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books_baking_brews's reviews
229 reviews
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
5.0
"Decent, affordable housing should be a basic right for everybody in this country. "
"America is supposed to be a place where you can better yourself, your family, and your community. But this is only possible if you have a stable home."
This is a book everyone should read. It made me incredibly anxious, frustrated, angry, and sad. Desmond's book looks at eight different poverty-stricken Milwaukee families dealing with the struggle to find stable housing, and the spiraling effects a loss of housing can have on people and future generations. This book was actually hard to read at times, as I think it would be for anyone living in an area where affordable housing is a scarcity. It tells the tale of just how thin the line can be between the housed and the homeless, and it also looks at potential solutions. Living in the Bay Area, housing and homelessness are very contentious issues, but we are not alone; this is a countywide problem. Housing is a right, and I hope one day America recognizes it as such.
"America is supposed to be a place where you can better yourself, your family, and your community. But this is only possible if you have a stable home."
This is a book everyone should read. It made me incredibly anxious, frustrated, angry, and sad. Desmond's book looks at eight different poverty-stricken Milwaukee families dealing with the struggle to find stable housing, and the spiraling effects a loss of housing can have on people and future generations. This book was actually hard to read at times, as I think it would be for anyone living in an area where affordable housing is a scarcity. It tells the tale of just how thin the line can be between the housed and the homeless, and it also looks at potential solutions. Living in the Bay Area, housing and homelessness are very contentious issues, but we are not alone; this is a countywide problem. Housing is a right, and I hope one day America recognizes it as such.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
4.0
I couldn't sleep last night, so I grabbed a cup of tea and a blanket and snuggled up with the Death of Mrs Westaway. I was about 100 pages in already but then time got away from me, and I just had to finish.
I call this type of book a summer popcorn read, but I should call it a Sunday morning read because it's easy. This is my second foray in to the world of Ruth Ware, and I am a fan. I read The Woman in Cabin 10 two years ago on vacation and greatly enjoyed it. When I saw this new book, I had to pick it up. It tells the tale of Hal Westaway, a young woman who is down on her luck and just trying to survive and pay her bills, including a bill to a loan shark, on time. She works the tarot cards down at Brighton Pier and is barely scraping by, when she gets a letter informing her of a bequest that simply cannot be true. Desperate for funds, however, Hal decides to figure out if maybe she can get some money off of this mistaken fortunate turn of events. From there, however, things really start to take turns. I love a book set at an old English manor or some creepy house out in the middle of nowhere, it automatically notches up the eerie factor for me, so Ms. Ware gets a point from me there. Though I guessed the ending pretty early on I was still very much entertained. I would not say any molds are being broke with this story but this was a fun and entertaining mystery and Ms. Ware is quickly becoming one of my automatic buy authors. I've picked up her third novel (The Lying Game), Westaway is her fourth, and I'm hoping it's as fun to dive into as her other two have been for me.
