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trueisa4letterword

trueisa4letterword

Joined July 2017

Native New Englander and fan of non-fiction. Librarian enjoying beaches and good flyers.
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Grant by Ron Chernow
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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Dense but delicately drawn character-based graphic novel of three Asian-American millennial friends starting out in NYC publishing. Love all of the little details and the strength of their friendship.

#graphicnovel

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trueisa4letterword
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Oh customer service...

#graphicmemoir

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trueisa4letterword
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I look forward to the chapter on the sarcasm mark.

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trueisa4letterword
Blind Man's Bluff: A Memoir | James Tate Hill
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The mail came in at work and there was actually something for me! Excited to get this and look forward to reading it.

#nonfiction #arc #memoir

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

This was an extremely funny, sacrilegious retelling of the creation of pharaohs with lots of lampshades like the one in the photo. And yes, everyone is in profile except at some key moments.

#graphicmythology #egyptianmythology

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trueisa4letterword
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Mehso-so

I tried to make this a treadmill book but then they started explaining about what it meant to short stock and I needed too much concentration for it. Then, the Gamestop saga happened and I was able to follow along more easily. It's definitely made for a person who doesn't know much about finance or political theory. Though engaging it does blame counter-culture movement for the high crime rate in the 1990s so that's why so-so

#graphicnonfiction

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

This book was recommended to me by my friend whose history MA thesis was on passing. I've always been fascinated by the subject as it's part of mixed race culture so her recommendation was enough for me to read a #fiction book.

Gripping read and I read it in a few days. I don't mind #nonlinear stories but I also wish she left off the year labels from the chapters if she was going to do that.

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Now that the sidewalks are covered in yuck, here's some shots from when I walked into Boston for the first time since last March to return my library book. I took my sweet time with this book. I wasn't familiar with this part of America, nevermind what it was like there in 18th century. But I learned a lot and appreciated the different perspectives of the author's subjects.

#history #louisiana #florida #nonfiction

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

I read this in almost the same place almost 300 years later in very similar circumstances. This is more of a history of printing and politics than the epidemic making it an account of the beginning of the end of colonial Boston. (Bonus: the author details all of the ways Cotton Mather's life went sideways after the witch trails.)

#nonfiction #history

mrsmarch So clearly I don‘t need to pass you my copy when I‘m done reading.... 📚 💚 3y
trueisa4letterword Haha I'd say something about you FINALLY starting to read this, but it took be FOUR YEARS to get around to reading it after I shelved it on Goodreads... 3y
5 likes2 comments
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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Never read Jacqueline Winspear but thought this would be a safe bet. Incredibly immersive. I felt like I was there with her in the English countryside. I might want to fight her mother on her behalf though.

#memoir #arc

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

So of course this book is a pick. As soon as I picked it up, I said, OOH IT'S HEAVY EXCELLENT 500 PAGES OF GOODNESS

I guffawed. I choked up. I turned the pages quite a bit. I took some photos of things I thought could be memes. And immediately after I finished, I started reading bits again.

#graphicmemoir #graphicnonfiction #humor #observationalhumor #millennialhumor #memes

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trueisa4letterword
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*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* Only waiting for this for literal years.

#nonfiction #graphicnonfiction

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

So I found this in my library network's catalog back in November while trying to find books about Ethiopians to read and checked it out before my library closed in March. I was going read this regardless. But I was pleased to discover it was also engaging and darkly humorous. I laughed a lot and I also cried a lot. And I read entirely while walking on my treadmill!

#ethiopia #ethopians #redterror #history #memoir #nonfiction #plaguebreak

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trueisa4letterword
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Good for her! Almaz is more like a rough diamond than a diamond in the rough.

#bilingualpuns #ethopia #memoir

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trueisa4letterword
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This has been an excellent treadmill read, except when I have to stop walking because I laughed too hard at passages like this one.

#ethiopia #late1960s #memoir

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This treasure came all the way from Ashland!

#curbside #nonfiction

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trueisa4letterword
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Reading a Georgian period novel on my Victorian couch

#historicalfiction

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trueisa4letterword
Small Fry | Lisa Brennan-Jobs
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Pickpick

I had read the massive Steve Jobs bio when it came out, but this still surprised me. This is primarily about Brennan-Jobs's childhood spent failing to have relationships with two parents who were disasters. Beautifully written and engaging.

#memoir

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trueisa4letterword
Flawed | Andrea Dorfman
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Mehso-so

The book was like a light snack that I forgot about when I was done.

