ashleyholstrom's Reviews (1.38k)

This book ripped me apart. Pro tip: Don't binge-read a book about a disease that runs rampant in your family. Especially one as destructive as Alzheimer's disease.

I swooned over this bright cover for months before it appeared at my library. And then I gulped it down. The colors match the vividness of this story full of drama and secrets swirling around a family of strong and powerful and messy Jamaican women just looking for a better life for themselves.

From Books I've Judged by Their Covers and Loved and Best Books We Read in December 2016 at Book Riot.

Saeed and Nadia, a young couple keeping their relationship secret, escape their war-torn South Asian country (We are never told where exactly they’re from) through mystical doors that transport migrants from safe place to safe place. The doors appear all over the globe and people step out into new countries easily. But being a refugee is not easy, and they must always be on the lookout, and as they learn to start over and survive, Saeed and Nadia’s relationship moves through peaks and valleys. I was in a trance while I read Exit West. Mohsin Hamid’s writing is flawless, enrapturing, and left me breathless.

From The Best Books We Read in February 2017 and Books I've Judged by Their Covers and Loved at Book Riot.

This is a heavy look into the science and history of hair removal — from shaving as punishment in Guantanamo Bay to getting routine Brazilian waxes. We get to see the techniques for hair removal, the types of people throughout history who have cared about removing their hair, and what people assume about people who don’t tame their hair, like those reckless young women who don’t shave their armpits (*waves*). This is the most science-y one here, and it’s probably the best if you’re just wanting one book about hair.

The editor of the New York Times Book Review keeps a book listing the books she's read since she was 16. She watches the trajectory of her life through her books and how they've influenced her life, from high school to college to traveling the world to getting married to having kids. Because books have a special power. They change you. They make you better and smarter and more empathetic (usually).

I love this book so much.

And, of course, I bought a nice notebook for myself to start keeping my own book of books.

From the Best Books We Read in July 2017 at Book Riot.

Hair is a symbol of identity: social status, sexuality, politics. This collection of short essays by women about their hair and what it means is just lovely. We hear from women across the globe, telling the history of their own hair coupled with the history of hair in their cultures. We hear from women who lose their hair from chemotherapy. We hear from women who spent their childhoods wishing their hair were anything but what it is.

We get the whole history of Black hair in Africa and beyond, with portraits of hairstyles through the years, and advertisements for Black hair products. We get interviews with tons of men and women about their hair and the implications of wanting “good” hair, hair that’s straight and smooth. We get the story of politics in Black hairstyles. And there’s a chapter in here that’s basically a letter to White people about Black hair and hair routines, and it is perfect.

Ever wonder what happens to hair when it’s not attached to a head? It’s made into ropes and wigs and clothes and all kinds of things. Tarlo interviews people across the world who work with hair, either turning it into something else, or collecting it and keeping it safe. But this book is more about the wig industry than anything else, which is a bummer.

Publishers Weekly said this is like if Carrie Bradshaw worked at a funeral home, and, well, it really is. Rich young woman living on the Upper East side works at rich people funeral home. She sees it as event-planning, but for an event where the guest of honor won’t be a pain in the ass. Later, she hangs out in the basement with the embalmer, admiring his knack for beautification that rivals Cosmopolitan. Meyer is constantly name-dropping the designers of her shoes and handbags and dresses, which makes this book really accessible. It’s about death, but not in a scary or morbid way.

From 3 Books to Read While Waiting for Caitlin Doughty's Latest at Book Riot.