Alyssa

Gripping Puzzles

Revisado: 12-02-22

The author hit the sweet spot between keeping me guessing but making the final result unavoidable.

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Best Biology Book I've Ever Read! Fun Read!

Revisado: 07-30-22

Jaw dropping surprises, hilarious creatures, creepy crawlers, and sex too! This is the most exciting nonfiction I've read! But Lucy Cooke is definitely a qualified zoologist who has done all her research, though she's the most amusing biology writer I've ever read.

She really turns a lot of concepts we thought we knew on their heads, but it's only because she looks more closely at the evidence and tries to limit confirmation bias.

Feel like, as a female, you're only expected to produce and care for kids, hide behind males, and be helpless in your fate? Finally, a biologist who kicks those assumptions in the nuts!

Feel like, as a male, you're expected to be the strongest, bravest, wealthiest, guy who hides his emotions and distances himself from kids? Finally, a biologist who cultivates the variety in males.

And everyone in between.

I'm a huge fan of hers, just because of this book. I'm going to read all her old books now, and look forward to her book on males. I have a list of people I'm going to recommend this book to, as well!!

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Controversial, Imaginative and Realistic

Revisado: 10-29-21

This book has a very touchy subject: fathers leaving their children and wives. Thus anyone who has had exposure to it and still feels hatred towards their father or guilt for being that father will probably throw the book at the wall before they finish the book, and gripe about the dad being too evil.

Seems like the 1 star reviewers didn't read the whole book. Everything that's completely unjust and upsetting in the first half will be poetic and maybe even understandable by the end.

I absolutely loved that part of the book BECAUSE I have a father like that AND I've been looking at the situation from all sides for decades, and love ways to understand the situation and the aftermath.

If you're looking for an opportunity to learn from the situation, read it. If it's too raw and painful, forget this book, maybe read it in a decade or two. If you're the wife, maybe never read this book.

Aside from daddy issues, this book has a lot of imagination. It has its own religion, separate cultures, customs, languages, regions, and hidden history.

I absolutely love how realistic all their problems are. There's an economic, cultural, racial, and lingual divide, and our protagonist is smack dab in the middle of everything. It makes everything so much more relevant, but the world is so different that it gives a good distance from our daily lives.

I love how distinct the personalities are. It's easy to remember minor characters because of memorable interactions and scenes.

Personally I think the love developed a little too quickly with no issues, but that might just be a requirement for young adult books.

There were very cool surprises throughout! Things I never saw coming!

Overall, with the depth of the world and the main characters, as well as the relevance of touchy subjects, it deserves a 10/10 from me!!!

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Empowering Underdogs, Twist Ending!

Revisado: 06-24-21

This book dives into what it means to be a commoner with a fragmented history in contrast to proud royal blood lines who track their lineage for centuries. It explores expectations for men and women in battle, the expectations of minorities and majorities in power, and overall, it's a great champion for empowerment for the underdogs.

For me, the start (part 1) was pretty slow because it seemed a little disjointed from the opening scene. After that, it grabs you by the eyes and accelerates, and I absolutely loved the book!!! The ending is especially fulfilling in unexpected ways!!!

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Eye Opening

Revisado: 11-18-20

Coming to terms with who you are and what you believe can be so challenging when loved ones are trying to manipulate you.

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Appreciation of Mortality

Revisado: 09-28-20

This book provides an appreciation of mortality and all things human. It has a lot of symbolism and great quotes throughout.

The beginning was so hard to get through because all the gods Circe is born among are stuck up. But that's the point of the beginning.

The middle seems to wander, but everything she goes through helps her grow to understand mortality more.

Everything I didn't like about this book had a purpose, but if it weren't my book club's book, I wouldn't have made it through the book. I don't have a taste for divinities going through struggles, and every single divinity except the protagonist is stuck up.

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European Songs

Revisado: 09-11-20

Not the global collection of songs I expected, they all seem European. Regardless, my son loves it so it earns 5 stars from me.

There's only one song I'm not sure of, the Eenie Meenie" song seems nonsensical, or at least not English. Not bad rhythm though.

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Swells with Love despite Tragedy

Revisado: 08-01-20

I feel like this is the book I've been waiting to find my whole life. Real uncensored tragedy saturated with real unexaggerated hope, love, and compassion.

This may be the best book I've ever read. It's the clearest picture of a real life (several generations actually, with plenty of uncles and aunts too).

The events and characters are so real and three dimensional, it feels like they're a part of my family.

It's the clearest illustration of how conflict can separate family, break communities, and overthrow peace. It's also the BEST I've ever seen at revealing how hope and empathy can help desperate people survive and thrive, how free help transforms lives who need it most, how families find each other, and how there's always wonderful things about our lives to cherish.

It's crazy how a safe neighborhood can flip overnight, and this was captured so clearly. But the biggest astonishment that returned again and again was how kind strangers were to each other. Not all strangers were kind of course, some were horrible, but most were just remarkable! It really shows you that all hope is never lost, and you can make a big difference in someone's life by showing kindness.

I'm not Vietnamese, I'm American, but I feel it captured the essence of feelings on both sides. I can completely empathize with North and South Vietnamese sides, and my heart resonates with their wishes to end wars and suffering.

Beyond all that, the prose is poetic, since the author is a poet. That makes it such a joy to read, as she points out the beauty of the landscape, the people, and the children. Yet happily she doesn't go overboard either.

I am such a fan of this book, I really can't say enough except I'm definitely going to have my son read this when he's a teenager, and if I were an English professor or high school teacher I'd ask all my students to read it, to get a real authentic account of the experiences and consequences of major decisions, from the individual all the way to national decisions.

Highly recommended.

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Enlightening and Helpful

Revisado: 07-24-20

This book fascinates me in its ability to convey very complicated concepts in simple explanations. Examples really illustrate the concepts. I listen to it again and again to let the concepts sink in.

I also use texts like this to help with insomnia because it fatigues my mind as I wrestle with the concepts. I do the same thing with calculus textbooks, though I love calculus. This is no insult to this book, it only means the concepts are abstract enough to fatigue a mind that refuses to slow down for sleep.

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Enlightening and Helpful

Revisado: 07-24-20

This book fascinates me in its ability to convey very complicated concepts in simple explanations. Examples really illustrate the concepts. I listen to it again and again to let the concepts sink in.

I also use texts like this to help with insomnia because it fatigues my mind as I wrestle with the concepts. I do the same thing with calculus textbooks, though I love calculus. This is no insult to this book, it only means the concepts are abstract enough to fatigue a mind that refuses to slow down for sleep.

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