Excellent introduction into the world of AI. A must-read primer to understand the characters and motivations leading the tech. Really appreciated how much time was spent exposing the environmental harm and exploitation of workers in developing countries. Hao spends a lot of time telling Sam Altman's sister's story and detailing her abuse allegations; all in, she probably spends about 20% of the book on this topic alone. While I think it was necessary to include, I wish she would have spent more time on the impact of AI on the arts and the job market. Had she dove into these topics with the same vigor, this would have been much more impactful.

A gorgeous introduction to Hindu mythology. Must have the patience to dive into an intricate world and endlessly reference a confusing family tree, but your efforts will be rewarded

Happy to report my most anticipated book of 2026 did not disappoint. Well, almost. The premise is so promising, the themes so current, that I was expecting a mind-blowing time travel takedown of the tradwife industry. Yesteryear doesn't quite live up to that description, but it does deliver on the base promise and sends you on a wildly enjoyable ride with plenty to pick at and ponder.

Decadent, edgy, over the top in the chic-est of ways. I ate this up and savored the crumbs 🍽️

I loved this dissection of modern dating and was so impressed with how much it had to say. The premise is a bit misleading, so if you're expecting some sci-fi dating story you'll be disappointed. This is a smart, perceptive analysis of the current dating landscape and how both technology and generational mindsets erode our humanity when engaging in the vulnerable act of finding love.

A delicious blend of unhinged women, cultural commentary, and intriguing plot. Blake scratches the surface of some interesting discourse on modern feminism, but doesn't go beyond what you would find on a late night TikTok rabbit hole. If she would have gone deeper, this would have been a solid 5 star read.

This is really a 2.5 personally but objectively I think it deserves a 3 star average rating across all readers so I'm doing my part, despite quality/craft lacking.

An unashamed self-insert that suffers from the author not having enough emotional distance from her protagonist. Cantor clearly knows how to write, but she's still learning how to tell a story. The plot builds and busts, ultimately leading nowhere and leaving a ton of potential on the table. Each time the story could have veered towards the absurd, dark, or uncomfortable, it swerved into milquetoast territory.

There's some interesting meta commentary happening here: the author seems to respond to potential criticisms of this book through critiques of the protagonist's TV scripts. For example:

A thought had while reading: I don't understand Caroline's motivations. What does she want? Why isn't she doing anything?

Critique of script: The female lead doesn't have a clear why. We need to give her trauma, make her more interesting. Let's give her absurd plot points.

While I understand perfectly what Cantor is trying to do, the meta exercise can only be so interesting without accompanying commentary. I don't actually know what Cantor is trying to say: is she trying to normalize not having it all figured out in your mid-30's? Is this meant to be a comfort read for other women still carving their paths? Without an attempted message, the book is simply an enjoyable peek into the world of TV production and the mind of a stressed out millennial.

PS: Requisite complaint for the absurd amount of poop jokes. As a comedy writer, you'd think we could have avoided pee pee poo poo humor, but here we are.

While meticulously researched and presented as an action-packed human interest story, 1929 fails to do the one thing it promises: build a theory of what lead to the market crash that caused the Great Depression.

History is messy, and clean causes and effects often can't be drawn. This is on full display here; many confounding factors are introduced (lack of regulation, leveraged debt, stock gambling, irresponsible financial institutions) but Sorkin stops short of connecting the dots and spelling out how x affected y which lead to z. As the reader, you're left to ponder the connections yourself. I'm left hungry for more and craving analysis. But, kudos to the author for sparking a new historical special interest and proving Wall Street's greed is a feature, not a bug.