Ali

“Enshittification” spells out well how the corporations who dominate our lives have no incentive to change their aggressively terrible ways as they’ve monopolized their competitors and have only their self interests in mind.

That said, I don’t understand the main target of this book - is it techies, economists, the chronically online, everyday consumers?

I agree with many reviewers that it really could’ve been edited down lengthwise as Doctorow’s argument loses some punch when you’re reading it reworded and repackaged in chapter after chapter. I ended up skimming the last third of the book just to get through it.

I personally was hoping for a broader cultural look as enshittification has infested so much of modern life but then again, these corporations drive our current culture.

The cures proposed were a bit too optimistic given the current state of affairs. While it touches on the beginning of the current administration, it underestimates the amount of dismantling that was to come.

Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

I wanted to read the graphic adaptation of “Mister Magic” because I enjoyed the novel and graphic adaptation of another Kiersten White novel, “Hide”. The difference this time is that I’m approaching the graphic version without having read the novel version first.

That will need to be rectified at some point because I need to better understand the monster at the center of this. We all watched shows as kids that left us with an odd taste in our mouths and questions later in life.

I’m still trying to make sense of the ending. Why are they perpetuating things instead of bringing closure? Things are never going back and those who got out deserve to live free, fulfilled lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for the opportunity to read and review.

I applied for an ARC for “A Violent Masterpiece” as it came highly recommended by one of my favorite authors, S.A. Cosby, and I’m glad I did. What a ride!

Yes, it’s a sort of mishmash of ripped from the headlines stories but it’s packaged in a way to seem fresh and compelling. Jake was the most interesting character for me and I enjoyed his musings. I also thought the 3 POVs/storylines converged in a way that made sense and served the rest of the book.

I ache for real life ending to this timeline.

Thank you NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company and Mulholland Books for the opportunity to read and review.

An overview of heartland rock in the 80s with particular focus on 4 figures: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Bob Seger and John Mellencamp, “Won’t Back Down” was a book absolutely geared for me.

I enjoyed the chapters corresponding to each year of the decade. Too many music books try to clump together concepts and you get completely lost chronologically. There are tangents but they make sense when discussing albums and songs of that respective year. Kudos to the author for including many female musicians in her narrative.

That said, it was hard to overlook a bevy of glaring errors that should’ve been caught long before ARC stage. (If you’re gonna mention The Pretenders’ classic “My City Was Gone”, you gotta get the title right). Also sections about Bonnie Raitt were repeated.

Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton and Company for the opportunity to read and review.

Let’s put it out there from the start - the Golden Girls mysteries are for fans of the show who want to feel like they’re in an episode. If you’re looking for hard hitting, twisty turny mysteries, look elsewhere. The author again nails the characters and had this been a few decades earlier, could easily have joined the show’s writing staff.

I thought the mystery itself was better than the first one although I feel like someone would’ve reporting at least one of the guests missing by the 3rd day. The events of the “rescue” were the most implausible part of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the opportunity to read and review.