⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable, to the point book about different kinds of focus and when and how to use them. I enjoy this author‘s “I‘ve been there and know what it‘s like to struggle with this” style. Some new stuff, some things I‘d heard before, but a nice, useful book.

I don‘t know, man… This came highly recommended by women in a writing workshop, but was not for me. Went back and forth between being overly academic (she must have used “teleological” 20 times) and oversharing details of her sex life in a way that was jarring (maybe because the rest of the tone was stuffy academic?). I don‘t know who the audience was supposed to be. It felt like she wrote it for herself.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 This was really good. I had a bit of trouble getting through the parts from before the actual battle and the immediate aftermath (I just really know so little about it that it was a little tricky to follow), but the second half with the implication of how the Alamo‘s history has been preserved and perpetuated into the present was really interesting. Definite pick!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Two fathers avenge the deaths of their gay sons, and grapple with their feelings about the strained relationships they had when the sons were alive. This was more violent than I usually go for, but I really liked the characters, and the fathers‘ growth throughout the book. Some of it was maybe a little heavy handed, but overall a great read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I‘ve been finding myself in nonsense phone checking/scrolling mode a lot recently, so picked this back up for some ideas. I like the ideas about minimizing everything optional for a few weeks to see what you want to bring back, and I want to think more on how to bring in some high quality leisure activities (a class? a project?) but also find the author sort of smug. ⬇️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Second or third re-read and I got more out of it than previous listens. I‘ve been keeping up with it more than I have in a long time and have a better sense of what parts are helpful to me and which aren‘t as much.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fun audiobook of essays. I really enjoyed most of them. Made for great company while puttering around doing weekend stuff around the house.

Graphic novel/essay looking at loneliness and connection in humans. It was interesting, but if I‘m honest, I don‘t love graphic novels…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 An in-depth look at how racism and segregation hurt not only African Americans and other marginalized groups, but all of us, and how we all stand to benefit from diversity and integration. I think this is one of the best books I‘ve read related to race and society. I really appreciated the inclusion of hopeful messages along with the rightful calling out of the crappy things that have happened and that are still going on.

Better late than never—my January #Bookspin Bingo board!

@TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was really good, but so dense with research that it was sometimes hard for me to fully follow her arguments. Lots of interesting (and horrifying) information. Definitely worth reading, but it requires a lot of the reader to keep up.

I‘m a bit of a novice at making collages, so this took me longer than it should have, but here‘s my 2021 year in review! I finished 108 books! My previous high was around 75. The increase was directly tied to Litsy, especially #bookspin bingo, and finding new and interesting books from others‘ posts.

Thanks for a great few months—looking forward to 2022!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 What a wild ride. Picked this up after finishing Flea‘s autobiography and really enjoyed it. There‘s a lot here—unusual childhood with his dad who sold drugs in Hollywood (Sonny Bono was his godfather?), entry into music, time with the Red Hit Chili Peppers, relationships, and lots of drug use, rehab, and relapses. A great pick if you like a rock biography!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Flea‘s early life autobiography, covering his difficult/volatile childhood and young adulthood, friendships, and early experiences with music and drug use. The book is a little quirky, like its author, but was good. I hope he writes a follow-up including more of his adult life, marriage, fatherhood, and time with the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

This has been excellent company while prepping for a Christmas dinner party tonight!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Going back and rereading Father Boyle‘s previous books after finishing The Whole Language. I am not religious but was raised Catholic and went to a Jesuit university. I love his approach to religion and compassion and kinship with those who face incredible obstacles. His books just leave me feeling glad there are people like him in the world and wanting to be more like him.

I am not sure how I feel about this… Some beautiful writing,and a strong man character, but not much plot necessarily? Enjoyed the portrait of female-centered power and sapphic threads, but didn‘t always follow or care much about the underlying story. It‘s a little outside of genres I usually go for and that is probably some of it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a beautiful book. Written and read a priest who's worked with gang members in LA for years and founded/leads Homeboy Industries. It's like one long meditation/homily, interspersed with anecdotes from the homies he works with (and a lot of swearing). It's funny and sad and touching. I kept thinking that if the rest of the church was like him, there's a tiny chance I might still be Catholic. It made me feel better about the world.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Collection of essays by Seth Rogen—everything from his Jewish adolescence in Canada and starting to perform stand-up comedy at 13 to celebrity interactions in LA, with a LOT of marijuana and hallucinogens in between. Full of independent essays that all touch in his experiences, but they don‘t get super personal. He performs the audio with a full cast and it‘s great. Quick, funny read. Would be fun for a (childless) road trip.

