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OK, wow (4.5 stars). This was very good, but it was unsettling from the start, pushing my anxiety buttons in an impressive way. I saw the mostly rave reviews on Bookmarks but didn't read any of them, so I went into the book not knowing much about it and maybe that added to the suspense. Thoughtful and quirky, with some interesting observations about parenting, technology, consumerism, etc.

Well-written and exciting, with a good sense of humor. I enjoyed the magical archipelago setting. It has a familiar fantasy story arc - i.e., a young "chosen" protagonist goes on a quest to fight against evil with the help of some friends and protectors (to some extent, it reminded me of both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings) - but it's inventive enough to stand out in its own right. I wouldn't mind having one of those flying coats. My favorite part was the scene where they meet the jaculus dragon. I definitely saw parallels to our climate change reality, e.g. government dragging its feet in the face of catastrophic changes in the sea, so I appreciated that.

Funny and helpful for planning a visit to New York, especially Manhattan.

Mandel's writing is excellent and unpretentious, as usual. It's a great story with thriller elements and characters who find themselves falling into desperate situations. There are lots of keen observations about people's relationships, hopes, disappointments, foibles, and sense of morality. Despite the seriousness of the topics touched on (housing crisis, habitat encroachment, crime, etc.), there's a low-key sense of humor, at least in the first half of the book, like when Gavin is troubled by the abbreviation/acronym on his sister's business card, feeling that there's a letter missing (another example: when he visits his mother and then considers climbing out the bathroom window to avoid further conversation). I also really enjoyed the focus on music.

A solid, well-written mystery with a great protagonist (the extremely analytical Mia). It grabbed me right away. There were a few holes in the plot early on, but those didn't bother or distract me too much. Also, the happiness quotient concept is interesting, but after a while I felt like it was being a bit overexplained. Overall, though, I enjoyed it a lot, and I thought the audiobook narration by Shannon Tyo was very good.

This little book pretty much blew me away, with its poetic and beautifully-written ruminations on life, space, and the Earth, featuring six astronauts/cosmonauts on the space station. There were many sections that changed or expanded my perspective on things. It definitely called to mind the Pale Blue Dot. It's not flawless - for example, there were a few times when it felt perhaps a bit too sentimental, and I'm not sure why it referred to "mankind" rather than "humankind" through most of the novel (also, an early description of the Japanese astronaut as being "not-quite definable" veered a little too close to the "inscrutable" trope, I thought). Overall, though, it was extremely well done.

It's a very well-written book with a fascinating focus on falling. It is not light-hearted, despite the fact that Buster Keaton is heavily featured. The obsession with Keaton is woven throughout the story, as the self-destructive narrator navigates her fraught relationships with her twin brother and her mother, as well as the family's superstitions about a falling curse supposedly caused by the actions of an ancestor in Prague. There are many interesting scenes set in Prague, where the narrator and her brother move for a while in an attempt to sort things out.

This was delightful, and Ethan Hawke's audiobook narration had me laughing out loud through the whole book, which is largely about friends supporting each other. It touched on so many things, like the wonder of art, the joy of adventure, and the great variety of personalities that you will meet in life.