justinlife's Reviews (916)

Oy, this was heartbreaking. I really only got this b/c Michelle Williams was reading it and I love her. I don't typically read memoirs, much less celebrity ones. 

Britney Spears is one of the most recognizable people on the planet. She's lived a life in the public eye and most people could tell you her story. She's never really told her story though. Here in this book she gets into it. 

You get a sense of the type of sweet soul Britney is. Not really dumb, but maybe naive and innocent and thinks in a way that others don't. She talks about her life and all the drama that's happened in a way that makes it hard to feel anything but sympathy for her. The conservatorship, her relationships, and her family are all on the table and she paints a picture that's believable and makes you want to fight for her. 

I did appreciate that she owns her mistakes, clarifies some of her odd behaviors, and seems like a genuinely sweet soul. By the end of the book, you'll end up rooting for her too. Michelle Williams does a sensational job narrating. It's worth a listen, but be prepared to be heartbroken. 

Boy is this book a doozy. It took a bit longer than I expected to get through. It is dense and at times unforgiving. The Name of the Rose offers a fictional glimpse of a monastery in the 1300s where people are dying right before a meeting between the Pope's entourage and the Emperor's where they discuss Christian theology. It's up to the monk, William, to solve the mystery. 

At times the novel is intense and interesting, and at times it gets weighed down by it's own prose. It's fascinating, but man, it's dense. I never thought I would read a book that contained so many philosophical questions like "did jesus laugh?" or "was Jesus poor?" These concepts seem like something we all know and could discuss but it adds to a greater conversation about Christian thought. I think about this now as there are traditionalists that seem to pass off Christian teaching as set in stone when it's always been changing; it's always been morphing into something. This was really interesting to me. I never considered that St. Francis' teachings could have posed a threat to the church. 

The paragraphs are long and the murder mystery is only one part of it. I really enjoyed it, but it did feel at times like a chore to read. It's a well researched novel though. 

This is a solid read for those looking to improve their communities outside of the scope of a non-profit. Spade makes solid points about how non-profit organization and government access doesn't cover all the needs and offers Mutual Aid as a way to fill in the gap. 

There's a lot to digest for such a small book. Spade's politics and views are very leftist and you can see the world they create. It's interesting and at times challenging b/c it feels as if we are always suffering under an individualist, capitalist system. Spade offers opportunities to show what a society can look like outside of that mode. 

The last chapter dragged a little as it was basically giving the dos and don'ts of a mutual aid group. there is a lot to consider and ruminate on. It definitely challenged my politic and helped me see things in a different, less nihilistic way. It's good to think about some of these things and recognize certain aspects of our society. 

This was a fun little read. Based on the cover, I was expecting it to be more New Adult (18-24) rather than Young Adult. Emmett wants to be a big country music star and he's lucky enough to get in a production of a show in what's basically Dollywood. He meets Luke, who is the grandson of some country music legends who fell off the path and their family has fallen on hard times.

What I thought would be a fun read set in Appalachia turned more into the nuances of coming out in an area where you might n0t feel safe and how important that safety is. The story is solid enough and it's fun and cute. I was expecting a little older and less about coming out and the consequences of it. The writing is easy and Kennedy follows the beats of the genre with ease. You do root for the boys who have different dreams, different upbringings, and feels more of an opposites attract rather.

This was a lovely send off to one of the characters that we've grown to love. This type of story we don't get as much anymore- the after effects and ramifications. Here Gaiman explores the impact of the character and it makes up the majority of volume.

After the character Dream dies and gets reborn, we get to see the effect he has had on the Sandman universe. It's an interesting read seeing how you provide funeral rites to a eternal being. The art was great and Gaiman's storytelling holds everything together.

At times, it feels like the The Sandman series feels like the precursor to a lot of his other works. You can see hints of American Gods and some of the other stories in here. It's not a bad thing, but it's definitely something that is noticable if you've read his other works first.

This is another one of those moments where I vaguely skimmed the back of the book and liked the cover when I purchased it. There's a bookstore up here that puts queer flag bookmarks in books and I saw this one and picked it up.

Jack goes to a private school in NYC. He's promiscuous, loves his life, and has a lot of fun. He doesn't like to cause drama. When his friend asks him to write an advice column anonymously, he starts to help people but also causes some unwanted attention in the form of a stalker.

