Jason's Reading (rated great)

A touching, heart-warming story. It’s a good reminder that life is complicated, that we can’t anticipate the twists and turns we’ll take, that sometimes losing what we thought we wanted is the best thing that could happen to us. I especially loved witnessing the protagonist’s relationship with her husband and daughters. It made me want to cherish my own family more, to relish the time together and bask in the fleeting moments while they last. Life is short and long, bitter and sweet, all at the same time, and Tom Lake helped me appreciate that. …

I read this book based on a family member’s glowing recommendation, and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved story, the back-and-forth timeline, the characters, the occasional intentional departure from “correct” grammar, the ethical themes. Doerr clearly did his research and created a wonderful work of historical fiction.

When I began reading this book and discovered that it’s a collection of essays, I was initially disappointed; however, that disappointment faded quickly. Each essay is thought-provoking on its own, and together they provide an intimate view of Patchett’s life that reads almost like a memoir. I was impressed by her willingness to share so much of herself and loved her writing style, as always. …

As I suspected, my high school self wasn’t ready for this book; I thoroughly enjoyed it this time around. I love Dickens’s style, particularly his humorous descriptions and the way that everything seems to connect in the end. I’m also impressed by how the story caused my feelings about the protagonist, Pip, to evolve over time, mirroring his own experience. Great Expectations is a heart-warming depiction of humans’ ability to change.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It seems so exciting initially – rebels burst into an extravagant party and take everyone hostage – but it’s really just a charming story of people getting to know each other, enjoying great music, becoming friends, falling in love, playing chess and soccer, all despite what appear at first to be insurmountable differences. Patchett does a great job portraying how humanity persists even in extraordinary situations. …

Wow, what a thought-provoking book! Huxley creates a dystopia that in some ways feels far-fetched but in other ways seems totally plausible. There are so many interesting connections to technology, capitalism, and other aspects of our modern society; I feel like I need a book club to discuss it with or something. I’ll certainly be thinking about this book for a long time. …

I love books like this one. The plot is interesting yet unremarkable, an everyday life kind of story, making it easy for me to connect it to my own life. I was surprised by how hard the ending hit me – I hadn’t realized how attached to the characters I’d become – and how deeply it made me reflect on the way I want to live. I’ll definitely be looking for more books by Patchett.

This is the most enjoyable book that I’ve read in several months. I like the way that Dickens’ verbose descriptions seem to slow things down a bit, making for a nice, relaxing read. It’s also fun to see how details or characters that appear tangential in the moment get tied back into the story later. …

This book changed the way that I think about raising and educating my children. Gray explains how we’ve seriously overcomplicated parenting, wearing out ourselves and our kids at the same time, and makes a convincing case for giving children back the freedom that they enjoyed for the first several thousand years of human existence. I’m eager to learn more and put these ideas into practice.

This book has given me loads of solid evidence to back up my long-held hunch that most people are good and that we could build a better society if we accepted that goodness. What’s more, Bregman’s writing is compelling and interesting; it kept me up past my bedtime more than a few times. …

What a book. What a terrible, wonderful book. I loved it. The use of death as the narrator and its odd ways of describing the world. The atypical writing style, with bolded, titled important tidbits. The “spoilers” that manage expectations without actually spoiling anything. …

I loved this book. I loved the charming, kind-hearted, quirky characters. I loved the themes of hard work and caring. I loved the funny narration. I even loved the fact that the book went on for nearly 600 pages – I enjoyed every one. Most of all, I loved the way many seemingly small threads were woven together to tell the full story of a man rather than focusing on a single big, climactic event. …

I chose this book hoping that it would shed some light on how to improve the plight of people like my 107-year-old great grandmother, who still lives at home thanks to help from nearby family members but who seems rather depressed by her deteriorating life; I’m glad to say that I was not disappointed. Gawande makes a compelling case, arguing that our end-of-life care systems are too focused on making life longer rather than on making our final years better. I found Being Mortal quite interesting, and I hope I can convince my loved ones to read it and plan for their futures as they age.

What an incredible story! I am appalled at the tragic way in which Alabama’s legislative system failed Hinton, but his hopeful perspective and willingness to forgive amaze me; despite having spent 30 years of his life wrongfully imprisoned on death row, Hinton tells his story without animosity. He also communicates an important message about the value of every life. I had never seriously considered the death penalty before, but Hinton’s story provides moving evidence that an imperfect justice system has no business killing anyone and that even the most vicious criminals can change.

This was a well-written book about an impressive woman. I was amazed by Elizabeth Packard’s perseverance and bravery, and Moore told her story in a suspenseful, engaging way. Overall, The Woman They Could Not Silence was a refreshing dose of positivity, reminding me that a single determined person can make a big difference in a short period of time.

Wow, what a book. I was both riveted and horrified for the entire thing. I do most of my reading before going to bed, and American Dirt caused several restless nights as I lay wondering how people can possibly be so cruel to each other. On the other hand, there are many amazing acts of kindness portrayed within the book, stories of people who hardly know each other but are united in fleeing from terrible situations. I was impressed by the fact that seemingly small acts of kindness can make a world of difference to a those in need. …

I’ve been working on finding ways to improve my relationship with technology, especially with my smartphone, for several months now, but I haven’t had great success. I think this book may have changed that (although time will tell – it’s only been about a month since I started the book). Newport convincingly describes not just how to improve one’s relationship with technology, but rather how to get technology out of the way and start living a more fulfilling life. I found his recommended digital declutter process quite effective, and the advice he gives for being a digital minimalist is so good that I’m considering buying a copy of the book for future reference.

Wow, what a fascinating book! McBride artfully interleaves the story of his own childhood as a black boy in New York with the story of his white mother’s upbringing in Virginia. The book includes many heavy topics – abuse, racism, drugs, death – but moves so quickly from one thing to the next that I never felt weighed down when reading it. In fact, I finished the book feeling both hopeful and in awe because of the enormous success that McBride’s mother had in raising her children on hard work, faith, and love alone. The Color of Water was exactly what I was looking for – a thought-provoking book about someone interesting but relatively unknown.

I thoroughly enjoyed Range. Epstein does a great job explaining why, in a world that seems to encourage everyone to specialize, generalized experience is still essential. He doesn’t attack specialization, but rather defends generalization, arguing that a breadth of knowledge is a prerequisite to creativity and innovation. This book was particularly interesting since I’ve been considering grad school.