Socialcommentary

I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual | Luvvie Ajayi

bailed

Sadly dnf'ing this one that I bought years ago and apparently waited too long to read. Maybe I gave up before the subjects got deep but what I did read was just the slight petty kind of judgments told with flair and wit sure, but I expected more. I follow Luvvie across social media and she's a great writer and thinker - this one just didn't do it for me.

15 likes

PaperbackReader

Brain Droppings | George Carlin

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who can‘t hear the music.”

2 likes

Robotswithpersonality

The Invoice: A Novel | Jonas Karlsson

pan

Nope. When I go into a book knowing there's a semi-absurd premise, something where you're going to work extra hard to suspend disbelief and not think too hard about the details, I'm looking for the result to be charming or meaningful. I feel like this book didn't manage either.
Started out thinking it could have been a novella, now convinced that amount of plot and original rumination minus the redundancies would have fit in a short story. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? And even at 200 pages, I'm not sure you have a completed text. Case in point: The consequence being built to was just removed at the last minute without a clear picture of what it actually would have been!
I think it's among the scientific literature nowadays that people's natural happiness level varies person to person, something to do with genetics and brain chemistry, beyond what outside factors could modify it, and this story felt like a 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 3/?cul-de-sac, a dead end just proving that point. Where we find this one person who's outlook/personality makes them more content with their life.
The text just barely grazes against the whole, 'many types of privilege, reasons why he's actually very lucky even if one might not rate his life spectacular' which at this point feels so well covered in attempting to gain a more intersectional understanding in non-fiction of how various minorities 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 4/? are attempting to navigate the limiting systems in place, that it just made me tired to read the surface-level acknowledgment here.
And really most of this book, wherein one might assume the author wants us to recognize the many sources of contentment and simple joys in our lives, is chock-full of anxiety-generators: a large unpaid expense coming out of the blue, the idea that 'the best things in life are free' is no longer a reality, and you 4mo

Robotswithpersonality 5/? might not get to enjoy them anymore, and then there's this guy who once he gets a customer service contact's direct number feels entitled to call her at all hours of the day and night!
Maybe there's an unconvincing romantic thread that's supposed to be blossoming in those phone conversations but for most of it he's being a whiny, entitled ass.
4mo

Robotswithpersonality 6/6 [Sidebar: If you want an all night phone conversation that actually rests comfortably within a burgeoning relationship, watch Elizabethtown.]
I just - if the author was sincere then I'm sorry I didn't receive whatever he was trying to get across. If this was actually a cynical cash grab in the YOLO/self-help adjacent/contemporary feel-good genre than I'm not surprised and also very comfortable with the fact that I basically just roasted it. 🔥 (edited) 4mo

8 likes5 comments

Aconight

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng: A Darkly Funny, Gory, and Ghostly Horror Novel | Kylie Lee Baker

pick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The tabs say enough 😍😍🖤🖤
#2025release #horror #gore #socialcommentary
Happy Easter! 🐣🐇 💛

24 likes1 stack add

TheBookgeekFrau

Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream | Barbara Ehrenreich

The 12 Days of Christmas
April favorite

#12BooksOf2024

Andrew65

Andrew65 An interesting book. 8mo

TheBookgeekFrau @Andrew65 So fascinating! And a little crushing, too 😕 8mo

Andrew65 @TheBookgeekFrau I can well imagine. 8mo

38 likes3 comments

Balibee146

Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic | John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor

Still ignoring all my part read novels for non fiction on #kindle.

Christmas shopping season seems to have triggered my anti consumerist mindset lol.

This is the 3rd edition from 2014. Still has plenty of relevance but will be behind the ever increasing curve, given the horrors of Tik Tok shop, Stanley Cup frenzy etc

Luke-XVX No book updates in awhile, hope you‘re doing ok! 7mo

Balibee146 Hey @Luke-XVX thanks for your ask - that's so thoughtful of you. I got a new android phone and not having the app is a barrier to coming on here for me. Still reading - though a lot of non fiction always at this time of year. Hope you are well and all is good! 7mo

Luke-XVX Ahh that‘s a tad frustrating! Coming down with something but I‘m generally ok. Desperate to stick to my new book ban for the year! 7mo

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Balibee146 @Luke-XVX ah no.. 7mo

Balibee146 @Luke-XVX hope you feel better quickly. I am allowed one specific book that is out in April and that's it. Not an easy ask but I have so many tbr I already own lol 7mo

Luke-XVX Thank you! I‘ll dose up and hit the lemon ginger teas hard! 7mo

Luke-XVX What book are you waiting on? 7mo

Balibee146 @Luke-XVX nice tea choice. The book I'm allowing myself. Is the third. One in the Mark Lawrence Library trilogy 7mo

Balibee146 An easy and fun read and I like things that are timey-whimey 😂 7mo

Luke-XVX I had to look him up on Goodreads and it turns out I‘ve read one of his and have that library on my “want to read” list. One day! 7mo

Balibee146 @Luke-XVX "one day" is my book reading motto lol. Which one did you read before? 7mo

Luke-XVX Prince of thorns. I was quite surprised by the language in it. A decent read though. 7mo

38 likes12 comments

ncsufoxes

Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy | John Bowe

I read this book years ago (written in 2007). I have pulled it out to re-read it. Anyone who wants to understand how our global economy works & the labor that is used, this is an eye opening book. Especially now that we are entering a new era of backlash against immigration & migrant workers. Many US companies use modern slave labor as their workforce. It‘s easy to turn a blind eye or blame others if we don‘t know the circumstances.

20 likes