Julia's Updates en-US Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:12:32 -0700 60 Julia's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Rating852143476 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:12:32 -0700 <![CDATA[Julia B. liked a readstatus]]> /
Julia B. liked Jonathan’s status update
Jonathan Karr Jonathan Karr is currently reading The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
]]> Rating852143448 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:12:26 -0700 <![CDATA[Julia B. liked a review]]> /
Julia B. liked Jonathan Karr's review of Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5):
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
"jesus christ."
]]> Rating852143399 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:12:18 -0700 <![CDATA[Julia B. liked a review]]> /
Julia B. liked Shivani Gonzalez's review of Wild Love (Rose Hill, #1):
Wild Love by Elsie Silver
"While reading this I had a blast but then immediately forgot all the characters and all the plots and I’m honestly mad at it "
]]> Rating846915733 Sun, 13 Apr 2025 14:55:00 -0700 <![CDATA[Julia B. liked a readstatus]]> /
Julia B. liked Ruchit’s status update
Ruchit Shah Ruchit Shah started reading Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
]]> ReadStatus9302318522 Sat, 12 Apr 2025 19:55:11 -0700 <![CDATA[Julia started reading 'Little Nemo 1905-1914']]> /review/show/5400195743 Little Nemo 1905-1914 by Winsor McCay Julia started reading Little Nemo 1905-1914 by Winsor McCay
]]> UserChallenge58611507 Sat, 12 Apr 2025 19:54:21 -0700 <![CDATA[ Julia has challenged herself to read 22 books in 2025. ]]> /user/show/22283757-julia-b 11627
She has read 11 books toward her goal of 22 books.
 
11 of 22 (50%)
Create your own 2025 Reading Challenge » ]]> Review5400267311 Sat, 12 Apr 2025 19:37:01 -0700 <![CDATA[Julia added 'Lady Anne’s Lover']]> /review/show/5400267311 Lady Anne’s Lover by Maggie Robinson Julia gave 1 star to Lady Anne’s Lover (Paperback) by Maggie Robinson
bookshelves: historical, romance


The good: I am finally free of this novel after it (paired with the state of the world) put me in a 2-month reading slump.

The bad: I still had to read it. The premise has so much promise and this novel somehow delivers on none of it. What is the point of having a reckless heroine with a scandalous past if she's going to act like a shy, retiring maiden the whole novel? The huge age gap -- particularly with the way the male lead always addresses the protagonist like she's a child -- also came as an unwelcome slap in the face. There is a murder mystery subplot that nobody actually solves, the murderer just randomly confesses. 🙄 The pacing is monotonous, the setting is the same old drab house for 98% of it.

The writing is actually pretty solid for a romance novel; it just lacks so much structurally that it ends up being horribly dull. I feel like there could be a version of this plot I would like in another universe. ]]> ReadStatus9101922342 Sat, 22 Feb 2025 00:00:41 -0800 <![CDATA[Julia started reading 'Lady Anne’s Lover']]> /review/show/5400267311 Lady Anne’s Lover by Maggie Robinson Julia started reading Lady Anne’s Lover by Maggie Robinson
]]> Review5400505594 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 23:59:29 -0800 <![CDATA[Julia added 'If You Give a Pig a Pancake']]> /review/show/5400505594 If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numeroff Julia gave 5 stars to If You Give a Pig a Pancake (Hardcover) by Laura Joffe Numeroff
bookshelves: illustrated
This pig has ADHD fr ]]> Review5400362157 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 23:23:35 -0800 <![CDATA[Julia added 'Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle For Survival at the South Pole']]> /review/show/5400362157 Ice Bound by Jerri Nielsen Julia gave 5 stars to Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle For Survival at the South Pole (Paperback) by Jerri Nielsen
bookshelves: nonfiction, memoir, books-that-changed-my-life
I was cautiously optimistic when I picked up this memoir (I had literally no knowledge of anything, no context whatsoever), but I was not expecting to be absolutely blown away within the first chapter. And that was just her giving her backstory. We weren't even in Antarctica yet!

This is what every memoir should be. Well-researched, detail-oriented, with inclusion of other people's memories and views, including excerpts from emails, poems, and books written and read during the time itself so it's not all just subjective recollection. But at the same time, Dr. Nielsen's story remains so personal and vulnerable. You get a sense of her personality so quickly, and feel for her so deeply, and you develop a weird longing for the coldest place on Earth as she describes it to you.

The most unforgettable part of this book is how she describes the community at the South Pole in '99 - the "Polies," as she calls them. How they got to know each other so intimately, planned community events, weathered the most horrible things together -- a collection of brilliant but restless minds with very specific skill sets. How weird is it that Nielsen make you wish you were a member of a small group of people in the most extreme cold on Earth, literally unable to see anyone else in the outside world? I laughed when her mom sent her an email about how it sounded like she had joined a cult, because... um, yes. Totally.

Just to hit home how refreshingly open-hearted this memoir was, Nielsen talks constantly about her best friend at the Pole, Big John Penney. I was glad she had him while going through chemo, but I was fretting quite a bit over how Big was married. Because it did seem to me like Big & Nielsen had more than platonic chemistry going on. And I was thinking, how will I talk about this in my review? Should I? Is that defamation or something, to accuse someone of emotionally cheating based on a memoir? And then towards the end Nielsen looks you in the eye and acknowledges that she had something with Big, but he was married, and so she knew it would never go anywhere -- and that it hurt to think of it. That kind of raw honesty just pierces straight through you. How human we all are.

I learned so much from this book that I had never even thought to consider before and I will be thinking about it for a long time. Rest in peace, Dr. Nielsen. ]]>