THE PSYCHOLOGY CORNER | Conviction | Juan Martinez

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Okay. Lets just appreciate the fact that I have come back. I know I have been gone since July of 2016 and that year is over. But in my defence I was applying to university, in addition scumming to the demands of the IB. Also my motivation was like ded. But I am here now thanks TO THIS FAB book!! I'm excited to write this and I hope you all continue to stay and read on because this is so intriguing.

Ignore Masterchef on the tv in the background of the first photo, I just wanted to get the picture taken and I didn't think of location at all.

Before I go into the review, I don't know if y'all remember that I was starting a new thing on my blog called 'The Psychology Corner' but I mentioned it in my last post. Basically where I take books related to psychology in some way, where I could then discuss the nature of those books in my reviews on this blog with theories, possible studies and more. Don't be alarmed, I will still do my regular book reviews. Its just I wanted to start this since I am going into a Psychology major.

This is a snippet of the goodreads synopsis:

Juan Martinez, the fiery prosecutor who convicted notorious murderess Jodi Arias for the disturbing killing of Travis Alexander, speaks for the first time about the shocking investigation and sensational trial that captivated the nation.

Through two trials, America watched with baited breath as Juan Martinez fought relentlessly to convict Jodi Arias of Murder One for viciously stabbing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander to death. What emerged was a story wrought with sex, manipulation, and deceit that stunned the public at every turn. Arias, always playing the wronged and innocent woman, changed her story continually as her bizarre behavior surrounding the crime and its aftermath came to light. Unwavering, Arias and her defense team continued to play off the salacious details of the case, until she was finally found guilty and—controversially—sentenced to life behind bar

This was reaLLY GOOD! Especially if you're like me; into crime stuff. No joke, I've watched a bunch of crime documentaries, in particular ones about murderers and sociopaths. I just can't stop. (i'm not crazy) If you are into criminology, psychology; specifically sociocultural psych, this is really interesting and you will be hookED! I had watched clips and interviews about Jodi Arias and the whole trial and tribulations that went with her and her crimes. Additionally, there was a Dr. Phil segment on the trial with Juan - the author - who is formally a (fantastic) prosecutor.

The book itself is a stand alone, recount (memoir ish) thing that recounts the days of the crime, trial and aftermath. The book is in chronological order so the narrative arch is structured by the time period of the evens. For example, the day Mr Martinez got a phone call about Travis's found body and so on.

With anything like this, you have to understand that an innocent man lost his life due to an alleged motive of jealousy. I feel for Travis and his family because if you look into the case or read the book, Travis suffered so much. Honestly, I am still shook from the events that occurred on June the 4th. Clearly Jodi did it, she admits to it whether thats after two lies and a 'self defence' claim, she did this. This is not a trial trying to prove she is guilty but one that she is, not to mention the evidence against her is overwhelming.

Coming from a psychological perspective, I think it's important to addressees Arias's deceit and lies. 

The deceit that Jodi carries with her throughout the trial is so interesting to me. In the book Juan mentions a time where he watched an interview early on in the trial where Jodi was answering that she couldn't possibly see a jury finding her guilty because she didn't commit the crime. She looked so believable! I watched the same interview later on Youtube and I am actually shook how real and sincere she looks. As if everything out of her mouth was genuine truth. Little did everyone know she was indeed the one that killed Travis Alexander. At this time she was spinning the second story that a man and a woman were the ones responsible for his death, not her. That brings me into her changing her story not once or twice but THREE TIMES. In any juries eyes that has to put a line between her truth and lies because what can you believe out of her mouth after that.

There is a lot in the book that we learn about Jodi's childhood and whether she was an ordinary girl. We learn that she has always been 'weird' - meaning that she was out of the norm and unexplainable since childhood. I've exaggerated that just a little but if there is anything you take from this, it's that she was unusual. This brings me into nature vs nurture, in hindsight were her crimes an act of biological disposition or throughout her life. In my opinion it's neither. I don't really think we should blame her genes or her rough upbringing but herself. Jodi is a special kind of evil. People kill for many reasons. I sometimes wonder truly why Jodi allowed it to get his far for her. 

I gave this book four stars. I actually read this last year (in 2016) sometime in December but have only had the time to post this review now. To be honest, I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't watched almost everything on Youtube about it already. Nonetheless this was still so good! Just nothing that I would be too memorable as this was a trail and after it you just move on. I was so hooked on this crime/trial but like any trial, after time you have to just move on. I am really glad Juan decided to write this and I hope he's currently happy and solving the world.

Don't worry! I won't be gone any longer, I've got another review coming up (I say this all the time but I swear I'm on top of it this time!). oH AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

p.s

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Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? | Mindy Kaling

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It's funny.

This is really funny.

Like I said before in my Yes Please by Amy Poehler review, this is not a memoir or 'how to' on being funny. I lied on my Yes Please review when I said that it was my first memoir because technically this is my first but I didn't finish it and I finished Yes Please before this one. 

