The setting for this historical fiction novel was the Richmond, VA theater fire of 1811, which was the biggest tragedy of its day. I appreciate the author‘s research and her efforts to bring to life real people who were present at the time. Where she lost me is when she wrote characters from 1811 as if they had the opinions of people living in 2020. Even though I agree with their opinions, women in 1811 would not have talked or behaved that way.

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook which Minnie narrates. It consists of stories about various events in her life instead of a chronological history which made it feel more conversational in tone, and I really liked that. I laughed along with some of her stories about growing up as a kid who was considered a little different, and I shed a few tears when she talked about being with her mother as she was dying. An overall enjoyable listen⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really liked this thriller that also included an aspect of survival, which is one of my favorite plot elements. Eileen goes missing in a rugged forest in Australia, but her camera is recovered and it contains photos that seem to show a monster was chasing her. Her brother and his friends decide to go on a rescue mission of their own when the officer investigating the case doesn‘t take them seriously. I‘d definitely read more from this author.

2 things are blowing my mind right now: 1. As someone who went through a big classics phase when I was younger, how have I not read this before? And 2. How is this book not more popular? Helen was truly ahead of her time for leaving her useless cheating alcoholic husband like she did. I secretly wanted her to find happiness without another man in her life, but I warmed up to Gilbert in the end. All of the Brontë sisters were such talented writers

I‘m trying to go through and read books I bought a long time ago on my kindle. This book came out in 2018 and already feels dated to me. Although the title mentions “the drug company that addicted America,” very little of the book discusses Purdue Pharma and instead focuses on personal stories of families dealing with addiction. While I sympathize with their struggles, I wanted more time spent on the macro level of addiction and the drug companies

Last night I went to an event sponsored by Douglas County Libraries called 80s Rewind. I got to hear Andrew McCarthy talk about his book Brat: An 80s Story, then he signed my copy and posed for a photo with my husband and I! When he asked me how I was doing, I said “This is a dream come true!”

I‘m still considering all of my feelings about this book, but man is it bleak.One day out of the blue an epidemic of white blindness strikes every person in a large city except one and we witness the collapse of society as we know it. The author makes some unique choices—none of the characters are named and the text is presented in block form with no quotations.It definitely requires a deeper analysis—what is the blindness supposed to represent?

For a celebrity memoir, I was pleasantly surprised at how eloquently this book was written. A blend of his journey into acting and his diagnosis with Parkinson‘s, it struck just the right tone between serious and gossipy. Although he unfortunately didn‘t succeed in his foundation‘s goal of finding a cure for Parkinson‘s in 10 years, he has made a tremendous impact in bringing awareness and support for this horrible disease. Good on audio

Perfectly serviceable romance but read as very amateur in its plot construction to me. There were too many instances of people just not telling each other what was going on. I guess it was supposed to lead to suspense and mystery but the MMC‘s big secret was painfully obvious. And the “mystery” of who was breaking in to Gina‘s house was also just as obvious which made the reveal at the end pretty anticlimactic. 2.5/5 stars

I‘m ok with reading weird books, I just want all the weirdness to add up to something in the end. This was just weird.Add in some vaguely sexual things that made me uncomfortable and I had to give this a pan. If you‘re going to create your own somewhat magical world in a novel, like why make it like this? I also had a hard time placing when in time this is supposed to take place.All I do know is I won‘t be continuing on with the rest of the series

This book should have been subtitled: “Everyone Here is Awful.” All of the men are awful, of course, but I really can‘t hold with women who tear down other women to make themselves feel better. Ciara has a seemingly perfect life. She turns up dead early in the book and then the timeline goes to a couple of days before her death until you find out what happened. The problem with that setup is you need the reader to care about why she died, but ⬇️

As a nurse myself,I was fascinated by Lib being a nurse trained by Florence Nightingale. I related to her character in a lot of ways. I also loved the juxtaposition of her character and the nun approaching the 4 month fast of Anna O‘Donnell in their different ways—was this a hoax or a miracle? The atmosphere of the damp Irish countryside was the perfect setting. I‘m not sure I‘m completely sold on the ending but a unique story overall.

I will admit that I‘m not the person who this book is meant for as I‘m generally pretty good at keeping my house neat. That being said, I agree with her advice to start small like doing the dishes every day. I find her decluttering advice is more helpful so I like her other book just focused on that better. She does also get repetitive at times, which happens when you convert a blog to a book. Bonus pic is my boy Happy just loving the sun ☀️

I strongly disliked this book. I only picked this because it was the first month of my BOTM subscription and I wanted to pick something. It was bleak, overly long and the plot was uninspired. I don‘t have to like the characters in books I read, but I want to at least care about what happens to them. Every single character was one-dimensional. I doubt I will even remember that I read this book in a few months. At least it‘s off my shelves.

