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Chelsey

Chelsey

Joined March 2016

review
Chelsey
When the Day Comes | Gabrielle Meyer
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Panpan

Come Lord Jesus! No. I mean it. Jesus get yourself over here and deal with your fan club. I identify as a Christian but I do not read Christian fiction because of trash like this. When your version of your God is so vile as the deity in this book you have lost the plot. I got it as the Audible deal of the day so I didn‘t look into it too hard. A time travel novel set in 1774 and 1914? Sounded cool. It was not. Hard pass.

review
Chelsey
Women Talking: A Novel | Miriam Toews
Mehso-so

I find myself feeling rather ambivalent about this one. The horror of the events that this novel is based on is unspeakable, and it is a story that deserves careful and respectful telling. The framing of this story is both ironic and tone deaf, though. In a tale about women, by a woman, and concerning women, the narrator is made to be a man. The irony is intentional, I believe, because of the universality of male authority in this society.

Chelsey However, I don‘t agree that it was the best way to approach this story. I have not experienced such horrors personally but a number of my loved ones have been raped, and in Women Talking the flame is missing. The despair, questioning of faith, rage. It‘s not there and the lack of it leaves a chasm.
2.5 stars rounded up.
5y
19 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Chelsey
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Pickpick

Brilliant, difficult, essential. This should be required reading for every white person alive. Other races can benefit too, but we are the ones who need to hear this. Regardless of our gender, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation, we benefit from the system if we are white and absolutely need to sit with ourselves and conduct an honest and thorough self examination.

19 likes1 stack add
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Chelsey
Recursion | Blake Crouch
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September was a good book month for me. I had been in a book slump and I think I broke the curse. Most of these were completed in the first 3 weeks too since I've not been focusing very well since Tuesday. That was the day we learned that our sweet fur baby was miserably suffering from cancer and lost him quite suddenly. I'm still reeling a bit and looking for good escapes for the coming month. I'm not a spooktober-y type, but I love fall. Ideas?

Reagan Sorry for your loss ❤️ 5y
Coleen Nice selection there. Sorry about your fur baby. 😥 5y
15 likes2 comments
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Chelsey
Mycroft Holmes | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Anna Waterhouse
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Panpan

I always get to these so late! @howjessreads #friyayintro

1. Oh man did I despise this book. It basically stole the names of famous characters and then wrote a completely trash story that bore no resemblance to the originals. Not an homage. Not a pastiche. Just tripe.
2. Brooklyn 99! (Nine nainnnnn!!!)
3. I had grilled cheese this morning 💁‍♀️
4. GMT-8 Pacific
5. Maroon Star

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Chelsey
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Pickpick

What can I say? Opinions are like... Well you know the simile. Everyone's got one. I looked over some of the reviews on this book that I just finished and completely adored, and I must say, they're pretty lackluster. This was one of my handful of 5 ⭐️ reads so far this year. I loved the weirdness, the books, the secret society. I love how typefaces and audiobooks play important roles in the plot. I just loved it! Highly recommend!

SW-T The picture is perfect for this title 😊 5y
Chelsey @SW-T thanks! I totally stole it from google images 😆 5y
BeeCharmer I just read it and loved it! 5y
24 likes3 comments
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Chelsey

God, what a massively depressing read. It was a fantastic insight into what North Korea looks like from the inside though. The thing that struck me most was the hopeless bleakness of the average citizen, followed by amazement at the pigheaded stubbornness of the regime in the face of catastrophic results to their policies. Particularly the farming failures and how closely they follow the epic failures of Stalin's Soviet Union.

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Chelsey
Athena's Choice | Adam Boostrom
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Ok, so this author is on Goodreads, and actually responding to reviews, so now I feel hampered in my snarky hate reading of it. Ugh! I‘m so conflicted! It‘s terrible but I am having fun doing an Athena‘s Choice Mystery Science Theater. It genuinely needs some copy editing and some revision, so I could be helpful. But I‘m not sure if it‘s worth it. And I don‘t like hurting people so I can‘t unleash the full snark on a real live person! Gahhh!!!!!!!

