the bookshelf

This is the last book I'll read this year and the last book I need to reach my goal of reading 50 books. Woohoo! Anyway, this is a short story collection that was recently released in English. I saw it in my library's 'New Books' section so I grabbed it on impulse. This is the second thing I've read by Sayaka Murata. Overall, I really like her writing but the stories were kind of hit or miss for me. My favorites were the two stories featuring the elderly women, Yoshiko and Kikue. They were surprisingly cute. The weirdest short story for me is 'Poochie'. It's not the weirdest in terms of concepts, but the identity of who Poochie is made me a little uncomfortable, especially when Poochie is cared for by two high school girls. It was pretty bizarre. I really enjoyed the language in 'Eating the City'. Sayaka Murata does an amazing job in describing society and how her protagonists often feel alienated by it.

This was alright, I guess. Nice to have finally read it. The advice given in this book is pretty basic and nothing you haven't heard before. The author encourages you to copy (not plagiarize) from your inspirations by taking aspects you like and applying it to your own work. He suggests keeping a commonplace book to jot down your thoughts and ideas. He says to compile what inspires you somewhere, either digitally or physically, so that you can reference them later for ideas and inspiration. Kleon emphasizes that keeping a routine is important in order to maintain the momentum you need to accomplish your creative tasks. As I said, all very basic advice. Still, this book is very short and while the advice is basic, it's also solid. According to the library app, I read the ebook in under an hour total. Not bad. A random interesting part of the book was when Kleon said, "In chapter one, I quote from Ecclesiastes, “there is nothing new under the sun”, but almost two millennia before that line was written, the Egyptian poet Khakheperresenb was already complaining that the good words had been used up. The idea that there's nothing new is at least 4,000 years old." The fact that people have been complaining about how hard it is to be original for at least 4,000 years is pretty funny.

Listened to this via audiobook. I've complained about the narrator before but since both this novella and the prior one were available, I checked them both out at the same time. Exit Strategy is the fourth installment in The Murderbot Diaries. In this novella, we see Murderbot encounter familiar faces and the main storyline we've been following gets wrapped up. Overall, it was okay.

I read Mouthful of Birds, a short story collection by this author last year and it was one of my favorite reads of the year. So, I was excited to finally get to this novella. Unfortunately, I didn't like it as much. Fever Dream is told in a conversation between two characters, a mother named Amanda, and a boy named David. The narrative has no chapter breaks and is just one paragraph after another, giving it a very suffocating atmosphere as you read on, trying to figure out what is going on. From the short story collection I've read, I knew to expect that I wouldn't fully understand the story. My primary disappointment is that this novella didn't feel as weird or dark as I would have liked. There are a few creepy parts, but it felt a lot more tame than Mouthful of Birds. The story deals a lot with the anxieties of parents when it comes to protecting their children. Maybe that's also why I didn't like it as much because I can't really relate to that fear.

Never would have guessed that a novel about the life of a boring Missouri farmer-turned-English professor would make me emotional, but here we are. Stoner is a classic American novel following the life of William Stoner. The book opens by describing Stoner as an unremarkable man who lived an unremarkable life. After his death, he would be mostly forgotten at the university he taught at and overall, didn't really make an impact on his students. Then, it follows his childhood during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born to a family of poor Missouri farmers and his parents sent him to the University of Missouri to study agriculture. While there, Stoner lived life in a day to day blur until one day, during an English class, he 'awakens' and realizes his love for literature. From then on, he drops his agricultural studies without telling his parents and studies English. It isn't until the day he graduates that he lets his parents know. He attends graduate school at the same university and also teaches. During his time at graduate school, World War I breaks out and many students and faculty leave to join the war efforts. Stoner decides to remain behind. He becomes infatuated with a woman he meets at a party, named Edith, and decides to marry her. Unfortunately, their marriage would be an unhappy and very dysfunctional one, wherein his wife weaponizes their only daughter, Grace, against him and Stoner becomes very distant. Stoner's life continues at the university. He makes enemies with a fellow professor, which ends up hurting his career. He has an affair with one of the other professors there, and realizes what it's like to be in love. Ironically, his relationships with Edith and Grace improve during this affair, as Edith knows of it but doesn't mind it. Unfortunately, the affair comes to an abrupt end when it threatens both of their careers. After this, the book follows Stoner's middle years teaching at the university. There are some ups but mostly downs, as his life is seemingly one disappointment after the other. Eventually, Stoner enters the latter years of his life. Stoner's health abruptly worsens and he learns he has stage four cancer. As his life comes to an end, a now adult Grace visits him one last time and he realizes that Grace, much like Edith, will never be happy. After she leaves, he contemplates his life, thinking initially that it was a failure and then that it was wrong to think of it as a failure. One afternoon, when he is alone, Stoner passes away.

I thought John Williams's writing was beautiful and very accessible for a classic. He has a way of describing things simplistically, but in a manner that is still very impactful. For instance, when Stoner tells his parents that he will graduate with an English degree and won't be taking over his father's farm, Williams writes, "He felt his inadequacy to the goal he had so recklessly chosen and felt the attraction of the world he had abandoned. He grieved for his own loss and for that of his parents, and even in his grief felt himself drawing away from them." In these two sentences, Williams is able to reflect the disappointment and sadness that comes when a child does not fulfill their parents' dreams and chooses their own path. While many authors would choose to dwell on this point, Williams moves swiftly on. It's only when you pause to reflect does the writing gut-punch you.

In addition to his writing, I loved the way Williams depicted his characters. He writes them with such love and care that you really get a feel for who they are as a person. By the end of the book, even if I didn't like a character, I had empathy for them. I especially felt for Edith and Grace. They're both truly tragic characters, where Edith is extremely bitter from never having the freedom to live her own life as a woman in the early-mid 1900s. She entered a marriage with a man she didn't like to escape her parents and, in the early days of their marriage, was forced to endure sex with Stoner, first to consummate their marriage and then to conceive Grace. Despite hating her father and feeling smothered by her mother, Edith acts in the same way towards Grace by controlling every aspect of Grace's life. Because Edith is very emotionally volatile, Grace follows along and tries to please her mother. But eventually, much like Edith, Grace breaks. She purposefully gets impregnated out of wedlock so that she can escape the dysfunctional household she grew up in. But Grace becomes an alcoholic and, like her father, an absent parent. It's all very tragic. Stoner himself is a pretty tragic character. He's fairly passive and you can see all of the decisions he has made and the way they've negatively affected his life. It's very easy to say that 'he should have done this or that'. One of the biggest questions I had while reading this was, 'Why didn't he just divorce Edith?'. I'm not sure what divorce laws looked like at the time, but they were both miserable and Edith had other family members that could have supported her. However, Stoner made his decisions with the information he had at the time and did his best in life. There are some novels that are sad because they are one tragedy after the other. Stoner is sad because it depicts a lifetime of quiet disappointments. It's a very melancholic novel, and serves as a warning against being too passive in life. It may have snuck in at the very end to be the best book I've read this year.

