I was about ready to give up on this book. I‘m so glad I didn‘t. I was getting annoyed and weary of the endless nature of Frankie‘s depression, addiction, self-loathing and issues. But sticking with it, I realized that is exactly what was needed for the story to have the impact needed. PTSD, true trauma-you can‘t limit or make it pretty. It‘s worth it to stick with this book to the end.

I adore Kingsolver‘s writing! And I love the essay style that brings so depth to ordinary, sometimes mundane things. It‘s well worth the read!

I am hit or miss when it comes to Kristen Hannah books. Her writing is always good, the story is always layered and tragic, it really does depend on the characters and how deep the stories of redemption go. This one was a good one. Spans multiple generations and weaves their stories together. In the end is redeeming and sweet.

I absolutely loved this book. As someone who has been in the church, my whole life and gained much from it, I love the idea of slowing down and getting back to what really matters.

What a fantastic book! I think I‘ve read her “Jabberwocky” essay 5 times.

I‘m a sucker for classics. But I didn‘t know that Arabian Nights is the title for various collections of stories, and not a standard set of stories. All that to say—this particular collection of stories isn‘t very compelling. There are a few good ones in here, but nothing worth going through the entire book.

This was good, but not in an overwhelming way. It‘s a sweet story, the writing is solid. It‘s slow at times, but it loves enough to have a nice cadence and keep you interested.

Read this for my kids. Really cool story, and would definitely recommend!

Excellent. It‘s like a train that slowly picks up speed, but as it gets to its crescendo—it‘s top speed, it draws you in and then leaves you speechless. Wonderful book!

I love Kingsolver. She‘s a master with words. The story is so incredibly hard to read as so many of her books are, but it‘s only because of the rawness of her writing.

I really really tried but I just couldn‘t get into this book. I kept at it and read the whole thing, but it was disjointed, obscure, and I never understand really where the story was going.

I wasn‘t sure at first on this book, but the more I read, I started to see a full vision of what could be. I think a lot about the type of home we are creating for my kids-the environment, stretching, encouragement, etc. This book gave some excellent guidelines and ideas to help make our home a place where our kids can thrive!

My favorite of the 4 Hunger Games books. I love the camaraderie, I think the depth of characterization is wonderful in the story, and Katniss‘s transformation and owning more of who she is is wonderful

Picked this up for a re-read. I loved it the second time too. I think the story is absolutely riveting. My biggest complaint is that it‘s not YA. Even though the heroine is a teenager, I think the book is way more adult.

It‘s been 12 years since I read all of the Hunger Games books, and I never had read this one. Picked it up on a whim to read in a plane home. I really enjoyed it! I like a good villain origin story, and thought this was done really well.

Ugh. This book is disgusting; not the writing. The writing is great and entertaining. But what these people did? Despicable. It reads like you‘re watching a movie, so very entertaining.

This book was thick, disturbing, and very good. It‘s not a big book, so by thick I mean the content and thought processing needed to read it well. It‘s disturbing because trauma is. There‘s no way to sugar coat that, and no easy fix or quick healing. But it‘s very, very good.

These are books to read time and time again. Although it‘s a collection of dog tales, it‘s really the stories about people that make you smile or shed a tear.

We have made a lot of changes in recent years to move our family away from Tech dependence in centrality. This book very practical advice on how to do that in all areas of life, and most importantly, it gives the heart and why underneath it all. It‘s not about a fear of some thing, but a desire not to miss and gain the greatest things.

What an incredible book! If you have ever felt broken and unworthy and unsure of how to move forward, and that, this book doesn‘t necessarily have the answers, but it helps show how we find acceptance, healing, and wholeness in the midst of our brokenness.

This is another I wish there were a button between pick and so-so. It‘s not amazing but it is better than average. I absolutely loved her rawness in writing, but her drawing in all the other writers and stories actually got a bit cumbersome.

What a fantastic book. So incredibly endearing and infuriating all at the same time!

I cannot say enough good about this book. So charming, so fun, so narrative, so warm, inviting and yet it challenges you as well. I look forward to coming back to this one!

It was a really great story. I was disappointed with the ending, but only because it didn‘t tie everything up perfectly. It‘s a very well-written and likely ending. There were a few characters I was left wondering about.

First ever Ann Patchett book, and I loved it! So many amazing layers! I think I‘ll come back to this one again.

This was really fascinating. On one hand, it‘s hard to@believe this stuff happened. On the other hand, we still do this kind of stuff today and do what the Europeans did, call it art. 😞

A lovely book…it wasn‘t what I expected, but in a good way.

