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lefttoread's Reviews (532)
I don't think I could ever write a review to do this book justice, it was so beautiful, I learnt so much and gained even more appreciation for Barack Obama, which I didn't think was possible.
Obama has such a way with words, he's so well-spoken yet humble and relatable, I think that's why so many people loved him being President of the United States.
He never glossed over his mistakes, he owned up to them and strived to do better.
Along with his political views and his work, he included stories of his family, of the hardships they went through, like any normal family, and how they overcame them together.
Obama covered so much in this 715 paged book, I listened to it fully through audiobook which I believe is the best way to read it but I will be interested in reading the physical edition to pick up on any bits I missed out on. He also mentioned at the beginning that there'll be another part to this book so I'm looking forward to that if it's still happening.
He covered his upbringing, how he worked towards becoming President and through all of the events he was involved in; including the assisination of Osama Bin Laden and I was brought to tears many times throughout just hearing the passion in his voice to make the world a better place.
Quotes:
"I wanted somehow to save them, send them to school, give them a trade, drain them of the hate that had been filling their heads. And yet the world they were a part of and the machinery I commanded more often had me killing them instead."
"Whatever you do won't be enough," I heard them say. Do it anyway."
"I felt ashamed of my past behaviour and learned to do better."
Obama has such a way with words, he's so well-spoken yet humble and relatable, I think that's why so many people loved him being President of the United States.
He never glossed over his mistakes, he owned up to them and strived to do better.
Along with his political views and his work, he included stories of his family, of the hardships they went through, like any normal family, and how they overcame them together.
Obama covered so much in this 715 paged book, I listened to it fully through audiobook which I believe is the best way to read it but I will be interested in reading the physical edition to pick up on any bits I missed out on. He also mentioned at the beginning that there'll be another part to this book so I'm looking forward to that if it's still happening.
He covered his upbringing, how he worked towards becoming President and through all of the events he was involved in; including the assisination of Osama Bin Laden and I was brought to tears many times throughout just hearing the passion in his voice to make the world a better place.
Quotes:
"I wanted somehow to save them, send them to school, give them a trade, drain them of the hate that had been filling their heads. And yet the world they were a part of and the machinery I commanded more often had me killing them instead."
"Whatever you do won't be enough," I heard them say. Do it anyway."
"I felt ashamed of my past behaviour and learned to do better."
I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of the story and why the book has the title that it does, I found the first two chapters were solid, but I lost interest after that. It got somewhat repetive, and I believe it could have been shorter.
Some reviewers also said that its intent to make you cry was so obvious, and I get that. I love a book that can break my heart, but when it's done so purposefully it can really take you away from the story.
Some reviewers also said that its intent to make you cry was so obvious, and I get that. I love a book that can break my heart, but when it's done so purposefully it can really take you away from the story.
Another volume where one half is definitely better than the other.
The writing at the start of this one was a bit choppy, and I'm still not a big fan of the art style. Sometimes, you really can't tell what's going on.
That being said, the last half was really fun and interesting, we get to see how smart Armin is, we get to see the Survey Corps led by Levi in action and we get some more interesting developments from the Titans.
The writing at the start of this one was a bit choppy, and I'm still not a big fan of the art style. Sometimes, you really can't tell what's going on.
That being said, the last half was really fun and interesting, we get to see how smart Armin is, we get to see the Survey Corps led by Levi in action and we get some more interesting developments from the Titans.
Original review: A year... A YEAR it took me to finish part ONE of A Way of Kings. Nearly 600 pages of my life I'll never get back. I kept on with it hoping it'd pick up due to it only being part one but to think there's another 600 odd pages to go along with this first book and then the rest of the books in the series.. I can't, I don't have the patience to see if this ever gets good.
Re-read: Well it didn't take me a year to read this time around.. I did have to switch to JUST listening to it via audiobook because the physical was giving me paaaaain. I'm going to finally move on to part 2 of this and see if it gets interesting but I'm really only here for Shallan atm, Kaladin is a snooze and Dalinar only had one or two interesting bits so far. This book was just so sluggish, nothing really happened, I felt no risk for any of the characters, it was repetitive and to be honest I don't really know what's supposed to be going on and I don't know if I care?
Re-read: Well it didn't take me a year to read this time around.. I did have to switch to JUST listening to it via audiobook because the physical was giving me paaaaain. I'm going to finally move on to part 2 of this and see if it gets interesting but I'm really only here for Shallan atm, Kaladin is a snooze and Dalinar only had one or two interesting bits so far. This book was just so sluggish, nothing really happened, I felt no risk for any of the characters, it was repetitive and to be honest I don't really know what's supposed to be going on and I don't know if I care?
