bookbrig's reviews
1771 reviews

These books aren't great, though they also aren't terrible, but for some reason I'm finding them weirdly compelling. This was a more satisfying outcome than the last book, so it has that going for it I guess? 

This book is so much fun. It's also HUGE and I had to read it at a table or propped on a pillow because it's super heavy. But that's because it's full of gorgeous giant photographs, which really let you see the detail on so many of the outfits. Part memoir, part archive recounting, and part fashion history, I think it did a great job mixing photos and anecdotes. 

The very few bits where it talks about her figure and how she may choose to modify it for clothes were the only awkward parts, because it sort of alludes to the corsetry required but doesn't talk much about beauty standards or more surgical modifications. Which makes sense, because it's about the clothes and not about her body in that way, and also she shouldn't have to talk about that stuff if she's not inclined. But I feel like the text  kept calling attention to her proportions only to then cut away abruptly from that conversation, and it was the one kind of off-key part of the read for me. 

Would still highly recommend if you have any interest in fashion at all, because the photographs are just so amazing and the whole book is a beautiful time capsule. 

Once I stopped working with teens, I decided to just let myself dnf some of the YA fic I'd been reading. This is solid, and I would easily recommend it to readers, but I just wasn't in the mood to keep reading.

This was super overdue, so I returned it. I also didn't care much for the audio version, so I don't think I'll pick it up again. That said, it's got lots of great animal information and would be perfect for a research project. It's a bit more dry than I was anticipating for a casual non-fiction read though.

There's lots of interesting information here, and if you enjoyed the author's Colors book this is very much in that vein. Another lovely audio, but it did feel a bit like the human cost got crammed in a bit at the end. It's definitely there, but the ending felt a little abrupt and I would have appreciated some more time spent on the ethical parts introduced at the end.

I'm reading this series a little at a time because it's cozy mystery whatever. Which is nice! But this particular installment is not great. The mystery resolution comes after some very twisty plotting that seemed to be leading somewhere interesting and then it just... folds into itself and ends. Not a satisfying ending at all. I'm going to try one more, and then maybe I'll have these out of my system. We'll see!

This was overdue and I hadn't made much progress so I returned it. I may come back again to give it a try when the holds list dies down after the movie.

Engaging, but also pretty light. It reminds me a lot of On Animals by Susan Orlean, which I also listened to. There's a bit about Octavia the octopus that will be familiar if you've read The Soul of an Octopus, but it wasn't bad to read about her again. 

With the most recent book release I thought I'd read one of Evanovich's books. It was a quick read, and I mostly liked Stephanie. I'm going to try one more, but if it's got more threat of sexual violence stuff then this probably isn't the series for me. 

Simple cozy mystery, with a lovely audiobook reader who had just a touch of Maine in her voice. The method of murder was a little silly/funny, but it was a quick and relatively engaging read. Mostly made me want to watch some Murder, She Wrote, honestly.