April Reading Wrap Up+

I don't know what it was about April but I really had trouble getting into a reading groove this month. Some starts and stops. Some lack of motivation to read. A lot going on in the month that is enough of a mental distraction I didn't necessarily want to read. Also I currently have a trial of satellite radio and thus have been listening to the 90s station in the car instead of listening to books. Even with all that I still did get through a decent amount of books.

Since I don't have a good why, let's just get to the what. And by "what" I mean those stats.

Total Books read

5

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana 

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

I found my Kindle and I hadn't read this in a while but it was short and I remember it being funny. And it is. I felt like I'd rather watch it than read it, but then tends to be the same with any play. It's hard to find something to say about a book that has been around so long as is well know. It's funny and ridiculous and at times feels like a "best of Oscar Wilde" collection of quotes, but that's not really a fault in the play. (Though does remind me of when I was in high school a fellow student claiming Shakespeare used some cliched line when the teacher had to point out that line originated with Shakespeare, so wasn't really cliched at the time)

Rating: 4 stars

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Four women of a certain age (60) have spent their lives working as assassins for "the museum" but they're all retiring and taking a lovely cruise as a retirement gift from the company. But of course things can't be that simple (because if they were that simple then this book would be short and boring). Instead they seem to be targeted by someone that works for the Museum. Now they have to figure out why they're being targeted and what they can do to make sure their retirement doesn't end too soon. It has less of the humor I was assuming, perhaps unfairly, since I was comparing this to The Thursday Murder Club books but it's a fun mystery and I do appreciate some variety in protagonists

Rating 3.75 stars

Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes

I didn't read many pregnancy books when I was pregnant. Really just one, Expecting Better. Despite no longer being pregnant by a good few years, I had seen this one floating about and my library finally got a copy so I thought I'd check it out. I think if I was actually pregnant it would have been more helpful and more interesting. Instead it was...fine. I liked what it was doing, taking away some of the judgement  that I have heard (though haven't read so couldn't say first hand) can be in found in books like What To Expect. It's part memoir, chronicling Garbes own questions when she was pregnant, and looking for information instead of rules of what women were and (very often) were NOT to do. The bit on breastfeeding comes off a little more on the rules side, with a few side mentions of "but maybe some women can't". Being someone who didn't for a variety of reasons, this section felt more preachy and because a bit of a turnoff.

Rating: 3 stars

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I read this for book club and I'll say that I enjoyed it more than the consensus of the group. A sliding-doors style story, where we follow main character Hannah, recently returned to her hometown after jumping from city to city looking for what is right for her, through 2 different paths her life could take based on one decision: does she stay out with her old high school boyfriend or go home with her friend she's staying with? The chapters alternate showing what her life would have been like depending on this one choice. At the heart it's a love story (stories?) and how much role does fate play in our lives. There is a bit at the end I liked but would be a spoiler so I'll leave out. However, the writing for this was just OK and the characters are a bit weak. To quote a fellow book clubber "Liking cinnamon rolls does not a personality make". And I found myself nitpicking a lot of details that typically only happens when I find myself annoyed with the book. But I didn't hate it and sometimes you want something sort of mindless

Rating: 2.75 stars

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

I really wish I had it together enough to write down where I hear of books when I add them to my TBR list. I'm pretty sure this was a list of best new books in 2022 or something of that nature and would happily give credit if I had a memory better than that of a goldfish. The book is a collection of interconnected short stories all dealing with residents of a low-income high rise in Harlem. A new owner has taken over the building and residents are struggling to meet their current rent, let alone deal with rent hikes as new management is trying to push people out in order to get market-rate tenants in. The characters feel real and fully formed, each with a different and unique voice. The audiobook helped with this certainly (they had different voice actors for each short story, including Bahni Turpin who has read a number of books I like and it seems silly to get exciting for a narrator but hearing some bad ones makes you really appreciate someone so good), but the writing carries it as well. There is no mistaking a Mimi for a Quanneisha. My only real complaint is because the stories are interconnected it felt like there was going to be an over-arching narrative that would come to some kind of conclusion by the end. However, even without that this was an excellent collection.

