en-US Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:33:17 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 615570 The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life. Still as vital today—or perhaps even more so—than it was when it was first published one decade ago, it is a powerfully provocative and inspiring work. In a new introduction to the book, Julia Cameron reflects upon the impact of The Artist’s Way and describes the work she has done during the last decade and the new insights into the creative process that she has gained. Updated and expanded, this anniversary edition reframes The Artist’s Way for a new century.]]> 237 Julia Cameron 1585421464 E J 2 Modelled after AA, the spiritual elements are much like AA in which they insist on pretending that you can follow this as a non believer and just substitute something else for God, and then proceed to bash you with a confusing slush of new age spirituality and really explicit Christianity.
If you are not willing or able to convert to this religion, if you won't submit to this surprise evangelism (because frankly she's not very convincing as to why you should) it's because you're afraid. You're doing it wrong. You're blocked.
Frankly I found it more than a little condescending. And I found it troubling that the whole framework rests on you submitting to her poorly defined, flimsy religious views. So I don't believe thay creativity is a divine force being imposed upon me from some external source that I just have to open myself up to. Does that mean I cannot live a rich and creative life? No.
If I believe in coincidence rather than manifestation does that mean I can't be creative? No.
"God has lots of money. God has lots of movie ideas, novel ideas, poems, songs, paintings, acting jobs. God has a supply of loves, friends, houses that are all available to us. By listening to the creator within, we find our ight path." This quote I think represents the self serving navel gazing AMERICAN brand of spirituality. The Christian plus extras that allow you to be the sole focus of whatever this spiritual force is, the channelling of these nebulous forces all in favour of YOUR material gain. It's sickening. Its selfish. It's bereft of meaning. The outright refusal to acknowledge up front her Christianity being the crux of the book makes it this oppressive, dominating force that really got up my nose.
The rest of the book includes a lot of encouragement not to engage with people who are difficult of spend your time on people who take you away from your creativity in a way that is unbelievably anti community. Doing things for people even when you would rather be painting is actually not antithetical to a rich creative life either. She says don't assume people are in control of the movie business, God is. It honestly seems completely insane to me.
She responds to people's concerns with this gleeful condescension. You don't want to or can't give up reading for a whole week? She rolls her eyes at you and your pathetic excuse making.
There's a passage early in the book about truth exposure and how if a child exposes an alcoholic in the family that child will often cop abuse - I wrote "often????" Regularly throughout her examples I was like well she's just making these up to prove her point. What child? And who are these people who are proof positive of her methods ?
She also spends a lot of the book making some big assumptions about what has "blocked" you creatively. This can be hit or miss and if it's a miss, most of the tasks for a week can be rendered useless. But, due to her attitude to rejection of some of her methods, there's an element of shame attached to not following parts of that plan.

There are lots of good elements here. Her talk about shame and anger, about accepting nastiness from others because it bolsters your self doubt, about making free time and feeding your creativity. It's all good stuff. But it's couched in this nauseating, condescending, selfish spirituality and self help bullshit.
Personally alarm bells started to ring sound week 2 and I quickly found some deep part of myself screaming PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THIS.
She wants to convince you you're just a wounded, self sacrificing person who dedicates too much time to others and not enough time to believing in yourself. If you want to believe in yourself just start believing in God and he'll give you a very nice car. Or something.

I would recommend that if you choose to follow this book don't let her convince you you have to submit to her. She has this aura of a megalomaniac 80s therapist with crystals and a deep deep American Christian belief that she cant even quite reckon with. It is influenced by Freud, capitalism, and that one theory that wanting something from the universe will make it happen. The activities she gives you are childish and seem designed to convince you that if you just focus on yourself you can get a nice house. They want to convince you throwing your stuff out and buying new stuff is an act of creative abundance. It's Hollywood brain rot. If you're going to read this and you are not a new age vague spiritualist or Christian and you have any sort of resistance to the Hollywood model of artistic success, I would recommend skimming it in advance and using only certain sections.

I feel deeply regretful that I wasted a period of reinvigoration on the navel gazing activities in this book rather than on actually engaging in creatuve pursuits.]]> 3.93 2002
author: Julia Cameron
name: E J
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:
There are some helpful ideas for tasks but ultimately this book was a disappointing and irritating distraction.
Modelled after AA, the spiritual elements are much like AA in which they insist on pretending that you can follow this as a non believer and just substitute something else for God, and then proceed to bash you with a confusing slush of new age spirituality and really explicit Christianity.
If you are not willing or able to convert to this religion, if you won't submit to this surprise evangelism (because frankly she's not very convincing as to why you should) it's because you're afraid. You're doing it wrong. You're blocked.
Frankly I found it more than a little condescending. And I found it troubling that the whole framework rests on you submitting to her poorly defined, flimsy religious views. So I don't believe thay creativity is a divine force being imposed upon me from some external source that I just have to open myself up to. Does that mean I cannot live a rich and creative life? No.
If I believe in coincidence rather than manifestation does that mean I can't be creative? No.
"God has lots of money. God has lots of movie ideas, novel ideas, poems, songs, paintings, acting jobs. God has a supply of loves, friends, houses that are all available to us. By listening to the creator within, we find our ight path." This quote I think represents the self serving navel gazing AMERICAN brand of spirituality. The Christian plus extras that allow you to be the sole focus of whatever this spiritual force is, the channelling of these nebulous forces all in favour of YOUR material gain. It's sickening. Its selfish. It's bereft of meaning. The outright refusal to acknowledge up front her Christianity being the crux of the book makes it this oppressive, dominating force that really got up my nose.
The rest of the book includes a lot of encouragement not to engage with people who are difficult of spend your time on people who take you away from your creativity in a way that is unbelievably anti community. Doing things for people even when you would rather be painting is actually not antithetical to a rich creative life either. She says don't assume people are in control of the movie business, God is. It honestly seems completely insane to me.
She responds to people's concerns with this gleeful condescension. You don't want to or can't give up reading for a whole week? She rolls her eyes at you and your pathetic excuse making.
There's a passage early in the book about truth exposure and how if a child exposes an alcoholic in the family that child will often cop abuse - I wrote "often????" Regularly throughout her examples I was like well she's just making these up to prove her point. What child? And who are these people who are proof positive of her methods ?
She also spends a lot of the book making some big assumptions about what has "blocked" you creatively. This can be hit or miss and if it's a miss, most of the tasks for a week can be rendered useless. But, due to her attitude to rejection of some of her methods, there's an element of shame attached to not following parts of that plan.

There are lots of good elements here. Her talk about shame and anger, about accepting nastiness from others because it bolsters your self doubt, about making free time and feeding your creativity. It's all good stuff. But it's couched in this nauseating, condescending, selfish spirituality and self help bullshit.
Personally alarm bells started to ring sound week 2 and I quickly found some deep part of myself screaming PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THIS.
She wants to convince you you're just a wounded, self sacrificing person who dedicates too much time to others and not enough time to believing in yourself. If you want to believe in yourself just start believing in God and he'll give you a very nice car. Or something.

I would recommend that if you choose to follow this book don't let her convince you you have to submit to her. She has this aura of a megalomaniac 80s therapist with crystals and a deep deep American Christian belief that she cant even quite reckon with. It is influenced by Freud, capitalism, and that one theory that wanting something from the universe will make it happen. The activities she gives you are childish and seem designed to convince you that if you just focus on yourself you can get a nice house. They want to convince you throwing your stuff out and buying new stuff is an act of creative abundance. It's Hollywood brain rot. If you're going to read this and you are not a new age vague spiritualist or Christian and you have any sort of resistance to the Hollywood model of artistic success, I would recommend skimming it in advance and using only certain sections.

I feel deeply regretful that I wasted a period of reinvigoration on the navel gazing activities in this book rather than on actually engaging in creatuve pursuits.
]]> 65650229 A witty and poignant novel about marriage, middle age, tech-obsessed health culture and the bonds that keep people together

When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the '90s, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in Chicago's thriving underground art scene with an appreciative kindred spirit.��Fast-forward twenty years to married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter cults disguised as mindfulness support groups, polyamorous would-be suitors, Facebook wars, and something called Love Potion Number Nine. For the first time Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize one another, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to painful childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other.��]]> 611 Nathan Hill 0593536118 E J 3 At times surprising and cleverly crafted with insightful observations and growth, it was fun to see how the elements of this story came together. I enjoyed the development of the mindset around parenting in particular.
At other times mind numbingly boring and heavy handed, with cliche writing style.
It had some of the elements of a classic but full short repeatedly in a way I find difficult to describe. Perhaps it is a pet peeve that means that no book heavily featuring internet culture can ever reach the heights of say a kerouac. It renders the clever and expansive reflection of modern western culture so fucking boring.
Alternatively the fundamental disappointment of this book might be the failure to cohesively integrate the theme of wellness, which felt both overly simple in its representation and underdeveloped in its impact on the story.]]> 3.97 2023
author: Nathan Hill
name: E J
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
Like catnip for celebrity book clubs.
At times surprising and cleverly crafted with insightful observations and growth, it was fun to see how the elements of this story came together. I enjoyed the development of the mindset around parenting in particular.
At other times mind numbingly boring and heavy handed, with cliche writing style.
It had some of the elements of a classic but full short repeatedly in a way I find difficult to describe. Perhaps it is a pet peeve that means that no book heavily featuring internet culture can ever reach the heights of say a kerouac. It renders the clever and expansive reflection of modern western culture so fucking boring.
Alternatively the fundamental disappointment of this book might be the failure to cohesively integrate the theme of wellness, which felt both overly simple in its representation and underdeveloped in its impact on the story.
]]> 127282554 A New York Times Book Review Editors�� Choice
A Belletrist Book Club Pick

An elegant, razor-sharp debut about women's ambitions and appetites—and the truth about having it all

Outside of a childhood nickname she can’t shake, Piglet’s rather pleased with how her life’s turned out. An up-and-coming cookbook editor at a London publishing house, she’s got lovely, loyal friends and a handsome fiancé, Kit, whose rarefied family she actually, most of the time, likes, despite their upper-class eccentricities. One of the many, many things Kit loves about Piglet is the delicious, unfathomably elaborate meals she’s always cooking.

But when Kit confesses a horrible betrayal two weeks before they’re set to be married, Piglet finds herself suddenly…hungry. The couple decides to move forward with the wedding as planned, but as it nears and Piglet balances family expectations, pressure at work, and her quest to make the perfect cake, she finds herself increasingly unsettled, behaving in ways even she can’t explain. Torn between a life she’s always wanted and the ravenousness that comes with not getting what she knows she deserves, Piglet is, by the day of her wedding, undone, but also ready to look beyond the lies we sometimes tell ourselves to get by.

A stylish, uncommonly clever novel about the things we want and the things we think we want, Piglet is both an examination of women’s often complicated relationship with food and a celebration of the messes life sometimes makes for us.]]> 320 Lottie Hazell 125028984X E J 3 Sometimes the way you react to a bad situation is bad and stupid and embarrassing and craven and.... sometimes one simply just has to eat.

I longed for piglet to have a good enough life that she would not feel the need to tolerate this shit. It was interesting reading her coming to grips with the ways in which she'd been kind of a mess and a bitch and had hurt others. We love a book where hurt people hurt people.]]> 3.40 2024
author: Lottie Hazell
name: E J
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
At times brilliant , at other times sickeningly embarrassing and difficult to proceed with. Gruelling on occasion as the protagonists situation was just so lonely and sad.
Sometimes the way you react to a bad situation is bad and stupid and embarrassing and craven and.... sometimes one simply just has to eat.

I longed for piglet to have a good enough life that she would not feel the need to tolerate this shit. It was interesting reading her coming to grips with the ways in which she'd been kind of a mess and a bitch and had hurt others. We love a book where hurt people hurt people.
]]> 182114443 192 Sherrie Campbell 1648482635 E J 1
Sometimes another person's emotional immaturity, inability to cope or self regulate, is not actually abuse even if it is painful and dusregulating to experience. This book stems from a school of psychology I find inflammatory and narrow minded. Mist of all I find it disempowering.

I hope other people interested in this topic manage to get out from under the rage and sense of yourself as still being a victim child and take on the role of compassionate adult who has the power to set their boundaries, be that cutting somebody out, or just understanding that an emotionally immature parent will only change if they're ready. Build that self esteem, get a sense of yourself as an adult distinct and separate from your parents, and start ruly believing that your parents inability to grow is sad but need not ruin your life. Set boundaries accordingly. Accept it is not your job to manage their emotions that arise in response.

Trust me !]]> 4.06
author: Sherrie Campbell
name: E J
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 1
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
I thought i was revisiting a different book with a similar title. Sorely disappointing.

Sometimes another person's emotional immaturity, inability to cope or self regulate, is not actually abuse even if it is painful and dusregulating to experience. This book stems from a school of psychology I find inflammatory and narrow minded. Mist of all I find it disempowering.

I hope other people interested in this topic manage to get out from under the rage and sense of yourself as still being a victim child and take on the role of compassionate adult who has the power to set their boundaries, be that cutting somebody out, or just understanding that an emotionally immature parent will only change if they're ready. Build that self esteem, get a sense of yourself as an adult distinct and separate from your parents, and start ruly believing that your parents inability to grow is sad but need not ruin your life. Set boundaries accordingly. Accept it is not your job to manage their emotions that arise in response.

Trust me !
]]> 181694466 If most men claim to be good, why are most women still afraid to walk home alone at night?

Desperate to escape the ghosts of his failed marriage, Cole upends his life. He leaves London behind for a remote stretch of coast, relishing the respite from the noise, drama, and relentless careerism that curdled his relationship and mental health. Leonora has made the same move for similar reasons. She’s living a short walk from Cole’s seaside cottage, preparing for her latest art exhibition. Although Cole still can’t figure out what went wrong with his marriage, and Leonora is having trouble acclimating to the hostile landscape, the pair forges a connection on the eroding bluff they call home.

Then two young female activists raising awareness about gendered violence disappear while passing through. Cole and Leonora suddenly find themselves in the middle of a police investigation--and the resulting media firestorm when the world learns of what happened. And as the tension escalates alongside the search for the missing women, they quickly realize that they don’t know each other that well after all.]]> 289 Araminta Hall 1638931550 E J 2
Hamfisted radfem messaging and clumsy use of mixed perspectives tripped this book just as it started to hit a good pace.
The first section is from Coles perspective. He sees himself as a good man who respects women and the slow drip of evidence that his portrayal of events and his self image do not line up with what others experience of him is quite thrilling and creepy. He is ready to snap at any second. He's operating from a totally different perspective from the people around him and thus is a bit unpredictable. I think this section had the makings of a brilliant and effective thriller about a man who is blinded by his self narrative and therefore permits In himself terrifying misogyny and violence, even if he is unaware of his worst outbursts.
The second section quickly deflates all that lovely building tension by switching to Coles ex wife's perspective and giving you her side of the past 7 years, effectively ruining any intrigue by carefully spelling out what he did to her and exactly how it made her feel as compared to his perspective.
I wish the author had trusted the reader. I know Cole was getting the wrong impression and it was easy to infer what his experiences would have seemed like to the other person involved. I didn't need to witness it from inside her head.
I found that from this section on it became a similar experience to reading a long hand wringing essay on how to be female is to suffer or something. It was like reading a twitter radfem lecture somebody on and on. Literally it has podcast transcripts, news articles, tweets, Facebook posts and comments. It was so grim to read through. The pages of insults towards women and misogynistic tweets were so dull and soulless. When I read a real life adult on Facebook talking shit about women and there's like stupidity in the comments it makes my blood boil. It makes me get hot and grit my teeth and I have to put my phone away. But this book had none of the tension or vitriol as it meandered away from the action and into the comment section. Receiving news about the mystery in the story via actual news bulletins from a podcast felt so so detached. Where was the thrill of that?

Anti porn messaging so straightforwardly presented I couldn't quite tell how I'm supposed to receive it. I wonder at the authors intentions! Was I supposed to just go oh yes porns bad or was I supposed to read this as the media missing the point or being reductionist or ... something else?

I predicted the ending and I guess the issues I had were that I got keyed up expecting a thriller and then what I was actually reading was a news drama about women making a point to the media and entrapping a man in an elaborate scheme of inadmissible evidence

Perhaps if I flip my interpretation to being a dissection of an extreme act in leaning in to the carcereal system as a weapon and the fallout from that act rather than a bold, obvious message barely dressed up from the tumblr post you might have read about the drama in 2016.

By the end the point has been explained from several perspectives and the book has held your hand and told you every thought a human being could have in response. There is nothing else to chew over except trying to judge the level of irony or complexity here. My suspicion is that it is more unsophisticated and repetitive than it is complex.

I love a man hating feminist in fiction but this is artless.

Disappointing ! But still fun in a weird, wasting my afternoon online kind of way.]]> 3.46 2024
author: Araminta Hall
name: E J
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
(Vague spoiler ahead)

Hamfisted radfem messaging and clumsy use of mixed perspectives tripped this book just as it started to hit a good pace.
The first section is from Coles perspective. He sees himself as a good man who respects women and the slow drip of evidence that his portrayal of events and his self image do not line up with what others experience of him is quite thrilling and creepy. He is ready to snap at any second. He's operating from a totally different perspective from the people around him and thus is a bit unpredictable. I think this section had the makings of a brilliant and effective thriller about a man who is blinded by his self narrative and therefore permits In himself terrifying misogyny and violence, even if he is unaware of his worst outbursts.
The second section quickly deflates all that lovely building tension by switching to Coles ex wife's perspective and giving you her side of the past 7 years, effectively ruining any intrigue by carefully spelling out what he did to her and exactly how it made her feel as compared to his perspective.
I wish the author had trusted the reader. I know Cole was getting the wrong impression and it was easy to infer what his experiences would have seemed like to the other person involved. I didn't need to witness it from inside her head.
I found that from this section on it became a similar experience to reading a long hand wringing essay on how to be female is to suffer or something. It was like reading a twitter radfem lecture somebody on and on. Literally it has podcast transcripts, news articles, tweets, Facebook posts and comments. It was so grim to read through. The pages of insults towards women and misogynistic tweets were so dull and soulless. When I read a real life adult on Facebook talking shit about women and there's like stupidity in the comments it makes my blood boil. It makes me get hot and grit my teeth and I have to put my phone away. But this book had none of the tension or vitriol as it meandered away from the action and into the comment section. Receiving news about the mystery in the story via actual news bulletins from a podcast felt so so detached. Where was the thrill of that?

Anti porn messaging so straightforwardly presented I couldn't quite tell how I'm supposed to receive it. I wonder at the authors intentions! Was I supposed to just go oh yes porns bad or was I supposed to read this as the media missing the point or being reductionist or ... something else?

I predicted the ending and I guess the issues I had were that I got keyed up expecting a thriller and then what I was actually reading was a news drama about women making a point to the media and entrapping a man in an elaborate scheme of inadmissible evidence

Perhaps if I flip my interpretation to being a dissection of an extreme act in leaning in to the carcereal system as a weapon and the fallout from that act rather than a bold, obvious message barely dressed up from the tumblr post you might have read about the drama in 2016.

By the end the point has been explained from several perspectives and the book has held your hand and told you every thought a human being could have in response. There is nothing else to chew over except trying to judge the level of irony or complexity here. My suspicion is that it is more unsophisticated and repetitive than it is complex.

I love a man hating feminist in fiction but this is artless.

Disappointing ! But still fun in a weird, wasting my afternoon online kind of way.
]]> 75498179
It began as a crowdsourced collection of names and somehow morphed into an anonymous account posting allegations on social media. Ola would usually be the first to support such a list—she’d retweet it, call for the men to be fired, write article after article. Except this time Michael’s name is on it.]]> 336 Yomi Adegoke 0063274876 E J 3 I hope we can explore stories like this without expecting them to be a representation of all instances of abuse. Those hoping to experience a whole hearted endorsement of online culture like "the list," or a morally simplistic "bad man did bad the way you expect and she doesn't stand for it" story will be disappointed.
Readers must start reading with their critical thinking skills in place rather than expecting to be spoon fed exactly what they're expecting. It's not bad to think about the implications of the way we choose to handle difficult issues such as exposing abuse, and one story is not acomment on how this situation always is or must be in real life.

By the end, I had come to feel it was a piece of work demonstrating the rare gift to hold the many complicated facets of navigating abuse and betrayal in a modern relationship. It maintained compassion and nuance exploring the racial complications to fraught issues affecting women, the complicated social landscape of men and women in a time where we are suddenly, publicly, grappling with the prevalence of many different levels of abuse, and the conflict that arises when you find yourself in the midst of an issue you are used to watching from the outside.
How should one conduct themselves? Initially I was frustrated with the direction of the story but ultimately found it so human and real.

I especially loved that space was given to a man coming to realise his complicity in misogyny and grappling with whether he is the good person he tells himself he is.
Ultimately there were a few details that I think undermined the story and slowed it down but it was a complicated human tale of a specific woman wonder what the fuck you're supposed to do when the man you love stands accused, and the love you had doesn't magically disappear.

I think it's necessary to reflect on what black and white thinking and online conduct does to these complex social issues. I found this a new and interesting manner of doing that and so didn't pick up some of the "plot holes" other readers have mentioned.

I find myself wanting to recommend this story to men in my life who I think might benefit from following Michael along his journey. I hope it could show some men what their selfishness and defensiveness does not only to the people around them , but how it can harm other unrelated parties at the end of the book.

