What a gem of a book. Fell in love with the Hayao Miyazaki movie as a kid and didn‘t know it was based on this book until recently. The author made the story based on a picture her daughter drew, so cute. There are different little stories in the book than the movie with her deliveries. Since I saw the movie first, it doesn‘t matter to me! If anything, it‘s like bonus stories now. I got to read about several more great Kiki delivery stories.

Iger takes you through his life starting in sports television and his steep ascent to becoming Disney‘s CEO through positive relationships with his superiors who believed in him and the good, bold work he did at each stage. I got a bit of the good ol‘ boys club vibe from how he got promotions. He was responsible for acquiring Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, and 20th Century Fox. Would recommend to business people to read rather than Disney people.

Since I have read all of Jane Austen‘s finished and unfinished novels, it was nice to have new Jane Austen material to read again! These are the things she wrote before she became a published author with her first novel. Most of it is humorous or satirical, so it was interesting to read that side of her. Mostly disconnected or unfinished things. The commentator was not the best. Unprofessional and informal at times.

I really enjoyed this, but I think you really have to be a “Janeite” (as they call it) to appreciate it. Three American ladies took a trip to England to trace the steps of Jane Austen‘s life and her novels and movie adaptations. They kept track and drawings of all the things they saw, not just buildings but also people and animals and plants. Really charming collection, and I will definitely use this as a reference when I make my way to England!

Ahhhhh, that was tough. I enjoyed the movie Hostage, and I didn‘t know it was a book first until recently. Found a first edition in a local bookstore. The movie was pretty loyal to the book. But Mars was even more horrifying of a person in the book than the movie, like really messed up serial killer. Lot of swearing, lot of gruesome sprinkled in. Hard to read. I think it was good the movie took out most of the organized crime stuff.

Of 40+ recipes, there are only 5 I‘d want to try in here. A lot of fiddly recipes, written for children, and a lot of vegan/gluten-free. Beautifully laid out but not a great cookbook for me.

It‘s certainly a beautiful book. Brightly colored, lots of pictures. It has fun facts from the film. I‘m not sure what makes this official versus unofficial, which I had before. The writing is geared toward children, who I imagine wouldn‘t be the ones reading this anyway. Many of the recipes are gluten free or vegan. The first half is savory, and the second half is sweet. Of the 40+ recipes, there are only 6 I‘m interested in making 😒

Really engaging historical fiction novel about Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan‘s personal librarian, who was black passing as white. She‘s a force of nature to match Morgan and all the art and manuscript dealers to make the library a lasting legacy. Sometimes excessive storytelling to fill in the personal blanks, I think, but I supposed that‘s what makes it a page turner.

I actually think this was the best in the series. Deeper themes, grief, getting more into the characters‘ past, present, and future. Nicely done.

Eh. Seemed forced. Hard to relate. This was a cool scene though.

I‘ve watched a lot of Jamie Oliver‘s shows on the Roku channel, so this was cool to read one his cookbooks. I love that he included not just a picture of the finished product for every recipe but also pictures of the process. I know of very few cookbooks that do that. Great for less experienced people. Although, I do think there are recipes that would be challenging for beginners. Lots of nice variety. There are 21 recipes I want to make in here.

Beautiful artwork. The story wasn‘t super impactful but it was cozy. About friendships, apprenticing, and maintaining tradition. Perhaps loved the explanation of tea dragons and care at the end even more than the story!

Got this book at Bob‘s Red Mill in Milwaukie, OR, just south of Portland, OR on vacation. So cool to see the headquarters in person! They have all kinds of Bob‘s Red Mill products at my grocery store in the natural food section. There are 31 recipes I want to try making in here. No pictures of recipes, though. I want to see how it‘s supposed to turn out!

An excellent sequel to the first in the series! Again, the reader was wonderful for the audiobook. I enjoyed the new characters and creatures of Austria and Wendell‘s realm. The author‘s description of the faeries enchant and scare. Emily is an enjoyable character to follow in her adventures, I find myself laughing out loud or nodding my head in agreement.

Excellently written book and excellent narrators. I was a little thrown off when I read the author was inspired by Fleetwood Mac‘s turbulent band history, because I kept comparing them with the book. I loved the documentary style of storytelling, really unique for a fictional story. It was funny hearing each of the band member‘s perspectives about the same thing, like how they came to be called The Six or how much control Billy had in the group.

