20 Best Non Fiction Book Club Books (2023 Updated)

Isabel Wilkerson uses her very readable writing style to attempt to compare Nazi Germany, and India’s religious social structure to America’s deliberate and destructive “Caste” system, created by white Americans for their benefit.

As with so many black authors, the first 160 pages are all about pre-1950 history and slavery, as if this is somehow justification for behavior today of ANY people. Unfortunately, the notion that Blacks in America are oppressed by White people doesn’t really make sense.

Rather than being discriminated against, American Blacks enjoy special rights, privileges, and advantages that are unavailable to White Americans. These advantages extend into every aspect of Americas public life and can be traced to legislation passed back in the 1960s.

A system of racial privileges for blacks was forced on universities, employers, and the population. Less qualified blacks were given preference over more qualified whites in university admissions, employment and promotion.

Freezes are used against white admissions, employment, and promotion until racial balance is achieved. Rather than being institutionally oppressed, American Blacks have been accorded a whole array of institutional advantages over Whites.

This represents a truly remarkable state of affairs because it stands as the only known instance in history whereby a racial majority in power has voluntarily agreed to relinquish its standing and allow discrimination against themselves in favor of a racial minority in the name of trying to create a more equal and harmonious society – which is a good thing.

It is unfortunate that amidst all this opportunity, in the year 2020, some people still feel the need to find fault and complain that their lives are somehow not within their control, all while writing books that are quickly accepted and published, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in supplemental income for their hard work and dedication.

Isabel Wilkerson has nailed it, AGAIN!. This books helps to put many social structures, and their natures in a broader perspective. She peels back layers of values, beliefs, rituals, and memories that have been mis-qualified throughout America’s history.

She offers the readers an opportunity to “. dig into the precincts of our soul and examine the suburbs of our hearts. (Dr. Cornell West)” to identify oneself in the America we have. She gives alternative views of American history that have held mystery and irrationality.

This is a good read for high schoolers and older. Millennials, especially non-black and brown ones, would be served VERY well if they had the insight from this book. Perry, Virginia.

Wow. This book should be required reading. I learned so much from the eloquent words of Isabel Wilkerson. I’ll never understand the black experience in the United States but I will try my hardest to continue to educate myself.

This book is it, you guys. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’m begging you. Read this book. Wilkerson weaves in her own life stories right along with her extensively researched findings of history and makes comparisons that are so thought provoking and important to know.

This book will stick with me forever.

After reading the first few chapters of Viola Davis’s memoir, my appreciation and admiration for her as a women, actress, and HUMAN skyrocketed. This work reads so personally- a delicate portrait of a soul shaped and molded by the most trying of circumstances.

Also to note, her skills are far beyond sole acting; the chosen words and phrases introduce her as a poet and orator of power, will, and sensitivity. Love her. And this lovely, lovely memoir.

This is an amazing book. It is beautifully written. Viola Davis is so transparent and forthcoming about her life and journey. It was an interesting and emotional story to read. While very raw and often sad, it was equally hopeful and inspiring.

Reading this book has really made me love her even more. I highly recommend this book.

The book was in condition and the 30% sticker peeled off without leaving any marks. Now the actually book, is a must read! I couldn’t help but get emotional as Viola took us through her life, I felt like I could relate to what she’s been through.

The ending and I guess the life she lives now, gave me hope for my own.

The book was good, but a little hard reading how we humans can treat another human being. That part is very sad. I pray that nothing like that ever happens again. Although we do still have countries that still persecute people, for many different reason and it is still sad.

I purchased this book for my son’s 14th birthday. He enjoys true stories about history, especially WWII and everything that went on during those years. He was very excited when he opened it and has commented several times that he is really into it.

I thought the pictures in the back of the book were a great addition to the story.

Very realistic on what the author went through. Easy to read and understand, young adults could easily enjoy this book. Very important for the world to know what happened and that it indeed happened so we don’t let anyone go there again! Highly recommend to all that are interested in this part of history and for those who don’t think they are.

Great book with helpful suggestions for organizing anything and everything! We’re big fans of Joanna and Clea and I was very excited to find this book available from Target. The included labels are a nice touch (which are absolutely included and found at the back of the book), and we already used several inside our fridge!.