I would highly recommend the audiobook which brought a charming element to parts I could imagine may have been a bit boring (online stuff) and a sense of humanity to elements that may have been hard to connect with.]]> 2.98 2023
author: Yomi Adegoke
name: E J
average rating: 2.98
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
A lot of people have found this story disappointing because it doesn't satisfy the desire for a tense, vengeful, drama filled romp. At first I too found it was undermined by showing us both sides of what was going on through split perspective narration.
I hope we can explore stories like this without expecting them to be a representation of all instances of abuse. Those hoping to experience a whole hearted endorsement of online culture like "the list," or a morally simplistic "bad man did bad the way you expect and she doesn't stand for it" story will be disappointed.
Readers must start reading with their critical thinking skills in place rather than expecting to be spoon fed exactly what they're expecting. It's not bad to think about the implications of the way we choose to handle difficult issues such as exposing abuse, and one story is not acomment on how this situation always is or must be in real life.

By the end, I had come to feel it was a piece of work demonstrating the rare gift to hold the many complicated facets of navigating abuse and betrayal in a modern relationship. It maintained compassion and nuance exploring the racial complications to fraught issues affecting women, the complicated social landscape of men and women in a time where we are suddenly, publicly, grappling with the prevalence of many different levels of abuse, and the conflict that arises when you find yourself in the midst of an issue you are used to watching from the outside.
How should one conduct themselves? Initially I was frustrated with the direction of the story but ultimately found it so human and real.

I especially loved that space was given to a man coming to realise his complicity in misogyny and grappling with whether he is the good person he tells himself he is.
Ultimately there were a few details that I think undermined the story and slowed it down but it was a complicated human tale of a specific woman wonder what the fuck you're supposed to do when the man you love stands accused, and the love you had doesn't magically disappear.

I think it's necessary to reflect on what black and white thinking and online conduct does to these complex social issues. I found this a new and interesting manner of doing that and so didn't pick up some of the "plot holes" other readers have mentioned.

I find myself wanting to recommend this story to men in my life who I think might benefit from following Michael along his journey. I hope it could show some men what their selfishness and defensiveness does not only to the people around them , but how it can harm other unrelated parties at the end of the book.

I would highly recommend the audiobook which brought a charming element to parts I could imagine may have been a bit boring (online stuff) and a sense of humanity to elements that may have been hard to connect with.
]]> 13587039
Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals ������’t nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.

And that’s just from an apple.

Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional "gold standard�� of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is "good�� for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.

In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell (alongside his son, Thomas M. Campbell) revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven’t changed.

Whole is an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.
]]> 352 T. Colin Campbell 1937856240 E J 1 3.87 2013
author: T. Colin Campbell
name: E J
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2013
rating: 1
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
Anti Vax shit. Ironically reductionist. Poor science communication. Fights against the shadow figure of doctors and scientists who dont believe diet and exercise are some of the most important parts of health. I would love get a peek into the world he lives in, where this is not the primary line of defence against illness by doctors, government health guidelines, scientists, lifestyle coaches, youtubers.... etc
]]> 844450 Jonathan Stroud 0385606672 E J 4 3.80 2003
author: Jonathan Stroud
name: E J
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 201294595 Part memoir, part explosive window into the mind of a catfisher, a thrilling personal account of three women coming face-to-face with an internet predator and teaming up to expose them

In 2011 three successful and highly educated women fell head over heels for the brilliant and charming Ethan Schuman. Unbeknownst to the others, each exchanged countless messages with Ethan, staying up late into the evenings to deepen their connections with this fascinating man. His detailed excuses about broken webcams and complicated international calling plans seemed believable, as did last-minute trip cancellations. After all, why would he lie? Ethan wasn't after money—he never convinced his marks to shell out thousands of dollars for some imagined crisis. Rather, he ensnared these women in a web of intense emotional intimacy.

After the trio independently began to question inconsistencies in their new flame's stories, they managed to find one another and uncover a greater deception than they could have ever imagined. As Anna Akbari and the women untangled their catfish’s web, they found other victims and realized that without a proper crime, there was no legal reason for “Ethan�� to ever stop.

There is No Ethan catalogues Akbari's experience as both victim and observer. By looking at the bigger picture—a world where technology mediates our relationships; where words and images are easily manipulated; and where truth, reality, and identity have become slippery terms—Akbari provides an explanation for why these stories matter.]]> 304 Anna Akbari 1538742195 E J 4 I really recommend the audiobook as the actor readings of the chat messages and emails makes it much more understandable how these women could fall in love with such a manipulative prick so quickly, without meeting. In text it was a little less compelling.
I think you can tell the author felt self conscious about having fallen for this and she works quite hard to let you know it was a different time. To me this was a bummer because people are lonely and disconnected and falling for catfishes right up to this day. It missed the opportunity to add some depth by threading an exploration of what the hell is up with catfishing and what in our world seems to have aligned for this phenomenon to be so common through the story. Could have been very subtle with a bit of trust that the reader wouldn't just read this going "well how did you fall for that ]]> 3.57 2024
author: Anna Akbari
name: E J
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
Thrilling, chilling, gripping. A truly baffling example of manipulation, to a scale and extent that's difficult to understand.
I really recommend the audiobook as the actor readings of the chat messages and emails makes it much more understandable how these women could fall in love with such a manipulative prick so quickly, without meeting. In text it was a little less compelling.
I think you can tell the author felt self conscious about having fallen for this and she works quite hard to let you know it was a different time. To me this was a bummer because people are lonely and disconnected and falling for catfishes right up to this day. It missed the opportunity to add some depth by threading an exploration of what the hell is up with catfishing and what in our world seems to have aligned for this phenomenon to be so common through the story. Could have been very subtle with a bit of trust that the reader wouldn't just read this going "well how did you fall for that
]]> 197522387
After a period of depression and numbness, Henika was left wondering where to find true connection and inner joy again. She went on a journey to rediscover the ancient traditions of tantra and yoga which were at the heart of her heritage growing up. In this book, Henika shares what she learnt to help


Bridging Eastern philosophy and Western psychology, this powerful book will help you to find sensuality, connection, and freedom in all areas of your life, from love and creativity to work and relationships.]]> 304 Henika Patel 1401975836 E J 4 4.17
author: Henika Patel
name: E J
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:
Thoughtful, practical, clever, inclusive. If you are spiritually inclined or not there is a great deal to think about in this book.
]]> 49398072 Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning...

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she's known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community's past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block--her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo's deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.

When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other--or themselves--long enough to find out before they too disappear?

Featured in Parade, Essence, Bustle, Popsugar, Elle, Shondaland, Marie Claire, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Good Housekeeping, Brit + Co, Real Simple, Lit Hub, Crime Reads, Blavity, Ms. Magazine, Hello Giggles, The New York Times, Town & Country, Newsweek, New York Post, Refinery29, Woman's World, Washington Post, the Skimm, Book Riot, Bookish, Huffington Post, and more!
]]> 352 Alyssa Cole 0062982656 E J 3
I think this books suffers from something that often happens when an author from a marginalised group writes about their exprrience, their environment, their people, which is that the expectations for moral and political messaging are extremely high. Because of the real-world source that is drawn upon, it can feel disappointing when it's not a literary masterpiece that deftly handles it all with moral clarity and nuance. If you want to read an angry fuck you to the white colonisers who violently displace and use people of colour to their own ends, going into their communities and erasing and policing them for cultural differences, a celebration of black community and in a way of class solidarity, and the fantasy of successfully fighting your way out of violent oppression, you will enjoy this book. The protagonist takes the ultimate control. She fights hard. She overcomes. She adapts to the awful circumstances she is put in. She is pushed to act in ways she never would outside of the violence that's enacted upon her.
It's a wonderful exploration of the toll of racism, the various arms of racism, and so many other things.
Others have written reviews talking about the strange demographics in this booksuch as where are the Jewish new Yorkers and I think it's unfair to expect a book to feature everything for diversity sake. It needed a narrowing of scope to create an air of claustrophobia, I think, of not just "why should we move" but "where could we go?" They are trapped and penned in and the author is concerned with anti black racism and that's fine.

However there are many features that made it fall flat for me from a story telling perspective.


Theo, white man who struggles with his relationship to racism was an interesting feature but I'm not sure why he was given his own perspective chapters as if this was an F tier romance novel. In fact, I'm not sure why he was a love interest at all. I felt that he was primed to be the perfect final piece of the violence the black community was facing: the white guy who wants to be on their side but is a danger to their safety because of his struggles with his racism. He was spying on her and sexualising her and I wonder why the opportunity wasn't taken to explore the fact that despite his own intentions he was a creep and an interloper. I suppose it was in the interest of class solidarity but no I didn't find Theo a believable love interest and I found his being a priority in this story a shame. Again, I think it's fine to have the story end on a hopeful note for white people being able to help, and class being an important vector of connection. However THEO as a character was a strange pick to fill this role and his prominence felt distracting.

I felt that there was another missed opportunity, and I attribute it to pacing, which was the ways the white people revealed their racism. I felt that the racists seemed flat and were not effectively written villains. there was a rich source of conflict and fear and slow reveal of racism that could have made the escalation more thrilling and creepy, with more gaslighting and uncertainty.
Again, I think excluding Theo's perspective would have helped this as the partial insight into the white people's private lives, and Theo's own grappling with racism, felt sudden and overly simple. Without him, I think the overt racist experiences from the perspective of our black protagonist make total sense and the escalation could afford to be jumpy as we are not getting any background insight into their progression from the other side. having a peek behind the curtains from Theo's perspective introduced an element of partial insight that made the villains seem cartoonish, incomplete, flat. Which is a shame because the events that happen are not significantly exaggerated from real life systemic harm enacted against black Americans.

I feel bad to compare to get out like everybody else has, but I kept finding myself thinking that the stark difference between the two was in the pacing and effectiveness of the villains. Strangely, the text with the more supernatural element wound up being more realistic I think in part because the white people in Get Out were maintained as a nefarious "other," whose racism and motivations were teased and revealed slowly. They seemed like real complex humans who nonetheless turned out to feel justified in doing extreme harm and being quite plainly evil. Just like real life racists.
Perhaps it was simply more skilful dialogue writing.

while it's not imperative to spend a lot of time understanding the minds of racists when you're an author writing this sort of book if that's not your intention, perhaps if you want to include insight into their perspective through a conduit like theo it is necessary to try to make those characters fully human with their own interiority and conflict.


It was like there wasn't enough time in this book which is remarkable given its length and I think having our protagonist as the sole narrator would have added a lot more space, easing some of the confusing and staggering escalations that happen throughout, particularly the sudden and rapid escalation in the final quarter. Others have pointed to this dramatic and sudden shift in pace towards the end as the major disappointment in this book.
It would have given our protagonist time to develop her relation ship with theo. the actual evidence the protagonist had to develop trust for him from what she experienced of him was limited. The reader knows much more than she does about him. As such I dont think it made sense for this specific character to develop the specific relationship she did with this white man, however had so much time not been devoted to him I would have written it off as like irl sometimes shit gets crazy and you trust whoever shows up consistently and said glad she had some company.
I can see how the Theo element felt worth exploring and I can see wait it aimed to do I just think it put too much time pressure on an already complicated and dense story.

I adored the beginning, the slow creep of gentrification, the inability to escape these harmful little parasites taking on more prominence, her disappearing neighbours and loss of community. I was fascinated by her grappling with her mental health, doubts about her sanity and her struggle to validate her perception of what was happening in front of her. I suspect this element in particular will speak to women of colour who read this.
I loved the plot line about her community garden that was too much responsibility; about the burden of care as community support falls into communities with decreasing resources, time, and massive personal stressors.
I loved the background tension of her closest confidant suddenly dropping all communication in the midst of all the disappearances.
I also loved the inclusion of experienced elders and their role in the end of the book.
Finally, I really appreciated the inclusion of debt and the weaponisation of financial instability as this is something that is just a normal part of our lives and is a violent form of oppression, as it affects every element of life through stress and instability. I wish that the connection to Theo had been more grounded in class solidarity and built around these themes but sadly he just filled a huge potential liability "but I'm not like other white guys prommy" role.]]> 3.45 2020
author: Alyssa Cole
name: E J
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:
A fabulous, urgent premise for a thriller. There's conspiracy that reflects and exaggerates real life, there's intrigue and uncertainty about what's happening and who can be trusted. Unfortunately, the pacing is really strange, the characters poorly developed, and some of the plot points felt really clumsy.

I think this books suffers from something that often happens when an author from a marginalised group writes about their exprrience, their environment, their people, which is that the expectations for moral and political messaging are extremely high. Because of the real-world source that is drawn upon, it can feel disappointing when it's not a literary masterpiece that deftly handles it all with moral clarity and nuance. If you want to read an angry fuck you to the white colonisers who violently displace and use people of colour to their own ends, going into their communities and erasing and policing them for cultural differences, a celebration of black community and in a way of class solidarity, and the fantasy of successfully fighting your way out of violent oppression, you will enjoy this book. The protagonist takes the ultimate control. She fights hard. She overcomes. She adapts to the awful circumstances she is put in. She is pushed to act in ways she never would outside of the violence that's enacted upon her.
It's a wonderful exploration of the toll of racism, the various arms of racism, and so many other things.
Others have written reviews talking about the strange demographics in this booksuch as where are the Jewish new Yorkers and I think it's unfair to expect a book to feature everything for diversity sake. It needed a narrowing of scope to create an air of claustrophobia, I think, of not just "why should we move" but "where could we go?" They are trapped and penned in and the author is concerned with anti black racism and that's fine.

However there are many features that made it fall flat for me from a story telling perspective.


Theo, white man who struggles with his relationship to racism was an interesting feature but I'm not sure why he was given his own perspective chapters as if this was an F tier romance novel. In fact, I'm not sure why he was a love interest at all. I felt that he was primed to be the perfect final piece of the violence the black community was facing: the white guy who wants to be on their side but is a danger to their safety because of his struggles with his racism. He was spying on her and sexualising her and I wonder why the opportunity wasn't taken to explore the fact that despite his own intentions he was a creep and an interloper. I suppose it was in the interest of class solidarity but no I didn't find Theo a believable love interest and I found his being a priority in this story a shame. Again, I think it's fine to have the story end on a hopeful note for white people being able to help, and class being an important vector of connection. However THEO as a character was a strange pick to fill this role and his prominence felt distracting.

I felt that there was another missed opportunity, and I attribute it to pacing, which was the ways the white people revealed their racism. I felt that the racists seemed flat and were not effectively written villains. there was a rich source of conflict and fear and slow reveal of racism that could have made the escalation more thrilling and creepy, with more gaslighting and uncertainty.
Again, I think excluding Theo's perspective would have helped this as the partial insight into the white people's private lives, and Theo's own grappling with racism, felt sudden and overly simple. Without him, I think the overt racist experiences from the perspective of our black protagonist make total sense and the escalation could afford to be jumpy as we are not getting any background insight into their progression from the other side. having a peek behind the curtains from Theo's perspective introduced an element of partial insight that made the villains seem cartoonish, incomplete, flat. Which is a shame because the events that happen are not significantly exaggerated from real life systemic harm enacted against black Americans.

I feel bad to compare to get out like everybody else has, but I kept finding myself thinking that the stark difference between the two was in the pacing and effectiveness of the villains. Strangely, the text with the more supernatural element wound up being more realistic I think in part because the white people in Get Out were maintained as a nefarious "other," whose racism and motivations were teased and revealed slowly. They seemed like real complex humans who nonetheless turned out to feel justified in doing extreme harm and being quite plainly evil. Just like real life racists.
Perhaps it was simply more skilful dialogue writing.

while it's not imperative to spend a lot of time understanding the minds of racists when you're an author writing this sort of book if that's not your intention, perhaps if you want to include insight into their perspective through a conduit like theo it is necessary to try to make those characters fully human with their own interiority and conflict.


It was like there wasn't enough time in this book which is remarkable given its length and I think having our protagonist as the sole narrator would have added a lot more space, easing some of the confusing and staggering escalations that happen throughout, particularly the sudden and rapid escalation in the final quarter. Others have pointed to this dramatic and sudden shift in pace towards the end as the major disappointment in this book.
It would have given our protagonist time to develop her relation ship with theo. the actual evidence the protagonist had to develop trust for him from what she experienced of him was limited. The reader knows much more than she does about him. As such I dont think it made sense for this specific character to develop the specific relationship she did with this white man, however had so much time not been devoted to him I would have written it off as like irl sometimes shit gets crazy and you trust whoever shows up consistently and said glad she had some company.
I can see how the Theo element felt worth exploring and I can see wait it aimed to do I just think it put too much time pressure on an already complicated and dense story.

I adored the beginning, the slow creep of gentrification, the inability to escape these harmful little parasites taking on more prominence, her disappearing neighbours and loss of community. I was fascinated by her grappling with her mental health, doubts about her sanity and her struggle to validate her perception of what was happening in front of her. I suspect this element in particular will speak to women of colour who read this.
I loved the plot line about her community garden that was too much responsibility; about the burden of care as community support falls into communities with decreasing resources, time, and massive personal stressors.
I loved the background tension of her closest confidant suddenly dropping all communication in the midst of all the disappearances.
I also loved the inclusion of experienced elders and their role in the end of the book.
Finally, I really appreciated the inclusion of debt and the weaponisation of financial instability as this is something that is just a normal part of our lives and is a violent form of oppression, as it affects every element of life through stress and instability. I wish that the connection to Theo had been more grounded in class solidarity and built around these themes but sadly he just filled a huge potential liability "but I'm not like other white guys prommy" role.
]]> 200776812 The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story.

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Center convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer," Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.]]> 464 Asako Yuzuki 0063236400 E J 5 The complex, slow journey of growth and change in all the characters was captivating. The ways they couldn't or didn't grow felt real. Food and patriarchy will sadly long be intertwined and I love reading women from cultures different to my own exploring these issues. The descriptions of food are sumptuous and engaging. They made me hungry in a way I ahevnt experienced since reading chocolat as a child. It has changed my relationship with butter forever. Just yesterday I ate butter with rice as I misjudged the timing of my cooking and couldn't wait any longer for my curry to finish cooking. It was delicious and i thought of this story.

I loved sensual nature of the story. The development of connection to different sensory experiences, sensuality, and sexuality aligned with a burgeoning irritation and inner strength. An individuals journey out from under the subtle suppression of restriction and patriarchy, an exploration of shocking conformity while still holding connection to others. It lead me to pick up the book Sensual by Kenika Patel.

I especially loved the way that by the end of this story, the protagonist has a warm group of people around her for support who she happily connects with eachother. She enjoys their company unselfconsciously.

Her transformation is total and enviable.

I relished the way that these characters journeys were not necessarily aiming to please or satisfy the reader. It felt like following the arcs of real lives. This is something I also noticed about the film Perfect Day, where he interacts with the dramatics of a side characters life but we never see that story resolve as it's not part of his life and he doesn't experience it. There's an emotional realism in a lot of the Japanese books and films I've engaged with in the past few years that seems so striking and honest.

While there were some elements of this book that could certainly be critiqued I think overall it was successful, engaging, wonderful. I think I will probably read this again a couple of times.]]> 3.50 2017
author: Asako Yuzuki
name: E J
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
Sometimes you meet a book at just the right time. Early in 2024 I started reading this and I finished it in December on audiobook. I adored it.
The complex, slow journey of growth and change in all the characters was captivating. The ways they couldn't or didn't grow felt real. Food and patriarchy will sadly long be intertwined and I love reading women from cultures different to my own exploring these issues. The descriptions of food are sumptuous and engaging. They made me hungry in a way I ahevnt experienced since reading chocolat as a child. It has changed my relationship with butter forever. Just yesterday I ate butter with rice as I misjudged the timing of my cooking and couldn't wait any longer for my curry to finish cooking. It was delicious and i thought of this story.

I loved sensual nature of the story. The development of connection to different sensory experiences, sensuality, and sexuality aligned with a burgeoning irritation and inner strength. An individuals journey out from under the subtle suppression of restriction and patriarchy, an exploration of shocking conformity while still holding connection to others. It lead me to pick up the book Sensual by Kenika Patel.

I especially loved the way that by the end of this story, the protagonist has a warm group of people around her for support who she happily connects with eachother. She enjoys their company unselfconsciously.

Her transformation is total and enviable.

I relished the way that these characters journeys were not necessarily aiming to please or satisfy the reader. It felt like following the arcs of real lives. This is something I also noticed about the film Perfect Day, where he interacts with the dramatics of a side characters life but we never see that story resolve as it's not part of his life and he doesn't experience it. There's an emotional realism in a lot of the Japanese books and films I've engaged with in the past few years that seems so striking and honest.

While there were some elements of this book that could certainly be critiqued I think overall it was successful, engaging, wonderful. I think I will probably read this again a couple of times.
]]> 55659629
Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be? She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.

Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.��

Tessa Bailey is back with a Schitt’s Creek-inspired rom-com about a Hollywood “It Girl�� who is cut off from her wealthy family and exiled to a small Pacific Northwest beach town... where she butts heads with a surly, sexy local who thinks she doesn’t belong.��]]> 397 Tessa Bailey 0063045656 E J 2 On the one hand I thoroughly enjoyed reading about a character who was devoted and loving to the love interest based on who they actually are, total acceptance and enjoyment of the quirks and shortcomings. Commitment to openness, commitment to commitment, surety about feelings and intentions. All present, all lovely.
There was a time in this story where I thought hey wow he is really putting a lot of pressure on a woman he just met like this sureness is turning to control quite quickly. But he's just a dude with flaws and he navigates coming back from his mistakes well.
The writing about their connection and their physical attention to one another was compelling, if a little rushed, and the sex scenes didn't make me cringe and skip them because I believed that these two really had that connection, and the writing around those subjects was purposeful and creative without getting too silly.
However it all seemed to be lacking a certain .... pizazz. I often find modern romance tends to either be abuse or the type of conversations and behaviours you'd read in a therapists "guide to conflict resolution" or "how to share your feelings." This book managed to be somewhere in the middle with the characters being allowed to be simply flawed people. But the ways things came together, the speed, the obvious lining up of the sister with the best friend of the love interest for a sequel, it all felt a bit... mass produced for commercial sale.
I found myself longing for something more. Half heartedly elevating characters who'd created a bit of conflict to the status of antagonist after weeks of simply forgetting the existed, having the protagonists path be so so clear right from the start then having to go through the process of her figuring it out, the instant and utter devotion between the two of them and the speed with which they resolved any doubts or conflicts, it all came together for something that felt quite shallow.

This type of writing, this type of romance, feels dated and does even as it is being published. We are in a distinct era of mass paper back romance and I find it totally uninvigorating. I call it Millenial Romance. It often reads like it was written by people who have never had these hot intense experiences with love and maybe don't hear about their friends having them but have read about them, or watched movies. And in response to their reading and watching they thought "I could make that nicer, cleaner." One of the hallmarks of this style is the split perspective. This is a feature where, usually first person but not always, the book is split between sections where we get insight into the protagonist and then the love interests perspective.

I felt the earnest attempt to have a really interesting story of self growth with Piper, the protagonist, and I would probably have liked this book a lot more if she had been fleshed out more. We breeze past her feelings, her challenges, and her growth, making her seem 2 dimensional and exactly as shallow as she's trying to prove she isn't. If you're going to take the approach of the love interest being totally accepting, loving, committed, right from the start, I think it would have made sense to decentre him a bit. Don't give us his perspective so we can worry with piper. We can experience her anxieties about what things mean, see her learning how to resolve her concerns internally, feel what it's like to receive the unconsitional support and love she's never had and experience her learning to trust it. Instead we are whisked away into his head, we know what he thinks and his goals and its used as a short cut to rush through her adjusting to him.

Reading this in the midst of a Marian Keyes binge I found myself longing for a bit more of life's uncertainty, for the characters to be given time and space to grow organically, for the character flaws to be real and difficult rather than easily outgrown. Or even worse, to simply feel lile quirks.

It's like a read in a day at the beach kind of a book.]]> 3.91 2021
author: Tessa Bailey
name: E J
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
A book that stirred a conflicting response in me!
On the one hand I thoroughly enjoyed reading about a character who was devoted and loving to the love interest based on who they actually are, total acceptance and enjoyment of the quirks and shortcomings. Commitment to openness, commitment to commitment, surety about feelings and intentions. All present, all lovely.
There was a time in this story where I thought hey wow he is really putting a lot of pressure on a woman he just met like this sureness is turning to control quite quickly. But he's just a dude with flaws and he navigates coming back from his mistakes well.
The writing about their connection and their physical attention to one another was compelling, if a little rushed, and the sex scenes didn't make me cringe and skip them because I believed that these two really had that connection, and the writing around those subjects was purposeful and creative without getting too silly.
However it all seemed to be lacking a certain .... pizazz. I often find modern romance tends to either be abuse or the type of conversations and behaviours you'd read in a therapists "guide to conflict resolution" or "how to share your feelings." This book managed to be somewhere in the middle with the characters being allowed to be simply flawed people. But the ways things came together, the speed, the obvious lining up of the sister with the best friend of the love interest for a sequel, it all felt a bit... mass produced for commercial sale.
I found myself longing for something more. Half heartedly elevating characters who'd created a bit of conflict to the status of antagonist after weeks of simply forgetting the existed, having the protagonists path be so so clear right from the start then having to go through the process of her figuring it out, the instant and utter devotion between the two of them and the speed with which they resolved any doubts or conflicts, it all came together for something that felt quite shallow.

This type of writing, this type of romance, feels dated and does even as it is being published. We are in a distinct era of mass paper back romance and I find it totally uninvigorating. I call it Millenial Romance. It often reads like it was written by people who have never had these hot intense experiences with love and maybe don't hear about their friends having them but have read about them, or watched movies. And in response to their reading and watching they thought "I could make that nicer, cleaner." One of the hallmarks of this style is the split perspective. This is a feature where, usually first person but not always, the book is split between sections where we get insight into the protagonist and then the love interests perspective.

I felt the earnest attempt to have a really interesting story of self growth with Piper, the protagonist, and I would probably have liked this book a lot more if she had been fleshed out more. We breeze past her feelings, her challenges, and her growth, making her seem 2 dimensional and exactly as shallow as she's trying to prove she isn't. If you're going to take the approach of the love interest being totally accepting, loving, committed, right from the start, I think it would have made sense to decentre him a bit. Don't give us his perspective so we can worry with piper. We can experience her anxieties about what things mean, see her learning how to resolve her concerns internally, feel what it's like to receive the unconsitional support and love she's never had and experience her learning to trust it. Instead we are whisked away into his head, we know what he thinks and his goals and its used as a short cut to rush through her adjusting to him.

Reading this in the midst of a Marian Keyes binge I found myself longing for a bit more of life's uncertainty, for the characters to be given time and space to grow organically, for the character flaws to be real and difficult rather than easily outgrown. Or even worse, to simply feel lile quirks.

It's like a read in a day at the beach kind of a book.
]]> 408997 656 Marian Keyes 0099489996 E J 3 The story of a woman with an alcoholic father, who's alcoholism she can't confront or accept. She finds her father in every man she tries to date and her romantic life is a miserable series of failures as a result. She hates her mother and resents her for being the stick in the mud criticising hag who seems determined to keep her fun, free father down. She is desperate not to be that person to her partners, or to her father.

It's quite the journey to go on with her as she is confronted with reality and grows a back bone, being snapped out of her own destructive cycle. I really enjoy parts of this book.
However the mean spirited friends and flatmates, the nasty homophones, racist, and fat phobic jokes... it's all just a bit relentless in this one and I did find it grated on me. I think she refined her portrayal of these 90s and 2000s UK folks with their uninhibited ignorance in later books, making it more occasional and balanced. Here it is just outright bigotry and it's quite uncomfortable. Sucks the fun right out.]]> 3.46 1996
author: Marian Keyes
name: E J
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
Ah one of the earliest works.
The story of a woman with an alcoholic father, who's alcoholism she can't confront or accept. She finds her father in every man she tries to date and her romantic life is a miserable series of failures as a result. She hates her mother and resents her for being the stick in the mud criticising hag who seems determined to keep her fun, free father down. She is desperate not to be that person to her partners, or to her father.

It's quite the journey to go on with her as she is confronted with reality and grows a back bone, being snapped out of her own destructive cycle. I really enjoy parts of this book.
However the mean spirited friends and flatmates, the nasty homophones, racist, and fat phobic jokes... it's all just a bit relentless in this one and I did find it grated on me. I think she refined her portrayal of these 90s and 2000s UK folks with their uninhibited ignorance in later books, making it more occasional and balanced. Here it is just outright bigotry and it's quite uncomfortable. Sucks the fun right out.
]]> 41014305
Lily Wright is an author who believes in karma, and is waiting for the sky to fall after stealing her former best friend's man. Though her first book failed to sell, her life turns upside down when her most recent book becomes a huge bestseller.

Gemma Hogan is an event designer extraordinaire, but her personal life is nonexistent after losing the love of her life and her best friend in one fell swoop. To make matters worse, her father has just left her mother. While taking care of her mother, she e-mails a close colleague about her frustrations, who in turn forwards the hilarious e-mails to a famous literary agent named Jojo Harvey, who just happens to represent her former friend, now enemy, Lily Wright. . . .

Written in the charming and chatty voice that has become Marian Keyes's signature style, this hilarious and heartwarming novel proves there are three sides to every story . . . especially in the world of publishing!]]> 624 Marian Keyes 006182688X E J 3 I love going along for the ride with this group as they grow into themselves and make peace with their lives.]]> 3.88 2004
author: Marian Keyes
name: E J
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2018/12/27
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
Classic Keyes. The twisty turny intertwined stories of multiple characters with overlapping lives is always fun as it slowly ramps up to a climax. The characters are flawed, at times stupid and vindictive, but still manage to be quite funny.
I love going along for the ride with this group as they grow into themselves and make peace with their lives.
]]> 9298
But it's always when you are least ready for change that fate insists on one. And when catastrophe inevitably follows crisis, the lives of three best friends are sure to change in unexpected ways ... and not necessarily for the worse.

You devoured the hilarious antics of Claire in Watermelon.
You laughed 'til you cried in Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married.
You took a vacation gone mad in Rachel's Holiday.
You flew away with Margaret—good girl gone bad—in Angels.
You got a peek inside the cutthroat world of women's fashion magazines in Sushi for Beginners.

Now, raise your glass to Tara, Katherine, and Fintan in Last Chance Saloon.]]> 528 Marian Keyes 0060086246 E J 4 The way that keyes writes flawed, shallow, mean, stupid, funny, normal people who make the wrong choices and can't see what's in front of them is so charming. I've been a reader of hers since I first found my mums copy of Watermelon at about 10 years old, and I read "chick lit" and romance broadly. She is rarely rivalled in her particular genre. Often to find a writer who captures the flawed modern human life in all its shallow, bitchy, complicated, messy glory you stray out of the "chick lit" zone and into something different. Normal People comes to mind. How does she make it so the reader can both see where the characters are going wrong but also understand how and why they're headed in the wrong direction as it happens? How does she take these superficial themes and jobs and interests and still have this thriving, gritty life to them while still maintaining the light summer romance, eat it in one sitting quality.
I don't personally have a lifestyle comparable to the people in her books, and I don't really know people who party and back stab and eat at restaurants all the time, who are openly mean to their friends and have dramas and confrontations all the time, who refuse to be political. I find that as I get older and leave office work I'm quite disdainful of this modern life removed from "politics". But somehow I still love her characters and am engrossed in their jobs, their friends, their struggles.
I also find that this naked charm and willingness to show her characters getting down in the muck makes it easier to digest what we would now consider problematic. I think it's an example of how sometimes having to say the perfect thing doesn't give enough grace for loving stupidity and playfulness. And when it does stray into outright meanness and ignorance, I find myself thinking well people of this class in this environment at this time were just talking like that. Because the characters are realistic and three dimensional their shitty behaviour doesn't feel like an endorsement it feels like just ... how they are. It's kind of like the always sunny effect except her books don't have the vibe of "punishing" her characters.
Keyes gives me the sense that despite our flaws, despite what tragedy may arise, we can get through and will likely learn a lesson. Even if things don't turn out how we imagined or don't go well, we change and keep moving. Keyes has the classic Irish talent for taking the struggles and making them rich and playful.

Maybe it's nostalgia that makes me want to give her a pass on some of the nastier stuff in her books when it would ruin my enjoyment under other authors, but I really think it's her skill in writing a good old fashioned lovable dickhead.

Anyway I read 3 of her books in one week and this was the best of the three, particularly outstripping Lucy Sullivan Gets Married in which the bigotry does get really really tiresome. Hence the general review not really addressing the book with much specificity. Would still rate sushi, charming man, and any of the Rachel's holiday series/group over her other works.]]> 3.83 1999
author: Marian Keyes
name: E J
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/25
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:
Honestly Keyes really is something special. This book presented itself to me in a liliput library in a small town just before Christmas and busted me out of a years long slump.
The way that keyes writes flawed, shallow, mean, stupid, funny, normal people who make the wrong choices and can't see what's in front of them is so charming. I've been a reader of hers since I first found my mums copy of Watermelon at about 10 years old, and I read "chick lit" and romance broadly. She is rarely rivalled in her particular genre. Often to find a writer who captures the flawed modern human life in all its shallow, bitchy, complicated, messy glory you stray out of the "chick lit" zone and into something different. Normal People comes to mind. How does she make it so the reader can both see where the characters are going wrong but also understand how and why they're headed in the wrong direction as it happens? How does she take these superficial themes and jobs and interests and still have this thriving, gritty life to them while still maintaining the light summer romance, eat it in one sitting quality.
I don't personally have a lifestyle comparable to the people in her books, and I don't really know people who party and back stab and eat at restaurants all the time, who are openly mean to their friends and have dramas and confrontations all the time, who refuse to be political. I find that as I get older and leave office work I'm quite disdainful of this modern life removed from "politics". But somehow I still love her characters and am engrossed in their jobs, their friends, their struggles.
I also find that this naked charm and willingness to show her characters getting down in the muck makes it easier to digest what we would now consider problematic. I think it's an example of how sometimes having to say the perfect thing doesn't give enough grace for loving stupidity and playfulness. And when it does stray into outright meanness and ignorance, I find myself thinking well people of this class in this environment at this time were just talking like that. Because the characters are realistic and three dimensional their shitty behaviour doesn't feel like an endorsement it feels like just ... how they are. It's kind of like the always sunny effect except her books don't have the vibe of "punishing" her characters.
Keyes gives me the sense that despite our flaws, despite what tragedy may arise, we can get through and will likely learn a lesson. Even if things don't turn out how we imagined or don't go well, we change and keep moving. Keyes has the classic Irish talent for taking the struggles and making them rich and playful.

Maybe it's nostalgia that makes me want to give her a pass on some of the nastier stuff in her books when it would ruin my enjoyment under other authors, but I really think it's her skill in writing a good old fashioned lovable dickhead.

Anyway I read 3 of her books in one week and this was the best of the three, particularly outstripping Lucy Sullivan Gets Married in which the bigotry does get really really tiresome. Hence the general review not really addressing the book with much specificity. Would still rate sushi, charming man, and any of the Rachel's holiday series/group over her other works.
]]> 295169 The first in a trilogy, The Wind Singer is a mesmerizing and remarkably realized fantasy novel full of adventure, suspense, humor and warmth.

In the city of Aramanth, the mantra is, "Better today than yesterday. Better tomorrow than today." Harder work means the citizens of Aramanth can keep moving forward to improved life stations--from Gray tenements and Orange apartments, upwards to glorious mansions of White. Only some families, like the Haths, believe more in ideas and dreams than in endless toil and ratings. When Kestrel Hath decides she is through with the Aramanth work ethic, she is joined in her small rebellion by her twin brother Bowman and their friend Mumpo. Together, they set the orderly city on its ear by escaping Aramanth's walls for an adventure that takes them from city sewers to desert sandstorms. Guided by an archaic map, they know that if they can find the voice of the Wind Singer, an ancient and mysterious instrument that stands in the center of Aramanth, they can save their people from their dreamless existence. But the voice is guarded by the dreaded Morah and its legion of perfect killing machines, the Zars. Are three ragtag kids any match for an army of darkness?]]> 486 William Nicholson 0786814179 E J 4 3.88 2000
author: William Nicholson
name: E J
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 203931803 A powerful memoir that reckons with mental health as well as the insidious ways men impact the lives of women.

In early 2021, popular artist Anna Marie Tendler checked herself into a psychiatric hospital following a year of crippling anxiety, depression and self-harm. Over two weeks, she underwent myriad psychological tests, participated in numerous therapy sessions, connected with fellow patients and experienced profound breakthroughs, such as when a doctor noted, “There is a you inside that feels invisible to those looking at you from the outside.��

In Men Have Called Her Crazy, Tendler recounts her hospital experience as well as pivotal moments in her life that preceded and followed. As the title suggests, many of these moments are impacted by men: unrequited love in high school; the twenty-eight-year-old she lost her virginity to when she was sixteen; the frustrations and absurdities of dating in her mid-thirties; and her decision to freeze her eggs as all her friends were starting families.

This stunning literary self-portrait examines the unreasonable expectations and pressures women face in the 21st century. Yet overwhelming and despairing as that can feel, Tendler ultimately offers a message hope. Early in her stay in the hospital, she says, “My wish for myself is that one day I’ll reach a place where I can face hardship without trying to destroy myself.�� By the end of the book, she fulfills that wish.]]> 304 Anna Marie Tendler 1668032341 E J 1 I wonder at the point of writing this so soon into the therapy process, as Tendler does not seem to have been able to judge at all how she comes across in this book. I wonder at the purpose of exposing herself like this.

She believes a man fundamentally cannot understand her and so aims to see no male mental health professionals, then experiences being treated poorly by a long-time female therapist and benefiting from the care of her male counterparts. Don't worry it doesn't make her reflect on how her dogmatic view of men may be limiting her and contributing to her being unable to achieve good stable relationships (not just romantic) with men. In fact she utterly dismisses their thoughts at the endof the book. She doesnt seem to be able to reckon with her anger towards the female Dr either. I think that she does indeed experience ridiculous treatment under the psychiatric system and I am not a big psychiatry defender as I find it a chauvinistic racist and narrow science in its infancy. But she doesn't seem to be able to identify any other factors in this situation beyond men doing her wrong.

Her focus on men is so intense she seems utterly blinded to everything else. Including to how her view of men may be leading her to partnerships with shit head dudes who don't respect her. How can you find a good male partner when you believe men are truly evil and distinctly different, even to the point of not wanting to have a boy child despite the obvious opportunity that presents for feminists to shape the next generation of men.
When you believe men are essentially a tool to support your lifestyle whose value is determined by their looks, wealth, and the neighbourhood they live in, it seems unlikely you're going to meet thoughtful guys who want to hear your opinions on Joan Didion, happily unwilling to dare to contribute their own thoughts to discussions.

She feels entitled to money, entitled to fun work, and is willing to submit herself to rich male partners over and over to benefit from their wealth. She acknowledges this quite directly. Does not seem to understand how this pursuit (both the men and the rich influencer lifestyle) may be making her unhappy. Doesnt seem to understand the unbelievable privilege of repeatedly choosing to bow out of undesirable work. I think that engaging in feminist works by anti capitalist thinkers who could teach her about community and value building in life. She does not seem to ever really experience personal satisfaction in anything other than being frail. This book was desperately in need of intersectional feminism.

Her female relationships are plagued with nasty judgements that she doesn't seem to clock. Her feminism is performative, not fully realised, and used as a tool to distance herself from others but never to enrich her life. It Is not a framework from which she can build better community with women, through which she can identify men who will be politically and socially aligned with her. It is a tool for her to belittle and berate.

Especially of note is she did not know until approximately 2022 that it's not supposed to hurt when you have sex. I don't doubt that there are women who never hear that sex can be pleasurable and who never have a enjoyable sex. I am shocked a highly educated, supposedly highly social and intelligent, "feminist" American woman has never heard differently. Inequality in sexual pleasure is one of the most popular conversations of modern feminism dating back to the 60s at least. Tendler doesnt really reflect on the more other social structures that might lead a woman in her position to miss the memo here, only seeing the role of patriarchy (yes, the men who slept with her with no concern about her pleasure is an issue of patriarchy) and not class, not examining the influences she has cultivated such as her female friendships. Why is she not in commune with other feminists, of any gender, who mught have mentioned this? What are the factors that have lead to this social and intellectual isolation from feminist thinkers? Is it the intense antagonism she demonstrates whenever she discusses feminism or when somebody disagrees with or has different information to her ? Is it her focus on achieving a life of privilege that has landed her in a particular social circle? Is it a failure of sex education that she could have explored in connection to the oppression of women and education?

Could she handle having her feminist view challenged by another feminist?

She reports having these long close female friendships but she rarely mentions them and in fact there is evidence that she has been quite a selfish friend, prioritising her male partners and not making her friends feel she cares to celebrate with or nurture them.
She gets frustrated that her therapist doesn't get a full picture of what her mother is like but she does not seem motivated to actually provide it. Then she gets frustrated that the therapists say she isn't willing to confront her anger at her mother after failing to accurately inform them of the changed relationship and her mother's growth. She does her mother and herself a huge disservice here by speaking of her in very limited terms (to the therapist) and only bothering to treat her as a full-time fleshed out person later for this book.
She also has a strikingly unsympathetic view of her father compared to her mother when it seems her mother was the actual destructive force.
I wonder if it is a misogyny of sorts to refuse to really reckon with a woman's capacity for harm. To refuse to confront what overwhelms half the stories in this book: she has not finished processing the anger or reckoning with the effect her mothers anger had on her despite their now changed relationship.

She gives men a pass by expecting that they are inherently pigs and therefore she is neither able to navigate normal relationship conflict as anything other than violent misogyny, nor to see and find men who are feminists. It is an impotent sort of rage that leaves her still chasing the same men as she assumes they are all that way.

It is also bizarre the way she talks about her smallness. Her beauty. Her positive attributes as gushed about by others. I love a confident woman but Tendler focuses on things that are frankly unfeminist when expressing her view of herself. She is still attached to patriarchal standards for femininity and beauty.