Listened to this via audiobook. Wouldn't recommend. The audiobook narrator has a very boring voice that made it feel like I was listening to a nonfiction audiobook, not an audiobook for a sci-fi novella. The narrator is also a man, which surprisingly bothered me. Normally, I don't really care but the titular Murderbot character is an android with no gender. Guess I was imagining Murderbot to have a more feminine sounding voice? Anyway, there isn't much I can say about the plot of this book as it's the third in a series. You follow the antisocial Murderbot as it tries to investigate a corrupt corporation while avoiding detection as a rogue android. The plot is okay and since it's a series of (mostly) novellas, there isn't much depth. The star of this series is Murderbot the character. It struggles to act 'normally' around humans and accurately interpret their behavior. Because of this, Murderbot is quite socially anxious for a robot built to kill things. Murderbot enjoys binging shows and does not like dealing with people. Despite its insistence that it doesn't care for humans, Murderbot clearly does, which makes its grumpiness around people all the more entertaining. As a whole, I think that The Murderbot Diaries are an entertaining read, if a bit overrated. They make for a good 'palate cleanser'. Would highly recommend reading these from a library, if available, because Tor is tripping with these novella prices.

Really enjoyed this book. Initially, I thought that the incel character Shiraha was a bit much, what with him constantly going on about society and the Stone Age or whatever. His character just seemed a bit too on the nose. Then, I thought back to my experiences of interacting with incels and incel-adjacent men online and in real life and was like, "Actually never mind". Murata really captured the lack of self-awareness in men like Shiraha. It's funny that he constantly called Keiko useless for being an unmarried convenience store worker in her mid-late 30s, but then didn't seem to realize that if she was useless, then he was worse than useless for being fired from the convenience store. The irony of it all.

Perhaps it's because I've worked at a convenience store before, but I really related to Keiko's character. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from a well organized and smoothly running store that I haven't gotten at any 'real' jobs I've worked since. I liked her direct observations about people and thought that her commentary was a bit funny at times. I related to her experience with 'masking' and adopting other peoples' mannerisms to try to fit in. It's truly sad that due to societal expectations, her very existence is considered abnormal. The meddling of her sister and friends to try to get her married or into a 'respectable' job was frustrating. Keiko was causing no harm and was a contributing member of society as a convenience store worker. If she's content with her life, there's no need to change it just because it doesn't meet society's lofty standards.

In this book, the author describes the four types of emotionally neglectful parents (emotional, driven, passive, and aggressive), the effects they have on their children, and how to identify emotionally immature people based on these categories. She discusses the ways children tend to react to the abusive behaviors of their parents (either by becoming an internalizer, someone that retreats inwardly, or an externalizer, someone that lashes out from their pain). The author then offers ways to have a healthier relationship with your emotionally neglectful parents by establishing firm boundaries, letting go of toxic thought patterns, and taking a step back in terms of your expectations of a relationship. Often times, the children of emotionally neglectful parents will chase after their parents, desperate for their approval. Unfortunately, this will never end in happiness. Unless your parent chooses to change (and you can't make that change for them), nothing good will come of this. Instead, the author suggests having a more distant relationship with your parents to match the emotional capacity that they're capable of/ comfortable with (or cut them off entirely if they're too toxic).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I ended up highlighting quite a few passages in my ebook copy and saved them for personal reference. A lot of the things the author discusses resonated with me and my experiences. I appreciated the thoughtful approach she took in writing this book. However, I wish she would have included a section on identifying and addressing the emotionally immature behaviors in the readers themselves. The author even points out several times that emotionally immature parents are often the result of being emotionally neglected in their own childhoods. Therefore, it stands that the readers of this book would be a bit emotionally immature as well.

Pleasantly surprised upon reading this. I've watched The Princess Bride movie before and was hesitant to pick up the book, since I already loved the movie so much. The movie is brilliantly casted and utterly charming. Thankfully, I found that the book was just as charming (with the exception of a few scenes). I still like the movie better, but the book is also good. The narration is witty and comedic, and it was nice to get to learn more about the characters. Fezzik remains my favorite. My primary issue with this book are the asides written from the author's fictitious persona. He comes across as being sleazy and bitter. I especially hated the first part of the book, which was written entirely from this perspective, before the story actually began. In this, the fictional version of the author derides his son as being too fat, seems distant towards his wife, and ogles women while being away from home to work on a movie deal. I understand that this part of the book is entirely fictional, but I still found it unpleasant to read and it took away from my enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend skipping this part and, in general, only skimming through the author's asides. They're not that important and only distract from the story. All you need to know is that the author is writing an abridgment of a fictional version of The Princess Bride, where he gets rid of the boring stuff. The actual story that follows is that abridged version. While I thought the framing narrative of the book was interesting, with it being a story about a story, ultimately I felt like the asides were the weakest part of the book.

Listened to this via audiobook. Andy Serkis did a phenomenal job with the narration. Feels good to have finally read the LotR trilogy. Now I can call myself a True Fantasy Fan™. Overall, I thought that this book was good. I think the second is my favorite in the trilogy, but I enjoyed The Return of the King. A common complaint I see is that the latter half of the book is like an extended epilogue, but I kind of liked it. It was nice to see things calm down and for characters to get some time to breathe and relax after their harrowing journey and battles. The only part that dragged for me was the Scouring of the Shire, the penultimate chapter in the book. I didn't know what to expect but I've heard so much about this chapter in particular. A common criticism of the film adaptation was that it was left out, and I've always heard about how important this chapter is and how harrowing the scouring of the Shire was. And I gotta say, I'm kind of disappointed. I can see the purpose of the chapter but after having it hyped up, it definitely didn't meet my expectations. I didn't know what the 'scouring' would entail, but I imagined the Shire being razed to the ground. Instead, what I got was gentrification basically.

I think my favorite part about this book, and the trilogy as a whole, is that Frodo's quest ends in failure. He fails to destroy the One Ring by succumbing to its power, and it's really only thanks to luck and circumstance that the Ring is ever destroyed. I also liked that Frodo is permanently changed from being a Ring-bearer and clearly suffers from trauma. A lot of people knock on LotR nowadays for being basic and boring, since it's the archetypical high fantasy story. But Tolkien did two things (quest failing and protagonist suffering from PTSD and is never 'cured') that many modern authors still shy away from. I also enjoyed the friendships between characters. The friendships were very wholesome and it was refreshing to read about characters that weren't afraid to express their affection and appreciation for others.

Read this in a day since it's so short. In this nonfiction classic, renowned Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke responds to the letters of a young man who asks for his advice on life and poetry. Over the course of several years, Rilke would write ten* heartfelt letters to the man, discussing loneliness and solitude, and providing encouragement. (*Rilke actually wrote 11, but 1 letter was never published.) The man's circumstances mirror Rilke's own when he was younger and so, in many ways, Rilke is not only addressing the man but his younger self. One thing that stood out to me while reading this was how earnest and humble Rilke was. Although I got the feeling that Rilke wasn't too pleased when he was sent the young poet's poetry to critique, he responded humbly and offered some gentle insights into the young poet's problems. I borrowed a copy of this from the library, but I'd like to get my own copy to reread and annotate. There were quite a few passages that I enjoyed but I think the one that caught my attention the most was Rilke's brief discussion surrounding feminism. It's surprisingly progressive, considering that Rilke is a man writing from the early 1900s. In it, Rilke writes:
This humanity which inhabits woman, brought to term in pain and humiliation, will, once she has shrugged off the conventions of mere femininity through the transformations of her outward status, come clearly to light, and men, who today do not yet feel it approaching, will be taken by surprise and struck down by it. [...]One day there will be girls and women whose name will no longer just signify the opposite of the male but something in their own right, something which does not make one think of any supplement or limit but only of life and existence: the female human being.
It's a very hopeful passage, and a bit depressing reading it in modern times. Rilke writes that one day women will no longer be viewed as the opposite of men or a lesser version of men, but as human beings worthy of respect in their own right. But even today, that isn't the case. Even today, women are seen as inferior broken versions of men and are abused, dehumanized, and belittled by society. It's pretty disheartening that over 100 years later, some things haven't changed.

