One star review, originally posted here on April 22nd, 2024. Uh oh. This review is going to cause some tension. Sigh. My brother-in-law recommended this book to me. He was mad at me when, years ago, I apparently “panned” his favorite book (The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which, for the record, I did not … More Goodreads Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Three star review, originally posted here on April 21, 2024. This book tells the history of a fish. That’s pretty much it. Now, sometimes books come along that are about a seemingly boring or inconsequential topic, but then the writing style or the subject matter itself is so mind-blowingly amazing that this niche topic sucks … More Goodreads Review: Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
Four star review, originally posted here on April 21, 2024. This book felt like Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, but dripping with snark. Or at times like Alexandria Petri’s US History: Important American Documents (That I Made Up), but with nothing made up. The history is all real history, but this … More Goodreads Review: Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
Three star review, originally posted here on April 8, 2024. Every now and then I decide to read a super popular book, even though I typically don’t like them all that much. Occasionally I love them, but even when I don’t, it’s interesting to see what the masses are into nowadays. I didn’t go looking … More Goodreads Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
I’m continuing to make good on my new year’s resolution of visiting more museums this year. Today’s entry: The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library! Now you might be thinking, “Hey, that’s not a museum, you stupid idiot! That’s a library!” You’re harsh, but technically correct. But did you know that the MLK library contains … More Museum Review: MLK Library Exhibit: Up From the People
Four star review, originally posted here on March 29th, 2024. This is easily the nerdiest thing I have ever read, and I am 100% here for it!!! I love history, I love Alexandra Petri, and I loved doing goofy humor-based projects in high school. So this was right up my alley. I was surprised, though, … More Goodreads Review: Alexandra Petri’s US History: Important America Documents (I Made Up) by Alexandra Petri
Three star review, originally posted here on March 29, 2024. This is not a book that, at first glance, interested me. Judging the book by its cover, nothing jumped out at me. It’s about a grocery store? I dunno, seems kinda touchy-feely. And the cover art is just some nondescript dude standing around holding a … More Goodreads Review: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Three star review, originally posted here on March 15, 2024. ** spoiler alert ** There was plenty of interesting content in the book, both in terms of general information, and specific narrative. However, the storytelling was disorganized and disjointed, which made it really drag. It began well, but once we’d established who our narrator is, … More Goodreads Review: Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Train by Andrea Lankford
Every year* I attempt (with varying degrees of success and effort) to watch as many of that year’s Oscar nominees as possible. For the past few years* I’ve posted reviews of these movies here on this blog. At some point before the awards ceremony, I usually write up some sort of over-analysis and maybe some … More 2024 Official Helga Without the H Oscar Binge Reactions
Every year* I attempt (with varying degrees of success and effort) to watch as many of that year’s Oscar nominees as possible. For the past few years* I’ve posted reviews of these movies here on this blog. At some point before the awards ceremony, I usually write up some sort of over-analysis and maybe some … More 2024 Official Helga Without the H Oscar Binge Predictions and Analysis
Helga without the H 