Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett

Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Quirky fun book about death and grief. As crazy and wacky as the family in the story is, the grief reads true and real.

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Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 4th book in Murakami's Rat series and I read them all in order: Hear the Wind Sing, Pinball, A Wild Sheep Chase, and this one Dance Dance Dance. This is the best one of the series in terms of the plot making some sense, but Wind/Pinball is the best in terms of deep thoughts in the book. A Wild Sheep Chase was especially clumsy with the magical realism and Dance, Dance, Dance improves on this aspect, but it doesn't feel like it's enough to rescue the series. Overall, I wouldn't say it's a great series.

Didn't buy the whole Yumioshi "love" story in this either. (Not related to my review but the title has almost nothing to do with the book either which is a disappointment.)

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Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Starts out a little slowly with some personal essays about Gay's work life and personal life. However, her later essays on privacy, autonomy, sexism, and racism are powerful. I particularly noticed when I didn't necessarily agree with her that her arguments were sufficiently persuasive that they made me reconsider. This is one of the top things I look for in nonfiction and essays in particular. I'm not looking for information that merely champions what I already believe but writing that challenges the way I think and see the world and changes or broadens my perspective.

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Marlena by Julie Buntin

Marlena by Julie Buntin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful exploration of young friendship, its betrayals, and its lasting love and effects.

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All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren, Amelia Warren Tyagi

All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is basically Dave Ramsey's plan which I think already existed when this book was written. (Dave published Financial Peace in the 1990s.)

Similarities to Dave: This book is mostly about the evils of credit cards and debt in general. While they don't recommend paying the smallest debt first (classic Dave Ramsey) but neither do they insist you pay the highest interest rate debt first.

Bad differences from Dave: The authors suggest doing a bunch of worksheets that I have no interest in whatsoever.

Good differences from or additions to Dave: One new idea is dividing your needs (50% of income), savings (20%), and fun (30%). The authors discuss how to make sure your fun spending is actually fun and not guilt or emotional-hole spending. Asking for medical discounts and free samples of drugs. Getting drugs from Canada. Good marriage advice. Good warnings about how everyone in the system is trying to rip you off. Warnings about owning a home may or may not be a good deal (including a discussion of closing costs, fees, shady mortgage practices).

One particularly interesting thing is that the authors' concerns about job loss, shady mortgages, and foreclosure seem prescient given that this book predates the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

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Love Your Life, Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze

Love Your Life, Not Theirs: 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want by Rachel Cruze
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Similar to, but better written than Dave Ramsey's books. Most likely to interest you if you're already interested in Dave Ramsey. A little bit of new information, and directed more to younger people, but mostly similar to Dave. Nonetheless, I own this one in lieu of owning a Dave book.

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Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a super weird coming of age story. Or is it a romance? A story about the crippling effects of personal trauma and mental illness? A story about the injustice of the criminal system? Yes, all that stuff.

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The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So fun! This is as good as Ender's Game and Ready Player One. I love this world, the magic rules, and the main characters. Okay, maybe Rojer is a little unnecessary but we'll see if he does better stuff in later books.

This reminds me a little of Game of Thrones in that it takes place in a less civilized time with different villages, cities, and kingdoms, but I find The Warded Man is less grossly violent and more feminist.

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A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautiful and sad without being devastating. This is a feminist novel about religious and political fanaticism. It's a novel about how Afghanistan's people were devastated by the Cold War tug-of-war between America, Russia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. It's about the disappointments of family, and the depths of friendship. Even though I gave them the same rating, I liked this one better than Kite Runner.

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Saga, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

Saga, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this a little better than the first one, and I'm starting to get invested in some of the characters. A minor thing that has nothing to do with my rating: I don't really understand the animal-people? Is that just evolutionary coincidence?

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