Paul DeSantis

Normal People may not be for everyone, but it's absolutely worth giving a try.

Sally Rooney's characters are extremely believable and lifelike. You feel their highs and lows, and like people in our own lives, they are flawed. I think in this lies the issue that many people have with Normal People:the main characters don't act like you want them to. They don't communicate well and they make decisions that actively make their lives worse, but wanting them to act differently is much like reflecting on a conflict you had in your own life and wishing it went differently– “Damn, I should've said ‘x' instead of what I actually said.”

Connell and Marianne make mistakes, but they also have successes. They have good role models and bad influences in their lives. I enjoyed watching their lives unfold, and continue to enjoy imagining how their lives would continue; either together or apart.

I also must say that I have never empathized with a character more than when Connell seeks counseling at his university. When I was reading this, I too was talking to university doctors about treating my anxiety; something I didn't realize I was dealing with for years. After my mother read this book it was a big help for me to be able to tell her that I was going through what Connell did in college. She didn't know anyone who was open to her about their struggles with mental health, but she knew Connell and I didn't have to start from scratch when I tried to explain how I was feeling.

Thanks Sally for helping me to be feel understood.

Reading The Eye of the World was certainly an experience. It definitely follows the story beats of The Hobbit and other epic fantasies, but it makes a lot of unique choices and does a lot of strong world building along the way. I found myself endeared to many of the main characters and I appreciated the focus on strong female leads.

Upon completion, I was torn on whether I wanted to continue my journey with the rest of the Wheel of Time books, but for now I think I would like to continue. My hope is that much of the basis of the world has been laid out so far, and now it can be expanded upon in a more interesting way. The setting of the beginning of the book is indistinguishable from many other fantasy novels, but by the end there is a lot that feels unique to Robert Jordan's world.

There is a lot of online discourse about Wheel of Time as a whole. I know many love it and many have given up on it. I am remaining neutral so far, but I think it needs to be stated that there are lots of novels out there (including those in the fantasy genre) that have made me feel more with much fewer words.

This book is an excellent resource for someone who has read passages of the Bible, identified contradictions, and been interested how religious scholars address them. Ehrman plainly describes how Christians throughout history have interpreted passages of the Bible that do not align with each other and provides historical context on how and why some of these stories were included in the first place.

It's difficult to say how others might feel upon reading this. I feel that Ehrman's writing is fairly objective and he's honest that he does not believe in Christianity the way he once did, but still cares to study the Bible as a historical document. My biggest takeaway is that being a Christian requires a type of faith that I just don't have. A true believer would read this book and not care that there are contradictions in the Bible– they would remain steadfast in their faith because they believe in god. Ehrman also makes it clear that there are a number of aspects of Christianity that just aren't supported by rational accounts (e.g. Jesus rising from the dead), but believing these things in spite of the evidence is what makes someone a believer.

I can imagine some die-hard Christians reading this, calling it blasphemy, and refusing to finish it. I think that's an unfair assessment as much of what Ehrman describes is just exactly what is written in the Bible or other established historical documents (I think it's fascinating that Ehrman has studied ancient Greek and is able to read some of these documents in their original form). Reading this information and still believing is probably a good sign that you really believe.

If someone is on the fence about Christianity I would guess that reading this book would push you towards the non-believer side of things. If that idea scares you, maybe come back to it after some time. For me, there was not a single passage that made me reconsider my choice to not believe in Christianity.

This was my first book by Ehrman that I've read and I enjoyed his writing style and tone. I would definitely read more of his works. I must admit that I was on the fence about rating this 4 or 5 stars, however, as this was a bit of tough read for me to finish. It's definitely written in an accessible manner, but it still is an academic document about religious history and at times I found it boring. I don't think anyone would be clamoring to finish it after beginning, but I took my time and read it a bit at a time and feel glad that I completed it. Ehrman is himself a well-read person and he has taken the time to review an unbelievable amount of documents, and I think he did his best presenting this information to a wide audience. I'm looking forward to reading more.

Misery is incredibly suspenseful and captivating. I love horror films and that feeling of suspense or dread that they can give you, but I never thought that I could feel that same way reading a horror novel. Misery absolutely achieves this! There were a number of times I was genuinely terrified for Paul and read on with clenched teeth and a rapid heartbeat.

My only complaint with the novel was that some of the “Misery Returns” sections of Misery took me out of the overall narrative. I understand that the monotony of the story can sometimes highlight Paul's relationship with the Misery series and how he just wants it to be over, but I think this was well conveyed without making the excerpts themselves so drawn out. I would be interested in an edit of this book that only includes the “real world” sections of the novel, and see how it compares to the original.