I do not understand how Millet comes up with this stuff. This was a very different book than Dinosaurs. There was actually some better character development although it seems to be her style to keep the characters a bit at arms length. The story is BIZARRE but strangely enough, really well done. I would give a 3.5/5 but since the only option is yay, meh or nay; I give it a yay.

This was really intriguing. Having recently lived through my own Cat 5 Hurricane (Ian), I was really interested in this. The devastation in Nola, was on another level than what we experience in Fort Myers, but I can relate to the panic, PTSD, terror, etc. a very captivating story

What an interesting concept and subject! We talk so often about carbon emissions and waste‘s negative impact on the planet—which is true—but rarely talk about manufacturing, planting, crops, etc and that effect on our society and pollution.

I have spent a lot of time reading biographies of founding fathers and specific bios of some of the women of the revolution, so I greatly enjoyed this overview that tied many of their stories together.

Required reading for a course I am doing, but it was incredibly interesting! She was bold, determined, and courageous.

Love love love James Herriot books, and I don‘t even like animals and farming that much. They are endearing, slow enough for a relaxing pace without being boring, and insightful.

Read this to keep up with what my daughter is reading. Great new to me series for middle grades! Lots of adventure and intrigue and great characterization.

Used this as a devotional companion to morning Bible study time. It‘s a wonderful guide to how to use the book of Psalms as a guide for prayer.

I can‘t believe I bailed on this one. I really admire Isaacson as a writer, but half-way through, and I am having trouble connecting with Franklin as a person. One of the reasons I love Biographies so much is the ability to connect with, learn from and find myself in the people. This wasn‘t happening right now. Maybe another go later will be better.

This is a book of astonishing depth, yet the writing and concepts are not lofty. Instead, it‘s immensely practical and thought-provoking. Will be embarking on a second read shortly, much more slowly, with pen and journal in hand to study and apply.

Second in this series and previewing for my kids, I very much enjoyed the second book. It has enough to it to make it a stand alone book, but if moves and adds to the overall story to help tie it to the first. The 12 yr old protagonist has an incredibly mature way of viewing the world, so not incredibly believable, but the same can be said about many fictional characters.

It‘s been a while since I‘d read any Steinbeck. My goodness, he‘s a gifted writer. An accurately depressing depiction of families during the dust bowl migration and sadly, I‘m afraid certain aspects of this still ring true today.

Kind of like a review of all my history classes all@the way up through high school, but in a much more exciting and narrative way. I love history, and the backbone of this book is the novel idea of freedom that America‘s founders brought to the table, and how to achieve that freedom.

I can‘t say enough about this book…in a good way. I‘ve been in church vocational ministry most of my life, and I‘ve been deeply concerned about how little we talk about this within the church and what that‘s portraying about our faith to everyone else. This book speaks to a huge aspect of our modern culture and what so many are dealing with in a practical way. Every Christian should read this!

Fascinating. Although I know there is an opposed argument for each view Gladwell has, I found this absolutely fascinating, well-researched and well-written. Maybe a bit summed up in parts, but overall, an intriguing read that left me thinking deeply about people and my interactions with them.

I found this to be a very fascinating read! I haven‘t seen the movie so had no expectations one way or another. The writing was fresh, authentic and personal.

I give this one a pick instead of so-so because there‘s no in between. It‘s not an AMAZING book—the story is a bit far-fetched. But it‘s still intriguing and a good narrative.

This is obviously a very niche book, but I loved reading about the tenants of the Foursquare denomination.

What a surprisingly great book and story. I checked it out from the library just to preview for my daughter and just LOVED it! So glad there is a series!

Absolutely fantastic resource. This is written with 13-18 yr olds in mind but can benefit anyone struggling with anxiety, wanting to help someone in their life, or trying to understand the process better. Concise but packed with helpful, practical tools. I highly recommend this book!!

Surprisingly, I didn‘t love this book. It was very peculiar, but I felt the peculiarity was at time forced. I read it to preview it for my 10 year old but decided it wasn‘t appropriate for her. It‘s just ok to me.

I loved this!! I‘ve read the other three in the trilogy many times, but it‘s been quite a while (I used to use GB and Messenger in my middle school curriculum as an English teacher), but I loved this story and was reminded of how wonderful an author Lowry is.

“It takes time in the secret places to get the full revelation of God. Little time and hurry mar the picture.” Just one of many nuggets of gold in this book. How much of our modern lives would be enriched if we learn to slow down and take time, let things sit, marinate, ripen, deepen?