This took a bit to get into, because it’s so different from my usual reads. Im so glad I stuck with it - it’s an engrossing, thought provoking discourse on the impacts of wage gaps on classist structures, described through desires and pleasures of the palate, the body, and the mind. Beautiful prose devoted to exploring what it truly means to have, and have not.

I hated this book. Maybe because I listened to the audiobook version. I don’t know. It rambled on and had so many missing pieces. It annoyed me.

I picked up and put down this book several times over 6 months, and am glad I chose to read it in snippets rather than all at once. It’s a beautifully written tale of a journey Steinbeck takes cross country with his dog Charley as his companion. It’s a lovely commentary on country, society, and individualism. And I was so pleased to find that Steinbeck spoke up and stood up for racial justice. Excellent narrative and worth the read.

This...was incredible. Breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking, truly magnificent. By barely 200 pages in, I could tell it would top my all time favorite books list, displacing other beloved novels into rankings incomparable.

This intimate, epic detailing of lives intertwined by friendship and love, through mental illness, addiction, and physical disability as well as age make A Little Life canonical. I was reminded of East of Eden, in that both are rich with truth and beauty, yet told simply and exquisitely.

This was a true pleasure to read. I enjoyed it with the library app but will be purchasing it for endless re-readings as I age.

I first read a sample of this book via the Libby app and was instantly drawn in. I borrowed the book immediately and it has captured my heart and kept me engaged through every word. I’m sad to have completed it - I could stay in Ifemelu’s world forever. The novel is poetic in its lyricism. I can picture the people and places and imagine the smells as clearly as if they were right in front of me. Read this book. You won’t regret it.

I couldn’t put this down. Compelling, thoughtful, with well formed characters and reliable narrators. Beautiful.

This book is engrossing. It is culturally significant,

with well developed, believable characters. The author keeps you invested by changing between three narrators with super smooth transitions. It is an easy read, covering difficult topics realistically. A page turner.

A gorgeously written sorry about the devastating beauty and pain of mental illness and how it affects not just the afflicted, but also their loved ones. A compelling and smooth read that was over far too quickly.

This book made me cry, and I don’t remember ever crying at a fictional book before. Mental illness is portrayed in such a clear, honest way, and it is heartbreaking. I originally thought maybe I would share the book with my 12 year old son who struggles with some of the same behaviors as the protagonist, but because of the vivid and realistic portrayal of just how bad things can spiral out of control, I’m actually afraid reading it could potentially make his own disorder worse.

It was a beautifully written book.

A linguistically gifted 36-year old neurosurgeon and scientist diagnoses his own terminal cancer and shares his journey thereafter with his readers. In my experience, people who are voracious readers and writers aren’t typically mathematically or scientifically gifted. This is not the case here. Kalanithi beautifully weaves together his love of literature and words with his passion for and education in science and facts. He also meaningfully considers existential matters of faith with a scientific eye in a way that made me truly second guess my agnosticism for the first time in years.

The whole read is beautiful and heart wrenching and worth every minute. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.