Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In my last review I talked about not getting a glimpse into life of an ordinary North Korean, well I should have picked this one up first. It gives a glimpse into the life of about 6 North Koreans. It was very engaging and is one of the best nonfiction books I've read.

But as much as the North Korean regime was willing to accept foreign food, it rejected the foreigners who came along with it. Aid agencies trying to help were initially restricted to Pyongyang and other carefully groomed locations. When they were allowed out of their offices and hotels, shabbily dressed people were ordered off the streets: during visits to schools and orphanages only the best-dressed and best-fed could be seen. The government was asking for more aid and at same time concealing the most in need.

That same day I read that paragraph I was watching a documentary about North Korea (Inside North Korea's Dynasty on Hulu, episode 3) and it showed a jaundiced little girl wearing rouge to make her appear healthier. That image haunted me.



Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Nonfiction

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A River in Darkness: One Man'es Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa

A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A few years ago I heard about the book Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West and gobbled it up. I was horrified at what I read. I then became fascinated with learning about North Korea and watched as many documentaries as I could. Masaji may not have had it as bad as Shin Dong-Hyuk, but its still far removed than anything most other people have experienced.

Between all the media I've consumed I've never gotten a feel for what daily living is like in North Korea. (The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea comes close, but its fiction.) Masaji does an excellent at giving us a snapshot at what life is like.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Memoir/Autobiography

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The Sister Wife by Diane Noble

The Sister Wife by Diane Noble
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first half almost read like Mormon lit but there were 2 differences. Mormon lit would have made the story about their conversion, not their romance and would have given Brigham Young a bigger part.

Being exmormon I've read stories about polygamy before but this is the first one that was about a romance, not the polygamy. The last third of the book actually started reading like a romance set in the 19th century.

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Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Everybody has a cause they're passionate about. The cause they would walk to the ends of the earth for. Mine is LGBTQ Mormon suicides.

I was a TBM (totally brainwashed Mormon) up until the age of 23. That's when I was introduced to liberalism. For the next 4 years I challenged myself on everything I thought I knew. Eventually I got to the place where I could no longer be a mormon and I submitted my resignation last November.

You think I'm just going to walk away from the mormon church when people are killing themselves? Hell no. But unfortunately I used up what little voice I have when I submitted my resignation.

You know what I'm here to talk about a book, and while I could go on and on about the mormon church I won't. (But feel free to ask!)

Despite what I said at the opening there is no suicide. But this book touches on what really drives LGBTQ Mormons to think that is their only way out.

I'm asexual and only recently discovered that. Sometime when I was a teen I realized I was attracted to women the same way I was attracted to men (aesthetically). This terrified me. If I was terrified at the possibility of being gay, I can't imagine what actually being gay would be like.

Mormonism was portrayed pretty actually. Though I'll admit I skipped the parts explaining bits of mormon culture/doctrine because I know it pretty well. I was trying to figure out if the author is exmormon or nevermo (never been a mormon) and there were some inconsistencies that made me believe she's nevermo, and I was right.

Truthfully I did find some parts boring, mostly the youth activities. Are they really that boring? I had fun with them when I was a teen.

They stare at the strip mall sign, with the three largest businesses advertised in bold letters: Deseret Book. Emergency Essentials. Avenia Bridal.
"This all very LDS," she agrees.



Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Book
Best YA
Read Before You Die Award

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The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

People said it was smutty but I was so intrigued by reviews that I just had to read it. I thought it couldn't be that smutty.

It was pretty smutty.

Smutty isn't my taste but there was enough of a plot around the smut that I enjoyed reading it.

If I wasn't married I would claim Michael as my book boyfriend. Hell, my husband isn't on Goodreads let alone reads so I'll claim him anyway.

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Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'll admit I was ignorant about apartheid. I guess I thought it was like Jim Crow so I didn't feel the need to look into it. Trevor Noah explained it in a way that I got it, all while giving me a laugh. So the fact that I got to laugh and learn something makes this a 5 star.