SUCH a beautiful book. They thoroughly explain their organization process and then there is a page, with pictures, for every possible organization scenario: the guest bathroom drawer, the adults-have-activities-too closet, the everything under the kitchen sink, etc.

There is even a page for a nursing drawer! And everything you might want to organize is indexed in the back: (books, nail polish, shirts, every. thing. ) Their commentary and way of explaining things is hilarious and easy to read, and the pages are indexed in rainbow order.

I love that this method shows how to make your spaces beautiful and not just, “GET RID OF EVERYTHING YOU OWN!” Can’t wait to make my crafting closet look like Lauren Conrad’s (also pictured!).

Doyle put in to words the way I feel like no other author. I’ve read all of the books by Brene Brown (LOVE her work – must read!!) as well as other contemporary authors. None have touched me like Doyle did.

With the exception of a few slow sections I plowed through this book quickly, loving every word. One caveat – Doyle is religious, and her religion plays a featured role in this work. Much of this can be skimmed if you are not religious.

I read this book after I read Untamed. It gives a lot of background not shared in Untamed. Both books were incredible and I highly recommend them. Glennon talks straight as an arrow, no pretense, no airs.

Easy to relate to no matter what your story is.

This book had me from the beginning! Glennon’s story is compelling, inspiring and interesting. It’s so thought provoking that I have passed it onto a friend so that we can discuss it. I will definitely be buying the sequel when it comes out later this year.

I’ve read all of Mr. Gladwell’s books and if you’re only going to read one, IMO, this is his most important, and at the risk of hyperbole, I’ll call it brilliant. He argues, and supports with substantial evidence, the idea that sheer luck plays an enormous role in how our lives turn out.

He stops short of taking the extreme deterministic position agreed upon by, oh, Einstein, Freud, and BF Skinner, to name a few of the 20th centuries most influential thinkers, but many readers will have their minds opened to consider that possibility more seriously.

The book is also the story of failure. I guess if that had been incorporated into the title it would have been less appealing. And although examples of failure due to bad luck are no doubt far more common than The Beatles or Steve Jobs, thus who experience failure, also because of (bad) luck, don’t stick out to be studies and included.

If there’s a weakness it’s that examples that con’t support his thesis are ignored. On the other hand. if his thesis is correct, and I think it is, there are no contradictory example. Outliers is, IMO, a truly great book.

I can’t thin of a book I’d recommend more highly.

A book that challenges the stereo type thinking of who is an exceptional person or group of people. The author has demonstrated that outliers are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy.

Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky, but all critical to making them who they are.

The book has so many examples of circumstances but the wonderful example of the Jewish emigre family to New York, the Borgenichts’ showed how Louis and Regina may have been tired and poor and overwhelmed.

For Louis being his own boss and making his own decisions, engaging his mind and imagination resulted in a relationship between effort and reward. The three things – autonomy, complexity and connection between effort and reward are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it has to be satisfying.

Meaningfulness is very important in one’s job or task for us to excel in it. Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning. Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig.

For me, a crucial lesson to those who want to tackle the upper reaches of a profession is if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desire.

Working hard is what successful people do. Even for subjects like mathematics, it’s not ability as attitude. Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work. As the Chinese say “No one who can rise before dawn three hundred city days a year fails to make his family rich”.

In summary, outliers are those who have been given opportunities and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them. As the author summarises, “The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all.

A classic book which looks at success through a different lense. Lots of books out there look at success via meritocracy etc. whereas looking at success through Gladwell’s lense we see things a lot more clearly.

He is unique and a great author and writer. An influential book and Gladwell somewhat a thought leader because of it. Nice printing job, buy the hardcover and keep it for life. Very happy I bought this again as a hard cover.

Ikigai was an accessible, easily digestible self-help book. While it was deeply informative about approaches to longevity and eastern approaches to healthy lifestyles, it did not actually delve very deeply into the idea of ikigai.

The philosophical background on ikigai was well-informed but the book was not a guide to finding your ikigai, as the blurb suggests. It was of more a study into Okinawan centenarians whose ikigai is just one factor that contributes to their longevity.

I would highly recommend this book for those wanting to learn about lifestyle approaches that promote health and longevity, not those seeking help in finding their ikigai.

I was recommended this book by a friend in a gardening group who always seems happy and relaxed. I listened to it on audio Books and then bought it as a present as it is so good !! the book is small and well designed.

