I find myself feeling rather ambivalent about this one. The horror of the events that this novel is based on is unspeakable, and it is a story that deserves careful and respectful telling. The framing of this story is both ironic and tone deaf, though. In a tale about women, by a woman, and concerning women, the narrator is made to be a man. The irony is intentional, I believe, because of the universality of male authority in this society.

Brilliant, difficult, essential. This should be required reading for every white person alive. Other races can benefit too, but we are the ones who need to hear this. Regardless of our gender, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation, we benefit from the system if we are white and absolutely need to sit with ourselves and conduct an honest and thorough self examination.

September was a good book month for me. I had been in a book slump and I think I broke the curse. Most of these were completed in the first 3 weeks too since I've not been focusing very well since Tuesday. That was the day we learned that our sweet fur baby was miserably suffering from cancer and lost him quite suddenly. I'm still reeling a bit and looking for good escapes for the coming month. I'm not a spooktober-y type, but I love fall. Ideas?

I always get to these so late! @howjessreads #friyayintro

1. Oh man did I despise this book. It basically stole the names of famous characters and then wrote a completely trash story that bore no resemblance to the originals. Not an homage. Not a pastiche. Just tripe.
2. Brooklyn 99! (Nine nainnnnn!!!)
3. I had grilled cheese this morning 💁‍♀️
4. GMT-8 Pacific
5. Maroon Star

What can I say? Opinions are like... Well you know the simile. Everyone's got one. I looked over some of the reviews on this book that I just finished and completely adored, and I must say, they're pretty lackluster. This was one of my handful of 5 ⭐️ reads so far this year. I loved the weirdness, the books, the secret society. I love how typefaces and audiobooks play important roles in the plot. I just loved it! Highly recommend!

God, what a massively depressing read. It was a fantastic insight into what North Korea looks like from the inside though. The thing that struck me most was the hopeless bleakness of the average citizen, followed by amazement at the pigheaded stubbornness of the regime in the face of catastrophic results to their policies. Particularly the farming failures and how closely they follow the epic failures of Stalin's Soviet Union.

Ok, so this author is on Goodreads, and actually responding to reviews, so now I feel hampered in my snarky hate reading of it. Ugh! I‘m so conflicted! It‘s terrible but I am having fun doing an Athena‘s Choice Mystery Science Theater. It genuinely needs some copy editing and some revision, so I could be helpful. But I‘m not sure if it‘s worth it. And I don‘t like hurting people so I can‘t unleash the full snark on a real live person! Gahhh!!!!!!!

I‘m on page nine and I‘m already pissed at the author. Why don‘t men do a modicum of research before they write characters that they don‘t represent! 🤬🤬🤬

5 ⭐️This is what I want Neil Gaiman‘s gods to be like. This was a great Diana Prince origin story. Also one of the main characters is fat and hot and she‘s not just comic relief. She has a real role in the story. She does more than check a diversity box. That made me super happy 😃

This was a borderline DNF until almost the end. I live in Seattle but am not a native Seattleite so I did identify with some of the irritations Bernadette has but initially everyone but Bee annoyed the snot out of me. I came around as things came to a climax and then I really enjoyed the denouement. It was a quick read though and there were some genuinely funny moments. 3.5 ⭐️

This was definitely suspenseful and there was a good twist but I didn‘t love how it ended and I found all the characters to be fairly unpleasant. That said it was a total page turner and went fast.

Stolen from Sparknotes‘ Insta

Be prepared to love this man and be devastated at the end. I sobbed through the epilogue, half for the loss of Paul, and half in preemptive grief at the thought of losing my own husband. This is a stunning book. Part autobiography, but mostly existential examination of what it is to really live. The epitome of an examined life. Why did I wait so long to read it? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hello all!! I‘m about to move and this space is going to be my library. I‘m so excited and daunted by the idea of making this space my own, but if anyone understands the excitement it‘s you all!