#graphicmemoir #graphicnonfiction

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Had to rush through this so I could drop it off before my lab appointment. I've studied the American Revolution various times in history classes but it was good to get a solid refresher. This book was also far from dry and had quite a few interesting stories about women and BIPOC. I know Bob Allison is good for a short history worth reading based on his other works.

#nonfiction #history

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trueisa4letterword
Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life | Marie Kondo, Scott Sonenshein
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Listening while cleaning!

#audiobooks #nonfiction

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trueisa4letterword
Sex and Vanity | Kevin Kwan
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I was so excited to see Kevin Kwan at Library Journal's Day of Dialog yesterday! I had been inhaling the ARC of his new book this week.

(Also I got so many other ARCs to read next!)

#arc #netgalley

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Another book I had to rush because it was due but I love how comprehensive yet accessible this book was. And this author has more like it! I might check those out!

#nonfiction #death #plaguebreak

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trueisa4letterword
Rodham | Curtis Sittenfeld
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Pickpick

At first, I was planning on not putting this in the pick bin, because the first part is more historical fiction than alternative history. But the rest (and especially Part III) is more up my alley. I feel kind of gross that I read this in a day (#slug)

Also, I was warned about the sex and because I kept expecting to be horrified, I wasn't.

#alternativehistory #counterfactual

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trueisa4letterword
Rodham | Curtis Sittenfeld
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Look at this lampshade!

#alternativehistory

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trueisa4letterword
Rodham | Curtis Sittenfeld
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So I started Rodham today. Yesterday, Marie Kondo's new audiobook came in on Libby and I put off the hold for another seven days. But I thought I wouldn't get Rodham for another 26 weeks so I took it out today. And I still have to finish Death by Shakespeare!

(And yes, I bought Prep from B&N when it came out when I was a teenager wanting to read about teenagers. No, I haven't given it away. It's just going to taunt me until I die)

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trueisa4letterword
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Bailedbailed

A Big Read two years ago I never got around to. But no more!

She never compromises on ingredients so this LONG BOOK IS LONG. Ebook is over 600 pages and (even after several sleepless nights) I wasn't making a dent. Unlike so many other reviewers, I don't blame her for being a financial ostrich. But so much caterwauling about her dead gran made me want to pitch her off her waterfall.

I liked the goats. The goats were fun. But I hate waiting.

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Someone had checked the third one out before #plaguebreak so I only checked out the first two. But they were both fantastic. I enjoyed the artwork and the story. (I hate his father, but his father is pretty unlikeable...) I can't wait to read the rest and I hope he's still working on his fifth and final installment.

#graphicmemoir #authorillustrator

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trueisa4letterword
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Mehso-so

This is FINALLY off my currently reading lists! Took a #plaguebreak but I finished a book from a reading challenge I didn't finish in 2018. Yet ANOTHER book that was totally different at the end, but I still remember what most of this book was like.

Funny and accessible language, but takes too much time and concentration to read.

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trueisa4letterword
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Mehso-so

Another book that really picked up at the end, trying to get me to recommend it. Nope! The first 200 pages were pretty forgettable. I first checked this out as an ebook, but I was going too slowly (I kept walking away). Of the three books I read where white men do something weird for a year while their wives put up with it, I liked this the least. At least #plaguebreak helped me get this off my "Currently Reading" where it had been since July 2018

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Part of my #plaguebreak stack, I started reading this one because the books I was reading weren't good enough. But this was the right book (about a pandemic) at the right time (during another pandemic).

With a lesser story, the art style and text-heavy panels probably would've turned me off. But it was moving and compelling.

#graphicmemoir #graphicmedicine #oralhistory #authorartist

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trueisa4letterword
Weather: A novel | Jenny Offill
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Problem patrons omg. WRITE IT DOWN IF YOU REALLY CAN'T REMEMBER!

#librarianwoes #tootrue

Librariana I was always more concerned about the customers/patrons I'd help who kept 1,000 emails in their inbox, the majority of them unread 😳 4y
trueisa4letterword @Librariana See, I wasn't concerned because that's also me as a filthy procrastinator/hoarder. 4y
7 likes2 comments
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trueisa4letterword
Grant | Ron Chernow
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Before my workplace closed, I checked out all of these books. It wasn't just me: we did a week's worth of circulation in a half a day. I'm especially excited to read the tagged book during #plaguebreak

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trueisa4letterword
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Celebrating Maine's bicentennial in my favorite place to read

#maine #maine200 #nonfiction

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trueisa4letterword
Weather: A novel | Jenny Offill
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When I called ereyesterday, the woman at the branch said I was no. 107 on the hold list. Then I got an email this afternoon that my tiny branch got a copy! I had hoped most to read this during my #plaguebreak.