Rating: 4.25 stars

Total pages read

1,240

Fiction

80%

Female authors

60%

BIPOC authors

40%

US authors

80%

Book format

audiobook: 80%

ebook: 20%

Where'd I get the book

library: 40%

gift: 40%

Kindle: 20%

Rereads

20%

Classics

20%

Book club

20%

Decade published

1890s: 20%

2010s: 40%

2020s: 40%

Resolution books

60%

The Importance of Being Earnest is by an Irish author and from before 2000 (by a good amount)

Like a Mother is by a Filipino-American author

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs is by a Black author

March Reading Wrap Up+

I don't know why I got so much reading done in March. Or how. I wasn't making a concerted effort to do so. Maybe it's just the momentum of the month with all of the birthdays (and by all of the birthdays I mean mine and Tom's). Maybe it's because some library holds came in and I had to get to them. Maybe it's because I had two 4-hour flights in the month and needed something to do on the plane (though really, I only read on the way back).

Since there's a lot to get through this month, why don't we jump into the stats? 

Total books read

8

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Guide to Unapologetic Living by Jes Baker

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Me, Myself and I: Twenty-Seven Women Untangle an Obsession edited by Elizabeth Benedict

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

I have to be honest, I'm not 100% sure why I keep picking up Ware's books. Because for the most part they're fine. Fine overall with some detail or another that drives me up a wall. And yet, I continue to picking them up. Because there are a bunch of them and they're usually available at the library. Anyway, The Lying Game. It's fine. It takes a while to get into the story and the titular "Lying Game" seems to be treated as far more dramatic by the characters than seemed to make sense and also didn't end up having a huge amount to do with the central drama when they finally got into that. Once it gets to it, it's fine. It's built up a bit for what it is, but as I said, many of the reactions in the book seem outsized. But will I pick up another Ruth Ware book? Yeah, probably because it will be available and I won't have anything else in mind and I like a mystery, even if it's not great.

Rating: 3 stars

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell

It's been a while since I've read much by Rowell. She's moved onto doing a lot of Simon Snow stuff and good for her, but not for me. This, however, is a collection of short stories about love. Teen love, 30-year-old love, married love, fantasy love and yes, even some Simon Snow love. I've read a couple of the short stories before in a book for World Book Day and the stories are just as sweet as I remembered them. Because for the most part, that's how I'd describe the stories. They're sweet. The stakes are for the most part low and for the most part cozy. That's not to say it's the same for every story, and things never felt repetitive. And she does revisit some past characters, like Regan from Fangirl and Beth and Jennifer from Attachments, which really makes me want to reread that one.

Rating: 4.5

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Guide to Unapologetic Living by Jes Baker

I can't remember why I originally added this to my TBR. I really should start adding notes when I add things to my Want To Read list. Except I'm never going to do that, because that requires more work than just clicking a button. Anyway, I can't remember why I put it on my list but who doesn't love some body positivity? The book was originally published in 2015 and while that really isn't very long ago, there is something about the book that felt very dated. The style of writing and the numerous references to Tumblr probably did it and honestly got a little tiring at a point. Overall the message is good, and the book itself was fine.

Rating: 3 stars

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

I was looking for some sort of mystery or thriller and this one was...available. I think I put it in the same bucket as Ruth Ware's stuff which as I mentioned just above, has been a bit of a mixed bag. I didn't really know what to expect. Good news is I was pleasantly surprised. It's got multiple narrators (love it) and switches back and forth between present and recent past until the 2 timelines intersect. A wedding of two rich, fancy people at an out-of-the-way Irish island during a storm and something goes wrong. Things seem off among a number of the guests and many people seem to have secrets. Lots of fun and everyone seems to be a suspect.

