Take a photo of a barcode or cover
alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)
Wow, this is just spectacular. So sad that it was out of print for so long. I listened on audio, and the performance by Ruby Dee blew me away.
Set in Jim Crow era Florida, it tells the dramatic life of Janie, a beautiful black woman, as she goes through husbands and hardships.
I have tried and failed at reading several Toni Morrison stories, and I had the same expectation for this book. It too is lyrical and poetic, and it also has a lot of the “hard facts of life,” but I was just so enthralled with the story and the characters that I read it in two days. I loved Janie.
Set in Jim Crow era Florida, it tells the dramatic life of Janie, a beautiful black woman, as she goes through husbands and hardships.
I have tried and failed at reading several Toni Morrison stories, and I had the same expectation for this book. It too is lyrical and poetic, and it also has a lot of the “hard facts of life,” but I was just so enthralled with the story and the characters that I read it in two days. I loved Janie.
Don’t even talk to me about Israel unless you have read this book. Seriously.
Such a beautiful, human narration of daily life for Palestinians. It’s peppered with just enough political and historical facts to give you context, but the focus is clearly on people. How ironic that in this story of David and Goliath, David is not the Jew.
Btw, audio narration by the author is excellent.
Such a beautiful, human narration of daily life for Palestinians. It’s peppered with just enough political and historical facts to give you context, but the focus is clearly on people. How ironic that in this story of David and Goliath, David is not the Jew.
Btw, audio narration by the author is excellent.
I like to listen to books about feats of endurance while I run, so I am always combing through my libraries’ audiobooks to find something new. That is how I found out about this book.
The Sun is a Compass is calming, soothing, introspective, and meditative. There are a couple bear encounters and scary river forging moments, but 80% of this book is about birds. The author is an ornithologist, so that is a lot of what she thought about on her trek. Birds, trail food, and relationship thoughts about her partner and family are the bulk of the book. It’s not boring, but I was basing my ideas about the content on the cover and I didn’t know that it was going to be so slow or that it was mostly about birds.
The few times that the author and her partner came across people were always interesting. People in remote Alaska are just interesting folks...I guess it comes with the territory. I have listened to a podcast episode about living in a rural Alaskan commune and it was fascinating. I would love to read an entire book about the residents of an Alaskan village and their lives through the four seasons.
The Sun is a Compass is calming, soothing, introspective, and meditative. There are a couple bear encounters and scary river forging moments, but 80% of this book is about birds. The author is an ornithologist, so that is a lot of what she thought about on her trek. Birds, trail food, and relationship thoughts about her partner and family are the bulk of the book. It’s not boring, but I was basing my ideas about the content on the cover and I didn’t know that it was going to be so slow or that it was mostly about birds.
The few times that the author and her partner came across people were always interesting. People in remote Alaska are just interesting folks...I guess it comes with the territory. I have listened to a podcast episode about living in a rural Alaskan commune and it was fascinating. I would love to read an entire book about the residents of an Alaskan village and their lives through the four seasons.
Michelle Obama is a true role model. She is hardworking, honest, genuine, humble, gracious, loyal, empathetic, and optimistic. I value all of those traits and you are a fool if you don’t also value those things.
Michelle’s story is interesting and a true American Dream sort of story. She got lucky—a lot—but also worked incredibly hard for her education and managed to not be so exceptional as to be unrelatable (student loans and a baby made her reconsider work options, for example). I think that is a big part of her charm. She knows what it is like to be middle class, and she isn’t afraid to own up to her middle-class blunders.
Funny anecdotes about the family were sprinkled throughout, along with true problems that Michelle had to internally set her resolve in order to overcome. There were lots of stories about what it’s really like to live in the White House, the logistics of it all. I found those parts to be the most fascinating—who hasn’t wondered about how all of that works?
There are two things that Michelle made me want to think about:
1. Legacy. Every decision Michelle and Barak have made ever since being a young couple has been framed around the questions of “Is this in line with our values as a couple? Will this move us towards the world we want to live in?” And they thought strategically about life decisions.
2. Connecting with people. Michelle always finds ways to connect with people who it seems that she would have nothing in common with. But it involves being your true, genuine self and being fully present. How hard that must be when you go from a funeral for murdered children to a diplomats’ ball in a matter of hours... but we all need to practice this skill of using our whole selves to be present for those around us.
Oh and btw, she made it loud and clear that she hates politics, always has, and will not be running for office.
Michelle’s story is interesting and a true American Dream sort of story. She got lucky—a lot—but also worked incredibly hard for her education and managed to not be so exceptional as to be unrelatable (student loans and a baby made her reconsider work options, for example). I think that is a big part of her charm. She knows what it is like to be middle class, and she isn’t afraid to own up to her middle-class blunders.
