loved Ed Park's two later books so I picked this one up hoping for more of the same. It was just okay. Very clever in parts but also felt too long, or like the same joke played out over and over again.

I enjoyed this a lot, though it did start to fall into the category of “plot is driven by one or more character's willful miscommunication,” which can get annoying fast. Probably a 3.75 for me. Still looking forward to the rest of the series

The writing in this book was, of course, fantastic, interesting, compelling. I did find the switching between characters a bit jarring–it was like they were each writing their own book, which was only tangentially related to what the other characters' books were about, and they never really seemed to come together under one theme or meaning.

Re-read for the millionth time. Will I ever not want to re-read this book?

This book was strange and disturbing in a lot of ways, but also really wonderful. I love her writing. And it made me think about so many aspects of the trans experience I hadn't thought about before.

This was cute but not fantastic. A quick read, at least.

These stories went from “okay” to “sort of” to “absolutely nope” for me. I don't think I'll be reading any more of her books

I loved this mix of memoir, natural history, and family drama. Creative nonfiction at its best!

Ed Park is amazing. He reminds me a little of Kevin Wilson, only even weirder.

This was a fun read, with more depth than your typical modern romance–though maybe not too much more. Looking forward to reading more about the Rajes.

This was fairly interesting to read but the author had a bit of a savior complex that got in the way of enjoying the book.

This was maybe 4.75. I loved, loved, loved the premise and the way she thought through things. There were some incredible questions and thoughts and ideas in this book. I could have had less of her analyzing her past relationships, but if that got her to her conclusions, I'm mostly okay with it. And the dog parts were just wonderful.

This book was brutal, but wonderful. Reading this was sort of like being tossed into a war zone without having any idea (at least for me!) who the combatants were or more than a hazy idea of what they were fighting for. But after a while, you get up to speed.

Three and a half stars. This had some pretty disturbing parts, but the narrator seemed pretty oblivious to them until way at the end. I guess she was writing as if from the perspective of her child self. I would have maybe liked more insight throughout. Certainly a strange childhood!

Probably a 4.5 for me. This was well-told, with a good mix of history, mystery, and personal details. It was a fascinating story with a great narrator/author.

This was a sweet story. Just be prepared to be plopped into the middle because there's lots more that is obviously happening before and after these stories. It didn't lessen the fun of reading them, though.

This was engrossing, informative, interesting, enjoyable to read. Fantastic.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The main character definitely made some mistakes, but despite my early fears that she was going to make mistake after mistake, instead the author showed a person realizing and working to fix her mistakes in a real and messy way.

God, I love Curtis Sittenfeld so much. It's like she crawls inside my brain and the brains of my friends and people I know. I want to start this book all over again at the beginning now that I've read the last page because I can't believe any other book could compare.

DNF. This seemed to fall into the category of “bored suburban woman reading this book, we invite you to imagine yourself as a lost, intelligent, special little girl from another time and place who will solve everything because she's so wonderful!”

DNF. This seemed to fall into the category of “bored suburban woman reading this book, we invite you to imagine yourself as a lost, intelligent, special little girl from another time and place who will solve everything because she's so wonderful!”

This was sad and lovely. I really liked how the narrative braided together and back on itself.