Listened to this via audiobook. Meh. Basic life advice for the Harvard Business School type. The only good thing about it is that it's short. Aside from that, pretty mediocre.

Decided to read this after seeing several recommendations about it floating around the internet. It was alright. Nothing too revolutionary. The author talks about his way of organizing all of his notes and thoughts digitally in a 'second brain', inspired by the commonplace books of older generations. The second brain is supposed to be an extension of your own, in which you offload the burden of remembering things by recording and organizing them digitally for easy retrieval. This way, you can focus on thinking creatively and problem-solving without worrying about forgetting information or ideas. I've been using various digital note-taking apps for years now, so the ideas presented here aren't exactly new to me. Still I think the book was decent, if a bit too long.

A pretty surface level and ultimately lackluster read. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't what I got. Cultish gives several anecdotes about cults or cult-adjacent groups (from Heaven's Gate to MLMs to exercise enthusiasts) and examines the commonalities in language and behavior between these groups. Or at least, that's what it claims to do. Unfortunately for me, I found the author's analysis to be pretty basic and slightly disorganized. The book isn't bad, just incredibly average and forgettable. I listened to this via audiobook and thought the audiobook production was fine.

Ordinary Monsters is the first book in The Talents trilogy. In this alternate world set in the 1800s, children are sometimes born with rare magical powers and are called talents. Because the talents could be dangerous to themselves and others if left alone and because the general populace doesn't know about them, agents are tasked by the Cairndale Institute in Scotland to find and retrieve these superpowered children so that they may grow up in safety. Alice Quicke and her partner, Frank Coulton, are two such agents. They are sent on a mission to find Charlie Ovid (a 16 year old Black orphan imprisoned in Mississippi) and Marlowe (an 8 year old British orphan living at a traveling circus in Illinois). However, along the way, they realize that a man once thought dead has reappeared and is on the hunt for the children. And the Cairndale Institute isn't as safe as they had thought. Dark forces are on the rise and threaten to tear down the barriers between the living and the dead.

This book is pretty long and I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I still liked it (3 is a good rating!) but it was just... fine. The prose was a bit clunky at times, especially towards the end. I think the author was trying to mimic a more old-fashioned writing style since the book takes place in the 1800s, but he wasn't fully successful. The character work felt a bit shallow at times. A lot of telling, not showing. Additionally, the book felt repetitive towards the end— both in terms of reveals and the general narrative. The book was a little obtuse and it felt like with each piece of information we learned, that information would later turn out to be incorrect in some way, and we would learn new information. This cycle would repeat a few more times and by the end, I was a little exasperated (and confused) by all of the reveals. It got to a point where whenever we learned something about a character, I would kind of ignore it because I knew that somehow, that information wasn't fully accurate and would be corrected later. Another confusing aspect was the character motivations— not because the author was trying to be mysterious but because the characterization was clumsily done and he was trying to handle too many plot threads. I'm still not quite sure if I fully understand the motivations of one of the antagonists.

Anyway, despite all of my complaining, I did actually like this book overall. Marlowe, Alice, and Jacob Marber were the standout characters for me. I appreciated that all of the female characters were interesting and strong in their own way, even the minor characters (shoutout to my girl, Brynt). I enjoyed the dark, magical Victorian setting as well. However, this was a book that while reading, I was aware the entire time that I was reading a book. I was never fully invested in the characters or the story. Due to this, and my aforementioned gripes, I'm giving it 3/5 stars. I'm not sure if I'll continue in the series when the next book eventually comes out.

Becoming Bulletproof is a memoir and self-help book tied in one. In it, Evy Poumpouras recounts her experience as a Secret Service agent and discusses what she learned while on the job. Overall, I found the advice portion to be largely forgettable. However, her recollection of her time in the Secret Service was really interesting. It was pretty inspirational hearing how hard she fought to become an agent, despite the widespread sexism at the time. I also thought the section where she talked about her experiences protecting the Bush and Obama families to be surprisingly sweet.

Nona the Ninth is the third book in the Locked Tomb series. As such, I won't say much about the plot aside from that the story takes place over five days and provides some answers to questions brought up in the previous two books. After some deliberation, I gave this 4/5 stars. I think this is my least favorite book in the series, although I still enjoyed it greatly. It definitely felt like an interlude of sorts, where it was setting the stage for the final book. I enjoyed seeing snippets of what happened before the Resurrection, although the narrator is unreliable so you can't be sure how much is the truth. Nona was a cutie patootie and I liked seeing her interactions with other characters. I'm interested to see more of the two (three?) new characters introduced (iykyk).

While I liked this book, I'm also a little disappointed by it as I didn't like it as much as the others. It was a little strangely paced, which makes sense since it was originally one book before being split into two. I'm really excited to see how things are wrapped up in Alecto the Ninth.

Listened to this via audiobook. Highly, highly recommend the audiobooks for this series! Steven Pacey does a phenomenal job with bringing the characters to life. Honestly think this is one of those series where the audiobook experience is better than physically reading the books. Can't really say much as this is the final book in the First Law trilogy but yowza, what an end! Haven't stopped thinking about it after I finished the book. This was definitely my favorite book in the trilogy, although I did think that it dragged a little during the siege. The characters were amazing as always. I loved watching the progression of Jezal's character. Glokta is, of course, my favorite. He's so horrible and funny. It's delightful. That one scene in the sewers was amazing and I loved the brief encounter between him and Ferro. The two have surprising parallels so seeing them finally be able to meet was a treat. The endings for certain characters were pretty tragic but make sense given their natures and the grimdark setting. I absolutely adored the ending! I have no doubt that it's a controversial one, but I really appreciated the commentary Abercrombie was making on societal power structures. Immediately upon finishing this book, I wanted to reread the series but I'll hold off for now!

Overall, enjoyed listening to this. Andy Serkis did an amazing job narrating the audiobook. I got a kick when he started doing his Gollum voice. One thing that threw me off was the way the book was separated. It's split into two parts. The first part follows Aragorn and co. while the second part follows Frodo and Sam. I was expecting that the book would switch perspectives between the two, not be evenly split so I spent the first half wondering when we would see Frodo and Sam. Not a bad thing, just something that surprised me.

The King in Yellow is a collection of 10 short stories and a horror classic. I had heard about this after learning that Lovecraft was inspired by Chambers. Curious, I decided to check this out. However, I ended up being slightly disappointed, which seems to be pretty common after glancing at reviews online. The premise I heard about this short story collection is that it explores madness and despair after characters come into contact with the play, The King in Yellow. Only the first four stories are related to the fictional play, and the remaining are more romantic romps in Paris. My favorite story is probably the first one, The Repaire of Reputations, although I did enjoy the war sequence in The Street of the First Shell. Since I was expecting weird horror for all of the stories, I will admit that I found the stories from The Demoiselle d'Ys onward to be a little annoying. Putting such thematically different stories into the same collection was an odd choice.

