Reading, Writing, and Me

Crushing  by Genevieve Novak Overview: Marnie has spent her entire adulthood in one longterm relationship or another. But, right as she's approaching thirty, her current boyfriend Eddie breaks up with her, ending a decade long streak of monogamy with a couple different men as Marnie swears off serious commitment. At least for the time being. This period of growth and self reflection is mostly facilitated by signing up for lots of expensive classes and glomming onto her new roommate and her sister to be the activity directors of her life. Soon, she finds herself in a messy situationship and some rocky friendships that threaten what's supposed to be a carefree, fun time of healing. Marnie has to realize it's a lot harder than she might have thought to face the world on her own. Overall: 3 Characters: 3 The characters in this book fell pretty flat for me. They felt more like archetypes than fully fleshed out people, and the supporting cast really felt orchestrated to help teac...

I try to be strict with my book purchases these days because it's not super practical for me to move a library across states and various apartments or even take a thick hardback with me on my train commute. Also, with how much I read, if I bought every book, it would be super expensive. Still, I love getting to hold paper books in my hands and highlight my favorite lines and annotate them, so my willpower to avoid book buying dips a few times a year. Usually, though, I only buy a whole stack once a year. That time for 2023 came over my Fall Break. My mission was twofold with books over break. I wanted to spend my gift card from the Last Bookstore that I got last Christmas, and since my mom drove down and I had access to a car, I wanted to finally visit Book Soup to see another iconic LA bookstore.  This time, I had a lot less restraint than I normally do because my mom offered to drive whatever books I bought home so I could read them over winter break. That means I can keep them o...

Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier  by Marisa Meltzer Overview: Glossier, a company that is relatively new and relatively scandal free for such an internet entrenched business, seems like an interesting focus for a book on its rise and the possible beginnings of its fall. It turns out the quintessentially millennial pink brand focused on no make-up make-up and a different ethos around beauty actually has an interesting story behind it. Without any totally wild drama, Meltzer crafted a book I couldn't put down that follows Weiss from her days as an intern at Teen Vogue to founding a successful and truly unique beauty blog to growing an actual beauty company with that team. There's no implosion to end off the book, but there is an open question around a sea change. Weiss hands over the CEO reigns, and the company faces the every other decade flip flop between skincare forward beauty vs splashy make-up. This is an interesting portrait of h...