Search Results

Youngmi Mayer is a stand-up comedian and podcast host, and she is intrigued by dark humor, aiming to Mayer tracks her parents' mental illness as well as the complications of her combined Korean heritage I haven't heard Mayer's stand-up comedy, and this book is not humorous--nor is it somber. Mayer's own mind doesn't seem entirely clear on these often messy, complex, difficult matters, which Bossy memoir love Youngmi Mayer is a standup comedian and host of the podcasts Feeling Asian and Hairy

He comes across to observers as dry, but he is exceptional at identifying funny talent and shaping casts developed SNL , his ups and downs, his vision, and how he created the institution that would change comedy finalized just before air  continue to occur so seemingly haphazardly and last-minute, yet a show always comes

it, explores weighty issues like serious illness, loss, grief, vulnerability, and offers a suitably complicated syllabus, few concrete expectations, and a lot of winging it, all which is definitely out of Ella's comfort And oops again, their no-strings-attached agreement is quickly becoming complicated, serious, and full Whelan uses a light-fiction structure to take on seriously weighty issues like family dynamic struggles, commitment ending that the tone of the novel seems to be assuring readers at the beginning morphs into a far more complex

Sherriff Winston Barnes, and the pulsing racial, class-based, and family conflicts explored in When Ghosts Come When Ghosts Come Home centers around racial tensions, political angles, and the testing of longstanding Rumors, long-simmering conflicts, clashing loyalties, and Barnes's personal tragedy all complicate the The very end of the story brought to light a sudden burst of twisty complications and cemented the course

Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees explores past Turkish-Greek conflicts in a small island community while illustrating the interconnectedness of grief, love, community, and nature in this heartwarming Since her mother Defne went into a coma and never woke up, young loner Ada Kazantzakis has continued

I loved the setup of Saft's romantic young adult fantasy novel Down Comes the Night. with the young romance, her fantastic, detailed setting, and her pacing for the vast majority of Down Comes

the web of motivations and passionate beliefs behind the conflicts so that an outsider can begin to comprehend This was nonfiction that was so compelling it read like fiction (and served as the inspiration for this The behind-the-scenes communications that were made possible by Gordievsky's insights into the Soviet deciding to tell their stories, as well as the threats to reporters who are trying to help the truth come

to deliberately put herself into extremely uncomfortable social situations for a year, and she fully commits She regrets her one-year plan almost instantly but feels compelled to continue her terrifying exercises I first mentioned this book along with The Exiles and The Comeback in the Greedy Reading List Three Books

Caroline O'Donoghue's coming-of-age story celebrates friendship, young love, and life-changing decisions Byrne, and in an attempt to ingratiate herself to him, she insinuates herself into a complicated role James comes out as gay, and a complicated web of relationships builds between Dr. dedicated to both James and to Carey, and The Rachel Incident is centered around Rachel and her Jameses coming

She's got lots of third-place violin competition trophies, unlike her sister, who secured a full-ride disastrous encounter with Rhys, a new romantic opportunity arises...and June suddenly finds herself making complicated

But then her mother's boyfriend and his teen daughter Tallulah move in, suddenly Junie's community theatre I loved the two boy-girl best-friend pairings and was intrigued by the complications of an infant sibling

Behind a door without a key--a door that is sometimes locked and other times mysteriously not--a "silent companion Mysterious noises, inexplicable goings-on, the appearance of additional silent companions, haunting stories

True Biz is a coming-of-age story, a beginner's primer on Deaf culture, and a captivating novel about True Biz is a coming-of-age story that also explores the importance society places on language; past concerning American Sign Language, cochlear implants, and Deaf culture; and above all, the essential role of community learned about Deaf history, culture, and the politics that have disrupted and damaged those in the Deaf community of the large-scale (and infuriating) issues Novic raises, but a clean wrap-up to such an immensely complex

Kevin Wilson's wonderfully odd 1990s coming-of-age novel centers around teens Frankie and Zeke, their They come up with an original enigmatic phrase and add attention-getting artwork, then spread mysterious about the work's origins begins to emerge, Wilson paints a full picture that spans the characters' coming-of-age

Carley Fortune offers a satisfying story of coming home, young love, mistakes and redemption, romance

In Carrie Soto Is Back, we see Carrie fleshed out as a gloriously unapologetic competitor, an emotionally closed off romantic partner, a dedicated daughter, and a woman driven by a grinding commitment to brutally considered a geriatric age--as well as all the negative prejudice and pessimistic assumptions that commentators Carrie and her father love each other, but sharing their intense tennis goals and communicating primarily

"Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else's Childhood friends Sam Masur and Sadie Green are brilliant, creative collaborators and a wonderfully complementary Reunited in college, Sam and Sadie come together to try to create a masterpiece: a video game unlike any that has come before. But Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (the title comes from the second line of Macbeth) is an epic

She reflects on her complicated, sometimes fraught yet affectionate relationship with her dad, her youthful younger years, including her youthful passion for acting and her path toward and development into a comedic

There are various complex serpent- and dragon-like creatures within the story, and the longtime, unorthodox

This book is Yip-Williams's powerful farewell to her family, but it's also valuable for anyone considering meaning and priorities in their own life. Wow. Julie Yip-Williams is a beautiful writer who is so smart, reflects deeply, and candidly shares the many heartbreaking aspects of facing her own imminent death from metastatic colorectal cancer. This book serves as her powerful farewell to her family but also holds meaning for anyone considering the way they live and how they might choose to face their own mortality. The details of Yip-Williams’s childhood and the obstacles she overcame to simply be alive as an adult to face this terrible reality are incredible. But she is truly amazing in the way she honestly recounts her fury and panic, the excruciating treatments and effects, her exhaustive search for new life-extending options, and her reckoning with the realization that at some point desperate hope for survival must somehow transform into efforts to find grace in dying and to make plans for leaving loved ones behind. I listened to the audiobook, read wonderfully by Emily Woo Zeller, with an afterword by Yip-Williams's husband Joshua Williams. What did you think? I feel like a meditation on dying is a heartbreakingly beautiful way to consider how we live our lives, and a poignant reminder of what makes our one life so special. That said, I have a tough time reading memoirs in which someone is fighting cancer, and I understand that this one may not be everyone's cup of tea. #memoir, #nonfiction, #heartwarming, #fourstarbookreview

Young Sitara is living a comfortable life in Kabul in 1978. tastes of the past that reemerge in Sitara's memories and her subconscious, and she explores Sitara's complicated

Hanan's 1980s Irish coming-of-age story is full of angst, secrets, life-and-death danger, youthful determination She questions whether she's doing the right thing, meanwhile various complications--including the discovery But when tragedy looms for Ellie, Una and the boy who broke each other's hearts must try to come back

novel Betty--set in the foothills of Appalachia and based upon her own family's stories--a young woman comes dangerous explorations they pursue for entertainment, and the endless days with only spiraling thoughts for company

gleefully 1970s-set novel, Mary Jane doesn't merely shift from emotional innocence to young adulthood, she comes character of Mary Jane doesn't merely shift from innocence to young adulthood in various ways; she comes into her own and also makes valued contributions to the complicated, loving, volatile household community

In this memoir, Ford shares how she navigated an unforgiving childhood and complicated relationships In her memoir Somebody's Daughter, Ford explores her complicated relationship with her mother, her endless loyalty to her younger brother, her complex feelings about her father and the idea of him returning These three memoirs have commonalities I didn't expect--though they offer varied voices and tones--and

premise--but I was fascinated with the character depth, explorations of grief, and the twist I never saw coming Our main protagonists are satisfyingly clever and resourceful, but they meet with plausibly complicated There was a twist that I didn't see coming, and I thought it worked beautifully.

police officer husband, and Hailey decides to disappear into the wild in the desperate hope that the community

ICYMI: thirteen-year-old Frank Dunn experiences crises of faith during the unforgettably complicated 1961, thirteen-year-old Frank Dunn is focused on following the inaugural season of The Twins, reading comic But when tragedy strikes the community (and specifically Frank's family: his minister father, artistic

faith and life; and a recent mystery about an offbeat author that's keeping me guessing and has me completely to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger—these activities require no extensive commentary little bit of my recent read The Plot, but so far Maud Dixon has more twists and turns I didn't see coming

