I don’t really know if it was the particular audio reading or my mood or some other aspect but I picked up and put down this book several times. I didn’t feel like I connected with any of the characters and didn’t find myself rooting for anything. At some point I wasn’t even curious about what happened. Even though I loved the idea of this book something lacked in the execution for me. I am very sad that this was a miss for me.
with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book more than I thought I would. I had it checked out and returned it to the library many many times, and finally it was time apparently. I am so glad it was. This book was fun and clever and twisty and enjoyable. I loved it.
This book is absolutely fantastic. Very likely to be one of my very favorites from this year. I loved the way it was structured: this read to me like connected stories but each story has a different character’s POV and goes forward in time. It was just absolutely perfectly written with each character telling you more about the other characters and peeling another layer of the onion for you so that you could easily fall in love with them bit by bit. It’s absolutely magnificent.
with gratitude to netgalley and Knopf for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I read about this book in the Atlantic. I am glad I read the book. It was well-written and you rarely see these events from the male’s perspective. I appreciated that he shared both his learnings and his mistakes. This is a long journey and none of us are perfect. What matters is that we try. And I appreciate that.
It appears I am always in the minority when it comes to Cline. It might be that her style just doesn’t speak to me. Even though this was interesting as a concept, I just didn’t really care for it. Eh.
This was perfectly interesting and kept my attention throughout. I didn’t think it was wildly different than many other mysteries I read but it was well done for the most part.
Hello September, my birthday month. This month usually goes by fast, for me because I tend to take a bunch of days off. This year it’s going to be all over the place because I am taking time off and then I have two conferences back to back. By the end of the month, I expect I will be a bit of a mess. But it will also be a really full month.
Big Goal: Ok so I’ve decided that the big goal for September will be radical self-kindness. I am going to let myself do what I feel the most like doing, I am going to do my best to turn off the voice in my head that can be cruel or maybe even be nice to the voice. I am just going to cut myself slack all over the place. Let’s see how it feels.
Progress on the big five:
Y: Fall will be coming and the rains so all I have for the yard this month is to see what more needs to be done for winter prep, if anything. For the front yard, I will try to get some plants from TJs and add to my box if I can.
G: maybe I can finally put those final boxes away? We’ll see.
S: laser, doctor, big goals this month. crossing fingers.
Sa: vet appointment and back to school night this month.
D: drive to school.
Three Medium goals:
Help A finish the eight that really needs to be done. Get on some sort of rhythm.
Tickets for NY.
Can I gently restart some of the practices with healthy meals, yoga, and visual note taking.
Chores:
A appointment
hang up office lights
we’ll see what else.
Start: a new book with D.
Stop: beating myself up.
Continue: documenting E
Brave: once a week. can i do it?
Here’s to another month. Joyful one this time around. Paying attention. Loving my people. Savoring and living in awe. And taking steps to move onward.
I didn’t get organized enough to post last week so I decided to give myself a pass. Happens.
Ok well I didn’t do well on my big goal for August. I ended up being much more anxious than usual, so the opposite of grounded. All my routines went out the window and I basically just did what I could to get through the days. So alas we will not call it a win. I did journal a bunch, just not enough.
Progress on the big five:
Y: Ok so I did a bunch here. I have a plan ready for the backyard, i did the front porch too. I love it. The side yard is just likely not going to happen.
G: I did lots of fun stuff for the garage too, love it. I still haven’t unboxed the few things left.
S: done and done!
Sa: we are still making progress the puppy and i. got her appointment too.
D: n/a
Three Medium goals:
Done with front porch. I might still get a few more plants tho.
Did take more naps.
Did not restart the art mbsr book possibly, or some other deeper dive plan.
Chores: did ALL my chores except hanging the lights at work. great job mom!
Start: started! did the toughest one. will try to finish in September.
Stop: did mostly well on this.
Continue: did reading but really crapped out on the yoga.
Brave: did a poor job on this too but i have a plan!
August came with some curveballs too. I kept doing my best. Trying to show up for myself and for my people. I’m proud of how much I’ve done this year so far.
Here’s to another month. Paying attention. Loving my people. Savoring and living in awe. And taking steps to move onward.
This book was so sad. In the beginning I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get into the story of Mei whose childhood friend comes back into her life when she publishes a book about a terrible tragedy that happened to her as a child. Mei is already having such a hard life with her parents’ insurmountable debt and her on again and off again boyfriend who won’t propose and now she feels like she owes it to Mei to solve what happened and it spirals her life even more out of control.
There are some heavy topics and really sad moments in this poignant story. Once I was half an hour into it, I could not stop, I thought about the characters while I wasn’t listening and kept wanting to go back and see what happened to make their life go so off course.
with gratitude to netgalley and HarperAudio Adult for an advanced audio in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this story about a friend’s last wish which is that her two estranged best friends travel to several places around the world to spread her ashes as a plot to get them to reconnect. It was funny and fun and joyful and emotional while reminding us why friendships matter and how they change your life forever and how some friends will be with you even if you haven’t spoken in years.
with gratitude to Bookouture Audio and netgalley for an advanced audio in exchange for an honest review.
This was a very unusual book, not like anything I’ve read before. It takes place in Silicon Valley and focuses on toxic startup culture but then there’s a crime and then there’s Mario who helped them before they were somebody and how he needs to wait the lockup period before he can get the money he so needs. And you’re rooting for him and then you’re not and then you are again. And crazy things are happening. I felt like it lulled in the middle for me a bit but I really enjoyed it in the end. It was a fun ride.
with gratitude to netgalley and Dubious Ventures Press for a great audio and for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
