meeshreads's reviews
737 reviews

This book is less about cults than it is about Maria, her family and experiences, and mental illness. It's silly in parts, the recipes throughout are funny, and it's a bit chaotic in structure, but it was a quick listen, and Maria reading it helped it all make sense. I particularly enjoyed her impressions of her mother. 

As a completely skeptical, agnostic, cult-documentary-obsessed human who believes all organized religions are basically a cult, I loved this book. It really got me thinking about the terminology and phrases we use in all sorts of scenarios and fandoms that is Cultish (like English), and the book was entertaining and informative. I'll be reading Amanda's other books, (&podcast!) I really liked her writing style (&narration of the audiobook) and perspective. 

I feel like I really went on a journey with this memoir. Fom Rebel aka Melanie's childhood as a shy, sweets obsessed kid, whose life revolved around the dog shows her parents were involved in, an early goal of being a rapper, another stint as candy entrepreneur, through her move to the U.S., late bloomer status and dating life, her rise to stardom, adventures galore, and finding self acceptance and happiness in the end. I really liked it! Felt very authentic and honest. Audiobook read by the author is always a plus! 

I really liked this book. It's a quiet sort of novel, filled with everyday activities, but the setting is a future San Francisco, flooded and always raining. The narrator is Bo, an artist who no longer does art, she's alone, grieving, and cannot bring herself to leave the city, her home, even though everyone tells her she should join what remains of her family in Canada. She takes a job caretaking for a VERY old woman in her building, Mia. They build routines, Bo learns a lot about the history of the city through Mia's stories, she gets back into making art, and the ending is bittersweet. A really lovely book.

I always struggle to review a memoir that feels really personal. I agree with other reviews that there were frustrating aspects to Anna's story, but this is Anna's story to tell. I liked the format, going thru the recovery center day by day interspersed with looks back thru her life. The audiobook is well read by the author. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either. 

This was a fun mystery that kept me guessing to the very end. It's a bit of a slow burn as the narrator, Elliott, spins his web purposefully, taking the reader along for the ride. 

I liked Little Weirds more but this book is charming in a way that is unique to Jenny, and I love her. Being inside her brain is a good place for me to be. I recommend the audiobook, read by the author. 

I didn't know what I was getting into with this book. It starts off relatively normal, and then goes way off the deep end and continues to get more and more crazy as it goes on. Unhinged is an understatement! I listened to the audiobook, and it was well read. Definitely entertaining and fast paced. If you're scared of dolls or puppets, steer clear. If you like campy horror stuff, this is a fun read. 

I liked but didn't love this memoir. Filled with short vignettes in chronological order, I felt like it never got too deep. I liked the conversational, casual, and straightforward way Kathleen told her story, but I dunno it felt a little surface level. 

A great book for true crime junkies, a look inside the criminal justice system focused on six wrongfully convicted prisoners by a producer from dateline. The audiobook is well read by the author!