I always had a big issue with poetry : I don't really connect to romantic stuff. It's the same thing with romance novels or romcoms, most of the time,I always had a big issue with poetry : I don't really connect to romantic stuff. It's the same thing with romance novels or romcoms, most of the time, it's just not me. So when I say this book was too romantic for me, it only means that. I did not connect with the poems about love and relationships... And those were a lot of the poems.
I still liked some poems. I also thought it was well written. So I'm giving it 3 stars because I think that is the rating I would give it if I did not have that issue with romantism. ...more
A fun and cute little book that made me laugh while still make me cringe at how stupid those men we call geniuses could be. I loved the tone and the dA fun and cute little book that made me laugh while still make me cringe at how stupid those men we call geniuses could be. I loved the tone and the drawings were amazing. ...more
I really even had a hard time reading that 15 % to be honest. I found the writing really dull and dry.
I think the idea is good but would DNF at 15 %.
I really even had a hard time reading that 15 % to be honest. I found the writing really dull and dry.
I think the idea is good but would work better as a tv show. Speaking about music in such details without being able to listen to it does not work, not for me anyway....more
What a good book ! So different from what I expected !
I thought this would be a story of a haunted house, ghosts and other creepy things that go bump What a good book ! So different from what I expected !
I thought this would be a story of a haunted house, ghosts and other creepy things that go bump in the night... It was not. Not really. There is a haunted house, (probably) ghosts and other creepy things that go bump in the night, but they are not what this novel is about.
This novel is about Eleanor. Eleanor is a single woman of 32 that has spend 10+ years caring for a dying mother and that, now that the mother is dead, is living at her sister's house. She is a dreamer, her mind always wanders. She is also very lonely and when a Doctor invites her out of the blue to work for him as an assistant in a study about a haunted house, she wants to go. She actually would want to go even if the doctor was not a serious and safe person, that gives you an idea about how desperate Eleanor is that something finally happens in her life.
Eleanor, the doctor and two other people spend some time in that haunted house. Obviously there are some scary stuff that happens, but that is not what is the most interesting. While the narration is a 3rd person narration, you can feel that the more the novel advances, the more you follow Eleanor's thoughts... And, little by little, you begin to question them.
And that is what makes this book terrifying. What made me question if I should go on and read it before bed or chose something else and continue it in the morning. Because there is nothing scarier than to doubt a narrator.
This is a very well written novel. Funny, beautiful writing, clever, with a lot of commentary on the society of the time (but not in a sermony way), this book is very different from most books I've read. Shirley Jackson was an amazingly talented author, one of those that captivate you, and that you'll remember years after first reading. I can't wait to read her other novels (preferably in day time). ...more
The more you think you understand that universe, the more you're proven to be wrong. Each volume gives you ten new answers and then twenty more questiThe more you think you understand that universe, the more you're proven to be wrong. Each volume gives you ten new answers and then twenty more questions. I love it. Also it's so beautiful I want a thousand different posters from it....more
Still so good honestly. A lot of twists that I did not see coming and gorgeous artwork. That'll definitely be my comics find of 2018.Still so good honestly. A lot of twists that I did not see coming and gorgeous artwork. That'll definitely be my comics find of 2018....more
I don't read mystery novels often. I feel like the whole "a woman dies, mystery ensues" is more of a overused trope than anything and I am bored of seI don't read mystery novels often. I feel like the whole "a woman dies, mystery ensues" is more of a overused trope than anything and I am bored of seeing women horribly dying as the beginning of a story. So most of the time I stay clear of that kind of books.
But I read someone talking about that book (I think it was on Goodread's blog ? Not sure) and the plot had a twist that made me want to read it. It's not that I want to see trans women horribly dying as the beginning of a novel more than I want to see cis women in that position. It's just that I crave for good books with good LGBT+ representation and I had never read a thriller that did it properly (I did not read a lot of thrillers that even tried to do it to be honest). And I saw the ratings of that book, and the reviews seemed to say it was good representation, so I decided to read it.
I thought The Girl In The Green Dress was a good novel. It was well written, it had a diverse group of characters, all affected differently by the murder, and the plot was okay, not ground-breaking, but good enough to have some twists and to make you want to know what would happen next.
It's a mystery but it's also a book with a lot of other themes than just a murder : what would you do if you learned your child was a murderer ? How do you balance a complicated work life with a complicated home life ? How do people react to a teenage girl being transgender ? How do we grieve ?....
