alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)

This was a good book that collects a lot of running resoures into one place: stretching, body strength exercises, drills, all with photos of Meb illustrating how to do them properly. I come from a swimming background, so I have hundreds of swimming drills in my back pocket but zero running drill knowledge. I know that there are many free resources online for this type of thing, but it's nice to have all of it in one place.

As other people have said, there are some goofy sponsorship messages (at least he is honest about saying it's a sponsor), and some of the advice is basic (set well defined A, B, and C goals, for example) but it was still interesting. As an athlete who literally has decades of professional running experience, it is nice to learn what training principles he lives by:
- It's better to be undertrained than overtrained
- Constantly evaluating choices in light of the bigger goal ('Can I have this doughnut? No, because my goal is to win the Boston Marathon.' -- maybe a little extreme for recreational runners but... he did go on to win the Boston Marathon. A more relevent question might be: Should I log on to facebook after 9:30pm? No, because it will tempt me to stay awake too late and compromise my workout tomorrow, and my goal is to run a sub-4 marathon.)
- Patience is key. Long distance running is not for the impatient.
- Diligence, discipline, and consistency in all areas of life
- Stay humble and honest

I understand why Meb is such a beloved figure in American running. His stoicism, commitment to excellence in his professional and personal life, his faith, and his humility are very inspiring.

I had never read the book, and I hadn't seen the film or even known what the story was about besides it being something about a poor white family in the 1930's. I didn't know that it is a very pro-communist story, and that surprised me.

The structure of the book — alternating between a chapter of "general" experiences or a bird's eye view of a situation and a chapter of what happens to the Joads — is lyrical and interesting. I thought the generalized chapters to be poetic and powerful.

The weakest part of the book is the dialogue. It's choppy, repetitive (though I could argue this to be a stylistic choice to carry the poeticism of the book, or perhaps it is to show the characters' singular mindset of survival), and oftentimes unrealistic in naivety and brevity.

I learned so much about 1930's America. I don't know how accurate Steinbeck's lens was, but I feel like I really entered into that world while I was reading. I like reading books that taste very American; this is one of them.

Pretty cute story about an Iranian-American teen navigating through her first romantic relationships.

The best thing about this book was the colorful main character: she is spunky, dramatic, bilingual, smart, curvy, and would be a very interesting friend in real life.

The weakest thing about this book is the character of Saskia. Have you ever heard of a teenager who lives by herself, has access to all the alcohol she wants, uses sex as a tool, and is apparently emotionless? It seemed farfetched.

Pretty photos and lots of visually interesting things, but the styles are heavily Americana and not very functional (lots of clutter, both with excessive objects and visual patterns like tons of stripes, florals, etc).

Five stars because this book accomplished exactly what it set out to do: classic enemies-turned-lovers plotline that is full of fun and adventure.

Não assisti o filme antes de ler o livro, então o ultimo 25% da história foi cheio de suspenso (apesar que eu suspeitei uma grande parte do fim). Eu não gosto de ler passagens de sonhos, e este livro tem muito disso, mas enfim o livro é sobre personagens com TEPT, alucinações, e ilusões, neh?

Roxy is a young woman whose much older husband dies in a car crash, and later she learns that he was having an affair with his intern. This story is about Roxy's descent into madness.

Quite slow-going at first, it really wasn't until about 80% of the way through the book that I saw the author's brilliant writing shine through. The story ends quite abruptly and, as other reviewers have noted, it seems unfinished. I thought, "No wait, she's just opened another plot point, the book has just started getting interesting, and now it's over?"

One of those "I understand why it's important, but that doesn't mean I have to like it" works of art.

This lovely book invited me to slow down, contemplate, be satisfied, and live a healthier life. The images were filled with typical stylish Nordic/SoCal/mid-century-modern designs featuring exposed brick, walnut and teak, leather and linen and wool. I always try to read something slow and meditative on Sundays, and these short essays about how humans interact with their dwelling spaces fit the bill.

One complaint I have is that these homes don't seem livable, yet the essays seemed focused on "wabi-sabi" and accepting your space and circumstances as they are. For example, one living room had medium-sized framed prints sitting on the ground balanced against the wall. I immediately thought of what a pain it would be to vacuum that room. And if you have a pet, you need to vacuum several times a week.

Still a nice book though!