Rating: 4 stars

Me, My Hair and I: Twenty-Seven Women Untangle an Obsession edited by Elizabeth Benedict

Hair can be a funny thing. It can mean so much beyond just adornment or part of the body. It can represent culture and religion, aging and family. This is a collection of essays about hair and the role they have played in various women's lives. While there is some diversity among the contributors (though could be more) there is one trend you notice as you read through: most of the essays are written by women who live in and around NYC, are of a certain age (~60s at the time of writing), and went to a college such as Barnard. Multiple times the writers name drop specific stylists and I don't know if I'm supposed to know who they are (spoiler: I did not). Because of this there is some level of repetition and it would have been nice if perhaps we looked for a few different viewpoints.

Rating: 3.25 stars

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I love this book so much. I had to take a work trip to Austin and was looking for something to read on the plane. I brought my Kindle with me so I'd have some choices and planned to read some true crime book I had bought a few years ago but never read. And then I had no desire to read it. But having recently read a different Rowell, she was on my mind, so I figured I'd give this a reread. That was so smart of me because I love this book so so much. It's so cute and so sweet and so funny and I wish I could be friends with all of them and when I realized I was getting near the end of the book I considered MAYBE I should restart the book as soon as I finish it because I wasn't ready for it to end.

Rating: 5 stars

How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made The Modern World by Steven Johnson

A story of how inventions and innovations have shaped the world in a number of ways that couldn't have been foreseen when people were first tinkering around. Like glass, first used to make decorations, later glassware, windows, eye glasses, fiber optics and all of the benefits that go along. The book has an interesting premise but was sort of dry for something that is supposed to be more of a pop history. It's an interesting premise and perhaps it would work better as an actual book (vs the audio kind). 

Rating: 3 stars

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

Three generations of Vietnamese women who have been living under a curse. No one in the fmaily will find love. No one will find happiness. And they are all doomed to have only...daughters! (GASP). Most of the family is estranged from one another going years, even decades between talking to each other, and when they do meet up, don't be surprised if fruit goes flying. But a psychic tells the family that there will be one death, one wedding and one birth in the year so the family makes efforts to grow and mend. There are multiple narrators which usually I love, though here I found it hard to keep up with who everyone was since there are SO many characters. The story had very funny moments but it was hard to say that it was actually a comedic novel. But overall I did enjoy the book

Rating: 3.75 stars

Total pages read

2,435

Fiction

63%

Female authors

88%

BIPOC authors

88% (though some authors in the Me, Myself and I book are not white, I just have Elizabeth Benedict the editor included as the author cos basically my tracker can't handle more than one author)

US authors

75%

Book format

audiobook: 75%

ebook: 25%

Where'd I get the book

Kindle/Audible: 25%

Library: 75%

Rereads

13%

Decade published

2010s: 63%

2020s: 38%

Resolution books

38%

The Lying Game and The Guest List are both by UK authors

The Fortunes of Jaded Women is by a BIPOC author

The (Reading) Freedom That Comes With Acknowledgement

I like tracking my reading. I really do. I find it helpful to know what I read, when I read it. I like the act of writing it down, of looking at what my totals look like, what were my reading trends

However, there was a negative I found in all of this. I tended to finish books. That sounds stupid as a negative right? Of course I finished books. That's the goal. But I tended to finish books EVEN if I wasn't enjoying them. Because I had invested time in them. Because if I didn't finish them then they wouldn't count towards my totals. Totals that do not matter at all. Something I am well aware of. But it still held me back unless a book was TERRIBLE.

Recently, I started a bullet journal of the books I'm reading. This is just to keep track of what my reading looks like, visually, over time. What days am I reading. Maybe a bit of how quickly or not am I reading.

I've found something else. I am less concerned about giving up a book that isn't clicking with me. Because I have it written here. It is acknowledged. It's still not counted towards any totals. I still "lost time" reading it that could have gone to something else. But who cares. I'll drop it and if it strike my fancy later, I'll pick it up again some other time. Or I won't.

To be clear, I don't entirely know why. It's not like I think the few people still reading this (hi!) care how much I'm reading or when. No one is actually keeping track, making judgements. But it is enough and it's crazy how many books I feel like I'm getting through without actively trying to read more.

