remnants

Making my lists is the best way to find titles I missed reviewing.  I was sure I had reviews for these somewhere, but I can't seem to find them.  I might be remembering telling coworkers or family about them instead...  Since some of these were read a little while ago now, we'll see what I can recall.

The drug hunters: The improbable quest to discover new medicines by Donald R. Kirsch and Ogi Ogas; read by James Foster.  Listen-able science nonfiction; I like.  4 stars.  One thing that confused me throughout, though, were the authors' frequent references to "Big Pharma" with a somewhat negative connotation.  However, they never took a firm stance on their position regarding the pharmaceutical industry, or even really defined what they meant specifically by "Big Pharma."

Groundbreaking food gardens: 73 plans that will change the way you grow your garden by Niki Jabbour.  This was one of the prettier gardening books I looked at recently.  The small-space designs were far more useful than any of the small-space or container-specific books.  I wouldn't feel extremely confident about making substitutions for my zone, or having to squeeze or lengthen to fit real spaces, but a lovely starting point for someone more skilled than me.

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle and From head to toe by Eric Carle.  I counted these toward my 2018 totals and goals, because they were read to a group (including me, obvs) during a staff function.  It counts!  I'm counting it!  And I love Eric Carle.

The map of salt and stars by by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar.  I liked this, but I was never able to narrow down why I didn't love it.  I think there was a disconnect between the two timelines-- the pacing felt mismatched.  The modern-timeline-story was great in that it didn't seem overly dramatized, it didn't veer into feeling like hyperbole to emphasize the situation.

Princess princess ever after by Katie O'Neill.  This was far too short to adequately support the story.  The final product ended up feeling more like "quick, let's make a book with LGBT characters because it's important!", conveniently ignoring that those characters need to be realistic and have depth and make important choices.  They can't just be there, they need to be 3-D.

Relish: My life in the kitchen by Lucy Knisley.  I picked this up because I like the author's illustration style, and it seemed a nice counterpoint to all my food problems and books about food problems.  While I enjoyed the illustrations, the memoir-y bits seemed kind of flat.  Maybe it would be more enjoyable to people who have lived in her region and can appreciate some of the places she frequents?  Or by people who have more shared experiences in working kitchens?  There wasn't much for me to identify with.

The bookshop of yesterdays by Amy Meyerson.  Too angsty and drawn-out.  I wasn't a fan of the main character; she did a lot of hand-wringing and needed to be more confrontational in order to get stuff done.  It's hard to sympathize with a whiner.  Her family was the same way: just say something and then we can all move on.