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julis's reviews
538 reviews
This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation by Alan Lew
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This paired with 4000 weeks is gonna sit in my head for a while. Not only are we heading into Elul, but I’m getting married in 3 weeks so a lot of self reflection going on at the moment.
Rabbi Lew, while using more baseball metaphors than I was expecting, writes eloquently about the journey from Tisha b'Av to Sukkot and why we should continue to engage in these rituals.
Rabbi Lew, while using more baseball metaphors than I was expecting, writes eloquently about the journey from Tisha b'Av to Sukkot and why we should continue to engage in these rituals.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Very well argued book about slowing the fuck down and appreciating where you’re at. We have no control over the future, and no control over the past. We are always existing in the present so we may as well enjoy the experience.
Has some pages of extremely helpful tips at the end I will be scanning so I can hold onto, and enough citations that I didn’t feel compelled to fact check every little thing.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
For a book I really liked I have 2 major complaints that knock it down to 3 stars. Which again: I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the experience of reading it, it’s very well written/researched/conceptualized, I would recommend it to others.
HOWEVER.
It is 300 pages too long. It’s not that it should’ve been split into two books–there’s one book’s worth of plot. It’s not that there’s an egregious amount of subplots–there’s not. It’s perfectly paced for a 500 page book but EVERYTHING moves at the speed of treacle. Jesus christ. Take a second editor and cut some of those elegantly formed sentences.
Second: If you tell me that (a) England acquired magicians midway through the Napoleonic Wars and (b) France does not have magicians and (c) the English magicians are actively intervening in the war (esp Strange in Iberia), and THEN you tell me that Waterloo happened on the exact same day–I am going to call bullshit and try to figure out why Strange’s magic exactly replicated what historically happened. I am no longer paying attention to the book I am reading Wikipedia. This is not a good thing.
Level Up Your Dog Training: How to Teach Your Dog Anything by Natalie Bridger Watson
fast-paced
5.0
This is a very nice book for dog owners who want something a little more than boilerplate instructions on how to teach a sit, although I’m not quite sure it accomplishes its stated goal of teaching people how to train more complicated concepts. I keep finding that owners need a lot of hand holding to learn how to generalize training concepts.
At any rate, that’s a gripe with people, not with the book, which is lovely. A couple of new ways to teach things in there (I go round and round on how to teach leave it, I need some new puppies to trial on) but mostly I read it to be able to recommend it–which I can! This won’t have anything very new for most professional trainers but if you’re not that, it’s worth your time.
The Oresteia Trilogy: Agamemnon, the Libation-Bearers and the Furies by Aeschylus
This is a Dover Thrift Edition which means there’s a page and a half at the front on the Trojan War and no other commentary. Which I guess, okay, that’s how they can sell it for $3.25 (in 1996, when it was printed), but also, I would much rather have had a page and a half on guest right/family dynamics than common knowledge on Troy (…I mean. “Common” for people who are reading the Oresteia).
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
One, why the hate for Clytemnestra who is objectively correct–
No, mostly commentary here on the translation which is uh, archaic. Seems to have been translated around 1900 but even then it’s pretty old, and I’m torn on whether or not forcing it into meter helps anything.
This is a Dover Thrift Edition which means there’s a page and a half at the front on the Trojan War and no other commentary. Which I guess, okay, that’s how they can sell it for $3.25 (in 1996, when it was printed), but also, I would much rather have had a page and a half on guest right/family dynamics than common knowledge on Troy (…I mean. “Common” for people who are reading the Oresteia).
The Martian by Andy Weir
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I really enjoyed this. I loved the long style, although was thrown briefly by the POV changes–still not 100% sold on how they were integrated but I’m super obnoxious about Sticking To The Bit once you’ve established it so hey.
Love that it started as a web serial tho???? Congrats on making it big dude.
Just overall tight, well written, narratively satisfying.
Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Daphne Sheldrick
medium-paced
3.0
I was kind of hoping this would have more about the sanctuary, how they managed the elephants, how they came up with the milk substitutes, etc etc, all of the nitty gritty logistics nonsense. There ARE cute animal stories but a significant chunk is her personal drama, which I mean, I guess it is a memoir, that’s allowed.
Would be a 4/5 except that she is, INCREDIBLY PREDICTABLY, racist and colonialist so you know. Not quite as bad as Mr The Aztecs Deserved Colonization but in that ballpark.
The Jewish Wedding Now by Anita Diamant
It is very aimed at the liberal end of the spectrum–lots of explicit or implicit use of Reform and Reconstructionist ideas, and usually Orthodoxy gets brought up as a reference point, not necessarily as something she expects you to carry out. Which for us, fine, we’re getting married Reform-style. And I suspect if you’re Orthodox you’re not getting tips from a non-Orthodox book anyway. But still: Important to know before getting into it.
It’s well organized and reasonably comprehensive for a book that’s 200 pages long–ie, covers most things, doesn’t get terribly in depth. It presents some options for areas of the wedding that couples may want to adapt but, eg, none of the ketubah texts are working for us. So there’s limits.
informative
medium-paced
5.0
This was, predictably, homework from our officiating rabbi. As such it’s a very hard book to review–although I suppose everyone reading it is going to be in a pretty similar mindset.
It is very aimed at the liberal end of the spectrum–lots of explicit or implicit use of Reform and Reconstructionist ideas, and usually Orthodoxy gets brought up as a reference point, not necessarily as something she expects you to carry out. Which for us, fine, we’re getting married Reform-style. And I suspect if you’re Orthodox you’re not getting tips from a non-Orthodox book anyway. But still: Important to know before getting into it.
It’s well organized and reasonably comprehensive for a book that’s 200 pages long–ie, covers most things, doesn’t get terribly in depth. It presents some options for areas of the wedding that couples may want to adapt but, eg, none of the ketubah texts are working for us. So there’s limits.
The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 by Tim Blanning
challenging
informative
slow-paced
4.0
I had to check amazon for what the 5 revolutions were (scientific, industrial, American, French, and romantic, apparently but in terms of dedicated page-space I would substitute the Glorious Revolution for the American one) because really what Blanning is writing is a social history from the Treaty of Westphalia to Waterloo.
Which again! Fine! Beginning to suspect that historians write the book and then pull a title from a hat.
EXTREMELY fun. Blanning has a hell of a lot of opinions and he wants to share ALL OF THEM. EXTREMELY comprehensive. Thorough. Would you like to know about hunting rituals in the HRE in the 1700s? Great, this is a good book for you.
Lost a point for, collectively: Has a bibliography but no proper footnotes (boo), generally lackadaisical treatment of Jews, Muslims, and POC, occasionally his snark reaches the level that I had to check to be sure he’s not now writing opinion pieces for the Tories.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Overwhelming takeaway here is “eh”. Did I love it? No. Did I hate it? Also no. It’s fine.
It’s a quick read, doesn’t require very much thought, good beach book. Not much more to it than that.