Listened to this via audiobook. The audiobook, like the first installment, was amazing. Enjoyed seeing the plot pick up pace and I thought that the way Abercrombie ended the book was certainly a ballsy move. The way he deconstructs common fantasy tropes is interesting. Like the first book, my favorite part was the characters. I enjoyed the interactions between Glokta and Vitari and I thought the almost fatherly relationship between Logen and Jezal was cute. Speaking of Jezal, it was really interesting seeing his growth over the story. Seems like the secret for making someone act less like an annoying twit is to have their face bashed. Who knew! I hope with many of the characters returning to Adua, we'll see them interact in the third book.

Harrow the Ninth is the second book in the Locked Tomb series. It takes place following the events of the first book and raises more questions than answers. Can't really say much about the plot aside from it being a doozy. Just embrace being confused and you'll have a good time (probably).

Overall I really liked Harrow the Ninth. I think that this book is one of the most unique books I have ever read. Can't really think of another book that has first, second, and third person perspectives and has specific storytelling reasons for these different perspectives. Just like the first book, this is a book that definitely benefits from a reread and it's quite possible that upon reread, it will become my favorite in the series thus far. My primary criticism of the book is the pacing. The first half of the book was quite slow, both in the past and present timelines. I also wasn't really interested in the past timeline until much later in the book. But the third act was incredibly wild.

The Locked Tomb series is classified as sci-fantasy but really, the first book is mainly fantasy. In this book, you get to see more sci-fi elements, which I enjoyed. I liked that we got to see more of characters that were sidelined in the first book. Them having their chance to shine was nice. I also liked John and the old Lyctors. Often times in fantasy, you will have these characters that are supposed to be super old but they act normal, which always bothered me. You don't live that long without ending up a little bit weird. So seeing how unhinged the Lyctors were was very entertaining. I think Mercymorn was my favorite of the three. She's so hilarious and horrible. I also enjoyed getting to see more of Ianthe and her interactions with Harrow. Poor Harrow lol.

In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins travels with a company of dwarves to the distant Misty Mountains in order to liberate the dwarves' ancestral home from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, Bilbo encounters various creatures, including one named Gollum, and finds a mysterious ring. The story culminates in the Battle of the Five Armies, where the dwarves, elves, and lake-men emerge victorious thanks to Gandalf, the eagles, and Beorn. The book ends with Bilbo returning to the Shire and writing about his story.

Listened to this via the Andy Serkis audiobook. Had a fun time listening to him narrate this. The story is a lot more streamlined than the LotR books, which isn't all that surprising considering this is intended to be a children's book. Overall, I found this book to be very charming. Also, the movies were truly awful.

In I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy recounts her abusive childhood and experience as a child actress, most notably for Nickelodeon productions iCarly and Sam & Cat. McCurdy explores topics such as child abuse, disordered eating, and addiction and by the end of the book, you truly understand why such a bold title was chosen for her memoir.

Listened to this via audiobook. Jennette McCurdy narrates it herself and she does a fantastic job. The memoir itself is well-done and well-written. McCurdy has a strong authorial voice and you get a sense for her personality throughout the book. I appreciate how genuine McCurdy was. I can't imagine how hard it was to not only write about the abuse you have suffered but to also confront your own faults and mistakes. I grew up watching iCarly as a kid, so reading this now as an adult makes the memoir extra heartbreaking. You don't need to know anything about McCurdy to read this book, but I think growing up watching her just increases my appreciation for how candid she was. While I didn't experience anywhere near an abusive childhood like her's, I did grow up in a toxic environment and could (painfully) relate to some of her experiences, especially with her constant need to please her mother.

Unpopular opinion: Tom Bombadil is fucking annoying and there is waaaayyyyy too much singing. I'm glad I listened to the audiobook rather than physically read the book because I don't think I would have liked it as much otherwise. Andy Serkis is a great narrator. It's been years since I last saw the movies so it was interesting to see what scenes I recognized and what I didn't, as well as what the movie changed. I was a little surprised by how long it took for Frodo to be off on his journey but once he did, I got into this book. It just has a very slow start.

The Blade Itself is the first book in the First Law trilogy. It is a grimdark fantasy that follows six characters and takes place, for the most part, in the lands of The Union, a stagnant empire. Trouble is brewing in The North and the Gurkish Empire to the south, and it seems like war might be looming in the horizon from both sides for The Union. The three primary characters are Logen Ninefingers, an infamous warrior from The North, Sand dan Glokta, a crippled torturer and Inquisitor for the Union, and Jezal dan Luthar, a spoiled captain in the Union military. After being split from his band of warriors, Logen heads out seeking the Magus Bayaz. Glokta has been tasked with investigating the corrupt Guild of Mercers, and Jezal struggles to prepare himself to win a national dueling competition. The three secondary characters are Dogman, a member of Logen's crew, Ferro Maljinn, former slave of the Gurkish Empire, and Collem West, a major in The Union army and friend to Jezal and Glokta. After presuming Logen to be dead, Dogman and the crew head north to confront The North's violent king. Ferro seeks revenge on the Gurkish Empire and Collem tries to keep an eye on his younger sister, Ardee, all while The Union prepares for war.

Listened to the audiobook of this. Initially, wasn't sure how I'd like it since I'm not a big audiobook listener but I greatly enjoyed it. Pacey does an amazing job with the narration. I had heard that this book is largely "plotless", which I disagree with. Maybe it's because I just read Hobb, so I'm primed for slower-paced books where not much seems to happen, but I thought that the plotting was fine. Just because the events happening weren't high-stakes balls to the walls action scenes doesn't mean that nothing was happening. The characters were the standout for this book. I liked Logen, Glokta, and Ferro the most, with Glokta being my favorite. What a funny and horrible little man. Pacey does an excellent job bringing the characters to life, and I especially liked the little detail of Glokta's spoken voice having a lisp while his thoughts don't. It seems that liking Ferro is an unpopular opinion, but I've always liked prickly female characters.

Gideon the Ninth is a sci-fantasy novel and the first book in the Locked Tomb series. In the star system of Dominicus, there are nine planets and nine Houses that are ruled by a god-emperor. Each House specializes in its own form of necromancy and the Emperor is the greatest necromancer of all, as he had resurrected humanity from extinction millennia ago. Lyctors serve as the hands of the Emperor but as millennia have passed, only a few Lyctors remain. Gideon Nav is an 18 year old orphan and indentured servant to the Ninth House. After 18 years of mistreatment, she seeks to escape the confines of the Ninth House and join the military. However, her plans for escape are foiled by Harrowhark "Harrow" Nonagesimus, the 17 year old heir to the Ninth House, necromancer, and Gideon's enemy. The Emperor has called upon his Nine Houses and requests that the heirs travel to the abandoned First House in order to train and become his new Lyctors. As the Ninth House's heir, Harrow is required to answer the summons but she needs a cavalier, or the servant/personal bodyguard of a necromancer, and she wants Gideon to be her cavalier. Gideon initially refuses but she eventually agrees to Harrow's plan. In exchange for helping Harrow become a Lyctor, Gideon will be granted her freedom. Of course, nothing ever comes easily. Upon arriving at the First House, Harrow, Gideon, and the other necromancer and cavaliers aren't given specific instructions on how to become Lyctors. Additionally, they have no way off the First House until they do. Worst of all, there seems to be a killer amongst them. Someone or something is killing them off one by one. They will need to quickly unravel the mysteries of the millenia old facility they are stranded in and figure out how to become Lyctors before they all die.