Frankly I think that this was a deeply sad book about an unfulfilled, frustrated life centring around men who she hates and has perceived as hating her. I do not deny that she has experienced misogyny and hurt, that she is successfully following a path of healing through therapy. But I don't believe she is able to see the difference between interpersonal conflict and misogynistic abuse. I don't think she has any insight into how frivolous and ridiculous her lifestyle and her willingness to pursue access to wealth through men comes across. I don't think she understands the nuances of personal accountability or responsibility. She knows her obsession with dating men who don't really like her is a reason why her relationships are so destructive, she doesn't reflect one's how her selections may be skewing her intense opinions about men in general. Patriarchy is obviously at the root of what lead her to these behaviours but she's really struggling with seeing her own complicity in not meaningfully following a more challenging feminist path.

It is impossible for me to write this without seeming like I'm dogging on her as a person or blaming her for her bad relationships or whatever. I'm not trying to do that. Her journey through these issues should be her business. However I believe that this book fails because of her lack of insight, and her underdevoped politic contributes to that significantly: she cannot develop her story in a meaningful or interesting way without seeming selfish because she can't understand her own situation. One doesnt have to have insight, necessarily, and its a fraught term with baggage from its use in psychiatry. Here i use it to mean her reflections are so focused on how she feels and what happened to her in her romsntic relationships that she cant really draw the broader points she seemed to want to draw out or understand others. She can't make a point about the impact of patriarchy in her life because she is not really a feminist with any psrticulsr socio political understanding or framework. Where is the praxis! Where is the resistance?
Her writing seems selfish, and myopic because she never reflects on her environment or builds political arguments with like current events or stories from other people or their feelings. She doesnt seem to care about the interior life of others and avoids connecting her own story to others in any meaningful way. This narrow focus undermines the story telling and is an amateurish writing style in my opinion.
Shes not bringing anything to the table that makes this worthwhile purely as autobiography either. Why should I be interested in Anne Marie Tendler? She doesn't seem to care to convince me of a reason. Am i supposed to care because of her instagram photography and some lamps she started making on a whim? She doesnt demonstrate any artistic passion or discuss her vision or motivation. What does she really have to say about the mundane misogyny that white rich women with oodles of leisure time experience ? Does she think that somebody who wasn't already of the same opinions as her would be swayed about feminism by this book? She hasnt reckoned with her internalised misogyny, doesnt have a developed approach to or thoughts about feminism. So why did she write this? It certainly can't be a passion for writing as the story is not lovingly crafted or presented. This project seems devoid of passion or purpose, too.

We don't even get any John mulaney dirt. Her story telling has the hallmark contrived, guarded confessionalism of many millenial writers. She wants to hit you with blunt vulnerability but she is not skilled at weilding it in conjunction with any details that would make it compelling and relatable (scene building, world building, context, connection to broader themes or events, I'm repeating myself!). But she is also not willing to fully lean in to tabloid style curiosity, and the elephant in the room was a more provocative and interesting insight into misogyny and her place in the world than anything she did include. Why did I leave this story about a woman navigating misogyny feeling that perhaps she has indeed just been afforded opportunities because of her proximity to a man?

It feels distasteful and irritating to read a memoir granted to a woman due to her proximity to wealth and fame at this time of economic struggle and conflict. It feels frustrating to imagine that this toxic, isolating, bitter, shallow version of feminism is repeatedly platformed due to thirst for the sad white lady story. I am baffled by the experience of reading this. If it were fiction I would say wow what an interesting experiment in class privilege and the limitations of modern therapy, the intense lack of meaning, connection, and fulfilment of a life lived in pursuit of rich men.

Anna Marie if you are, as I suspect, the sort of person who reads their reviews I am begging you to like... go and volunteer. Focus on your friends. Read bell hooks and other women of colour on feminism, masculinity, and community building. Decentre men. Put emphasis on literally anything else. Please.

I would have been interested to have read this story focusing on the limitation of modern psychology, revolving around the content of the psychiatric report she details at the end and talking about how the doctors in-person approach of treating her as a person who could learn to overcome distress and challenge, compared to the analysis in the report that calls her a depressed agressive man hating brodeline who cant confront her real issue (her mother). Although first she would need to get A grasp on why psychiatric reports are written the way they are and that saying she "denied" drug use or whatever else is not a negative expression or a challenge. The final chapter demonstrates how sensitive she is amd how early into the process of therapy she is. In 10 years I wonder what her reflection on this report will be.

Perhaps this is all a meta thing and she's just like accurately and bluntly reporting on her mindset at the time and its unfair to assume a story must have a mature and developed insight for it to be worthwhile. Maybe assuming she would want to convince me of her feminism as being developed or reasonable is unfair. Perhaps we should all read this as simply a woman's journey. Or maybe I'm right in judging it as failing to be either artistically or politically interesting or well developed, AND failing as a demonstration of her personal journey.

I wonder if she will be able to reflect after this outpouring of fruatration from women who feel that this book is ... underwhelming when it comes to its feminism.]]> 3.42 2024
author: Anna Marie Tendler
name: E J
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves:
review:
I read this because I thought a review I saw was being very harsh so I wanted to check it out. The truth is that this is a deeply fascinating book. A wonderful example of white feminist dysfunction ( And i want to make it clear from the jump that i am a life long hard out feminist) and the lazy use of feminism that is so popular amongst privileged women suffering from arrested devlopment. A dumbfounding story of (to pull a phrase from a decade ago) unexamined privilege and poor insight.
I wonder at the point of writing this so soon into the therapy process, as Tendler does not seem to have been able to judge at all how she comes across in this book. I wonder at the purpose of exposing herself like this.

She believes a man fundamentally cannot understand her and so aims to see no male mental health professionals, then experiences being treated poorly by a long-time female therapist and benefiting from the care of her male counterparts. Don't worry it doesn't make her reflect on how her dogmatic view of men may be limiting her and contributing to her being unable to achieve good stable relationships (not just romantic) with men. In fact she utterly dismisses their thoughts at the endof the book. She doesnt seem to be able to reckon with her anger towards the female Dr either. I think that she does indeed experience ridiculous treatment under the psychiatric system and I am not a big psychiatry defender as I find it a chauvinistic racist and narrow science in its infancy. But she doesn't seem to be able to identify any other factors in this situation beyond men doing her wrong.

Her focus on men is so intense she seems utterly blinded to everything else. Including to how her view of men may be leading her to partnerships with shit head dudes who don't respect her. How can you find a good male partner when you believe men are truly evil and distinctly different, even to the point of not wanting to have a boy child despite the obvious opportunity that presents for feminists to shape the next generation of men.
When you believe men are essentially a tool to support your lifestyle whose value is determined by their looks, wealth, and the neighbourhood they live in, it seems unlikely you're going to meet thoughtful guys who want to hear your opinions on Joan Didion, happily unwilling to dare to contribute their own thoughts to discussions.

She feels entitled to money, entitled to fun work, and is willing to submit herself to rich male partners over and over to benefit from their wealth. She acknowledges this quite directly. Does not seem to understand how this pursuit (both the men and the rich influencer lifestyle) may be making her unhappy. Doesnt seem to understand the unbelievable privilege of repeatedly choosing to bow out of undesirable work. I think that engaging in feminist works by anti capitalist thinkers who could teach her about community and value building in life. She does not seem to ever really experience personal satisfaction in anything other than being frail. This book was desperately in need of intersectional feminism.

Her female relationships are plagued with nasty judgements that she doesn't seem to clock. Her feminism is performative, not fully realised, and used as a tool to distance herself from others but never to enrich her life. It Is not a framework from which she can build better community with women, through which she can identify men who will be politically and socially aligned with her. It is a tool for her to belittle and berate.

Especially of note is she did not know until approximately 2022 that it's not supposed to hurt when you have sex. I don't doubt that there are women who never hear that sex can be pleasurable and who never have a enjoyable sex. I am shocked a highly educated, supposedly highly social and intelligent, "feminist" American woman has never heard differently. Inequality in sexual pleasure is one of the most popular conversations of modern feminism dating back to the 60s at least. Tendler doesnt really reflect on the more other social structures that might lead a woman in her position to miss the memo here, only seeing the role of patriarchy (yes, the men who slept with her with no concern about her pleasure is an issue of patriarchy) and not class, not examining the influences she has cultivated such as her female friendships. Why is she not in commune with other feminists, of any gender, who mught have mentioned this? What are the factors that have lead to this social and intellectual isolation from feminist thinkers? Is it the intense antagonism she demonstrates whenever she discusses feminism or when somebody disagrees with or has different information to her ? Is it her focus on achieving a life of privilege that has landed her in a particular social circle? Is it a failure of sex education that she could have explored in connection to the oppression of women and education?

Could she handle having her feminist view challenged by another feminist?

She reports having these long close female friendships but she rarely mentions them and in fact there is evidence that she has been quite a selfish friend, prioritising her male partners and not making her friends feel she cares to celebrate with or nurture them.
She gets frustrated that her therapist doesn't get a full picture of what her mother is like but she does not seem motivated to actually provide it. Then she gets frustrated that the therapists say she isn't willing to confront her anger at her mother after failing to accurately inform them of the changed relationship and her mother's growth. She does her mother and herself a huge disservice here by speaking of her in very limited terms (to the therapist) and only bothering to treat her as a full-time fleshed out person later for this book.
She also has a strikingly unsympathetic view of her father compared to her mother when it seems her mother was the actual destructive force.
I wonder if it is a misogyny of sorts to refuse to really reckon with a woman's capacity for harm. To refuse to confront what overwhelms half the stories in this book: she has not finished processing the anger or reckoning with the effect her mothers anger had on her despite their now changed relationship.

She gives men a pass by expecting that they are inherently pigs and therefore she is neither able to navigate normal relationship conflict as anything other than violent misogyny, nor to see and find men who are feminists. It is an impotent sort of rage that leaves her still chasing the same men as she assumes they are all that way.

It is also bizarre the way she talks about her smallness. Her beauty. Her positive attributes as gushed about by others. I love a confident woman but Tendler focuses on things that are frankly unfeminist when expressing her view of herself. She is still attached to patriarchal standards for femininity and beauty.

Frankly I think that this was a deeply sad book about an unfulfilled, frustrated life centring around men who she hates and has perceived as hating her. I do not deny that she has experienced misogyny and hurt, that she is successfully following a path of healing through therapy. But I don't believe she is able to see the difference between interpersonal conflict and misogynistic abuse. I don't think she has any insight into how frivolous and ridiculous her lifestyle and her willingness to pursue access to wealth through men comes across. I don't think she understands the nuances of personal accountability or responsibility. She knows her obsession with dating men who don't really like her is a reason why her relationships are so destructive, she doesn't reflect one's how her selections may be skewing her intense opinions about men in general. Patriarchy is obviously at the root of what lead her to these behaviours but she's really struggling with seeing her own complicity in not meaningfully following a more challenging feminist path.

It is impossible for me to write this without seeming like I'm dogging on her as a person or blaming her for her bad relationships or whatever. I'm not trying to do that. Her journey through these issues should be her business. However I believe that this book fails because of her lack of insight, and her underdevoped politic contributes to that significantly: she cannot develop her story in a meaningful or interesting way without seeming selfish because she can't understand her own situation. One doesnt have to have insight, necessarily, and its a fraught term with baggage from its use in psychiatry. Here i use it to mean her reflections are so focused on how she feels and what happened to her in her romsntic relationships that she cant really draw the broader points she seemed to want to draw out or understand others. She can't make a point about the impact of patriarchy in her life because she is not really a feminist with any psrticulsr socio political understanding or framework. Where is the praxis! Where is the resistance?
Her writing seems selfish, and myopic because she never reflects on her environment or builds political arguments with like current events or stories from other people or their feelings. She doesnt seem to care about the interior life of others and avoids connecting her own story to others in any meaningful way. This narrow focus undermines the story telling and is an amateurish writing style in my opinion.
Shes not bringing anything to the table that makes this worthwhile purely as autobiography either. Why should I be interested in Anne Marie Tendler? She doesn't seem to care to convince me of a reason. Am i supposed to care because of her instagram photography and some lamps she started making on a whim? She doesnt demonstrate any artistic passion or discuss her vision or motivation. What does she really have to say about the mundane misogyny that white rich women with oodles of leisure time experience ? Does she think that somebody who wasn't already of the same opinions as her would be swayed about feminism by this book? She hasnt reckoned with her internalised misogyny, doesnt have a developed approach to or thoughts about feminism. So why did she write this? It certainly can't be a passion for writing as the story is not lovingly crafted or presented. This project seems devoid of passion or purpose, too.

We don't even get any John mulaney dirt. Her story telling has the hallmark contrived, guarded confessionalism of many millenial writers. She wants to hit you with blunt vulnerability but she is not skilled at weilding it in conjunction with any details that would make it compelling and relatable (scene building, world building, context, connection to broader themes or events, I'm repeating myself!). But she is also not willing to fully lean in to tabloid style curiosity, and the elephant in the room was a more provocative and interesting insight into misogyny and her place in the world than anything she did include. Why did I leave this story about a woman navigating misogyny feeling that perhaps she has indeed just been afforded opportunities because of her proximity to a man?

It feels distasteful and irritating to read a memoir granted to a woman due to her proximity to wealth and fame at this time of economic struggle and conflict. It feels frustrating to imagine that this toxic, isolating, bitter, shallow version of feminism is repeatedly platformed due to thirst for the sad white lady story. I am baffled by the experience of reading this. If it were fiction I would say wow what an interesting experiment in class privilege and the limitations of modern therapy, the intense lack of meaning, connection, and fulfilment of a life lived in pursuit of rich men.

Anna Marie if you are, as I suspect, the sort of person who reads their reviews I am begging you to like... go and volunteer. Focus on your friends. Read bell hooks and other women of colour on feminism, masculinity, and community building. Decentre men. Put emphasis on literally anything else. Please.

I would have been interested to have read this story focusing on the limitation of modern psychology, revolving around the content of the psychiatric report she details at the end and talking about how the doctors in-person approach of treating her as a person who could learn to overcome distress and challenge, compared to the analysis in the report that calls her a depressed agressive man hating brodeline who cant confront her real issue (her mother). Although first she would need to get A grasp on why psychiatric reports are written the way they are and that saying she "denied" drug use or whatever else is not a negative expression or a challenge. The final chapter demonstrates how sensitive she is amd how early into the process of therapy she is. In 10 years I wonder what her reflection on this report will be.

Perhaps this is all a meta thing and she's just like accurately and bluntly reporting on her mindset at the time and its unfair to assume a story must have a mature and developed insight for it to be worthwhile. Maybe assuming she would want to convince me of her feminism as being developed or reasonable is unfair. Perhaps we should all read this as simply a woman's journey. Or maybe I'm right in judging it as failing to be either artistically or politically interesting or well developed, AND failing as a demonstration of her personal journey.

I wonder if she will be able to reflect after this outpouring of fruatration from women who feel that this book is ... underwhelming when it comes to its feminism.
]]> 62952130
A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her.

Lauren Groff’s new novel is at once a thrilling adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism. The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how—and if—we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves.]]> 272 Lauren Groff 0593418395 E J 3 The story of suffering and the journey, of struggling just to survive, of wits and perseverance and giving up but having to keep going until life is done with you, is powerful. The themes of the story are relevant to our modern times with displacement and disaster on the rise. Displacement, powerlessness, the purpose of life, connection to nature, etc etc it's all very pressing.
I suspect the earnest breathy delivery of the audiobook narrator drew more attention to this writing style that doesn't resonate for me.
I also found the time line somewhat confusing and unbelievable although I suspect that was deliberate. I may reread this in physical form in a few years to see how much the audiobook was letting this story down in terms of tracking those sorts of choices.]]> 3.73 2016
author: Lauren Groff
name: E J
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/03
shelves:
review:
I wish desperately that editors would catch the sorts of repeated phrases that have become cliche in a certain type of modern fiction. One example would be the use of "on the tip of her tongue" or flavours lingering "on her tongue." The language in this book can be repetitive and too similar to the style of many other authors currently writing.
The story of suffering and the journey, of struggling just to survive, of wits and perseverance and giving up but having to keep going until life is done with you, is powerful. The themes of the story are relevant to our modern times with displacement and disaster on the rise. Displacement, powerlessness, the purpose of life, connection to nature, etc etc it's all very pressing.
I suspect the earnest breathy delivery of the audiobook narrator drew more attention to this writing style that doesn't resonate for me.
I also found the time line somewhat confusing and unbelievable although I suspect that was deliberate. I may reread this in physical form in a few years to see how much the audiobook was letting this story down in terms of tracking those sorts of choices.
]]> 59693959 In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh’s most exciting leap yet

Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life’s few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him as a baby, as she did so many of the village’s children. Ina’s gifts extend beyond childcare: she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers, however religious they might be. For some people, Ina’s home in the woods outside of the village is a place to fear and to avoid, a godless place.

Among their number is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people’s desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest, especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord’s family, new and occult forces upset the old order. By year’s end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, the natural world and the spirit world, civility and savagery, will prove to be very thin indeed.]]> 313 Ottessa Moshfegh E J 4 3.53 2022
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: E J
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 65214189 After the Forest is a dark and enchanting fantasy debut from Kell Woods that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of “happily ever after.��

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, the witch's grimoire, secreted away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magic—magic she is still trying to understand—may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 375 Kell Woods 1250852501 E J 2 3.80 2023
author: Kell Woods
name: E J
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2024/11/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 30245389 Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a book of poetry unlike any other. Steeped in war and cultural upheaval and wielding a fresh new language, Vuong writes about the most profound subjects �� love and loss, conflict, grief, memory and desire �� and attends to them all with lines that feel newly-minted, graceful in their cadences, passionate and hungry in their tender, close attention: ‘…the chief of police/facedown in a pool of Coca-Cola./A palm-sized photo of his father soaking/beside his left ear.�� This is an unusual, important book: both gentle and visceral, vulnerable and assured, and its blend of humanity and power make it one of the best first collections of poetry to come out of America in years.

‘These are poems of exquisite beauty, unashamed of romance, and undaunted by looking directly into the horrors of war, the silences of history. One of the most important debut collections for a generation.�� Andrew McMillan]]> 93 Ocean Vuong E J 4 4.05 2016
author: Ocean Vuong
name: E J
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2018/01/10
date added: 2024/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 768889
The Seven Kingdoms are divided by revolt and blood feud. In the northern wastes, a horde of hungry, savage people steeped in the dark magic of the wilderness is poised to invade the Kingdom of the North where Robb Stark wears his new-forged crown. And Robb's defences are ranged against the South, the land of the cunning and cruel Lannisters, who have his young sisters in their power.

Throughout Westeros, the war for the Iron Throne rages more fiercely than ever, but if the wall is breached, no king will live to claim it.]]> 663 George R.R. Martin 0006479901 E J 3 2020-rereads 4.47 2000
author: George R.R. Martin
name: E J
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: 2020-rereads
review:

]]> 165940214 A personal and cultural look at the dark underbelly of Western beauty standards and the lethal culture of disordered eating they've wreaked

In Dead Weight, Emmeline Clein tells the story of her own disordered eating alongside, and through, other women from history, pop culture and the girls she's known and loved. Tracing the medical and cultural history of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and orthorexia, Clein investigates the economic conditions underpinning our eating disorder epidemic, and illuminates the ways racism and today's feminism have been complicit in propping up the thin ideal. While examining Goop, Simone Weil, pro-anorexia blogs, and the flawed logic of our current treatment methods, Clein grapples with the myriad ways disordered eating has affected her own friendships and romantic relationships.

