#no seriously read Salt by Mark Kurlansky

[kyliaquilor]

Look, I agree a lot of military history nerds can be annoying snobs.

But you lot have your share of ‘social history’ snobs as well. Ya’ll aren’t any better.

[thosedaysthatwill]

Paper, by Mark Kurlansky

A book review.

I loved "Salt" and am fascinated by the history of paper and printing, so I was very excited to have been gifted this book. But... it fell really flat. A lot of it was his opinion presented as fact. And his opinions are... well, let's say I disagreed with a lot of what he said, and on top of that, it's pretty obvious this book is written by a male, all of the women in the book are "small" and cutesy as opposed to the serious men that do the real work. If you believe him, women made absolutely zero impact on the entire history of paper and printing from beginning to current. Uh no. A lot of reviews say he rambles off on tangents, and boy howdy does he, but I actually enjoy that, he needs filler and the filler is interesting about the time and place that this is happening, but I don't feel I learned anything because I know how wrong he was elsewhere, I doubt when he tells me anything I don't already know. It was entertaining, and I did finish reading it, but seriously yikes on that Epilogue! Overall, extremely disappointing and I would not recommend it. 2 of 5 stars.

[audikatia]

Another year, another reading challenge completed! I set my goal at 50 and beat it to 100, which is still the least amount I have read in the last several years. This year was a lot more fictional than usual and I reread a lot of favs as an attempt to bring comfort to myself. This year I got back in deep with TRC series and honestly, it’s been probably the best thing to happen to me this year. It’s brought me some amazing friendships and I’m back to seriously writing for the first time in ages. I am so grateful for everything books have given to me this year and I’m looking forward to another year of reading!

(Is there any way to write these that doesn’t make me sound like a PTA mom? lol)

The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Killing November by Adriana Mather ⭐️⭐️

The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dissecting Death by Frederick Zugibe and David L. Carroll ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Goldblum Variations: Adventures of Jeff Goldblum Across the Known (and Unknown) Universe by Helen McClory ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup ⭐️⭐️

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith/J. K. Rowling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James ⭐️⭐️

Useless Magic by Florence Welch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi ⭐️⭐️

To the Bridge by Nancy Rommelmann ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Ghost: A Cultural History by Susan Owens ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Still Waters by Alex Gabriel  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bunny by Mona Awad ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Diviners by Libba Bray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The King of Crows by Libba Bray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Toil and Trouble by Augusten Burroughs ⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda ⭐️⭐️

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Rape of Tutankhamun by John Romer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

D-Day Girls: the Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII by Sarah Rose ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little ⭐️⭐️

Miracle Creek by Angie Kimi ⭐️⭐️

The Prized Girl by Amy K. Green ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Whistling Vivaldi: and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us by Claude Steele ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Five: the Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Other People by C. J. Tudor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dark Corners of the Night by Meg Gardiner ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg ⭐️⭐️

House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Final Girls by Riley Sager ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dry by Jane Harper ⭐️⭐️

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Stranger by Albert Camus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jack of Hearts by L. C. Rosen ⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russel ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley ⭐️⭐️

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Plague by Albert Camus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Watching You by Lisa Jewell ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Return by Rachel Harrison ⭐️⭐️⭐️

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia ⭐️⭐️

The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Opal by Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Library of Legends by Janie Chang ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Teen Titans: Beast Boy by Kami Garcia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Guest List by Lisa Foley ⭐️⭐️

Beach Read by Emily Henry ⭐️⭐️

The Shadows by Alex North ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

People Like Us by Dana Mele ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People Who Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Granted by Mary Szybist ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Incarnadine by Mary Szybist ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Afterland by Lauren Beukes ⭐️⭐️

The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man who Captured Lincoln’s Ghost by Peter Manseau ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lakewood by Megan Giddings ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan ⭐️⭐️

Point Pleasant by Jen Archer Wood ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shiny Broken Pieces by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Violet Bent Backwards Over Grass by Lana Del Rey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[dontbeanassbutt]

Books of the Month: January

All righty guys!!! I have made well of one of my resolutions to read two books a month!!! As asked of me, here’s my reviews for both of them!

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

I’ve seen the play live once before, so actually reading it was a good new perspective on it. The play is an American Classic, as all of Miller’s plays are. The play is raw, real, and can hit terribly close to home in some points. The play ends on a dark note, however for the sake of spoiling it (if you don’t know how it ends yet) I won’t say it here. However, if you would like to know how it ends in cases you want to read please message me!

I recommend the play partly because it is an American Classic and is one of the plays I think all people should read or see at some point, but also because of its themes on the American Dream, dysfunctional families, and following your dreams. 8/10

Salt by Mark Kurlansky

Now, I’m gonna be honest. My friend originally got this as a gag gift for me for Christmas because she and I are both really salty together. Then I decided to read it. The book itself is actually world history of salt and how it has affected the world! It’s a very interesting read, and a neat way to look at history from a new perspective. There are many names in there I don’t recognize, showing you just how much of history you really don’t know. This book goes seriously in depth. Like, so in depth. It gives you techniques they used to harvest salt, trade practices, and so much more. It will tell you more about salt than you ever thought would be a thing.

I recommend it if you’re someone who loves to cook and wants to know about history, or someone who just really loves history. 7.5/10.