It was fun to do a reread of this. I feel like it's one of those books that is better upon a reread, because things are clearer and now you can see little pieces planted throughout the book by the author. Upon reread, it's pretty funny to see just how much Gideon affects Harrow. Despite how much Harrow pretends not to, she clearly cares about Gideon. It's just that Gideon doesn't realize it and is such an unreliable narrator that it's easy to miss. This book is pretty divisive and I can definitely see why. It's told from Gideon's perspective, who acts like the 18 year old butch lesbian that she is. She cracks cheesy jokes and is immature and slightly horny, as most teens are. If you don't like Gideon's voice, then you won't like this book. Additionally, this book is intentionally obtuse. It's told from the perspective of the person least informed (poor Gideon), and it throws you into the world without holding your hand. Personally, I love Gideon and I love books that respect your intelligence as a reader. I hate it when books go overboard and try to explain everything to the reader. It's okay, I'm perfectly capable of figuring things out! I also love the more subtle world building. You hear about grander concepts such as the Emperor, the Lyctors, and a mysterious war but the story itself is very much focused on the events at the First House. I love the little teases for plotlines that will be explored in later books. I really liked necromancy as the magic system. Anyway, I had a blast rereading this. If you're reading this for the first time, I would recommend reading the physical book. It has a list of characters, which is super helpful as there are a lot of characters. I've heard great things about the audiobook, but it might get a little confusing for a first time read.

In this biography of the historical Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan seeks to examine the life of Jesus Christ through the lens of the time period he lived in: a chaotic era of violent Roman occupation and frenzied religious zealotry, where it seemed like the end of times was near. Aslan writes a compelling narrative drawn from historical sources and grapples with the inconsistencies and outright contradictions in the Bible.

Listened to this via audiobook. It was a super fascinating read (listen?). Comparing the differences between the historical Jesus of Nazareth and the modern interpretation of Jesus Christ is absolutely astounding. The historical Jesus was a Jew, preaching specifically to other Jews. He was one of many people proclaiming to be the messiah during his time. Apparently, crowning yourself messiah and King of the Jews was quite the popular thing to do in Roman-ruled Judea. It's pretty mind-boggling how much the figure of Jesus was changed over the course of history. From a revolutionary Jew who decried foreign rule and the rule of the wealthy to the otherworldly figure of a decidedly gentile religion. It's almost hilarious, really. Much of the modern interpretation comes from Paul/Saul, a self-proclaimed apostle who never actually met Jesus and was constantly at odds with James, the brother of Jesus and head of Jesus's followers following his crucifixion.

Aslan contends that the historical Jesus was born in Nazareth of Galilee, not Bethlehem of Judea. He had several brothers and sisters and his mother was most likely not a virgin. He spoke Aramaic, the common tongue of the land and probably did not understand Greek or Hebrew, as that was generally reserved for the well-educated upper class elites. He was also most likely illiterate, as he was a woodworker born to a poor, peasant family. Since Nazareth was composed of other poor peasant families, he most likely would have sought work in Jerusalem. Before he started his own ministry, Jesus was a follower of John the Baptist, and was baptized in the Jordan River by John. After John was executed, Jesus started traveling the lands of Galilee and Judea, flanked by his disciples, preaching. Aslan argues that Jesus was a revolutionary, a zealot, who called for his fellow Jews to rise up against the Roman Empire. He spoke out against the rich and the powerful. He preached about the coming kingdom of God, and as a Jew, specifically spoke about the kingdom of God as being for the Jews, not the gentiles. He proclaimed himself Son of Man and was proclaimed Son of God, King of the Jews. After his death, his brother James took up the mantle and headed the early church.

The canon gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were all written after his death and each gospel has its own distinctive understanding of him and his divine role. Although the exact order they were written is unknown, it is widely believed that Mark came first, then Matthew and Luke, and finally John. The authors of the gospels are unknown, but it is regarded that the apostles for which they were named for were *not* the authors. With each subsequent gospel, the details of Jesus's life are changed or expounded upon. The Gospel of Mark never refers to Jesus as God, does not describe his birth, makes no attempt to trace his ancestry back to King David or Adam, and originally had no post-resurrection appearances. However, in the later gospels, these details appear and are expounded upon. There are logical inconsistencies within the gospels and in some cases, outright unhistorical narratives. For instance, the historical Jesus was born in Nazareth. However, the Gospels of Luke and Matthew agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Aslan explains that the reason for this change is to make it so that Jesus meets the requirements of ancient Jewish prophecies in regards to the messiah. The gospels were written primarily as theological documents, rather than chronological timelines. Following Jesus's death and the subsequent razing of Jerusalem by the Romans, the narrative of Jesus was carefully tweaked so as not to draw ire from the Romans and to airbrush away the fact that Jesus called for sedition. In the Gospel of Luke, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate is depicted as not wanting to execute Jesus and tried to appeal Jesus's innocence to the crowd calling for his crucifixion. In the Gospel of John, this is further extended with the Jewish leaders declaring that there is no king but Caesar. Aslan hypothesizes that these twists to the narratives were done to appeal to a Roman audience but would incidentally result in nearly two thousand years of antisemitism towards the Jews, who were depicted as a crowd calling for the death of the Son of God.

However, the ahistorical view of Jesus didn't become fully realized until Paul (formerly Saul) proclaimed that he had been visited by the resurrected Jesus and began preaching. Paul's sermons differed greatly from the sermons of the early church, headed by Jesus's brother James. His depiction of Jesus was far more palatable to a gentile audience as he brushed away the inherent Jewishness of Jesus. He depicted Jesus as being literally the son of God (the title 'Son of God' was originally not supposed to be taken literally but rather was a title ascribed to the king of the Jews. Several figures in the Bible had this title, not just Jesus). So much did he change that he brought on the ire of James, who called upon Paul multiple times to question him about his sermons. Ironically, although perhaps not surprisingly as Paul's depiction of Jesus was more palatable to gentiles, Paul's letters would be canonized by the later church and included in the New Testament, while the views of James were largely discarded.

Aslan makes a compelling argument in his depiction of the historical Jesus. However, it should be remembered that this narrative of Jesus's life is ultimately based on fragmented sources whose accuracy is debatable. Historians that study the historical Jesus have differing opinions and different theories regarding the chronology of Jesus and ultimately, the truth of the life of Jesus has been lost to time. What can be pieced together relies a lot on conjecture, and Zealot is no different.

Royal Assassin is the second book in the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, so I won't say anything about the plot. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Like the first book, it had a slow start and a very action-packed ending. In fact, this book has one of my most favorite endings of all time. I can't stop thinking about it. Robin Hobb's writing is, as always, a delight. My biggest complaint is that I was cringing through the first half of the book. Fitz acted like such a mopey, lovesick teenager. I was getting secondhand embarrassment from his proclamations of love and how he couldn't live without Molly. Like, get a grip boy. Is it a pretty realistic depiction of teenage infatuation? Yes, Hobb did a great job. Did I enjoy it? Not really.