It will be a nice addition to any library. I enjoyed it end to end. Full of good advice !.

This book is the follow-up companion to Tidying Up. After having finished reading Tidying Up and beginning the process of organizing my home, I decided to pick up this book. The author shares more fun stories about her experiences as a consultant and offers some additional tips and guides for completing the process.

Like her other book, I read this book in one sitting. It is an easy read but worthwhile. It’s amazing how two little words can make such a difference. If you have already read Tidying Up, I would highly recommend following up with this book.

It’ll help streamline the process a bit more, and strangely enough (given the topic), is a really fun read!.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is intended to be read before this one. This book is merely the how-to-guide, which won’t be very effective without understanding Marie Kondo’s principles and method from the first book.

I am so committed to her method I’m even folding the clothes with the KonMari method. Totally worth it if you want to put your life in order, feel comfortable in your home and know yourself a little better.

This doesn’t make a good gift, unless they’ve read the first book and you know they want it.

This is a wonderful exploration of the biological basis for behavior. I always believed in really free will, but this book gave me pause regarding the fundamental underpinnings of molecular biology as a primary source of behavioral expression.

Certainly worth the reading for a new perspective!.

A brilliant and significant contribution to the integration of the social sciences in terms of understanding humans and human behaviour. It is staggering that a person can know so much! This is a volume of work that informs on every page.

I even enjoyed the footnotes, which have some of the juciest findings, and, in the spirit of a Monty Python figure, the fight scenes were great as was the sex details (ie. I mean the fascinating information on reproduction).

It’s almost like a real horoscope. Never before has a book made me say “Ah-ha!” so many times. With every chapter I understood more and more about the nature of my own and other people’s behaviours. A must read for everyone with even the slightest interest in the behaviour of human beings.

For years I felt my organizational habits and routines were a mild case of obsessive compulsive behavior. Although the same habits directly contributed to my profe success, I tried to hide them. This book explains clearly how important those habits and routines are in all areas.

I am very glad I read it. Highly recommend!.

What no one is talking about in this age of covid-19, in a time when we’re all questioning our culture in the US, this book explains why we are so exhausted. You need to redevelop habits and routines that are healthy.

Physiologically that’s who we are. This book masterfully guide us to the answers.

A wonderful read in being able to give people another perspective. Great thought and process power and inspires to be though provoking.

This book is packed with great ideas for beautifully organizing the entire home. The beauty begins with the book itself. The title is embossed in gold on the cover, the pages are very high quality paper, and the photos are lovely and inspiring.

The author has definitely up’ed the game of home organization by taking an often dreaded, mundane task and guiding the reader in creating an organized home of elegance and charm.

I love this book! I love being organized and Nikki had definitely shown me how to organize every area in our home! I love how areas go from chaos to calm with her wonderful and thoughtful ideas and tips! If you love being organized or want to learn how this is the book for you! Highly recommended!.

Wonderful book! The rooms and decorative spaces shown throughout this book are just amazingly beautiful to me. Loved every minute of reading this book and enjoying every page of beautifully decorated rooms.

Will use this book over and over again for decorating ideas and inspiration.

An absolutely beautifully illustrated and informative book. A beautiful addition to our coffee table decor. Highly recommend the purchase!

This book not only looks fantastic on my coffee table but is also a great read. Erin Gates shares her interior design story and provides an intimate insight into her approach to design, highs and lows.

It’s a big YES from me!.

Raina did such a fantastic job translating the third BSC book into a graphic novel. But was there ever any doubt? I’d be on board if she made the entire series into graphic novels. The illustrations are the usual Raina awesomeness, with characters whose expressions tell the story just as well as the words.

One of my favourite scenes was when Kristy calls The Baby-sitters Agency to find out how they operate and says she has a date with Winston Churchill. I really enjoyed the flashback scenes in the graphic novel that give you an idea of what Stacey’s life in New York was like.

The text that’s added to those panels felt like it belonged in the story. I loved Stacey and Laine’s ideas for the apartment they planned to get together when they were in the fifth grade. Full review can be found on my blog.

Glad to have found these books at a reasonable price and even better to have buy some and get one free. I bought these for my granddaughter who loves graphic novels.

Great books for young girls. My daughter is loving these books! A classic remade into graphic novels.

