Sometime last week I realized I had misread one of the Book Riot Read Harder challenge tasks. I thought it said, "Read a book of poetry on a theme oth Sometime last week I realized I had misread one of the Book Riot Read Harder challenge tasks. I thought it said, "Read a book of poetry on a theme other than love," and I realized it said, "Read a book of poetry in translation on a theme other than love." Luckily, the library had a copy of this Neruda book ready for me. ...more
I checked the audiobook of this out because my library is participating in a Digital Dash with Overdrive to reach a certain number of checkouts and I I checked the audiobook of this out because my library is participating in a Digital Dash with Overdrive to reach a certain number of checkouts and I was inspired to further help their numbers. It ended up being a quick listen in the last few days. The essays are a bit uneven, but I think it was helped by having Hodgman narrate the stories. They are funny, but also sad. And those are my favorite kinds of stories. ...more
Oh man, this book was unsettling, but also true, smart, fascinating, and real. Like all really good science fiction, it seemingly imagines what the wo Oh man, this book was unsettling, but also true, smart, fascinating, and real. Like all really good science fiction, it seemingly imagines what the world would be like, and holds a mirror up to the way things are. I know the holds list runs deep for this one, so I won't say much more for fear of spoiling things because this went in directions I thought it would, and directions I didn't expect. Believe the hype, read this book. ...more
So honestly, I needed a book for the "read a book published from 1900-1950" for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, and I was looking at some list foSo honestly, I needed a book for the "read a book published from 1900-1950" for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, and I was looking at some list for suggestions and saw this one listed. I've read one other Dorothy Sayers book (Whose Body?) and I remember not really caring for it. But everything suggested this was pretty well a stand-alone mystery so I decided to go for it knowing very little about it.
Including apparently, what the name referred to. I thought there were going to be nine men darning suits (after all Whimsey is a bit of a fancy-man, right?). Imagine my surprise when the novel opens with a long passage on bell playing in a small English town. Ohhh...the bells are the tailors...
Anyway, once the murder got underway it was a lot of fun, and I'd really recommend it. Like a lot of the Agatha Christie murders I've read, the list of potential suspects is pretty insular and the crime has to be solved by wits and questioning without a whole lot of gadgetry. Critical information for crime solving includes which sermon the rector preached on which days, the schedule of meals, and the health of various animals.
This, I think, is also a great book to read toward the end of the year near Christmas/New Year's, since so much of the action takes place then....more
Yep. Yep. I really liked this. It's as good as everyone led me to believe. It's funny, lovely, sad, and deeply human. Yep. Yep. I really liked this. It's as good as everyone led me to believe. It's funny, lovely, sad, and deeply human. ...more
I'm sure someone at the local public library reviewing use stats will be surprised to see how many times this was checked out and renewed, mostly by mI'm sure someone at the local public library reviewing use stats will be surprised to see how many times this was checked out and renewed, mostly by me. This was the second time I checked it out and renewed it multiple times, and I finally made myself sat down and finish it. It wasn't that it was interesting, it's just that I kept getting distracted by newer, shinier library books.
Once I actually got into this I found it engaging and also funny. I was surprised here at the number of reviews on this book, once when trying to decide whether to give up and return it again, or renew it, I went looking for an audiobook, only not to find one. Apparently, no one thought there would be a market for such a thing. I'm not sure why I would have really liked this on audiobook. I hesitate to recommend this because it's a lot of information for casual reading, but I'm glad I finally read it. ...more
I ended up starting this, putting it on hold to read other things and then coming back to it. It's dense, funny, beautiful and sad. It's also very spe I ended up starting this, putting it on hold to read other things and then coming back to it. It's dense, funny, beautiful and sad. It's also very specific. Both about college in the early days of the internet, and also in the sense that there's almost a day by day play of her first year at college. Our narrator seems so trapped in herself sometimes that I found myself just wanting to shake her, while also feeling that she reminded me a lot of myself at 19. So there's that. It didn't go quite where I thought it was going to go, and I liked that about it. The ending, gut-punch that it was, is one of my favorite things about it, I think. That and this line:
"I found myself remembering the day in kindergarten when the teachers showed us Dumbo, and I realized for the first time that all the kids in the class, even the bullies, rooted for Dumbo, against Dumbo's tormentors. Invariably they laughed and cheered, both when Dumbo succeeded and when bad things happened to his enemies. But they're you, I thought to myself. How did they not know? They didn't know. It was astounding, an astounding truth. Everyone thought they were Dumbo.�
This was great. A fun mystery that also sets up the character of IQ, a sort of modern Sherlock Holmes by way of East LA and hopefully his trusty "side This was great. A fun mystery that also sets up the character of IQ, a sort of modern Sherlock Holmes by way of East LA and hopefully his trusty "side-kick" Dotson. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I would highly recommend it to anyone with some traveling to do over the upcoming holidays. I both want to go out and read the next book as soon as possible, but I also want to wait and not read it the next one for a little bit, because I like knowing that another good book is out there just waiting for me. ...more
I read this as part of my library's year-long reading challenge (read a stand-alone, non-fiction graphic novel). I think I was expecting more from thi I read this as part of my library's year-long reading challenge (read a stand-alone, non-fiction graphic novel). I think I was expecting more from this, and it was not what I expected. But there are beautiful moments that really rang true (not wanting certain experiences to end, being attracted to ruin and decay, and of course, looking around a place and thinking, "imagine wanting only this.) It's the later one, the one the book is named after, that made me pause the most. I used to think that way a lot, especially when I was younger, and it was mostly in derision to my hometown. And yet, I think growing up has answered that question in ways Radtke doesn't address. I'm not sure I would respond as strongly about that now.