I keep wanting to read this and keep getting put off by the reports of domestic and sexual violence. Can we agree that there‘s a huge difference between an historical novel and a novel written in an historical time? I believe the justifications given about things that happen in this story absolutely should apply to a book written in the 1700s, but as a modern novel written about a former time, doesn‘t it have an obligation to frame it differently?

One of my favorite books is on sale and you can add the audiobook for $7.49 if you have Audible! This is narrative non-fiction at its best! Go get it!

January round up, from the top down most recent to oldest
5 ⭐️
2 ⭐️ don‘t @ me. I love the story! It was just better as a movie!
3 ⭐️
3 ⭐️
5 ⭐️

1. Dog earring pages is perfectly permissible as long as it‘s your book
2. Sweet. I have an insatiable sweet tooth
3. Dave and Shirley, Glenn and DD (Dolores)
4. Little Women with Susan Sarandon and Wynona Ryder
5. New York. I would have probably said London before October but now I‘ve been to NYC and there‘s so much I didn‘t get to do! I still wanna do London, but that kinda trip needs to be at least 2 weeks.
#friyayintro

1. 53F
2. 75-80ish F
3. Off. It‘s an on/off kind of thing
4. Rain and wind
5. Done!
#hellothursday

Current read. It's delightfully whimsical and extremely educational. Thanks to the kindle daily deal for cheap access to this one ☝️ 👍

5 enthusiastic ⭐️
This book tells the story of the research of what‘s now known as PTSD. I was really struck by the author‘s humility in describing how much he was still learning even though he‘s been a healthcare practitioner and researcher for almost 40 years. The science of what physiologically happens to the traumatized brain is fascinating and the info on treatment options is invaluable.

#friyayintro
1. Sci-fi
2. Abandonment
3. I really can‘t remember. By middle school it was photojournalist or librarian
4. 51 F
5. 🤷‍♀️

1. 🇺🇸
2. 🇨🇷
3. 🇬🇧
4. 🇸🇽 (both if 2 years ago is recent)
#HelloThursday

Ok, time for something a little more serious. Hopefully this will be insightful

So this book. Oh man. I really enjoyed it, except when I didn‘t. The characters were not well developed. A huge point was made of explaining why all the adult animals are female and then the T-Rex is referred to throughout as male. Because deep-seated sexism? I listened and read and Scott Brock‘s effeminate portrayal of Dr Wu was a confusing choice. It was a fun ride but reading it let me sit with the story long enough to see the frayed edges.

Happy Uk publication day Laura! I‘ve been following Laura Thomas on Instagram for about a year and I love her no nonsense, research based info dismantling diet culture and now there‘s a whole book of it! So exciting!

Thank goodness that‘s over. There are aspects of this that I really enjoyed. It‘s definitely supposed to be in my wheelhouse, but maybe that‘s the problem. It felt like the author tried to create a Victorian character loosely combining Irene Adler and Phryne Fisher but aimed at people who‘d only ever watched the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes movie. It‘s quite disappointing because there are more to the series and I wish I wanted to read them.

At the risk of being obnoxious about this book, I‘m posting again because wth?! What‘s London famous for, especially during the reign of Victoria? Tremendously thick, unbreathable smog filled air. Ugh! I‘m dying guys! Fortunately it moves quickly and I‘m 2/3 done.

🙄

Le sigh. Ok, so she‘s not actually anything like Mary Russell. She just feigns to be. I‘m trying not to be annoyed at her dissemblance.

Holy crap on a cracker! That was terrifying! I have absolutely no intention of watching the movie based on this (because, oh the gore!), but I‘d had it sitting on my TBR for the better part of a year and I was too chicken to crack it open. Then apparently everyone in the world watched the movie and I thought, “might as well and see what the fuss is about.” I think it was well written...

#MusicalNewYear #wholiveswhodies this is so funny. My husband and I are actually hosting a Hamilton listening party on Sunday and this book will be heavily featured. We‘ve got some newbies in the group and LMM‘s lyrics definitely need a libretto so as not to miss out on details.

