Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played To Win by Rachel Ignotofsky

In this exquisite book, that Rachel Ignotofsky both written and illustrated highlights dozens of fearless women athletes in a variety of sports. The author also features sections throughout the book with a brief timeline as well as pay and media statistics of women’s sports. 

       As I read book for the first time I came across only a handful of female athletes I heard of and loved the extra detail of there lives. There are quotes and fun trivia sprinkled around the outer pages of each athlete, with colorfully detailed illustrations. The majority of the athletes featured in the book I never heard of, which I was excited to learn of these beautiful women’s stories and their overcoming struggles. Many of the women’s stories tell of not just overcoming the gender barrier of sports but the color and physical barriers, such as deafness and paralysis. 

      Overall the assortment of women athletes covered in this book makes it so wonderful to read and would uplift any woman or girl. 

I give this book 5 of 5 stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Love That Boy by Ron Fournier

Ron Fournier's Love That Boy is a parent's journey to connect with their child. Fournier weaves through examples of parental expectation of children and reality who the children actually are...human. He, like all good parents, want the best for there child; the "successful, popular, genius who is also happy". These attributes are actually some of the topics of each chapter of the first half of the book. Fournier wants all of these traits for each of his three children, in his eye unfortunately his son and youngest child is diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. At first Fournier can't quite cope though with time and many road trips to bond with his son he learns the difference of his expectation and the reality of his dreams for his son. He soon understands that he needs to accept and love his son no matter what happens.

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I gave this book 5 out 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Sam Kalda’s Of Cats and Men is a definite win for cat-lovers. He’s illustrations and profiles of some of histories most famous “cat men” are splendid. Kalda starts the profiles of 30 cat men from a 10th century king then weaves into the stories of scientists, writers, and artists through history to present-day. Of course, these one page snip-its aren’t the whole stories, but most of the profiles did make me want to know more about these great cat men. I was amused to find that these famous men I’ve heard of all my life were hardcore cat lovers…to name a few of these men I admire that are listed in the book would be: Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain, and Freddie Mercury. I also enjoy the delightful cat quotes sprinkled throughout the book. Overall this book is “cat-lady” approved!!

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffington

Do you eat right and exercise? Great! 👏👏

But what about the last time you had a good night’s sleep? Not so much. 😕

Huffington’s The Sleep Revolution has you covered on getting you into good sleep hygiene habits, as well as the history and many compelling stories of what happens to the body when sleep deprived. Before you start the book, I would suggest taking the quick sleep questionnaire in the appendix. This will give you a baseline on your sleep needs and will help you focus on the parts of the book in which your needs may be met. As a whole the book is engaging and informational, though my favorite chapter would be on “What to do, What not to do” for the the tips and techniques. Personally I have a hard time falling to sleep (I can’t seem to stay still and turn off the brain) and though Huffington suggests turning off phones well before bed I don’t follow this advice. I instead use my phone to put me to sleep from one of the many applications listed in the appendix of the book for guided meditations to fall asleep. 

Just as every human has different dietary needs we also have different sleep needs to keep our bodies healthy. This book provides an abundant amount of information in which helps you decide your custom sleep routine. 

I give this book a 5 out of 5! 

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Eddie S. Glaude Jr.'s book "Democracy in Black" is a thought provoking read of how and why America is racial inequality is still so prevalent in today's society. In the beginning of the book Glaude describes the ideal of a "value gap" between white and black Americans, and how whites are valued more. And our past and present government policies prove that as Glaude explains several examples in our history. In other chapter, I interpreted his comments on our country's racial habits as to be so ingrained into our society we don't realize that most situations are assumptions and stereotypes about people in which are not true. One example the author made was about him growing up in a town where one side was disproportionately worse than the other side, with bad sewage piping in which it flooded the whole neighborhood (which got me thinking about my own state's water crisis in Flint, MI). Parts of this book did make me uncomfortable but it should because race relations is a very serious topic in American right now.

I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney

               Kara Cooney's biography The Woman Who Would Be King is a excellent read for all those who are interested in the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut...or shall I said the first real 'female king', rather than just a regent. Cooney walks us through Hatshepsut's childhood and through the years as she was building her political power. Although much of Queen Hatshepsut life is unknown and there is no way to really know what exactly she was thinking during her rise to power. I think the author did an excellent job in reviewing the Egyptian culture and how Queen Hatshepsut would use the religious beliefs to gain power.

I would give this book a 5 out 5 stars.

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Spinster: Making A Life Of One's Own by Kate Bolick

Kate Bolick's book Spinster: Making A Life Of One's Own is about of course that dirty word---"spinster" and how through time strong women have defied the idea that unmarried childless women are one-dimensional and go against the cultural norms of society. The author introduces the reader to her five "awakeners," the five main women throughout history who have inspired her life and career, and guides her through her relationships.

I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. 

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.