nadia's Reviews (587)

I'm surprised that these were classed as "the best" American short stories for 2020. I kinda floated through the collection, and while some of them had really intriguing concepts and setups, I was often let down by the resolution or left thinking: "Is that it?"! I listened to this and would also often find that my attention drifted frequently.

Great variety though, I must say!

My first Baldwin! I didn't grok all of it, but I'm really glad I read it and want to read more like it. Lots of challenging ideas to grapple with, especially as a Black (though British) person!

A good message but the delivery via this story didn't really hit with impact! It all happened rather abruptly it seemed to me!

I recommend listening to the EconTalk podcast episode titled "Richard Gunderman on Greed, Adam Smith, and Leo Tolstoy" afterwards! (https://www.econtalk.org/richard-gunderman-on-greed-adam-smith-and-leo-tolstoy/)

I learnt so much from this book — and that's coming from someone who thinks they're already pretty good with discipline, habits, and routines. I've already started applying a bunch of the techniques to improve my current practices, and I'm excited to keep revisiting my notes and iterating on my habits to achieve the life and lifestyle I want!

I needed something light to listen to while doing chores around the house and this was great for that!

This got off to a strong start, and I remained intrigued/curious pretty much the whole way. It features a lot of themes that I'm a fan of, which is great as it was one of the first books ever recommended to me when the first ever version of our recommendations algorithm went live in 2020. However Behold the Dreamers ended up falling a little flat for me. I was hoping for something more, both in the plot and the characters' behaviour and actions!

What a wonderful story with one of the greatest messages of all time!

I wish I'd read this when I was a child — it would have had a bigger impact on me than it did today (though it still had an effect/served as a good reminder for the way I like to live my life) — and I definitely think every single child and teenager should read it!

The illustrations were great too!

It took me a little while to really get into this. I struggled to get in longer reading stints near the beginning of the book and I always seemed to be sleepy when I read it — this impacted my enjoyment. But, I could tell from the beginning that the writing was absolutely beautiful and there was something special in this story.

Betty really did pick up for me and became incredibly moving. There were a lot of uncomfortable and sad scenes though, so not one to go into lightly!

A super fun read! I thought I'd enjoy this one the most, but it didn't quite hit the mark the way I was expecting it would. I found it a little more on the cheesy/awkward side than the others. Still great though and this trio of books was just wonderful.

Who knew someone could write a whole book on this one specific concept and it'd be so tense and compelling? I now know that Stephen King can!

I wasn't left 100% satisfied with it but it's a very clever, dark book, with lots to talk and think about.