villagrandres's reviews
34 reviews

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

A great read that challenges you on how you navigate your life and how society fosters addictive practices. The patient stories are engaging and informative, pacing is great and the summary of lessons at the end was a great reminder of the takeaway message.

The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

A really fun, quick and easy read! Great to see the gang back in action. Lots of references to the original trilogy and other books in the series, so I did miss out on those references. But I still had a lot of fun reading it!

Also love how they set up for another trilogy through quests! Makes me very excited since I thought this was a one off book.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

A beautiful listen, fast paced advice with lots of humor and great story telling intertwined. Don’t agree with all the advice given, but he is clear about his binary outlook on life. What this book represents and the wisdom imparted to his children, you can really feel the love he had for them. It was a privilege to listen and be inspired. I think I will come back to this book for tidbits of wisdom as I navigate my life.

Playground by Aron Beauregard

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Yes, it’s a very gory and disgusting book that can be hard to stomach. But outside of that, the writing is tough to get through. There’s a lot of alliteration and hyperfixation on gore scenes (which again, it’s what I expected, but c’mon man move on with the story). I’m also not the best with imagery, but I don’t think the descriptions of some settings were very good. Characters also seemed inconsistent and some lines were very cheesy. Overall, I think there was a potential for a good story. I understand that I am not the intended audience for splatterpunk, but I was able to stomach the gore so I think that my unejoyment of this book ultimately comes down to the author’s writing.