Deep Work is a self-help book about productivity. It separates work into two categories, deep and shallow, and offers advice on how to cultivate an environment conducive to doing deep work.

Listened to the audiobook. This book is way too long and Newport spends way too much time fellating himself on how much he's accomplished. Some of his advice is good but some is bad. Particularly, the advice he gives in section four is a bit bizarre. He discusses how you can manipulate your manager into letting you blow off work that you've decided is shallow and unimportant (and thereby adding those tasks to someone else's task list) and how to avoid answering emails or answering them in such a way that you force the other person to do the bulk of the work that they're asking you to help with. It all seems very selfish and entitled, which is the vibe I got while reading this book. Newport comes across as an extremely privileged, out of touch individual. His disdain for certain types of work (and thus certain types of jobs) permeates throughout this book. He very clearly does not find administrative work to be valuable. I wonder what he thinks of his department's admins, and what those admins think of him.

Assassin's Apprentice is the first entry in the epic fantasy series, the Farseer Trilogy. A young unnamed boy is abandoned by his grandfather and is the bastard son of the King-in-Waiting Chivalry. After learning of the boy, Chivalry abdicates his post and retires to a faraway holding without ever meeting his son. Meanwhile, Prince Verity places the boy under the care of Burrich, the stablemaster. Burrich names him 'Fitz' and struggles to raise the boy. Fitz appears to have the gift of the Wit, an ancient and reviled magic that allows him to communicate with animals. Fitz catches the attention of King Shrewd, who sees Fitz as both an asset and a potential threat to the throne. He decides to have Fitz trained as the next royal assassin, so that he will always be under control of the royal family. Fitz must learn the ways of an assassin, all while dealing with potentially deadly court politics as outside invaders threaten the shores of the kingdom.

Was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book. I had heard that it was very slowly paced, so I wasn't sure how I'd do. However, I ended up quite liking the slower pacing. While the pacing was more leisurely, it didn't feel like the story was being padded out. Hobb's writing was beautiful and her character work is excellent. Even though the story is told through Fitz's limited POV, you really get a feel for the other characters. My only complaint is that the antagonist feels a bit cartoonishly evil.

Stiff is a nonfiction book about human cadavers throughout history and how they are used for research. Listened to the audiobook for this. Entertaining and interesting. The humor in this book might not work for everyone, but I enjoyed it. Although, I will say that I have second thoughts about donating my body for research. I didn't mind the idea before but now, I'm not sure how I feel knowing it might be used for cosmetic surgery practice.

It's alright but clearly a product of its time with its racist caricatures. Still, not a bad book if you want to learn how to draw cartoons. Not really what I needed but I did appreciate reading about how Loomis broke down the human figure into components.

Radiance is an independently published fantasy romance novel and the first in the Wraith Kings series. The book takes place in a fantasy land. In it are the two human kingdoms containing the Guari and the Beladine peoples, and in between them is the land of the Kai, an Elder race of nocturnal humanoids. The Guari and the Beladine oppose one another but an uneasy peace has rested between them for many years due to the Kai. The Kai are neutral to the human conflict and trade equally with both. However, recently there have been rumors that the Beladine are amassing forces at the Kai border to invade the Guari. Alarmed, the Guari have sought an alliance with the Kai, who agree, wanting to prevent a war between their two neighbors. An arranged marriage is struck where Ildiko, niece of the Guari king, is to be married to Brishen, the younger Kai prince. Unfortunately, the Kai and the Guari find each other equally repulsive and frightening. Ildiko and Brishen must learn to set aside their differences as they both want their marriage to be successful. Meanwhile, even with the alliance formed following their marriage, trouble still seems to be brewing and they must prepare themselves for the coming conflict.

This is the second Grace Draven novel I've read. I read Entreat Me last year and I think I prefer that over this book. Not to say that I didn't like this book. I thought it was fine. I don't really have too much to say. It was a pleasant and enjoyable read and Ildiko and Brishen's relationship is adorable. I liked that they were able to find love even though initially they found each other to be repulsive. My only critique is that aside from them commenting on each other's appearance and struggling to eat some of each other's foods, there wasn't really any tension in the establishment of their relationship. They were both too agreeable, which made their relationship feel a little shallow, and I would have liked to see more conflict. I don't think I care enough to continue in the series.

The Sword of Kaigen is an independently published Asian-inspired fantasy novel about war and motherhood. It takes place in the Kusanagi Peninsula, at the edge of the Kaigenese Empire. The peninsula is known as the 'Sword of Kaigen', as it serves as the frontline defense for the empire, and is renowned for its fierce warriors. The story is split between the POVS of 14 year old Mamoru Matsuda and his mother, Misaki Matsuda. The Matsuda clan is a legendary Kusanagi family and practitioners of the fabled 'Whispering Blade' fighting technique. Mamoru struggles to learn the technique from his cold and aloof father, Takeru, while squabbling with the new boy at his school, Kwang Chul-hee. Chul-hee asserts that the government has been lying to the people of Kaigen and Mamoru struggles to reconcile his old beliefs with the painful truth Chul-hee reveals. Meanwhile, Misaki spends her days raising her children, struggling to tolerate her cold, emotionless husband, and thinking back to her teenage years as Sirawu the Shadow, and her young love for a boy named Robin. While she loves her children, she wonders what life could have been like if she never submitted to family expectations and married into the Matsuda family. She has long since put away her blade to become the perfect wife, but it seems like she might need to take it up again as the shadows of war loom.

Overall, I thought that The Sword of Kaigen was good, if a bit clumsily executed. Misaki was the standout character. The author did a fantastic job of exploring motherhood and women's roles in a conservative, patriarchal society. I appreciated the author showing that while Misaki clearly loved her children, she would sometimes resent them and her husband, and wonder how life would have turned out if things had happened differently and she didn't follow through with her marriage to Takeru. This is something that many mothers deal with and isn't really talked about, because depicting mothers as anything but deeply devoted is taboo. The author did not pull her punches and did an excellent job in depicting certain death scenes, which were heart-wrenching, as well as the grief and anger following them. My absolute favorite scene in this book is the duel (if you've read this, then you know exactly what I'm talking about). The author herself is a martial artist, and you can tell from how well done the fight scenes were. Normally I don't care too much about action scenes, but the war sequence and the duels were absolutely phenomenal.

While I liked the setting, I felt like the worldbuilding was clumsy and incredibly info-dumpy. The first part of the book was quite rough in that regard, with characters monologuing about the history of the world. If I hadn't been reading this for a book club, I might have dnf'd it. However, pushing through the clunky writing was well worth it. I'm also not sure how I feel about a certain character's redemption arc. The abuse they suffered was terrible, but the way they treated other characters was also horrible.

One of my biggest complaints about the book is the pacing. The pacing of the story was a little weird, with a very slow and tepid setup, fantastic middle, and drawn out ending, which sort of felt like an extended epilogue that just kept on going. I also really didn't like the weird setup of future plot points. It felt so out of place and clumsy (even more so since the author has seemingly abandoned the series). I also wasn't a big fan of Misaki's flashbacks. The weird superhero-esque plotline was a little bizarre and felt like it belonged to some shitty CW show. A minor complaint is that there is too much italicized dialogue.

The Sword of Kaigen was by no means a perfect book for me. I had issues with quite a few aspects of it, but Misaki and the middle war parts carried the book enough for me to give it 4 stars.