The illustrations are beautiful, and I read this in one sitting. There's enough here to recommend it, but it's not as connected as I thought it would be. ...more
I really liked this, but I could see why people wouldn't. The solving and linking of these crimes is, by now, almost largely an academic exercise. Tha I really liked this, but I could see why people wouldn't. The solving and linking of these crimes is, by now, almost largely an academic exercise. That is, if you believe, as Bill and Rachel do, that these murders were largely committed by one person over a period of time. If you still believe each crime was individually committed by one person who knew each family, I'm not sure how to help you. I had to delay finishing this because my library loan expired, and maybe that just whetted my appetite when I was finally able to finish it. There's a lot of detail here, and there's a lot of foreshadowing and circling back around, which I think some people would find frustrating. I largely didn't and thought it was a well researched and compelling tale....more
I saw this on the new books shelf at the library and picked it up, and it ended up being a pretty fast read. I think I thought this was going to be a I saw this on the new books shelf at the library and picked it up, and it ended up being a pretty fast read. I think I thought this was going to be a slightly different kind of book, I didn't realize Tannen was a linguist when I picked up the book, so it then made sense that the book was about "the power of conversation" at a micro level. Still she covers a wide variety of issues and situations related to friendships (I'd say especially among women, but I lack a real comparison since I've never really been a part of a close male-male relationship) including the dreaded "cutoff." That is to say for every story I wasn't super into, there was another that really resonated. ...more
It's hard to say I liked this or would recommend it, because while I did, it was also rough. There are pockets of small hope, but they feel few and faIt's hard to say I liked this or would recommend it, because while I did, it was also rough. There are pockets of small hope, but they feel few and far between (sort of like real life). And I almost wanted someone to reassure me how this would end so that I could keep going. Still I found it very engrossing, and I like a lot of the choices the author made in depicting this universe. I read this for a book club, and discussing it was great though. It's dystopian feminist propaganda, so if any of those things appeal to you, start here. ...more
I was interested in this but motivated to read it thanks to the Book Riot Read Harder challenge (read a book about sports), and I ended up getting the I was interested in this but motivated to read it thanks to the Book Riot Read Harder challenge (read a book about sports), and I ended up getting the audiobook. I had heard vaguely about the story of Maddy, but I hadn't read any of Fagen's reporting on it, so I listened to this with rapt attention. I wasn't always a fan of the aside chapters, but I do appreciate the efforts to tie Maddy's stories to the larger pressures at Ivy League schools, within sports, for kids that have sort of easily achieved a level of perfection pre-college, and depression and mental illness, and how quickly they can hit, and how badly we are prepared for dealing with them. Would recommend. ...more
Since each of these chapters focuses on a different idea and analyze books and writing differently, I enjoyed some of the chapters more than others. S Since each of these chapters focuses on a different idea and analyze books and writing differently, I enjoyed some of the chapters more than others. Still, I found many of the chapters interesting, especially when thinking about the ways writing is gendered, or how we value some kinds of writing over others. ...more
This book. I had not heard of the Osage murders or the "Regin of Terror" before reading this, and I'm not sure why I'm still so surprised at how awfulThis book. I had not heard of the Osage murders or the "Regin of Terror" before reading this, and I'm not sure why I'm still so surprised at how awful we have been to native peoples or at man's capacity for greed and cruelty, but I was. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.
