Review of "Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence" by Amy Blackstone

Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence by Amy Blackstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I decided to read this book because I thought it would be a testament to Blackstone's decision to not have children. However, this book is definitely more of a description of the movement of being "Childfree by Choice", as the title suggests. Blackstone covers topics including maternal instinct, happiness and aging and compares parents versus nonparents. As a sociologist herself, she quotes and references tons of different studies over the years that show that choosing not to parent won't ruin one's life. She also conducted her own series of interviews of childfree singles and couples for this book. I felt like Blackstone was being quite defensive of her position throughout the book, but it's understandable why it came across that way. As she explains, we live in a pronatalist world that leaves those who choose not to reproduce to defend their decision to others. The overall point that Blackstone is trying to get across is that people should have the freedom to make decisions for their own futures and that those that end up "childless", either by choice or not, should not be forever questioned whether they live an unhappy, regretful, bitter life. I look forward to reading some of the memoirs that she references to find those testaments I was seeking. I would definitely suggest this book to those who do not understand the choice that is being childfree. This book is not geared toward those who are unable to conceive biologically but reading the findings of studies comparing parents and nonparents in their late life could make this population comforted that their life isn't over.

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Review of "A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire Book 1" by George R. R. Martin

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this audiobook as preparation for a Game of Thrones Trivia Night that I'm hosting this upcoming July. Having watched the entire series prior to reading this book, I felt like I was able to get all the foreshadowing and symbolism that George R. R. Martin intended. I was rewatching season 1 while starting this book and I very much enjoyed how closely the TV series stayed to the books, to a degree. Obviously, the book allows the reader to hear the inner thoughts and motivations of the characters so I enjoyed learning more about my favorite characters from the series. I am not a high fantasy fan myself, so I do not plan on reading the rest of the book series, nor would I have picked up this book had it not been for the TV series.

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Review of "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was extremely different than any other book I've read before. First, the book is labeled as a novel, but it reads very much like a memoir. It felt autobiographical and too honest to be fictional. Ocean Vuong wrote this book in a stream of consciousness style while left very little for plot. The narrator is writing to his mother and talks about different fragments of memories, time, events, etc. The timeline is all over the place and hard to follow if you're trying to understand the family's timeline. The main character who is affectionately referred to as "Little Dog" is Vietnamese and moved to the US as a young child. He recalls stories that his mother and his grandmother have told him of their time back in Vietnam. Topics regarding the Vietnam War are discussed as well as becoming a writer, life of immigrants, mental illness, human sexuality, cancer and the Opioid Epidemic. As the protagonist/narrator is of the millennial generation, many things he discusses are relatable to people in that generation, but from the skewed viewpoint of an immigrant queer boy. The use of language and syntax in this novel is far different than what I'm used to reading and honestly, it was very hard for me to follow. It was beautiful to read and if I could probably dissect this book and try to understand every meaning Vuong put into his sentences. The novel read like poetry in its use of sentences, punctuation, paragraph structure and metaphors. I'm not a huge fan of poetry so that's probably why this book didn't connect with me as much as I had hoped. I am glad that I read it however, as ingesting different types of art in book form is always good. I like diversifying my choices of reading. I don't know many people personally who I would recommend this book to, but I feel that fans of certain poets could enjoy this book.

This review is also posted on Netgalley and my personal blog.

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Review of "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was given to me as a birthday gift from a very good friend. She had highly suggested I read it and thus bought it for me as a present. I love her very much and I appreciate her book choices but her and I read this book very differently. First, I would never buy this for someone as a gift. There are far too many triggers in this book...(child abuse, sex trafficking, self-harm, suicide) and I would never want to assume that someone wouldn't be triggered by them. Second, this book was extremely depressing and very hard to get through due to the subject material. My friend loved the author's style of writing and I agree but I don't think it was beautiful enough to distract me from the subject matter. I think this book is very interesting, in that, Yanagihara titles the 814-pg. novel "A Little Life" (slightly oxymoronic in my opinion), and that she focuses the story on someone whose life could be seen as insignificant but the author expounds on the idea that Jude's life was far from insignificant. Starting the novel, I felt it a task to feel connected to the characters, but less than a quarter of the way through the book, I was hooked into the storyline. I wanted and later needed to know what happened to this people, especially the "protagonist" Jude. Many times I did want to quit reading, when the subject matter made me cringe, bawl, or gag, but since my friend recommended it, I trucked on. I was glad that I finished the book as it gleams some form of conclusion and this book was very different from others I have read. I can't say that I'd recommend it to anyone, but it is a challenging read and probably important/interesting to students of literature.


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Review of "The Music Shop" by Rachel Joyce

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I devoured this book! I had chosen this book for my book discussion group that meets at the bar before having read the book but the description sounded very interesting. I, myself, am a huge vinyl lover. I started my vinyl collection around 2014 and I've amassed over 100 titles so far. I also studied music in school so I was already familiar with a lot of music mentioned in the book. I was hooked from the start! Yes, the music spoke to me but Joyce's characters were developed right from the beginning of the book. I felt connected to each character, similarly to how I felt reading A Man Called Ove and other Fredrik Backman books. This book is hilarious, causing me to laugh out loud several times. I also felt a wide spectrum of emotions in other sections of the book, happy and sad tears being among them. I've already recommended this book to several of my friends who I know love vinyl and music, or are fans of "Ove" and that world. If you love quirky characters and a fun story about the power of music, please do yourself a favor and read this book!! The chapters are nice and short and I promise you won't want to set it down. I would definitely add this book to my list of recent favorites (and I'm very particular about which books I put in this category).

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