We'll see if this keeps up or if things settle back to where they typically sit. But for now, I'm enjoying things.

eBooks, it's been a while

Did you know the last time I finished reading an ebook was in 2020? It was the book Toddlers Are Assholes: It's Not Your Fault by Bunmi Laditan. I'm sure the fact that I was dealing with my own toddler while in COVID confinement had nothing to do with that selection

Anyway, April of 2020 was my last ebook. Before that things were trailing off a bit. The ebook before that was December of 2019 (Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner).

I didn't make a conscious decision to not read ebooks. It's just that once the little monster showed up and then I changed jobs to one that didn't require hours per day on public transportation in favor of one that required about an hour a day in the car, my reading switched over to audiobooks. In 2018, 50% of the books I read were ebooks. In 2019, that dropped to 12%. In 2020, it was just 2%. And then nothing. Not a single ebook in all of 2021 and 2022.

Why do I bring this up? Because, as I mentioned recently, I'm trying to do more non-audiobook reading in the evenings whenever I can grab a few minutes. It's an effort to go back to something I enjoy and spend less time scrolling through social media. So I've been reading the various books I have strewn around the living room and it's been mostly working out. But here's the thing. 99% of my books are packed away in boxes because we're only in this place temporarily. I do have a paperback book sitting in front of me I haven't read yet (American Dirt) but I'm not really in the mood for it. So I was trying to figure out what do I want to read? Do I dig through all of the boxes (so many boxes) to try to find a book I feel like reading?

Then I found my Kindle. The battery had long since died but I managed to find a charger that fit it and lo and behold, the thing turns on. And it turns out, I've downloaded books on there that I never read. Books that look interesting and that I would like to read. Good job, past me. 

Now I have some more books to read that won't require me to unpack a bunch of boxes and I can continue to read in the evening. 

February Reading Wrap-Up+

Alright, another month has passed. Better than January? Worse? Who's to say? It was a stressful month for me, which may or may not have affected the amount of reading I got done. Not that it was terrible but I feel like I had some fits and starts finding something I felt like reading and then finding the time to do it. But I still actually made it through a lot this month now that I actually look at those stats. This is why I track things instead of just relying on my thoughts. 

Let's look at this bullet journal for the month, because I have managed to keep up with this so far! 

Total books read

5

The Mothers by Brit Bennet

Klara and the Son by Kazou Ishiguro

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The Mothers by Brit Bennet

I had apparently downloaded a copy of this book through a Libro.fm sale and then forgot about it. So when I didn't know what to read, this seemed like a good choice. It's a complicated story following motherless Nadia and Aubrey, the local pastor's son Luke, and the ties to their Oceanside community. The story is complicated, or at least I've spent a good 20 min trying to summarize it in a few lines and have failed. It was a story I couldn't binge but instead would listen to in smaller spurts. I liked the prose and the role of the Mothers (a sort of chorus) when they were more directly involved with the characters. 

Rating: 4 stars

Klara and the Sun by Kazou Ishiguro

I actually won one of the Goodreads giveaways and actually started this book back in January but given this is one of the paperback books rather than an audiobook, it took me a bit longer to get through. That and it took a bit of time to get into the story and really figure out what's going on (and tbf, not sure I got all the way there). Taking place in the near future, Klara is an AF (artificial friend). Basically a robot friend but one that you can boss around without feeling bad about it. Klara is bought by a young sick girl Josie to keep her company as she spends time at home studying on her "oblong" (phone, I suppose) and trying to get better. Another story that is difficult to summarize in a few lines as we try to understand Klara's role in this world and Klara tries to understand exactly what will be expected of her with this family.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

I like the ways seemingly small things in the modern world had big effects on history. And salt had some big effects on the geopolitics of the world, while I sometimes use salt to clean my cast iron pan. This feels like a comprehensive history and by that I mean Kurlansky goes off on some tangents that are only kind of related to salt, which made for a pretty dry read/listen from time to time. But it always managed to stay on this side of interesting so while I considered putting this down, I never followed through. I suppose that's something.

