I loved this book. First of all I feel like Caitlin Doughty and I could be good friends--she's cool and honest and has a sense of humor I can appreciaI loved this book. First of all I feel like Caitlin Doughty and I could be good friends--she's cool and honest and has a sense of humor I can appreciate, and we both had the same total life-eclipsing fear of death as kids that led to obsessive compulsive behaviors in attempts to deal with the anxiety. I also admire her determination to face those fears head-on, and I've had many of the same thoughts about what death's place in our society is these days.
The glimpses behind the scenes in crematories and mortuary school are fascinating, and yes, sometimes pretty gross. But I feel like the philosophical discussions are the best parts of this book. The way we hide death and pretend it doesn't exist isn't healthy, and from experience, it seems like confronting death and learning to accept it is the way to go. This book actually made me realize just how much my feelings about death have changed as I've deliberately spent time thinking about it, and while, if I'd read this in high school I might not have slept for a year (not that I slept much anyway), now? No problem. Thinking about my own death and what arrangements I want actually felt weirdly comforting. Who knows? Maybe if I'd read this book in high school it would have helped me stop freaking out so much about death.
Anyway, I found this book practical and smart and entertaining in equal measures, and I definitely recommend it....more
I heard from someone that this book is a better modern not-quite-Holmes romance book than A Study in Charlotte so I decided to give it a try while I'mI heard from someone that this book is a better modern not-quite-Holmes romance book than A Study in Charlotte so I decided to give it a try while I'm waiting in line for that one. And...I really liked it! But with reservations. Love the relationship between Mycroft and Watts and their friendship with Mai and Gus, love the dialogue. Love the family dynamics. Love the romance. But the mystery? Eh...there's a lot of ridiculous in the mystery and a lot of unbelievable. And I felt the villain was completely obvious from first mention, although it comes as a complete surprise to Mycroft and Watts until, of course, (view spoiler)[they're in his evil lair and forced to listen to a bunch of boring "here's why I did it" blah-dee-blah and almost get killed themselves (hide spoiler)]
This is the first book in a series, and I guess I'm interested enough to pick up the second book, just for fun. __________
On second read:
Who even cares if the mystery aspects are a little unbelievable??? Watts and Mycroft are super addictive and are basically my happy place at the moment. I love them so much and I stayed up late to finish this even though I've already read it before. So I'm upping my rating to a full five stars now that I know that the rereads are even better than the first reads!
I unexpectedly really loved this one (except for that one part where (view spoiler)[Parks is thinking about a glimpse he got of Justineau's crotch wheI unexpectedly really loved this one (except for that one part where (view spoiler)[Parks is thinking about a glimpse he got of Justineau's crotch when she was peeing earlier but then decided he was too tired to masterbate--ew! (hide spoiler)])! It's another one I put off reading for ages because for a little while it was just everywhere. I didn't even know what it was about, I just got tired of seeing the cover. But I think I got the audio for like $3.00 or something and figured I'd give it a try since Nina liked it and most of the time we are book twins. And the audio is so good! I want Finty Williams to read everything now--I was excited to see that she also did the audio for the first Cat Royal book, The Diamond of Drury Lane, which I've been meaning to reread for ages.
Aaaaaaaanyway, I'm not always huge on zombie books (Feed etc. excepted), and I had no idea going in that that's what this is, but it is a zombie book from a different angle. I like that it's a fungus based on Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which I've read about and is pretty fascinating. Have other people written about the origins of a zombie plague being this fungus? I mean, it makes so much sense! There are several really interesting twists, and I love that all of the characters are very complex--none feel like cardboard cutouts, but have very real motivations and ways of reacting to things. I grew to like and respect all of them in different ways. And the ending is so perfect!
I feel like Carey's comics sometimes start out strong and then lose focus along the way, so I wasn't sure what to expect from him novel-wise, but now I'm definitely interested in reading more. I'm glad I finally gave this a shot!...more
Nervous about this one after how the previous book ended, but here goes...
Aaaaand, obviously I shouldn't have worried a bit. This one is just as much Nervous about this one after how the previous book ended, but here goes...
Aaaaand, obviously I shouldn't have worried a bit. This one is just as much humor and action and danger and fun as the previous books. And now, very sadly, I've reached the end of the books my very, very wonderful friend Laura gifted me with.
Luckily, I traveled to the future and knew I would need to have the fifth book on hand today, so I already ordered myself a copy last week.