I call this type of book a summer popcorn read, but I should call it a Sunday morning read because it's easy. This is my second foray in to the world of Ruth Ware, and I am a fan. I read The Woman in Cabin 10 two years ago on vacation and greatly enjoyed it. When I saw this new book, I had to pick it up. It tells the tale of Hal Westaway, a young woman who is down on her luck and just trying to survive and pay her bills, including a bill to a loan shark, on time. She works the tarot cards down at Brighton Pier and is barely scraping by, when she gets a letter informing her of a bequest that simply cannot be true. Desperate for funds, however, Hal decides to figure out if maybe she can get some money off of this mistaken fortunate turn of events. From there, however, things really start to take turns. I love a book set at an old English manor or some creepy house out in the middle of nowhere, it automatically notches up the eerie factor for me, so Ms. Ware gets a point from me there. Though I guessed the ending pretty early on I was still very much entertained. I would not say any molds are being broke with this story but this was a fun and entertaining mystery and Ms. Ware is quickly becoming one of my automatic buy authors. I've picked up her third novel (The Lying Game), Westaway is her fourth, and I'm hoping it's as fun to dive into as her other two have been for me.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
4.0
I realize I am over a decade late to this party but I did enjoy book #1 from the Artemis Fowl series, my plan is to read one a month to spread it out (we will see if I am able to keep to that schedule and not binge the remaining books in one month!). Artemis is a young, millionaire, genius who kind of reminds me of Tony Stark (Iron Man), without the playboy-ness of Stark, you know because Artemis is 12. But Artemis is a technological wizard in a world with fairies, gnomes, goblins and some really big nasty trolls. He is not the most moral of characters, but if you had been raised in a criminal family with your only living and able parent figure, for most of book 1, being a man you pay to follow your orders then you might have a shaky grasp as well. Artemis has figured out there is an underworld of magical creatures and he means to exploit them for money. Captain Holly Short is a a LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Recon) officer he kidnaps to help restore some of his family's fortune. Things I liked: the environmental aspect, the book is rife with reproach about how Mud people (humans) are destroying the planet, and I am here for it. Yes, all humans are not bad but so far in this book I have not seen many beyond that reproach. The humor is there, though I think I would find it even funnier if I were a 12-year-old child (i.e., the flatulence jokes that abound, the wrestling moves with which Juliet is obsessed). Actually it is hard for me to say anything bad about this book, given it is the first in a series and I tend to judges series as a whole. If hard pressed, I would say that it has got some of the usual cliches, there is the single female officer out to break in to the all-male world of police recon, the lonely beleaguered tech guy, and the absentee parental figures.
But overall I think it is off to a great start. I cannot wait to see what Artemis gets up to next. This book also does not really end on a cliff hanger, which is nice if you just wanted to read this one book and see how it is, you will not be committing yourself to the entire eight-part series. You can tell by the end Holly and Fowl will have a long history (there is a blatant plug for a sequel) but book 1 is wrapped up very nicely.
But overall I think it is off to a great start. I cannot wait to see what Artemis gets up to next. This book also does not really end on a cliff hanger, which is nice if you just wanted to read this one book and see how it is, you will not be committing yourself to the entire eight-part series. You can tell by the end Holly and Fowl will have a long history (there is a blatant plug for a sequel) but book 1 is wrapped up very nicely.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5.0
You know when you pick up a book and from the very start you know it's going to make you cry? That was The Book Thief for me. And, it's not like the narrator hides what's going to happen. Yet still, I was caught off guard and for the last 50 pages or so I was just kind of ugly crying. What a gorgeous book. I won't rehash the premise, I'm sure it's been told much better than I can do it justice. It's definitely a must read, if you haven't. I'm not sure why I put it off so long, and even while reading it, I stretched it out. All I can say is, it was worth the wait.
Circe by Madeline Miller
4.0
First things first: this book cover is absolutely gorgeous, and I would be lying if I said I, in part, did not pick this up because of it. The other part being that I love mythology. And once you get past the gorgeous-cover photography of it all, I am simply conflicted with this book, which I know is an unpopular opinion. Miller's prose is beautiful, that is certainly not the problem. It grabbed me from the beginning but grew tedious toward the middle. The story of Circe is not bad, it was just not the most exciting. I am not sure for what I was waiting to happen, I knew only that I was waiting. To backtrack, this book tells the story of the goddess Circe, daughter of the titan Helios and the nymph Perse. She is banished to an island after performing witchcraft and to appease Zeus. It is a retelling of her time on that island and her encounters with Hermes, Odysseus, Jason and Medea, and Athena among others. Throughout the book, I went back and forth on my feelings for Circe, one moment frustrated with her and the next championing her. I would give this book 3.5 stars, as I saw someone else put it: This book was not my cup of tea, but that does not mean it was bad tea.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
4.0
"Rules exist for a reason: if you followed them, you would succeed; if you didn't, yo might burn the world to the ground."
"But the problem with rules . . . was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on."