It speaks about transphobia, but also racism, mysoginy/sexism, homophobia, toxic masculinity. It's obviously not a politic book per se but it's also very politic in what the author choses as her main themes and characters. It really spoke to me. I love it when fiction is not only here to entertain but also to educate or to adress social issues. ...more
Maybe I should begin by saying I never was a überfan of Drew Barrymore. I'm always happy to see her in a movie, and actually have seen a loDNF at 65%.
Maybe I should begin by saying I never was a überfan of Drew Barrymore. I'm always happy to see her in a movie, and actually have seen a lot of her work, and I feel like she is a pretty good actress, she always makes me feel stuff. I never really saw her in a very different part than any other she's already done but that's okay, some actors do more or less the same thing everytime and it works. I never really tried to know her as a person, never listened/read/watched her in interviews, never really followed her on social media (well for a couple of weeks on instagram but her account was all about her beauty compagny and I found it boring, also I'm not a huge celebrity follower). Before that book came up in my suggested read, I did not know a lot about her, except that she seemed to be a very balanced, successful yet "normal" woman after having been the poster child for "child actors have it rough".
I did not expect a lot from this book. I knew Drew Barrymore was not an author, but I have no issue with celebrity memoirs not being litterary masterpieces. The cover made it clear that it was not going to be a dark insight into her trauma/drama/addiction/etc and I was okay with that, I don't feel like she owes me that story. But I thought it would probably be a fun read, with some anecdotes about her work as an actress, probably some heartfelt moments, a quick easy read. I also made the choice to listen to her read it in an audiobook, thinking it would made it better as I like her as an actress, and will make it a little like a conversation about her life so far.
Well I did not expect a lot but still was disappointed.
To begin with : DO NOT LISTEN TO THE AUDIOBOOK. Bad idea, worst idea ever. I know professionals say that acting and narrating are two very different jobs, maybe someone should hav said that to Drew Barrymore. I usually love her voice, here I found it to be annoying. Also she screams a lot, and when I say scream, I mean that I actually got larsen twice because of her screaming something I could not understand. And even when she tries to makes us feel something, it feels flat and superficial. Her letter for her daughter for example, I'm pretty sure I would have been close to shed a little tear if I had been reading to the book, but I was just basically feeling very uncomfortable while listening to Barrymore.
Okay so the audiobook is a miss, but the memoir in itself ? What about it ?
Well... I mean... I said I did not think the author owed us her trauma/drama/recollection of bad years or whatever. But honestly, she also probably should not have written a book if it was to basically only speak about boring stories that could have happened to anyone. She never goes deep, even when she could, and never really analyses what she thinks or how she acted. It's just stories, almost like she was talking about someone else.
And did she have an editor or did she think she knew better (which feels possible because that how she comes off in a lot of those stories) ? Because a whole chapter about how one morning she basically failed to make pancakes was just infuriating (also it was not funny and could have been a three sentences story).
She can't be accused of name dropping. She basically tells mostly stories that don't have any other celibrity in it. There is one chapter with Cameron Diaz, about how they went skydiving... And basically never talks about Diaz, always about Barrymore. There is a couple very quick anecdotes about Spielberg... And then basically only quick mentions.
But we get to know EVERYTHING about her three first dogs. A very long chapter is about them. I love dogs, but I don't really care about knowing everything about dogs of strangers. Again, she never really touches on why those dogs were so important to her, why she felt so close to them. We learn she went to Gandhi's home in India to put one of the dog's ashes... I have no idea why, maybe the dog loved Gandhi.
And basically I know Drew Barrymore is supposed to have been that wild teen that did drugs and almost detroyed her career and herself... But every story she tells from that time, while she depicts herself multiple times as a "rebel", only show her as a very priviledge girl that did not care a lot about other people. The story about how she destroyed a gate with her car to go to a party (too long, where was the editor ?) was already bad, but the whole chapter about the cruise she went to at 19 was horrible. Her friend's mother was going to a cruise as a kind of life long dream and the author and her friend forced her to take them with her but also basically ruined her experience. The two worst moments were Drew Barrymore jumping out of the ship to go to an island (which must have made everyone very worried and was very selfish but basically everyone cheered to her when she got back so she is a "rebel" and accepted at the same time) and on their last day her friend not wanting to go see the pyramids because she was watching a movie (and Barrymore finding it totally normal, even now at 40...).
I'm pretty sure Drew Barrymore had a rough teenagehood. I'm pretty sure she worked hard to get better, to be the balanced woman she is now. But this book showed none of this. Everything seems to have been written in a way that would show her at already been the woman she is now at a very young age, like she can't remember who she was before and sees everything through the "now" lense.