Late wrapping up my November #Bookspin bingo board.

19(!) books, including both my #bookspin and #doublespin, and 3 bingos! @TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Finally read this one. If I would have realized it‘s only kind of about the house and only kind of about the girl on the cover, I probably would have read it sooner! I enjoyed the relationships in the book, especially between the siblings at the center.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a beautiful essay collection, particularly a surprising (to me) emotional essay about an unexpected friendship in the last 1/4 or so of the book. Highly recommend if you are a fan of essays and/or Ann Patchett.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ The MC is a gossip columnist, night club emcee, and local theater school owner telling the story of Detroit‘s Black Bottom neighborhood in the mid 20th century through profiles of 52 “Black Bottom Saints,” including music and sports icons and lesser known community members, with a cocktail recipe in honor of each. I work near this neighborhood and loved reading this fictionalized history, but found the broader story hard to follow.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really loved this. Retrospective of a fictional 70s rock band told as snippets of interviews with each of the characters. Really loved all of the characters and the story. I enjoyed The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and liked Malibu Rising even more, but I think this is my favorite of Taylor Jenkins Reid‘s books. Highly recommend, especially the full cast audiobook!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 History of Black women who fought for women‘s rights and voting rights throughout American history. Tons of great information, but a little dry in places. I think maybe by including so many women it was hard as a reader to feel like I particularly connected with most of their stories and experiences. I‘ll save my other thoughts for the #SheSaid discussion this weekend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 33 year old Amadeo Padilla is living with his mother and trying to find his way when his pregnant 15 year old daughter, Angel comes to live with them. The book follows the family for a year. The characters are really well written—flawed and sometimes making questionable decisions, but I liked and rooted for all of them. Really enjoyed this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Head of a disaster response company who has responded to plane crashes, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks reflects on the practical aspects of that response, including recovering bodies, managing relationships with survivors, and coordinating with multiple stakeholders with overlapping or competing goals and jurisdictions. A lot of interesting anecdotes and experiences.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book posits that humans rarely consider subtraction as a means of improving a situation or environment, even when it could produce the most effective or efficient path. That takeaway is clear and interesting, but for me the point could have been made in an essay rather than a full length book.

Loving this so far!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Behind the scenes/interpersonal story of the Shaq/Kobe/Phil Jackson Lakers dynasty from 1996-2004. Great book if you‘re interested in sports journalism or basketball generally or this team in particular. Or gossip, for that matter. I lived in LA and started dating a rabid Lakers fan toward the tail end of this period and followed some of it in real time and enjoyed the in-depth look at what the team did and how it came apart.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this. It wasn‘t on my radar at all until I saw some Litsy reviews. It‘s a collection of essays about animals, ranging from her pets to Keiko, the killer whale from Free Willy. There were a couple that I was less interested in than the others, but overall a really nice collection.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Loved this. 5⭐️ for the stories, 4⭐️ for the writing. Mostly the story of his development and career as a musician and his love and gratitude for his mother and family. Seems like a super grounded, decent, likable guy with great stories. Definitely recommend.

Stoked for this one!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hmmm… Not sure what I think about this one. Loved the full cast of queer characters but wasn‘t totally sold on the time continuum bending romance at the heart of it. (I probably should have looked closer at the description to know this might not be my thing.) I think I would have liked it better if it had ended a chapter or two sooner. But glad I didn‘t bail.

This was my November #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I picked this up after a couple of friends‘ out of town moves got me thinking about adult friendships, and how we make and keep them. This was pretty good— a guide for how to know and show up for yourself and meet, make, and keep (or, when necessary) let go of friendships. There are a lot of “scripts” (what to say in x situation) in later chapters that break up the text and led me to skim, but some interesting things to think about.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was good. About what I expected. Well-written, but really long, and easy enough to put down for weeks (or months 😬) at a time. I think I was less excited than I might have been since I had already read books by a dozen other people in and around the Obama White House by the time this came out. Definitely worth reading, but maybe not particularly a page turner…

November BookSpin Bingo Board! Tagged is my #BookSpin, a library book is my #Doublespin

Looking forward to it!
@TheAromaofBooks

I think October was my best reading (listening) month ever!