Chelsey I should say it‘s terrible so far. I‘m only on page 24 5y
7 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
Athena's Choice | Adam Boostrom
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I‘m on page nine and I‘m already pissed at the author. Why don‘t men do a modicum of research before they write characters that they don‘t represent! 🤬🤬🤬

Chelsey This. This is why representation is important. Because men insist on writing drivel like this. Why do men insist on writing women characters if they have no intention of writing women the way that we actually are? Do you know the ave body fat for a female? Even a female athlete averages 14-20%! 5y
Chelsey The ave lady is closer to 25-31%! 13 is absurd! He‘s attempting to world build a post male society and this is what he thinks we‘ve done with the technology we‘ve designed? I think I just decided to hate read this though. It‘s an arc and boy howdy are they ever going to get an honest review from me. 5y
6 likes2 comments
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Chelsey
Wonder Woman: Warbringer | Leigh Bardugo
Pickpick

5 ⭐️This is what I want Neil Gaiman‘s gods to be like. This was a great Diana Prince origin story. Also one of the main characters is fat and hot and she‘s not just comic relief. She has a real role in the story. She does more than check a diversity box. That made me super happy 😃

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Chelsey
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Pickpick

This was a borderline DNF until almost the end. I live in Seattle but am not a native Seattleite so I did identify with some of the irritations Bernadette has but initially everyone but Bee annoyed the snot out of me. I came around as things came to a climax and then I really enjoyed the denouement. It was a quick read though and there were some genuinely funny moments. 3.5 ⭐️

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Chelsey
Our House | Louise Candlish
Mehso-so

This was definitely suspenseful and there was a good twist but I didn‘t love how it ended and I found all the characters to be fairly unpleasant. That said it was a total page turner and went fast.

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Chelsey
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Stolen from Sparknotes‘ Insta

22 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
When Breath Becomes Air | Paul Kalanithi
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Pickpick

Be prepared to love this man and be devastated at the end. I sobbed through the epilogue, half for the loss of Paul, and half in preemptive grief at the thought of losing my own husband. This is a stunning book. Part autobiography, but mostly existential examination of what it is to really live. The epitome of an examined life. Why did I wait so long to read it? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Joanne1 Yes! 6y
24 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Chelsey
The Home Library | Brander Matthews
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Hello all!! I‘m about to move and this space is going to be my library. I‘m so excited and daunted by the idea of making this space my own, but if anyone understands the excitement it‘s you all!

Texreader Look at those bare walls begging for bookshelves! ❤️❤️❤️ 6y
Mitch That‘s amazing... have fun designing! 6y
21 likes2 comments
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Chelsey
Outlander | Diana Gabaldon
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I keep wanting to read this and keep getting put off by the reports of domestic and sexual violence. Can we agree that there‘s a huge difference between an historical novel and a novel written in an historical time? I believe the justifications given about things that happen in this story absolutely should apply to a book written in the 1700s, but as a modern novel written about a former time, doesn‘t it have an obligation to frame it differently?

GingerAntics There is a big difference, yet the “historical fiction” part doesn‘t work if the history is a) wrong and b) framed in a modern way. That‘s what we call presentism. If you go in knowing it‘s a different time, when the “rule of thumb” was the thickness gauge for what you could beat your wife and children with, you shouldn‘t mind that stuff as much. Everyone agrees the sexual violence is done by a jerk. 6y
alisiakae While I have read and liked the whole series, I absolutely do believe that Diana Gabaldon relies too much on rape storylines to propel a plot forward. There is a rape or sexual assault in almost every book in the series, and sometime she brushes right past it, which is frustrating. It‘s my main criticism of the series. 6y
GingerAntics It‘s what we would call domestic violence that you can‘t look at that way. It would be like if you read a historical novel about slavery in the US and got upset about the racism. If you want to bring up objections about the historical nature of this book, there are plenty of places where the history is straight up wrong. That should be the bigger objection. None of the characters take the violence lightly...accept Blackjack. 6y
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Chelsey @GingerAntics maybe I‘m misinformed, but doesn‘t the main hero beat the heroine at one point and rape her at another? 6y
Chelsey @GingerAntics that‘s a reasonable analogy. Assuming it‘s not the good guys doing the bad things. 6y
GingerAntics @4thhouseontheleft I completely agree she brushes past it. I would almost say she does in most instances. It doesn‘t seem to bother her. I still firmly believe she‘ll do anything to torture her MCs though, so I‘m not the biggest fan of those kinds of authors. It‘s the reason I stopped reading the Legend of the Seeker novels. 6y
GingerAntics @Chelsey I don‘t know about Jamie raping Claire. That‘s not really his style. He does beat her, though. As he says, it‘s expected of him, not just in his time but by the other characters. Actually when good guys do bad things you have antiheroes...which are often fun to love for their imperfections. 6y
kgriffith @4thhouseontheleft agreed. There was an instance of withdrawn consent that really upset me with its complete lack of even acknowledgment after the fact. 6y
Chelsey I think the thing that really bothered me was the gleeful attitude the author demonstrated with some of her remarks on the topic. I can see the points made here are logical and I‘ll apply them as needed to other books, but based on the feedback I‘ve gotten here and elsewhere, I still think I‘ve got to give these books a miss. There‘s always something else to read! Cheers mates! Thanks for the input! 6y
GingerAntics @Chelsey I‘ll be honest, that would be my suggestion. I‘m not really a fan of this author or this series, and what I‘ve witnessed within this series (casual attitude toward torture and violence, casual attitude toward historical accuracy, casual attitude toward decent writing) I would probably never read anything else by the author. 6y
21 likes10 comments
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Chelsey
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Pickpick

