How to be Parisian Wherever You Are | Book Review

By Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret, and Sophie Mas

Ironically, I've read this book after I've traveled to Paris. 

I'm going to start off with my rating: 10/10.

I realize that all of the books I have written about have been tens, but they wouldn't be worth writing about if they were anything less. Why waste my time with something that isn't perfect?

I've been very into non-fiction books lately. How-tos (there's got to be a better way to spell that), biographies/memoirs, self help/improvement, etc. It's weird because I've always been strictly a fiction reader. Maybe it's a sign that I'm becoming a grown up? (How terrifying.)

How to be Parisian Wherever You Are is an essential for anyone looking for their own joie de vivre or je ne sais quoi or wanting to channel their inner parisienne.

There are Parisian guides to everything: style, marriage, dating, cooking, parenting, beauty, etc. Some of them aren't the best, but they are definitely, inherently Parisian. & that is what the book promises. Each part of the book is divided under about 10-15 separate headings. 

How to be Parisian is so straight forward with its idgaf Parisian attitude. There are no apologies for the details that may be questionable or silly. That's just the way the parisiennes live: unapologetically.

My favorite part of this book is how much I felt understood while reading it. I may not be a parisienne, but I'm pretty sure I think like one. I want to keep myself for myself, but also give it to someone else. I want to look like I'm not trying hard, but I am (I'm trying so hard). It's all a contradiction and that's the beauty in it. It gives off a bit of mystery...

I'm taking this as a sign that I belong in Paris & I'm 110% okay with that.

- Jess

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Tyler Oakley & Binge | Book Review

Binge by Tyler Oakley came out on Tuesday. I bought it on Thursday when he happened to be doing a signing/picture thing/meet & greet at the OSU bookstore. I had to work that day when wristbands were being given out, I didn't think I'd get to see him, hear his laugh irl, or thank him for creating what I live for: his witch's rap video. #iconic

Well.... this happened.

Enough black & white? Never.

 You know something or someone was looking out for me because after work there were still wristbands left. YAS.

I finished reading Binge today & Tyler, thank you for sharing your world with all of us.

I have been following your adventures for a long time and there are so many surprises in Binge. 

Tyler indulges us with so many stories from his life, some he brought his people along for & others that we are just finding out about now. I felt for him during the retellings of life in the Midwest; it was all too relatable. I couldn't control my cackling when I read the chapters "Crash Course" & "If You Can't Beet 'Em." 

& at times there were tears, many of them, because someone who always seems to light up the world with his online presence isn't always smiling. I know that Tyler is human, but it hurts me to know how bad he hurt. Read Binge and you'll understand.

Main lesson learned: we're all only human & FULL of flaws, but flaws are cool.

Thanks, @tyleroakley. Binge = 10/10, definitely recommend

- Jess

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All the Bright Places | Review

I'm going to stop you now with a spoiler alert!

If you read any further you will find out what happens in this aaaah-mazing book and while I want you to continue reading this blog, go read the book first. Trust me.

"People rarely bring flowers to a suicide."

There isn't a better day to share my love for this book than World Suicide Prevention Day (that's today, September 10th). 

I don't know any statistics about suicide and I'm not going to make any up to make it sound horrific because it's already pretty clear that it is a terrible thing. It breaks my heart to know that some people feel that the only way for them to escape their hardships is with death. Why have we let things get this far? 

"The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count."

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is by far the best book I have read in a really long time. So good, in fact, that I read it in one day. I haven't done that since the last Harry Potter book. 

As you can probably imagine by now, this book is largely about suicide and the stigmas surrounding grief and mental disorders.

It's the story of Finch and Violet, two high school seniors in Indiana (shoutout to the Midwest!). They meet at the top of their school's bell tower and their lives are never the same again. Their lives become permanently entwined and they change each other, at least a little bit. Finch helps Violet become a bit of who she was before and a bit of a new, better Violet too. Violet gives Finch something to live for, if only for a little while. 

At the end, I knew what was going to happen. I think I knew the ending the entire time I was reading, but it's one of those things that I refused to believe. Even chapters after I wasn't sure it was real. Even as all of the tears fell (honestly all of them, have approx 12 tissue boxes ready).

It's a story of growing up, love, adventure, trust, loss, and heartbreak.

It is a rollercoaster of emotions.

"The future is uncertain, but that can be a good thing."

It's okay to feel sad and terrible and hopeless, but you aren't alone.

If you're in the United States the suicide hotline number is 1(800)273-8255.

If you need help or you know someone who needs help, please speak up.

& Jennifer Niven, thank you for this masterpiece.

- Jess

"Let me ask you something. Do you think there's such a thing as a perfect day?"

All quotes from All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

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Go Set a Watchman | Review

(Not so) quick ramble (you've been forewarned):

Last night I finished reading Harper Lee's second novel, Go Set a Watchman.

In high school To Kill a Mockingbird was my favorite book, so I was excited and very nervous when hearing about this new addition to the lives of the Finches. This was especially so after more information surfaced concerning how/why it was getting published and Atticus's character. I wanted to read it, but I wasn't sure if I should. I didn't want to taint the love I had for the first novel if everything about Go Set a Watchman was true.

There were many a bad review, maybe even more than there were good reviews, but I read it anyway.

And you know what? I don't regret it. 

I don't think it took anything away from the Finches. It made them human and relatable. Atticus is no longer this God-like, mistake free character, but a real human, in readers' and Scout's eyes.

To Kill a Mockingbird taught us about tolerance, acceptance, and justice.

Go Set a Watchman taught us even more about acceptance, that no one is perfect, and how to think for ourselves.

I appreciate that Atticus has flaws now; he's a real man now.

While I don't 100% agree with or understand Atticus (but who really understands men?) I don't think it's a tragedy or a disgrace for him to not be agreeable for once. He was always so perfect that maybe he was too perfect and that's why everyone loved him; he wasn't real.

You may not understand what I mean without reading the novel (or even after you've read it), but that's okay. I've read a lot of other reviews (by far more prestigious people than me) that haven't agreed with me and I assume they've read the novel as well. 

I will say though that the one thing I can't look past in the bad reviews is that they expect it to be better if you read it out of the context of To Kill a Mockingbird. I agree about 0% with this. For a second let's disregard the actual order that the manuscripts were written in (opposite of the order they were published). They are meant to tied together. They have the same characters and there are flashbacks to the first novel; it's impossible to not compare them. I think the hard part is just accepting that there are character flaws now, not that one story is inferior or things don't line up. 

It's also possible that I appreciate this story because I relate to Scout so much in Go Set a Watchman. We are in very similar places in life: our pasts and presents don't go together very nicely and they're difficult to reconcile. Maybe that's where my appreciation comes from.

Anyway, more of the ramble is this:

If we give this novel a chance, it could be just as great.

So... give it a read (with an open mind)?

- Jess

P.S. Bravo if you got to the end. I applaud you. & I apologize for my ramble. 

Petite spoiler:

& RIP Jem :'(

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