#alyssatriesfiction #librariansreadinglibrarians

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trueisa4letterword
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TFW you check out a book by the author who you're going to listen to this week and you see your own abysmal handwriting staring back at you from when you checked the book out 4 years ago

#myownsecretcode #postcardbookmarks

Tanisha_A 😁 4y
rather_be_reading 😂😂 4y
5 likes2 comments
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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

This book came in last week, but it was still in a box until I asked about it. I'm glad I asked though because this book was fantastic. We first hear Robin's perspective then learn more about why her (single!) mom uprooted her daughter from Korea to ALABAMA. Meaty memoir, even though it's YA.

#Korea #ImmigrationStories #Koreans #graphicmemoirs

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trueisa4letterword
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One nice thing about people my age becoming memorists is gems like this

#graphicmemoir #late80sbabies #mychildhood

trueisa4letterword Currently reading three like this 4y
5 likes1 comment
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trueisa4letterword
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Panpan

As soon I saw this horrendous art style, I apologized for recommending this to the collection librarian. (But I promised her a circ so it got one.) I do like that Trump looks like a sex doll throughout most of this. I didn't hate this, but I hate myself for not hating it.

#graphicnonfiction #politics

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trueisa4letterword
The Story of My Tits | Jennifer Hayden
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Pickpick

Finished this #graphicmemoir on Hoopla this morning. Funny, insightful, and I enjoyed the background details in each of the four-panel pages. (It took me longer than 30 minutes to read but that's what I read this morning.)

I also tried #Bookly for a second, but it didn't give me a square infographic and multiple users (including Pro ones) on the Play Store complained about syncing issues.

CaroPi In my case I have to go to the infographics and select the square option 4y
trueisa4letterword @CaroPi Yes, I did that but it still didn't work. Repeatedly. 4y
CaroPi ☹️ try to contact their costumer support. They were quite good with me. 4y
7 likes3 comments
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trueisa4letterword
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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

So this book took this #slowreader a year. But it was worth it. I learned so much about Tudor #history my favorite subject.

#nonfiction #tudorengland

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trueisa4letterword
They Called Us Enemy | George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott
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Pickpick

This book doesn't pull any punches. Normally, I try to stay away from #memoirs with co-authors and am hesitant to try #graphicmemoirs where the author isn't the illustrator, but this didn't suffer from the dilution. Engrossing read.

#internment #wwii #japaneseamerican

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trueisa4letterword
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I love this author! 🤣

#nonfiction #history #englishhistory

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trueisa4letterword
They Called Us Enemy | George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott
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Somerville Public Library separates the adult #graphicnonfiction from the rest! Had a successful trip!

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trueisa4letterword
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Started a new job this week! Checked out this book to celebrate. Finally got "librarian" in my title!

#graphicnonfiction #newjob

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Another Lucy Knisley, but one that I was going to skip. That is, until I saw it in an article about graphic medicine. As a fan of #graphicnonfiction and a browser of my mother's medical encyclopedia during childhood, I gamely checked this out and was not disappointed.

#graphicmedicine #pregnancy

Chelsea.Poole Love her! 5y
8 likes1 comment
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trueisa4letterword
Over Easy | Mimi Pond
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Pickpick

Had wanted to read this for awhile and checked it out so I could read it while in Maine. I finished it before I got there and it is not a thin book: I just couldn't stop reading it. Never worked in food service myself but it was still entertaining.

#graphicmemoir #late1970s #california

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trueisa4letterword
Poppies of Iraq | Lewis Trondheim, Brigitte Findakly
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Pickpick

Another jury duty read. I had to go return my books and check more out while on my lunch break. This was one I picked up! Quick read and I enjoyed the facts about Iraqi culture sprinkled into this #graphicmemoir.

#nonfiction #iraq #memoir

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trueisa4letterword
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Pickpick

Jury duty a few weeks ago got me out of my reading slump. This is rather dense, but informative and worthwhile. Whereas #RollingBlackouts left me wanting, this journalistic graphic account was vivid despite the total lack of color.

#graphicnonfiction #oralhistories #gazastrip