Oh my god, this one totally gutted me. (view spoiler)[First, Max's encounter with Leon from before she met him--THIS is when the tears over his death Oh my god, this one totally gutted me. (view spoiler)[First, Max's encounter with Leon from before she met him--THIS is when the tears over his death hit me--and then PETERSON, NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I don't know if I can go on with series without the two of them together as BFFs. I really don't. They'd better get to meet up in whatever the hell this alternate universe is! (hide spoiler)] I feel like my heart broke like, eight times in this book. I also probably cried laughing at least a couple of times (view spoiler)[Blue! CBBC! (hide spoiler)]. I'm seriously not crazy abut the situation this book has left Max in, and a certain scene that takes place in the Cretaceous period seriously pissed me off and (view spoiler)[I don't even really care about stupid Leon Farrell, dammit, just give me Peterson! (hide spoiler)] but knowing how I've reacted to this series so far I'll be just as completely sucked into the fourth one as I have been the first three....more
Love, love, LOVE this one! It's gorgeous, the layout is so nice and easy to read, and the recipes all have like, three or four steps in them max. And Love, love, LOVE this one! It's gorgeous, the layout is so nice and easy to read, and the recipes all have like, three or four steps in them max. And they all sound and look delicious! This stuff is just exactly my style--simple, fruit and veggie-centric, and fast! Some are complaining that the recipes are too simple, but they're not things I would normally just come up with to make on my own, so they totally work for me. Plus, I'm lazy, so the simpler the better! It also has cocktails, which is fun, and my husband will be excited that his beloved Negroni is included (with blackberries added). I dunno, it just works for me. ...more
This one really surprised me! There aren't pictures of everything, maybe only every 1 in 5 recipes is photographed, but I actually didn't even care beThis one really surprised me! There aren't pictures of everything, maybe only every 1 in 5 recipes is photographed, but I actually didn't even care because the food all sounded so good (except for the section about the U.S.--what is up with those guys, ha! Although there is a recipe for mac and cheese in that section, so I'll forgive the fake chicken nugget things)!
It's organized by part of the world, and sometimes by individual countries, and includes so much that isn't super familiar here but which are typical dishes in those parts. I was super excited about the Japan and Korea sections because while I'm fairly familiar with all the dishes listed in those sections I'd given up on having them because they're traditionally so meat/seafood-heavy. I like that Robertson will include a meat substitute of some sort in many of her recipes, but will almost always offer up multiple other options, like tofu, seitan, beans, or just leaving it out entirely. She'll also say how to make the recipe gluten-free for folks who need that.
And the index section is great--there's a section that lists possible menus based on different countries or regions, as well as by type (like "Street Food Without Borders" which includes street foods from multiple parts of the world, or "International Soup and Bread Supper"), a glossary, and the index itself, as well as the typical weights and conversions chart.
Anyway, I will probably purchase a copy of this one at some point because I want to eat like 95% of the things!...more
Oops, I totally forgot to add and review this book ages ago! Or at least, like three weeks ago.
As half of my family is from Southeast Texas with rootOops, I totally forgot to add and review this book ages ago! Or at least, like three weeks ago.
As half of my family is from Southeast Texas with roots in Louisiana, much of this is the kind of food I grew up on, and feels like home. Or at least like my mom's home. It's also one of the very, very few cookbooks in which I actually read all the introductions and essays and things. It's super interesting, and gives a really good overview of the history behind many of these dishes and where they come from and why they're culturally important, and also includes music and film pairings, and now I want to read everything of Bryant Terry's! Seriously, one of my very favorite cookbooks that I read this year (and I've...kind of read a shit-ton)....more
Loved this one--the best in the series so far, I think! I just really connected with Kai and Izza and loved seeing Teo again, as she was definitely myLoved this one--the best in the series so far, I think! I just really connected with Kai and Izza and loved seeing Teo again, as she was definitely my favorite character from the second book. Plus something about the plot worked a lot better for me--it felt much less like a noir novel dressed up in fantasy clothes and much more like it's own beast, and a super interesting one at that. Just, I enjoyed the mystery aspects and the relationships much more in this one than I did in Two Serpents Rise. Moving on to book 4!...more
Guh. I should have known that with blurbs from Andrew Smith and A.S. King on the back and a thank you to Adam Silvera inside I was in the right place.Guh. I should have known that with blurbs from Andrew Smith and A.S. King on the back and a thank you to Adam Silvera inside I was in the right place. I saved this book of Whaley's for last because I was the least excited about it. The premise just sounds so weird, and I think I got a little burned by the total meh-ness of Meg Cabot's brain-in-a-new body series awhile back and...I just wasn't interested in that aspect at all. But once I started it I was totally hooked on Travis' voice and was pretty easily able to just let go of the body transplant thing and just think about the results.
