The tension, while reading this book, got nearly unbearable. Slow, menacing dread kept creeping up. The language was beautiful, details were exquisite. The narrator is a challenge, but I kept needing to know more.

Worth it for better understanding of how class has always played into American politics, felt scarily relevant. So-so because the writing itself and organization made the book harder to get through than it needed to be, in my opinion. Worth the work, but it did feel like a slog, often.

I literally finished this yesterday, reading parts of it out loud to my Star Wars loving husband. I was still hopeful that she would recover and go back to being the witty, sarcastic, funny woman she was in this book. I'm glad I read it, and so sad to have lost her.

Celebrity memoirs are usually no better than so-so for me. Light entertainment, a rest between real books. This one is different. That poetic style you know from his lyrics, combined with thoughtful, considered honesty about life and work and love. Really beautiful.

Title alone, I felt like I had to read this. And there was a lot of info about literacy and culture in the Middle East. The pace was a little bit slow at times. I liked it, glad I read it, but didn't LOVE it.

Reviews on Goodreads in which people thought that this was history that they should have known..."the railroad really was a train that ran under the ground" made me skeptical. Fantasy and history mixing backfires with an uninformed populace. However, glad I have it a chance. Slavery through the lens of magical realism. Beautiful and worth the hype.

I needed this SO much. In the last month, I have felt such despair, and this book gave me exactly the kick I needed. Her argument for hope and activism is persuasive, and inspiring. I bought a few copies, for myself and some friends who I think need this too. Highly recommend.

Complicated mother-son relationship against the backdrop of American culture and politics. I wasn't sure, reading the satire, if I felt like laughing or crying. Worth the mentions on end of year "best" lists.

I enjoyed the play within a play structure of this, and was moved by the father's grief over his lost Miranda. The climactic felt a bit too neat and formulaic, a bit unbelievable. But then...it echoes the formal structure of Shakespearean drama. Of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, this is just behind A Winter's Tale for me.

Very strange, but riveting. Worth the effort it takes to learn to read the "shadow language" it's written in. Try reading it out loud, the rhythms are hypnotic and it makes it easier to understand.

Not my usual genre, but this was a good read. I felt like I could see the movie it will be made into. Action, twists, interesting characters.

A darkly funny story of a mom and her kids on a trip through Alaska. I laughed out loud and kept interrupting my husband to read lines out loud.

A darkly funny story of a mom and her kids on a trip through Alaska. I laughed out loud and kept interrupting my husband to read lines out loud.

Really?!

Essays by a doctor (who sounds like a really interesting guy), it includes all kinds of interesting info about the body that I never knew.

Easy read, plot-driven, a few interesting characters. I wish there was something in between so-so and pick this time...good for a summer read when you want something easy, but not going to make my top-ten list or anything.

I know there's a movie coming out. Take tissues, whether you read it or watch it. A fast, easy read that asks you to think about what makes a life worth living.

I am amazed that this author even managed to survive her childhood, let alone go on to be functional and able to write about it. A bit like a fundamentalist, polygamous car crash...you want to look away, but you just can't.

Loved the author's intimate address of the audience towards the end, a way of paying tribute to the way Shakespeare's characters did the same while helping us feel her love of the original work.

I made it halfway through this before I realized that I was forcing myself. It wasn't awful...just meh. And if you find that you're pushing yourself to read a memoir by a celebrity chef/ model/ ex-wife of Salman Rushdie...why?

A quick read, full of poignant reflections on growing up, home, and all that we lose on the way. Bonus points for a well-drawn, complicated mother/daughter relationship. Although I felt like the secret about her family that the blurb teases feels a little cliched, it didn't wreck the book for me.

I don't think I've ever actually used the word romp when describing a book...until now. This was so fun that I had to go back and read the first one, which was also entertaining. A charming rake, a badass girlfriend, lots of historical detail. A great summer read.

I ignored this when it first came out. Wasn't that big a fan of hers, didn't bother. I was wrong. This was so beautiful, such a moving love story about her unconventional relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. So vividly evocative of a time and place, and such a unique voice. Loved it.

The title is African American slang for "a suburb of hell," and that is just one word I had to look up while reading this. Rich, poetic language combined with enough anguish to make me stop and catch my breath left me wanting more of Charlie Smith.

An intriguing premise: Four Londons in alternate worlds, a struggle for power and magic that crosses the boundaries. Getting to the last page, I was glad to know that the sequel is already out. Thoroughly enjoyable.

"Why would we need music if our lives were exactly as we wanted them to be?" Indie rock, time travel, love. Read this in an afternoon, so fun! Full of references that were pointed right at my 40 year old self, the nostalgia was perfect. Inspired talk about risks of time travel with my kids, too. ?

Hard to put down. The author weaves his own story of grief with analyses of Greek tragedy, as well as the story of how he made a career of staging these plays for audiences of soldiers, hospice workers, and first responders. Makes me want to reread Sophocles. Worth a read!

"At first I thought I was trying to understand death, but then I realized that was a lie I was telling myself. I want to see death. When I say "see" I mean something specific and bookish. (...) To see the world I've always opened a book"
A really interesting read. Worth the anxiety it caused. ?