It's not told chronologically. Rather, he chose to do it by topic. It was like he did an outline and filled in the details as he went. It was confusing at times, but the change of outline was refreshing.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Memoir/Autobiography
LOL Award

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The Abbot's Tale by Conn Iggulden

The Abbot's Tale by Conn Iggulden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would normally give a book like this a rating of 3 or 3.5. There were moments when I was just reading to read and not because I was enjoying it. I don't even remember these parts. Dunstan talked a lot about his work and that was a bore.

I found the language incredibly beautiful though. Dunstan is basically writing an autobiography. He writes with the dignity of a man late in his years looking back at his life. However, there are moments when this dignity is dropped and you can tell he is reliving the moment. Particularly when he is talking about his adolescent urges and the battle.



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Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Renni Eddo-Lodge

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

It was slightly more readable than I thought it would be. It started off as a blog post and it kept the blog post feel to it. I feel like I should have been taking notes for some chapters as I didn't absorb any of the information. I didn't learn anythig new from it but I can see some people benefiting from reading it.

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Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The only thing from this entire thing that I didn't believe was that a Mormon girl wouldn't know who the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was. Her father was a radical but she still attended a mainstream Mormon church. They never watched General Conference? A Mormon would have at least recognized MoTab from General Conference.

There were a few times she tried to make mormonism more palatable to the nevermos (people who have never been mormon) reading. For instance she called it a "christening" when its just a baby blessing. I don't know what a christening is but a baby blessing is when the father lays his hands on the baby and gives them a name and a blessing, usually in front of the congregation. Another time she used the word "congregation" wehn she should have used "ward. But I'm being nitpicky, I know how strange mormonism is to those who don't know anything about it.

She doesn't say it in the memoir, but I think it was her junior year at BYU she lost her faith in mormonism completely. She mentions tasting her first coffee and wine which is a huge fucking deal to those who were once "true believing mormons" (as is swearing [at least for me], which I'm still working on). That's probably not all that jarring to nevermos out there.

The author didn't do a good enough job of setting the scene because I had a hard time picturing everything.

This is the first memoir I've read where the author admits that their memory is faulty and has gotten several different versions from family members. That's actually how memory works and it was refreshing to see it.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Memoir/Autobiography

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Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm torn on this one.

On one hand I want to tell people to run away screaming from this book. On the other I found it an entertaining read.

It seemed like all the good stuff happened outside of the book and we only got to hear about them. Instead of reading about battles we got to read about Circe turning men into pigs. It kind of felt like I was sitting at the lame kid's table while staring longingly at the cool kid's table.

I didn't find Circe likable. I know she's a god but I still can't think of a good reason to do the things she did. She was a bitch.

I had some problems with the language. It was narrative style so a lot of stuff was described, and rather simply too.

It was an entertaining, it wasn't a chore to read but I wasn't excited about reading it either.

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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kristin Hannah didn't have a blurb for this at first because it was hard to write a blurb for it and I can see why now. The blurb it has now doesn't do it justice, I don't like giving away more than what the blurb says so I'll leave it at that.

The book took me through so many different emotions, sadness, happiness, fear. I will say this book romanticizes the idea of living in Alaska, I could see some people pulling a Chris McCandless and walking Into the Wild, but I think it also does a good job of portraying the realities. I don't know if living there now would be anything like the book portrays.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best 2018 Release
Best Historical Fiction


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Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I were still a romance novel addict this would have been the perfect book. One thing I like about Nicholas Sparks's books is he's heavy on the romance and light on the sex and because the main character is asexual this book is all romance. It's not just romance either. Alice is struggling with her identity and what she wants to do with her life.

I'd say this is one of my favorite books this year but it seems I've been liberal with my 5 star ratings recently. But it did remind of the feel of one of my all time favorites Finding Audrey, so I think its in the running.

Winner Shannon's Choice Awards 2018:
Best Book
Best 2018 Release
Best YA
Nicholas Sparks Award

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The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'll admit I was bored by the beginning. I was expecting a novel about the girl with wings. The first half was about her past, her grandmother and mother. While feeling a little bored by it I also found I couldn't put it down.

I love novels set here in Western Washington, I love reading names of places that I've been or recognize. This novel even mentions where I live.

