In this memoir-esque book by former U.S. vice president Joe Biden, Promise Me, Dad mostly revolves around details of Biden’s second term as vice president. Pieces of his earlier experiences and previous political movements are woven through his the story of his vice presidency and his struggle to determine if he should enter the 2016 presidential race. Whilst all of these major professional decisions are being made, Biden is also dealing with the failing health of his eldest son, Beau, which strongly influences which direction Biden chooses to pursue. Throughout the book, Biden sprinkles in many family-held truths of what makes you a good person and how the family depends on and lifts each other up. It left me yearning for the opportunity to have grown close to and been influenced by a family like the Bidens during my early years.
Publication Date: 14 November 2017 by Flatiron Books. Format: Hardcover.
The characters in this were beautiful and I wanted to learn even more about them beyond the pages we have. The Sun is also a Star centers around the meeting of Daniel, a Korean American teenager who is supposed to be on his way to an admissions interview at Yale, and Natasha, a Jamaican teenager who is trying to overturn her family’s deportation. Their paths unexpectedly cross during a day that both of their futures could completely change. They somehow fall in love in the span of that single day, which was a bit too cutesy and unrealistic for me, but an enjoyable read nevertheless. If you want a bit of fluff with some great characters that you’ll want to root for, I recommend this to you!
How did I make it through this much of my life without reading this book??? As I was wrapping up my 2018 of reading, I decided to throw in the classic To Kill a Mockingbird to finally tackle this well known favorite.
This is my first dive into anything Helen Ellis, so I wasn’t riding a wave of pre-established affection. Ellis is an American Housewife (the title of one of her 
The Book Thief is an emerging classic, in that it’s widely adored and oft-recommended but only the test of time will reaffirm if its adoration extends beyond (my guess is it probably will). The book details the story of an ordinary German family living through Hitler’s rise to power. The narrator, Liesel, is an incredibly lovable foster child, placed with a caring family who is trying to defy fascism, whilst staying alive. Her connections to everyone she treasures in her life and her losses will tug at your heart: I was a crying, snotty mess by the end of it.
Busy Philipps, longtime actress always cast as the best friend and never the star and yet also breakout star of Instagram stories, wrote a memoir that perfectly coincides with her star rising and the release of her nearly nightly talkshow 
Oh how I wanted to love this book! I stumbled upon it in a children’s bookshop, randomly opened it to the pages dealing with adolescent anxiety, loved how it tackled explaining the experience of dealing with anxiety to young people, and assumed I would equally love how it tackled the other subjects covered inside of The Book of No Worries after requesting a copy from the publisher.
Nina Riggs, a poet, started writing a beautiful memoir upon her terminal cancer diagnosis. What follows is a beautiful composition of the scary, mundane, and loving moments that shapes one’s life as they know that it will eventually come to an end much sooner than they ever imagined. 
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is complicated and messy and will force you to examine how you do or do not participate in #canceled culture. Ronson explores how individuals have been publicly shamed after making a misstep (largely on social media), their reactions, and their responses. Ronson argues that today’s social media shamings are essentially the modern day throwing of tomatoes at people in stocks, except the shame extends far beyond the public shaming instance as search results seem endlessly tied to those who are shamed. 
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