Question for those who‘ve read this… I‘m a quarter of the way through the book and there‘s been more than enough abuse and neglect of the female characters for my liking. Marian is just meeting the benefactor for the first time. Should I be bailing? I‘d rather not listen to 450 more pages of women being treated like objects and shown no actual care…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A great read for anyone interested in books on American history, politics, or badass women.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Story of the world‘s wealthiest woman and the man she gave hundreds of millions of Euros to, maybe willingly, maybe by being taken advantage of. Lots of interesting bits, but also lots of details that could be hard to follow.

⭐️ That was such a long slog for so little payoff. A story within a story. I didn‘t care about the characters and wasn‘t interested in the first version and thought about ditching it then but kept going because of all of the acclaim. Surprise surprise, the rich guy had a different take on his story than the fiction author, and there were other nuances beyond that, but the characters and story still weren‘t interesting. Not worth the time to me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Nothing earth shattering but perfectly enjoyable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I really enjoyed this. It was long, and there were a lot of different subplots that wove together, some more successfully than others, but I love the characters and was happy to get to spend another book with them.

Unpopular opinion, but this one just didn‘t hold my interest. The Man Who Died Twice became available from the library, so I downloaded this one to listen to it first. It wasn‘t necessarily bad, but I had a hard time keeping track of all of the characters on audio, and ultimately found myself not really caring, so I bailed…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was great—loved the more bite-sized essay format. Keefe is a fantastic writer and long form journalist. A couple of the essays slugged a bit, or maybe I just wasn‘t that interested in the topic, but I devoured most of them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I think this officially broke me out of a bit of a sad slump. I enjoyed this story of a woman chemist in the mid-20th century. I liked that the book included a love story but wasn‘t a love story, and that it dealt with real tragedies and traumas without delving into misery porn territory. There were some unrealistic/fantastical elements, and some worked better than others, but overall I liked the characters and the book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was cute. Driven literary agent is dumped multiple times in ways reminiscent of Hallmark movie tropes and her sister suggests they take an extended vacation in a town that was a setting for one of the MC author‘s bestsellers. Romance, self-discovery and evolving family relationships ensue.I didn‘t love People We Meet on Vacation, but I‘m glad I gave this one a go!

I‘ve been in a real slump the past few weeks but just got this from the Audible sale. I‘m an hour in and it‘s good so far! 🎉

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Essays about the evolving and growing thoughts about love and relationships of a woman in her late 30s. Some warm and interesting essays, but also some that are just a lot longer than they needed to be. I saw Roxane Gay‘s review of it on Goodreads and she was like “girl, we get it, you broke up with a bunch of men” and that sums it up better than anything I can come up with.

I work with statistics and would love to understand some things better, but I think I sold myself short on this one—I already had a pretty solid handle on what was presented in this book, so I bailed. Could be good for someone without much exposure to statistics, but even then, the writing came off to me as being really self satisfied. Glad I was able to return it.

I didn‘t love this. MC is an older woman whose second husband recently died. Book is a lot of the story and her musings about her relationship with her first husband, who she maintains a friendship with and who she supports through a rough transition. Some of the writing is good, but I just didn‘t really like the characters or care much what happened to them. I read a review that said it‘s a short book that felt long, and I agree. ⭐️⭐️💫

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Impulse download after hearing the author on a podcast. There were some interesting and useful insights, along with some things I‘d encountered before. I‘d guess most people who are interested could find something useful in here.

Oh my god, get to the point!! This book is supposed to be centered around a road trip, but I‘m close to 3 1/2 hours in and there‘s not a vehicle in sight. Let‘s get this show on the road!!

Great short listen from TJR told through a series of letters between the spouses of two people having an affair. Free with Audible membership and worth the 80 minutes!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ the author and her husband buy a second home in serious disrepair and fix it up. I enjoyed a lot of the practical things about cleaning and renovating the house. The emotional journey and the bits about the house telling her what it needed worked less well for me. I‘m sure money was tight, but that hits different for a couple raising a family and buying and renovating a second home on one income. Between a soft pick and a so-so.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Lives and loves of several people in a small town in Maine over many years. The writing and characters are really good, but I didn‘t realize going in that this is a series of essays/short stories that are each meant to stand alone, although many of the same characters show up. I was getting frustrated trying to keep track of everyone and finally realized I didn‘t really need to. Enjoyable, but maybe a soft pick.