4. 5★s “There are clues to making sense of a stranger. But attending to them requires care and attention. We should accept the limits of our ability to decipher strangers. ” Talking To Strangers is the sixth book by British author, Malcolm Gladwell.

Is it a book about social interaction? Yes, certainly, but not so much a “how to” as a “why do we get it wrong”. Gladwell explores the reasons that we seem to be so bad at telling when strangers are lying to us.

He does this with reference to a myriad of psychological experiments, research, case studies and examples. Gladwell holds that we are successfully deceived by strangers through a combination of three main reasons: the fundamentally human tendency to default to believing we are being told the truth; that facial expression and demeanour are much less reliable than we believe; and context matters a great deal.

“We fall out of truth-default mode only when the case against our initial assumption becomes definitive. We do not behave, in other words, like sober-minded scientists, slowly gathering evidence of the truth or falsity of something before reaching a conclusion.

We do the opposite. We start by believing. And we stop believing only when our doubts and misgivings rise to the point where we can no longer explain them away. ” Gladwell cites examples of Cuban spies and the CIA, Hitler and Chamberlain, Bernie Madoff and the SEC, the Penn State Paedophile Case, a murder in Perugia, and more “If every coach is assumed to be a p3dophile, then no parent would let their child leave the house, and no sane person would ever volunteer to be a coach.

We default to truth-even when that decision carries terrible risks-because we have no choice. Society cannot function otherwise. And in those rare instances where trust ends in betrayal, those victimized by default to truth deserve our sympathy, not our censure.

” Gladwell talks about whistle blowers, bail judges, alcoholic blackout and sexual assault, the effects of torture on.

4. 5★s “There are clues to making sense of a stranger. But attending to them requires care and attention. We should accept the limits of our ability to decipher strangers. ” Talking To Strangers is the sixth book by British author, Malcolm Gladwell.

Is it a book about social interaction? Yes, certainly, but not so much a “how to” as a “why do we get it wrong”. Gladwell explores the reasons that we seem to be so bad at telling when strangers are lying to us.

He does this with reference to a myriad of psychological experiments, research, case studies and examples. Gladwell holds that we are successfully deceived by strangers through a combination of three main reasons: the fundamentally human tendency to default to believing we are being told the truth; that facial expression and demeanour are much less reliable than we believe; and context matters a great deal.

“We fall out of truth-default mode only when the case against our initial assumption becomes definitive. We do not behave, in other words, like sober-minded scientists, slowly gathering evidence of the truth or falsity of something before reaching a conclusion.

We do the opposite. We start by believing. And we stop believing only when our doubts and misgivings rise to the point where we can no longer explain them away. ” Gladwell cites examples of Cuban spies and the CIA, Hitler and Chamberlain, Bernie Madoff and the SEC, the Penn State Paedophile Case, a murder in Perugia, and more “If every coach is assumed to be a pedophile, then no parent would let their child leave the house, and no sane person would ever volunteer to be a coach.

We default to truth—even when that decision carries terrible risks—because we have no choice. Society cannot function otherwise. And in those rare instances where trust ends in betrayal, those victimized by default to truth deserve our sympathy, not our censure.

” Gladwell talks about whistle blowers, bail judges, alcoholic blackout and sexual assault, the effects of torture on brain function, and ultimately relates it all back to the tragic consequences of a traffic stop in Texas.

Regards reading faces and behaviours: “Each of us, over the course of our lives, builds our own set of operating instructions for our face, based on the culture and environment we inhabit. The face is a symbol of how different human beings are, not how similar we are, which is a big problem if your society has created a rule for understanding strangers based on reading faces.

” He tells us “Our strategies for dealing with strangers are deeply flawed, but they are also socially necessary. We need the criminal-justice system and the hiring process and the selection of babysitters to be human.

But the requirement of humanity means that we have to tolerate an enormous amount of error. That is the paradox of talking to strangers. We need to talk to them. But we’re terrible at it” And also “The thing we want to learn about a stranger is fragile.

If we tread carelessly, it will crumple under our feet. And from that follows a second cautionary note: we need to accept that the search to understand a stranger has real limits. We will never know the whole truth.

We have to be satisfied with something short of that. The right way to talk to strangers is with caution and humility. ” Fully indexed, and with footnotes and thirty-one pages of comprehensive end notes, this is a fascinating and enlightening read.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK.