Young Mungo offers a striking story of disappointment, abuse, Protestant-Catholic conflict, and a young, gay love forged in the intensely unforgiving climate of working-class Glasgow. In his second novel, Young Mungo, Douglas Stuart offers the story of a working-class Glasgow family and particularly the life of sensitive, kind, dreamy Mungo, who was named for a saint. Raised by a codependent, emotionally stunted alcoholic mother who frequently abandons the kids for days or weeks while on benders or with a new boyfriend, Mungo also lives with a tough, loving older sister who's desperate to escape to university but doesn't dare leave Mungo. His local gang leader brother consistently makes trouble, forces violence, and threatens those Mungo cares about if Mungo avoids participating in brutality such as the widespread beatings of Catholics in the area. The story of Young Mungo largely alternates between an intensely disturbing, extended situation involving abuse, neglect, and danger and the blossoming of a forbidden young love, the vulnerability of allowing one's self to be seen for the first time, overcoming lifelong Protestant-Catholic conflicts, and forging a meaningful connection. The timing of the story isn't explicitly stated, but it feels like a 1980s setting. Young Mungo explores ideas of masculinity and loyalty, a gay relationship forged in an intensely unforgiving social climate, brutality, revenge, and it offers surprises as well. Stuart uses an omniscient point of view that allows the reader to understand characters’ disparate contexts and pressures and motivations. The story is beautiful and tragic and never feels emotionally manipulative. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Douglas Stuart is also the author of Shuggie Bain.

She considers the fact that no one can be completely independent of others and tests out periods of fully The characters struggle at times, and one of the things complicating their lives is mental illness.

genetic cloning, and the strong, jilted wife who's out for revenge; and Sally Rooney's heart-wrenching coming-of-age story about two young people from different worlds within the same small Irish town and how they come

When mother and daughter head out for a weeklong visit of east coast colleges with a touring company,

What if you woke up from a coma and felt differently about almost everything, including the person you're struggling music career would someday take off, but it didn't look as though his dreams would ever come and just as he's letting his hopes soar that this might finally be his big break, Stella falls into a coma What does commitment mean when the essence of a person within the relationship changes?

hands, Annabelle must determine what she's made of and what she's willing to do to protect those in her community The book's themes have (deservedly) drawn comparisons to some of those in To Kill a Mockingbird (and

In Admissions, Kendra James explores race, friendship, ambition, and the absurdities and rhythm of daily life during her time at a New England boarding school. Kendra James was the first Black legacy to graduate from The Taft School, an elite boarding school in Connecticut. When she later works as an admissions officer specializing in diversity recruitment for independent prep schools, she finds herself examining her high school educational experience with a more critical eye, forcing herself to delve more deeply into aspects of her years at Taft that she largely glossed over at the time--and ultimately debating whether or not she should be advising families to pursue the same precarious path she herself followed. Digging into the past often seems a difficult undertaking, and as she looks back, Kendra James explains that her main goals when she attended Taft were not bringing to light racial injustice and leading a charge toward change, but typically teenage: to escape into role-playing video games and write fan fiction, to bond with a few classmates through watching favorite movies, and, primarily, to secure a spot in a college of her choice, then to (as is the goal for many high schoolers, for various reasons) get out of high school and get on with the rest of her life. James notes repeatedly that she felt largely unseen and unknown during her boarding school years. When she attends various Taft alumni events in the years following her graduation, they cement this same feeling. Her appearance in a Taft publication that lists her incorrect graduation year (and reunion year) grates on her as more evidence of this. The majority of page time is focused on aspects of James's boarding-school life, including its rhythms and peculiarities. James received financial aid to attend Taft, then $35,000 a year, and she then attended Oberlin for college, which, by her and her parents' design, was an admissions door likely opened more widely because of her Taft pedigree. But the book is not in large part about financial or class privilege. At times James laments the absence of frank discussions about race that she might have had with her parents, and she criticizes the lack of information she received from them on the topic. She wishes she could have learned more from them before entering Taft about the many ways she might have expected race to affect her life--especially considering the vastly white, elite circles her parents had either dipped their toes into or immersed themselves in: for example, Taft, Smith, Brown, and her father's banking job. The author notes that when she was a high schooler, in that place and time in our society, she didn't have an understanding of the power of daily microaggressions nor of blatant racism--nor did she have the language and perspective she now has to talk about such things--in order to sift through the many disturbing race-based incidents in her young life. James's evaluation of events of these years--including the racism she experienced at school; diverse, acute instances of disturbing behavior, whether race-based and class- and gender-based; and the social segregation of social groups by race--feels hesitantly explored at times as she attempts to dig into her raw teenage feelings while acknowledging her youthful lack of understanding and her early, unformed grasp of the myriad social, racial, and class issues shaping her experience. Regarding a situation in which the strict rule-follower James was accused of wrongdoing while at Taft, the author acknowledges that for years she largely glossed over not only the event, but the racial issues bubbling beneath the incident and her resulting emotional trauma, pushing all of this down until her reckoning with it in young adulthood. Late in the book, James shares select portions of a disturbing article a white student wrote for the school paper while James also attended Taft, in which the article's author largely blames the school's racial divides on the students of color themselves and mentions her discomfort about the existence of programs and events that put people of color at their center. James expresses anger and frustration at Taft's ineffective response--and at the many missed opportunities she sees before and after that event for the school to have shaped an effective approach to true inclusion. In Admissions, James offer a book that is partly a social critique, partly a recounting of the absurdities she experienced, and partly simply her unique story of living away from home and often feeling lonely and alone in her experience. I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Kendra James was a founding editor at Shondaland, where she worked for two years. She has written articles for various publications and is the author of a romance novel, When Hearts Collide.