The book isn't perfect but I love it. It's so cozy and helped me get out of a reading slump after reading that shitty Reylo romance novel.

I enjoyed listening to this book. I was familiar with most of the author's points around sleep affecting health and the brain, but it was nice to hear him explain concisely why sleep is crucial and why we shouldn't undervalue our sleep. I was a little worried before reading this book that it would cause me to become more anxious about my lack of sleep but instead, it only motivated me to take steps to improve my sleep hygiene to combat insomnia.

This book is stinky poo poo. Just absolute doo doo. It's one of those books that the more I think about it, the less I like it. Initially, I was going to give it 2 stars but nah. I've grown progressively more annoyed at this book as time passes. The premise of this book is that Olive, a PhD candidate, enters a fake dating relationship with a professor, Adam, so that her best friend Anh doesn't feel bad about dating Olive's ex, Jeremy. Adam decides to go along with this because he is deemed a 'flight risk' by the university, who thinks that he may be leaving Stanford soon to teach somewhere else and so they have frozen his research funds. Adam hopes that by dating Olive, they will unfreeze his funds. Since this is a romance novel, they naturally fall in love and whatnot.

The thing I liked best about this book was that the prose was very readable. It has a fanfiction-like quality to it, which isn't my favorite, but the book was easy to read. Okay, now to the bad. I had heard that this was essentially Reylo fanfiction but somehow it didn't occur to me that it LITERALLY was a modern day AU Reylo fanfiction with the serial numbers filed off. I mean, the love interest's name is actually Adam. I couldn't stop picturing Adam Driver's dopey self while reading this book. (No offense to the Adam Driver girlies. You do you. I just think that man looks strange.) While reading this, I was appalled by how little the author did to disguise which characters were supposed to be Star Wars characters. (Olive = Rey, Adam = Kylo Ren, Anh = Rose, Malcolm = Finn, Holden = Poe, Aslan = Leia, Adam's research advisor = the evil dude from the first sequel movie, Tom = probably Hux). I don't even like Star Wars, and I had no trouble figuring out who's who. I think it's more than fine to be inspired by media, but this book just seems creatively bankrupt. You can't even put in the effort to pretend that you're not profiting off of other works?

The entire premise of the plot is dumb. Why in the world would a university try to prevent a renowned professor from leaving it by freezing his research funds? That would only push him to go elsewhere. It's even mentioned in the book that Harvard would happily fund his research if he taught there. And don't get me started on Olive and her friends. For one, Olive is such an annoying character. She's a manic pixie dream girl who is incredibly quirky and loves eating sweets without ever gaining weight. She's the type of character I thought we left in the early 2010s. She is also pretty childish and kind of a doormat. She let Anh walk all over her, from entering the fake relationship for Anh's sake to letting Anh pressure her into PDA with Adam. It was so bizarre. The initial stages of Olive's relationship with Adam were so uncomfortable, in particular when Anh pressured Olive to sit on his lap, kiss him, and put sunscreen on him. I feel like at that point, Olive should have grown a spine and told her bestie to kindly fuck off. Anh came off as such a creep. She was basically sexually harassing Olive. Olive herself is a sexual harasser because her meet-cute with Adam was just her randomly smooching him to get Anh off her back. Hello, Title IX? Even with the fake relationship, I found it hard to believe that Olive would actually go along with it just because Anh said so. Oh, another complaint I have about Olive is that she's so ditzy. I'm all for female representation in STEM, but I feel like Olive fuels the negative stereotype that girls are airheads too dumb to succeed in STEM. However, I did appreciate Olive commenting on how hard it's been for her in her program, with her losing opportunities due to being a woman and being treated differently by her male professors and classmates. I can 100% relate to that, as a woman working in tech.

Adam was such a boring character. He was handsome, grumpy, and tall. That's it. The author spent an inordinate amount of time emphasizing how tall he was, how big his shoulders and hands were, etc. It was a little awkward. She clearly has a thing for tall men lol. Olive and Adam had little chemistry together, and Olive's rapid progression from infatuation to love was jarring. They were just soo boring together. A minor complaint is that the sex scenes were awkwardly written (seriously, boob eating?). Another random complaint is that I found some errors in my copy of the book that escaped editing. Some sentences had extra words and I found a sentence that switched from third person to first person so I assume at some point in an earlier draft, this story was written in first person.

An absolutely phenomenal book and must-read. I feel like this should be required reading. My only critique is this book is very stats-heavy, to the point where it felt like every other paragraph was introducing a new statistic. However, considering that this book's purpose is to critique the lack of data collected around women, I think that the author intended for the book to be this way.

Random note, but I'd recommend not looking at the Goodreads reviews. Some of them are truly eye roll-worthy and basically this:

A book that breaks down the basics of drawing in perspective in a simple manner. Solid book, easy to understand.

Dead Silence is a sci-fi horror novel split between two timelines, the past and the present. In the past, Claire and her crew find the Aurora, the infamous luxury spaceship that vanished years ago. They decide to board the ship to prove they found it and claim salvage rights. However, something is very, very wrong with the ship. In the present, Claire is at a mental facility recounting the events to two Verux agents. She was found in an Aurora escape pod in bad condition and the agents are trying to figure out what happened.

I thought that this book was alright, if a bit disappointing. I liked the first part of the book but by the time the story was nearing its halfway point, I was losing interest. The initial chapters aboard the Aurora were so atmospheric and spooky, and were the best part of the book. It was giving me Alien vibes, which I adored. The rest was kinda meh. I don't go into horror books expecting masterclass character work, but I felt like all of the characters in this book were shallow. The most interesting was Claire due to her trauma and survivor's guilt, but eventually after a while, it got exhausting reading from her perspective. The other characters were largely forgettable and their eventual fates had little impact. I felt like the romantic subplot (if you could call it that as it wasn't that developed) was unneeded.

I feel like there is a lot of missed potential with this book. Claire is established as seeing hallucinations of the dead. This coupled with the fact that she had initially lied to Verux about the Aurora made her seem like she would be an unreliable narrator. SEEM is the key word here, as that is definitely not the case. I feel like the author could have played around with her as an unreliable narrator, with how trauma impacts memory and Claire's distrust of Verux. Unfortunately, the narrative is pretty straightforward and predictable. There is no ambiguity in the narrative. Now, having a predictable narrative is not a bad thing in theory. Plenty of good stories are entirely predictable. However, in this book's case, the author gave up key pieces of information all too quickly, which removed any sense of tension. Additionally, once you reach the latter half of the book, the horror elements are largely ignored and the book becomes more of a thriller. All of this coupled with sluggish pacing made the second half of the book drag.

In this book, Norman Ohler recounts the widespread drug abuse found throughout Nazi Germany. In the years following the end of the first World War, usage of Pervitin, highly purified crystal meth in pill form, was prevalent both as a work enhancer and as a form of entertainment. Cocaine and heroin usage was also common, and Germany was a global powerhouse when it came to the production of drugs. To keep up with the ever increasing work demand in Germany, workers, housewives, and even students took to using Pervitin to keep them awake and focused. This drug usage continued throughout World War II. Despite the Nazi regime's ideals of racial hygiene and erasing degeneracy, drug abuse was extremely common throughout the Third Reich, to the point where millions of Perivitin pills were produced for soldier consumption. Doctors who were researching the negative influences of Pervitin were ironically addicted to the drug as well. Hitler himself was a drug addict and from fall 1941 until the end of his life, he existed continuously under the influence of various drug cocktails provided by his personal doctor, Theodore Morrell. Despite his ranting and raving about body purity and asceticism, Hitler was a literal methhead.

