I knew I was going to love Spare before I even read it.
In all honesty, I was predisposed to love it:
I’m that girl who got up at 6am to watch Kate Middleton marry Prince William and risked being late for her train because I didn’t want to leave the house before she walked down the aisle.
I’m that girl baked scones at 5am and donned a fascinator when Prince Harry married Megan Markle.
I’ve seen every season of The Crown, and I’m...
Confession: I've never read a Stephen King novel. Yes, even though I adore horror stories. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft is the first work by this insanely famous author I've read.
A good writer always needs more writing advice I picked up On Writing because so many other writers, readers, agents, and editors have recommended it to me as a must-read for aspiring authors. I received a library copy in 2019 during The Great Concussion...
"To the Women." Author Liza Rodman dedicated her memoir, The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer, "to the women." I always read dedication pages, and when I saw this phrase at the beginning of the book, I thought the sentiment was sweet. But, that's about it. Because I didn't know yet. I didn't know what I was about to read. By the time I finished reading The Babysitter, the full impact of "to the women" hit me like a brick. ...
I knew I was going to enjoy Wow, No Thank You when I saw that author Samantha Irby also runs a blog called bitchesgottaeat.com. My enchantment with Irby only increased when I saw that she dedicated this book of essays to Wellbutrin, to which I, too, owe many a debt of gratitude. Obviously, Irby and I are kindred spirits. Why I wanted to read Wow, No Thank You The reason I originally decided to read Wow, No Thank You is the...
Michael Arceneaux, author of I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé, may be my spirit animal. I can't even tell you how many times I emphatically nodded and shouted "Hell, yeah!" as I read his candid and moving memoir. It's rare that I stumble across a writer whose wry sense of humor so closely matches my own -- or, at least, my own if I had the chutzpah to speak or write about things as...
"Maybe you should talk to someone." How many times have we heard those words, whether uttered jokingly or spoken with complete sincerity? Personally, I've said them lots of times to friends, family, and co-workers. Yeah, I'm that person. Which is why I was immediately intrigued by the title of this book. As a strong advocate of mental health awareness, I subscribe to the theory that everyone should see a therapist -- and, that those protesting...
You guys, I don't know how I'm going to write a concise book review of And Then We Grew Up. I wrote pages and pages of notes as I was reading this fantastic nonfiction book. PAGES, I tell you! Author Rachel Friedman spoke to the art monster within me, and I responded viscerally to everything she said. What's And Then We Grew Up about? Friedman had dreams of being a professional violist, but she left them behind when she realized the...
A little backstory before I get into my review for Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory: I actually read this book back in December. After moving three critically acclaimed and wildly anticipated novels into my DNF pile, I was desperate for a good read. So, I decided to go with the wild card and chose the book with "crematory" in the title. In December. At Christmas. After all those bestselling novels had failed me, I...
My book review for No One Tells You This is going to be a long one, Tartlets. #sorrynotsorry I think the hardest reviews to write are about the books I identify with most strongly. There’s so much to say! While I have all the room in the world to write my thoughts down (it is my blog), I know I have to reel it in. I don't want to scare people away with a review that's almost as long as the book itself.
What is No One Tells You This...
I hate not finishing a book.
Whenever I start a new book, it has 50 pages to get me hooked, or I put it down. This is my "50 page rule." While some books have come perilously close to the cutoff point, it’s rare that a book actually gets the dubious honor of being put on my Did Not Finish (DNF) list.
With great regret, I inform you that I must place The Road to Little Dribbling in this category.
Mind you, it’s not because the book is awful....
