We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this beautiful story on friendship in one breath. It’s so so good. It’s funny and sweet and heartbreaking all at once. It’s short but poignant. Recommended š
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“It was something she would tell her son later, when he was learning to read himselfāhow your first read of an extraordinary book is something you can only experience once.” This book is a premise that I hadn’t read before. It’s a story of ten different people. The first one writes a book to help cope with deep sorrow in her life and the nine others experience the book in their own unique way, through the lens of their own lives and get affected differently. Some of them are connected to each other in small ways, some in bigger ways, and some not really. And yet this book flows through their life and doesn’t leave them the same as a result. “It was probably six hours later when Theo met the love of his life. There were no fireworks, no steamy glances across a room. Just two human beings, falling together like puzzle pieces, which made sense because both of them were broken, their edges not the smooth arcs or straight lines of others, which fit easily into so many situations. No, there was only one place each of them belonged, and that was with the other. It sounded dramatic, but wasnāt. More like an animal finding its natural habitat.” Some people will say it’s cheesy and it’s more like interconnected short stories than it is a novel. And some of the characters have a lot of telling vs showing. And yet I loved it. I loved the broken characters. I loved waiting to see how they’d be connected. I loved waiting to see when and how the book would show up and I loved seeing how it would change them. I felt connected and invested in each of these characters. “Different from sleeping, where you had no choice where you went. Picking up a book was a decision: Iām going to go away. The exciting possibility: I may not come back the same.” I am not the same because I read this beautiful book. Because, books, they change you. And I am so grateful for that. with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
I found this book randomly recommended by a person I was taking an online class from. I have a habit of reading everyone’s favorite books and she said this was her favorite of 2022. I am so glad I read it. I was absolutely absolutely excellent. Unlike anything I’ve read and that’s incredibly rare for me. I will not forget this book for a long, long time. One of my favorites from 2022 for sure!
And if I was looking at that, would I pick you out from everyone else and say, āThatās the most gorgeous woman Iāve ever seen?ā If Iām being honest, no. But human beings arenāt static images. Weāre dynamic and kinetic, and itās like I said beforeāright away, I wanted to talk to you, and every time Iāve talked to you since Iāve always wanted to keep talking to you.ā This story took me a while to get into. Even though I really liked learning all about the details on what it felt like to work on a show like SNL, I found it hard to connect with the story for some reason. I couldn’t dive into it and I wasn’t sure I cared about the characters in anything more than a superficial way. But of course, Curtis Sittenfeld doesn’t do wrong by her readers and soon enough I was completely engrossed in Sally’s story. Sittenfeld is such a smart writer and I loved reading all the little bits and pieces that made me chuckle. But most of all I loved Noah’s character. I loved him and Sally and I loved how it was a wonderful, feel-good romantic comedy filled with smart characters and delicious, memorable quotes. Love love loved this one. āWell,ā I said, āI once heard a smart person point out that itās hard to determine where the dividing line is between cheesiness and acceptable emotional extravagance.ā He grinned again. āI didnāt tell you at the time, but I know exactly where the line is. When itās happening to other people, itās cheesy. When itās happening to you, itās wonderful.ā with gratitude to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book about the aftermath of a shooting and the deep deep grief and healing a town goes through. Quick is such an excellent writer especially when it comes to fractured characters. I read this book compared to A Little Life and while it was heart-wrenching I don’t think it was anything near that one.
This is the story of Emily and Chess who used to be best of friends and had a falling out years ago. Chess is now a very famous self-help writer and she’s rich. Emily is a struggling author going through an ugly divorce and has no money. Chess invites her to spend six weeks together in a Villa in Italy. This exact Villa was the home to a brutal murder in 1974. The chapters alternate between the story now and the one in 1974. I felt like the contemporary one was more interesting until the very end. There are some twists along the way but I loved the very last twist the most. It was an ok story but not the best of Hawkins in my opinion. Julia Whalen’s narration made the book considerably more enjoyable. with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoy Stacy Willingham’s novels. They manage to be both character and plot driven. The pacing is unlike any other and there are always awesome twists that don’t make you feel stupid. I think that combination is very hard to achieve. This is the story of Isabelle whose baby is taken from their house a year ago and she hasn’t slept since then and has been desperately looking for him. She has been doing everything she can to scour every opportunity to talk about it and even agrees to do a podcast to see if it will help find the person who took Mason. She and her husband are now separated and he’s with someone new. So she’s going through the loss and betrayal all at once. The book also alternates between the present and the past where she has suffered another terrible loss so Isabelle is not sure if she can trust herself. The insomnia in this book is almost a character. It makes isabelle so hazy and sometimes we can’t tell if she’s an unreliable narrator or not. We can viscerally feel her doubts and worries as she experiences them. I loved this book and highly recommend Willingham’s books. They are also fantastic on audio! with gratitude to Macmillan Audio and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars well that’s some messed up family. it was totally twisted and kept me on my toes the whole time. I really liked this story and the twists even if all the characters were so unlikeable!
I requested this book on a whim because I’ve read so many other books on this topic and the idea of thinking about how to optimize your time and streamline a way to think about your health really appealed to me. This book is broken into different chapters tackling different areas from meditation to breathing to exercise to nutrition etc. I liked that it was more holistic and really leaned into getting more sleep and building a well-rounded way to be healthy and whole. I also liked that he had different next steps depending on your starting point and how hard you want to tackle some of these topics. You can pace yourself according to where you are and what feels feasible to you. As we got into the exercise and nutrition chapters, I started feeling like the book was losing me. There was a lot of great information across the board in the whole book. But then it got so detailed and so much information and so many different things I had to keep track of that I got overwhelmed and couldn’t get through the chapters anymore. It definitely didn’t feel minimum at that point. I know the author was trying to give options and more information but I specifically chose this because I wanted simple. To be fair, he does still give you a simple starting point for movement (7minute + 2 walks) and for nutrition (eat whole) but it all just left me more overwhelmed than inspired in the end. with gratitude to edelweiss and benballa books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars. I really enjoyed reading this book even though I hadn’t read the first two books in the series. Even though this is a romance book and it’s light on the surface, there are some serious topics covered in this story. Especially PTSD. At its heart this is a little bit of an enemies to lovers trope and fake it till you fall in love trope. Jude and Indira have known each other forever since he’s her brother’s best friend. And they can’t stand each other. They are stuck living in the same house with Indira’s brother and his partner. But they decide to fake being together so Indira doesn’t have to suffer through watching her ex with his new partner alone. And what do you think happens? I loved all of the characters and enjoyed all the moments I spent with this book. with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Holy shit. I don’t even know how to rate this book. It could be 5 for creativity. It could be 1 for wtf? It could be all the ones in between. There is so much trigger warning in this book, the entire book is one big trigger warning for trauma and sexual assault and so so much more that I can’t mention without giving away some of the huge twists. It’s a weird weird weird book.
Meh, ok this was a fast read. But i am not a fan of “bad boys” loving girls and having girls earn this love and endure much anger and pain in the process. Sorry this is not how love should have to be. Super fast read. |
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