thebacklistborrower's Reviews (570)

This book grabs you and does not let you put it down. As the story winds its way through the Cardinals and their history, and their skeletons, you get more and more wrapped in it as if it were a speeding train. The expositions and climaxes come irregularly and when you least expect them, leaving you in the lurch as you re-evaluate everything you've already read and wonder at what will come next. I read nearly this whole book in one sitting and I'd be surprised of anybody who could draw it out longer.

I don't read horror, but I loved the podcast by the same name and gave this book a go. I did not expect it to give me nightmares, but it did. Even so, it isn't a pure horror book. It is a book about anxiety and living with it, it is about creating coping mechanisms and networks of friends that help us get through the scary things in life, whether those things are made up by our brain or very, very real.

Author Joseph Fink best summarizes what I loved most about this book: "Through the course of this book, Keisha faces genuine danger and terrifying creatures while also struggling with baseline anxiety. Just because fear is often irrational, doesn’t mean the world isn’t a scary place. Anxiety can't be fixed, but it can be lived with. It was important to me that Keisha not be corrected, that her character arc not be the story of her overcoming anxiety, and coming out the other end sere and well-adjusted. That’s not how brains work. She finished this story as anxious as when she started, but with the knowledge that she can live with that anxiety. "

Certainly interesting going back and reading this book in today's political age. Enjoyable rants that make you laugh, shake your head, nd sometimes cheer on.

While I'm sure how to prepare for a half-marathon is highly subjective (I read this preparing for my 5th after all, and have used a different training method each time), I thought this was a very valuable book to read for anybody interested in running half-marathons. The most valuable part of the book for me wasn't so much the chapter on the actual training program, but the most valuable one was a chapter on running physiology which was both scientific but easy to understand, and was connected with the training program so readers would understand the WHY of different runs in a training program. The hydration/nutrition and race day technique chapters were also very valuable.

Very engaging novel exploring the lives behind the front doors of a street in a nondescript suburb. Beautifully written, exploring class, race, gender, family, and community, there is a story or more for everybody in this book.

Chimamanda hit a lot of the nails on the head in this essay. While the essay is short, she seems to point out the problems with gender and explain why they don't make sense - how the past is different than the present and the future, so why do we let culture and tradition get in the way of gender freedom? She also beautifully ties in how men could also benefit from feminism, but doesn't spend the entire book arguing why.

But, it is just an essay, and I'd love to read more about it - perhaps in her other book. Its worth the read, but might leave you wanting more.

The trauma and the pain, but also the love written in Birdie painted a more realistic picture of modern indigenous life in remote reserves. Birdie and her reflections on her past jump from distant to recent, from Gibsons to Edmonton, to time spent with her aunts on the reserve to prom shopping with her British foster parents. It all jumbles together and builds a picture of how one can love your family while also being hurt by them. The number of strong female characters is also encouraging -- for Birdie but also for the reader. I had to stick this book out. The emotional weight of the book and the visceral tug to read and learn made it not easy to read, but the end made it totally worth it.