After some thought, I decided to give this book 3.5 stars.

I absolutely love traveling, and I have a long list of places that I already want to see before I die. Many of these places were included in Davey's book, and several I have already been to and can attest that they are indeed unforgettable. However, for the reasons described below, I did not add any new destinations from Davey's suggestions to my list of must-see places.

There were two reasons why this book lost 1.5 stars. First of all, I wished Davey had included more information on why each of the destinations made his top 40 list. For instance (and this is based entirely off personal experience), why did Davey choose the Grand Canyon as the most unforgettable place in the entire western two-thirds of the U.S.? Why not Glacier, Yellowstone, or any of the other incredible national parks in the U.S.? As for the destinations in general, why did Davey choose to leave off many well-known countries (such as Japan, Switzerland, and many others with unforgettable sights)? For the less familiar destinations I did enjoy having information about each place, but Davey's own thoughts could have also added to each section.

Second, I was surprisingly disappointed in the quality of the photos included in the book. Since it was primarily a photo book, I expected higher quality photos on each page. While there were some beautiful photos included, many of the pictures fell flat for me and, unfortunately, were quite forgettable. Perhaps it was just the edition I had, but many of the photos were noticeably blurry (for example, in some of the photos for Wat Phra Kaeo in Thailand, and College Fjord in Alaska), had poor lighting (as in many of the photos for St. Petersburg, Russia and for Yangshuo in Guilin, China), or were not as vibrant as I knew they could be (like for Iguassu Falls in Brazil/Argentina). The photos for some destinations, like Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, fell into all three categories.

In the end, while this book was not marketed as a travel guide, it also did not inspire me on its own to visit the places that Davey considers to be unforgettable. For the places not already on my list, I will have to do considerably more research online about each destination or receive suggestions from friends before I add them to my list of must-sees. With that said, this book could be a good conversation starter or useful to those looking for more international places to travel, as it does cover most of the globe.

I very much enjoyed reading this book - it combines two of my favorite things: Tolkien (and writing) with plant identification. The book includes sections describing the plant communities of Middle Earth (and how they relate to our world), plant terminology, a dichotomous key (which filled my plant-nerd heart with indescribable joy), and detailed descriptions of more than 140 plants, many of which are familiar to us. From a reader’s point of view, the amount of detail provided and the authors’ obvious dedication to making sure non-specialist readers could follow along was wonderful. From a scientist’s point of view (specifically, from a natural resources standpoint), each plant’s entry is more of a general overview than specific identification, but I did enjoy reading the history and etymology sections (something my college textbooks usually excluded or glossed over).

Most - but not all - plants have illustrations, but due to their style are not detailed enough for identification purposes unless you are already familiar with the species. One of the most enjoyable parts of the book is the amount of detail and cross-referencing of Tolkien’s works for each species of plant. Like other reviews on here, the largest fault I found was the consistent misspelling of “athelas” as “athelias” (I even checked my copies of The Lord of the Rings, which spell it as “athelas”). As Tom pointed out in his review, this is arguably the most important plant to the plot of The Lord of the Rings. With the amount of detail and research that was put into this book, I don’t know how this misspelling was overlooked. Granted, I have not read all of Tolkien’s works and do not know if the spelling somehow changed between The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s lesser-read works, but if it did, I feel the authors should have acknowledged why they did not choose the familiar spelling.

I finished this book back in October, but it took me this long to properly draft a review. Marie Lu is so unbelievable talented at writing within a range of genres, and she definitely proved herself again in Warcross. This book was INCREDIBLE, and I started it not knowing much about the plot. At first, I thought it was going to be fairly similar to Ready Player One (one of my favorite books), but it turned out to be completely and delightfully different. While there are some similar elements, Ready Player One is more of an ode to the eighties while Warcross is a brief dip into the possibilities of that kind of world. For me, it’s kind of like comparing The Lord of the Rings with The Wheel of Time - while The Wheel of Time has some elements that read like Tolkien fan-fiction, it ultimately takes the series in a new and creative way. But, back to Warcross.

Marie has an incredible knack for creating immersive worlds that are vivid, believable, and difficult to put down. Warcross held a world that I wanted to learn and read more about, and the plot progression was only an added bonus. The world was interesting, plausible, and entertaining. Marie also did a wonderful job of creating a diverse cast of characters that interacted and were each their own personality without seeming forced.

But, Warcross was also difficult for me to read and I found I had to convince myself to pick it up and continue. I flew through the first 278 pages (I marked it), but the remaining pages were a struggle for me to get through. In fact, this book was 5 stars all the way up until the ending, where it plummeted for me.

First of all, I easily get secondhand embarrassment from characters, and some of Emika’s actions were so different than how I would have handled things. I really enjoyed Emika’s character, but some of the situations Marie forced her into did not really seem to fit the rest of the story. Many parts of the ending (with both the main villain and with Hideo) could have benefited from better explanations. While Emika was in the dark for most of the book, the reader also seemed to be. With that said, however, I was able to guess several parts of the major plot twist pretty early on, but kept reading in the hopes that I would be wrong. To find out that I had been right was fairly soul-crushing (so good job on Marie’s part, even if I’m not happy about it).

