Elzburg Reviews

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis My rating: 5 of 5 stars I think The Blind Side is the kind of book that anyone can read; football fans and foes alike. "Football haters too?!" Yes, dependant on the depth of your hostility. I literally did not care one bit for football prior to reading this book, and was very okay with keeping things that way. That was... Until recently. My boyfriend ex-boyfriend is hopelessly obsessed with football, and keeps trying to get me into it, with little success. A big reason I haven't been able to extract any semblance of entertainment out of this sport is definitely due to me not understanding the rules nor what-the-heck is ever going on. So I bought this book on his recommendation and started reading it in hopes of coming out with a better understanding of the game. And by golly... Would you believe it? It actually worked. The Blind Side is in large part a biography of offensive lineman Michael...

Everything's Trash, But It's Okay by Phoebe Robinson My rating: 0 of 5 stars DNF because I had to return it to my library, but I ain't even mad. This seemed like it was finally going to be a book written by a comedian that is actually funny—and it WAS... In the beginning—but it started to feel like accidentally walking into a feminist rally. It was non-stop preaching about "you have to do this or else you're a bad person!!", and it's like oh my god shut up. Nothing against feminism, but damn did this chick become annoying as hell. I'm sure it was probably/maybe/possibly just that essay I was on, but honestly it was such a buzzkill that it completely shattered any and all motivation I had to continue listening to this before its return date. Also I'm shocked that I haven't seen anyone talk about the writing style, because it is... Definitely something. She literally writes her essays in the same shorthand way one would write a ...

The Four-Year Olympian: A Journey from First Rowing Stroke to Olympic Podium in Less Than Four Years by Jeremiah F. Brown My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Four-Year Olympian was a thoroughly enjoyable book that remained engrossing the whole way through. The blurb on the back cover is extremely accurate in its declaration of the inspirational and uplifting nature of this book. From Jeremiah’s upbringing, to his involvement in varsity football, to his rowing career, to his Olympic medal and beyond, this book shows us what it takes to become an Olympic medalist. That free two chapter sampler on Netgalley had me hooked SO FAST. So disclaimer: I received a free e-arc from Dundurn Press via Netgalley, but all opinions remain my own. The book starts off with a little anecdote from Jeremiah’s childhood, and even though it had nothing to do with sports or rowing it completely engrossed me, and that has got to tell you something. The stories were interesting and e...

The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Anything by Daniel Coyle My rating: 5 of 5 stars I think that The Talent Code is a book that should be read by everyone who is a current or aspiring coach/teacher. It's a book full of scientifically backed and field-tested information on the cultivation of skill. Now, if you’re not interested in being able to effectively pass these concepts onto others (aka you’re not a coach/teacher) then this book will also be useful to you, because the science is self-applicable. It's just that it's also extremely useful information for people in those positions. This book walks you through each of the crucial components of the acquisition of skill through the author's journeys around the world as he was finding out these things himself. You join Daniel Coyle as he travels to numerous “talent hotbeds”--places that see enormous levels of skill growth--and tal...

Bitter Witness: Otto Dix and the Great War by Linda F. McGreevy My rating: 0 of 5 stars This is a very unique and interesting academic text. There are no other examinations of the German artist Otto Dix, his war experience, and his war-related art that are quite as in-depth as this one, while also covering a wide range of different aspects and angles of not only the artist's story, but also the Great War's. I used this as a source for a University research essay I wrote on the effects of Dix's war experience on the creation and effects of his painting Skat Players (1920). I was very late in starting my research so I unfortunately had to stick to only reading the information I could use for my own examination, rather than being able to devour this book in its entirety. However, the library requires this book be returned at the end of January of next year, so I have some time now to actually finish this book since the semester has finished...

The Art of the Adventures of Tintin by Chris Guise My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Art of The Adventures of Tintin was even better than I could have ever dreamed. This is my first "Art of" book, and I kind of knew what I was getting into but I was still surprised. I didn't even mean to start reading this when I started reading this. We were given an assignment in art class to design a poster for the school play and I really had no ideas. I remembered that these "Art of" books are full of concept art so I decided to flip through this one. Well, next thing I knew I wasn't just flipping through it, I was completely engrossed in it. I flipped to the first page and started properly reading it. This book was a good reading experience. Right off the bat Chris Guise lets the reader know that he's not going to bombard you with text, that he's gonna let the art do most of the talking and he's going to make the best "Ar...

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Such a fun way to learn! As of writing this I'm around 70% through the second Percy Jackson book. While I was at around 30% I thought I should probably start on this book, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods , because I really wanted to know more about Greek mythology in order to understand the Percy Jackson books better. There are some very minor spoilers to the Heros of Olympus series in this book.... be warned. Anyway, 10/10, great reference material. All of my Percy Jackson Reviews: Book 1 Book 2 (Really short.) Book 3 (Really short.) Book 4 Book 5 Percy Jackson's Greek Gods View all my reviews

Bossypants by Tina Fey My rating: 3 of 5 stars Let me set the scene: Last week I was in Phys Ed class playing the ol' badminton. Our school only has one gym, and my class 60 kids. So you can imagine how cramped it was. Each team had 3 people on the court at a time, and yes, it was a mess. And then one of my partners slammed me in the right eyeball with their racquet. My glasses broke into three pieces as they tumbled to the hardwood gym floor. This was the second time my face had been assaulted resulting in broken frames, so you could say I was a broken-glasses veteran. With my experience I didn't freak out, just was slightly annoyed. Nothin' some good old super glue can't fix, right? So I tried to continue playing but I quickly realized that I could no longer keep my eye open. It felt extremely irritated and even if I shut just the one and kept the other open, it still hurt. When I closed both of them, then it was a little better. Re...

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls My rating: 2 of 5 stars I wrote a review on this, goodreads crashed, and hypothetical tears were shed. To try and sum up what I wrote: I probably would not have finished this book had it not been recommended to me by a friend. I only did it as respect for her. There were definitely parts I enjoyed, like Jeannette's and Brian's baseball bat and machette pervert hunting, and giant mattress slingshot murder planning. Besides a select few parts, the rest was extremely boring! It took me about a month to get through it's mere 200-some pages. Rex Walls was a fine character, with hilarious morals, some of which I agree with. I like his 'be tough' attitude, something which I have myself. All in all, did not enjoy this book that much. The beginning was a good fun time, but it was really downhill (with some bumps) from there. View all my reviews