Dead Weight makes the case that we are faced with a culture of suppression and denial that is insidious, pervasive, and dangerous, one that internalizes and promotes the fetish of self-shrinking as a core tenet of the American cult of femininity. This is replicated in our algorithms, our television shows, our novels, and our relationships with one another. Dead Weight is a sharp, perceptive, and revelatory polemic for readers fascinated by the external forces shaping their lives.]]> 288 Emmeline Clein 0593536908 E J 3 It is possible to explore the cultural influences on women and girls without framing things this way. This type of language in the early essays undermines the stronger offerings that talk about the shortcomings of medical system and its infantalisation of ED patients.
I found the breadth of the ideas and cultural influences interesting. The discussions that touched on class and the diversity of ED experiences and the differences and similarities between the various presentations was timely.
The ideas referenced from health communism and challenging the limitations of psychiatry and the resulting treatment programmes is well supported. However i hink those who believe that mental illness is a dysfunction of the brain or a genetic relic are unlikely to be convinced. I would encourage those readers to read this from the perspective that current treatment models have low long term success and that considering the socio-political and cultural factors is a necessary supplement to exploring alternative modes of treatment.
I think if you are a teenaged girl who is still very much in the disordered mindset and you sre looking to reframe this may be a useful step. However I'm not sure it will be enjoyable to more experienced readers of this sort of work. A lot of this rehashing ground I've read in other works.
I also wouldn't recommend the audiobook as the narrators desperate, affected tone of yearning and intensity really highlights the millennial personal essay stylings in the writing. That being said, there are various passages that are clever and well written with a striking turn of phrase. I wish I had read them with my eyeballs. I think the narrator really detracted from the competency of the writing.
The essay Coda is an exploration of some of the potential responses to the cultural factors earlier in the book, and I think it came to some powerful but thoughtful conclusions that are worth thinking about.
Her exploration of wellbutrin was thoughtful and well researched.]]> 3.86 2024
author: Emmeline Clein
name: E J
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/01
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves:
review:
OThe insistence on referring to "girls" and their experiences and desires even as an adult woman, even when talking about adults, reinforces the infantalisation and obsession with youth that is commonly associated with these sorts of behaviours. It undermines the autonomy and complexity of the people who suffer from these things. This is a popular trend I find frankly misogynistic. It also erases the prevalence of eating disorders in older populations. It undermined Cleins attempts to avoid romanticising the disorder as it aligns it with this cult of girlhood which involves things like "girl dinner" and "I'm just a girl" " girl math:" this is a trend that excuses negative influence, experiences, behaviours, and stereotypes because uwu I'm a baby I can't help it. It claims these things as an inherent element of femininity while simultaneously classing the feminine as weak, vapid, mean, stupid, materialistic, appearance obsessed, etc. I find it an inadequate and offensive framework that distorts the feminism its supposed to support.
It is possible to explore the cultural influences on women and girls without framing things this way. This type of language in the early essays undermines the stronger offerings that talk about the shortcomings of medical system and its infantalisation of ED patients.
I found the breadth of the ideas and cultural influences interesting. The discussions that touched on class and the diversity of ED experiences and the differences and similarities between the various presentations was timely.
The ideas referenced from health communism and challenging the limitations of psychiatry and the resulting treatment programmes is well supported. However i hink those who believe that mental illness is a dysfunction of the brain or a genetic relic are unlikely to be convinced. I would encourage those readers to read this from the perspective that current treatment models have low long term success and that considering the socio-political and cultural factors is a necessary supplement to exploring alternative modes of treatment.
I think if you are a teenaged girl who is still very much in the disordered mindset and you sre looking to reframe this may be a useful step. However I'm not sure it will be enjoyable to more experienced readers of this sort of work. A lot of this rehashing ground I've read in other works.
I also wouldn't recommend the audiobook as the narrators desperate, affected tone of yearning and intensity really highlights the millennial personal essay stylings in the writing. That being said, there are various passages that are clever and well written with a striking turn of phrase. I wish I had read them with my eyeballs. I think the narrator really detracted from the competency of the writing.
The essay Coda is an exploration of some of the potential responses to the cultural factors earlier in the book, and I think it came to some powerful but thoughtful conclusions that are worth thinking about.
Her exploration of wellbutrin was thoughtful and well researched.
]]> 138505710
Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times.]]> 416 Naomi Klein 0374610320 E J 4 4.21 2023
author: Naomi Klein
name: E J
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 57622797

Meet Detective Zaniel Havelock, a man with the special ability to communicate directly with angels. A former trained Angel speaker, he devoted his life to serving both the celestial beings and his fellow humans with his gift, but a terrible betrayal compelled him to leave that life behind. Now he’s a cop who is still working on the side of angels. But where there are angels, there are also demons. There’s no question that there’s evil at work when he’s called in to examine the murder scene of a college student—but is it just the evil that one human being can do to another, or is it something more? When demonic possession is a possibility, even angelic protection can only go so far. The race is on to stop a killer before he finds his next victim, as Zaniel is forced to confront his own very personal demons, and the past he never truly left behind.

The first in a new series from the author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.]]> 400 Laurell K. Hamilton 1984804464 E J 1 She's also had an issue with long winding expositional conversations for years. They are boring and inhuman to read. It makes it impossible for the characters to have distinct voices from one another let alone being different from other books. At least with the Blake and Gentry series they were so long that they began before Hamilton fell into this pattern, so we had pre-established worlds and characters to take the edge off.
Another quirk that Hamilton includes in all her books these days is her grapple with religion: she seems to be a devout Christian who rail's against "organised" religion and in her attempts to be inclusive she does this sometimes interesting thing where all faiths are as real as Christianity, if we take their effects in the magical systems as proof of that anyway. But the problem is that she is so culturally Christian and all her protagonists are intensely Christian regardless of their struggles with their faith that it winds up flattening and disrespecting other religions. "Abrahamic" religions are treated as fundamentally Christian with basically the same beliefs in angels etc.
The way experience of the world is so fundamentally Christian that the inclusion of other religions makes it seem like their experience of their faith having real world manifestations are only possible by the grace of God, father of Jesus.
It's disappointing because a world where are religions manifest as true through the magic system is theoretically very interesting but Hamilton is too busy with the same old trite dialogue about cops having to use "PC" language that includes all faiths (while still boiling them down to the Good Guy vs The Enemy), and horrors being too much for the eye to understand at first, and all these things that every single one of her characters say in every single book she writes. There is no room for robust or realistic world building.
For example, tell me why the majority of this book is conversations happening in one hospital over one or two days when the world building in the conversations could be achieved by varying the location and encounters ?

I often wonder if Hamilton has gotten herself into a social bubble since becoming a famous author where nobody is willing to give her feedback and nobody exists outside of the bizarre character types she's created. If she speaks with the people I'm her life the way her characters do i magine it must be painful to converse with her. Everybody is combative, obsessed with names, and mostly devoid of individual personality.


It is frankly one of the most boring books I've attempted to read in years.]]> 3.62 2021
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: E J
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves:
review:
Hamilton needs to fire her editor. Or hire an editor at all. There is nothing distinct about the voice of this book. Somebody needs to help Hamilton catch the rote phrases and observations she uses over and over and over across her books that make all her characters sound the same.
She's also had an issue with long winding expositional conversations for years. They are boring and inhuman to read. It makes it impossible for the characters to have distinct voices from one another let alone being different from other books. At least with the Blake and Gentry series they were so long that they began before Hamilton fell into this pattern, so we had pre-established worlds and characters to take the edge off.
Another quirk that Hamilton includes in all her books these days is her grapple with religion: she seems to be a devout Christian who rail's against "organised" religion and in her attempts to be inclusive she does this sometimes interesting thing where all faiths are as real as Christianity, if we take their effects in the magical systems as proof of that anyway. But the problem is that she is so culturally Christian and all her protagonists are intensely Christian regardless of their struggles with their faith that it winds up flattening and disrespecting other religions. "Abrahamic" religions are treated as fundamentally Christian with basically the same beliefs in angels etc.
The way experience of the world is so fundamentally Christian that the inclusion of other religions makes it seem like their experience of their faith having real world manifestations are only possible by the grace of God, father of Jesus.
It's disappointing because a world where are religions manifest as true through the magic system is theoretically very interesting but Hamilton is too busy with the same old trite dialogue about cops having to use "PC" language that includes all faiths (while still boiling them down to the Good Guy vs The Enemy), and horrors being too much for the eye to understand at first, and all these things that every single one of her characters say in every single book she writes. There is no room for robust or realistic world building.
For example, tell me why the majority of this book is conversations happening in one hospital over one or two days when the world building in the conversations could be achieved by varying the location and encounters ?

I often wonder if Hamilton has gotten herself into a social bubble since becoming a famous author where nobody is willing to give her feedback and nobody exists outside of the bizarre character types she's created. If she speaks with the people I'm her life the way her characters do i magine it must be painful to converse with her. Everybody is combative, obsessed with names, and mostly devoid of individual personality.


It is frankly one of the most boring books I've attempted to read in years.
]]> 202934233 Inspired by Beauty and the Beast and the myth of Hades and Persephone, this lush and enchanting enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Scarlett St. Clair.

Wren of Edgewood is no stranger to suffering. With her parents gone, it’s Wren’s responsibility to ensure she and her sister survive the harsh and endless winter, but if the legends are to be believed, their home may not be safe for much longer.

For three hundred years, the land surrounding Edgewood has been encased in ice as the Shade, a magical barrier that protects the townsfolk from the Deadlands beyond, weakens. Only one thing can stop the Shade’s fall: the blood of a mortal woman bound in wedlock to the North Wind, a dangerous immortal whose heart is said to be as frigid as the land he rules. And the time has come to choose his bride.

When the North Wind sets his eyes on Wren’s sister, Wren will do anything to save her—even if it means sacrificing herself in the process. But mortal or not, Wren won’t go down without a fight��

The North Wind is a stand-alone, enemies-to-lovers slow-burn fantasy romance, the first in a series sprinkled with Greek mythology.]]> 448 Alexandria Warwick 1668065169 E J 2 A veneer of a fantasy society plastered over popular morally simplistic real world ideals.
For a relatively thick book I was surprised by how lazily characters, setting, and plot events were established.
If you enjoy fantasy romance that are not challenging or complicated for a fast, easy to digest read, which rely heavily on cliches so you don't have to put much work into understanding the characters or events, this is pretty fun. As far as these things go.
I spent the entire time I read this convinced I had read it before. But it was a good distraction on a long day of travel.]]> 3.51 2022
author: Alexandria Warwick
name: E J
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves:
review:
Generic, trite, unoriginal.
A veneer of a fantasy society plastered over popular morally simplistic real world ideals.
For a relatively thick book I was surprised by how lazily characters, setting, and plot events were established.
If you enjoy fantasy romance that are not challenging or complicated for a fast, easy to digest read, which rely heavily on cliches so you don't have to put much work into understanding the characters or events, this is pretty fun. As far as these things go.
I spent the entire time I read this convinced I had read it before. But it was a good distraction on a long day of travel.
]]> 24845064 401 Victoria E. Schwab 1783295414 E J 3 Bloody good

The thing that please me the most about this book was the cliches it avoided. The plot was pretty standard for a fantasy but it threw out surprises in other, more satisfying ways. ]]> 3.98 2015
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: E J
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2017/09/29
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves:
review:
Bloody good

The thing that please me the most about this book was the cliches it avoided. The plot was pretty standard for a fantasy but it threw out surprises in other, more satisfying ways.
]]> 44279110
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it ������’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.]]> 289 Ottessa Moshfegh 0525522131 E J 5 3.62 2018
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: E J
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/29
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves:
review:
Grief. Desperation. Dissociation. Dissatisfaction. Disgust. It's all here.
]]> 6514 294 Sylvia Plath 0571268862 E J 3 4.05 1963
author: Sylvia Plath
name: E J
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1963
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 807968
Molly Moon is no ordinary orphan. When she finds a mysterious old book on hypnotism, she discovers she can make people do whatever she wants. But a sinister stranger is watching her every move and he'll do anything to steal her hypnotic secret...]]> 371 Georgia Byng 0060514094 E J 3 3.92 2002
author: Georgia Byng
name: E J
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 2349302 176 Caroline B. Cooney 0590551302 E J 3 3.46
author: Caroline B. Cooney
name: E J
average rating: 3.46
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2021/08/05
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 61273822
In 1995, Hadley Freeman wrote in her “I just spent three years of my life in mental hospitals. So why am I crazier than I was before????��

From the ages of fourteen to seventeen, Freeman lived in psychiatric wards after developing anorexia nervosa. Her doctors informed her that her body was cannibalizing her muscles and heart for nutrition, but they could tell her little why she had it, what it felt like, what recovery looked like. For the next twenty years, Freeman lived as a “functioning anorexic,�� grappling with new forms of self-destructive behavior as the anorexia mutated and persisted. Anorexia is one of the most widely discussed but least understood mental illnesses. Through “sharp storytelling, solid research and gentle humor�� ( The Wall Street Journal ), Freeman delivers an incisive and bracing work that details her experiences with anorexia—the shame, fear, loneliness, and rage—and how she overcame it. She interviews doctors to learn how treatment for the illness has changed since she was hospitalized and what new discoveries have been made about the illness, including its connection to autism, OCD, and metabolic rate. She learns why the illness always begins during adolescence and how this reveals the difficulties for girls to come of age. Freeman tracks down the women with whom she was hospitalized and reports on how their recovery has progressed over decades.

Good Girls is an honest and hopeful story of resilience that offers a message to the nearly 30 million Americans who suffer from eating Life can be enjoyed, rather than merely endured.]]> 288 Hadley Freeman 1982189835 E J 2 Shallow and contradictory, I believe this was an attempt at nuance that fell short. Rather than making the point that eating disorders are nuanced and motivated by various intrinsic and extrinsic factors, the narrative presented in the book feels at tho it flip flops. It's cultural but it's not, it's genetic but it's not.
I think it reflects a very specific demographics experience and a mindset that still sort of admires anorexia.
It felt as though she was constantly falling just short of insight, drawing upon sources and thoughts but unable to get to the heart of things.]]> 3.83 2023
author: Hadley Freeman
name: E J
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/06/13
shelves:
review:
I found the messages in this book confused and nearly incoherent. Her thinking is deeply influenced by reductive ideas about transgender people and while it claims to not be about trans people and rather "gender dysphoric girls" it leans heavily on terf rhetoric and inflammatory examples that nonetheless chuck trans women under the bus, in a move that felt deeply unnecessary but did align with the theme of the entire book. That theme being inconsistency.
Shallow and contradictory, I believe this was an attempt at nuance that fell short. Rather than making the point that eating disorders are nuanced and motivated by various intrinsic and extrinsic factors, the narrative presented in the book feels at tho it flip flops. It's cultural but it's not, it's genetic but it's not.
I think it reflects a very specific demographics experience and a mindset that still sort of admires anorexia.
It felt as though she was constantly falling just short of insight, drawing upon sources and thoughts but unable to get to the heart of things.
]]> 61884932 There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This ������’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…]]> 116 T. Kingfisher 1250244099 E J 5 3.95 2023
author: T. Kingfisher
name: E J
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 41433176 207 Paul R Peluso E J 3 4.00
author: Paul R Peluso
name: E J
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/10
date added: 2024/05/18
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]]> 75715117 Selected as an Evening Standard 'one to watch in 2023'

It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place. Despite her fierce friendships, she's always felt this way, and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn't appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend.

Lucy begins to make sense of herself during a long hot summer, when a spark with her school friend Susannah escalates to an all-consuming infatuation, and, very quickly, to a desperate and devastating love.

Fearful of rejection from her small and conservative community, Lucy begins living a double life, hiding the most honest parts of herself in stolen moments with Susannah.

But with the end of school and the opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. But only one can offer her real happiness.

Sunburn is an astute and tender portrayal of first love, adolescent anxiety and the realities of growing up in a small town where tradition holds people tightly in its grasp.]]> 288 Chloe Michelle Howarth 0857308416 E J 4 4.33 2023
author: Chloe Michelle Howarth
name: E J
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/12
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves:
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]]> 55338982
What makes “cults�� so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .

Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.�� But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.

Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,�� revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish�� everywhere.]]> 309 Amanda Montell 0062993151 E J 3 3.82 2021
author: Amanda Montell
name: E J
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/14
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves:
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]]> 39216527 A lyrical debut novel from a musician and artist renowned for her sharp sexual and political imagery

Jo is in a strange new country for university, and having a more peculiar time than most. A house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems ever more alive. Jo’s sensitivity, and all her senses, become increasingly heightened and fraught, as the lines between bodies and plants, and dreaming and wakefulness, blur and mesh.

This debut novel from critically acclaimed artist and musician Jenny Hval, presents a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire. A complex, poetic and strange novel about bodies, sexuality and the female gender.]]> 160 Jenny Hval E J 3 3.49 2009
author: Jenny Hval
name: E J
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/19
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 59808605 Strangers to Ourselves, a powerful and gripping debut, Rachel Aviv raises fundamental questions about how we understand ourselves in periods of crisis and distress. Drawing on deep, original reporting as well as unpublished journals and memoirs, Aviv writes about people who have come up against the limits of psychiatric explanations for who they are. She follows an Indian woman, celebrated as a saint, who lives in healing temples in Kerala; an incarcerated mother vying for her children’s forgiveness after recovering from psychosis; a man who devotes his life to seeking revenge upon his psychoanalysts; and an affluent young woman who, after a decade of defining herself through her diagnosis, decides to go off her meds because she doesn’t know who she is without them. Animated by a profound sense of empathy, Aviv’s exploration is refracted through her own account of living in a hospital ward at the age of six and meeting a fellow patient with whom her life runs parallel―until it no longer does.

Aviv asks how the stories we tell about mental disorders shape their course in our lives. Challenging the way we understand and talk about illness, her account is a testament to the porousness and resilience of the mind.]]> 288 Rachel Aviv 0374600848 E J 5 I read this book thinking jt was written by a psychologist and was so impressed by the generous mindset towards mental disruption and the many cultural and physical factors that feed into it. I wish mental health professionals took this kind of broad mindset.
Achieves the difficult balance of casting a critical eye on the flaws in many systems of management of mental conditions without falling into dogma or demonisation. Successfully avoids shame and judgement.
I think this is a great cultural piece that stays within its scope of being journalistic rather than clinical or prescriptive.]]> 4.10 2022
author: Rachel Aviv
name: E J
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves:
review:
Thoughtful, insightful, thorough, and balanced.
I read this book thinking jt was written by a psychologist and was so impressed by the generous mindset towards mental disruption and the many cultural and physical factors that feed into it. I wish mental health professionals took this kind of broad mindset.
Achieves the difficult balance of casting a critical eye on the flaws in many systems of management of mental conditions without falling into dogma or demonisation. Successfully avoids shame and judgement.
I think this is a great cultural piece that stays within its scope of being journalistic rather than clinical or prescriptive.
]]> 125251
Born in Acre (northern Palestine) in 1936, Ghassan Kanafani was a major spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and founding editor of its weekly magazine Al-Hadaf. His novels, short stories, and plays have been published in sixteen languages. He was assassinated in a car-bomb explosion in Beirut in 1972.]]> 117 Ghassan Kanafani 0894108573 E J 0 4.34 1999
author: Ghassan Kanafani
name: E J
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/17
shelves: to-read, 2020-tbr-currently-owned
review:

]]> 59785590 Fix your health with fibre not fads - the instant New York Times bestseller

The benefits of restrictive diets like paleo and keto have been touted for more than a decade, but as award-winning gastroenterologist Dr Will Bulsiewicz, or 'Dr B', illuminates in this groundbreaking book, the explosion of studies on the microbiome show that elimination diets are in fact hazardous to our health. What research clearly indicates is that gut health is the key to boosting our metabolism, balancing our hormones and taming the inflammation that causes a host of diseases. And the scientifically proven way to fuel our guts is with dietary fibre from an abundant variety of colourful plants.

As a former junk-food junkie, Dr B knows first-hand the power of fibre to dramatically transform our health and the good news is that our guts can be trained. Fibre-rich, real foods - fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts and legumes - start working quickly and maintain your long-term health, promote weight loss and allow you to thrive and feel great from the inside out.

Fibre Fuelled is so much more than a health book: it's a step-by-step methodology to stop the misinformation caused by the diet industry and to show you the simple, science-backed process for a lifestyle that is effortless, sustainable and above all else transforms your health by optimizing your gut microbiome.

With a 28-day jumpstart programme that includes menus, over 70 plant-fuelled recipes, essential advice on food sensitivities and detailed shopping lists, Fibre Fuelled offers the blueprint to start turbocharging your gut for lifelong health.]]> 400 Will Bulsiewicz 178504415X E J 2 While I believe the evidence in favour of the high fibre plant based diet at least having some positive health impacts, as well as the benefits of exercise, I struggle with the repeated failure to engage in analysis of the systemic, environmental, financial, and racial components of health. It is so American to have this attitude of personal responsibility and to support this myth that if you just take control and do the right thing you WILL have perfect health.
It's a view of health that rings narrow, shallow, and aesthetic based to me.]]> 4.25 2020
author: Will Bulsiewicz
name: E J
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/11/29
shelves:
review:
It's fascinating how often Americans, especially american medical professionals, talk about their health care system and its failures and come to the conclusion that its diet and lack of preventative care that has them all so fucked up, meanwhile actively mentioning the problems with their punishing academic system that drains them dry and leaves them broke followed by the profit incentive baked into their healthcare system that "penalises" drs for giving nutrition advice by not giving them option to charge clients for it, and failing to take into account how their poor health out comes compared to other countries may be largely due to financial barriers to care, and class.
While I believe the evidence in favour of the high fibre plant based diet at least having some positive health impacts, as well as the benefits of exercise, I struggle with the repeated failure to engage in analysis of the systemic, environmental, financial, and racial components of health. It is so American to have this attitude of personal responsibility and to support this myth that if you just take control and do the right thing you WILL have perfect health.
It's a view of health that rings narrow, shallow, and aesthetic based to me.
]]> 101145468 From the bestselling author of Fight Club comes a hilarious horror satire about a family of professional killers responsible for the most atrocious events in history and the young brothers that are destined to take over.Meet Otto and Cecil. Two brothers growing up privileged in the Welsh countryside. They enjoy watching nature shows, playing with their pet pony, impersonating their Grandfather...and killing the help. Murder is the family business after all. Downton Abbey, this is not. However, it’s not so easy to continue the family legacy with the constant stream of threats and distractions seemingly leaping from the hedgerow. First there is the matter of the veritable cavalcade of escaped convicts that keep showing up at their door. Not to mention the debaucherous new tutor who has a penchant for speaking in Greek and dismembering sex dolls. Then there’s Mummy’s burgeoning opioid addiction. And who knows where Daddy is. He just vanished one day after he and Mummy took a walk in the so called “Ghost Forest.�� With Grandfather putting pressure on Otto to step up, it becomes clear that this will all end in only two a nuclear apocalypse or just another day among the creeping thistle and tree peonies. And in a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, either are equally possible.]]> 256 Chuck Palahniuk 1668021412 E J 3
What I don't think is deliberate is how trite a lot of the events feel. Gross for grossness' sake. A desperate attempt to disturb. When I read a work like this I'm seeking the visceral discomfort I felt when reading parts American Psycho (butchering of a woman) or Needful Things (two women literally butchering eachother with the appropriate tool: a meat cleaver).
There is a level of 80s style irony and shock tactics in Palanhiuks work that means his horrible concepts never really upset or disturb me.