Rating: 3 stars

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

I couldn't find a book I was really excited about that was available from the library so I dug into some audiobooks I had on my phone already and decided Irby's is the way to go and is definitely something different from the difficult lit fic picks and very dry history I had recently finished. A series of deprecating essays about aging, GI issues and actually finding success with her weird blog (and previous books). The stories are very funny and the fact that she narrates the audiobook makes it that much better. I found myself speaking in her cadence a couple times. Good choice, me.

Rating: 4.25 stars

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Another Goodreads giveaway! Pretty sure I was entertaining these things for like 10 years before winning anything and then it was 2 in one month. Anyway, LOVED THIS. Vera Wong wakes up bright and early one morning to find a dead body in her tea shop. And since "nobody sniffs out wrongdoings quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands" she decides to take on the investigation herself. Vera is a force and I loved her. I loved all of the suspects she pulled together as well as she tries to get to the bottom of what happened. OK the mystery isn't perfect and I literally just finished it so it's possible my feelings will cool slightly, but honestly, Vera pulled me through and hopefully there will be more for Vera to tackle in the future

Rating: 4.85 stars

Total Pages Read

1,744

Fiction

60%

Female authors

60%

BIPOC authors

80%

US authors

60%

Book format

audiobook: 60%

paperback: 40%

Where'd I get the book

gift: 40%

indie: 20%

Kindle/Audible: 20%

library: 20%

Reread

20%

Book club

20%

Decade published

2000s: 20%

2010s: 20%

2020s: 60%

Resolution books

80%

The Mothers and Wow, No Thank You are both written by Black authors

Klara and the Sun is written by a Japanese-English author

Very Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is by an Indonesian-Singaporean author

January Reading Wrap-Up+

First month of the new year. Feeling motivated? Ready to take on the year?

We tripped right at the starting line with the new year this year. I mentioned in my year end wrap up post, but the small one tested positive for COVID right as he was about to go back to school. He was luckily ok (asymptomatic), we never tested positive and neither did the people we were around before he tested positive. 

This month I am trying to do more reading a night. Not just listening to audiobooks throughout the day, as I've been doing, but making time, however little, to sit down with a physical book and read. It's something that is easier to say than do since I have a small window after the little one goes to bed, before I go to bed, to do everything: unwind, catch up on TV that isn't children's programming (though seriously, check out Bluey), see what's happening online. Anything. But a friend got me a copy of The Bullet That Missed, the latest Thursday Murder Club book and what was I going to do, not read that immediately? Don't be stupid.

One other new thing I started doing is this bullet journal for reading. As if I didn't have enough spreadsheets going. I actually wrote about half a post about it and then...never finished it. So the year is starting out strong. Anyway, here's a screenshot of what my January reading looked like. I like this because it gives me a quick visual of when I'm reading. And it's easy to see how much quicker audiobooks go for me than any other kind.

Total books read

7

She Kills Me: The True Stories of History's Deadliest Women by Jennifer Wright

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'em Dead by Elle Cosimano

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Shur

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

She Kills Me: The True Stories of History's Deadliest Women by Jennifer Wright

Similar to another book of Wright's (It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History) this book is sort of a listicle on steroids. Here Wright lists out 40 women from various points in history who committed murder, sometimes a few (though I mean, sure, one is too many) to too-many-to-count. I listened to this and each woman was given roughly 5-10 minutes so only a few paragraphs worth of information. What was there was interesting but ultimately I would have preferred if there were fewer entries that went into more detail.

Rating 3.25 stars

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

The third in the Thursday Murder Club series and OH MAN do I love this quartet of septuagenarian detectives. The group are looking into a cold case of a journalist who went missing, her car driven off a cliff, right after she was about to break a story about money laundering. Meanwhile Elizabeth is (briefly) kidnapped with the ultimatum to kill a former KGB operative or have someone she cares about killed. I won't go into too much more detail cos it's very fun to find things out with the crew. These books are just so much fun as much for the foursome (and the people sucked into their gravitational pull) as it is for the mystery itself. I may need to re-read the entire series while I wait for the next book to come out.