18(!) books, including both my #Bookspin and #Doublespin

Some standouts:
Taste - Stanley Tucci
In the Weeds - Tom Vitale
The Best of Me - David Sedaris

Thanks, @TheAromaofBooks for organizing!

⭐️⭐️💫 I loathed this book in the first half—story ping ponged all over the place and none of the characters were particularly likable. It got better later on, but the damage was done. Just because you *can* try to interweave 10 stories doesn‘t mean you should. The narration made some characters more obnoxious than they deserved. Still happy to read Backman‘s books, but this didn‘t work for me. I‘m between a Pan and a So-So.

Does… this get better? I have really enjoyed several of Backman‘s books, but I‘m struggling with the bouncy structure of this one, and running out of patience with the dialogue. Many exchanges seem tedious and longer than they need to be and have mostly left me disliking the characters. I think maybe the narration is exacerbating it. 😕

⭐️⭐️⭐️ A lot of important information related to potential blind spots that feminists and others who care about social justice may have that ultimately weaken their effectiveness or can actually be harmful. Some of her arguments were made more effectively than others for me, and the audio recording seemed to go back and forth between sessions/styles, which was distracting. A bit of a weak pick for me. Looking forward to the #SheSaid discussion!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This audiobook was a delight. It‘s a memoir through food. He cooks, eats, drinks, shares recipes, name drops, and lets you in to his work and family life but does it in a way that is incredibly charming. Highly recommend if you‘re at all interested in food writing or memoir.

. @Megabooks @britt_brooke Have you checked this out yet?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I just love David Sedaris. I‘ve read/listened to most of what he‘s published, and so recognized several of the essay in here, but was just as enthralled as the first time I heard them. I don‘t enjoy his fiction/fables as much as the essays but they‘re still so cleverly written. And I really love the essays, especially the ones about his family, and he ended with some great ones. Looking forward to Carnival Snackery!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Former it-girl actress hand picks a writer to author her memoir, seemingly out of nowhere. The book uses that structure/premise to tell the story of Evelyn Hugo and her 7 husbands. Didn‘t connect too strongly with the characters, but the story was still fun, and there were a couple of interesting twists.

Looking for feedback…

Has anyone used Scribd for audiobooks, and is it worth it? I‘ve been whipping through audiobooks and am just about caught up on Audible and Libro.fm credits and TBR lists. My library holds are full, and a lot of the books I want to listen to have a months-long wait. I‘m interested in Scribd, but have heard they restrict access for heavy users, which I probably will be. Anyone have any feedback experience with them? Thanks!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meditation in the use and misuse of technology by governments and public entities to solve problems and provide services, with several detailed examples. It made me glad that there are smart, thoughtful, accomplished people working to make things better for the public and the people who serve them. Highly recommend if you‘re interested in public policy, public service, and/or the use of technology.

Novel proposing a counterfactual life for Hillary Rodham (and the world, really) if she hadn‘t married Bill Clinton. I enjoyed it more than I expected—there are some fun twists and examinations of the (good and bad) consequences of some of her decisions. I also liked being in character Hillary‘s head and getting her “real” reactions to people and situations in addition to public statements. Warning: there are a lot of Bill Clinton sex scenes… 😬

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I never really listened to Wilco but heard Jeff Tweedy talking about his new book (How to Write One Song) on a podcast. I liked that book so I picked up his earlier memoir. I enjoy his writing—he seems like a mostly normal, straightforward, guy who works hard to make music he‘s proud of and to have a good life with his family, but who‘s willing to share enough insecurities and mistakes to be interesting and insightful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I‘m not actually sure how I feel about this. The email exchanges fell a little flat for me (what Millennial BFFs communicate almost exclusively through philosophical email essays??), but they also expressed a lot of ambivalence that I know I‘ve felt but not heard expressed in other work in the same way. I occasionally found myself rolling my eyes when characters needed to get over themselves, but overall I liked them and enjoyed the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Memoir of a director/producer who worked on Anthony Bourdain‘s shows for years. Stories and anecdotes from their travels, bits of insight from his relationship with Bourdain, and his attempts to find some meaning and closure. Bourdain sounded like a huge handful, but also incomparable. Recommend if you watched/enjoyed any of his shows!