jessicacalkins's reviews
313 reviews

A Parkinson's Primer: An Indispensable Guide to Parkinson's Disease for Patients and Their Families by John M. Vine

informative medium-paced

5.0

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.25

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery by Catherine Gildiner

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The writing was kind of bland and so poorly edited at times that it frequently took me out of the story, but I am still giving this book a high rating because the story itself was very intriguing and immersive. 

I think Noah’s internal struggle with who he is can be thought-provoking to anyone, about whether or not every human life does actually have true value like some preach. I mean, if that were the case, then why do we treat certain people so horribly? Why don’t we look at each person relative to their unique circumstances? Why do we generalize everyone? Because it’s easier on our brains to just assume?

The ending also took be my surprise, which doesn’t happen often, so I really appreciated that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness [With CD] by Zindel V. Segal, Mark Williams, John Teasdale
Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.

I didn’t finish reading this book because it was phony and the writing also irritated me. It is the first book I ever wanted to stab and then throw into a pit of fire.

My father's eyes, my mother's rage by Rose Brik

reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find-and Keep-Love by Rachel S.F. Heller, Amir Levine

informative medium-paced

4.0