Gladwell used multiple anecdotes from transcripts and interviews to bring “truth-default theory” to life in “Talking to Strangers. ” He worked through this theory as a way to explain the position most people default to when talking with strangers.

Truth-default theory originated with Timothy R. Levine, a distinguished professor and chair of communication studies at the University of Alabama Birmingham. Gladwell explained that when talking to others, we accept they’re telling the truth.

We look at two scenarios, and we go with the more likely answer. Something has to push us over the threshold for us to not default to truth. “To assume the best about another is the trait that has created modern society,” Gladwell said.

“Those occasions when our trusting nature gets violated are tragic; but…to abandon trust as a defense against predation and deception – is worse” (342-343). Gladwell opened and closed the book with the case of Sandra Bland, pulled over for failing to use a signal on July 10, 2015 in Prairie View, Texas.

That minor traffic violation led to a troubling exchange between her and state trooper Brian Encinia that led to her arrest. I didn’t remember this story so this was a fresh telling for me. He ended with the Bland case after a journey through other stories where he further developed “default-to-truth theory” and moved on to what I’ll call companions to default-to-truth for how we make sense of the stranger.

He moved from a look at Cortez vs. Montezuma II to Fidel Castro & Cuban spies and the CIA, UK ambassadors and Adolf Hitler, finally turning his attention to stories from today’s headlines. He talked about the controversial cases of Jerry Sandusky, Larry Nassar, and Bernard Madoff, as well as Amanda Knox, and Brock Turner.

A chapter labeled “Sylvia Plath” caught my eye. She and Anne Sexton were included. I couldn’t wait to see why. I kept thinking, “I feel like singing the Sesame Street song, “One of these things is not like the other.

” Some of these stories were not like the others and didn’t appear to belong. They did connect eventually, and that’s what made the book a stimulating mental treat. I thought Gladwell triumphed as a storyteller.

I talked about this book often as I read, so riveted was I by these stories and the new insights I gained. I told people he’s like Paul Harvey in that he gave you “the rest of the story” once he developed his argument further.

So many of his cases invited further study. He’s restored my faith in journalism. I could tell he thoroughly researched the cases presented and worked to give back an unbiased re-telling. He conducted interviews and used transcripts to bring life to the stories.

(Yes, that meant I did see curse words. ) Included were copious notes in the back. And he even gave an email address in the notes section for readers who notice an error they want to dispute. I felt better informed about past and present cases, and I appreciated how Gladwell showed compassion and empathy for people the media had tried in the court of public opinion.

When I finished this book I thought: “Give this guy a Pulitzer!” Such a departure from my usual nonfiction fare. I do like to take deep dives into subjects. I love the rush of the “A-ha moment. ” I could easily see someone taking Gladwell’s ideas and applying them to literature to make sense of misunderstood characters, like Frankenstein’s monster in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” or Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.

” The more I read, the more I saw how often I have let social media and news media influence what I believe about some of the high-profile cases covered again in the book. And I think Gladwell accomplished his goal because I reflected often on each case presented.

Not giving away the thrill of discovery, I will say they’re ones we should never forget.

“Educated” is an extraordinary memoir detailing Tara Westover’s background in a strict Mormon household in Idaho and her determined and miraculous path to Cambridge, where she earned a PhD. She and her six siblings were not sent to school; in her case, what home schooling there was competed with her work in her father’s scrap business.

Her academic success is particularly amazing in the light of her relatively isolated background and relationships to her fanatic, Bible-quoting strict father and a sadistic older brother. In smooth, articulate articulate prose, this is a very good read which at times has all the suspense and excitement of a novel.

This is a very good read indeed.

You can’t tell this is actually just an ebook unless you look at the description of the product. It’s not in the title or the picture. It’s properly hidden in the details that it’s only an ebook. And the PDF copy that is delivered by email is just a PDF that doesn’t work with other applications.

Now that I go back, I can see where it says it’s an ebook, but it’s not apparent, and I think that’s on purpose. I question whether this is even a legal reproduction.

This book was a page turner for me. Westover knows how to keep the reader engaged and this story is a fresh topic for many of us yet rings true to the current white supremacy attitude popping up around rural America.

I loved this book, read it and then listened to the unabridged audio book. I highly recommend it.

