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The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book started as a 5-star book for me and ended somewhere near 3 stars. So I averaged it out to 4 stars. It's a super fascinating read around many topics that pertain to supermarkets (and a few that don't tie in as closely). I loved the section about Trader Joes the most. But this book is packed with interesting and fascinating stories. Truckers, the fish trade, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and then Amazon and Whole Foods, cars, wine, there's all that and more. View all my reviews

Faye, Faraway by Helen Fisher My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars This sweet genre-bending novel is about Faye, who lost her mom at a very young age and still yearns to be with her so when she stumbles upon a magical way to be with her, she has to choose between getting to know her mom and putting the current beautiful life she's built at risk. This novel focuses on motherhood and marriage and there are some lovely characters in it. I enjoyed the sweet, quiet novel and I really liked the mix of scifi and contemporary fiction. I liked that it was a bit unpredictable. I really enjoy magical realism and this felt a little like that. View all my reviews

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam M. Grant My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars This book is about being open minded, reassessing your beliefs/thoughts/convictions. He highlights the importance of listening and really being curious about other person's thoughts/arguments. Being open to other viewpoints. Being willing to be wrong. Adjusting and learning. He also talks about the complexity of most issues and how we like to oversimplify and make them binary and that leaning into the gray is more valuable for learning, growing and listening. Especially by leaning into areas of agreement. There's a whole section about careers and being willing to be open and experiment that really resonated with me. I am certainly doing something I knew nothing about in college and wouldn't have been able to imagine for myself. He talks about the importance of experimentation and checking in with yourself and making sure what you t...

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read this book in one sitting and really enjoyed my time with it. It was like one of those comedies where you know one thing after another is going to be misunderstood and go sideways and it just keeping building on itself. The audio was excellent and this book came exactly when I needed it so I really enjoyed it. View all my reviews

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz My rating: 2 of 5 stars 2.5 stars. I want to say so many things about this book. It was recommended to me by someone I respect. They said it really inspired them. And I do think there are many inspiring points in this book. Some great stories and some solid advice and some good learnings. But, for me, his tone/personality/writing got in the way so much that I couldn't really enjoy any of these at all. Even the stories of when he messed up were still full of hubris. He references being the "Jackie Robinson of barbecue" and adds rap lyrics in the beginning of every chapter for reasons that I just couldn't figure out. The references to he vs she in the book stand out and feel awkward throughout. His story about his first date with his wife that's meant to make him look principled or not sure what, felt awkward and a bit weird. There...

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars In this funny story of a polygamous household full of are secrets, power structures, unkind and kindness, generosity, love, and competition. Even though it was hard for me to keep some of the women apart in the beginning of the story, I really loved reading each of their back stories. They were unique and different and each strong and weak in their own way. The only character that was almost comical and maybe two-dimensional was Baba Segi himself. I could see the twist coming but I still enjoyed this unusual story from beginning to end. View all my reviews

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. This story packed in a lot. Racism, Class issues, motherhood, marriage, and more. I found myself moving in an out of connecting with the story at different times. At its core the story is about regret, going back and trying to see if a life choice can be changed and also about what we pass from generation to generation. Decisions we make and how it feels to live with them. How things we push down will eventually come back up and we will need to deal with them. There are many ways to relate to this story and it's beautifully told. View all my reviews

Switch by A.S. King My rating: 4 of 5 stars For people who always tell me YA books are lightweight and not meaningful, I challenge you to read an A. S. King novel and repeat your assertion. A. S. King might be unlike any other author and many of her books are unusual and tough reads. But this one stood out even amongst all her books. I honestly don't even know how to describe this book. Here's part of the blurb: "Tru Beck is a teenage girl from Pennsylvania who lives in a world that has become trapped in a fold in time and space, where “real” time has stopped but humanity continues to mark artificial time based on a website called N3WCLOCK.com." As if that's not already confusing and "what?!" enough, Tru's house has a switch in the middle and her dad keeps building boxes around it. And "Tru leaves the box through a Tru-shaped hole to go to school" and if I haven't lost you by now, I am confident you w...