This book is definitely not a standalone, and I’m not sure if I want to read the sequel, but I probably will just for the incredible world building and my love of Emika’s character.

Over the years many people have recommended I read The Wheel of Time series (since Tolkien is one of my all-time favorite authors), but for one reason or the other I’ve never actually picked up one of the books, and so they slipped out of memory. I was recently reintroduced to this series, and I finally was able to get my hands on a copy and start reading. I have to say, I was blown away.

At first, The Eye of the World seems like Tolkien fan-fiction, and it’s clear that a lot of elements Jordan did borrow from Tolkien’s work. When I first began reading, I really thought The Eye of the World would turn out to be incredibly similar to The Lord of the Rings and I would end up unbelievably disappointed. But, Jordan quickly began adding in his own creativity, the story took off in its own direction, and I began to fly through the pages. The Eye of the World is a brilliant start to an epic series that so far holds its own, and it’s one that I can’t wait to finish. As a lover of fantasy and an avid reader, I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to dive into this series.

This book was so much more than I expected. It’s brilliant. It’s complex. It has such an incredible level of detail that makes fantasy-lovers squeal in delight and want to read more. It has layers upon layers upon layers that will take many, many readings to fully understand. It’s a book I can see myself consistently returning to over the years, and one I look forward to re-reading multiple times. Jordan manages to include a level of detailed world-building that is immersive, stunning, and comprehensive - a level that many other authors struggle to achieve.

It’s clear from the first book that The Wheel of Time has an overarching plot that may take several books (or the entire series, which I haven’t read and therefore can’t tell you) to resolve, but that doesn’t mean the first book lacks substance. There is so much that goes on during the first book that I’m highly anticipating the rest of the series. Beyond the foreshadowing, nuances, symbolism, and sheer amount of details that make my heart happy, there is an incredible amount of action throughout The Eye of the World and a series of side plots, some of which get resolved and some that do not. I generally tend to lose interest towards the ends of books, whether because something happens that I dislike or because the story is about to end when I don’t want to leave that world, but I never reached that point while reading The Eye of the World.

This book is so much more than Tolkien fan-fiction, and so far part of a series I would recommend to any fantasy reader. It’s one that is meant for the reader to take their time, immerse themselves, and enjoy. I just finished The Eye of the World, but I already want to start reading it again, since I know in future reads I will gain better understanding, make connections, and find details that I missed in my first read.

Let me start off by saying I’m not a huge fan of contemporary novels, and while I enjoy reading John Green’s books, they never rank among my favorites.

Turtles All The Way Down changed that.

I needed to read this book years ago, but maybe if I did I wouldn’t have found it as powerful as it was. To give you a sense of what I mean, I stopped after 3 chapters to go back and flag sentences; something I almost never do in books I read for fun (ie. non-academic). Some of the sentences I marked because they were humorous or cleverly written, but most I marked because I related to them, or because they were powerful enough that I wanted to be able to reference them again.

I don’t have anxiety in the way that Aza does (and I don’t have her OCD), but I understand it and relate to it, and it’s taken me years to come to this point - to be able to understand what I am dealing with and form it into words.

In high school, I realized that I overly stressed about things that no one else was, but I did not know enough to call it anxiety. I remember being told to quite overthinking and overreacting, like anxiety was just a switch that I could effortlessly turn on and off. I remember being ashamed that someone was having to tell me this, but also confused - I knew whatever I was reacting to was trivial in the grand scheme of things, but did they honestly think I chose to have those experiences? In college, when I was finally exposed to a much wider range of people and resources, I still attributed most everything to stress, although my conversation about anxiety had just begun. It wasn’t until the last two years that I realized everything that I was feeling - what other people had also been feeling in many of the same situations - was actually anxiety. This is a conversation that for me is still almost exclusively private, and one that I am continually working to better understand and work through (in fact, this review took me a month to post).

But then, how do you go about letting others know? How do you let them join your conversation? How do you let others into what you perceive as a weakness, as a failure, because it is a deviation from the “normal” image you’ve worked so hard to project? I have to applaud John Green for letting us experience his versions and his struggles with mental health (granted, it’s not exactly the same, as explained in this Time interview if you can get through all the ads: http://time.com/4976944/john-green-turtles-all-the-way-down-mental-illness/). Writing a book is opening a vulnerability to the world in itself; writing a book about sensitive and personal issues is even more so.

I’m very glad that I read this book, even more so because I picked it up on a whim in the bookstore. This is the kind of book that we need more of. Anxiety - as well as mental health issues in general - are not a one size fits all diagnosis, which is part of the problem. Mental health issues are so diverse in their causes, severities, and manifestations that it can be extremely difficult for those not affected to understand.

I know the following quote has already been used a lot in other reviews, but really, I think John Green hit the nail on the head:

“Anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you do.”

