bookbrig's reviews
1798 reviews

I learned so much reading this! I love watching ballet, but I only knew the names of a small handful of dancers, including Misty Copeland and Michaela DePrince. It was fascinating to read about these dancers, Arthur Mitchell, and the Dance Theater of Harlem, and I particularly loved the audiobook as several of the ballerinas narrated some of their portions of the story. Each dancer was painted so vividly that I feel like I really got to know them and so much of their remarkable hard work and exceptional talent comes across in these pages. It's just a wonderful book, and I'm glad I know so much more now about the Black dancers who carved out a place in ballet before the dancers I've been more familiar with. 

This is an enjoyable memoir with great ocean and shark info, and would be an excellent choice for a teen reader too. I loved that the author read the audiobook, and she did a great job. The focus moved between her life and shark/ocean facts with a nice balance and pace. That said, I always want more shark facts, so I wouldn't have minded a few more details about the creatures she worked with. But that's just a personal preference. Overall, this is a great choice if you're looking for a read about sharks, academia and Blackness, or following your passion to shape the right workflow for yourself.

The writing here is gorgeous with such a poetic flow. I can't recommend the audiobook enough, because Hanif Abdurraqib reads it. This is a moving and beautiful mix of sports and memoir and just... I don't know. So many things! Anyway it's great.

This is a stunning audiobook experience, and I found myself lingering in the car to listen just a little longer after my commutes. It's also a fascinating look at so many things beyond the Shakespeare too, from plays to Judi Dench's career to costumes and more. The audiobook is playful and full of laughter and joking, personal asides and banter. Highly recommend even if you're not a Shakespeare person, though if you like any of his plays this is a real treat!

Great audiobook read by the author, and it has some truly interesting shark facts. I also think it could be an excellent fit for a teen reader interested in sharks or the ocean. But I think this suffered for me because I read it so soon after The Devil's Teeth which focused on scientists' interactions with sharks rather than those more on the activism or entertainment side. The differences were particularly stark when it came to shark viewing based tourism. Anyway, still interesting, just not quite as engaging as my last sharky read.

A breezy and informative history, this would be a great pairing with Paulina Bren's The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free. I enjoyed the history and the individual women's stories, and since I knew very little about Pan Am to begin with I learned quite a bit. It did make me pine a bit for larger planes and more roomy seating arrangements, but oh well.

This was such a fun read! It took me a bit because I was only reading it on my lunch breaks, but I enjoyed every moment. No need to read Legends & Lattes first, honestly. These work wonderfully as true companion novels rather than series order reads. I deeply enjoyed the return to this world, Viv, and the tasty foods and cozy story notes. Highly recommend!

This was a fascinating read, and I loved the shark descriptions and wildlife portions. That said, the stretch about the human history on the islands was one of the least engaging, and the final stretch of the story was (understandably) much more focused on the humans than the creatures at the island. The epilogue also felt really abrupt for an honestly really big plot reveal. I would have liked more reflection or information about the fallout of the end of the story. 

Anyway, I'm glad I read this, but it also left me wanting to read more about sharks so I'm going to look for something more recent on a similar subject.