Fahrenheit 451

I love this book.

I've always loved it.

So when my friend suggested we re-read it for Banned Books Week, I jumped at the chance.

I haven't read this book since high school, so I went into this just remembering how I felt reading it as a teenager. You guys know the gist of the story right? If not, here's a refresher.

 

Guy Montag is a fireman. But his job isn't to put out fires, it's to set them. Reading and owning books has been outlawed, so when the alarm siren ring the men jump into their truck with firehouses that spray kerosene. When Montag meets the peculiar neighbor girl, he begins to question everything that he had been taking at face value. For years, he's been collecting books from homes he's set ablaze and hiding them in his own home. Technology has taken over and they're constantly interacting with strangers they call relatives.

It blows my mind that this book was originally published in the 1950's while this extreme interconnection is something we witness every single day here in 2023. When I first read this, I didn't even have a smart phone. But now the world has seen rich ass men literally throwing themselves into space.

This book has been challenged and banned all over the world for numerous reasons. What these people are failing to realize it that by banning Fahrenheit 451, they are doing exactly what the firemen did.

Wanna see my original review?

Fahrenheit 451

 

Looking for other books that mention Fahrenheit 451?

Dear Fahrenheit 451

Dead Eleven

This book was so freaking good.

Creepy ass island? Check.

Missing sibling? Check.

Dead kid? Check.

It all starts when Willow goes missing.

After the death of her son, she starts looking for meaning. Anything that might help her cope with the loss of her little boy. After a nightmare from her childhood, she has the overwhelming urge to move the toy box in his room....that's when she sees it.

Clifford Island.

Google hardly recognizes Clifford Island as a real place, but before long she's on a boat to get some answers. But what she finds is even weirder. This island and all its residents seem to be stuck in 1994. The O.J. Simpson Bronco chase plays every single night, there's hardly any modern technology, and there always seems to be something lurking behind the curtains.

This was the perfect book to kick off spooky season.

The secrets, the nostalgia, the dreary weather.

It was just perfectly spooky.

Tangled Vines

I feel like it's safe to say we've all heard of the Murdaugh Family at this point.

I've been following this case since day one. I mean this all happened less than an hour away from where I live. So I have been hardcore invested in this.

 

Tangled Vines does a deep dive into the entire Murdaugh Family. For decades, Murdaugh's ran wild through South Carolina. They literally help create the city and immediately took over the legal system. Every single generation of Murdaugh men have worked within the legal system in some capacity. But for some reason, Alex and his boys decided that meant they ran the city. Buster and Paul could do no wrong. Aside from constantly bailing them out, Alex preyed on families who were already going through some of the worst times of their lives. He saw dollar signs mixing with their tears.

 

I first became invested in this case when I heard about Mallory Beach.

I drive over the bridge where her body was found, regularly for work. Every single time, it reminds me that the Murdaugh's truly got away with everything. Well, almost everything.

 

There's so many conspiracies surrounding this family, that it would be hard to discredit them all. While John Glatt does touch on a handful of theories, he keeps it pretty cut and dry. Overall this was a well written, cohesive book on The Murdaugh Family Murders.

Looking for other books by John Glatt?

The Perfect Father

The Doomsday Mother

The Family Next Door

I Would Leave Me If I Could

I got a little musical bug in my ear the other day and could not stop listening to the album Maniac by Halsey.

I get in the moods where music speaks to me and Halsey's words were like poetry. I listened to the album on repeat for days before deciding I needed to re-read her actually poetry book.

The first time I read I Would Leave Me If I Could, I was in a happy, committed relationship. Since then, I've gotten divorced and experienced the deepest heartbreak I never could have imagined. I knew going into this a second time that I would take away something completely different.

 

It hurt. 

But it felt more like a growing pain.

The anxiety and depression hit me like a ton of bricks but gave me so much hope. It made me realize that heartbreak hits everyone a little differently but we always manage to bounce back. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to ask for help. It's okay to be vulnerable.

Listening to Maniac and reading I Would Love Me If I Could was one of the most therapeutic experiences of my life.

Looking for my original review?

I Would Leave Me If I Could

Sucker

I saw this book and immediately pre-ordered it.

The premise was vague but it sounded a looooooot like Elizabeth Holmes as a vampire. Which hello, that sounds absolutely amazing.

But is that what I got?

I mean.....kind of.

This was the purest form of elitism.

It was set in the Silicon Valley, at a start up company (obviously), with a snotty ass rich kid who opened his own record label with daddy's money. They're barely making ends met, when a woman from Chuck's past shows up to give him the opportunity of a lifetime. Olivia is developing a health and wellness company that could detect all kinds of illnesses with a single drop of blood. And the best part? She wants Charles Grossheart to be her muse.

Olivia Watt's company, Kenosis, is literally just Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos. I'm talking this author put her in the same kind of freaking clothing and everything. It's like this novel wanted to be "Eat the rich!" But just came out more as, I'm an entitled asshole and always will be.

It just really, really did not work for me at all.

Where Are Your Boys Tonight?

Am I a 27 year old emo kid?

God mom, it was never a phase!

If you think for a second that I haven't seen AT LEAST one emo band on tour this year, you'd be dead wrong. I literally saw Fall Out Boy for the 6th time in July. I saw Mayday Parade, Paramore, The Maine.....I'm sure there's more.

But reading this book was insane.

It jumps right into the emo culture of the 90's.

While I didn't really know a lot of those bands, I was excited to learn about the guys who literally paved the way for modern emo culture. To kick it up a notch, I downloaded every single band that was mentioned and found SO MANY that I am now obsessed with. The basics, like Dashboard Confessional, The Used, Brand New were already on my radar. But then bands like Thursday, Something Corporate, and Silent Majority started infiltrating my playlists.

But my heart belongs in 2005.

This era is aptly referred to as the emo boom.

It was the height of Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at The Disco, Paramore, and countless others. This was when I entered my emo phase and just.....never left.

The connections that all of these guys have and continue to have is absolutely remarkable. I learned new things about bands that I've been listening to for nearly two decades. Seeing how the culture grew and became this absolute craze blows my mind. Hearing how they started bands, learning about the diss tracks, the drama, the love, the absolute friendship that came from this group. They created something that made my little emo heart feel seen. That's what they did for me.

Looking for books written by bands mentioned in this book?

The Boy with the Thorn in His Side

None of This Rocks

My Story

MARILYN DESERVED BETTER.

I love this woman with my entire being.

So yes, I will absolutely be biased in my opinion of her memoir.

Her memoir starts the way most do, with her childhood. The trauma she suffered from people who were supposed to love and care for her breaks my heart. She tells this story with such immense vulnerability. It details her rise to stardom along with all the heartbreak that came along with it. The photos she took to make a little cash, learning to live her life as an absolute sexpot, and living a very public persona while trying to nurture the little girl she once was.

One quote speaks volumes about how she was perceived in the public eye vs how she saw herself.

 

"The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves. Men sometimes didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. When they found this out, they would blame me for disillusioning them--and fooling them."

 

What I loved most about this memoir is hearing Marilyn talk about herself in a way that felt real. It felt natural. It felt like she finally wanted the world to see her as she saw herself. While her memoir is unfinished, I managed to snag an illustrated edition that included photos taken by Milton Greene. Dozens upon dozens of iconic Marilyn photos can be found in these pages and I absolutely loved it.

Looking for other books that feature Marilyn Monroe?

Music for Chameleons

Marilyn Monroe: The Last Interview

Blonde

Looking for books that have characters based on Marilyn Monroe?

Valley of the Dolls

Breakfast at Tiffany's