In City of Girls, Gilbert writes about a young woman's coming of age in 1940s New York City and traces

Solomon offers a sweet, romantic young adult story with emotions that feel authentic; the book showcases competition of regaining glory would be to win the elaborate seniors' game of Howl, a challenging scavenger hunt competition I was immediately invested enough in Rowan's general competitiveness with Neil that I was disappointed romantic story that celebrates many of the essential teenage touchstones: academic achievement and competition

together the beloved nightly show (there are around 8,000 episodes), hopeful contestants' sometimes wildly competitive actively trying to separate this immersive, love-filled fictional world of Rowling's with the hurtful comments straddling the kid/adult cookbook genres, ready to take on more slightly advanced techniques and more complex large percentage of dessert and sweet recipes, something we don't personally need more of--are The Complete for Young Chefs: 100+ Recipes That You'll Love to Cook and Eat from America's Test Kitchen, and The Complete

Or maybe it will whet your appetite for the beautiful books that might be coming your way? is a decade-by-decade look at Seinfeld's favorite notes from his career in stand-up comedy, featuring If that's your giftee's cup of tea, this book offers small doses of Lewis' comfort and wisdom that can Milk Street puts recipes and flavor combinations through an exhaustive testing process, so you know you Lewis's book) and/or books related to a specific interest of my giftee's (cooking, comedy, science).

adrift after her mother's death, and she disappears into the constant attention her ornithology research commands On certain days she finds her own way to the community center where she and other young adults with challenges Wilson's story stars combustible children and the low-key, unambitious misfit who sticks with them, making it’s a romance, but it’s really a story about loyalty and devoted friendship without easy or saw-it-coming

#comingofage, #heartwarming, #faith, #nordic, #fourstarbookreview

Word of the Day, and follows highly structured routines—on certain days she finds her own way to the community She uses Old Norse words in her speech and thoughts; she frequently mentions bravery, combat, wisdom, becomes caught up in sketchy business of her brother’s, Zelda finds that her situation is a lot more complicated than sorting out her love life with Marxy from the community center, playing matchmaker with Gert and #comingofage, #siblings, #uniquePOV, #Vikings, #heartwarming, #fourstarbookreview

The book explores the complicated implications of perception as reality when it comes to race and its Blacktop Wasteland is a fantastic blend of realistic complications, mistakes, adjustments, and spunk. #comingofage, #heartwarming, #faith, #nordic, #fourstarbookreview What have been your favorite books What should I add to my completely unmanageable master Greedy Reading List of books to read?

world over a framework of the imagined point of view of Wolfgang Mozart’s real but largely unknown composer #fantasyscifi, #historicalfiction, #siblings, #youngadult, #comingofage, #threestarbookreview

Cash finds himself well outside his comfort zone, wearing Old Navy versions of the uniform, lost in poetry Zentner allows complex scenarios to wriggle and twist into something new.

, but after Sandra's death, it becomes clear that some of the least believable are actually able to communicate self-discovery, but the two develop a friendship that goes deeper than the One Big Thing they have in common The book title comes from the idea of trans people blending in and fading into the woodwork.

traveling minister and escapes to Japan, setting in motion the events that will shape the generations to come many details of daily life (food, dress, tradition) in Korea and Japan made the almost-500-page story come In The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After , Wamariya recalls her experiences be a little self-conscious, but the book itself is darkly funny, with wonderfully paced dialogue and compelling This is a long essay (but a short book) illustrating the complex behind-the-scenes challenges and tragedies

legally have a drink and who built her identity as a woman dedicated to her family, her religion, and her community grief, fights to simply function, then travels different paths of discovery and healing in order to come

a healer who since her young cousin's preventable death has obsessively focused on learning about, combating imperfect and wondrous main protagonists whose thoughts, dialogue, motivations, and actions have me completely You can find my Bossy review of A Sorceress Comes to Call   here and reviews of other fantasy titles