I'm so speechless that I want to quote from Dave Eggers review for the New York Times: "Grann has proved himself a master of spinning delicious, many-layered mysteries that also happen to be true. As a reporter he is dogged and exacting, with a singular ability to uncover and incorporate obscure journals, depositions and ledgers without ever letting the plot sag. As a writer he is generous of spirit, willing to give even the most scurrilous of characters the benefit of the doubt.
Thus, when Tom White and his men solve the crime, and the mastermind behind the murders is revealed, you will not see it coming. You will feel that familiar thrill at having been successfully misdirected, but then there are about 70 pages left in the book. And in these last pages, Grann takes what was already a fascinating and disciplined recording of a forgotten chapter in American history, and with the help of contemporary Osage tribe members, he illuminates a sickening conspiracy that goes far deeper than those four years of horror. It will sear your soul. Among the towering thefts and crimes visited upon the native peoples of the continent, what was done to the Osage must rank among the most depraved and ignoble. “This land is saturated with blood,� says Mary Jo Webb, an Osage Indian alive today and still trying to understand the crimes of the past. “History,� Grann writes in this shattering book, “is a merciless judge.�
2023 re-read: Re-read for a book club after seeing the movie. ...more
Dr. Greta Helsing is an over-worked doctor to London's supernatural creatures and undead. Then some people start turning up dead, and her patients are Dr. Greta Helsing is an over-worked doctor to London's supernatural creatures and undead. Then some people start turning up dead, and her patients are getting attacked, and Greta and her supernatural friends have to figure out who's behind the attacks. And it's just as much fun as it sounds. ...more
This was so compulsively readable and seems like such a great book for teenagers. It's funny and sad, and about a population, we don't tend to get ver This was so compulsively readable and seems like such a great book for teenagers. It's funny and sad, and about a population, we don't tend to get very nuanced representations of. Of course, it turns out this is a heavily challenged or banned book because of the things that make it great. That ended up working out for me, because I started reading it before I found out it was so challenged, and then when I found out, I realized I could use it for my Book Riot challenge. Score. ...more
"All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily went out of control. It scaled walls and jumped over trenc"All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily went out of control. It scaled walls and jumped over trenches. Sparks leapt like fleas and spread as rapidly; a breeze could carry embers for miles. Better to control that spark and pass it carefully from one generation to the next, like an Olympic torch. Or, perhaps, to tend it carefully like an eternal flame: a reminder of light and goodness that would never—could never—set anything ablaze. Carefully controlled. Domesticated. Happy in captivity. The key, she thought, was to avoid conflagration.�
Just re-read this for a book club. I don't generally re-read a ton, but I'm really glad I re-read this so I could better lead the discussion. I thought I would be sort of bored knowing where everything was going, but I think I just loved the characterization and the nuance even more. Many I want Celeste Ng to write a hundred more books and I want to read them all. Also, I CAN NOT wait for the Reese Witherspoon / Kerry Washington adaptation for Hulu, even though there's been no news about it, and I fear it got pushed behind the Big Little Lies season 2 stuff.
I find it hard to articulate why I love this so much. I mostly just want to read huge sections to you. Which would probably make you blink and walk away slowly.
“Like after a prairie fire...It seems like the end of the world. The earth is all scorched and black and everything green is gone. But after the burning, the soil is richer, and new things can grow....People are like that, too, you know. They start over. They find a way.�
2017 Review: Unputdownable. I accidentally read 150 pages one night, both enthralled and not wanting it to end. I've seen some negative reviews that argue that the book overly glorifies Mia, and is against living in the suburbs and "hard work." I don't think that true, I think Ng highlights the sacrifices Mia and Pearl have made while she pursued the only thing that mattered to her, and she highlights the way different experiences of the world appeal to different people. I thought that much like Everything I Never Told You she shows us everyone's point of view and their motivations. Anyway, I loved it and I can't stop thinking about it....more
Started reading this last night before bed and then couldn't put it down and had to stay up to finish reading. Don't read it, it's beautiful and sad a Started reading this last night before bed and then couldn't put it down and had to stay up to finish reading. Don't read it, it's beautiful and sad and lovely, and it made me cry twice. The second time was sort of from a happiness but also profound sadness.
(Read as part of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge - I knew so little about this when I checked it out of the library that I thought this has been recommended to me for the graphic novel challenge. Whoops. I was confused when the book started that there were no images, but I decided to roll with it and I'm really glad I did.)...more
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