The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

I'm not sure what it was expecting but it wasn't an allegorical conversation between a youth and a philosopher. I suppose I should have read more reviews but I liked the title and decided to pick the book up. I really loved the ending but, ifda, it was a slog to get ti there.

The youth is combative and wanting to know how to be happy. The philosopher is telling him it is a choice and walking through different philosophies to prove that thought to be true.

There is a lot of discussion on Adlerian philosophy but some of the advice boils down to, "it's  none of my business what other people think of me."

In the end, it boils down to your own self being the only one who can change the world. If you shift your philosophy, the world will shift for you.

Three stars

This book came out December 12, 2013

Hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Lead Bigger by Anne Chow

Was this book groundbreaking? Maybe not. Was it informative? Yes. Was it entertaining? Also yes. 

Chow writes, as the title says, about leading bigger. Really, (as she says), she means leading more inclusively. It's not exactly DEI but it's not NOT DEI. And I like that she explicitly says that equal doesn't always equal fair. 

I also enjoyed her analysis of how birth rate contributes to job satisfaction. The interviews at the end were with some big names and contributed nicely to the points Chow was trying to make. 

Four stars

This book came out September 10, 2024

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

February 2025 Monthly Rereads

 Opinions, as always, are my own

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #1

This book came out October 28, 2014

Followed by White Hot
Audiobook from Audible

White Hot by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #2

This book came out October 28th, 2014

Follows Burn for Me
Followed by Wildfire
Audiobook from Audible

Wildfire by Ilona Andrews

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 15, 2017

Follows White Hot

Followed by Diamond Fire

Audiobook from Audible

Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #3.5
Four stars
Followed by Sapphire Flames
This novella came out November 6th, 2018
Audiobook from Libby

Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #4

This book came out August 27th, 2019

Follows novella Diamond Fire

Followed by Emerald Blaze
Audiobook from Audible

Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #5

This book came out August 25th, 2020

Four stars
Follows Sapphire Flames

Followed by Ruby Fever

Audiobook from Audible

Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy #6

Four stars

Four and a half stars

This book comes out August 23, 2022

Follows Emerald Blaze

Audiobook from Audible

The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick

Burning Cove #1

This book came out May 9, 2017

Followed by The Other Lady Vanishes

Audiobook from Audible

The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick

Four Stars

This book came May 8, 2018

Burning Cove #2

Follows The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Followed by Tightrope
Audiobook from Audible

The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz

This book came out January 9, 2024

Follows Sleep No More

Followed by Shattering Dawn

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Teaching Yoga by Donna Farhi

This book begins with a very intellectual bent talking about pedagogy and doing some deep dives into philosophy. Later chapters do get a little easier to read but I felt like I was wading through some deep information to get there. 

There are ruminations on the ethics of teaching asana without philosophy as well as the etics that surround teaching yoga. The phrase that resonated most with me was "We should teach what we know, and teach what we practice." In other words, we should be trying to teach poses that we ourselves have not explored thoroughly. 

Not my favorite book on teaching yoga but I can see why it was included in the shelf recommended by my trainer.

Three stars

This book came out September 25, 2006

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Spy x Family, Vol. 11 by Tatsuya Endo

The book starts with the furthering of the familiy trying to get in good with Damian's family. Yor knew the mother but Anya is really working on the son. It's not going well. Yuri visits and is still creepily obsessed with his sister.

Most of the book is based around a school trip that has gone terribly wrong when two of the buses are waylaid by dissidents. Anya and Damian are able to work together to get everyone home safely. 

Four stars

This book came out April 4, 2022

Follows Vol. 10

Followed by Vol. 12

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

An Ominous Explosion by Lynn Messina

The Beatrice Hyde-Clare books aren't super deep but they're usually pretty fun. It took me awhile to get through this one but I did get to the end eventually.

In this book, Beatrice, her uncle, and her cousins go to a demonstration of a new steam engine. During the demonstration something explodes and the inventor, Peter Huzza, is killed. Few people are surprised. After all, this is a new technology and things happen. But Beatrice isn't so sure. Something just doesn't feel right. And it's not just pregnancy hormones.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 8, 2022

Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries #9

Follows A Malevolent Connection

Followed by An Extravagant Duplicity

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Sure 'Locked by Erik Henry Vick

Someone is dead from the bite of a Barghest. The rwo-headed demon dog rarely kills, usually being a potent of death rather than death itself. In Richard Brook's case, it becomes the murder weapon. 

A lot of forward movement in ancillary stories, especially Lerry's daughter who is wanting to become a vampire. He introduces her to Dru's father, one of the biggest baddies of the vampire community. Leery and Dru also solve a murder.

Three stars

This book came out October 2, 2020

Claw & Warder #7

Follows A Tail of Two Cities

Followed by 'Slay Fell Things

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own