A lot of folks seem to have really struggled with the way Travis is fixated on (and deluded about) his girlfriend at the time of his almost death, but I felt like I could see a 16-year-old kid in his situation thinking and behaving this way, so desperate to get things back to the way they were before everyone moved on without him, and desperate to find a reason why he's back. It's that one thing he's trying to cling to, and it's kind of heartbreaking (view spoiler)[The whole diner scene with Cate's fiancée was so totally Rushmore, ha! (hide spoiler)]. I loved the way Hatton and Kyle try to deal with this nonsense too.
Anyway, I totally teared up and didn't want it to end.
And now I've run out of John Corey Whaley books, dammit!!! :( :( :(...more
Beautifully written and illustrated story of a boy who feels broken because of his stuttering who discovers that he feels at home speaking to animals.Beautifully written and illustrated story of a boy who feels broken because of his stuttering who discovers that he feels at home speaking to animals. He makes a promise to be their voice, and that's exactly what he does.
I somehow missed this book when it first came out, but I've been meaning to read Rabinowitz's book Jaguar: One Man's Struggle to Establish the World's First Jaguar Preserve for years (I loaned it to a friend before I had a chance to read it and hey, Megan, do you still have that?). Anyway, I admire this man a lot, and I think he and Catia Chien (My Blue Is Happy) have done a really gorgeous job with this picture book (auto)biography. Definitely an inspiration for kids with or without speech disorders to find something they're passionate about and go for it and make a difference....more
Gorgeous illustrations, and soothing, rhythmic text about all the places you can find water. Read this for a discovery science storytime for preschoolGorgeous illustrations, and soothing, rhythmic text about all the places you can find water. Read this for a discovery science storytime for preschoolers and they seemed hypnotized!...more
I was walking by the junior bio section at work today and this just happened to catch my eye. I mean, it's big, and it's pretty! And when I looked cloI was walking by the junior bio section at work today and this just happened to catch my eye. I mean, it's big, and it's pretty! And when I looked closer I saw that it had Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's name on it, so clearly it had to come home with me!
It's a really beautiful, dream-like book about Saint-Exupéry beginning with his childhood and his first yearnings for flight, all the way through his disappearance while on a mission in the Mediterranean during World War II not long after The Little Prince was published. Landmann does a great job of emphasizing all the autobiographical elements of The Little Prince, from Saint-Exupéry's crash in the Sahara, his tamed fox, and his love of a rose (his wife, Consuelo), and shows how his thoughts about greed and war were the same as the little prince's. I love the covers, which show the little prince coming to life through Saint-Exupéry's writing, and then the two of them together, shoes off, beside the prince's rose and volcano, and with Saint-Exupéry's airplane close by. It's nice to picture him there.
Anyway, I'm glad I spotted this, and glad I read it, and I think it's well worth a look for fans of Saint-Exupéry or his little prince....more
I put off listening to this audiobook for a really long time because I heard a snippet of it on audible and for some reason the narrator annoyed me. BI put off listening to this audiobook for a really long time because I heard a snippet of it on audible and for some reason the narrator annoyed me. But I finally gave in and listened to it anyway, and you know what? The narrator is just fine, and this book is still crazy and amazing. Even the third or fourth time through (I'm beginning to lose track)....more
Quiet and stark and sad and beautiful and not really at all what I was expecting. What was I expecting? Actually, now that I think about it I have no Quiet and stark and sad and beautiful and not really at all what I was expecting. What was I expecting? Actually, now that I think about it I have no idea, but whatever it was it wasn't this.
I loved the way all the people followed in the book are connected somehow to actor Arthur Leander, who dies onstage the night before the end of the world. I loved how present Arthur still is in all their lives, and how big he remains in the memories of those who knew him, and how he is immortalized, but in a really different way than maybe he was expecting to be. I loved how Doctor Eleven's story is interwoven with the story of the surviviors. I loved that all those connections among the characters felt...coincidental, but in a way that works. Not cheesy. Just big. Or something. I don't know.
And...this is maybe kind of a weird thing to even notice, but I really liked how people are described in this book--subtly, and almost never by race or by skin color (Charlie and Jeremy are the only exceptions that I can recall), just every now and then by a mention of their hair, or by an accent, little things like that. Really I have no idea how the author imagines anyone in this book, and I like that I can imagine them however I want, and yet all the characters still felt real and well developed and like actual people. I think it very skillfully done.