Happy Birthday ! 🎉🎁 #49bdaygiveaway

I picked this book up a long time ago because I‘m a fan of The Moth podcast. However, reading the stories in print just doesn‘t have the same impact as hearing the story told aloud. The stories from “regular people” were definitely more impactful to me than the stories from celebrities. Also, the people included are unfortunately kind of dated—Louis CK in particular. I think this was ok enough to place in my nearest Free Little Library.

What a lovely package @julieclair And so beautifully wrapped. Thank you for everything, I can‘t wait to have a mug of hot chocolate and read some of these gorgeous poems. #jolabokaflod is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Merry Christmas 🎄🎁

It‘s here, I can‘t wait for opening day! #jolabokaflod

I am so touched by this beautiful book. I finished with tears in my eyes for Violette, her resilience really resonated with me. I did miss out on a lot of the references to French music and culture but even without that the sheer beauty of the words carried me through the story. If anyone has not yet read this book, please do. I‘ll be thinking of this story for many years to come. 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸/5

I guess this book just wasn‘t my jam(ha ha). We were rushed through what I thought was a possibly really interesting story about Kiela evacuating her post as a librarian in the big city because of a revolution taking place. Her character was very weak and helpless for most of story which is not how I like my female leads. The supporting characters of Caz and Meep were the best part. Oh, and the cover and purple sprayed edges.

My #jolabokaflod package went out today

So creepy and so good. King just writes the most delicious sentences sometimes, here‘s one of my favorites: But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed.
Cont⬇️

If you‘re a fan of dysfunctional family dramas then this book is for you. Centering around the Hildebrandt family in the Chicago area in 1971, the story weaves between parents Russ, a pastor, and his wife Marion both in their present-day and before they met and their teenage children Perry, Clem, and Becky. There is a lot of religious discussion and symbolism throughout. At times, I think Franzen is a bit pretentious but it‘s still a strong story

This may be an #unpopularopinion, but I did not love this book. House in The Cerulean Sea is my favorite book and I was hoping to recapture the warm hug feeling I get while reading it. This book has little glimpses of that, but overall felt really heavy-handed. Klune had a lot to say apparently and I wholeheartedly agree with his message but it felt like a lot of the book was just Arthur talking at people. The kids are the best part of the story.

I listened to this on audio and the narration was very well done, but I felt the pacing of the story was off. Part 3 in particular started to really drag for me. I got to the end and felt a bit disappointed, like “That‘s it?” I appreciate the framing of the narrative essentially telling the same story 3 different ways. Overall a pick even though it was slightly anticlimactic at the end.

I pre-ordered this February and it‘s finally here!! I am so excited!

Even though this is a middle grade book, it was quite intense. Maddie is 12 years old when everyone in her Colorado town is evacuated due to an “imminent threat.” She befriends a neighbor‘s dog and manages to survive through looters, a wild dog attack, a tornado, and a fire. She visits her local library often and through sheer will and intelligence manages to survive on her own for 3 years. It really made me think about how I would do (not well!)

On the plus side, I really enjoyed hearing about some of the wacky things that people used to think could cure or treat illness. However, the fact is that real people were harmed and even killed by some of these snake oil cures. I know they wanted to keep the tone of the book more light and humorous, but not acknowledging the real toll of these felt wrong to me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway! Woo! 🎉📚

It was a surreal experience listening to this audiobook based on the true story of a massive fire that destroyed the Maine coast in October 1947 while at the same time listening to the sounds of the fire-fighting planes dipping into the reservoir to battle a fire that was raging just over the foothills from my own home. Lucky for me my home was spared, but in October 1947 entire towns were destroyed. This book was haunting and so well-written.

I realize that I‘m not the target demographic for this one, but I really appreciate that the author wanted to write a book that was not talking down to young people in a time when that was not really considered. The concept was really fun, but some of the very dated language and characterizations ended up pulling it down from a pick to a so-so for me. With a little updating this would make a very cool movie or play. ♟️♟️♟️.5/5

A couple finds out one day that their 2 year old son is not actually theirs, their baby was switched with another while they were in the NICU. How should they proceed? Should they switch the boys back to their biological parents or keep them with the parents who have been raising them ? At first the families agree to “play nice” and share time but of course that doesn‘t last. This was a fun plot for a domestic thriller. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I watched the show True Blood years ago and I‘ve had this book on my Kindle ever since. I finally decided to read it just to get it done but folks, it was bad. I don‘t even really know how this got published let alone made into a TV show. Just badly written. And Sookie is even more annoying in the book than she was in the TV show which I didn‘t think was possible. 🧛/5

Maybe my enjoyment of this book was lessened by the fact that I listened after work when I was usually pretty tired, but this book seemed to go on forever. Too much time was spent on the characters disagreeing about how Logan‘s travel guide company should be run, which was very tedious. I picked this up for the setting as I love anything to do with Scotland. I also enjoyed the male main character‘s Scottish accent. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Not many stories exist in the world about young adults who are navigating a cancer diagnosis, so this book fills a very important void. Jaouad is a great writer and it was very brave of her to share such a vulnerable time in her life. I didn‘t care quite as much for the 2nd half of the book detailing her post-cancer road trip, but I still very much recommend this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

According to the author of this book, Robin was someone who thrived on making people laugh yet at the same time could be deeply insecure and was difficult to get to know on a one-on-one level. I enjoyed reading about all of his amazing films:Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, Aladdin. Reading about the last few months leaving up to the end of his life was heartbreaking and I hope he is finally at peace.

