I'm a big fan of Mike Birbiglia saw The New One as a show on Broadway, and I almost DNFed this book after the first few chapters bc I was like, this is almost word for word exactly what I remember seeing on stage. (Which was the same experience I had with [b:Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories|7775841|Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories|Mike Birbiglia|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442947661l/7775841._SY75_.jpg|10682678], and I was like, why do I keep reading these comedian memoirs when they're all exactly the same as their standup, except worse because they don't have the delivery of standup!)

Also it includes his wife's poems, and I appreciated her POV but I didn't like...love the poems TBH??? Sorry poems

But I kept pushing through and there is some new material in here, including reactions to the response the show version of this got, which I thought was interesting.

But like overall...the stage show The New One was filmed for Netflix, really if you're interested you should just watch it instead of reading it.

Also, he's very up front about being a "reluctant dad"--it's like, in the subtitle--and I've heard some other people who find his attitude very repellent. Personally I find it relatable and I appreciate his honestly, but like, if you are maybe a person who really wants kids but doesn't have them, you'll probably wanna punch him in the face. Be advised.

First of all, I think this is a genius premise. Lately there have been a lot of great YA books about teen activists (including [b:Watch Us Rise|40025175|Watch Us Rise|Renée Watson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1544812681l/40025175._SY75_.jpg|57845165] by Renee Watson!)--and I think those are so important because there are so many awesome, admirable teen activists. But this book is about Nala, a teen girl who's annoyed because all of her friends spend all their time doing activism and she just like wants to live her life and watch Netflix and not get yelled at because she doesn't like to carry around heavy reusable water bottles all the dang time.

And honestly I think that's going to resonate with a lot of teens.

It also really stressed me out because when she gets a crush on an activist boy she starts pretending to be more engaged than she really is, and also pretends to be vegetarian when she isn't, and I was like aaaaaa girl aaaa your house of lies is going to collapse any minute now!!!!! So stressful. (But, also, totally the kind of impulsive thing a teen with a crush might do without thinking it through fully.)

Also I love that she's a fat heroine who is not worried that her crush won't like her because of her body, but because she doesn't care enough about the environment.

A really cool, fresh read.

OK first of all can I just say that I loved [b:Front Desk|36127488|Front Desk (Front Desk, #1)|Kelly Yang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507986199l/36127488._SX50_.jpg|51903030] but I DID NOT REALIZE it was historical fiction because it still feels SO FUCKING TIMELY. But this sequel grounds it a little bit more in specific anti-immigration policies (different from our current dumb anti-immigration policies) and I was like, hold the phone, it's the early 90s in here?? which makes sense because these kids are younger and poor and don't have cutting edge technology anyway. And otherwise the struggles are timeless.

Also god can we please stop having so many terrible fucking policies in this country?? BAD

But umm this book is great, though. Mia remains SUCH a great narrator, such a realistic kid voice who has these big ideas despite her limited means, and such a keenly developed sense of injustice. LOVE HER. And I love that, like Front Desk, this book does NOT mince words about how shitty the circumstances are for Mia and for her friends, but it remains hopeful and extends such grace even to, for example, their racist 6th grade teacher.

FUCKING GREAT. I'M CRYING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.

this book needed more vampire baseball

https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-158-midnight-sun/

This is a really fun idea and I'm glad for more variety of this kind of spooky book to provide to tweens! I think the "Stranger Things meets Coco" is a pretty good comp and I know there are tons of young readers who will be eager for that.

That said for me as an adult reader, I think I just often struggle with middle grade books for being a bit silly and simplistic? Which is like...how they should be for their target audience, which is not me.

This novel in verse was a quick read, but gives readers a lot to think about. You don't usually see YA novels spend this much time in a character's childhood but it was nice to see things that had shaped Michael's life. I like the messiness of this, that no character really acts perfectly but they're all allowed some kind of grace. And I think the way that Michael learns more about gender and sexuality and race as he starts college is very organic and something that will make this text useful and reflective for a lot of teen readers.

The description (and, uh, title) of this made it sound kind of like a YA Westing Game and I was like, sounds cool! But then the book itself is, well, it's no Westing Game. It's not even good? Like the terms of this inheritance are dumb. The puzzles are dumb. The love interest brothers are confusingly interchangeable. It's fast-paced enough that I kept reading but on every page I just kept thinking: dumb.

Also it ends on a dumb cliffhanger.

Did I mention I thought this book was dumb?

There are some readers who might be more charmed by the premise of becoming a very rich teenager with a live-in love triangle, and those readers might be willing to overlook the stupid simplicity of it? Like it's a good, engaging hook that might grab some readers, for sure.

Like a lot of internet-users, I loved Allie Brosh's blog and wondered not-infrequently what had happened to her after her first book came out and her blog was abandoned. I hoped she was OK. It turns out that maybe she was not totally okay. This book is a real roller coaster of the kinds of laugh-out-loud random weirdness of the first book/blog but also some really dark moments (which her earlier volume had as well but definitely moreso here. Which, you know, 2020 mood.)

I know a lot of trusted bookfriends have big love for this series, so I checked it out even though the description isn't quite my cup of tea. It was a little slow going for me but ultimately satisfying. I think this series would be great to hand to fans of [b:The False Prince|12432220|The False Prince (The Ascendance Series, #1)|Jennifer A. Nielsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585683740l/12432220._SX50_.jpg|16221764].

I read this for the podcast, without much knowledge of the Bachelor show. It was a fairly pleasant read with some kind of general behind the scenes gossip that I enjoyed? Since the book has come out there have been a lot of uhhh unsettling allegations about Colton so...I mean I wouldn't say that I recommend the book but I didn't hate reading it for the podcast. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-159-the-first-time/