⭐️⭐️⭐️
Typical Scientology victim memoir. But I always enjoy reading these. This cult (I refuse to call it a religion) is fascinating and scary. I‘m glad Michelle and her family was able to escape.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beautifully illustrated and adapted.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a beautifully written book! If you get a chance to listen to this one--do it! Each chapter is like a short story following multigenerational characters from Africa to America. Gyasi seamlessly writes an epic novel about slavery, colonialism, and racial injustices. This is an amazing (but sometimes hard to read/listen to because of the brutal-ness) debut novel and can't wait to read more from Gyasi.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a collection of essays about specific censored books. Interesting scholarly reading for those wanting to know more about censorship.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyed this coming-of-age book on audio. An interesting insight into Tara‘s life. I picked up on some similarities with my own life—not necessarily about this type of religious life—but about moving away from home, getting an education, and gaining life experiences and how that affects family relationships.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
‪I‘ve been reading #AlexanderHamilton since February. I‘m oddly sad that it‘s over. I should start a gofundme page to go see it. I didn‘t expect to feel so many emotions towards the end. I would love to take a guided Hamilton tour in NY and PA. This is a tome but if you haven‘t read it yet-get started!‬

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This shocked me...I wasn't expecting to like this one as much. Shamefully, I just looked at how long it would take to listen to it - worked for my weekly commute. This was an interesting book and I didn't expect to learn about leadership qualities from this one, but it was sprinkled throughout the book. Read/listen to this one!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good info. Just think I‘m John Maxwell-ed out.

⭐️⭐️ I listened to this book. About 30% of this was quite interesting...the other 70% was a bit of a snooze.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A wonderful treasure of artifacts from Hemingway‘s adventurous life. I learned things I didn‘t know about Hemingway and saw pictures I‘ve never seen before - both which were surprising. Such a wonderful, adventurous, exciting, and sad life. Papa really knew how to live life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is well-written (the only reason to give it three stars) but it‘s just not scary. I was expecting this to be a frightful read (just in time for Halloween) but instead it‘s...just...not. Maybe it‘s just me—not many things actually scare me in the written form. Actually, I can‘t think of anything I‘ve read that‘s scary. The horror genre works better for me in film I guess.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
This (audio)book grabbed my attention and held it through 1/2 of it. Then it fell flat. Could‘ve gone without the lovers triangle-romance-only-a-man-can-save-me bit. Should‘ve had more feminism in this book - especially for the theme. Give me a book about that character Jackie instead.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This surprised me. A very well done and quick read. Read it not for the mystery but for the Obama/Biden friendship and awesome banter. 😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Not my favorite Fitz book. The plot is choppy and I didn‘t enjoy the poetry throughout. Definitely room for improvement and I‘m glad he kept after it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A great-uplifting-you-can-tackle-this-life book. Wasn‘t preachy. This read like it was from your best friend.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Important comments on a timely manner. Filled with statistical information, past and current events, and important people and their stories regarding feminism. If this is up your alley or you want to know more about feminism-mark this TBR.

⭐️⭐️ meh. If you don‘t like bad language in your cookbook-this one is not for you.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Interesting information about important books and stories through time. I thought it would be more of a description of these imaginary worlds and maps. There was just a handful of these as most of the entries were summaries about books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ One of the best books I've read. I hope everyone reads this and is able to share their thoughts or give this book to everyone they meet. Re-thinking my board book go-to as a baby shower gift. Perhaps this needs to be added. After I tweeted a ton about it while I read last night, I gave it to my almost-16-year-old daughter to read. Please put this on your TBR today.

⭐️ Don‘t give a f*ck about putting this one on your TBR.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A well-written, unpredictable, fascinating story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Very interesting history of Quanah Parker, the many tribes and bands, and life during this time period. I listened to this book and it felt like I was taking an intense Native American history course. I liked that since I grew up and live in the areas mentioned in the book, I could easily visualize the trek of the Comanches and other tribes. (Cont‘d in comments)

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was okay. Not terrible but not the best read of the year. In YA terms, it was similar but not quite like a John Green book. I would try another book by this author again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Learned a lot about Hemingway. I have a love/hate relationship with him but I absolutely love his books. This is a great introduction to Papa‘s life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This one was tough to listen to but the authors tell important scenarios of what actually happened to them-both women and men. Very heavy reading/listening.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book turns a sad moment into sweet and funny guidance from a mother. What a bittersweet read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent and informative read. This book is about many things regarding racial inequality and feminism but it concentrated on how the feminist movement had a racial bias against African American women. How can feminists call themselves feminists when they are also racists? Put this on your TBR. I wish I owned this copy...I wanted to make so many notes in it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Read most of this in one sitting. Stone is an excellent writer—really captures a reader‘s attention early on and holds it through the entire story. I can definitely see this series continuing. It‘d be good to catch up and see how Justyce is doing in a few years. Put this on your “must-read” list (along with Angie Thomas‘s “The Hate U Give” if you haven‘t read that already. And tsk tsk on you if you haven‘t yet).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved this and want to start death cleaning now! I didn‘t expect to laugh through this book but Margareta is damn witty! Reading a book like this always makes me want to purge contents out of my house that is not needed. Husband—you‘ve been warned.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A lot I didn't know sprinkled throughout this book. Probably not the most uplifting book I needed to listen to at this time. This is a must-read though. My only complaint is that in some parts of this audiobook it sounded like the narrator went back to reread some lines and it made it sound totally different. I'm going to go find a cheesy, stupid funny, audiobook now.

DNF - this book didn't grasp my attention at all. I wanted to love it. To me, it just wasn't well-written.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This made me want to move to Denmark. So I researched how to move there. It‘s very difficult. Now I‘m sad.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a lovey poetic manifesto. It‘s a good time to read this one, ladies. 🙌

“Colour is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beautiful, tender, and absolutely raw memoir.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Needed more critical eye during editing but all around interesting and thoughtful debut novel. I love books about books/libraries/bookstores—so this one captivated me quickly.

⭐️⭐️ I guess I didn‘t quite know what to expect with this one. I thought it would be more about the psychology of the types of people who are bar regulars. It wasn‘t. It seemed to be a depressing cry for help. Not what I had hoped out of this one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So glad this got me out of my YA dystopian reading slump! Wonderful book with an important message.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beautifully written essays.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I wish the characters were as well-crafted as the writing style. Quick read but a bit of a bore. 2.5*

⭐️⭐️ I feel like the author tried too hard on this one. It was just okay.

⭐️⭐️ I though this a bit self-absorbed. I had hoped this was more of an analysis of artists and their addictions.

⭐️⭐️ Not a great long-lost-love book. It was just okay. My favorite still is Me Before You.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Adorable illustrations and love the inclusive theme. Love is love is love.

⭐️⭐️ I mean....why can't these types of books just be a blog post or something and that's it? Don't get me wrong--I like Lauren Graham, or as I like to call her, Lorelai, but why does everyone publish their commencement address? Just blog it. I'm sure it's $$$ but it's tiny and a super quick read, so just blog it and be done.

⭐️⭐️ Not my cup o‘ tea. Everyone else seems to like it though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyed listening to this one. If you are interested in learning more about how to began your acting career, this has a lot of good information. If you just want to hear Pam Beasley talk about some of The Office tidbits...this has some of that, too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ The first story about Nell and Fabien was my favorite. I want an entire book about them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It‘s always enjoyable to read about Lou‘s eventful and mostly funny escapades.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Finally got to read this one. It‘s been on my TBR forever!