Joan Didon's exploration of the dark underbelly of Hollywood and the gritty seedy side of tinsel town's glitz and glamour facade.

Play it as it Lays is a sad, dark and hollow tale of mental illness and of a woman in crisis mode. We see a character going through the motions everyday and waiting for something....but also nothing at the same time. Maria drives for hours and hours in the desert with no particular destination in mind, processing the breakdown of her marriage, the institutionalisation of her only child, and her recent abortion. 

The writing style is sparse in a way that adds to the story's overall bleakness. It is written in a stream of consciousness format, conveying the mental deterioration, disillusionment and detachment of the main character. In this respect, it really reminded me of a slightly more adult version of the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. However, i felt that it lacked a little something that makes Plath's novel more memorable. In refelction, the fact that I am closer to Esther's age and stage in life than Maria's possibly had something to do with this. 

Overall, I'm glad to have read Play it As It Lays. However, I defintely am a bigger fan of Joan Didon's nonfiction work. 

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is getting 4 stars just becuase i know exactly how much twelve/thirteen year old me would have loved this book! 

I was really surprised with how much i enjoyed returning to this world. I thought Collin's idea of returning to the early days the hunger games when they were underfunded, unpopular and a bit janky was a fascinating one. I was surprised by how much Snow reminded me of a more twisted darker ambitious version of Katniss. We see him develop his world view throughout the course of the novel and can begin to draw connections between his beliefs as a young man and his actions as a leader later on. 

Lucy Gray Baird was a breath of fresh air and such an interesting character!! It's really nice to see a character in young adult fiction who is tough, resilient and unapologetically feminine. 

This wasn't too bad as historical fiction novels about real people go. I didn't find Vera (the fictional main character and lady in waiting) especially interesting. She lacked personality or any real distinguishing characteristics, making her perspective a bit dry to read. I also wasn't particularly rooting for her or the guy she was supposed to get with, so that was a bit of a problem too. 

Princess Margaret was portrayed as bratty, unlikeable and a bit pathetic. While this (by many accounts) might not have been a completely inaccurate representation of her,  it was kind of a one dimensional take. 

In general this was just a bit meh...

This was a fairly concise account of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's almost 80 year relationship and all the social change they witnessed during that time.

Ingrid Seward's perspective is overwhelmingly favourable and sympathetic to both Elizabeth and Philip. It's clear she likes both of them a lot and that definitely comes through in her writing. 

I didn't learn many new things about either of them or about the overall timeline but it was well written and engaging enough. 

I'm not really sure why this memoir was so controversial back in the day. I suppose that it was a shock to the general public in the 40s that royals are, in fact, humans with opinions, feelings and personal lives. Suprise!

The biggest take away is really how important Nannies, Nurses and Governesses are to the children born into families of the rich and famous. In this case, Marion Crawford was with the royal family for nearly seventeen years—from the princesses' childhood right up until their early twenties. 

This memoir goes into detail on a range of topics including Elizabeth and Margaret's schooldays, their close relationship with each other, the shift in dynamic between them and their parents after the coronation of George VI, the abdication crisis, the war years, the blitz, Elizabeth's involvement with the auxiliary territorial service, Elizabeth and Philip's courtship and the years immediately post-WWII including the royal wedding and the birth of Charles.  The influence of Queen Mary also comes up quite a lot, including her mentorship of Elizabeth and her insistence on both girls getting a more rounded education. 

Overall, it was an interesting read. A bit saccharine at points but decently written. If you're looking for something scandalous/gossipy though, I would look elsewhere. 

While this didn't completely warm me to Harry himself, you can't help but have some measure of sympathy for him and Meghan by the end of it. His difficulty to come to terms with his mother's death and the racism Meghan experienced from the British tabloids was genuinely horrible.

The memoir itself was fairly well written. Although, it did get a little wishy-washy for my taste at times. Personally, I didn't find the military escapades or drug induced self-destruction very interesting. I'm not pro-war or pro-military and I'm not interested in Harry's recreational drug use. This was something that made up a good chunk of the centre of the book and kind of slowed everything down for me.

Harry's descriptions of Africa as some sort of mystical exotic getaway were a bit strange, especially coming from someone whose direct ancestors colonialised Africa as well as half of the planet. I say this as someone from a country formally colonised by the British Empire — not cool Haz!

I thought the whole situation with Harry, William and Charles seemed a bit petty and ridiculous on all sides. Although, the insight might provide some fodder for British republicans next time they decide to call into question the role of the monarchy? I see you, Jeremy Corbyn.

Admittedly, there was a few stories (something about Elizabeth Arden handcream and a certain frost-bitten appendage) that I'd rather wipe from my mind forever, but otherwise  'Spare' does,  more or less, exactly what it says on the tin.

On the whole, this was a quick enough read and pretty digestible if you listen to it as an audiobook — narrated by the the infamous ginger himself. Spares gives a solid insight into Harry, his experiences and the lives of the modern royal family. Not a bunch that I would want to be pals with — ha! 

Read for college.