Rosen does a good job of showing the effects of constant attention from unknown sources can affect your attitude. It felt more Single White Female meets Sex Education than I expected. The characters are fun and the advice that Jack gives is solid. Overall a a fun YA read.

This was ok. There was somethings to like about it, but overall, it made me feel that this was a writing assignment for a workshop that got explored. It felt that it needed an editor to reel in the character and focus.

The story follows Isabella as she recently divorced a real estate mogul in New York and was on her way to find her father who she has never met. Murder ensues and this part time artist tries to solve the case.

I did enjoy some of the secondary characters but not much else. The story felt "and then this and then this and then this..." and it didn't give me what I wanted from the plot.

It's not the worst thing I've read and I could see where this could be improved, but overall, I won't be doing this again.

This slow burn, bodyguard romance was a fun read. It felt like it was 100 pages too long, though. Rowland creates a world where the prince needs to help uncover a conspiracy to save the kingdom. Prince Kadou is an interesting character because he suffers from crippling anxiety. His bodyguard is there to help him and eventually sparks fly. 

I have a problem with workplace romances where one has power over the other. They stress me out. Rowland at least puts in her fantasy world that it’s somewhat acceptable for this happen. Still though, ew.

The interesting things about the book had more to do with the gender politics and the religion more than the plot. Rowland creates an interesting universe that would be fun to explore in other books and it felt like she could as there were a lot of loose ends to finish up. 

The plot of the book was fun enough. Sometimes when stupid things happen in fantasy which feels as if the only purpose is to move the plot along, I’m reminded  that stupid things happen in real life and then I’m back on board. The plot seemed to go on and on for reasons I didn’t understand. Maybe if she plays more in this universe, it will make sense. 

Overall though, I liked it. It was a fun, light read. As a reminder, I think all fantasy books suffer in the first 40 pages where the author has to introduce the audience to terms only they know. This book is no different. 

This is a great resource and a helpful guide if people have questions they want to ask about racism. This is not a great audio only book, nor is it easy to read straight through. The basis of this book is that there are no different biological races in humans. There are social races, but we, as humans, do not differ biologically based on skin color. 

The chapters present themselves in question and answer format which is nice if you want to pick up to read a question or two and see how these scientists answer. If you're reading it straight through, it gets a bit much. I feel like this book is more geared to the scientific community than the general populace as it is heavy on the research and the language surrounding research. 

I did learn a lot, particularly how different countries define race and that that race isn't biological.  It's odd when you hear social groups who are more likely to have a disease and it's based on race, but there's more to it than. It changed how I look at medicine information and how it's dispersed. 

This book is a dream. It's a lovely dream and a challenging one. It starts off strong with a good sense of how to change how we perceive care and how we can prioritize it. As the book continued and the reach became global, the book felt more like an idea without much direction. 

The premise of this short book is that we've become a society that has deprioritized care and community and it offers a vision of what a society would look like if we did the opposite. It tackles the local, national, and international politics and challenges the reader with examples of how we can restructure our society by prioritizing care. 

At its best, it's reassuring and helps refocus and recenter the worldview to see how we can be better stewards of our community. At its worst, it's a daydream looking beyond, showing what a world would look like by prioritizing that care but also without the resistance that would come from such a push. 

Books like this are important because they should challenge how we perceive the world and the economy. They allow the ideas the space to float freely. Others should pick up where this book left off and build upon it. 

What was hard to deal with was the paths and plans shown were created with a lack of resistance and that all democratic societies have the best interest for everybody in mind. Democracies tend to focus on what the majority wants and needs with little room for the minorities. That's why it's important for those checks such as the supreme court in the us that, at its best, can counter to protect the minority. In this book, the fully democratic governments and leaders take care of everyone. There's no corruption or resistance. 

There were also a lot of "we need to"statements particularly when shifting to national and international levels. It gets difficult to focus and becomes frustrating because those statements are unhelpful. I need to work out, but by saying it in that way, I lose the interest and I've made no path to do it. 

While I didn't agree with everything, I was glad to have read it. It's good to challenge my politic and to see how I can regroup and reshape it. I think it's worth a read.