Rating: 5 stars

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano

OK, it may have been unfair to this and The Bullet That Missed at the same time. Both are murder mysteries so they occupy a similar genre (Cozy? Cozy-adjacent? I'm still not entirely clear) and while both are entertaining, sorry, Osman's are much better. I say this as I'm sure it somewhat colored by reading. Anyway, this is the second in the Finlay Donovan series, where we pick up right where the first book left off (spoilers), after helping send a high ranking member of the Russian mob to jail with Finay finding a post on a message board from someone looking to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband. What can she and Vero do to keep Steven safe, what is Vero hiding from her, can she get her next book finished in time to keep her editor and agent off her back, and should she sleep with the hot law student or the hot detective? Lots of questions and honestly, Finlay isn't exactly the sharpest detective, which is endearing at times as well as extremely frustrating. The story is engaging, though I'm a little annoyed at the ending for spoilery reasons that holds it back

Rating: 3.95 stars

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

This was a favorite read of last year and gotta tell you, it really holds up on a second read. A great look at the ways "cults", be them religious, MLMs, workouts, use language. It's fascinating and I was going to say without being judgmental but yeah, it is judgmental at time (and I'd say with good reason). But it's generally not judgmental of those taken in by the language but rather of the institutions that use them. One I'm sure I'll reread again.

Rating: 5 stars

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

A book club selection, the story about a woman named Ruth whose personal life has blown up. Her finance, whom she left school just seven months shy of graduating to be with, has left her for someone else. She finds herself 30 and a bit directionless, so when her father's health prompts her mother to ask her to spend a year at home helping to take care of him, she takes the opportunity and documents the days in her journal. Much of the book is focused on her relationship with her father and helping to take care of him as his recent Alzheimer's diagnosis gets worse.  (Something most summaries leave out and would have been nice to know for most of us going into reading this for our book club.) Almost all of the characters are well-developed and three dimensional (though her mother could use some work) and while no one is perfect, there is little judgment cast about. The story isn't too heavy, despite the weighty conceit, but there isn't a huge amount of growth or change from the characters

Rating: 3.75 stars

How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Shur

I will start this by saying I love the The Good Place. It was, and is, one of my favorite shows. That alone was enough to get me to check out this book (that and a positive review from the podcast For Real). This book is Shur's collection of everything he learned about moral philosophy in his research for the show. It's a layman's introduction to moral philosophy that is funny and the audiobook is read by Shur and a bunch of actors from The Good Place. The concepts he goes into can be difficult and contradictory and frustrating, but Shur makes it accessible. I was disappointed when I realized the book was ending; I could have easily done another hour

Rating: 5 stars

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

When I saw Grohl had written a book and not only that but narrated the audiobook, it was a no brainer to check it out. It's a collection of essays about Grohl's life and it's been a crazy one. The opening essay was my favorite, with Grohl mixing his life as a dad with how he got to the point of playing sold out stadiums. And admittedly, my favorite stories were the ones that involved his family and where he is now. But that's not to say that the stories of him getting his musical start, playing in Nirvana, almost joining Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, forming the Foo Fighters and 1000 other things. At times the stories involve a lot of lists, of musicians and bands, producers and venues that can get a bit repetitive. And the stories could have VERY easily gone into a boring "look how great I am" territory (and there is a LOT of name dropping) but Grohl manages to come off so humbled by everything that has happened to him. Highly recommend listening to him telling the stories

Rating: 3.5 stars

Total pages read

2,098 - I was on a role in Jan. Will I be able to keep this up throughout the year? Probably not

Fiction

43%

Female authors

57%

BIPOC authors

14%

US authors

86%

Book format

Audiobook: 86%

Hardback: 14%

Where'd I get the book

Gift: 29%

Kindle/Audible: 14%

Library: 57%

Reread

14%

Book club

14%

Decade published

2010s: 14%

2020s: 86%

Resolution

29%

The Bullet That Missed is by a UK author

Goodbye, Vitamin is by an Asian-American author