coolcatalycat's reviews
422 reviews

I honestly don’t know what to rate these because they are SO cringy but so entertaining. I seriously don’t think I would’ve continued this series if I started it this year. 

This one wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I actually liked them being apart, and it got a bit boring when they reunited lol

I’m so glad the next book is the last one. Although I was having fun with the last two books, reading my old annotated copies, this one wasn’t as much fun and my enjoyment of this series is starting to die out. But I will read it since I got this far. 

Finally got through this beautiful cookbook. I found it at the thrift store just after my first Ayurveda class for $8 (which is strange because I never looked at the cookbook section much before). 

This really helped me further my studies since our Ayurveda section was so short, and I wanted to know so much more. It’s such a special book, filled with so much love. I haven’t gotten a chance to do most of the recipes yet but I am looking forward to it!! Everything I’ve made thus far has been incredible (and it’s so good for you!). Really nice to learn more about my body and how to treat it better (from a yogic lens).  

Logged this because a good chunk of this had information about the doshas/ayurveda in general. Got a lot of great stuff out of this one :,) so excited to try the golden mylk butter cups because I’m obsessed with the golden mylk 🙏

It feels cruel to give a memoir such a low rating, especially such a raw piece about someone’s grief. I almost didn’t want to rate it at all. But these ratings are purely for personal logging, so here’s an honest review. Please forgive me Joan Didion 🙏

I did not really like this book… and it would’ve been a DNF if it weren’t for the fact that I was annotating it for julia’s birthday (I wanted to pick a book we both hadn’t read). And I guess it was my fault for going into this with an expectation. The title made me expect lessons and epiphanies in grief, but instead, I was faced with loadsssss of trauma that was triggering. Maybe it would’ve been a different experience if I hadn’t faced a sudden passing in my life as well, but I don’t know..

It is definetely a raw, realistic record of what it feels like to be faced with such sudden loss. This was written in the early stages of her grief and a lot of it is written in a way that reflects the grieving mind. It is really well done, and it’s rare you hear/read someone’s experience of grief while they’re actually experience it. 

it was just soooo  depressing and dark. I guess you can say that’s the “reality” of grief, but it depends. Grief is complex and a different experience for every single person grieving and for every person that you grieve. Sometimes you might find your experience reflected back to you, and other times, you'll feel like you’ve been doing something wrong. You can’t win because we all experience emotions, especially grief, differently. It’s is an experience that is unique to your character and to the person that you lost. Although, a lot of this was still relatable and I caught myself thinking “so I’m not crazy for thinking this way” and that was really nice :,)

I think I’m one of the few people who didn’t like this book, but I really commend Joan didion for writing and publishing this because it is RAW (as I keep saying, but it’s the only word to describe it). It must’ve been extremely healing for her to write. Maybe I didn’t love it because it sometimes hit too close to home, and I was reminded of things I didn’t want to be reminded of, things I didn’t think were necessary to linger on anymore.  

 I hope this isn’t too harsh ,  this topic is soooo delicate 

My mom kept telling me about this book and how it changed her friend’s life who was told he would never be able to walk again. 

I randomly started getting a sharp pain in my back about a month ago, so I decided to pick this up. What was written definitely helped me out, but it was a bit repetitive and sometimes boring. Although, I did find out at like 20% that my back pain came from scoliosis that I had no idea about LOL. So I guess that made me check out a bit, and I wasn’t as engaged. 

Overall, it did help me shift my view on pain. This book is really ahead of its time which is also impressive. The mind body connection is insane. 

I’ve had this book on my tbr for almost 4 years now. Finally tackled it. I think I would’ve liked it a lot more if I read it 4 years ago. The characters felt a little one dimensional to me, which was really surprising, especially for such a highly praised book. 

The story did lose me at times. I met a stranger on a bus to Ontario and we spoke about this book. She said something very beautiful. I can’t remember exactly now, but it was something along the lines of “the plot is a bit all over the place and you kind of get lost, but Addie is lost and trying to find her way and it’s as if we’re doing that with her through the form.” I thought that was cute. 

I just didn’t connect with the story/characters as much as I would’ve liked to. It did make me tear up at the end so I rounded up my review a little bit. 

Anyways, do you think her freckles resemble stars? It wasn’t clear 

Buddy read with sara ! Twas fun 😎  

A love letter to the earth, the universe, humanity. I want to say marvellous read, although I never use that word. 

Beautiful cover art. It’s what initially attracted me. The plot sounded intriguing as well, so I felt I would really enjoy this one. 

I really recommend the audiobook. I think it would’ve been a different experience reading it on my own. Beautiful narration, made it more immersive.  

Just wanted something quick to read on the drive to and from my nonna’s. I probably should’ve continued any of the other books I’m reading lol. 

I can tell this was unedited because it did feel a bit all over the place and a little harsh. I don’t regret reading it, there were definitely some ideas I appreciated, but I will for sure have to check out the game of life and how to play it as that seems like a more fleshed out version of this book. 

What a beautifully, uniquely written story. My heart feels a bit heavy after completing it. It was really special and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. 

It reminded me a little of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow in the sense that it was a long and a sometimes slow paced book, but as a whole, it was worth every page. There were so many beautiful concepts and philosophical questions presented and questioned and I learnt so much (I really appreciate how much work and research was put into this). I especially loved how much I learnt about Japan, not just their culture, but some of their words as well. A tale for the time being was carefully crafted with lots of love, and you can tell. 

The footnotes being apart of the story/breaking the fourth wall was one of my absolute favourite parts. So so unique! Nao’s journal really did read like a teenage girl’s and at times I felt like she was talking to me, but I think that was the whole point of the story too. That is what makes it so special. The concept of the time being. The readers are just as much a character in the story as Ruth is. 

So many of my interests were incorporated into this novel and it’s what made me love it so much. Very very special read. 

I’m really disappointed with this, I really wanted to enjoy it. Really not connecting with the writing & it’s extremely slow paced. Kept hoping it would get better but it doesn’t even seem like it’ll come to a satisfying conclusion, so it’s not worth finishing :/ will have to check out other murakami books and give him another chance.