Great end of the world story about survival

I haven't seen the movie but was generally aware of the plot and the many awards and nominations it garnered, so I thought this book might be interesting. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case - it was torturously slow and I truly couldn't wait for it to end. It reads like a very long, drawn out journal entry by the 17 year old narrator, Elio, recounting his erotic obsession and ultimate affair with Oliver, a 24 year old grad student spending the summer with Elio's family at their Italian villa. In contrast with this stream of consciousness-like tale that takes up most of the book, near the end it abruptly jumps ahead 15 and then 20 years when the Elio and Oliver meet up two more times and remind each other of their shared bond, which still exists.

This book had active action and suspense. It is a good idea, and a good book for certain people.

This book is absolutely terrifying. My heart raced all the way through. It is Stephen King meets Fairfield Hills. An old Sanitorium is converted into a chateaux, an avalanche or two traps everyone in and things get very frightening. It is a fast read!

I didn't know much about Brandi Carlile, but I've seen her mentioned a lot lately in music-related news so I decided to find out more. I learned that Carlile has led an interesting life, much of which in more recent years is indeed larger than life as she's become an international celebrity. Carlile herself narrates the audiobook, which I think makes up for the fact that her prose is sometimes clunky and unpolished. She seems warm and genuine and very real, and I enjoyed hearing her tell her story. And while the written version includes song lyrics between chapters, the audiobook features Carlile singing these lyrics, after each chapter and in a big section at the end.

I would highly recommend this book. I enjoy stories about court trials - true or fictional, so this book was perfect for me. I like that we also got background about the author following the trial and how her experiences clouded how she viewed the case being heard.

Elena Ferrante continues with themes of background, growth, and discovery. The story takes place again in Naples and explores the two worlds of the higher and lower classes. The protagonist, Giovanna, is torn between where she fits in and what is the truth.

I'm clearly missing something with this book, because the entire time I read it all I kept thinking was "there is no way this author is an actual human being." The book takes place over the span of 11 years. In most chapters, we follow Kate and Meredith, two neighbors living in a town where a woman named Shelby has just gone missing. Meredith, a doula with two children named Delilah and Leo, has started receiving threatening text messages from an unknown number. Shortly after, her and her daughter disappear. The book centers around what was going on with Meredith prior to her disappearance, with Kate providing insight into what happened after she disappeared. Set eleven years later, there are also chapters from Leo's point of view, where we get to see what it's like to have your sister suddenly return after being gone for eleven years. There are just so many reasons why this book didn't work at all. The biggest of them all is that it is poorly written. As an example of what you can expect, this is how the author thinks someone would describe potentially seeing figures outside of a house a few weeks before the occupants went missing - "It was dark out," Cassandra says, "a moonless night. The streetlight outside has been out a month or two. My husband, Marty, called the city about it a while ago, but it still hasn't been fixed. Our tax dollars...hard at work. The only light came from whatever porch lights were left on overnight." Yeah. Because when my neighbor turns up missing and I think I may have seen some strange figures skulking about their house, I'm definitely going to be remembering that it was a moonless night. Everyone else in the book is just as poor at their job. The pathologist couldn't correctly figure out how someone died. The police openly lied about evidence and just sort of hoped no one would ever question them or figure it out. A woman running a daycare is completely unaware of the abuse happening there - and then the mother just doesn't even care?? Who finds out their kid is being abused and is just like "eh, I better send them back the next day or they'll get soft." Are there no other daycares?? The final thing I'll mention is that the ending is completely bonkers. I guess if you're going to commit murder, this is the town to do it in - apparently no one is ever around to watch people murder people and then drag their bodies into their cars.

This was great. Jo is a Chinese-American girl living in the South. Her and her adoptive father, Old Gin, face rampant discrimination, especially considering the fact that they are treated as "in-between" - they are not colored, but they are not white, either. They are treated poorly, while also facing the realization that many segregation rules do not seem to specifically apply to them. When Jo is fired from her job, she takes up her previously position as lady's maid for a girl she grew up being mistreated by. At the same time, the newspaper shop they live under is at risk of going out of business if they don't come up with some great new idea to get a whole lot of subscribers. Enter Jo, who under the anonymous name of Miss Sweetie decides to start writing an advice column that challenges many of the racist and sexist ideas her society is filled with. Of course, this brings with it a whole host of problems - Jo's writing is a crime in and of itself, and she will be chased out of town if anyone finds out that she is Miss Sweetie. She also has to balance staying hidden underneath the printshop, bite her tongue when it comes to the cruel things her mistress says, and ignore the fact that Old Gin seems to be doing something sneaky that she worries may have to do with marrying her off to a stranger. And, of course, she's still curious about where she came from - who were her parents, and why did they abandon her with Old Gin to begin with? Jo is a great role model for young girls to look up to - she is spunky and has her own thoughts and opinions that she is not afraid to share with others. She is a big risk taker, and an absolute delight to read about.

A gripping mystery that takes place in England in the Agatha Christie style where each character and possible suspect is examined, revealed, and investigated. Three women are joined in a cabin to study the fauna and flora of the surrounding woods so that a business owning a mine can have permission to expand without disturbing the environment.