#AlphabetGgame #LetterB

This is maybe not the highest brow book I could have chosen, but I picked it for exceeding my expectations. As I remember it, the author documents her journey of digging herself out of a life hole and building one she loved in a way that seemed practical and real and not full of cringey platitudes.

Thanks for the tag @CaitZ @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Whew—there was a lot there! Starts as a biography of John Maynard Keynes and the development of his work and theories and their application in his lifetime, and then moves into his legacy and and impact of his work, and the evolution of different macroeconomic and political schools@of thought through the second half of the 20th century through the 2008 financial crisis. Really interesting, but dense! I‘m sure I missed a lot.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I got an assist on my August #LMPBC book when I found a great audio version for free on Audible! I connected more with the first half where there was more of a story and a plot. The second half was more meditative and seemed to hint at rather than describe a lot of the behavior, and I felt less connected to or invested in the characters at that point. Worth a read if you‘re interested in classics.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Three friends‘ lives are upended when an old friend of one of them joins the group and exploits their weaknesses and insecurities. Sort of an Anglo-Nigerian Gossip Girl/Sex and the City. The narration in the audiobook was great. Strong pick!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I have no idea how to review this! It was my #LMPBC pick for a group reading classics and I had no idea what to expect. A largely satirical anti-war novel with some really fantastic writing. I have a hard time with fantastical stuff in books and there was a bit of that, but it moved fast and was a great read. A strong pick—I‘ll definitely add more Vonnegut in the future! @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks it‘s on its way to you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Memoir of a man completing the bucket list left for him by his younger brother who died of motor neuron disease (ALS in the US). The love between the brothers was truly touching, but many of the list items and flashbacks to his brother‘s illness in the middle of the book sort of merged together without adding much else to the overall story. Most of it could have been expressed in a beautiful long essay. Not sure it needed 345 pages.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this. The 90s overlapped with my adolescence through young adulthood. I remembered most of what was in here and enjoyed having it put in some context. It‘s definitely through the lens of what was covered by mainstream media, which was dominated by white voices, but does acknowledge that at the beginning. I‘d be interested in talking about it with younger adults who don‘t remember much of the 90s.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this, based on Tina Brown‘s diaries from her time as the Editor in Chief of the resuscitated Vanity Fair in the 80s. She was (is) a career badass who also seems like someone who would be a delight to work or socialize with.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was fun, and very much in keeping with my current streak of gossipy nonfiction. I know very little about Anna Wintour except for the character based on her from The Devil Wears Prada., but thought the author did a nice job of fairly portraying her and putting some of her decisions in context. If you also enjoy gossipy nonfiction, this is worth a read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This one ran hot and cold for me. I appreciated the overall message of it being okay to meet yourself where you are and manage expectations while struggling. But some of her approaches stressed me out, like just leaving clean, unfolded laundry in a pile on the laundry room floor until someone wants to wear it. Some of her ideas suggest resources a lot of people don‘t have, and I wondered what her husband was doing while she was drowning.

When in Portland…

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Narrated by a young, talented MC going through a mental break down. The POV was interesting but because it was through the MC‘s thoughts, sometimes things jumped around and weren‘t explained or made explicit to the reader, and I often found my mind wandering elsewhere.

⭐️⭐️ Unpopular opinion, but this did not work for me at all. I did a lot of eye rolling and mentally telling the MC to grow up. Friends to lovers is one thing, but I had a hard time with the MC being so wrapped up in a person she typically sees for a week once a year. There was a little growth at the (very) end (hence the second ⭐️), but by then it was too late to salvage any good feelings toward this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 WTF was that? I enjoyed the book, but the ending left me asking the MC, “What are you doing???” It was 4 stars until that. Worth a read.