I absolutely LOVE this book. It is rare that a book actually changes your life but this has. If you are not just untidy but are a TRUE HOARDER, you will understand that it is more than a mindset, it is a way of life, almost an illness.

You probably open a cupboard which is stuffed to the gunnels with every intention of emptying it and then move a few things around having found no reason to get rid of anything but six or seven reasons to keep each item.

Decluttering at the Speed of Life is DIFERENT VERY DIFFERENT. It is clearly written by someone who is a true hoarder at heart and fully understands how genuinely difficult it is to get rid of things which are perfectly useable and which may come in useful one day.

She is the only person I have come across who acknowledges the terror I feel when the doorbell rings and I havent put stuff away and hoovered up. Then comes the embarrassment but still I hoard. I just keep everything until now, that is.

This wonderful book is like a ray of sunshine. It has helped me see the daylight in my rather dark and crowded world and to want more of it. My first success was to trot down to the charity shop with no less than ELEVEN books on Decluttering! They were all written, not by hoarders but by people who are tidy and simply think they can teach a hoarder to be tidy and throw their stuff away and that doesnt and cant work.

I bought each one in the hope that they would make life easier but each one sat on the shelf next to the last, gathering dust, creating more anxiety but yes I kept them all for years. Its not about whether something gives you joy or when you last used it or whether it still fits, its much bigger than that – would that it was so simple.

This book has turned everything on its head for me and made me look at my stuff differently, with the love it deserves but with the balance of reason which has come from someone who truly understands.

It follows, therefore that Dana K White remains a hoarder at heart because it is rather like alcoholism, you are never really cured and it is very easy to slip back but by managing my stuff I am making real and visible progress in the house and I dont want to regress because I love my stuff but I love the clearer (not empty) surfaces more.

(I will always have a lot of stuff, Im not reformed and Im not clearing everything out but thats OK. ) I feel pride when someone comes in and while I have always known where to find things in my very over-full home, I can find them quicker.

I have a very long way to go yet but if you are a person whobuys things just in case, this is probably the book for you. I will be eternally grateful to Dana for her gentle way of encouraging me and not telling me what to do ( another example of how she understands the problem and is so thoughtful in her delivery of the solution and the sensitivities around this subject).

Each chapter deals with one thing or one area and you can pick and choose where you go but I am reading it from start to finish. I never read her first book but if I see it I will get it as I now have room on my shelves but I still have the things I love all around me, they just look better and happier somehow.

I am three quarters the way through the book but I wholeheartedly recommend it, from the bottom of a real hoarders heart. THANK YOU DANA.

Great book! I am attempting to help my older sister “declutter” and coming from a totally different mindset, this book was great helping me to understand where SHE is coming from. It’s written in a light-hearted way BY a hoarder and my sister has started reading it, too.

I really think it will help her (and me) in the process of decluttering.

Ace of Spades is told from the perspective of Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, the only two black students at the prestigious Niveus Private Academy. They are entering their senior year and have been selected to be senior prefects, the elite student leaders of the academy.

This honor puts them in the running for valedictorian and opens doors for admission to, and scholarships from, Ivy League universities. Soon after the prefect announcement is made, a cyberbully with the handle “Aces” starts sending anonymous text messages which reveal secrets about Devon and Chiamaka.

These revelations sabotage their reputations and threaten their personal lives and future prospects. Aces shows no sign of stopping and as the humiliation and stress escalates, Devon and Chiamaka decide to expose the identity and motivation of Aces.

The answer is more chilling than they could have imagined. Ace of Spades explores important societal issues such as poverty, racism, homophobia and white privilege. The characters are well developed and their alternating POVs enhance the fast-paced plot.

This book resulted in utter sleep deprivation for me. I could not put it down. I really enjoyed this well-written original, twisty YA thriller. Thank you to #FierceReads for an ARC of #AceOfSpades.

Ace of Spades is a dark YA academic story that “delves deep into the heart of institutionalized racism. ” Perspective trades between main characters Devon and Chiamaka, the only two Black students at Niveus Private Academy.

The book opens with the announcement that both are senior prefects, in the running for class valedictorian. But then “Aces” starts to go after them each by sending the student body anonymous text messages about them, threatening to derail not only their senior year but their college prospects as well.