Pete McCarthy begins McCarthy’s Bar with “The Eighth Rule of Travel states: Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name On It” and he certainly takes that advice to heart as he wanders about Ireland along the west coast. A surprisingly fast read for me, I found this book to be scattered throughout with humor and overall an enjoyable read. However, I don’t think this book was hysterically funny (as promised by the multiple reviews taking up most of the back cover), and I did find some portions to be a bit dry, causing my eyes to glaze over. Fortunately, those sections did not seem to be terribly long.

I would have enjoyed a map at the beginning (because I like double-checking where things are when the author mentions them), and a compiled list of McCarthy’s Rules of Travel (especially since he doesn’t bring them up in order). But, those missing pieces did not hamper my reading, and as an American reader, I did not stumble over McCarthy’s British and Irish colloquialisms, although a few took me a moment to figure out.

The part that resonated the most with me was McCarthy’s identity crisis that popped up sporadically throughout the book. McCarthy is at once both an insider and an outsider (being half English, half Irish but living primarily in England), and McCarthy’s Bar is basically his search to find out where he belongs, but also to validate his feelings of Irishness.

“So what I’m wondering is this. Is it possible to have some kind of genetic memory of a place where you’ve never lived, but your ancestors have? Or am I just a sentimental fool, my judgement fuddled by nostalgia, Guinness, and the romance of the diaspora?”

While the book is centered around this main theme, McCarthy spends most of his time drinking in pubs, trying to drive in a straight line throughout Ireland, and complaining about tourists marring the natural beauty of Ireland. McCarthy has a tendency to rely on negative stereotypes, and his seemingly constant drinking throughout the book meant some sections were difficult to follow, but could be laughed off as a drunkard’s poor memory.

I didn’t enjoy the parts where McCarthy bashed tourists for ruining the ‘untouched’ places he used to visit as a child, especially since McCarthy himself was also a tourist. Although, this is humorous in itself since near the end of the book, it’s another tourist that gives him insight into his identity crisis:

“‘Well, you’ll have a cultural inheritance learned from your family, and there’s nothing mystical about that. But in the mystical traditions and in early Christianity you have the notion of consciousness continuing from one embodiment to another. I think sometimes when people feel a connection with a place, it’s because strands of their consciousness have been there.’”

McCarthy’s Bar is not one of my favorite books, but it did give me a lot to think about. Knowing where you are from and your family’s ancestry can be a large part of someone’s identity, and McCarthy is fortunate in that he can trace his ancestry back generations. But, McCarthy’s Bar still leaves the question: How do you know where you belong? Is it ancestry alone, or does it come from what you feel inside and immersing yourself in a place? From McCarthy’s obsession with Singapore noodles, I’m unsure if Ireland really is the best fit for him.

“I suppose there’s a lesson here for me. Where’s the incentive to be frugal with life’s pleasures, to save up the pages in your book for later, if you’re going to be plunged into the darkened abyss at some arbitrary hour? If life is a book, then read it while you can. Don’t save up any pages for later, because there might not be one.”

If that isn’t enough incentive to spend all day curled up on the couch reading, I don’t know what is. Now excuse me, I have a reading challenge to finish.

This was such a fun read! I have enjoyed Zuzana’s character since I was introduced to her in Daughter of Smoke & Bone - she’s feisty, delightfully weird, and absolutely her own vibrant character. I’m so glad I finally got to see more of her personality in this novella. Zuzana aside, I should mention how absolutely beautiful this novella is to read. It is a phenomenal mixture of text and illustrations, and I wish all books were written this way. From the illustrations scattered throughout the story itself to the cover design, there was a lot of attention to detail.

Zuzana and Mik’s love story is enchanting to read, even more so because the love between Laini and Jim is evident on every page. After the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, this novella is surprisingly warm and fuzzy, but I’m not complaining. This book left me feeling good - it’s a short but adorable love story where two people finally get the courage to approach each other and go on a fantastic first date, but with twists and turns that neither really expects.

Bossypants by Tina Fey is one of those books that just seemed to appear on my shelves years ago and I finally got around to reading. If the title was not clear enough, the book is about Tina’s journey to accepting that not everyone will like what you do, but to just do your own thing anyway.

While not everyone can relate to the life of late night TV or creating TV shows, Tina definitely brings her signature humor and outlook on life to each page. I do really enjoy Tina’s sarcasm and style of humor, and the profanity that was included in the book I thought was well-placed and not over done. Bossypants is humorous and entertaining throughout, but still filled with nuggets of wisdom. As Tina said (obviously directed towards other women), “Don’t be fooled. You’re not in competition with other women. You’re in competition with everyone.”

It was wonderful to get to see Tina’s side of events for things that I remember influencing me while growing up - from her really resisting the idea of parodying Sarah Palin to creating 30 Rock - and I finished the book feeling inspired, but not in the *immediately jump up and go do something way*.

I do wish that I had listened to the audiobook over reading, which is a massive thing to say since I generally don’t enjoy audiobooks. But, since Tina’s voice came through so clearly in reading Bossypants, and since she narrated the audiobook version, I think it would have definitely enhanced my overall experience.

Finally, I shall leave you with the quote that stuck out to me the most, and one that I wish more people would understand:

“It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don’t like something, it is empirically not good. I don’t like Chinese food, but I don’t write articles trying to prove it doesn’t exist.”