3.5 stars rounded up. (Same as the original rating)
So this is a re-read, my first read was 2021 and I never continued with the series, I reread it this year with the intention of carrying on... I hope I didn't shoot myself in the foot by re-reading this.
I don't think this is a bad book, to be honest I think this is a really fun and interesting book, great characters, good writing, I'm intrigued.. that being said, I found it so hard to get through both times and it's such a short book. It kind of felt like it went nowhere but it was also not sluggish? I'm really not sure how to explain it but I'm just hoping I move on to the second book soon because I really don't want to have to re-read this book again as it takes me out of the mood for fantasy.
I'm going to try and read some different things now and hopefully... HOPEFULLY come back to this trilogy soon.
So this is a re-read, my first read was 2021 and I never continued with the series, I reread it this year with the intention of carrying on... I hope I didn't shoot myself in the foot by re-reading this.
I don't think this is a bad book, to be honest I think this is a really fun and interesting book, great characters, good writing, I'm intrigued.. that being said, I found it so hard to get through both times and it's such a short book. It kind of felt like it went nowhere but it was also not sluggish? I'm really not sure how to explain it but I'm just hoping I move on to the second book soon because I really don't want to have to re-read this book again as it takes me out of the mood for fantasy.
I'm going to try and read some different things now and hopefully... HOPEFULLY come back to this trilogy soon.
I decided to listen to something quick whilst making food as I've really not had much time to read the last few days, and I found I had saved this and thought, why not now
This was not expected. Wow. I was hooked, I didn't ever want to stop reading, so much so that I nearly forgot to eat today, and I read this without an audiobook.. something I struggle with these days
I listened to the audiobook of Kill Joy whilst cleaning, in preparation for A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and I was pleasantly surprised.
Pip is invited to her friends murder mystery party, she's not in the mood and thinks it's a waste of time, she could be doing other things. But when the game begins, she's drawn into this make-believe world and is passionate about finding out who the killer is.
I enjoyed the audiobook experience for Kill Joy so much, I had loads of fun. I'm a huge fan of mystery books and don't pick them up enough, so this is me trying. I think the ending of this story was great, a perfect setup for the next book, and it's definitely gotten me excited for AGGGTM.
Pip is invited to her friends murder mystery party, she's not in the mood and thinks it's a waste of time, she could be doing other things. But when the game begins, she's drawn into this make-believe world and is passionate about finding out who the killer is.
I enjoyed the audiobook experience for Kill Joy so much, I had loads of fun. I'm a huge fan of mystery books and don't pick them up enough, so this is me trying. I think the ending of this story was great, a perfect setup for the next book, and it's definitely gotten me excited for AGGGTM.
I've been struggling to concentrate on reading these last couple of days, honestly. I think I'm just exhausted, but I've also been wanting to read absolutely everything so I decided to try and find something that I could just listen to as if it were a podcast & non fiction / true crime was where I ended up.
I watched the Waco documentary on Netflix a while ago, and that started something inside of me, I've been wanting to read something on the event too and honestly I think The Waco Siege was a great place to start, it gives you the basic run down of what happened and even points out a couple of other events that I'm now interested in reading about too..
It's not the best, most informative book and I'm sure there's better, I do have more on my TBR but they're a little longer and I just wanted to read something on the lighter side for now to get myself back into reading mode, so it did the job and I'd recommend if you know absolutely nothing about the case and just want to see what it's about.
I watched the Waco documentary on Netflix a while ago, and that started something inside of me, I've been wanting to read something on the event too and honestly I think The Waco Siege was a great place to start, it gives you the basic run down of what happened and even points out a couple of other events that I'm now interested in reading about too..
It's not the best, most informative book and I'm sure there's better, I do have more on my TBR but they're a little longer and I just wanted to read something on the lighter side for now to get myself back into reading mode, so it did the job and I'd recommend if you know absolutely nothing about the case and just want to see what it's about.
I'm so glad I picked this up, you can't fault the writing in this book, Philyaw's storytelling is beautiful.
Each story is deep and meaningful, and the characters and their development are strong.
I didn't love every story in the collection, but I believe everyone will have different favourites for different reasons.
Each story is deep and meaningful, and the characters and their development are strong.
I didn't love every story in the collection, but I believe everyone will have different favourites for different reasons.