I know a cookbook isn‘t really something you read cover to cover, but this one was! It‘s filled with Disney history as related to food in the parks as well as concept art for the food establishments. There are 22 recipes I‘d like to try to make. The downsides for me are 1) too many fried foods and 2) it seems like there are a lot of iconic Disney foods that are missing in here. A lot of Disney resort recipes rather than Disney park recipes.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre was one of my favorite books as a kid, so I thought I‘d give this one a try. Another story with two female protagonists. Didn‘t like it at all. Probably because I didn‘t like either of the narrators of the audiobook. Cassandra‘s conversations with her dog were annoying. It‘s frustrating knowing throughout the end of the story of the Trojan War, but nice that they were able to change fate a bit.

I can‘t say I really liked any of these poems. Saadi was okay.

I know it took me a bit to get to it, but I found it in a used bookstore! Interesting reliving 2020 through poetry, but I just had COVID for the first time in December so actually kind of relevant for me. I am ridiculously impressed with what a great poet Amanda Gorman is. The wordplay and alliteration are so beautiful. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me after many of these poems and certain lines. So clever and provoking.

My 5 star rated books of 2023!

The wordplay!! From “Compass”

From “In the Deep”

Definitely for younger readers. Dialogue was almost too polite and cheerleader-y. However, it‘s fun to have a prequel perspective on the Nightmare story. We‘re introduced to the pumpkin king that precedes Jack. I was hoping for a little more depth to the story, but it was still fun.

From “The Shallows”

Like the first book of lost tales, it‘s a lot of extraneous explanation from Christopher Tolkien about his father‘s work. The last few stories were unfinished but a few did have full narratives. I liked a couple of them, but the Turambar tale was super messed up and violent. A lot of this is more fleshed out in the Silmarillion.

The narrative didn‘t feel very consistent from part 1 to part 2. I was expecting to hear more about each of their most famous musicals, but they were kind of brief summaries. More like musical reviews rather than hearing more about the composer/lyricist process. This book was also published in the 1960s, so I think perspective on some of their shows has changed over time, particularly racial. Then again, Oklahoma and The Sound of Music are loved!

Whaaaat? 😱 So cool.

The writing of this sentence. So beautiful. So vivid. F. Scott Fitzgerald, I tell ya!

The right kind of poetry to read for Thanksgiving! I liked 26 of these poems. Not a ton but enough to keep it.

Cute, fun read. Odd backstory on origins of witches and their families. Heartwarming coming together of people to make a nontraditional family. Bit of romance. Lacked depth for me but enjoyable.

That was unnecessarily long. It seemed promising, which was why I kept reading, but there ended up being very little drama in the plot or the characters. Just felt like a waste of time overall.

It seems silly when a novel is written in journal form. People don‘t write out whole conversations in journals…but other than that, I loved this book. So many unexpected twists and turns. Fantasy, romance, thriller, and so much interesting detail about this world of the Folk. I enjoyed the main character, Emily. She‘s socially awkward and very smart. The evolution with Bamblebee was interesting. Ending was odd.

Wow, what a great book. I was immediately hooked, and it never let go. The concept is fantastic, the emotions are raw, and even though I predicted the ending from the start, it still had me teary-eyed at the end. Beautifully written, inspiring, loved it.

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I don‘t think I‘ve read books in the “for dummies” series, but this was quite good. Helpful explanations, humor, and good-sounding recipes!

Not too many recipes in here, but it‘s more about explaining how to adopt a new lifestyle of eating. DASH is recommended by doctors for lowering inflammation and blood pressure, and Mediterranean is supposed to be the best for health and long life. This is a combination to give you the best chance for healthy ways of eating. Explained well, lots of examples. Lots of vegetables, lean meats and fish, nuts, dairy, fruit.

It‘s the story of a girl who goes out to be a governess because her father didn‘t invest his money well and they became poor. It was a fictional expose on what it was really like to be a governess. Spoiled kids, parents that don‘t help and just blame, away from home, little recognition by society in general. It turned into a subtle love story, and I enjoyed that. I definitely wasn‘t as impressed in writing style as Charlotte and Emily.

Best to keep the mind and hands occupied in grief

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The author takes a very narrow, specific approach to a Chopin biography by solely focusing on his life in the years he wrote his funeral March. There were a lot of interesting tidbits I enjoyed, but overall the wandering narrative of other people and politics and culture in Chopin‘s life as well as the author‘s travels and thoughts became too unorganized for me.

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