This was a fascinating and slightly morbid read. You always hear people joke about Hitler being a drug addict, but I did not realize the extent to which this was true. The information about how widespread drug abuse was in Germany was news to me and I was utterly appalled by it. One thing that sticks out is an advertisement targeted at housewives for meth-infused chocolates to help deal with housework. Hearing how Pervitin was officially administered to German soldiers was shocking. I suppose it makes sense to use a drug to keep up with the demands of war, but learning about it in detail was gruesome.

This book focuses as much on Morrell as it does on Hitler, and it was fascinating to learn more about the doctor that has largely been ignored by scholarship on Nazi Germany. It is both fascinating and utterly bizarre how Morrell's loyal service to aid Hitler and improve his health helped lead to Hitler's ultimate decline and downfall. The irony of it all is absolutely ridiculous. The only issues that I have with this book is that the purple prose at times was gratuitous and excessive. The latter half of the book dragged a bit, although the numerous anecdotes from Morrell's diary as well as other sources helped to liven it up a bit. Did I want to know that Hitler at times refused attention from Morrell due to love bites/scratches covering his body from Eva Braun or that he suffered from explosive diarrhea? Not particularly but it definitely helped to break up the monotony of Hitler and the doctor staying in various bunkers.

The Bone Shard Daughter is the first book in the Drowned Empire trilogy. The story is told from five different perspectives. Lin is the daughter of the Emperor but struggles to remember anything of her earlier life. She has an adopted brother named Bayan. The Emperor has decreed that either Lin or Bayan could become the next Emperor and thus the two are pitted against one another, each trying to outmatch the other and learn more about the Emperor's mysterious bone shard magic. Meanwhile, Jovis is a smuggler in search of his lover, Emahla, who disappeared seven years ago after a ship with blue sails was spotted leaving the island they lived on. Phalue and Ranami are lovers but quarrel often due to ideological differences. Phalue is the privileged daughter of a governor and Ranami is a member of a rebellious group that seeks to overthrow the governor. Sand lives on an island with no memories of who she was or how she got there. All she knows is that a ship with blue sails sometimes comes to the island to bring more people.

Overall, I thought that this was okay. My major complaint is that three of the POVs (Phalue, Ranami, and Sand) were far less interesting than the others. I have minor quibbles with the pacing in the last portion of the book. It felt like the reveals and the ending was rushed, especially in comparison to how slow the beginning was. I also felt like the final battle felt a little... silly. I was just imagining Lin and Bayan sitting there rewriting shards, which doesn't make for a very exciting action sequence. I still liked the book but for some reason, my attention was never grabbed by it. I liked most of the characters but was never really invested in any of them. Aside from Lin and Jovis, the characters felt slightly flat. The worldbuilding, while interesting, was also shallow and I wish we learned more about the world and the magic system. I felt like the setting could have been explored more. Aside from Imperial Island, the different islands felt a little bit like the same. I think that the book was solid, but can't help but wish it was so much more. I don't think I'm interested enough to continue in the series.

In this book, Betty Edwards details the benefits of utilizing the right hemisphere of the brain in art by breaking down and analyzing the basic lines and shapes of objects that you wish to draw.

Eh. This book was okay, I guess, if you were an absolute beginner to drawing. Otherwise, it probably isn't worth reading it. I certainly didn't find it to be helpful for me. 95% of the book is pseudoscience bs about the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Ignoring all that, what you have left are the exercises, which I recommend doing. You can ignore pretty much everything else.

Calypso is composed of 21 essays written by David Sedaris, recounting events from his life about his family, vacationing along the Carolina coast, and more. Within these essays, Sedaris makes commentary and observations on family, love, and aging.

Listened to this via audiobook at the recommendation of a friend. I enjoyed Calypso but unfortunately did not find it as funny as I hoped. Comedy is very much hit or miss with me, especially stand-up comedy, which is what this book reminded me of. However, while I didn't find this book to be all that funny, I do think that it was entertaining and I enjoyed listening to David Sedaris in the audiobook. I didn't find Sedaris' humor to be overly-dark and I was quite surprised by how bittersweet a lot of his essays were.

Atomic Habits analyzes habit formation and gives strategies to form good habits and break bad ones. The underlying thesis of the book is that small changes add up over time for big results.

I think I like this book a lot better upon my reread. Initially, I thought that this was a pretty standard self-help book, where the 'help' content is common sense but upon reread, I have a better appreciation for what Clear was explaining. I still do think that most of the advice is common sense, but I think that Clear is good at explaining his points persuasively in a concise way. I decided to annotate this book during my reread, which I think added to my enjoyment. It forced me to interact more with the text and I was able to connect more with it by mentally applying the examples Clear gives to what I do/observations I have made irl.

The Blacktongue Thief follows Kinch Na Shannack, a thief that owes money to the Taker's Guild. As repayment for his debt, he is given the task of robbing a knight named Galva. Galva is a handmaiden to the goddess of death and is in search of her missing queen. Kinch accompanies Galva on a journey to the far western kingdom of Oustrim, which had been invaded by giants. The journey there is perilous, but perhaps not as perilous as Galva's destination itself.

I have mixed feelings about this book. My biggest complaint was the meandering plot: the book felt like a sequence of vaguely related events strung together in quick succession, with very little room to breathe between them. Because of this, it simultaneously felt fast paced but also slow and meandering. A lot of the book at times felt like filler, like the type of filler episodes you would see in a show to pad out the season. Some chapters felt pointless. You could probably skip reading certain chapters and would be just fine in your understanding of the characters and story.

I also was not the biggest fan of the writing style. The book is narrated using an interpersonal narration where Kinch is telling the story to us, the readers. I normally don't have a problem with this sort of narration but it felt like the author was using this narrative style as an excuse to lore-dump every few paragraphs, which further messed with the pacing of the book. I felt like info-dumping through Kinch's internal monologues was a lazy way to establish the world and some of the lore-dumps weren't even relevant to the plot. As a narrator, Kinch tended to be a bit repetitive. I noticed several times throughout the book that he would repeat information that we would already know. I found by the end of the book that I was skimming through these tangents just to get back to the story.

I felt like Galva would have better served as the main character since the plot mainly hinges around her quest to find Mireya. I found Kinch's reasons for tagging along to be a little weak and a bit unbelievable, considering what he had to endure during their journey. At times Kinch and the plot seemed quite purposeless. Perhaps having Galva as the main character would have tightened up the plot and the pacing. Also Galva is just cooler. Despite this, I think my favorite thing about this book is Kinch. He is quite the character and it was interesting getting a feel for his moral compass and beliefs. He is a morally gray character, but ultimately has a good heart. I also mostly enjoyed his humor, although it was incredibly juvenile at times. That being said, while Kinch is probably my favorite character, I feel like in general characterization is not this book's strong point. Aside from Kinch and Norrigal, the other characters did not feel as developed. This is the first book in a planned series, but I do not think I will be picking up the sequel, unless the pacing and plot is a lot tighter than it was in this book.