Veronica

I liked this book. I feel like our protagonist, Owen, has depression and maybe something else going on, or maybe not. I know I saw a lot of my thoughts and feelings in his, and I empathized with him. I feel like the ending is a hair quick, and I am left wanting a follow-up book talking about his life and his friend Natalie's lives. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Naturally, the first Sanderson book I finish has to be the one without a sequel. This book covers several different stories concurrently, which can be frustrating, but they are all of the highest quality, following interesting characters and their various overlapping plots.
I really cannot recommend this book enough if you are into fantasy worlds (particularly those with a fantasy religion), overlapping characters, and stories that you can't put down.

A good and accessible little book about changing your perspective. The only reason it's not 5 stars is that I was sort of hoping for a book more based on the third chapter than the wide scope the book actually has. But it's super educational and informative and I did enjoy the whole thing. :)

One particular anecdote seems both far-fetched and out of place in this book, and some of the random throwaway statements are a little odd, but there's too much good content within for me to rate it anything else. Took a lot of notes. I think the contents of Dr. Neff's self-compassion research are immeasurably valuable and I wish they were taught broadly the world over.

As a lifelong Blizzard fangirl, this cookbook did not disappoint. It is written as though genuinely written by the Innkeeper featured in the famed online CCG, Hearthstone. Several drink and food recipes that feel like ‘tavern fare' and sound delicious to boot. I am very excited to look for others in the Blizzard-verse and can't wait to add this to my permanent collection ASAP.

Read this whole book in a day. Accidentally read it without realizing McCauley had other related books that came before this one. I grew attached to the protagonist immediately and love following his journey through the book. Definitely want to read more from him.

I'm left mostly feeling confused by this book. Where others find beauty in the elongated descriptions of vistas and apparently-complex emotions, I had to really trudge to get through them. Where others come away believing Frankenstein is “The REAL Monster,” I am left perplexed to his courses of action and effectively saddened at the chain of events that made up the book. While I'm frustrated by The Monster's reactions and actions, I certainly don't think he's wrong on certain points, and find it hard to blame him for his behavior.

Spoiler tag for safe>sorry. The book really picked up for me when Frankenstein and the Monster had an actual conversation and we learned the Monster's story. While I have not consumed the horror movies that have led others to read this book, I still had an idea where it was going, but the most emotion this book got out of me was when Felix encountered the Monster holding on to his father and attacked him, resulting in their leaving their cottage. In this, Monster and Frankenstein had the same problem: why not SPEAK? You could have told Felix you were his ally, doing work to help him and his family. Frankenstein could have TOLD Clerval or Elizabeth about his experimentation resulting in an angry person capable of violence, and might have spared their deaths.

So I guess I'm glad I finished it, mostly for having read Frankenstein, and I can appreciate the humanity and fallibility of the characters, but it just doesn't reign among my favorite books I've ever read.

2.5

Everything in here is good, but it's not new, and it is largely an advertisement for the website. While I respect the efforts and intentions, I have not had good experiences with 7 cups personally. I did take notes on the content in this book and hope to revisit them in times of reflection. It just feels like there's Something Missing that I can't quite put my finger on.

This book surprised me in how short it was and felt relative to the other Wonder stories and how I was pretty sure I was going to hate it until the end. I feel like I should've seen the ending coming given that I've read all the other Wonder books available right now, haha.

This book was very difficult for me to finish as someone who wasn't raised religious. Much of my personal experience with religious folks in the US has made me uninterested in any religion at all.
Pavlovitz writes about people being good to one another. That the religion we hear people speak of very loudly doesn't really mirror the source material they claim to quote.
This book is primarily targeted towards Christian or Christian-adjacent folks in the US who feel disillusioned or disappointed with their church. If that's you, consider giving this book a read. As someone who was never religious to begin with, this book has already transformed the way I think about interacting with people and encouraged me to find a loving community. I just don't know what there is to argue with in here.

Depression is hard to explain, but Matt Haig does it justice here. He knows, and this book genuinely made me cry for him and for me and for everyone else that has ever felt this pain.

This is a very indulgent collection of short stories in exactly the genre you'd expect if you've read the synopsis. Some of them are better-written than others and hence more enjoyable. Really, the only one I didn't enjoy is the first one, which is just fine because it's the shortest one. Most of the others are longer and more developed and truly fun to read. Definitely fluff, but nice fluff, if this is your sort of thing.

I loved this book. I loved it so much I already know I'm going to read it again, and cross-reference some quotes to my therapist. I loved Lori's personal stories as well as those of her clients and the ways they influenced each other. This book feels very humanist to me. Highly recommend.

Probably 4.5. the writing is extremely formal and I simply want MORE of these characters. I had some trouble getting through it due to the formality but I just really loved Maia and cared very much about everything that happened to and for him.

Infuriating, endearing, hilarious. Immediately a new favorite series.

I enjoyed this book and the things it presented even when it stated things I didn't want to agree with - e.g., you cannot love someone more than you love yourself. While I still don't really agree with that premise, I can see and follow and appreciate the logic she provides behind it.

I really enjoyed basically all of the concepts in this book, but I feel like it fell just a little bit short on how to implement these qualities into your life. Each guide section ends with a ‘DIG deep' (deliberate in thought and behavior by setting intentions, be inspired to make new and different choices, and going to do something about it) section, but that's about it. It's a one-off for things Brown advocates implementing radically different thought processes into your everyday life. I'm guessing it's for the sake of length of the book, but I really wish there had just been more elaboration on ways to adjust.

2018 update: I wrote a terribly-worded review when I finished this book for my Victorian Literature class. It was a roundabout review basically saying that there are very distinct and interesting characters that drive this book, which keep you interested in what they're doing and where the story is going.

Incredible, hilarious, heartfelt, oh my god what a journey. Not new to Sanderson, but blown away nevertheless.

Wow, this book is incredible. Short and to the point, very accessible and useful for everyday life. I don't even know what else to say about it except I can't believe how loving and helpful it is. There are really good ideas in here.

Even better than Sandry's book, with plenty of love for all of our main characters to go around. This book shocked me with its quality to be honest, and I knew I'd like it going in. Heartily recommended.

Really, 4.75. there were places where I begged a character to say something rather than isolate their thoughts and feelings. I love all of the characters dearly, but I do hope there's a little more gradation in their arcs in the following books rather than a longer intro, a little development, and a conclusion that puts them closer together than I expected, personally. Overall, an incredibly darling book. I'm excited to read the rest of the quartet.

Oh, P.S.: I didn't feel like this book had enough Sandry in it to be called her book! I'm hoping it's a symptom of being the first book and we have more of her later. I just love them all so much.

Loved this book. Loved Novic's use of alternating PoVs, including some minor characters when it was narratively useful. I liked all of our characters even when they did things that frustrated me - I got them and continued rooting for them.
Just wish I knew more about what happens after the ending!!

I knew I wanted to read this book because I love John and his books, and I love Hank and I knew I would /like/ his book. I did not know how magnificent a writer he'd be. This book is nothing like john's books, and it is such a wonderfully twisting and turning narrative. I'm afraid to try and summarize it personally because I don't think I can do it justice. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

My only complaint about this comic is that it was too short. It had a well-contained plot, and it's exactly what you want it to be when you go into it. But I wish it had been just a tad longer. I'm very much interested in continuing to read the series and hopefully I'll get my fill. :)

This book made me feel a lot of things. I'm warm with love. What a good read. I don't even know what meaningful words to write about it, but this might be my favorite book of the year.