User Profile

Nerywood

Nerywood@tomes.tchncs.de

Joined 1 year, 5 months ago

I read a variety of books. I'm here to help improve the selection of BookWyrm (including adding new books, descriptions and covers).

I'm always honest in my reviews, and I disclose at the beginning if I got the book for free (and how).

All my reviews (except the quotes from the book being reviewed) are my own opinion and under Unlicense. I don't need to be credited, but that is welcome.

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Nerywood's books

Adam Kay: Undoctored (2022, Orion Publishing Group, Limited) 4 stars

3 stars

3 stars

“This book contains pregnancy loss, depictions of disordered eating behaviours, including methods, and details of sexual violence.” it also mentions cheating. Now, these aren't mentioned right away in the book, and I believe they should. Yes, you're reading a book written by a former doctor, but if you are sensitive to those sorts of things, then it's best to know before diving too deep into a book.

I believe the book is mostly a re-telling of the author's life that includes part before they became a doctor, training to be a doctor, working as a doctor, and as a former doctor. So, if you're looking for a book more about being in the hospital, then start with the author's first book.

As always with this author, read their annotations, as it makes the book better. Reading on an eReader can help with this. However, there are still many funny passages, …

Lindsay Moran: Blowing My Cover (2005, Berkley Trade) 3 stars

My review

3 stars

The author of the book is pro CIA, which they sort of mentioning in the beginning when it mentions “The material in this book has been reviewed and approved by the CIA.”

That doesn't mean the author doesn't take opportunities to mention times when they hated working for the CIA, such as “It surprised me that an organization that relied so heavily on the absolute loyalty of its employees, such as the CIA, would be so thoroughly unimpressed by my sense of obligation to my students.”

Lindsay does include thing's that other books don't, such as “As we celebrated, however, Brenda brooded over the injustices that had been wreaked upon her. She kept a careful record of her bruises and, weeks later, would threaten to sue the Agency, thereby eliminating the POW exercise for future trainees.”

Of course, the only reason Lindsay even had time to write this book was …

Jessica Bruder, Dale Maharidge: Snowden's Box (2020, Verso Books) 4 stars

Gripping behind-the-scenes story of Edward Snowdens massive leak of US secret surveillance. One day in …

My review

4 stars

This book does have a couple of instances of swearing.

It feels so wrong, yet so right to read this book.

If you think you've read and watched everything else related to Ed Snowden, then you're missing an important piece. The box. Which this book tells all about.

“the focus of our book was the human relationships that shepherded Snowden’s box — rather than the material inside”

How much of this story is actually true? That I don't know, but as the book mentions,

“systems are only as reliable as the people who operate them. “When it all boils down to it,” he concluded, “it is all about personal trust.””

Stories are a great way to hook someone in, and it's interesting the approach that this book took.

““Thanks for making me laugh so hard,” Laura wrote to both of us the next day. It was the last time I’d …

Andrew DeYoung: The Temps (EBook, 2022, Dreamscape Media) 3 stars

My review of The Temps

3 stars

The book does have multiple instances of swearing, people do die (which is mentioned in the description, but sometimes the book goes into detail), sexual acts, and killing someone. Rated 3.75 (which I rounded down to 3.5).

I found it hard to start this book, as the introduction was boring, but it did provide some context of what's to come.

“Jacob squinted. “What’s the point?” Lauren shook her head. “I honestly don’t know.”

There were many instances of the book going into tons of detail, which sometimes was helpful to be able to visually see what's going on. However, in multiple cases, it felt like the author was adding padding to the book to make it longer.

“The book, Lauren realized, didn’t just preserve knowledge; it preserved their past selves, captured them in amber. But their identities weren’t set in stone. They were changing whether they wanted to or not, …

Mariah Montoya: Swap (EBook, 2023, Driftwyrd) No rating

At her eighteenth birthday party, Liliana Blaire finally gets to Swap: a personalized bot will …

I DNF's but this is my review

No rating

Got this book for free as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. This is my honest review and nobody (the author, publisher or LibraryThing) has read this review before it went public.

I DNF'd at the beginning of chapter 8 due to the book being slow in pace, and not very interesting in general. It wasn't because of the details, which I felt there was the right amount of. It could be because there were so many stories that took place and I just wanted the main story to get to a certain point without feeling like I'm missing a huge ton.

I'm not sure how I feel about the prologue, if you read the book description you almost don't need this, but it also somewhat feels like skipping ahead.

Another point about all the stories, it was hard to tell when one story stopped and another continued. And many …

Emily Chappell: Where There's a Will (2019, Pursuit Books LLC) 4 stars

Emily Chappell's story of transformation into a cross-continental bike racer, pushing the limits of her …

Review of Where There's A Will

3 stars

If you like hearing about long bike rides or overcoming challenges, the struggles while doing them, long adventures, imposter syndrome, or failure, then you will like this book. It also touches on travel and food if you're also into that.

"The arrival of a friend made me feel a little more like I belonged here"

If you aren't from the UK or in the biking community, there may be words you don't know and that a dictionary may not be able to tell you, so don't worry if you struggle.

"Often, when I read of a new round-the-world record, or when a roadie friend would boast about the 200km sportive he was training for that summer, I would think of the audaxers, many of whom will quite happily cover 400 miles in a weekend, before heading back to work on Monday morning, simply because they claim to enjoy it."

This …

Logan Ury: How to Not Die Alone (2021, Simon & Schuster) No rating

My review

No rating

"You’ve done things your way for your entire life. Why not try something different? A lasting, loving relationship may very well be waiting for you on the other end."

