The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays by Irena Smith was the rare book that really surprises me with it’s content. In retrospect I can see how the title can be read both ways–her life written in the style of college admissions essays or her life in college admissions essays. It is a … Continue reading
The book is cute and has a ton of novelty pie recipes in it if that is your thing. The essays about her life growing up were the strongest most cohesive parts of the book. However big takeaway for me was how many references to beer and drinking there were. Nearly every story about a … Continue reading
Honestly, I was a little disappointed by Unraveled. I almost didn’t request it because I had her confused with the odious Peggy Noonan and thought what a waste of a good idea on her! Then I realized my mistake and waited weeks to get it. I thought this would be a real book highlight of … Continue reading
Honestly, I read Congratulations! The Best is Over as soon as I was offered the galley because I was baffled that a man who said he grew up in Baltimore could get so much wrong about the city and state of Maryland in his last book. In this one he admits he has no sense … Continue reading
I always love her memoirs and writing in general and this one filled in some gaps in her life’s story. I love how she writes about her biological mother and how fraught that relationship is. She writes very honestly about her father and how he has changed into a very different man with her children … Continue reading
I agreed with the title, they should not be friends but not for the reasons the author seems to think. Maxey is an interesting, accepting, loving larger-than-life character. I enjoyed reading about his interesting and passionate life quite a bit. However, I never got a great feel for the author at all. What did he … Continue reading
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
I didn’t read her first book until right before I picked this one up. As I read it, I thought she really should have made it a memoir about how she became obsessed with Adan Syed during what seemed like many low points during her life. She talked a lot about her personal life in … Continue reading
I will say up front I never really watched Friends, have no real interest in Friends, and even when it was first airing I felt it was an oddly retrograde throwback show to an imaginary all-white NYC where no one really had to work to live. That said, it was impossible to avoid reading about … Continue reading
I was never a horse girl but I love reading books about people and niche interests. I felt like this was a little flat. Despite her talks about therapy, I felt like there was very little introspection. How did she grow up to be a fatphobic woman with an eating disorder, depression, stagnant marriage who … Continue reading
Rachel Reads Books 