Tag: netgalley

Book review: How to make herself agreeable to everyone, by Cameron Russell

A compelling look at the seamy underside of the fashion industry, told from the perspective of a vulnerable young person who had more of a backbone than most right from the beginning but was still manipulated and abused. Instead of letting herself remain a victim, she used her visibility became an advocate for others in order to help change the system. This book will also go a long way in doing that. Thank you, Cameron Russell, for sharing your experiences in what must have been a very painful memoir to write.

The Lower Power — creepy awesome read! 5/5 stars

Reading this tense supernatural thriller set in NYC’s 1980s crack epidemic is like falling down a rabbit hole and hoping, praying that there’s some way out. Michele W. Miller creates an authentic cast of characters who will break your heart and make you sit up and cheer. Raven will stay with me for a very long time.

Cold 5/5

What could be more Canadian than a wendigo killer and an Indigenous hockey player hero? Wry, amusing, and so entertaining — this isn’t the usual description for a larger-than-life-horror-thriller but it fits Drew Hayden Taylor’s Cold perfectly. I loved the tight writing and the tension of this page-turning thriller. I also appreciated the homage to so many great Indigenous Canadian writers. This refreshing and entertaining novel will amuse every reader who is willing to suspend their disbelief for just a few hundred pages.

Scarcity Brain

This highly readable self-help book delves into our addictive behaviors — what they are, how they originated and how to understand and ultimately overcome them. I like the way that each chapter is a vignette with Michael Easter going to people and their experiences that personify the issue. For example, with overeating, visiting a remote tribe where no cardiovascular problems exist, or when discussing gambling, visiting the scientists involved in transforming mechanical slot machines into video-gamified ones, and how this video-gamified model has been applied to so many other areas of our lives. Readable, refreshing and helpful. Thank you, Netgalley and Rodale books, for the ARC.

Midnight by Amy McCulloch 3/5

I loved Breathless and was looking forward to Midnight but didn’t find that McCulloch’s second novel was as strong as her first. There are a lot of the same engaging ingredients — murders, mystery and an expedition holiday — but the story bogged down. That said, anyone wanting to vicariously take a luxury expedition Antarctica cruise will love the authenticity of her setting.

The Words We Share 5/5

Immigrant kids learn English more quickly than their parents and so often have to translate for them. This role-reversal can be demeaning for the parent and burdensome for the child, but Jack Wong shows that there’s more to communication than knowing the right words. His illustrations have a graphic novel feel to them and they make the story very approachable. The text is everything that’s needed but no more, making it crisp and clear to read. I love that the father’s words are written both in English and Chinese.

Simple, beautiful, brilliant and universal.

Russia’s War on Everybody 5/5

This book is written by Keir Giles, who is a Senior Consulting Fellow for the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. He speaks with authority on the topic of Russia’s world-view and goals and the risks we all are facing because we don’t take the malevolence of the Russian Federation seriously enough. Giles shows how Russia uses the west’s openness, innate decency and democracy as tools to destroy those very things. Russia’s antipathy to the west is all encompassing, as is Putin’s ruthlessness. No enemy is too small to destroy, nor too big. This book will shock and inform you. I urge you to read it. If you think the current war is just about Ukraine, you need to read this book. If you think the road to peace is negotiation, you need to read this book.