Of course some poems, some lines resonated more than others — but overall this was a lovely collection that reminded me to take a moment to breathe in the crisp outdoor air as I walk to school in the mornings.

Mary Oliver’s reverence for nature and for life never ceases to awe me. Her use of imagery is incredibly vivid, her words well chosen to convey even her uncertainty that she can effectively recreate the amazing scenes she witnesses and how they make her feel.

Honestly, I'm not into the underlying smugness of this book. It spends so much time convincing you that there is One Right Way to get good grades (at least, if you want to have any downtime), that you may want to slightly tweak the details but the underlying methods and ideology are superior. That what you're currently doing is wrong, but it's okay, you too can mold yourself into a Straight-A Student.

And in what I assume are attempts to be funny and/or relatable, there's a lot of generalizations, such as non-STEM courses being "ridiculously long reading assignments and dignified professors lecturing from behind a podium." Sometimes it's just unnecessary negativity, but other times it leads to flawed advice — depending on the university or professor, some ("non-technical") courses may require you to recall many definitions and dates, so "identifying the big ideas" won't be enough.

Even allowing for how long this book has been around, the advice isn't one-size-fits-all perfect. Some of it is even objectively flawed. For example, studies have shown that taking notes by computer actually decreases retention and comprehension (students transcribe, because they can, rather than parsing concepts to record them in their own words); even disregarding the financial component, it's not a "no-brainer" to type your notes.

So while there are some interesting thought processes illustrated here, I didn't really get much out of reading this; 200+ pages is a lot to basically say work smarter, not harder. [b:How to Win at College: Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country's Top Students|253197|How to Win at College Surprising Secrets for Success from the Country's Top Students|Cal Newport|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1417855862l/253197._SY75_.jpg|245358] was more helpful, and also easier to read since it's broken down into tips that are easy to understand and implement.

Smart people learn from many sources, pick specific pieces and tidbits, experiment with them, and gradually form their own mental encyclopedia of "Stuff That Works."

I've been a fan of the College Info Geek YouTube channel and podcast for years now, but even though I learn a lot from each new upload (and rewatch), there's something about the book format that my brain is better at processing — so it's a pity that it's taken me so long to finally get around to reading this! I did already know some of the things Thomas brings up in this book, but to be fair I keep up with his content as it comes out, and I'm the kind of person who procrastinates by reading productivity articles.

This book tackles both the how and why behind improvements you can make to your approach to student-ing, with flexibility to accommodate different learning styles and personal preferences. Nothing is set in stone because everyone thinks and works differently, but this is a great starting point to figure out the best practices for yourself.

Idyllic and nostalgic; I loved how this book revolved around camp! It's interesting to consider the growing-up angle, which Winn's and Ruby's characters really added to. Not sure how I felt about Ransome being

Spoiler

just a camp crush/hookup

, though.

3.5 stars; I'm specifically rounding up my rating for diversity in sexual orientation and characters of color.

What I really appreciate about this book, I think, is how ordinary it is, in the absolute best way. It's predictable but realistic, relatable, and the diversity of the cast is simply another detail in an other perfectly straightforward teen coming-of-age/light romance novel. It's not revolutionary (except perhaps in the matter-of-fact inclusion of the aforementioned diversity), but it's pretty dang good.

It's always hard for me to decide how I feel about audiobooks, because the narrator can be as much of a factor as the actual writing. They also tend to be difficult to review since I listen to audiobooks when it would be inconvenient to jot down notes, so I forget what I was going to say — but I'll take a stab at it anyway.

Between this book and Keeping Lucy, I think it's clear that Greenwood weaves compelling stories with vivid characters. But I'm not entirely comfortable with a lot of the underlying traditional/conservative attitudes, even in a historical-ish setting; it often prevents me from really connecting with the characters.

And there were so many characters in this particular book. Plummer (the audiobook narrator) does a pretty good job differentiating them, but I don't know that they're all necessary. While I agree with the author's note that it's interesting to think about all the different people who would've known Sally — whether at home or while she was with LaSalle — and wanted/tried/failed to help her, the narrative was pulled in so many directions and I thought it felt scattered. Which can of course work if that's the story you intend to tell; I just didn't enjoy it as much as I would've enjoyed a more focused, streamlined plotline.

The synopsis describes this as being "based on" Sally's story, but from the author's note it seems more "inspired by" it: I'm not familiar with the case, so beyond what's mentioned in the author's note I don't know exactly how much creative license was taken. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and of course there are some things we'll never know (like exactly what the real-life Sally felt and thought during this time). However, some developments which were probably meant to create tension and frustration instead left me exasperated and not altogether willing to continue suspending my disbelief; I kept checking how much time was left in the audiobook, though for what it's worth I wasn't so annoyed that I wanted to just give up.

tl;dr I liked this a lot more than [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377756377l/7604._SY75_.jpg|1268631] but it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

content warnings: pedophilia, on-page but non-explicit rape, abuse (threatened + actual violence, gaslighting, and more), abduction (being tied up + locked in a room alone), gun violence, mentions of suicide, alcoholism, animal abuse (turtle, mentioned; dog, on-page)