Reading this felt like a chore. I alternated between hating Rosemary and pitying her several times, but I never cared about her or any of the other characters. The entire thing was just one long self-analysis by an extremely irritating woman with absolutely no plot. I absolutely fucking hated Harlow, and probably would have given this two stars if she hadn't been so unbelievably obnoxious.

Spoiler

I was also aggravated by the fact that she is introduced in a way where you cannot help but hate her, and then halfway through Rosemary is like, I couldn't help but like her because she is chimp-like. Fuck off.

I really loved the idea of Rosemary's struggle

Spoiler

about what it means to truly be human when one spent five years with a chimpanzee as her sister, and how that has affected her whole life

. But I hated her headspace and the entire book just fell flat for me.

A solid, giant, outrageous ending. I loved meeting the Monkey King, but I hated that Granuaile broke up with Atticus because he tried to keep her safe. I felt like he did the right thing. Though I like that he is working on his relationship with the Morrigan now, I feel like they are a better fit.

Losing his arm, though. What a fucking way to make amends.

I loved the way the story built from is-this-guy-crazy to this-guy-is-crazy to oh-my-god-there's-a-murdering-elk-head-woman. The pattern of the language and the thought processes of the characters as the story wore on prove Jones' brilliance. This was such good horror, the creeping, maybe-it's-all-in-your-head kind that fills up until it spills over into the real world. The kind of story that sticks with you.

Books like this are why I read books.

I loved that Volk's premise is that we shouldn't all be believers or materialists, but we should find a place where we can use science to study claims that, at first glance, appear fringe. It's a refreshing take, and one I appreciated as a person who both loves Dawkins and reads tarot cards.

I probably would have liked this if I was eight, but as an adult it was pretty boring.

Lovely art and I enjoyed the guidebook on what each of the blessings means. They are surprisingly specific for an oracle deck, but describe the facets of life well.

This started out really fascinating, but then it kind of felt like Coe lost interest and just threw the rest of it together. I loved the introductory parts where she pointed out how misleading other biographies have been, and she used source documents to prove it. I loved her feminist fire. I felt like we were going to get to the bottom of who George Washington really was. But she never gets there.

I listened on audio and about halfway through I switched into skim mode because it just became a litany of facts and no longer an interesting story. I might feel differently if I had read the print version but I fully acknowledge I will never make time for that.

I tried so hard to finish this, I really did.

I gave up at 59% in the middle of a chapter. That's how painful this was. I have never given up on a book this late, usually managing to soldier on for dint of my pride and my read books list.

No more. This was fucking awful. There was no plot, no character development, and was populated by the flattest most disagreeable characters I've ever encountered.