One of my favorite books is on sale and you can add the audiobook for $7.49 if you have Audible! This is narrative non-fiction at its best! Go get it!

16 likes1 stack add
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Chelsey
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January round up, from the top down most recent to oldest
5 ⭐️
2 ⭐️ don‘t @ me. I love the story! It was just better as a movie!
3 ⭐️
3 ⭐️
5 ⭐️

BeeCharmer Thanks for the list! I‘ve added a few to my list for the year! 👍🏻 6y
17 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
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1. Dog earring pages is perfectly permissible as long as it‘s your book
2. Sweet. I have an insatiable sweet tooth
3. Dave and Shirley, Glenn and DD (Dolores)
4. Little Women with Susan Sarandon and Wynona Ryder
5. New York. I would have probably said London before October but now I‘ve been to NYC and there‘s so much I didn‘t get to do! I still wanna do London, but that kinda trip needs to be at least 2 weeks.
#friyayintro

Bklover 1. I wholeheartedly agree. 👍 6y
Lynnsoprano I‘m too old for Little Women to be a childhood favorite, but I love that movie! 6y
20 likes2 comments
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Chelsey
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1. 53F
2. 75-80ish F
3. Off. It‘s an on/off kind of thing
4. Rain and wind
5. Done!
#hellothursday

wanderinglynn Thanks for playing! 💜 6y
13 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
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Current read. It's delightfully whimsical and extremely educational. Thanks to the kindle daily deal for cheap access to this one ☝️ 👍

19 likes1 stack add
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Chelsey
Pickpick

5 enthusiastic ⭐️
This book tells the story of the research of what‘s now known as PTSD. I was really struck by the author‘s humility in describing how much he was still learning even though he‘s been a healthcare practitioner and researcher for almost 40 years. The science of what physiologically happens to the traumatized brain is fascinating and the info on treatment options is invaluable.

14 likes1 stack add
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Chelsey
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#friyayintro
1. Sci-fi
2. Abandonment
3. I really can‘t remember. By middle school it was photojournalist or librarian
4. 51 F
5. 🤷‍♀️

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Chelsey
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1. 🇺🇸
2. 🇨🇷
3. 🇬🇧
4. 🇸🇽 (both if 2 years ago is recent)
#HelloThursday

wanderinglynn Thanks for playing! 🌎 6y
7 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
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Ok, time for something a little more serious. Hopefully this will be insightful

Bibliogeekery It's a great book! 6y
13 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Chelsey
Jurassic Park | Michael Crichton
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Mehso-so

So this book. Oh man. I really enjoyed it, except when I didn‘t. The characters were not well developed. A huge point was made of explaining why all the adult animals are female and then the T-Rex is referred to throughout as male. Because deep-seated sexism? I listened and read and Scott Brock‘s effeminate portrayal of Dr Wu was a confusing choice. It was a fun ride but reading it let me sit with the story long enough to see the frayed edges.

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Chelsey
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Happy Uk publication day Laura! I‘ve been following Laura Thomas on Instagram for about a year and I love her no nonsense, research based info dismantling diet culture and now there‘s a whole book of it! So exciting!

16 likes2 stack adds
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Chelsey
Mehso-so

Thank goodness that‘s over. There are aspects of this that I really enjoyed. It‘s definitely supposed to be in my wheelhouse, but maybe that‘s the problem. It felt like the author tried to create a Victorian character loosely combining Irene Adler and Phryne Fisher but aimed at people who‘d only ever watched the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes movie. It‘s quite disappointing because there are more to the series and I wish I wanted to read them.

PatienceFortitude Oh my goodness, exactly what I thought!!!! I never posted a review because I felt so meh about this 6y
10 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Chelsey
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At the risk of being obnoxious about this book, I‘m posting again because wth?! What‘s London famous for, especially during the reign of Victoria? Tremendously thick, unbreathable smog filled air. Ugh! I‘m dying guys! Fortunately it moves quickly and I‘m 2/3 done.