I liked the first part of this book that talked about Frankie, an awkward 16 year old and her relationship with Zeke, another loner who she spends a summer with creating a poster with an enigmatic phrase that ends up causing a satanic panic. I had a hard time relating to Frankie as an adult in the last part of the book, but the author‘s note did help somewhat as Wilson explained how he essentially created this story from his own life experience.

Between a so-so and a pan for me. I found this story to be incredibly plodding and slow. An almost actress takes an entire summer to tell her adult daughters the story of her relationship with a man who went on to become a famous actor. Supposedly she has told them this story before, but they didn‘t know how their mother met their father? 🍒🍒/5

This book was so sad, but the writing is absolutely gorgeous. I don‘t think I had read a book set in Istanbul before, and I really enjoyed learning more about the city which almost becomes a character in the story itself. Tequila Leila and her friends were very well-written characters and this book will stay with me for a long time.

Is the goal of a good biography to be objective? Is that even possible? Of course Norman wrote this after John‘s death, so he was dependent on interviews with people who knew him and his journals. Yoko refused to endorse this book because she said the author was “too mean” to John. Maybe that‘s true and he chose to slant it that way, or maybe based on some of John‘s actions, especially towards women, he was just trying to tell the truth. 🎶/5

3 women move into an old house that Larry inherited from his aunt and converted into apartments. They receive a letter one day that they don‘t know who it is for asking to meet them at a coffee shop. It turns out they‘ve each been ghosted by someone in their lives so they start going to the coffee shop together each hoping the person who ghosted them will show up. They also start hearing strange noises coming from the attic. 👻👻/5

Bordering between a pick and a so-so. This book uses the same convention as “The Lovely Bones” in having the main character be dead and watching over their friends and loved ones. It‘s a bit of a survival story, but it‘s really more about the effects of the crash and dealing with grief. It‘s a bit too YA and happily-ever-after as the resolution seems to have everyone in a romantic relationship which felt a little silly and too neat.

I‘m struggling to put my feelings about this book into words. I enjoyed the story overall but it needed a tighter focus. There were too many characters which made it hard for me to connect with any one in particular. Some of the plot points got a little confusing for me and didn‘t feel like they were really resolved. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

I grew up with Sesame Street, The Muppets, and Fraggle Rock so I really enjoyed reading about the man who brought them all to life. Jim Henson was a truly exceptional person—creative, collaborative, generous, silly. At times this book could get a little bogged down in minutiae, going through the events of Henson‘s life in almost daily detail. But overall I enjoyed learning more about his life and the incredible contributions he made to puppetry.

Definitely a slow starter, Morton was finally able to get the story moving and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. She has a habit of ending chapters with a cliffhanger that compels you to keep reading. I‘m also a sucker for a story involving an old English manor and I loved hearing about Loanneth. The ending wraps up all of the stories neatly—almost too neatly. Could probably have been edited down a bit but overall a pick. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I managed to finish one more book before the end of the year. Lisa See is an excellent writer and I always learn so much from her books. Inspired by a real woman, this story centers around Yunxian and her life in 15th century China as she grows up to become a talented physician who treats women. I loved her depictions of the relationships between many types of women—mothers, daughters, and friends. It was good to close out the year with a pick!

This book has been taking up space on my shelf for years. The good thing is I can take the space back for something better. I just didn‘t enjoy this at all. Edie is the adult daughter of a serial killer. She develops an unhealthy obsession with the families of the victims and stalks them.There were some weird plot twists that did not add anything to the story. I won this in a Goodreads giveaway, otherwise I would never have picked this up.

I enjoyed this book following Elton John from his start growing up as a boy named Reginald Dwight to his transformation into a successful musician. He goes into detail about his struggles with drug addiction and how he was able to get sober and find happiness with his husband and 2 sons. He is quite funny at times and drops just enough celebrity gossip to keep things fun without turning into gratuitous name-dropping.

Well, I finished this book today and I‘m still not sure what to think. It‘s a story-within-a-story-within a story which is very creative. It‘s also an example of ergodic literature—the author plays with the text itself, which you can see in this photo. Sometimes the text is backwards, written in a swirl, or maybe a whole page with only one word. Again, very creative, but I‘m not sure what it all added up to in the end.

This is the only TJR book I‘ve read so far that I didn‘t like. Lauren was pretty insufferable, which made it hard for me to empathize with her during her marriage problems. Her husband Ryan wasn‘t much better. Lauren‘s family was the best part of the story, especially her siblings. Photo is of the decoration we put out every year. Happy Halloween 🎃 👻