⭐️⭐️💫 Meh. I love Trader Joe‘s, but didn‘t love this book. It‘s a history as told by the founder, who sold the company and left in the 80s, close to 2 decades before I ever went in one, so a lot of the descriptions feel very dated. The focus is mostly on the business considerations, but I‘m not sure who the target audience is. It feels too businessy to be of general interest, but not businessy enough to be a business book. 🤷‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable celebrity musician memoir. He does a great job reading the audiobook. A lot of sex and drugs. He would have been a handful to be close to, but he seemed to come out the other end in a better place and to be pretty self aware with the passage of time. Thanks for the recommendation, @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick !

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Forgot I put this one on hold, but it was great company while working in the yard this afternoon. It‘s a memoir in the form of letters to her two young daughters. If you like her comedy, and celebrity memoirs, it‘s worth picking up. The epilogue from her husband was a little weird, like “I‘m your parent, too!” I just saw that they split up, which is sad and makes me see some of what she wrote in a bit different light. Still good though!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The You‘re Wrong About (podcast) deep dive on this started me down a rabbit hole of books and movies about the British royal family and I finally came back around to the book that started it. If that‘s a topic/genre that interests you, this is worth a read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Another great essay collection from David Sedaris. More related to current events (guns, COVID, BLM) than most of his other work, and it sounds like a more honest portrayal of his dad after his recent death. Definitely worth reading if you‘ve enjoyed his other work.

What should I read??? Completely uninspired by everything right now.

I like memoir, nonfiction, and some fiction but I‘m not sure how to further specify which kinds—I‘m not big on sci fi, fantasy, or horror, but like most others.

What have you loved recently??

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Interesting exploration of two competing schools of thought around the use of indiscriminate vs. precision bombing in WWII and the promises, challenges, and consequences of each. Originally developed as an audiobook, the audio includes original interviews from people who were involved and historical broadcast material.

I think my impression of this suffered from reading it right after The Gifts of Imperfection. There‘s a fair amount of overlap. I‘m on board with premise about the value of vulnerability, but GoI just resonated with me more.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ The characters are well written and there‘s so much grit, perseverance, strength, hope, and love. It‘s a vivid portrayal of survival that motivated me to learn more about the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. But it also had some real misery porn tendencies and unrealistic scenes. Compelling, but a soft pick.

I have a little bit of resistance to Beene Brown for not better reason than so many people like her, but I enjoyed this and thought there were some interesting insights here.

#LMPBC Group V - what do you think of Lolita, One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest, or To Kill a Mockingbird for a pick? Have you read all of those? I also haven‘t read any Vonnegut and would happily take suggestions, or could take an overflow from the list posted by @TheAromaofBooks …

This was okay. Endearing look at Mr. Rogers, who truly seemed like a lovely man, but maybe a little too fawning. There was no conflict or struggle—I found it pleasant but not compelling. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was fun. Interesting background on the most prominent women in the British Royal family, done in a way that didn‘t feel over the top salacious or gossipy. If this seems like something you might like, it‘s worth a read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was exactly the right book at exactly the right time for me. Instead of hacks for how to be more productive, it offered an opportunity to step back and think about what you most want to do and how to accept that we can only do so much and that to do what matters most to you, some other things will need to slide. Loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this so much. An intimate and honest memoir of a childhood that began in a cult and then moved to the home of a narcissistic and emotionally abusive mother, the forging of family bonds with a father, stepmother, and extended family, and years of struggle, growth, and healing. It was so good and I want to talk to people about it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh. This was fine. Had some potentially useful frameworks and things to think about, but really seemed geared toward people with a certain background (knowledge workers in the private sector with a lot of savings/assets and easily marketable skills/side hustles that they are thinking about building on for a career transition). For people in other circumstances, there was less that seemed directly applicable.

⭐️or maybe no stars? This might be an unpopular opinion, but this book was TERRIBLE. Poorly written (all telling, no showing), asinine plot with a million holes, the characters weren‘t likable or compelling and made truly bizarre decisions. I think the reader was supposed to root for the MC, but she and her family were so callous and kept doing terrible things to cover up for terrible things that I wanted her to go down.