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Chelsey
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🙄

MayJasper 🙄👍 6y
14 likes1 comment
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Chelsey

Le sigh. Ok, so she‘s not actually anything like Mary Russell. She just feigns to be. I‘m trying not to be annoyed at her dissemblance.

Chelsey Possibly a little closer to Phryne Fisher 6y
9 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
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Chelsey
Bird Box: A Novel | Josh Malerman
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Pickpick

Holy crap on a cracker! That was terrifying! I have absolutely no intention of watching the movie based on this (because, oh the gore!), but I‘d had it sitting on my TBR for the better part of a year and I was too chicken to crack it open. Then apparently everyone in the world watched the movie and I thought, “might as well and see what the fuss is about.” I think it was well written...

Chelsey I was too scared to focus on that properly. I can‘t even put it in the freezer since it‘s a kindle edition. I have to try and sleep now and hope my cat doesn‘t decide to come cuddle my face suddenly in the night. 6y
BeeCharmer Oooh! I was wondering about this! I‘m trying to read 100 books this year! I‘m adding this to the to be read list! 👍🏻 6y
20 likes2 comments
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Chelsey
Hamilton: The Revolution | Lin-Manuel Miranda
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#MusicalNewYear #wholiveswhodies this is so funny. My husband and I are actually hosting a Hamilton listening party on Sunday and this book will be heavily featured. We‘ve got some newbies in the group and LMM‘s lyrics definitely need a libretto so as not to miss out on details.

Cinfhen That‘s so cool!!! But share more info. How does a listening party work??? Other than listening 😂😂😂 6y
Chelsey @Cinfhen well, we‘re making dinner, looking Hamilton up on Spotify and listening. We have the book for newbies to peruse and the pause button at hand for questions and commentary. Mostly, we just love it so dang much and it‘s not been released on video so this is the next best thing! We‘ll probably play Super Smash Brothers afterwards 😁 6y
Cinfhen Super Smash Brothers!!!! My son LOVED that game🙌🏻sounds like a perfect night🎵🎶🎵enjoy 6y
readingjedi That sounds awesome! 6y
vivastory That sounds like a great time! 6y
25 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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Chelsey
Pickpick

I mostly read this on audio and the reader was so good I thought she might actually be Lezley McSpadden. It‘s written in vernacular which is appropriate and was enjoyable. My heart goes out to Mike Brown‘s family, but especially to his mother. I am so so sorry and angry that people are still having to deal with this kind of thing.

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Chelsey
Mists of Avalon | Marion Zimmer Bradley
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Very rarely do I get the opportunity to do anything tangible to express my contempt and intense loathing of predators. And in most cases of the question “should we separate the art from the artist?” I come down in favor of yes.

Chelsey But I‘m just so done with child sexual abuse. I‘m just done. So when I learned about the author of this book that I haven‘t even gotten around to reading yet, I just couldn‘t help myself. If I had a safe way of doing so I would burn it. It‘s a meaningless, useless protest but I‘m ok with that because it felt pretty dang great. 6y
Laura317 I understand. 6y
Alfoster 👏👏👏👏👏! 6y
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ONH Interesting essay on the topic^ of separating book from author 5y
Chelsey @olivianixonhemelt Yep. I believe it‘s actually the same essay that prompted this outburst. I think the key line is the last one. “I believe Moira Greyland. Her life matters more than any fiction.” Like I said, usually I‘m all for separating art from artist, but not this time. Especially since Moira is excluded from benefiting from any royalties. 5y
20 likes6 comments
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Chelsey
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I assume BuzzFeed is mining this group for data, but it's one of the few civil places on Facebook these days. I for one am glad to check my feed there and get more updates like my Litten friends and less cranky miserable irreconcilable argument. An oasis in the desert of incivility.

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Chelsey
Untitled | Unknown
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1. I am rather partial to the Adipose
2. None of the above, thank you!. I don't like zombies
3. I've only really watched Voyager, but I love what I've seen of TNG
4. I'm usually a villains girl (give me Loki any day!), but in this case I think Disney classic
#fandomfriday on Sunday because I was sick this weekend

Chelsey The tags won't work properly but @ddzmini and @librarianryan (edited) 6y
Ddzmini @Chelsey thank you for the tag I‘ve completed this post 😝📖😋 6y
Liatrek I love the cute little Adipose 😊 I‘m also no fan of Zombies lol 6y
9 likes3 comments
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Chelsey
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Thank you for generously sharing your de-stash with us! This has been a really good reading year for me. Other than the tagged book, I've read and adored: Let's Pretend This Never Happened, The Hate U Give, All Creatures Great and Small, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. @BeeCharmer

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Chelsey
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I want to be Gabourey Sidibe's best friend! I love her raw honesty, her humanity, her revelations. As someone who's struggled with moving toward body positivity for myself, I understand and respect her decisions and I can also understand why bopo advocates have criticized her. I'm tremendously grateful for the bopo community because with their help I've learned to love my body but sometimes they can be a bit militant in their approach..

