My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

It's audiobook review time! So I started listening to Chelsea Handler's audiobook My Horizontal Life via Libby.  Libby is an audiobook app by Overdrive.  It allows you to access

millions of e-books and e-audiobooks on your device with the simple one-time input of your library card number.  

So to preface this review.  If you read our post Audiobooks vs. Print Books, you know that I have a further commute to work now which means that I'm listening to audiobooks when I don't feel like participating in solo car karaoke.  

But I have some rules to follow when it comes to choosing audiobooks:

1. They can be no longer than 6 hours (I can't commit to weeks of the same book)
2. They should be non-fiction read by the author (humor is a plus) 
3. If fiction, they have to be short, and are usually for my Read It & Eat book club at work

This book fit into categories 1 & 2, and added a bonus point because I frequent Handler's hometown.  

I'm not a fan of comedy, and I know that Handler can be a little risque, but I really enjoyed this book.  I liked Handler's voice, her tone of sarcasm, and how she used the unreliable narrator element in telling her stories cohesively throughout.  I thought the book was really well done, and that by listening to the audiobook instead of reading the print version I developed a connection to Handler that would have been otherwise missed.

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans in a travel mug.

Until the next read!

~Jessica    

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

Jillian lent me her copy of Rachael Lippincott's novel Five Feet Apart, which is to be a movie this month...Actually I think it's a movie in theaters now.

This novel is about a girl named Stella who suffers from CF (cystic fibrosis), and posts about her journey with the disease on YouTube.  This is reminiscent of Claire Wineland, who also posted about her battle with CF on YouTube.  Claire passed away not too long ago, and you can read more about her here. Actually, the girl in the trailer of the movie looks sort of like Claire, which I think makes the reader connect to the novel on a more real-life level.  

So Dewey Readers, this novel is a love story and like many y.a. novels (The Fault in Our Stars, Everything, Everything, etc.) follows the trend of love & illness.  It has twists that I feared were going to be cliche, but ended up keeping me on the edge of my seat (or rather page) wanting more. I devoured this novel.  And even though Jillian didn't write a review, she read it within a day. 

So Dewey Readers, we leave you with a rating of 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  

Check out the movie trailer below!

~Jessica

 

Women Talking by Miriam Toews - Reshelved Books

Hey there Dewey Readers!

March is National Women's Month so it's only fit that we review the ARC of Miriam Towes novel Women Talking which is set to be released on April 2, 2019.  This novel is in the vein of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and is based on a real life event which makes it even more poignant and shocking.

In this novel, eight Mennonite women conduct a secret meeting in a hayloft.  For the past two years these women have been attacked in the night, told that demons were coming to "punish them for their sins." Now they realize that they weren't being visited by fallen angels sent by God, but were actually drugged and violated by men in their religious community.  Their goal?  To protect themselves, but more so to protect their daughters. 

The women cannot read, they have no knowledge of the outside world, and they are not sure if anyone would ever believe them anyway.  They also can't speak English, so if they choose to leave their community they won't be able to properly communicate.  

This novel is about the power of knowledge, the power of oppression and fear has over victims, and about rising together to protect yourself, one another, and the future.  But.... I didn't love it.  Like so many reviewers are writing on Goodreads, the title "Women Talking" is basically exactly what the book is about.  It's one lengthy conversation of women just talking.  They debate if they should leave, if they should fight, or if they should do nothing.  They get distracted.  And then they talk some more.  The book is also narrated by a man, who is "less than" the other men, and therefore in an entirely different and safe category.

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with 2.5 out of 5 coffee beans in your cup. 

Until the next read!

~Jessica   

Audiobooks vs. Print Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

So for the past five months or so I have been commuting further to work.
It’s about a 35-50 minute
drive depending on traffic and the time of day, so I have been listening to
more audiobooks to pass the
time.  But today, as I was sitting at my desk I began thinking about the books
I have read so far this
year, and I started to wonder if my audiobooks should be counted in the same way
that my print
books are.

This year so far I have read 23 books.  6 of these books are audiobooks,
5 of these books are poetry

collections, and  12 are regular print books. Does the way that we digest
the material affect the way that our bodies and minds respond to it?  
Is an audiobook any less than a book?

I found this 2017 article Allison Russell wrote for Book Riot.  Like me, she
also read 23 books at
the time her article was written, a number which contained both a mixture
of print and
audiobook formats. In her list Russell differentiates which books are print
and which are audio.  
I do this as well with my GoodReads account.

No matter how one consumes the material, the knowledge and story will
still be there,
the characters still imagined, and the words digested.  If I listen to the audiobook of
Megan Hunter’s The End We Start From, I will still be able to discuss it with
someone who has
read the print version.  So why shouldn’t it count? And if audiobooks are treated
differently from print
books, should poetry collections that are short in words and page length,
also be treated differently?

So Dewey Readers, let us know your thoughts about audiobooks vs print books
in the comments
below! How do you keep track of your yearly reading total?

~Jessica  

Everything Below the Waist: Why Health Needs a Feminist Revolution by Jennifer Block - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

I would like to say that nonfiction is not usually my thing, but here I am reviewing two nonfiction books in a row! I won a copy of Jennifer Block's book Everything Below the Waist: Why Health Needs a Feminist Revolution in a GoodReads ARC giveaway. Block's book is to be published in July 2019 and is all about women's OBGYN health care.  Because I have a uterus, I am very interested in learning about this kind of healthcare and from pads to pap smears, this book covers it all.

Women's health is complicated.  I mean think about it.  There's a lot going on down there that we can't see, don't really talk about, and don't fully understand.  This book helps to give an understanding to women's health care practices, it's history, and where we stand now as a society.  

Block brings up a couple of issues that really got me thinking.  One of which is birth control.  According to Block, birth control was first developed by a woman to help women embark on a  "sexual liberation."  But there's a whole slew of side effects that come with birth control, a major one being low libido.  How's that for liberation? This is one reason why a pill for men is not available.  Yet despite the side effects, pills for women are still being prescribed and pushed even if they're not really wanted.  

Another thing that Block brought up was the lack of post-postpartum care that women receive after giving birth.  There really isn't any.  Instead medical care is focused on the baby, and follow up appointments/care for the mother are pretty much non-existent.  I am not a mother, and I'm not sure how Jillian (who is) feels about this, but doesn't giving birth take a toll on a woman's body and mind both physically and hormonally?  Shouldn't they have follow up doctor visits like they did while they were pregnant?    

I thought about taking a #bookstagram of this book with a box of pantyliners, then I thought about photographing it with my bottle of water...I've been on a health kick drinking 66oz a day, but alas I did neither.   

So Dewey Readers, if your interested in learning about female health, look out for this read! I give it 5 out of 5 coffee beans.

Until the next read!
~Jessica 

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PHD - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

Today I am reviewing a piece of non-fiction, quite different from what we normally review.  My boyfriend's grandpa gave me a copy of Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep to read and it had such a pretty cover that I figured I would #bookstagram it and give you all a brief review about this informative work.  

So a few takeaways from this book.  Basically, sleep is important.  And the sleep that comes from sleeping aids, anxiety pills, allergy medication, and alcohol? It isn't the type of restorative sleep our bodies need.  And drowsy driving in our overworked and under slept society is one of the largest causes of death. 

Tips for falling asleep?  

• Limit the amount of screen time you have on devices before bed (I'm failing at this one as we speak
• Stay away from light at night (We are all vampires)
• And limit caffeine 

Now, I'm putting this 3 out of 5 Coffee Beans book to bed and going to sleep.  

Goodnight Dewey Readers! Until the next read!

~Jessica