I mean. She is supposed to have had an existential crisis at 4 (because some flowers had been cut), to have learned how to manipulate the mood of a room at 11 months (when she was bitten by a dog), to have learned how to be an actress at 4 (by seeing a woman's way to prepare herself for her character before the play). Also there are a lot of moments when she seems to have trouble with her chronology. Twice she begins a story saying she did something when she was 6 or 7 and then when the story unfolds she says "I was 4!!". Once again, an editor would have helped, because I can't exactly be the only one to feel like those stories are not very clear when she changes age in the middle.
Well... Sorry for the long review. I had to stop listening to this book because I felt like I was going to end up hating Drew Barrymore, and that is not something I want. I really wish she could have had more help on that book, and on the audiobook version, because I'm not sure the finished product has the effect she wanted it to have... ...more
I'm not into self-help books. I find them to be mostly stating the obvious and/or acting like they can help people deal with complicated asDNF at 50%.
I'm not into self-help books. I find them to be mostly stating the obvious and/or acting like they can help people deal with complicated aspects of their lives by oversimplifying them, which ends being at best a lie, at worst very dangerous.
What got me into reading that book is that the author said he did not like self-help books, mostly for the same reasons I did not. He presented this book as kind of easy/fast fixes in our day to day lives inspired by real psychology. He also seemed to say that for more deep stuff people should not look for easy/fast fixes, so I was all for it.
And yeah, the author did talk about psychology studies, and it was interesting. And his tips on how to increase happiness and such, the first couple chapters, seemed okay. I mean, he basically was saying we should write a journal and spoke a little about grattitude. They are not things people with mental illness can do as easily as the author was saying it was, but for neurotypical people, or people with mental illness that have already done 95% of the work to understand their illnesses, it seemed okay.
But the issue is, when Wiseman tried to do the same thing about other areas in life, it felt more and more like other self-help books. I personnaly stopped reading when he touched on dating advices. I mean, no. Just no. His advice of lightly touching someone on the arm while giving a compliment has NOTHING to do with psychology, it's basically what every self-help books already tell us to do. The other "tips" on dating are just as bad. Also, they are very hetero-centered... And seem to be adressed to men (which is weird, I'm pretty sure there are more women reading that kind of books than men, right ?). He grossly generelized women and what they are supposed to love and... Yeah, no, that was as bad as any book he was destroying in his introduction. I felt cheated to be honest. I stopped reading. ...more
That one was packed with action and fights and twists... It was very good and the art is still so gorgeous. I kinda wonder where we'll go from there tThat one was packed with action and fights and twists... It was very good and the art is still so gorgeous. I kinda wonder where we'll go from there though. Next one will tell. ...more
In this volume, we finally get to have so background on the Gods, and it's amazing. It's kind of a break in the storyline, but it gives us so much insIn this volume, we finally get to have so background on the Gods, and it's amazing. It's kind of a break in the storyline, but it gives us so much insight that it's really worth it, also a lot still happens so it's not boring or anything.
I still love the artwork so much. And the characters are amazing. I can't wait to read the next one. ...more
Still beautiful, still a great story, I'm still in love with these comics. I can't wait to read the 3rd volume, I'm really happy I bought all of the oStill beautiful, still a great story, I'm still in love with these comics. I can't wait to read the 3rd volume, I'm really happy I bought all of the ones that have been published, I don't know how I would have been able to wait between each volume. I want posters from all the pages... Really. ...more
I'm not really sure of what rating I should give to that book.
The first part, the poems about love, did not interest me. I am not a really romantic peI'm not really sure of what rating I should give to that book.
The first part, the poems about love, did not interest me. I am not a really romantic person, love poems are not my thing, so I'm not really objective about that part.
The other parts were more interesting to me. Still, I connected to maybe one poem out of four ? Maybe less.. That is not a lot.
It was cleverly written, and the themes were interesting. It's just that I did not feel a lot of emotions in those poems. I'm the kind of persons that only reads poetry in a very uneducated way. I want to feel. If I don't feel, even when it's well written and clever and has beautiful words, it's not a good poem experience for me. That was a the issue, so few poems made me feel something, eventhough I agreed with what the author said. ...more
I had not read a short story for a long time... And this one makes me want to get back at reading more of them. In a few pages (less than 60), Hugh HoI had not read a short story for a long time... And this one makes me want to get back at reading more of them. In a few pages (less than 60), Hugh Howey makes us fall in love with a character and feel like we understand a very complicated universe. In a few pages, he writes a story that stays with us, that surprises us and makes us question everything. I always felt it was harder to write a very good short story than a very good novel, Howey is a very very good writer. I will be reading his other materials, with enthusiasm. ...more
Roxane Gay is a good writer. Roxane Gay is an amazingly good writer. Roxane Gay could write about the economics of the chick peas in 1956 and I would Roxane Gay is a good writer. Roxane Gay is an amazingly good writer. Roxane Gay could write about the economics of the chick peas in 1956 and I would read that book with a hunger and rate it 5 stars, and she would deserve it.
