I was so excited to read Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus that I stopped what I was doing to read the second I got the notification from Netgalley that I got the galley. I had been looking forward to this book since I first saw her tweet about the deal. Continue reading
Category Archives: nonfiction
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption by Katy Kelleher
I was so excited to read this book. It sounded tailor made for me and I’ve followed the author online for a long time. I love the history of objects and reading about our personal connections to them. I just didn’t really enjoy it. I wish she had decided to write a memoir about her … Continue reading
Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool by Clara Parkes
Vanishing Fleece was fairly interesting but I can’t get over that she built a career of writing about yarn but never, until this book, knew much about how it was made? I still don’t know how much she knows, a lot of the details are a little glossed over—she talks about things like ply, staple … Continue reading
Weaving Rag Rugs: A Women’s Craft in Western Maryland by Geraldine Niva Johnson
I enjoyed Weaving Rag Rugs, I think it was her PhD thesis, but I never felt like she answered why rag rug weaving has/had such a stronghold in this particular county in Maryland. Or if it’s not more popular there than in other areas, why chose to focus here? I did get a feel of … Continue reading
Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us Edited by Colleen Kinder
I joined a virtual book tour for Letter to a Stranger because the concept was so fun! I spent a lot of time pre-pandemic eavesdropping and wondering about the people I encountered in my every day life so a book of essays about the strangers that drift in and out of all our lives. This … Continue reading
Bon Appétempt: A Coming of Age Story (with recipes!) by Amelia Morris
Bon Appétempt: A Coming of Age Story (with recipes!) by Amelia Morris is one of those memoirs written by a person who doesn’t seem to understand what she is telling us about herself. Some warnings—She has massive unreflected on privilege and an eating disorder she passes off as “dieting”. She got the book deal off … Continue reading
Gentrifier: A Memoir by Anne Elizabeth Moore
I am a lifelong resident of Baltimore, a city that has a fair amount in common with Detroit so I was interested in reading Gentrifier: A Memoir by Anne Elizabeth Moore I was really disappointed. She presents most of the stories as sort of vignettes without a lot of depth or discussion. This happened, this happened, … Continue reading
Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James
The first section of Admissions was great but faltered about two-thirds in. I wish she had talked about school and then had an afterward where she talked about current issues and how she got into recruiting. That was sort of sprinkled in and at times I didn’t think it made sense to juxtapose it with … Continue reading
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America by Mayukh Sen
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America by Mayukh Sen was a true disappointment. The idea is great and I like the women they chose to focus on but the writing is poor and convoluted. It reminded me a lot of the work I’ve read by high school students. Lots of sources, mostly … Continue reading
Extra Salty: Jennifer’s Body (Pop Classics #11) by Frederick Blichert
Extra Salty has some good points but missed the boat on some finer details. Chris Pratt was on a long-running teen show at the time, Kyle Gallner was on Veronica Mars and he acted like they were complete unknowns. Poorly edited and all over the place. I wish someone else had written it because Jennifer’s … Continue reading