Author Àbíké-Íyímídé deftly shows how racism bleeds into everything. Classism, homophobia, and criticizing women for being sexually active rear their ugly heads too. This is a YA mystery with such depth.

It’s rare that an epilogue truly adds something to my reading experience, but I loved this one. Àbíké-Íyímídé is clearly talented; I can’t wait to see what she writes next. (The audiobook narrators were great! I had to slow down the book in a few places to catch their words — on the rare occasion, they bled together in the recording — but otherwise listened at ~2.

5-2. 75 speed. I felt they appropriately set the tone. ).

Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo are both students at Niveus Private Academy and both selected to be their senior class’s prefects. Both feel honored because it puts them in the running for valedictorian in addition to looking great on college applications.

However, someone who has named themselves Aces begins to send out anonymous text messages to the whole school revealing secrets that Devon and Chiamaka have spend a lot of effort trying to keep secret.

These texts successfully turn their lives upside down and threaten everything that they had had planned for the future. What first seems like a disturbing prank quickly turns into a very dangerous game and Aces doesn’t show any signs of stopping.

Devon and Chiamaka have to work together to try and stop Aces before things turn deadly. The suspense and thrill of the writing is really good and will keep you guessing. I did not see the ending coming at all!.

When was the last time you couldn’t put down a book until you finished it? This book had me mesmerized! If you are at all familiar with Bryan Stevenson’s book “Just Mercy” or the movie, or if you are familiar with the book “Monster” or the movie, you must read “The Sun Does Shine”.

I hope they will make a movie about Ray Hinton’s experience in the criminal justice (or should I say. injustice. system. ) Read this and tell me there has not been massive injustice done to African Americans for hundreds of years.

This book is heartfelt. It brings all the emotions. Sadness, anger, love. Not forgetting In the end happiness. Ray is an amazing man who never lost faith. Truly inspiring

This book gives voice and vision to the transformation of ones life as the imbalanced scales of our judicial system failed an innocent man and stole 27 years of his life through wrongful imprisonment.

Mr. Hinton’s adjectives described how he went from trauma to triumphant. As I read the book my soul was able to travel into the depths of his atrocities & pain, then to finally feel relieved at his release to freedom.

Kathy Griffin is a strong, willful and very funny comedian. If you are a fan, this is a MUST read. It is loaded with lots of tidbits even the most rabid fan may not know. Loved it! One of the funniest chapters was the emails between Kathy and Steve Wozniak.

This was the funniest non Kathy line in the whole book. “I can count from one to a million in less than a minute but I have to count by hundreds of thousands. -Steve Wozniak Priceless.

Reading this book is like you and Kathy sitting around yakking! I was very touched by Kathy’s sensitivity(YES, I SAID SENSITIVITY) and her sense of fun. If you don’t like Kathy Griffin’s stand up, then you won’t like this book.

but I LOVED IT! This is definitely a book that will be reread over the years. Now, I’m off to buy Maggie’s book! Happy reading!.

This book is Hilarious!!! Anyone who is a Kathy Griffin fan should read this. Great, Great book!!! Kathy Griffin is outragous and Hilarious!!! I bought this book because I love Kathy Griffin and I couldn’t put this book down.

This is a great read, but not for children. lol.

This is one of the best Christian non-fiction / inspirational books I have studied this year! Lysa TerKeurst is a Christian woman, wife, mom, ministry leader, book and Bible study author who found herself in three major life crises in a short time.

The situations highlighted in this book to show the power and love of God when we endure similar – or entirely different – circumstances that just weren’t supposed to happen. Circumstances that He can and does use for our good.

The author takes us through her feelings and faith challenges she experienced as a result of those situations, and how she wrestled through with scripture, prayer, and reliance on the Lord. Her vulnerability is refreshing, her wisdom inspired by the Lord.

“Disappointment isn’t proof that God is withholding good from us. Sometimes it’s His way of leading us home. ” (pg. 5) Lysa doesn’t mince words. She does not minimize the Lord in any way, rather, He is everything! She is honest, showing that bad things do happen to Christians even while believing that God is good.

She writes in a manner that someone who has been a Christian for any length of time, whether new or seasoned, can grasp when in the midst of a trauma. There are stories of people from scripture, and parts of her own life.

The wisdom imparted comes from serious wrestling in a walk with God through painful disappointments. I could see myself in some of her feelings and reactions – not in circumstances like she was experiencing, but things going on in my own life.

