All posts tagged: nonfiction

Bookly Recommends {The Patriot}

Published by

We know that We Should All Be Feminists is a fast read – that’s one of the reasons we were so excited to read it this month! But if the essay has you hungering for more non-fiction, here are some recommendations from us to read during the month of {The Patriot}: Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer: One of the best non-fiction books you will ever read. Krakauer takes a deep look into the fascinating and disturbing world of Mormon fundamentalism. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: This is an American classic. It’s the true story of a series of cold-blooded murders in a sleepy farm town. Capote’s telling of the murders, the capture and prosecution of the murderers, and the aftermath of this horrific incident is chilling (read it with all the lights on). Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: A deeply moving story of a young man who journeyed to the Alaskan wilderness, Into the Wild tells of the last days of Christopher McCandless. The story is simultaneously sad and frustrating, …

July Book

Published by

Pictured:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie © The Guardian We hope you’re enjoying summer so far! For this month’s selection we’re changing pace, from YA to non-fiction. Since July is the month when we celebrate our history, we figured it’d be a good time to get a little introspective and learn something new about what makes us who we are.   We did a lot of back and forth with this choice. We had a different book chosen just a few weeks ago… but as we promised, we want to read all types of ‘books’. So we’ve chosen We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: a 52-page essay. No excuses this month – give this one a quick read! This book (or booklet as we should call it given the charmingly small size) is a modified version of a TEDx talk Adichie delivered in December 2012. Nigerian-born, she is the award-winning author of Americanah, one among many of her well-received books. In this essay, as a self-proclaimed “happy feminist” she offers a personal view and unique definition of feminism. Telegraph journalist Rupert Hawksley calls We …

Humility, Humor, and Hyperbole

Published by

Right around the time this book was coming out, I heard an interview with Allie Brosh on NPR. Not being familiar with her blog or her story at the time, I was intrigued and enjoyed the personality she conveyed in the interview. I intended to pick up her book, but never got around to it. So when we picked this book as our April read, I was eager to get my hands on a copy, especially because the format she chose is a new one for me. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I found her sense of humor both endearing and relatable, often laughing out loud or reading certain snippets to my husband. My favorite stories were by far “The God of Cake” and “Motivation,” mostly because I found myself nodding my head in solidarity. My two weakness: sweets and my tendency to procrastinate. “I had tasted the cake and there was no going back” and “Most people can motivate themselves to do things simply by knowing that those things need to be done. But …

A Girl I Can Relate to…

Published by

I’ve been reading Allie’s blog since June 2010. A friend sent her post, “This Is Why I’ll Never Be an Adult” to me and I think I snorted water out of my nose and exclaimed, “THIS IS SO TRUE!” I followed her blog regularly after that and was disappointed when it seemed to stop. When she returned with the post on depression, I was so taken with how honest and how self-aware she was. Needless to say, I was excited to read Hyperbole and a Half and wasn’t entirely sure why I didn’t already own it. It was great to revisit some of my favorite stories and wonderful to read some of the new ones. I continue to be impressed with how self-aware Allie is and how well she can describe her life, feelings, and situations. These stories are all so relatable. Even if you haven’t lived through what she’s describing, you understand where she’s coming from. She makes her life accessible and that’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. Of course, her illustrations are …

The Joys of Exploring Your Inner Nerd

Published by

We are an exhausting generation full of instagrams, facebook posts, and selfies (don’t you dare tell me that I’m too old for selfies…I would like to reserve the opportunity to “selfie” should I fancy…but I digress).  There is a brilliant article by Tim Urban from a while back entitled “Why Generation Yuppies are Unhappy.”  It basically describes how our delusional expectations are on a crash course with far less awesome reality. The net effect is that we are an entire generation of bummed out, woulda, coulda-ers with a serious case of FOMO.  Now, while this is somewhat drastic, a lot of the article rings true. The people who truly succeed in this always plugged-in and turned-on generation, or at least so says I, are those who can look above the haze and proudly proclaim “holy cow, I’m a nerd.”  Do not fall into the rabbit hole – the bottom of which is littered with people with selfie sticks who have lost track of themselves. Self awareness is a characteristic lost on far too many these days. …

Fast and Fun!

Published by

Motivation… a fickle beast. In Allie’s case it was a Blockbuster rental (sigh, I miss those). In my case it’s that pile of clean clothes that taunts me from my bedroom floor, “fold me, please!” No matter how much I bargain, guilt, or abuse my subconscious, those clothes just sit there. On the floor. FOREVER. So many of Allie Brosh’s stories in were so relatable and funny. Hyperbole and a Half did not disappoint. And it was a SUPER fast read. If I’d had a few uninterrupted hours one afternoon I could have finished it in one sitting. But interruptions aplenty, it still took less than a week reading only during my 15 minute subway commute. Brosh’s sense of humor is self-deprecating and silly. She finds the humor in everyday shenanigans. And the combination of text and illustrations adds to her anecdotes. Her drawing style might be juvenile, but it does a great job of getting the point across. Every bend of an eyebrow and down-turn of the mouth give her characters the perfect expression. I’d be reading along, and …

April Book

Published by

Hello again! Feel like a good laugh after last month’s read? Well, you’re in luck! In honor of April Fool’s Day and the month of foolish pranks, it’s the perfect time for us to read something funny. April’s theme is humor and we’ll be reading Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh.   Never heard of it? Well, let us explain. It all started out as a web comic and blog by the same name.  The author, Allie Brosh, is in her late 20’s and lives in Oregon with her husband and 2 dogs (who appear often in her drawings). She used (uses) her unique, hand-drawn web comic / blog to tell her life stories and struggles in a humorous, self-deprecating and creative way. The first thing you notice is probably her drawing style which is usually described as “crude” because of its juvenile look. But the Hyperbole and a Half blog has received up to 5 million views per month and attracted many loyal readers. So in 2013 she published her first book Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That …