This is the first book I've read by Celeste Ng, but it won't be the last. She weaves the tale of two very different families (mostly Mothers and daughters) navigating the world in very different ways with a quiet elegance. It was a slow start, but the novel picks up as the stories of both families begin to unravel. You begin to see the Richardsons aren't right because they follow a certain of societal rules and the Warrens/Wrights aren't wrong because they reject those rules. I would give give this book five stars, but there are a lot of loose ends I would have liked answered: what happens to Izzy, will Lexie tell her mother what she went through, will Mia and Pearl go see the Ryans or Mia's parents. I guess it left me wanting more though and that's certainly not a bad thing! At times I wanted to strangle Mrs. Richardson and I felt her story line was a bit tenuous, she was a reporter and a mother who jumped to conclusions and her ethical code was conveniently flexible. But then I realized all the mothers in the story made questionable choices so perhaps maybe that made her all the more human, and it certainly showed the complexity of motherhood.
"But the problem with rules . . . was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on."
This is the first book I've read by Celeste Ng, but it won't be the last. She weaves the tale of two very different families (mostly Mothers and daughters) navigating the world in very different ways with a quiet elegance. It was a slow start, but the novel picks up as the stories of both families begin to unravel. You begin to see the Richardsons aren't right because they follow a certain of societal rules and the Warrens/Wrights aren't wrong because they reject those rules. I would give give this book five stars, but there are a lot of loose ends I would have liked answered: what happens to Izzy, will Lexie tell her mother what she went through, will Mia and Pearl go see the Ryans or Mia's parents. I guess it left me wanting more though and that's certainly not a bad thing! At times I wanted to strangle Mrs. Richardson and I felt her story line was a bit tenuous, she was a reporter and a mother who jumped to conclusions and her ethical code was conveniently flexible. But then I realized all the mothers in the story made questionable choices so perhaps maybe that made her all the more human, and it certainly showed the complexity of motherhood.
The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir
4.0
Essie is the youngest child in a very religious family and a star of their reality TV show Six for Hicks. It's impossible not to draw comparisons between The Hicks and The Duggars. The story, told from three points of view, follows Essie as she goes about making some life changing decisions that will effect herself and others. Fair warning this book involves abuse. It's fairly easy to figure out who the abuser is and I'm not sure that it's supposed to be a great mystery but Weir takes forever to say his name. I went back and forth on my rating of this book because I really didn't want to put it down. It was an incredibly fast and easy read, but I would have liked a more in-depth dealing with the issues (abuse, conversion therapy, religious extremism, etc.). Everything felt like we were just skimming the surface. 3.5/5
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
5.0
I don't think I loved a single character in this book, not a single one. But I'm not sure I was supposed to love them. The story is told from three points of view, Roy, Celestial and Andre. Roy is a Black man in America checking all the right boxes. He's graduated from college, got a respectable job, a house, and is 18 months into his marriage to Celestial when he is convicted of a crime he did not commit. He is sentenced to 12 years in prison. The two begin a series of letters which highlights that for all their talking, they never really communicated. Andre is Celestial's best friend, but he is also the guy circling Celestial and so clearly in love with her that I question why the three of them never had a frank discussion about it. But all three of them make nonsensical choices. Roy and Celestial's marriage wasn't the strongest to begin with but this book shows the repercussions incarceration had on this marriage. It wasn't the strongest foundation but it also never got the chance to grow stronger, after all no marriage is perfect at the start. Wrongful convictions happen all the time in America, and honestly Roy is one of the lucky ones because he had access to the means to fight back. I read this book in one day but it will keep me thinking much longer.
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
3.0
Y'all this book is something. This will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea. It was not really mine. Seven-year-old Hanna does not talk by choice. She loves her Daddy so much but really has it out for her Mom, and she would really prefer if her mom was not in the picture. That's basically the plot. As the book progresses, Hanna's aggression toward her mother increases. The book is told from the alternating points of view of Hanna and her mother, Suzette. Hanna was a weird mix of child and adult. For instance, a pre-verbal Hanna decides that she is not going to talk to aggravate her mother but on the other hand she believes in little make believe creatures who live under her bed. Maybe all children are like this, I have no idea; but the contrast was kind of startling. At first I was annoyed because the book didn't explain at the beginning why Hanna hates her mother so much, but by the end it started to become clearer that maybe Suzette wasn't merely a long-suffering mother. This book did pick up towards the end, and Stage definitely left the ending open for a sequel. For me, I think it would have been better if the book had just gone full tilt horror.