This book was super cheesy but engaging. It was a perfect read for our camping trip because I didn‘t really have to pay attention. The story was about two American women living in Paris during the start of WWII and the terrible decisions and experiences they had to live through. It follows their lives in the aftermath of the war. One complaint that I have is that everything is so predictable and perfect (even the conflict is romanticized). 2/5

This is one of the best books I‘ve read in a long time. I love how the story is centered around one place and the many lives that have been shaped by it‘s natural beauty and lush forests. I highly recommend this novel. 5/5

I loved this story of a Jewish family who owned a grocery store in a mostly black neighborhood. The characters were well developed and I loved reading about their community and the ways in which they supported each other and those who wanted to tear it apart. 5/5

Overall, I really enjoyed this read about a family in the wake of the civil war. It was an engaging story about a daughter who needed to care for her mother and siblings in the aftermath of the war. Some aspects of the story I found confusing but overall enjoyed the book. 3.5/5

I liked the concept of this novel but found the characters to be shallow and slightly simple. This was a story of a woman who found herself alone in the US as a single mother navigating the horrors of the immigration system. 2/5

The novel follows Annis who is an enslaved person. It begins in her younger years before she was separated from her mother who was sold to another plantation and chronicles the many losses of her life. Annis grows and struggles through her time and it is a memorable and moving story. 4/5

This was an interesting novel focusing on a young mentally disabled person who undergoes surgery to become “smart”. Although he does become smarter, he also becomes less happy and focused more on the way people perceive him and how successful he is. 4/5

I loved this read! It was a long book but I never got sick of the story of the family. Each character was a welcome addition and likable. I could clearly picture Paramble in my mind and would recommend this novel. 5/5

This was a fun read, the novel is about a chemist during the 50s who isn‘t respected for her work because she is female. She becomes a host of a cooking show and tries to instill empowerment for women. 4/5

This is a moving and sentimental novel about friendship. The story is centered around two girls who spend their summers together and grow up together, building a bond that is everlasting through challenging times. I loved this book 5/5

This was a great read! I loved the story surrounding the mechanical tiger and the main characters quest for a life beyond expectations. It was an easy read and enjoyable. The ending was a bit silly but otherwise great 4/5

This book was a really difficult read because it was very upsetting. It is representative of South Africa and the tumultuous racial issues that are present there. I did not know enough to see the analogy and recognize that is a big reason why the book didn‘t resonate with me. 3/5

This is such a good read. I loved the intertwined stories and the characters were really likable. The story was centered around a boy whose parents had him fostered in England during the Holocaust and a migrant who was separated from her daughter at the border. 5/5

This was such an interesting read by an incredible runner. It gave me a unique insight into who Des is and what running means to her. 5/5

I loved this novel. It was a page turner about a death doula who was living a life that she knew she would one day regret. The characters were oversimplified but it was an otherwise entertaining read. 4/5

I loved this book. It is an interesting story of a young girl who was promised to a Duke and married at 15. The novel flashes between her time in her family home, her early marriage, and about a year into her marriage where she was concerned about her safety from her husband.

This was an incredible read about Native Americans living in Oakland. It was about belonging and identity centered around multiple characters who all attended a powwow at the end of the story where violence ensues. 5/5

I loved this story of a “cursed” family of Vietnamese women. It‘ll the perspective switches between the different women in the family. 5/5

This is a heartbreaking story from the perspective of a young woman whose mother is imprisoned and older brother is trying to find his own way in the world. Out of desperation, she begins night crawling. This leads her into difficult and desperate situations. 4/5

I didn‘t love this book. It was a romance centered on a woman who lost her husband. The story was surface level. 2/5

I enjoyed the story and unique perspective of the novel. This book wasn‘t written traditionally, but it helped bring the story of the three sisters to life. 4/5

I wasn‘t super impressed by this book. I found it to be more focused on the author‘s experience which was interesting but I was hoping to read more about mothering from a wider perspective. 3/5

This book is an eye opening read about our food system and the American view of food. I think everyone should read this book. 5/5

This is a heartbreaking book of conversations with a mother and her deceased son. It is a unique perspective on death and suicide, not focused on complete understanding but about coming to terms with the loss. It is beautiful written. 5/5

This is a uniquely written story centered on the lives lived in an apartment building in a closed down car manufacturing town. The way that it was written is interesting and made it an easy read. The story centers on one girl who grew out of the foster care system and the lives that surrounded hers. 4/5

This is a story of a mother who left behind the true story of her life to her children. The mother had told her children that she was an orphan but her story is so much more complicated and heartbreaking. The novel is an easy read. 4/5

I loved this book! Such an easy and interesting read split between the present and 50 years from now where the government controls the internet and has families who are streaming their lives 24/7. The story follows one the of the people who have had their entire lives watched on this stream and what her parents lives were like before the new internet. 5/5

I loved this read! Such an interesting story from the perspective of the 5 members of the crew organized to steal back Chinese art that was stolen long ago. 5/5

This was a page turner! About an Indian brother and sister who have two very different experiences growing up on a small island. The daughter is favorited and able to leave when the natives of the island start to impose cruel laws against the Indian occupants. 4/5

This was a moving story about the writer losing her husband to Alzheimer‘s. Rather than a slow and painful death, her husband chose assisted suicide. This memoir explores the challenges of finding a place where this is possible and what it was like to go through it. 4/5

This was a thought provoking short story about two girls, one white and one black, but intentionally unmentioned which girl is which race. It forces self reflection as a reader because you want to determine who is who and rely on biases to do so, although unsuccessfully. 5/5

A page turner but very unrealistic. A story about a woman whose husband gets wrapped up in something illegal and disappears and ends up being not who she thought he was. 3/5

Fun and easy read, definitely a page turner. The story is about two twins that go in different directions with their lives and one twin disappearing completely. 4/5

This was such a fun read. This was the story of a woman who was looking back on her life and her greatest love. It was written like a movie. 5/5

The Buddha in the Attic was a powerful story about Japanese women leading up to and during the First World War. The story was about all of the women and written by the voice of the group rather than one woman. 4/5

This was a really great book. It was a really interesting story focused on a man recalling a story from his childhood of bringing messages between lovers. 4/5

This book was such a page turner. It was about a scientific experiment where families raised their children communally and the success for the kids but fallout for the parents. The book was written like a movie.

This was a dark true story of a two killers murdering an innocent family. The book is considered to be a classic and started the true crime genre.

Kind of boring and repetitive

I loved this story! Such an easy read about the back and forth relationship of two people from high school through college 4/5

So cliche

I really enjoyed this story about a woman who was unable to conceive and joined a gang of women. It was a fun story 4/5

Not for me

I loved this book! Such an easy read. Even though it was a little cheesy that‘s what made it great. It was about a woman who decided she no longer wanted to live and when she was in between lives she went to a library with the infinite parallel universes to her life. 5/5

I thought this story about the writer Thomas Mann was interesting but slightly dry. It was set during the first and second world wars in Germany but focused primarily on Mann. It was a good read but not incredible. 4/5

This was such a page turner. I thought that the idea of the book was unique and it made me think about the way that I live my own life. 4/5

I like Colson Whitehead‘s other books but I wasn‘t crazy about this book. I had a hard time getting into it.

This book has a slow start but was a really capturing ending. The themed of race and religion were a bit overstated and took away from the story. 3/5

Meh. Kind of boring single story narrative about a nun who craves power and recognition. 2/5

This was an exceptional story of a family who faced homelessness in fort Greene, Brooklyn. The work focused on the oldest of the 8 children, Dasani, and her life between the ages of 12 and 18. 5/5