Does listening to audiobooks count as reading? Here it does. Let’s discuss your favorite reads — or listens.
Expectation: A race around the clock thriller that taps into shared anxieties about control and opportunity from different experiences on the class spectrum.
Reality: Often ridiculous but frequently entertaining, the good outweighed the bad thanks to strong character development.
bell hooks’ essays on love were exactly what I was expecting and not what I expected at all given the authors’ reputation. While delivering her famous explorations of intersectionality – in this case the internal and external factors that influence how we love ourselves and others – it was also deeply religious and more self-help in nature than expected.
Let’s just say there are very few people - whether white or Black, believer or agnostic - who would not find his words difficult to stomach. However, Baldwin’s testimony is as urgent and necessary today as it was in the 1960s.
Expectation: A sullen “Parent Trap”-esque young adult novel about two half sisters learning about one another through tragedy.
Reality: A gorgeously understated book-in-verse that delivered strong character development and real emotion without pandering to YA trends.
I adored the premise of this book, and in many ways it is a love letter to journalism in its purest form. Weingarten is a gifted writer and researcher who was able to find marvel in both the mundane and monumental aspects of life on that day. Yet, as the chapters went on, the whole exercise began to feel tawdry and voyeuristic.
Expectation: My enthusiasm was off the charts for this book, my most anticipated read of the year.
Reality: While not as strong as Stradal's previous novels, it was still highly entertaining and he took a few risks that mostly paid off.
While it may be too in-depth for those seeking general information – honestly, it sometimes felt like reading a textbook – the editors, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K. Wilkinson have compiled a primer on the vernacular, key issues and political lightning rods.
The brief “poems” and corresponding animation make this a quick read and it’s worth the time. I loved the way she used the title – always placed at the end – to emphasize the theme or key takeaway. In many ways this made the collection feel lyrical, in that you could easily add music and make it a song.
Expectation: A quasi-retelling of the classic film but with a May-December friendship and some lower (i.e. not deadly) stakes.
Reality: Absolutely garbage.
Expectation: A collection of Americana centered around one of the most popular and maligned states.
Reality: Groff starts the reader in a chokehold but slowly loosens her grip as the collection progresses.
This is a wisp of a book that could be considered a primer on the subject, but it never goes deep enough to make you feel like you’re learning something versus reading a listicle.
Expectation: A family mystery-thriller akin to Alice Sebold’s “Lovely Bones.”
Reality: Not so much a mystery, but a slowburn exploration of the Lee family dynamics, which have a solid foundation of secrecy.
Expectation: A gory, nature-themed horror/fantasy centered around a fictional upstate New York urban legend.
Reality: An incredibly boring mishmash of genre tropes that overshadowed the few thrilling scenes and a likable main character.
Packed with laugh out loud funny observations and hypothetical questions no one thought to ask about some of cinema’s most beloved (and obscure) movies from the past 40 years, “Movies” is the perfect coffee table book for the Millennial movie lover in your life.
Beaton is a phenomenal storyteller, and I was captivated by this memoir and its images from the first page. While she covers heavy topics - gendered violence, rape, drug abuse and death - she also infuses warmth and humor into the pages, which help the reader understand how she survived the ordeal.
By now the scandalous details and big reveals of Price Harry’s memoir have been well-publicized. Instead of rehashing elements that a quick Google search can provide to you, I invited my friend Heather - my go to source for info on the royals - to discuss the good, the bad and the interesting revealed in “Spare.” The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
While there’s a lot to unpack, Moore keeps things focused and entertaining - insomuch topics like this can be - with well-placed curse words and anecdotes. Often nonfiction books of this nature bog the reader down with deep history and details that detract from the broader message, but that’s not the case here.
Expectation: A collection of stories exploring different facets of American history that were misrepresented.
Reality: A top-to-bottom solid collection that takes you on several intriguing and understated journeys that force the reader to question “what would you do?”
Expectation: A story about three middle-aged friends heading on a vacation to reconnect and lick wounds from failed relationships.
Reality: There’s no vacation, but there is a lot of humor and heart in this lighter read about reconnecting, re-envisioning and reclaiming one's future.
Expectation: A modern take on the world’s oldest profession.
Reality: Depressing and somber, the story went places I didn’t expect, but outside of the main character, I didn’t care much for what was happening.
