reading all books referenced on Gilmore girls

I've spoken previously about my love of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I even had the immense honor of being able to interview her for Book Riot last year, shortly after the release of the film adaptation of her book. For years now, I've had a soft spot for that "Young girl neglected by her family makes good" trope. So the moment I first read a blurb for Educated by Tara Westover, I knew it'd be a love for the ages. I listened to this on audiobook, and while I concer

We all know that that mass incarceration of people of color is a vile epidemic. We hear of black men being arrested for small infractions while white men guilty of the same thing walk free. But even more disgusting is the number of innocent men of color paying the price of other's misdeeds. In The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton discusses his time as an innocent man, jailed doors down from the electric chair as he got glimpses into his own bleak future. However, Hinton nev

I'll Be Gone in the Dark has gotten a lot of buzz lately. Because the spoiler of all spoilers occurred for the world on April 25th, 2018... the Golden State Killer was identified and arrested. Much celebrating occurred but it was one woman whose tireless work was lauded all over social media, that of Michelle McNamara. Some could say McNamara was the Golden State Killer's final victim. Run down by her hunt for this elusive rapist and killer, she fell victim to a lethal combin

I've been a reader for most of my life... I really don't remember a time before books made up a huge part of who I am as a person. And there are a few, distinct moments in the lives of every reader that you never forget... The first time you really fell into a book. The first time you literally couldn't think of anything but getting back into the world the author created. The first time a book unexpectedly taught you about yourself. The first time you discovered that a feelin

The Art of Asking or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer I love me some Amanda Palmer. She's kick ass and honest and kick ass and talented and kick ass and fascinating. She is a LITERAL rockstar. So I was thrilled to learn that she was writing a book. But not just any book. A book about something I personally struggle with... asking for help. We are raised to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and walk it off. To suffer in silence. And

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief As we continue Bear's descent into her Scientology obsession (this book was actually the fuel for my latest fascination... this book is just much more robust than the others I've recently read so it took me longer to finish), we come to the book that inspired the HBO documentary that everyone was losing their minds over this past Spring. Lawrence Wright is a non-fiction writer and journalist who tends to focus on t

High Rise by J.G. Ballard This was a fascinating read. A commentary on society and isolation from the outside world, Ballard's novel was equal parts psychologically intriguing and flat out revolting (unless eating someone's pet is no big thang to you. Not judging). So, naturally, I was completely and totally here for this book. The most interesting part of this book was the use of the narrator. Generally the narrator of stories like this acts as the touchstone... the meas

The minute I was made aware of this book's release, I knew I needed it in my hot little hands. So I found the library closest to me that was in-processing it and managed to grab the first hold spot. And then I ran out of audiobooks and knew I was getting dangerously close to the 14 day lending timeframe my library has for new books... so I ended up listening to it on audio instead. I still ended up owing the library 15 cents for it... because, I'm me. This book hit so close

I tend to avoid all schmaltzy narratives that focus on September 11th (sorry Edward Cullen... I'm not watching Remember Me), but reading an excerpt from this book had me rethinking my previous stance. I experienced this as an audiobook borrowed from my library and was instantly sucked in the moment the narrator started speaking. The main character, Oskar Schell reminded me a lot of the boy in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. While I don't believe Oskar to

As I'm mid-Getting Things Done, was in need of a new audiobook and was listening to (as I always do) the Book Riot podcast, I decided that I would download The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (author of Being Mortal). I had been listening to a lot of fiction on audiobook lately so it was about time for some non-fiction. And given my recent thoughts about organizing my life and the power of getting to-do items out of your brain and onto a piece of paper/app/some sort of