Keeping a Nature Journal, 3rd Edition: Deepen Your Connection with the Natural World All Around You by Clare Walker Leslie My rating: 4 of 5 stars If you like to journal and have always wanted to keep an art journal, like I have, you will love every single page of this book. - It is full of encouragement. - It gives you practical tips on how to start and how to keep going. - It gives you many, many different examples of nature journals. So much eye candy. - It breaks down most of what you'd see in nature (birds, animals, trees, etc.) and teaches you how to approach drawing them - It gives you practical color advice for each season - It has advice on how to teach the love of nature journaling to kids, classes, and anyone new. But most of all it helps you fall in love with the practice of disconnecting, being present with nature, paying attention and capturing what you see. It's not about the perfection, it's about the feeling of bein...

Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing: Essays by Lauren Hough My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a collection of essays. I rarely read a collection of essays, but I'd read Hough's piece about being a cableman and really liked it so I wanted to see what all her other stories looked like too. And I was not disappointed. "Most of the time, I figure it’s better to know the universe doesn’t pay out favors for magical thinking." Hough doesn't hold back her punches. The first story takes place when someone blows up her car because she's gay and then she gets blamed for it and has to have a trial. It's incredible how messed up how our justice system can work (and in the military nonetheless) and how your life can turn upside down in one moment. "I’ve learned, if not to expect the worst, to not be surprised by the worst." By all accounts, Hough has lived an unusual life. Brought up in a cult, her roots are all over the plac...

This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith My rating: 5 of 5 stars 4.5 stars This was such a surprise read. I had heard about it all over the internet and people kept recommending it but I still didn't really know enough about it to know what to expect. The entire time I read this book, I kept waiting for something terrible to happen. I has this constant anxiety about the other shoe dropping. There would be a big reveal. One of the people would turn out to be this evil/terrible person. And it never happened. There are reveals in the book. But honestly, these are real people with real flaws and messed up lives and nothing more than that. Having read so many weird, twisty books, I think I just couldn't believe that until the book was over. And it was such a kind, loving, generous book. I really loved all the minutes I spent with it and find myself thinking about it and smiling even now. View all my reviews

The Push by Ashley Audrain My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book messed with my head. I know that was the point, but wow. It was such a different read. I started it and just couldn't figure out where it was going. I couldn't connect with the character and felt lost as to why others thought it was so powerful. And then it started getting under my skin. The grief, the loneliness, the underhanded neglect and dismissal. The cruelty. I couldn't stop reading. I couldn't stop feeling. It was strong enough that I felt like I had to numb myself from how this book was making me feel. And the ending. that ending. In the end, it wasn't about the mystery. Of course not. I will remember the way this book made me feel for quite some time. View all my reviews

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon My rating: 3 of 5 stars If you're looking for a fast, fun read, this might do the trick for you. It's lightweight, reasonably predictable, and fun. I find that books like these, in between heavier or grittier books are exactly what I need. Quick, enjoyable, fun. View all my reviews

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes My rating: 4 of 5 stars 4.5 stars What an absolute joy it was to read this book. It definitely had a similar feel to Knives Out and also to Westing Game. I really enjoyed all the puzzles and the main character and all the brothers and the sister. If you're in a reading slump and you like puzzles, you will enjoy this book. It's fast-paced and a lot of fun! Can't wait for the sequel! View all my reviews

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore My rating: 4 of 5 stars I can't help myself, I love Kristin Cashore. I especially love her Graceling series so there was no way I wasn't reading this even though it's been a long, long time and I can barely remember the characters. In the end, it didn't matter too much for me. I love Cashore's writing, I love her complex characters, I love the worlds she creates and I love her strong, strong female characters. I will read whatever she writes. View all my reviews

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. I have so many thoughts about this book. Reading it was such an experience for me. The book started out as one thing and then shifted at least two different times so that by the end I wasn't even sure what I'd read. And while I rolled my eyes in places, and lost focus in others, I think this is a very interesting book. I am still not entirely sure what I thought of it, tbh. View all my reviews

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was my least favorite of the Wayward Children series. While it still had components I loved, I just didn't connect to the story as much, the world didn't seem as magical and visual as it usually does and the characters felt like they had less depth than usual. It absolutely wasn't bad, just not as magical as the others have been for me. View all my reviews