But I enjoyed the odd, repetitive style of slowly unveiling events. The perspective the narrative is told through is effective at creating an atmosphere of niave isolation, manipulation; a mind and world shaped by abuse and entitlement and brainwashing. The themes, political and social, were present as expected in his writing. It was not a shallow or randomly constructed book, thats for sure. This metaphor for addiction, for pain, is quite robust and layered.]]> 3.09 2023
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: E J
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/10/29
date added: 2023/10/28
shelves:
review:
Palahniuk should be a breathe of fresh air in this puritanical literary climate. His work remains gross, grizzly, wry, and heavily stylised. The hollow and dull quality to the writing of this depraved, sensational work, makes the ridiculously over the top shock value events feel run of the mill. I think this is a clever and deliberate trick. Palahniuks main talent, in my eyes, is the ability to ground the gratuitous nonsense and make it the normal daily life of his deranged protagonists.

What I don't think is deliberate is how trite a lot of the events feel. Gross for grossness' sake. A desperate attempt to disturb. When I read a work like this I'm seeking the visceral discomfort I felt when reading parts American Psycho (butchering of a woman) or Needful Things (two women literally butchering eachother with the appropriate tool: a meat cleaver).
There is a level of 80s style irony and shock tactics in Palanhiuks work that means his horrible concepts never really upset or disturb me.

But I enjoyed the odd, repetitive style of slowly unveiling events. The perspective the narrative is told through is effective at creating an atmosphere of niave isolation, manipulation; a mind and world shaped by abuse and entitlement and brainwashing. The themes, political and social, were present as expected in his writing. It was not a shallow or randomly constructed book, thats for sure. This metaphor for addiction, for pain, is quite robust and layered.
]]> 11559200 A Discovery of Witches�� cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes Diana and Matthew on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782 deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew’s past tightens around them, and they embark on a very different—and vastly more dangerous—journey.]]> 584 Deborah Harkness 0670023485 E J 1 4.04 2012
author: Deborah Harkness
name: E J
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2012
rating: 1
read at: 2023/10/11
date added: 2023/10/28
shelves:
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]]> 57347034 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.


It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches.

Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew in the stunning first volume of the No.1 internationally bestselling ALL SOULS trilogy.

A world of witches, daemons and vampires.

A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future.

Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it.

When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it's an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she's kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires.

Sensing the significance of Diana's discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire geneticist.

Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels...]]> 610 Deborah Harkness E J 2 4.21 2011
author: Deborah Harkness
name: E J
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2023/09/18
date added: 2023/10/28
shelves:
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It is stunning how a series with such a fun concept can be so boring. The second book is worse.
]]> 30244 368 Laurell K. Hamilton 0425209067 E J 1 4.14 1997
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: E J
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1997
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/10/21
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]]> 466839
In the smash hit She Comes First, Ian Kerner singlehandedly waged battle against male sexual "ill-cliteracy," and women everywhere benefited from his "viva la vulva" philosophy of female pleasure. Now, in Passionista, it's time to learn all about what turns men onand makes them stay on. In this point-by-point, "blow-by-blow" guide, Kerner makes giving as much fun as receiving as he covers every angle of male sexuality, unlocks the secrets of satisfaction, and offers knowledgeable answers to the questions every woman wonders about. His advice is the closest you'll ever come to waking up in a guy's skin and knowing what truly makes him sexually tick.

Written in the same witty, insightful, and utterly readable voice that has made She Comes First and Be Honest so popular, Passionista is the empowered woman's guide to enjoying sex to the fullest]]> 240 Ian Kerner 0060784563 E J 2 3.69 2006
author: Ian Kerner
name: E J
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/18
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
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I read this out of curiosity because I was seeing it every time I looked for audio books on Libby. Startlingly heterosexual but I could see how this would provide some interesting points to work off of and ideas of what to do for somebody.
]]> 18006496
She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.]]> 648 Sarah J. Maas 1619636042 E J 0 4.56 2015
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: E J
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/29
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
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]]> 17167166 "A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.]]> 420 Sarah J. Maas 1619630621 E J 0 4.35 2013
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: E J
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/25
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
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]]> 20613470 565 Sarah J. Maas 1619630656 E J 0 4.47 2014
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: E J
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/28
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
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]]> 7896527 Meet Celaena Sardothien.

Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, Celaena, an assassin, is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 406 Sarah J. Maas E J 0 4.19 2012
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: E J
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/26
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 18492859 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author who has kept readers on the edge of their seats with her phenomenal Fallen Angels novels, comes one of the most heart-stirring and eagerly anticipated events in that acclaimed series.

The Creator invented the game, and the stakes are nothing less than the fate of the quick and the dead: seven souls, seven crossroads. Reluctant savior Jim Heron has compromised himself, his body and his soul, and yet he’s on the verge of losing everything...

...Including Sissy, the innocent he freed from Hell. Jim’s determined to protect her—but this makes her a weakness the demon Devina can exploit. With Jim torn between the game and the woman he’s sworn to defend, evil’s more than ready to play dirty.

Humanity’s savior is prepared to do anything to win—even embark on a suicide mission into the shadows of Purgatory. True love is Jim’s only hope for survival—and victory. But can a man with no heart and no soul be saved by something he doesn’t believe in?]]> 388 J.R. Ward 0451241169 E J 0 4.24 2014
author: J.R. Ward
name: E J
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/22
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 21849362
iAm’s sole goal has always been to keep his brother from self-destructing- and he knows he’s failed. It’s not until the Chosen Serena enters Trez’s life that the male begins to turn things around... but by then it’s too late. The pledge to mate the Queen’s daughter comes due and there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no negotiating.

Trapped between his heart and a fate he never volunteered for, Trez must decide whether to endanger himself and others- or forever leave behind the female he’s in love with. But then an unimaginable tragedy strikes and changes everything. Staring out over an emotional abyss, Trez must find a reason to go on or risk losing himself and his soul forever. And iAm, in the name of brotherly love, is faced with making the ultimate sacrifice...]]> 590 J.R. Ward E J 1 4.29 2015
author: J.R. Ward
name: E J
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 1
read at: 2023/06/27
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
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]]> 59012057
Part revisionist history, part historical biography and based on the hugely popular podcast series, Bad Gays subverts the notion of gay icons and queer heroes and asks what we can learn about LGBTQ history, sexuality and identity through its villains and baddies. From the Emperor Hadrian to notorious gangster Ronnie Kray, the authors excavate the buried history of queer lives. This includes fascist thugs, famous artists, austere puritans and debauched bon viveurs, imperialists, G-men and architects.

Together these amazing life stories expand and challenge the mainstream assumptions of sexual identity. They show that homosexuality itself was an idea that emerged in the nineteenth century and that its interpretation has been central to major historical moments of conflict from the ruptures of Weimar Republic to red-baiting in Cold War America.

Amusing, disturbing and fascinating, Bad Gays puts centre stage the queer villains and evil twinks in history.]]> 368 Huw Lemmey 1839763272 E J 3 There are limitations to this concept and some queries they pose seem silly, eg why do we remember Oscar Wilde rather than his nightmare bigot ex.]]> 3.56 2022
author: Huw Lemmey
name: E J
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/24
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
review:
The audiobool for this is messed up with multiple takes of some lines left in, but it's an interesting concept and the profiles were well done aside from the murkiness around "bad"ness. Some turns of phrase were very funny like a detail about somebody fucki g a catburglar.
There are limitations to this concept and some queries they pose seem silly, eg why do we remember Oscar Wilde rather than his nightmare bigot ex.
]]> 56293870 Join thousands of readers and learn��about the��foundations of sustainable excellence and��concrete habits for peak performance and a more genuine kind of success.


“A thoughtful, actionable book for pursuing more excellence with less angst."
–Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

"This book gets to the heart of the matter." –Ryan Holiday, New York Times bestselling author of Stillness Is the Key and Ego Is the Enemy

"This book taps into something that so many of us feel but can't articulate." –Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global

"Ambitious, far-reaching, and impactful. –David Epstein, New York Times bestselling author of Range and The Sports Gene

From the bestselling author of Peak Performance comes a powerful antidote to heroic individualism and the ensuing epidemic of burnout.

Achievement often comes at a cost. Angst, restlessness, frayed relationships, exhaustion, and even substance abuse can be the unwanted side effects of an obsession with outward performance. While the high of occasional wins can keep you going for a while, playing into the always-on, never enough hustle culture ultimately takes a serious toll.

In The Practice of Groundedness, bestselling author Brad Stulberg shares a healthier, more sustainable model for success. At the heart of this model is groundedness—a practice that values presence over rote productivity, accepts that progress is nonlinear, and prioritizes long-term values and fulfillment over short-term gain. To be grounded is to possess a firm and unwavering foundation, a resolute sense of self from which deep and enduring, not shallow and superficial, success can be found. Groundedness does not eliminate ambition and striving; rather, it situates these qualities and channels them in more meaningful ways.

Interweaving case studies, modern science, and time-honored lessons from ancient wisdom traditions such as Buddhism, Stoicism, and Taoism, Stulberg teaches readers how to cultivate the habits and practices of a more grounded life. Readers will learn:

- Why patience is the key to getting where you want to go faster—in work and life—and how to develop it, pushing back against the culture's misguided obsession with speed and "hacks."
- How to utilize the lens of the wise observer in order to overcome delusion and resistance to clearly see and accept where you are—which is the key to more effectively getting where you want to go
- Why embracing vulnerability is the key to genuine strength and confidence
- The critical importance of "deep community," or cultivating a sense of belonging and connection to people, places, and causes.

Provocative and practical, The Practice of Groundedness is the necessary corrective to the frenetic pace and endemic burnout resulting from contemporary definitions of success. It offers a new—and better—way.

]]> 288 Brad Stulberg 0593329899 E J 3 4.11 2021
author: Brad Stulberg
name: E J
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves:
review:
Accessible, entry level, easy to digest with many solid ideas and bits of advice. I do constantly wonder at the integration of bhuddism and mindfulness etc etc. Into stories of corporate success. I'm not sure this book fully buys into what it's selling re: letting go of wanting gains.
]]> 30008950 This wise, stirring book argues that the search for meaning can immeasurably deepen our lives and is far more fulfilling than the pursuit of personal happiness.

There is a myth in our culture that the search for meaning is some esoteric pursuit that you have to travel to a distant monastery or page through dusty volumes to figure out life s great secret. The truth is, there are untapped sources of meaning all around us right here, right now. Drawing on the latest research in positive psychology; on insights from George Eliot, Viktor Frankl, Aristotle, the Buddha, and other great minds; and on interviews with seekers of meaning, Emily Esfahani Smith lays out the four pillars upon which meaning rests.

Belonging We all need to find our tribe and forge relationships in which we feel understood, recognized, and valued to know we matter to others.

Purpose We all need a far-reaching goal that motivates us, serves as the organizing principle of our lives, and drives us to make a contribution to the world.

Storytelling We are all storytellers, taking our disparate experiences and assembling them into a coherent narrative that allows us to make sense of ourselves and the world.

Transcendence During a transcendent or mystical experience, we feel we have risen above the everyday world and are connected to something vast and meaningful.

To bring those concepts to life, Smith visits a tight-knit fishing village on the Chesapeake Bay, stargazes in West Texas, attends a dinner where young people gather to share their experiences of untimely loss, and more. And she explores how we might begin to build a culture of meaning in our schools, our workplaces, and our communities.

Inspiring and story-driven, The Power of Meaning will strike a profound chord in anyone seeking a richer, more satisfying life."]]> 304 Emily Esfahani Smith 0553419994 E J 3 4.00 2017
author: Emily Esfahani Smith
name: E J
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/20
date added: 2023/08/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 10993282 shellan, Tohrment has been unrecognizable from the vampire leader he once was. Physically emaciated and heartbroken beyond despair, he has been brought back to the Brotherhood by a self-serving fallen angel. Now, fighting once again with ruthless vengeance, he is unprepared to face a new kind of tragedy.

When Tohr begins to see his beloved in his dreams—trapped in a cold, isolated netherworld far from the peace and tranquillity of the Fade—he turns to the angel in hopes of saving the one he has lost. But because Lassiter tells him he must learn to love another to free his former mate, Tohr knows they are all doomed....

Except then a female with a shadowed history begins to get through to him. Against the backdrop of the raging war with the lessers, and with a new clan of vampires vying for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between the buried past and a very hot, passion-filled future…but can his heart let go and set all of them free?]]> 572 J.R. Ward 0451235843 E J 2 4.32 2012
author: J.R. Ward
name: E J
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/20
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 5098079 527 J.R. Ward 0451225856 E J 2 4.36 2009
author: J.R. Ward
name: E J
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/18
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 57402618 ��
The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much—or too little—sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that virginity was the ideal state. Holy men and women committed themselves to lifelong abstinence in the name of religion. Everyone was forced to conform to restrictive rules about who they could have sex with, in what way, how often, and even when, and could be harshly punished for getting it wrong. Other experiences are more familiar. Like us, medieval people faced challenges in finding a suitable partner or trying to get pregnant (or trying not to). They also struggled with many of the same social issues, such as whether prostitution should be legalized. Above all, they shared our fondness for dirty jokes and erotic images. By exploring their sex lives, the book brings ordinary medieval people to life and reveals details of their most personal thoughts and experiences. Ultimately, it provides us with an important and intimate connection to the past.]]> 320 Katherine Harvey 1789144892 E J 4 There were some moments, like referring to Harvey Weinstein as Harry, that held it back from 5 star.]]> 3.98
author: Katherine Harvey
name: E J
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/19
date added: 2023/03/18
shelves:
review:
Very interesting. Mostly based off court records. I enjoyed seeing the mediaval attempts to reason out biological science (not that they called it that) and thinking about how some of the things in this book contribute to modern day beliefs.
There were some moments, like referring to Harvey Weinstein as Harry, that held it back from 5 star.
]]> 55332285
Everywhere we look, companies and governments are spying on us--seeking information about us and everyone we know. Ad networks monitor our web-surfing to send us "more relevant" ads. The NSA screens our communications for signs of radicalism. Schools track students' emails to stop school shootings. Cameras guard every street corner and traffic light, and drones fly in our skies. Databases of human information are assembled for purposes of "training" artificial intelligence programs designed to predict everything from traffic patterns to the location of undocumented migrants. We're even tracking ourselves, using personal electronics like Apple watches, Fitbits, and other gadgets that have made the "quantified self" a realistic possibility. As Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg once put it, "the Age of Privacy is over." But Zuckerberg and others who say "privacy is dead" are wrong. In Why Privacy Matters , Neil Richards explains that privacy isn't dead, but rather up for grabs.

Richards shows how the fight for privacy is a fight for power that will determine what our future will look like, and whether it will remain fair and free. If we want to build a digital society that is consistent with our hard-won commitments to political freedom, individuality, and human flourishing, then we must make a meaningful commitment to privacy. Privacy matters because good privacy rules can promote the essential human values of identity, power, freedom, and trust. If we want to preserve our commitments to these precious yet fragile values, we will need privacy rules. Richards explains why privacy remains so important and offers strategies that can help us protect it from the forces that are working to undermine it. Pithy and forceful, this is essential reading for anyone interested in a topic that sits at the center of so many current problems.]]> 304 Neil Richards 0190939044 E J 3 Startlingly Amererican. He at one point suggests that the FBI doesn't use illegal surveillance except in the case of overzealous individuals at one point I believe, and also prone to misunderstanding or misrepresenting modern cultural issues like cancel culture and the millenial/boomer tension.
I would recommend this as a good introduction, because the American tendency towards aggressive and invasive surveillance affects all of us who are users of American tech (everybody on Amazon owned goodreads, for eg). It is a fairly neutral read compared to other books on this subject, with extremely mild views on companies/governments/actors against privacy, with very mild and uncontroversial political views (unless you're a Trump supporter I guess).]]> 4.01
author: Neil Richards
name: E J
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/13
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves:
review:
Interesting and highly accessible, this book simplifies a lot of important ideas.
Startlingly Amererican. He at one point suggests that the FBI doesn't use illegal surveillance except in the case of overzealous individuals at one point I believe, and also prone to misunderstanding or misrepresenting modern cultural issues like cancel culture and the millenial/boomer tension.
I would recommend this as a good introduction, because the American tendency towards aggressive and invasive surveillance affects all of us who are users of American tech (everybody on Amazon owned goodreads, for eg). It is a fairly neutral read compared to other books on this subject, with extremely mild views on companies/governments/actors against privacy, with very mild and uncontroversial political views (unless you're a Trump supporter I guess).
]]> 24728470 M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, we travel to Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico; to the fertile moon terrain of Iceland; to a ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York's Far Rockaway that Smith acquires just before Hurricane Sandy hits; to the West 4th Street subway station, filled with the sounds of the Velvet Underground after the death of Lou Reed; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud, and Mishima.

Woven throughout are reflections on the writer's craft and on artistic creation. Here, too, are singular memories of Smith's life in Michigan and the irremediable loss of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith.

Braiding despair with hope and consolation, illustrated with her signature Polaroids, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature, and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable multiplatform artists at work today.]]> 256 Patti Smith 1101875100 E J 5 The way the stories wove together through travel, grief, items, memories, journeys to meet and honour valued figures in literature and art, musings and malaise in the present and major events from war to weather, was clever and expansive. I always feel when reading her work that her mind is enviable, and her passion and simple, keen observations are well supported by her strange travels and habits.
This is the first book in a long time that I felt utterly absorbed in as I walked around listening, and it was inspiring. There is something so mundane and yet so huge about the topics she weaves together. I really admire her as one of the greats of her style.]]> 4.00 2015
author: Patti Smith
name: E J
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/16
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves:
review:
Smith had the rhythm of the beats and I think she is served well, like kerouac, but audio storytelling. Listening to the audio book was charming and engaging and sad, with her unusual accent (she pronounced drawing like drawling, among other things) and tendency towards occasionally sounding exactly like Daria.
The way the stories wove together through travel, grief, items, memories, journeys to meet and honour valued figures in literature and art, musings and malaise in the present and major events from war to weather, was clever and expansive. I always feel when reading her work that her mind is enviable, and her passion and simple, keen observations are well supported by her strange travels and habits.
This is the first book in a long time that I felt utterly absorbed in as I walked around listening, and it was inspiring. There is something so mundane and yet so huge about the topics she weaves together. I really admire her as one of the greats of her style.
]]> 884288
The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought about by the revolutionary treatise "What I did on My Holidays." Workers are uniting, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes. War (and Clancy) are spreading throughout the ancient cities.

And all that stands in the way of terrible doom for everyone is:

Rincewind the Wizard, who can't even spell the word "wizard"...

Cohen the barbarian hero, five foot tall in his surgical sandals, who has had a lifetime's experience of not dying...

...and a very special butterfly.]]> 368 Terry Pratchett 0061056901 E J 2 It felt like he didn't yet trust readers to get his jokes.
The role of luck and fate and chance in this story is interesting and less bothersome than many books that rely on the protagonist stumbling into the right place at the right time.
I think if I had read this one as a child in the 90s would have enjoyed it but now it felt really underwhelming, despite the frightening relevance of being cursed to lice in interesting times.]]> 4.14 1994
author: Terry Pratchett
name: E J
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1994
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/15
date added: 2023/03/15
shelves:
review:
A talented write and story teller for sure but this is one of my least favourites. Unfortunately the racism is kind of to be expected from 90s fantasy by an English author and I believe there was a good deal of subversion of normal fantasy tropes around 'Oriental' stereotypes but as a modern reader I find it, and the nastiness around the fat sumo wrestlers, boring and unpleasant. Also the Australians and comments about them were ... odd.
It felt like he didn't yet trust readers to get his jokes.
The role of luck and fate and chance in this story is interesting and less bothersome than many books that rely on the protagonist stumbling into the right place at the right time.
I think if I had read this one as a child in the 90s would have enjoyed it but now it felt really underwhelming, despite the frightening relevance of being cursed to lice in interesting times.
]]> 20949594 Selected for the inaugural Fence Modern Prize in Prose by Rivka Galchen.

Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue is in the hold, still too drunk to be sure of name or situation or orientation—he may have killed a man. That man may have been his best friend. Intolerable memory accompanies sobriety. A-sail on the high seas of literary tradition, Ottessa Moshfegh gives us a nasty heartless blackguard on a knife-sharp voyage through the fogs of recollection.

They said I've done something wrong? . . . And they've just left me down here to starve. They'll see this inanition and be so damned they'll fall to my feet and pass up hot cross buns slathered in fresh butter and beg I forgive them. All of them . . . : the entire world one by one. Like a good priest I'll pat their heads and nod. I'll dunk my skull into a barrel of gin.

Ottessa Moshfegh was awarded the 2013 Plimpton Discovery Prize for her stories in the Paris Review and a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is currently a Wallace Stegner fellow at Stanford, and lives in Oakland, California.
]]> 118 Ottessa Moshfegh 1934200859 E J 0 to-read 3.33 2014
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: E J
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 788586 Woolgathering tells of a youngster finding herself as she learns the noble vocation of woolgathering, a worthy calling that seemed a good job for me. She discovers often at night, often in nature the pleasures of rescuing a fleeting thought. Deeply moving, Woolgathering calls up our own memories, as the child glimpses and gleans, piecing together a crazy quilt of truths. Smith introduces us to her tribe, a race of cloud dwellers, and to the fierce, vital pleasures of cloud watching and stargazing and wandering.