Okay, so, I really love how Roxane Gay writes, is that clear ?
Then again, I also really love what she writes about (eventhough I'm a little curious about the economics of the chick peas in 1956 and what she could do with that compelling story). In this essays collection, she writes about so many things that it's hard to list them. Most of the time, she talk about something from pop culture (Orange Is The New Black, Django...) and uses it to talk about an issue that we should totally be aware it exists and try to find a way to change it. Roxane Gay is a very intelligent woman, and when she speaks about something, she does it perfectly. Honestly, her essay about The Help totally resonated with me because my grandmother gifted me the book and I kinda liked it but still felt uneasy about it without knowing why. Then I watched the movie and, eventhough there were a lot of very talented actresses I loved in it, I just could not put my finger on why I felt it was not such a good movie. I could not articulate it. A friend of mine asked me if I liked the book/movie and I told them "I don't know, it's supposed to be about racism but it's mostly about white women...". And then years laters I read that essay and wished I had thought a little more about why The Help did not please me that much.
She also speaks a lot about her relationship with Feminism, and I was a little scared about that. The book is called "Bad Feminist", I was scared another of those women I find so intelligent would say "I'm not a feminist, I don't need the label" or something like that (a little like all those essays in that horrid book about feminism I read a couple months ago where most of the writers basically did not seem to know what feminism is and seemed very scared of being labelled such a word). But Roxane Gay is very clever, and educated (and probably a good person eventhough I don't know her, I just finished the book, I'm on a high) and she does not say such idiotic things. Instead, she says she is a feminist. She also says she is a complex person and sometimes is not very coherent, sometimes made odd choices (like listening to mysoginistic songs or watching reality tv...). But she still is for the fight, she still believes feminism (intersectionnal obviously, white feminism is another subject she speaks about and she does it perfectly) is important.
(Also my edition of the book has a nice pink color on it, I love it.)...more
Aimed at teen, this collection of poems retells fairy tales in a contemporary way. It touches most aspects of a teen's life (mostly of a female teen'sAimed at teen, this collection of poems retells fairy tales in a contemporary way. It touches most aspects of a teen's life (mostly of a female teen's life I think) and does it in a clever way. I liked a lot of the poems, a couple of them I did not appreciate, but overall this is a pretty good collection. The fact that I was not the perfect audience for this book was obvious but I still could acknowledge the good work.
Warning : a lot of the poems talk about eating disorders (mostly anorexia). It could be triggering. ...more
The artwork was amazing. I hadn't read such a beautiful comics in ages. I actually kinda want posters out of most of the drawingThat was really good !
The artwork was amazing. I hadn't read such a beautiful comics in ages. I actually kinda want posters out of most of the drawings. Really gorgeous in all the right ways.
And the story is really good too. A little mythologie, good diverse characters, suspense, action and surprises. I really liked it and read it in one sitting. I can't wait to read what comes next. ...more
Susan Faludi writes about the 1980's Backlash following the 1970's women's liberation movment in a clear and very understandable way. She explains howSusan Faludi writes about the 1980's Backlash following the 1970's women's liberation movment in a clear and very understandable way. She explains how every parts of the society fought against women's emancipation, and how they did it. The beauty industry, politics, entertainment... She decribes, with many sources and interviews, how each step to demolish women's independance was taken.
I really liked that book. I would say that it is not a short book, and it is fulled with information so it's not a fast read. But it is a very important read, that teaches us our history... And maybe can make us see what is happening right now too. ...more
I was surprised by this book. I thought it was going to be a collection of essays about how men uses their priviledges to silence women, and how it leI was surprised by this book. I thought it was going to be a collection of essays about how men uses their priviledges to silence women, and how it leads to so many bad things like rape culture, violences against women, femicide... I thought the silencing would in focus, with chapters on mansplaining, manterrupting, that kind of things...
Actually, this book was all about rape culture and the violences against women. It did speak about how silence is one of those violences, and how it is used to maintain men's power on women. But it was not the main focus. The read ended up being tougher than I had thought it would be, but very interesting and important still.
Rebecca Solnit is a good writer, she is also someone that seems to know what she is talking about. Reading her essays makes you more intelligent, more educated, it also is a little depressing. If you want to believe we live in a beautiful egalitarian world, don't read this book. If you want to know what this world really is, why it is like that, and how we can fight it, read it, it'll help....more
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