The author does have a bias (worked at Google before working on this book, and worked at Hinge after submitting it) but does provide good advice.

You will want to make notes / highlight, and sometimes there is a quiz, so will want a way to write something down.

"You need to put in effort to find someone."

"No relationship is easy all the time. Even the healthiest, most rewarding marriages require effort. Finding someone can be hard, but often the real challenge comes later. The hard part is the daily work you put in to grow and sustain a great relationship."

While the book does feel geared a bit more towards women, anyone of any gender I believe can make …

Matt Haig: The Midnight Library (Paperback, 2020, Penguin Publishing Group) 4 stars

"Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go …

My review of The Midnight Library

3 stars

Wonder what your life would be like if you had done one thing differently? Unfortunately that currently isn't possible, but through this book you can through Nora, her life, and her different lives.

"Now, you have to decide how you want to live."

"Because, Nora, sometimes the only way to learn is to live"

The book starts off with a number of quotes, then I found it went weird. It's hard to explain, and early on I wondered why the author chose to go this way.

Since there are multiple characters at many points in the book, it can be difficult to know who is saying what.

There are some chapters or parts that I felt could have been removed all together, and the book overall would be the same. Sometimes the book felt wordy, or felt like I was reading a page filler.

"The quiet made her realise how …

Donald K. Slayton: Deke!: Us Manned Space from Mercury to the Shuttle (1995, St. Martin's Press) 3 stars

Deke Slayton was one of the first seven Mercury astronauts--and he might have been the …

Deke! book review

3 stars

If you want to read a book about the author, life in the war, or NASA (including one of the original astronauts and how his life was changed), then this book is one to add to your list. Deke passed away due to a brain tumour in 1993, this book was published in 1994.

"until I was in my thirties, I was always Don Slayton. Nobody called me Deke until I became a test pilot at Edwards in the 1950s"

Content warning for this book: war, death

As always with older books, some words have a different meaning today, or you would use something else. That doesn't take away too much from the book, but it may make you stop and wonder what the author means.

"It was maybe sixty hours from the Agena failure to White House approval. That was how things got done in those days."

This book …

A.D. Hay: The Candidate (2021, Le Villain Press) 5 stars

A Murdered Judge. A Dark Secret Silenced.

Rookie reporter James Lalonde is bored. And, he …

My review of The Candidate

5 stars

Disclosure: I got this ebook for free from BookSirens. In return I was asked to provide a private review to the author of this book and could publish my review anywhere I liked. The author nor BookSirens has any say in my review, this is my honest review of the book.

This is the first book of a great series, I just know it. Of course what happens has to involve multiple people to keep the story interesting (I'm keeping it vague on purpose to not spoil anything). The reporter James is involved from beginning to end, and while many other people come into the story they don't make as big an impact as James does.

"She shifted in her seat. ‘What’s a warrant?’ James’s eyes bulged. So the ... weren’t above taking advantage of a naïve twenty-year-old."

I do think the author could have left out some of the …

Kim Dinan: The Yellow Envelope (Paperback, 2017, Sourcebooks) 4 stars

What Would You Do with a Yellow Envelope?

After Kim and her husband decide to …

My Review of The Yellow Envelope

4 stars

I had never heard about this author before reading the book and now I'm interested to read her blog to read some of her other travel adventures in detail (since the book could only cover so much).

What would you do if you decided to quit your comfy life and travel full-time with no end date in sight? That is what Kim and Brian (her husband) did. But just before they go on their travel they are given an yellow envelope from a friend which has money in it and they are told to give away the money following the three rules (don't overthink it, share your experiences if you want, don't feel pressed to give it all away). Which may seem easy but it's hard especially since you are travelling.

If you are thinking or dreaming about travelling for a length of time that doesn't have an end time, …

reviewed Ties That Bind by Rosie Meddon (On the Home Front, #3)

Rosie Meddon: Ties That Bind (EBook, 2022, Canelo Saga) 4 stars

When Esme's past as a secret operative comes calling, she must choose - her husband …

My review of Ties That Bind

4 stars

3.75/5 (rounding the whole star rating to 4)

If you haven't read the first two books in this series then this book and review won't make sense. This review may contain spoilers of those books in the series, but won't contain any spoilers for this book.

The chapters allow the author to indicate some time has passed, but no indication is given of how long, or exactly what happening.

I would suggest having a dictionary (either physical or virtual) nearby when reading this book as there were a number of words that I had to look up the definition to, in order to fully understand what was happening. I can imagine the author did this to keep you in the time frame that this book takes place.

There are a number of parts where the characters get emotional and the author does a great job allowing the reader to fully …

reviewed Shadow Beasts by Nellie H. Steele (Shelving Magic, #1)

Nellie H. Steele: Shadow Beasts (EBook, 2023) No rating

If Paige isn’t careful, her new job could land her in an early grave.

Paige …

My review of Shadow Beasts

No rating

Disclosure: I got this ebook from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review. Nobody (the author, publisher, or LibraryThing) has read this review before I posted it publicly.

I DNF'd at 47% read. There are parts of the book that I liked, but I couldn't continue to read because of certain things.

There are things you may read that seem to make no sense at that time, but they may make sense later. There are also so many details that you can really visualize what's going on. The author does include some good humour and moments that you will read then say "what!?". I'm going to be purposefully vague regarding this as I don't wish to spoil certain parts of the book.

“It certainly will be convenient. Gosh, I wish this worked on real languages. High school Spanish would have been a breeze.”

The author is very good …