I mostly read this on audio and the reader was so good I thought she might actually be Lezley McSpadden. It‘s written in vernacular which is appropriate and was enjoyable. My heart goes out to Mike Brown‘s family, but especially to his mother. I am so so sorry and angry that people are still having to deal with this kind of thing.

Very rarely do I get the opportunity to do anything tangible to express my contempt and intense loathing of predators. And in most cases of the question “should we separate the art from the artist?” I come down in favor of yes.

I assume BuzzFeed is mining this group for data, but it's one of the few civil places on Facebook these days. I for one am glad to check my feed there and get more updates like my Litten friends and less cranky miserable irreconcilable argument. An oasis in the desert of incivility.

1. I am rather partial to the Adipose
2. None of the above, thank you!. I don't like zombies
3. I've only really watched Voyager, but I love what I've seen of TNG
4. I'm usually a villains girl (give me Loki any day!), but in this case I think Disney classic
#fandomfriday on Sunday because I was sick this weekend

Thank you for generously sharing your de-stash with us! This has been a really good reading year for me. Other than the tagged book, I've read and adored: Let's Pretend This Never Happened, The Hate U Give, All Creatures Great and Small, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. @BeeCharmer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I want to be Gabourey Sidibe's best friend! I love her raw honesty, her humanity, her revelations. As someone who's struggled with moving toward body positivity for myself, I understand and respect her decisions and I can also understand why bopo advocates have criticized her. I'm tremendously grateful for the bopo community because with their help I've learned to love my body but sometimes they can be a bit militant in their approach..

I really liked the idea and most of the execution but it was just too damn long!

5 enthusiastic ⭐️
I don't know why I delayed so long to read this utterly charming novel. Now I just wish Juliet's book from the end were available to read!

1. We try and meal plan but usually the longest we can go between shopping trips is 3 days. We have a pint-sized apartment refrigerator and it hardly holds anything.
2. Ranch. That stuff is magic
3. Bake. My husband is the cook!
4. Usually at least fruit, but I like at things so often other things too
5. The tagged one. It's a history of the Indian subcontinent told through food. So good!!
#tellmetuesday

Yay! This is finally on sale! I've been wanting to read this forever! I was able to attend Levar Burton Reads Live where he read a Nisi Shawl short story and then interviewed her afterward. It was awesome! I'd heard so much buzz about this one it's surprising to me to see it has such a low Litsy approval rating 😲

So now I definitely have to finish this one! The preview looks awesome!

Halfway through the year and I‘m at 30 books! That may not be much for a lot of you, but I‘m very proud. And I‘m 5 books ahead of schedule! I‘m hoping to finish 52 this year. Favorites so far have been: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, The Hate U Give, and Let‘s Pretend This Never Happened. I‘m looking forward to a great second half of the year. At least personally. The world is dumpster fire. Thank God for books!

1. Clean my house, do some volunteer work, finish my book before the end of June
2. I'm about done with number 6
3. Both! I enjoy each season as it comes and I live in a fairly temperate place
4. Oh man that's a tough one! Probably my first Biffy Clyro concert at The Showbox. Although the recent Fretellis concert was pretty awesome
5. I'll try!
#friyayintro

This came up in Facebook memories and I'm legit annoyed again. Not for long, but still! So I'm not friends with this person anymore and this isn't her real name, so no doxxing here. But seriously folks, what kind of uncultured swine of a response to my comment! Nowadays I do 99% of my reading on my iPad or phone, but that's not what this was about. 🤨🙄🤷‍♀️ I know you all will understand 👍😘

Thus began a lifelong love of reading. ⬆️=👶Me

Carl Sagan's writing is beautiful and his hope for humanity was pure. The above quote was one of many mind blowing moments from this book. I've been interested in astronomy and physics for a long time but I'd never heard that before. We could have been in a binary system but Jupiter didn't have enough mass to ignite properly so instead of a star it became a gas giant.