Funny anecdotes about the family were sprinkled throughout, along with true problems that Michelle had to internally set her resolve in order to overcome. There were lots of stories about what it’s really like to live in the White House, the logistics of it all. I found those parts to be the most fascinating—who hasn’t wondered about how all of that works?
There are two things that Michelle made me want to think about:
1. Legacy. Every decision Michelle and Barak have made ever since being a young couple has been framed around the questions of “Is this in line with our values as a couple? Will this move us towards the world we want to live in?” And they thought strategically about life decisions.
2. Connecting with people. Michelle always finds ways to connect with people who it seems that she would have nothing in common with. But it involves being your true, genuine self and being fully present. How hard that must be when you go from a funeral for murdered children to a diplomats’ ball in a matter of hours... but we all need to practice this skill of using our whole selves to be present for those around us.
Oh and btw, she made it loud and clear that she hates politics, always has, and will not be running for office.
Turkish food is a contender for the best food in the world, in my opinion. This cookbook presents a variety of easy, everyday Turkish dishes with ingredients that are easy to find in larger supermarkets. There are lots of things stuffed in other things that I would probably make in a deconstructed form, but I am seriously drooling over all the soups, rice dishes, and sides. I wish I spoke Turkish!!
I love Meb! I guess everyone does.
This book is organized in a very straightforward way: each professional competitive marathon he ran before his retirement last year has its own chapter and are ordered chronologically. The race course, final place, time, and major life lesson are listed at the start of each chapter. The chapters are race recaps, including any special training changes he made, injuries, and racing strategy on the day of.
One thing that I really appreciated is Meb’s simple explanation of racing strategies that are included seamlessly into his race recaps. I’ve never had a running coach so I don’t know anything about even basic strategy decisions. But now that I know the basics, this will make marathon spectating much more enjoyable for me.
This book would only be interesting to runners. The life lessons are applicable to anyone, but 95% of the content is “shop talk.”
This book is organized in a very straightforward way: each professional competitive marathon he ran before his retirement last year has its own chapter and are ordered chronologically. The race course, final place, time, and major life lesson are listed at the start of each chapter. The chapters are race recaps, including any special training changes he made, injuries, and racing strategy on the day of.
One thing that I really appreciated is Meb’s simple explanation of racing strategies that are included seamlessly into his race recaps. I’ve never had a running coach so I don’t know anything about even basic strategy decisions. But now that I know the basics, this will make marathon spectating much more enjoyable for me.
This book would only be interesting to runners. The life lessons are applicable to anyone, but 95% of the content is “shop talk.”
Grungey rural noir set in a gloomy costal town in Maine. In the summer between high school and college, Fin heads back to her hometown to stay with her journalist dad and to try to crack the case of her best friend Betty’s presumed murder. No body, no witness, and yet Fin is dead set on unearthing new evidence using whatever means she can scheme up.
A few random thoughts:
1. The audiobook narrator was not helping this story. I honestly think I would have enjoyed it way more with a different voice. I mean, I think they wanted a cracky scratchy female voice because Fin is always either just waking up, smoking, yelling, or getting done getting it on with someone; also, she is queer and every hot queer woman sounds like Jillian Michaels right? But anyways, she did the “annoying self absorbed teen” thing really well. Too well.
2. How did these teens always have tons of pills and alcohol? And drive around all the time? Like even the DDs drank and stuff? Where was the money for all that coming from if this is supposed to be in a rural town that relies on summer tourism yet the book repeatedly mentions that there aren’t any tourists anymore?
3. I thought the discussion about mental health was going in a “it takes a village” direction, but the end didn’t have the final punch to hammer that home. I did like the end, though.
A few random thoughts:
1. The audiobook narrator was not helping this story. I honestly think I would have enjoyed it way more with a different voice. I mean, I think they wanted a cracky scratchy female voice because Fin is always either just waking up, smoking, yelling, or getting done getting it on with someone; also, she is queer and every hot queer woman sounds like Jillian Michaels right? But anyways, she did the “annoying self absorbed teen” thing really well. Too well.
2. How did these teens always have tons of pills and alcohol? And drive around all the time? Like even the DDs drank and stuff? Where was the money for all that coming from if this is supposed to be in a rural town that relies on summer tourism yet the book repeatedly mentions that there aren’t any tourists anymore?
3. I thought the discussion about mental health was going in a “it takes a village” direction, but the end didn’t have the final punch to hammer that home. I did like the end, though.
2nd read: a decade after I read this the first time. A decade of feminist reading ingested. I understood so much more it was almost too obvious.