It isn’t the situations that are front and center, it is how we can learn to respond despite times that simply weren’t what that should have been. Those responses may sound overly simple to those not going through a trauma but are profound to the person who is trying to put one foot in front of the other for one more day.

There are two ways we can get through – with God, or giving in to our flawed desires. One quote that is important is “We must set our minds and our hearts on things above by choosing to remember God’s words, repeat God’s words, and believe God’s word about us.

” (pg. 65) I listened to the audiobook and read the print copy while doing the associated Bible study (and purchased the e-book), and I feel it is a valuable resource to the person going through struggles or the friend of someone struggling through hard times.

Don’t compare the author’s situations to yours; instead, compare your reactions, feelings, and responses. I very much like the writer’s approach to seeking God, wrestling, praying, and getting into scripture.

Our responses in times of crisis are vital to how we live our lives from those times forward. Regarding the audiobook, it is read by the author. I felt in many ways as if we were sitting in her kitchen over coffee or tea from the writing style and simply hearing her word sin her voice.

Why did I get three formats? Because some things I learn better by repetitive hearing. Other times it is easier to open the book and search for the relevant pages, including chapter endings of “Going to the Well”, “Receive (a scripture)”, “Reflect”, and prayer.

Back sections include scripture and helps for situations. I highly recommend this unique and timely book to Christians who are going through trauma of any kind and want to know that God is still in control and appreciate solid biblical teaching.

Opening a Lysa Terkeurst book is always life-changing and mindset-shifting. It’s Not Supposed To Be This Way” takes it to a different level though. It’s emotionally rich, raw and so real. As I read, I felt Lysa’s pain, turmoil and struggles and I related! I haven’t walked her path but the heartful emotions, the doubts and fear, I’ve walked that! Lysa has a gift at framing the tiniest, but crucial, moment in a way I can understand and learn from.

She is in fine form here, this book is full of transformational insights such as: “When you suffer, slow becomes necessary. Slow becomes good. One of the best parts of this season of suffering for me was a life that doesn’t require shoes.

When your wear no shoes the sun has access to your feet. ” Lysa’s life during the writing of this book has had so many highs and lows. Each chapter connects the reader with a different point in her life and, it’s an emotional rollercoaster, so of course I had to read it flat out til the early morning! Let this be a warning, this is a jam-packed, mile-a-minute, challenging and faith-building book to begun in a morning with a Bible beside and the understanding you may need to read it twice to fully comprehend it! Central to the book, is Lysa’s framing our time here on earth, between gardens.

She speaks of those who have learnt to live this life in its fullness! I love this vision of how we can be: “It’s those clothed with garments of understanding. They have personally experienced that this life between two gardens can sometimes make it excruciatingly painful to simply be human.

They keep in mind the Bible’s instructions, as we rub shoulders human to human. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

” (Colossians 3:12)” To highlight, share or discuss more of the book would disrupt the amazing experience Lysa has created. All I can say is, the end is amazing, it full of hope and it’s fantastic!.

Having read Lysa’s previous books, I had an inkling of what I was in for: Biblical expository, real life experiences and a down to earth style. What I didn’t expect right away was for this book to change my view on hard times and suffering.

Because of this book, my perspective on dealing with life’s struggles–some of which may be life altering– has totally changed. I’d say that makes “It’s Not Supposed To Be This Way” a book we each should read sometime in our lives.

Lysa not only shares her own personal struggles: from dealing with marital infidelity on her husband’s part, to facing two challenging health diagnoses and her eventually learning that her life of comfort zone living was about to drastically change.

I was moved by her personal stories, as well of those of close friends and associates who faced things some of us consider a nightmare scenario. I loved the imagery created and idea of “the life between two gardens,” referencing the Garden of Eden and the Garden mentioned in Revelation.

The idea is fleshed out in each chapter, and at the end of each, Lysa gives the recap of the high points of the subjects discussed, in a portion called “Going To the Well. ” This is further broken down into three subheadings: “Remember, Receive and Reflect.

” I found much great encouragement here, and it draws the reader to follow up with their Bibles to learn more about the topics discussed. Because of its timely topic and the sensitivity with which it is handled, I truly applaud Lysa for this book.

I received an advanced reader copy and chose to review. All opinions are my own.