A radiant new autobiographical piece, Two Worlds (which was not in the original 1992 Hanuman edition of Woolgathering), and the author's photographs and illustrations are also included.

Woolgathering celebrates the sacred nature of creation with Smith's beautiful style, acclaimed as glorious (NPR), spellbinding (Booklist), rare and ferocious (Salon), and shockingly beautiful (New York Magazine).]]> 80 Patti Smith 0937815470 E J 0 to-read 3.94 1992
author: Patti Smith
name: E J
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 49933298 ‘I mean who cares about opinions, gossip, whatever, when bodies are so vulnerable, in search only of love and breath.��

The body frequently escapes her, but is always very much present in these compellingly vivid, clear-eyed essays on an embodied self in flight through the world, from the brilliant young writer Ellena Savage.

In Portuguese police stations and Portland college campuses, in suburban Melbourne libraries and wintry Berlin apartments, Savage shows bodies in pain and in love, bodies at work and at rest.

She circles back to scenes of crimes or near-crimes, to lovers or near-lovers, to turn over the stones, reread the paperwork, check the deeds, approach from another angle altogether. These essays traverse cities and spaces, bodies and histories, moving through forms and modes to find a closer kind of truth. Blueberries is ripe with acid, promise, and sweetness.]]> 256 Ellena Savage 1912854678 E J 0 to-read 3.53 2020
author: Ellena Savage
name: E J
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 76546 Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

From Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Louise Glück, a stunningly beautiful collection of poems that encompasses the natural, human, and spiritual realms

Bound together by the universal themes of time and mortality and with clarity and sureness of craft, Louise Glück's poetry questions, explores, and finally celebrates the ordeal of being alive.]]> 65 Louise Glück 0880013346 E J 0 to-read 4.22 1992
author: Louise Glück
name: E J
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 10252302 ��
Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to Quintana’s wedding in New York seven years before. Today would be her wedding anniversary. This fact triggers vivid snapshots of Quintana’s childhood—in Malibu, in Brentwood, at school in Holmby Hills. Reflecting on her daughter but also on her role as a parent, Didion asks the candid questions any parent might about how she feels she failed either because cues were not taken or perhaps displaced. “How could I have missed what was clearly there to be seen?�� Finally, perhaps we all remain unknown to each other. Seamlessly woven in are incidents Didion sees as underscoring her own age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept.
��
Blue Nights—the long, light evening hours that signal the summer solstice, “the opposite of the dying of the brightness, but also its warning”—like The Year of Magical Thinking before it, is an iconic book of incisive and electric honesty, haunting and profoundly moving.]]> 208 Joan Didion 0307267679 E J 0 to-read 3.92 2011
author: Joan Didion
name: E J
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 20821239
Herons, sparrows, owls, and kingfishers flit across the page in meditations on love, artistry, and impermanence. Whether considering a bird’s nest, the seeming patience of oak trees, or the artworks of Franz Marc, Oliver reminds us of the transformative power of attention and how much can be contained within the smallest moments.



At its heart, Blue Horses asks what it means to truly belong to this world, to live in it attuned to all its changes. Humorous, gentle, and always honest, Oliver is a visionary of the natural world.]]> 79 Mary Oliver 1594204799 E J 0 to-read 4.28 2014
author: Mary Oliver
name: E J
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 29358559 Upstream finds beloved poet Mary Oliver reflecting on her astonishment and admiration for the natural world and the craft of writing. ��

As she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor, finding solace and safety within the woods, and the joyful and rhythmic beating of wings, Oliver intimately shares with her readers her quiet discoveries, boundless curiosity, and exuberance for the grandeur of our world.��

This radiant collection of her work, with some pieces published here for the first time, reaffirms Oliver as a passionate and prolific observer whose thoughtful meditations on spiders, writing a poem, blue fin tuna, and Ralph Waldo Emerson inspire us all to discover wonder and awe in life's smallest corners.]]> 178 Mary Oliver 1594206708 E J 0 to-read 4.17 2016
author: Mary Oliver
name: E J
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 57693639 Pure Colour is a galaxy of a novel: explosive, celestially bright, huge, and streaked with beauty. It is a contemporary bible, an atlas of feeling, and an absurdly funny guide to the great (and terrible) things about being alive. Sheila Heti is a philosopher of modern experience, and she has reimagined what a book can hold.

Here we are, just living in the first draft of Creation, which was made by some great artist, who is now getting ready to tear it apart.

In this first draft of the world, a woman named Mira leaves home to study. There, she meets Annie, whose tremendous power opens Mira’s chest like a portal—to what, she doesn’t know. When Mira is older, her beloved father dies, and his spirit passes into her. Together, they become a leaf on a tree. But photosynthesis gets boring, and being alive is a problem that cannot be solved, even by a leaf. Eventually, Mira must remember the human world she’s left behind, including Annie, and choose whether or not to return.]]> 224 Sheila Heti 0374603944 E J 0 to-read 3.46 2022
author: Sheila Heti
name: E J
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> 24945396
A book of bravado and introspection, of 21st century feminist swagger and harrowing terror and loss, this fourth collection considers how we build our identities out of place and human contact—tracing in intimate detail the various ways the speaker’s sense of self both shifts and perseveres as she moves from New York City to rural Kentucky, loses a dear parent, ages past the capriciousness of youth, and falls in love. Limón has often been a poet who wears her heart on her sleeve, but in these extraordinary poems that heart becomes a “huge beating genius machine�� striving to embrace and understand the fullness of the present moment. “I am beautiful. I am full of love. I am dying,�� the poet writes. Building on the legacies of forebears such as Frank O’Hara, Sharon Olds, and Mark Doty, Limón’s work is consistently generous and accessible—though every observed moment feels complexly thought, felt, and lived.]]> 105 Ada Limon 1571314717 E J 0 to-read 4.21 2015
author: Ada Limon
name: E J
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62963 178 Eve Babitz E J 0 to-read 4.12 1977
author: Eve Babitz
name: E J
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 25489025
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.]]> 188 Han Kang 0553448188 E J 5 3.61 2007
author: Han Kang
name: E J
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/31
date added: 2022/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 50548197
A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) �� until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets.

There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate�� or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere.

El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.]]> 320 Naomi Novik 0593128486 E J 3 Opens to 22 pages of near solid exposition and a character with enough "I'm not like the other protagonist girl" energy that it was difficult not to give up. I wish that the introduction to this world, character, story, had been different. Noviks writing style made it sometimes difficult, including a tendency to interrupt important moments of tension building to drop in long explanations that persisted until about halfway through. Then the book started to settle into itself a bit better until it unfortunately wound up rushing the climactic scenes to the point that I had to read one part a second time to check whether I'd accidentally skipped something.
I wondered if Novik needed another 200 pages to give herself time to settle into this world and give her characters depth. It felt like she wanted more time to build the world.
The main character is a young woman who is prophesied to be a bringer of great destruction and she's fighting against her own rage, natural inclination for destructive power, and the ruthless system she exists within to survive. Eventually I felt the depth of this character, her past and her true nature coming together in conflict to shape her internal conflict and growth in a satisfying way. I think my wariness about the edginess of this character came from other novels that use this character model poorly, and that actually the edginess and extreme power she holds were appropriately grounded, explained, explored .
After an underwhelming start it did wind up being compelling and engrossing, i read it in one go, and felt a sense of impending doom as i noticed how few pages were left and how many major events still needed to be resolved. However, she pulled it back together in the final chapter and managed to end on a cliff hanger that made me want to pick up the second installment. I think the second book will be significantly better.]]> 3.93 2020
author: Naomi Novik
name: E J
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/29
date added: 2022/12/28
shelves:
review:
I don't know if other people from Aotearoa find the use of "mana" as a term for magical spirit majorly annoying, but I do and it really took me out of things. I appreciated the inclusion of many cultures and languages as thats often missing from these sorts of stories, but I wondered if there were other gaffs that I missed due to not knowing enough about those cultures.
Opens to 22 pages of near solid exposition and a character with enough "I'm not like the other protagonist girl" energy that it was difficult not to give up. I wish that the introduction to this world, character, story, had been different. Noviks writing style made it sometimes difficult, including a tendency to interrupt important moments of tension building to drop in long explanations that persisted until about halfway through. Then the book started to settle into itself a bit better until it unfortunately wound up rushing the climactic scenes to the point that I had to read one part a second time to check whether I'd accidentally skipped something.
I wondered if Novik needed another 200 pages to give herself time to settle into this world and give her characters depth. It felt like she wanted more time to build the world.
The main character is a young woman who is prophesied to be a bringer of great destruction and she's fighting against her own rage, natural inclination for destructive power, and the ruthless system she exists within to survive. Eventually I felt the depth of this character, her past and her true nature coming together in conflict to shape her internal conflict and growth in a satisfying way. I think my wariness about the edginess of this character came from other novels that use this character model poorly, and that actually the edginess and extreme power she holds were appropriately grounded, explained, explored .
After an underwhelming start it did wind up being compelling and engrossing, i read it in one go, and felt a sense of impending doom as i noticed how few pages were left and how many major events still needed to be resolved. However, she pulled it back together in the final chapter and managed to end on a cliff hanger that made me want to pick up the second installment. I think the second book will be significantly better.
]]> 55660420 Before Midnight. When a spot on the show needs filling ASAP, Cindy volunteers, hoping it might help jump-start her fashion career, or at least give her something to do while her peers land jobs in the world of high fashion.

Turns out being the only plus size woman on a reality dating competition makes a splash, and soon Cindy becomes a body positivity icon for women everywhere. What she doesn't expect? That she may just find inspiration-and love-in the process. Ultimately, Cindy learns that if the shoe doesn't fit, maybe it's time to design your own.]]> 304 Julie Murphy 1368050387 E J 0 3.88 2021
author: Julie Murphy
name: E J
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/11/13
date added: 2022/12/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 45892228
Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me.

Which could spell death for us all.

Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally—as the bait.]]> 575 Tracy Wolff 1640638954 E J 1 3.72 2020
author: Tracy Wolff
name: E J
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at: 2022/11/09
date added: 2022/12/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 39679076 In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next.]]> 403 Erin A. Craig 1984831925 E J 3 3.89 2019
author: Erin A. Craig
name: E J
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/11
date added: 2022/12/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 43411099
So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.

But online dating ������’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine�� and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship...but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.]]> 384 Christina Lauren 0349422745 E J 2 The main characters lies and guilt about it made me squirm with discomfort but it was undermined by knowing so much about the other party's feelings and motivations.
Also the inclusion of modern references and dating apps often makes these sorts of stories a bit cringey. The references date so rapidly.]]> 3.57 2018
author: Christina Lauren
name: E J
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2022/11/19
date added: 2022/11/18
shelves:
review:
Enjoyable but let down by having the perspective of both main characters. You know each of their feelings so transparently right from the start that it sucks a lot of the tension out of the book.
The main characters lies and guilt about it made me squirm with discomfort but it was undermined by knowing so much about the other party's feelings and motivations.
Also the inclusion of modern references and dating apps often makes these sorts of stories a bit cringey. The references date so rapidly.
]]> 18693771 A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing.

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.]]> 464 Bessel van der Kolk 0670785938 E J 2 Don't read it if you are unable to handle being reminded of how cruel and dehumanising the field of psychiatry can be, and historically has been to its patients. There are descriptions of patients being treated poorly in ways that persist to this day that are sad and disappointing. I respect the author for his role in trying to change this landscape.
If you can't accept that those who have done terrible things can experience trauma and deserve opportunities to rehabilitate and recover, even if only to prevent their continued abuse of others, don't read this book. It is a common criticism I see that he worked with soldiers who had done terrible things and still tried to help them, and might even hope we sympathise with them. I find it childish and narrow minded to have that reaction. Trauma is not something that happens only to 'good' people, caused by 'bad' people.
This book is valuable for those of people who have been to a lot of therapy and never been offered anything other than talk therapy, cbt, and maybe dbt. Or who had practitioners who did not explain those therapies and their function. I think the last section in particular can offer hope for recovery by outlining possibilities for alternative, effective treatments for trauma or mental illness. HOWEVER I'm not sure it treats carefully enough certain issues like the possibility of creating false memories, retraumatisation, etc.
I don't believe that the things I've warned about make this book a failure or shouldn't have been included but I do think the sort of audience who will be attracted to this work should be careful. I would recommend picking this up if you have the support of a therapist with whom you will be able to discuss ideas from the book, and find out with them what might be appropriate for you to try out. Ask a professional about the viability of the treatments mentioned, as this book has a distinctly pop psych vibe that makes me doubt the science, and the tendency to wallow in anecdotes about trauma makes me doubt that it is giving true weight to how damaging persistently revisiting traumatic memories can be.]]> 4.36 2014
author: Bessel van der Kolk
name: E J
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2022/09/14
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
If you are not ready to hear descriptions of other people experiencing trauma, with details of them being trapped in place unable to avoid terrible events, don't read this book. It surprised me that nobody in the publishing of this book stopped and thought gee this might be a bit rough for the types of people who reach for this piece.
Don't read it if you are unable to handle being reminded of how cruel and dehumanising the field of psychiatry can be, and historically has been to its patients. There are descriptions of patients being treated poorly in ways that persist to this day that are sad and disappointing. I respect the author for his role in trying to change this landscape.
If you can't accept that those who have done terrible things can experience trauma and deserve opportunities to rehabilitate and recover, even if only to prevent their continued abuse of others, don't read this book. It is a common criticism I see that he worked with soldiers who had done terrible things and still tried to help them, and might even hope we sympathise with them. I find it childish and narrow minded to have that reaction. Trauma is not something that happens only to 'good' people, caused by 'bad' people.
This book is valuable for those of people who have been to a lot of therapy and never been offered anything other than talk therapy, cbt, and maybe dbt. Or who had practitioners who did not explain those therapies and their function. I think the last section in particular can offer hope for recovery by outlining possibilities for alternative, effective treatments for trauma or mental illness. HOWEVER I'm not sure it treats carefully enough certain issues like the possibility of creating false memories, retraumatisation, etc.
I don't believe that the things I've warned about make this book a failure or shouldn't have been included but I do think the sort of audience who will be attracted to this work should be careful. I would recommend picking this up if you have the support of a therapist with whom you will be able to discuss ideas from the book, and find out with them what might be appropriate for you to try out. Ask a professional about the viability of the treatments mentioned, as this book has a distinctly pop psych vibe that makes me doubt the science, and the tendency to wallow in anecdotes about trauma makes me doubt that it is giving true weight to how damaging persistently revisiting traumatic memories can be.
]]> 56269163 'A TASTE FOR POISON' reveals how eleven notorious poisons affect the body - through the murders in which they were used.

As any listener or reader of murder mysteries can tell you, poison is one of the most enduring - and popular - weapons of choice for a scheming murderer. It can be slipped into a drink, smeared onto the tip of an arrow or the handle of a door, even filtered through the air we breathe. But how exactly do these poisons work to break our bodies down, and what can we learn from the damage they inflict?

In a fascinating blend of popular science, medical history, and true crime, Dr. Neil Bradbury explores this most morbidly captivating method of murder from a cellular level. Alongside real-life accounts of murderers and their crimes - some notorious, some forgotten, some still unsolved - are the equally compelling stories of the poisons involved: eleven molecules of death that work their way through the human body and, paradoxically, illuminate the way in which our bodies function.

Drawn from historical records and current news headlines, A Taste for Poison weaves together the tales of spurned lovers, shady scientists, medical professionals and political assassins to show how the precise systems of the body can be impaired to lethal effect through the use of poison. From the deadly origins of the gin and tonic cocktail to the arsenic-laced wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom, 'A TASTE FOR POISON' leads listeners on a riveting tour of the intricate, complex systems that keep us alive - or don’t.]]> 304 Neil Bradbury 1250270758 E J 3 Very interesting dive into the poisons covered in this book.]]> 4.11 2022
author: Neil Bradbury
name: E J
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/18
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
I was shocked by how much of this book is a grim reminder of the lengths men are willing to go to to do horrible things to women, or their families.
Very interesting dive into the poisons covered in this book.
]]> 53137911 The world's leading expert on near-death experiences reveals his journey toward rethinking the nature of death, life, and the continuity of consciousness.

Cases of remarkable experiences on the threshold of death have been reported since ancient times, and are described today by 10% of people whose hearts stop. The medical world has generally ignored these “near-death experiences,�� dismissing them as “tricks of the brain�� or wishful thinking. But after his patients started describing events that he could not just sweep under the rug, Dr. Bruce Greyson began to investigate.

As a physician without a religious belief system, he approached near-death experiences from a scientific perspective. In After, he shares the transformative lessons he has learned over four decades of research. Our culture has tended to view dying as the end of our consciousness, the end of our existence—a dreaded prospect that for many people evokes fear and anxiety.

But Dr. Greyson shows how scientific revelations about the dying process can support an alternative theory. Dying could be the threshold between one form of consciousness and another, not an ending but a transition. This new perspective on the nature of death can transform the fear of dying that pervades our culture into a healthy view of it as one more milestone in the course of our lives. After challenges us to open our minds to these experiences and to what they can teach us, and in so doing, expand our understanding of consciousness and of what it means to be human.]]> 272 Bruce Greyson 1250263034 E J 2 He misses a lot of important aspects in his research and sort of breezes to conclusions while assuring you that well he was a sceptic from the start so you should trust that his inquiries were thorough. The research seems incomplete and while the anecdotes are interesting I don't believe there are scientific conclusions to be drawn yet, at least from what is covered in this book.]]> 4.14 2021
author: Bruce Greyson
name: E J
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
Interesting concepts but I found myself frustrated by the idea that just because people report these experiences upon nearing death means that there is some reason external to the body. Our brains can dream, react oddly to extreme stress, and our experiences can be warped eg. Experiencing time slowing down in a disaster. I like the idea that death may involve some kind of peaceful or reflective period without pain before actually dying, it's comforting. And it's interesting to explore people's lives after near death experiences. But I didn't find a lot of the explorations and conclusions all that grounded.
He misses a lot of important aspects in his research and sort of breezes to conclusions while assuring you that well he was a sceptic from the start so you should trust that his inquiries were thorough. The research seems incomplete and while the anecdotes are interesting I don't believe there are scientific conclusions to be drawn yet, at least from what is covered in this book.
]]> 51938590 Anguilla anguilla. So little, in fact, that scientists and philosophers have, for centuries, been obsessed with what��has become��known as the “eel question��: Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether? Even today, in an age of advanced science, no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth, and we still don’t understand what drives them, after living for decades in freshwater, to swim great distances back to the ocean at the end of their lives. They remain a mystery.

Drawing on a breadth of research about eels in literature, history, and modern marine biology, as well as his own experience fishing for eels with his father, Patrik Svensson writes a book about this unusual animal.

In��The Book of Eels,��we meet renowned historical thinkers, from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud to Rachel Carson, for whom the eel was a singular obsession. And we meet the scientists who spearheaded the search for the eel’s point of origin, including Danish marine biologist Johannes Schmidt, who led research efforts in the early twentieth century, catching thousands upon thousands of eels, in the hopes of proving their birthing grounds in the Sargasso Sea.

Blending memoir and nature writing, Svensson’s journey to understand the eel becomes an exploration of the human condition that delves into overarching issues about our roots and destiny, both as humans and as animals, and, ultimately, how to handle the biggest question of all: death.]]> 256 Patrik Svensson 0062968815 E J 3 3.91 2019
author: Patrik Svensson
name: E J
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/30
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 3128472 416 Belinda Jones 0099517639 E J 1 3.99 2008
author: Belinda Jones
name: E J
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 2022/11/01
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
Found this book for free in a book box. Terribly written. So much exposition and explanation i wish it had just been written in past tense so that the constant retroactive filling in of gaps didn't feel so lazy and boring.
]]> 38357895
A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.]]> 163 Sayaka Murata E J 3 3.70 2016
author: Sayaka Murata
name: E J
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/17
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this book a lot but honestly I wanted more from it. Certain events felt frustratingly sudden. It was hard to get into initially and had me wondering if the translation was not good, and was causing the style of the prose to seem clumsy and stilted. Eventually I think it warmed and the characterisation of the protagonist made it work better. But I wish I could read Japanese and see if the original hits better. Would read this again if it gets a second release by a different translator.
]]> 35702241
1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?]]> 326 Tricia Levenseller 1250189969 E J 2
The audio book narrator has a kind of Jennifer Coolidge quality to her voice thats hard to describe but didn't suit the characters.]]> 3.82 2020
author: Tricia Levenseller
name: E J
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2022/11/18
date added: 2022/11/17
shelves:
review:
This book is goofy as hell. Fun, sure. But goofy. Half baked. Doing its best.

The audio book narrator has a kind of Jennifer Coolidge quality to her voice thats hard to describe but didn't suit the characters.
]]> 24909347
Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys--an old flame from Asha's past--reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heros will fall, and hearts will be broken.

From bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff comes the exciting finale in the trilogy that broke the mold and has been called "stylistically mesmerizing" and "out-of-this-world-awesome."]]> 618 Amie Kaufman 055349919X E J 1 4.45 2018
author: Amie Kaufman
name: E J
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2018
rating: 1
read at: 2019/08/09
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 29236299
The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.]]> 659 Amie Kaufman 0553499165 E J 2 4.41 2016
author: Amie Kaufman
name: E J
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2018/09/28
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 23395680
The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra �� who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents �� including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more �� Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.]]> 608 Amie Kaufman 0553499114 E J 2 4.23 2015
author: Amie Kaufman
name: E J
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2018/02/11
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 23264672
The Nevernight Chronicle is a complex fantasy series about Mia Corvere, a kick-butt, flawed heroine who trains as an assassin as part of her mission for personal revenge. Her tale takes place in the immersive world of Godsgrave which, although based on ancient Rome and Venice, is imaginative with many original details provided by a beloved snarky narrator.

The Republic of Itreya is in chaos. Mia has assassinated Cardinal Duomo and rumors of Consul Scaeva’s death ripple through the street of Godsgrave like wildfire. But buried beneath those same streets, deep in the ancient city’s bones, lies a secret that will change the Republic forever.

Mia and her brother Jonnen must journey through the depths of the ancient metropolis. Their quest will take them through the Godsgrave underdark, back to the library of the Quiet Mountain and the poisoned blades of Mia’s old mentors, and at last the fabled Crown of the Moon. There, Mia will at last discover the origins of the darkin, and learn the destiny that lies in store for her and her world. But with the three suns now in descent, and Truedark on the horizon, will she survive?]]> 491 Jay Kristoff 146688505X E J 1 If I had to read one more cute aside in which Kristoff dipped into the narrative voice to make fun of his writing style (footnotes, metaphors, hyperbole, descriptions of sexual) I might’ve just given up.
Also I found the audible narration a little inconsistent and not that engaging, the narrator had a weirdly over-urgent tone at many points. ]]> 4.30 2019
author: Jay Kristoff
name: E J
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2019/12/27
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves:
review:
What started as my favourite of the series devolved to an overwritten, trite, awkwardly meta slog.
If I had to read one more cute aside in which Kristoff dipped into the narrative voice to make fun of his writing style (footnotes, metaphors, hyperbole, descriptions of sexual) I might’ve just given up.
Also I found the audible narration a little inconsistent and not that engaging, the narrator had a weirdly over-urgent tone at many points.
]]> 23264671 419 Jay Kristoff 1250073030 E J 2 But this is a strong follow up to Nevernight. I got fooled by some good twists and there was a lot of fun anticipation. Really really enjoyable.
BIGGEST! CLIFFHANGER! EVER! Though. Be warned!]]> 4.44 2017
author: Jay Kristoff
name: E J
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2018/01/18
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves:
review:
When I read Nevernight, I read it on the mobile kindle app and didn't notice there were footnotes. But boy did I notice them in Godsgrave! Some of them were SO long and really ruined my immersion. I think the facts and lore in the footnotes would have been better woven into the story. I often found myself skipping them because it ruined the flow of the narrative (there was quite often more footnote than story on the page), even though the depth of the lore was quite interesting. So I knocked a star off for that.
But this is a strong follow up to Nevernight. I got fooled by some good twists and there was a lot of fun anticipation. Really really enjoyable.
BIGGEST! CLIFFHANGER! EVER! Though. Be warned!
]]> 31111474
Mia Corvere is only ten years old when she is given her first lesson in death.

Destined to destroy empires, the child raised in shadows made a promise on the day she lost to avenge herself on those that shattered her world.

But the chance to strike against such powerful enemies will be fleeting, and Mia must become a weapon without equal. Before she seeks vengeance, she must seek training among the infamous assassins of the Red Church of Itreya.

Inside the Church's halls, Mia must prove herself against the deadliest of opponents and survive the tutelage of murderers, liars and daemons at the heart of a murder cult.

The Church is no ordinary school. But Mia is no ordinary student.]]> 462 Jay Kristoff E J 2 Very enjoyable.

Not the most impressive fantasy world I've seen, but certainly gripping and interesting. The strength of the characters are balanced by realistic flaws and desires. The Magic is interesting. It has a believable crassness without going overboard and the relationships and interactions between the characters feel natural and not forced like some old-world fantasy novels. I really liked this book and will probably continue with the series. ]]> 4.40 2016
author: Jay Kristoff
name: E J
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/10/29
shelves:
review:
Very enjoyable.

Not the most impressive fantasy world I've seen, but certainly gripping and interesting. The strength of the characters are balanced by realistic flaws and desires. The Magic is interesting. It has a believable crassness without going overboard and the relationships and interactions between the characters feel natural and not forced like some old-world fantasy novels. I really liked this book and will probably continue with the series.
]]> 55921250
Across this century, new foods �� pineapples, coffee and pepper �� suddenly became available in the shops. Fashion exploded into a riot of colour, frilly shirts and wigs. Gin was drunk like it was water. Demands for women’s rights were heard, and it became possible to question the existence of God without fear of prompt execution.

These exciting new developments came, of course, from the expanding British Empire. Britain’s wealth and its sudden access to chocolate, chillies and spices, was entirely bound up with the conquest of overseas territories and the miserable suffering of enslaved workers.

This is the backdrop to Robert Peal’s new book, which introduces the Georgian era through the diverse lives of twelve people who defined it. Some seized the more enjoyable opportunities of this new era. Others fought fiercely for change, the advancement of knowledge or personal freedoms.

This book blows the dust off a riotous century and its people. Each of the extraordinary characters contained within made the Georgian era their own, and in doing so made history.]]> 300 Robert Peal 0008437025 E J 3 4.09
author: Robert Peal
name: E J
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/14
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves:
review:

]]> 28110861 ��
Real Food/Fake Food brings readers into the unregulated food industry, revealing that this shocking deception extends from high-end foods like olive oil, wine, and Kobe beef to everyday staples such as coffee, honey, juice, and cheese. It’s a massive bait and switch where counterfeiting is rampant and where the consumer ultimately pays the price.

But Olmsted does more than show us what foods to avoid. A bona fide gourmand, he travels to the sources of the real stuff, to help us recognize what to look for, eat, and savor: genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano from Italy, fresh-caught grouper from Florida, authentic port from Portugal. Real foods that are grown, raised, produced, and prepared with care by masters of their craft. ��

Part cautionary tale, part culinary crusade, Real Food/Fake Food is addictively readable, mouth-wateringly enjoyable, and utterly relevant. Larry Olmsted convinces us why real food matters.
��]]> 318 Larry Olmsted 1616204214 E J 2 And the narrator of the audiobook is ... unappealing.]]> 3.76 2016
author: Larry Olmsted
name: E J
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2022/08/20
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves:
review:
This dude went all out researching this book and normally I love these sorts of thing but my God this book is boring.
And the narrator of the audiobook is ... unappealing.
]]> 34565022 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A timely and important book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations, and culture, from the #1 bestselling author of Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK

"True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are." Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives--experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging.

Brown argues that we're experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other. She writes, "True belonging requires us to believe in and belong to ourselves so fully that we can find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary. But in a culture that's rife with perfectionism and pleasing, and with the erosion of civility, it's easy to stay quiet, hide in our ideological bunkers, or fit in rather than show up as our true selves and brave the wilderness of uncertainty and criticism. But true belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others; it's a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity. It's a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts." Brown offers us the clarity and courage we need to find our way back to ourselves and to each other. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. Brown writes, "The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand."]]> 197 Brené Brown 0812995848 E J 2 Her idolatry of people like Oprah who is, granted, massively successful and influential but has used her career to playform some arguably extremely troubling causes and people - the girl boss no matter what the cost of it all?
All of my friends love Brown but I cannot shrug off something about her work that just doesn't hit.
Also she reads her audiobooks like she's giving a presentation, adding in weird pauses and phrases like "yknow" regularly enough that I hope they are not in the written text.]]> 4.11 2017
author: Brené Brown
name: E J
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2022/09/11
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves:
review:
Though she is undoubtedly dripping with charisma I find it extremely hard to connect with Browns work. But why? It's hard to put my finger on. Is it the wat her Christian faith that informs her mindset and approach, like it does for so many culturally Christian Americans in this pop psychology self improvement for the sake of self improvement field? Is it her way of talking about not connecting outside of "our side" combined with her individualistic theories, her self focussed story telling (that features comments about how she didn't fit in with the white kids- you know what it's like to be named Cassandra and have a racist judgement made about you, right ladies??? She says to black women in a bizarre story about people judging her for her first name - OR the black kids) in a white privileged tone deaf manner that feels hard to shake?
Her idolatry of people like Oprah who is, granted, massively successful and influential but has used her career to playform some arguably extremely troubling causes and people - the girl boss no matter what the cost of it all?
All of my friends love Brown but I cannot shrug off something about her work that just doesn't hit.
Also she reads her audiobooks like she's giving a presentation, adding in weird pauses and phrases like "yknow" regularly enough that I hope they are not in the written text.
]]> 52011076 From the creator of Your Fat Friend, an explosive indictment of the systemic and cultural bias facing plus-size people that will move us toward creating an agenda for fat justice.

Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people's experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice.

By sharing her experiences as well as those of others--from smaller fat to very fat people--she concludes that to be fat in our society is to be seen as an undeniable failure, unlovable, unforgivable, and morally condemnable. Fatness is an open invitation for others to express disgust, fear, and insidious concern. To be fat is to be denied humanity and empathy. Studies show that fat survivors of sexual assault are less likely to be believed and less likely than their thin counterparts to report various crimes; 27% of very fat women and 13% of very fat men attempt suicide; over 50% of doctors describe their fat patients as awkward, unattractive, ugly and noncompliant; and in 48 states, it's legal--even routine--to deny employment because of an applicant's size.

Advancing fat justice and changing prejudicial structures and attitudes will require work from all people. What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat is a crucial tool to create a tectonic shift in the way we see, talk about, and treat our bodies, fat and thin alike.]]> 197 Aubrey Gordon 0807041300 E J 4 One thing I find frustrating that comes up again and again on these discussions is this idea that people with eating disorders are buoyed with robust support they can easily access. Thin and underweight people often do not have this experience, often really struggle to access services, and are told they are not thin enough to have an eating disorder. In fact anecdotally these experiences seem to outweigh those who do receive good support. I know many underweight people who are told they're not that bad because they aren't emaciated but then aren't given support if they become so thin as to be at risk of sudden death. It reminds me of when people say "why don't we treat mental health like we do physical disabilities." I understand the point being made but it glosses over the deep, fundamental failures of medical systems and their evaluative tools.
This is a minor part of the book but it frustrated me.
Otherwise, Gordon is smart and insightful and its worth keeping an eye on her work.]]> 4.41 2020
author: Aubrey Gordon
name: E J
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/20
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves:
review:
If you listen to maintenance phase there is not that much extra here but it's well researched and clearly laid out, still a good read.
One thing I find frustrating that comes up again and again on these discussions is this idea that people with eating disorders are buoyed with robust support they can easily access. Thin and underweight people often do not have this experience, often really struggle to access services, and are told they are not thin enough to have an eating disorder. In fact anecdotally these experiences seem to outweigh those who do receive good support. I know many underweight people who are told they're not that bad because they aren't emaciated but then aren't given support if they become so thin as to be at risk of sudden death. It reminds me of when people say "why don't we treat mental health like we do physical disabilities." I understand the point being made but it glosses over the deep, fundamental failures of medical systems and their evaluative tools.
This is a minor part of the book but it frustrated me.
Otherwise, Gordon is smart and insightful and its worth keeping an eye on her work.
]]> 43814 481 Anne Rice 0345476883 E J 2 4.10 1985
author: Anne Rice
name: E J
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1985
rating: 2
read at: 2022/10/20
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves:
review:
Recently I saw somebody compare the opening of this book to the opening of my immortal. They're right. Anne rices stories swing between being bloated, nonsensical, self indulgent, and being clever and having interesting lore. I don't think this book is super well crafted and it's very very long, for the story that actually takes place. I find her earnest, dramatic writing endearing most of the time but sometimes it leaves me scratching my head, the emotional drama feels unearned. I wonder what reading this book at the time it came out was like. I wonder what it was like when we haven't had such a progression of modern vampire lore and an increase in overt eroticism and graphic sexuality. Sometimes I find it hard to tell if Anne rice seems lacking to me just because she was a writer of her time.
]]> 56015023 This Is Your Mind on Plants, Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs--opium, caffeine, and mescaline--and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs while consuming (or, in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and fraught feelings?]]> 288 Michael Pollan 0593296907 E J 3 The thing that ruined it for me was that he spends a whole section talking and talking to Native Americans who are telling him: this is not for white people, we don't want to share this in detail, and yet he continued to try to access the ceremony. Drawing attention to the issue of over consumption and poaching, and the exploration of other types of natural psychedelics etc etc I think was interesting and useful but I found his blind pursuit of something he was clearly being told wasn't for him really frustrating. At least in the end he went with a different kind of healing ceremony which he was invited into... The issue of cultural appropriation vs raising awareness and understanding is always thorny.]]> 3.86 2021
author: Michael Pollan
name: E J
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/09/18
date added: 2022/09/17
shelves:
review:
This book was quite fun I liked Pollan's humour, it really shone through in the audiobook, and I found the exploration around legality of these plants interesting.
The thing that ruined it for me was that he spends a whole section talking and talking to Native Americans who are telling him: this is not for white people, we don't want to share this in detail, and yet he continued to try to access the ceremony. Drawing attention to the issue of over consumption and poaching, and the exploration of other types of natural psychedelics etc etc I think was interesting and useful but I found his blind pursuit of something he was clearly being told wasn't for him really frustrating. At least in the end he went with a different kind of healing ceremony which he was invited into... The issue of cultural appropriation vs raising awareness and understanding is always thorny.
]]> 22492895
Sugar Crush exposes the shocking truth about how a diet high in sugar, processed carbohydrates, and wheat compresses and damages the peripheral nerves of the body, leading to pain, numbness, and tingling in the hands and feet, along with a host of related conditions, including migraines, gall bladder disease, and diabetes. If you suffer from ailments your doctors can’t seem to diagnose or help—mysterious rashes, unpredictable digestive problems, debilitating headaches, mood and energy swings, constant tiredness—nerve compression is the likely cause.

Over the years, Dr. Richard Jacoby has treated thousands of patients with peripheral neuropathy. Now, he shares his insights as well as the story of how he connected the dots to determine how sugar is the common denominator of many chronic diseases. In Sugar Crush, he offers a unique holistic approach to understanding the exacting toll sugar and carbs take on the body. Based on his clinical work, he breaks down his highly effective methods, showing how dietary changes reducing sugar and wheat, coinciding with an increase of good fats, can dramatically help regenerate nerves and rehabilitate their normal function.

Sugar Crush includes a quiz to assess your nerve damage, practical dietary advice, and the latest thinking on ways to prevent and reverse neuropathy. If you have diabetes, this essential guide will help you understand the dangers and give you the tools you need to make a difference beyond your doctor’s prescriptions. If you have the metabolic syndrome or prediabetes, or are just concerned about your health, it will help you reverse and prevent nerve damage.]]> 256 Richard P. Jacoby 0062348205 E J 2 Also, the author seems to be a podiatrist. When there is evidence from those in the field of nutrition that things are bit more complicated than this, I think it's good to keep your critical thinking hat on.

There's another review on here where somebody summarised some of the problems: the author(s?) include many ideas in here that are speculation, misunderstood or controversial medical conditions, or contradict eachother, tossing in mention of leaky gut, adrenal fatigue, and endorsing keto (controversial) for the general population. I don't think it defines the scope of who this is for well enough and I am not convinced there is adequate proof that everybody should be on a low carb diet.
If I were looking to this book for help, I would find its tone and style offputting and unsupportive, as well as dry.
]]> 3.64 2015
author: Richard P. Jacoby
name: E J
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2022/09/01
date added: 2022/09/15
shelves:
review:
This book manages to both be very black and white and full of unsupported connections between sugar and health events (such as speculating about the role of sugar in the brain conditions of historical figures) as well as being dry and full of science. It's not a pleasant combination because it makes it hard not to listen to the science with deep suspicion: what is being inferred in the studies where the evidence doesn't support it, how much of these interpretations are taking too much for granted re. what is "known"? A nutrition scientist or doctor might be able to better tease out these issues, if they're there, but I don't think this is effective or strong science communication. I think these sorts of books should always be taken with a grain of salt - I don't think their evidence truly supports the claims it puts forward, particularly that NO sugar is the answer.
Also, the author seems to be a podiatrist. When there is evidence from those in the field of nutrition that things are bit more complicated than this, I think it's good to keep your critical thinking hat on.

There's another review on here where somebody summarised some of the problems: the author(s?) include many ideas in here that are speculation, misunderstood or controversial medical conditions, or contradict eachother, tossing in mention of leaky gut, adrenal fatigue, and endorsing keto (controversial) for the general population. I don't think it defines the scope of who this is for well enough and I am not convinced there is adequate proof that everybody should be on a low carb diet.
If I were looking to this book for help, I would find its tone and style offputting and unsupportive, as well as dry.

]]> 53241072 Sonia Hartl’s The Lost Girls is laced with dark humor and queer love; it’s John Tucker Must Die with a feminist girl gang of vampires.

When Elton Irving turned Holly Liddell into a vampire in 1987, he promised her eternal love. But thirty-four years later, Elton has left her, her hair will be crimped for the rest of immortality, and the only job she can get as a forever-sixteen-year-old is the midnight shift at Taco Bell.

Holly’s afterlife takes an interesting turn when she meets Rose McKay and Ida Ripley. Having also been turned and discarded by Elton—Rose in 1954, and Ida, his ex-fiancée, in 1921—they want to help her, and ask for her help in return.

Rose and Ida are going to kill Elton before he turns another girl. Though Holly is hurt and angry with Elton for tossing her aside, she’s reluctant to kill her ex, until Holly meets Parker Kerr—the new girl Elton has set his sights on—and feels a quick, and nerve-wracking attraction to her.]]> 197 Sonia Hartl E J 3 3.47 2021
author: Sonia Hartl
name: E J
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/02
date added: 2022/08/17
shelves:
review:
Really fun concept. Only ok execution. Is this a YA novel? If so I think it's probably more like a 3 star.
]]> 32871394 An original, imaginative, and hilarious debut novel about love, anxiety, and sea creatures, from the author of So Sad Today.

Lucy has been writing her dissertation about Sappho for thirteen years when she and Jamie break up. After she hits rock bottom in Phoenix, her Los Angeles-based sister insists Lucy housesit for the summer—her only tasks caring for a beloved diabetic dog and trying to learn to care for herself. Annika’s home is a gorgeous glass cube atop Venice Beach, but Lucy can find no peace from her misery and anxiety—not in her love addiction group therapy meetings, not in frequent Tinder meetups, not in Dominic the foxhound’s easy affection, not in ruminating on the ancient Greeks. Yet everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer one night while sitting alone on the beach rocks.

Whip-smart, neurotically funny, sexy, and above all, fearless, The Pisces is built on a premise both sirenic and incredibly real—what happens when you think love will save you but are afraid it might also kill you.]]> 270 Melissa Broder 1524761559 E J 4 It’s great to read a book about a woman approaching her 40s dealing with love and emotion in a more gritty, repulsive, sexual way than your typical book about a 38 year who gets her heart broken and goes away somewhere to recover and falls in love anew.
The characters were not likeable. I didn’t enjoy a lot of the events. But it was touching and clever and I cried at the end.
I think this is one of many brilliantly written books from the past few years that challenges that weird trend that was developing in literary review circles where bad people had to be explicitly condemned and punished, and characters had to be either good/likeable/capable of growth/on a journey or bad/annoying/stagnant/dead in the end.
Lucy, the main character, is on a journey to find something within herself that’s worth living for even if that doesn’t mean she redeems herself for the bad behaviour.
There’s one particularly good chapter in which she sees her friend in the grips of depression and talks about how hard it can be to talk somebody out of suicide when you’ve seen the appeal of it too.
This ������’t a nice book but it’s worth it.
I imagine many people will feel that this main character is wallowing, will not appreciate the excruciatingly detailed,exploration of emotions, will hate that it’s not snappy and fun, and won’t connect with the frankly incredibly shitty main character. ]]> 3.31 2018
author: Melissa Broder
name: E J
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/18
date added: 2022/08/17
shelves:
review:
A really challenging read. Grotesque and emotional, brutally honest. I couldn’t tell if the repetition was intentional or if perhaps this could have been edited down a bit. I would have loved it if I hadn’t had to read the words pussy and cock so many times. Like, use a synonym please.
It’s great to read a book about a woman approaching her 40s dealing with love and emotion in a more gritty, repulsive, sexual way than your typical book about a 38 year who gets her heart broken and goes away somewhere to recover and falls in love anew.
The characters were not likeable. I didn’t enjoy a lot of the events. But it was touching and clever and I cried at the end.
I think this is one of many brilliantly written books from the past few years that challenges that weird trend that was developing in literary review circles where bad people had to be explicitly condemned and punished, and characters had to be either good/likeable/capable of growth/on a journey or bad/annoying/stagnant/dead in the end.
Lucy, the main character, is on a journey to find something within herself that’s worth living for even if that doesn’t mean she redeems herself for the bad behaviour.
There’s one particularly good chapter in which she sees her friend in the grips of depression and talks about how hard it can be to talk somebody out of suicide when you’ve seen the appeal of it too.
This ������’t a nice book but it’s worth it.
I imagine many people will feel that this main character is wallowing, will not appreciate the excruciatingly detailed,exploration of emotions, will hate that it’s not snappy and fun, and won’t connect with the frankly incredibly shitty main character.
]]>