Chelsey .. That said, what I really loved about this were her very human relationships. I feel like I got to watch her process her feelings about them through the pages of her book. It's possible to hate or mistrust your family and love them fiercely at the same time, and she demonstrated how and why. 6y
MuddyPuddle I can‘t wait to read this book, but I‘m holding off to get an audio copy, I‘d love to hear her read her story herself! 6y
Chelsey @MuddyPuddle It's worth it! I had both so I could go back and forth, but part of the charm was hearing her tell her story 6y
25 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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Chelsey
The Book of M: A Novel | Peng Shepherd
Mehso-so

I really liked the idea and most of the execution but it was just too damn long!

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Chelsey
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5 enthusiastic ⭐️
I don't know why I delayed so long to read this utterly charming novel. Now I just wish Juliet's book from the end were available to read!

Liatrek Loved this book and I can‘t for its Netflix release in August 😊 6y
BeeCharmer Oh, man! This is sitting on my shelf as we speak waiting to be read. I guess I better get to it! 6y
30 likes2 comments
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Chelsey
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1. We try and meal plan but usually the longest we can go between shopping trips is 3 days. We have a pint-sized apartment refrigerator and it hardly holds anything.
2. Ranch. That stuff is magic
3. Bake. My husband is the cook!
4. Usually at least fruit, but I like at things so often other things too
5. The tagged one. It's a history of the Indian subcontinent told through food. So good!!
#tellmetuesday

Ke633 Definitely going to check out this book!! Thanks for sharing! 6y
14 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Chelsey
Everfair | Nisi Shawl
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Yay! This is finally on sale! I've been wanting to read this forever! I was able to attend Levar Burton Reads Live where he read a Nisi Shawl short story and then interviewed her afterward. It was awesome! I'd heard so much buzz about this one it's surprising to me to see it has such a low Litsy approval rating 😲

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Chelsey
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So now I definitely have to finish this one! The preview looks awesome!

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Chelsey
Island of the Mad | Laurie R. King
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Halfway through the year and I‘m at 30 books! That may not be much for a lot of you, but I‘m very proud. And I‘m 5 books ahead of schedule! I‘m hoping to finish 52 this year. Favorites so far have been: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, The Hate U Give, and Let‘s Pretend This Never Happened. I‘m looking forward to a great second half of the year. At least personally. The world is dumpster fire. Thank God for books!

TrishB Yep....reading to escape is my favourite past time.... 6y
MelissaSue81 That‘s awesome! I think the only book I‘ve read on there is Let‘s Pretend it Never Happened. Her second book is fantastic as well 6y
jmtrivera Congrats! 6y
17 likes3 comments
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Chelsey
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1. Clean my house, do some volunteer work, finish my book before the end of June
2. I'm about done with number 6
3. Both! I enjoy each season as it comes and I live in a fairly temperate place
4. Oh man that's a tough one! Probably my first Biffy Clyro concert at The Showbox. Although the recent Fretellis concert was pretty awesome
5. I'll try!
#friyayintro

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Chelsey
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This came up in Facebook memories and I'm legit annoyed again. Not for long, but still! So I'm not friends with this person anymore and this isn't her real name, so no doxxing here. But seriously folks, what kind of uncultured swine of a response to my comment! Nowadays I do 99% of my reading on my iPad or phone, but that's not what this was about. 🤨🙄🤷‍♀️ I know you all will understand 👍😘

That-Bookish-Hiker Ugh she totally missed the point. I like both formats and buy multiple editions of my favorite books. It just what we book people do. (edited) 6y
9 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
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Thus began a lifelong love of reading. ⬆️=👶Me

21 likes1 comment
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Chelsey
Cosmos | Carl Sagan
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Pickpick

Carl Sagan's writing is beautiful and his hope for humanity was pure. The above quote was one of many mind blowing moments from this book. I've been interested in astronomy and physics for a long time but I'd never heard that before. We could have been in a binary system but Jupiter didn't have enough mass to ignite properly so instead of a star it became a gas giant.

25 likes5 stack adds