Those born under Pacific Northwest skies are like daffodils: they can achieve beauty only after a long, cold sulk in the rain.

It's true. While I love the few months we have sun here, there's nothing quite like the gray skies and soft rain, it feels like home.

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The Book of Separation: A Memoir by Tova Mirvis

The Book of Separation: A Memoir by Tova Mirvis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While not being a complete look into the world of Orthodox Judaism, it does give you an idea of what its like. I will admit to knowing almost nothing about it, I don't even know all the branches of Judaism or what separates them.

There's not a lot of action; the memoir is about leaving Orthodoxy behind and most of that is a mental battle.

There were a few false endings. She was using the dreamy epilogue style prose and wrapping it up. But then after all those false starts it just ended. Maybe a rework of the final chapters are in order?

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We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We're not words, Henry, we're people. Words are how others define us, but we can define ourselves any way we choose.

It's not very often a book can make you laugh and cry and want to punch someone in the face, but this book did. It was a great combination of humor, nerdom, and serious. It explored serious subjects like bullying, suicide, and (view spoiler)[pregnancy loss (hide spoiler)] while telling a great story.

Only an idiot could prefer Matt Smith to David Tennant.

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Shannon's Choice Awards 2017

Best Book:



Best 2017 Release:



Best YA:



Best Historical Fiction:



Best Nonfiction:



Nicholas Sparks award:



The movie award:



LOL award:



Snooze Award:



Read before you die award:



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The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the 4th or 5th time I have read this. (I haven't been keeping track. I know there was the time I was a teenager and the time Goodreads has listed but was there 1 or 2 more times between there? I'm not sure.) I always skip the first part and most of the italics, but since I was reading for book club this time I read it (to be honest I skipped most of the parentheses if they were too long though) and I remembered why I always skip it. I have also never read Buttercup's Baby, I don't know why I have just never wanted to, let's hope it doesn't come up at book club.

It was only a couple of years ago that I learned this book is satire. (I don't know why I didn't know it, Goldman says it many times that it is satire, though I do tend to skip those parts.) And now I can fully appreciate the satirical nature of it. The parentheses portion (the short ones) have always been one of my favorite parts about this book. How can something be before Europe but after America? Now I realize its all part of the satire.

During this read through I realized this is the only book thus far that I have been able to pay attention to the action scenes. I'm not sure why, it might have something to do with the fact that its more technical based than just he landed a punch and then he jumped. The fencing part was all fencing jargon and I learned awhile ago that some are real fencing terms. (They could all be fencing terms, I don't know. I have actually heard some of those terms.)

This is all one of the few movies that is actually better than the book. Like I said I skip some of the parts and the movie leaves out all of those parts. It also cuts out Inigo's and Fezzik's back stories which I found a bore when I was younger ( though not so much anymore).

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Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Burned by Ellen Hopkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Don't let the thick spine fool you, it's a quick, easy read. I devoured it in about 3 sittings. Despite the verse format it flows nicely, there were times i forgot about the wonky format and read it like a novel.

I'm not sure I like the portrayal of mormons. It's just the life on one family. I'm not saying there aren't people like this sitting in sacrament meeting, just that they're the exception. I don't know if the author was ever mormon, my guess is not, but the portrayal of mormons was fairly accurate, if from a different perspective than a completely faithful one.

Winner of Shannon's Choice Award 2017:
Best YA


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One Half from the east by Nadia Hashimi

One Half from the East by Nadia Hashimi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a great companion novel to The Pearl That Broke Its Shell. This might be a spoiler, I wasn't reading too carefully, but this is told from the point-of-view of Rahim/a's best friend when she was a bacha posh, Obayd/a. But it's just that, a companion story, it doesn't add very much just goes into more detail about what its like actually being a bacha posh.

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The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

This was an excellent book. Andy Weir really knows how to write a book. Mark Watney was a very likeable character, he knew just how to add suspense, this thing was a masterpiece. However, I was bored by the science-y parts, there comes a point where you're just reading words on a page and don't understand anything, that was the science-y parts for me.

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