Anyway, I'm glad I finally got around to reading this one, and I think it's going to linger in my mind for quite awhile....more
Loved this!!! At first I thought the illustrations looked kind of dull, but I can't resist a book about Antarctica, and about the heroic age of explorLoved this!!! At first I thought the illustrations looked kind of dull, but I can't resist a book about Antarctica, and about the heroic age of exploration especially, so I brought it home with me. And the more I looked at the illustrations the more I realized how beautiful and detailed and amazing they are! Okay, like, I love that at the beginning all the crew members are drawn in clothes that make them all identifiable, so for the rest of the book, even if they're not named in a scene, you can still figure out exactly who they are. So cool!!! And just...how all the supplies are drawn out, and all the dogs, and the maps, and the men performing chores while the Endurance is stuck in the ice, and the tiny James Caird in the vastness of the Southern Atlantic... It's wonderful! Dull? Really? You dummy (rolls eyes at self in disbelief and disgust)!
I think it's interesting the bits that are left out, but to be fair, a lot happened on this expedition, and Grill does give a really great overview here. I appreciate that the Ross Sea party is also covered here (even if they only get two pages). But seriously kids, there are some other really fascinating stories about this adventure that are not even mentioned here, so go check out some more books about it!
Anyway, fantastic book, and I'm definitely planning on buying a copy for myself at some point. And hoping for another book from Grill about, say, Scott or Mawson. Or maybe Norgay and Hillary? How about it? :)...more
As much as I loved reading the print version of this, I loved the audio version even more (except for when the male narrator does Julia's voice--ridicAs much as I loved reading the print version of this, I loved the audio version even more (except for when the male narrator does Julia's voice--ridiculous!). I mean, there were several times when I just couldn't stop listening to it--totally more addictive than any of the tv shows I've been binge watching lately!
I don't think I said much about the book the first time I read it, other than that it was really good. So.
I guess what impresses me so much about Tana French's books is the depth to the characters. In this one, there are two main sets--the boarding school girls, Holly, Julia, Selena, and Becca, and the two main investigators, Stephen Moran and Antoinette Conway. The girls' relationships with each other are as deep and magical and forever-feeling as relationships only seem to feel when you're young, and I like how French describes the power of friendships like that, and how it feels when things start to fall apart. The investigators, on the other hand, aren't looking for friendship, don't want it, go into the day mutually using each other to get ahead, and don't particularly like each other. And yet, somewhere along the way, they just...click.
And then there's also just the atmosphere French is so good at creating...
Who even cares about the mystery parts, ha!
Anyway, I love this series so, so much. I don't even know what made me read the first one because mystery isn't my usual genre these days, but boy am I glad something did!
P.S. I hope Conway's the main character for book 6! ...more
A little confusing at first, challenging in the way that Ancillary Justice is on first read. I'm a little surprised at others' meh ratings for this shA little confusing at first, challenging in the way that Ancillary Justice is on first read. I'm a little surprised at others' meh ratings for this short story because I thought it really well done--a mix of sports and politics, but with what's really interesting going on underneath. I think Ultimately-Justice-Shall-Prevail is the person who will one day wind up as Breq, the last ancillary of Justice of Toren, and if so, what an appropriate beginning! I love the sprawl of the past in Leckie's world, how it's unstated, but you can see how this connects to Ancillary Justice and exactly how Ultimately-Justice-Shall-Prevail might wind up as a saint, if not how she eventually winds up as an ancillary (although knowing Leckie, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's some mention in Ancillary Justice that tells exactly how it happened, if you know what to look for).
Anyway, whatever, all you meh-ers! Whatever! I loved this and am looking forward to making my friend who is also obsessed with this series read it too and then talk about it!...more
So fun! The usual snappy dialogue, great art where the characters actually look like the characters, some serious stuff, some funny stuff, and some reSo fun! The usual snappy dialogue, great art where the characters actually look like the characters, some serious stuff, some funny stuff, and some really interesting stuff. But nothing too huge or too...ridiculously weird, like happened in Season 9. Also, Dracula!!! I always really love it when he shows up because he is hilarious. And then there's (view spoiler)[ANYA, even if she is just a ghost (hide spoiler)]! And I guess kind of some big things happened in the Angel and Faith series that I haven't been able to force myself to read yet, but I feel pretty comfortable continuing to skip those.
Anyway, totally looking forward to volume 2!...more
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