The only reason I put this book down for like 4 MONTHS(!!??!?!?) was because I got bored... Mindy actually mentions right in the beginning of her book that, and I quote "If you're reading this book every night for months, something is not right." BUT MINDY IT'S NOT YOU OR THE BOOK, it' me being an annoying croissant and unable to commit to reading adult books. Condolences. 

Another thing I would like to mention before I actually get into this is that I took the top picture of the book last year and it is super saturated because I was in the phase where I thought saturating everything looked wonderful, when it really didn't!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) is an Humour, Memoir written by Mindy Kaling. Mindy give us a journey of her life and how she grew up and writes about her family, friends, boys, growing up and tops it all off with fantastic humour. This is an adult book and maybe that is why I wasn't 'hooked' (not that this is a story book with a plot) but also because I am not yet an adult that has to do adult things, I mention this exact issue in my Yes Please by Amy Poehler review as well.

Did I enjoy this more that Amy Poehler's book? I mean I think it's only right if I compare the memoirs.. not the people. !!! Don't compare Mindy to Amy. You might as well just be saying 'Parks and Recreation or The Mindy Project' which is stupid because both shows are hilarious! I gave both books 3/5 stars.

The writing was easy to follow and read, she threw in a few jokes here and there that got me giggling. I feel as though Mindy brought us more into her early life and her life overall whereas Amy passed through her early life quite fast and had a really long pit stop at the beginning of her career, improve acting, SNL and basically her acting debut, however Amy did give more 'life advice' whereas Mindy not so much. Both books had pictures however if you go look at my Yes Please by Amy Poehler review (I will stop saying this now) you will see that her book it slightly lengthier and filled with colour, whereas Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me is written like a normal book with printed pictures that are black and white. Not to mention Yes Please is quite heavy for a book and this one weighed what you'd expect it to, like a normal novel. 

The storyline or in this case the timeline of the book is mostly Mindy and her life, she starts from the childhood and she addressing many different things but not much of The Mindy Project and not a lot of the book is dedicated to her career and how she 'made it' (if you will). Which is the complete opposite to Yes Please by Amy Poehler, this is because Amy spends more of her book (that has 300+ pages whereas this has 200+ pages) addressing her career and what she did and how she 'made it' and like I said a few times already you can go read all about that in that review here.

You also might know Mindy as Kelly Kapoor on The Office (another national treasure) but I'm more familiar with Mindy from her own produced show called The Mindy Project. Now, lets talk 'The Mindy Project', if you don't already watch this show. What are you doing? Like, what are you doing? It is one of my favourite shows alongside: Friends, Parks and Rec, Greys Anatomy, L&O SVU and Orange Is The New Black.

Mindy is a very lovely person and it was very heartwarming to read all she had to say about her close friends, work acquaintances, her family and her career. I think the most I laughed was at a page, quite close to the beginning where she titles it 'Alternate Titles for This Book' and let me just say some of the ones she mentions are so funny I almost died. Mindy also has a second book coming out this year in September called Why Not Me? . I hopefully will read that as well when it comes out because this was a nice read to be frank. It was heartwarming and delightful. 

I would give this as a lovely present for my mum or my aunts because I'm sure they would like it and if you ever need to give someone a preset (last minute or not) this is a really good one! This is really good to give around the holidays or birthdays as it's a good size read and people will really appreciate it. 

I would highly recommend reading this if you're contemplating, because it is good. Another thing I would like to say is that both memoirs (Yes Please and IEHOWM?) are more steered towards adults as both writers are adults looking back at their lives and both memoirs are written by Mindy and Amy who are adults; it has more of an adult feel to the book. Nevertheless it was lovely reading this! 

p.s

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Yes Please | Amy Poehler

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Amy Poehler? 

Yes Please. 

Don't mind if I will. 

(*・∀・*) THIS BOOK! (*・∀・*)

You know what I love more than Parks and Rec? 

Amy Poehler talking about Parks and Rec. That show is the best and it's about to end. I promise not to cry through this review...and the rest of the last season. 

Yes Please is the first book Amy Poehler has written and it's pretty much about her life. How she started out, her family, her friends, her work and it's filled with pictures and other miscellaneous funny stuff. There is quite a bit about advice of different things but most of all it's super fun and funny hilarious uproarious.     Yes, U P R O A R I O U S. What a great word.

To start of let me mention that this is a humour, memoir. If you don't know who Amy Poehler is...where have you been? and I highly, highly recommend you start watching Parks and Recreation if you need a substitute for The Office or if you just need a new TV show to watch because it's a hilarious show! 

Amy is also good friends with Tina Fey (please, you have to know who Tina Fey is!) and they have both hosted the Golden Globes quite a few times I believe (2013, 2014, 2015 psshhhhhh). I really love them. Considering recent events when they hosted the 2015 Golden Globes and joked about North Korea and rape, I have not excused them for that because that was nothing to be joking about but I'm here to review this book not them. Also nobody's perfect, they probably learnt from that anyways. 

I'm pretty sure this book is aimed for adults but who even cares! I mean like, yes, there is advice on careers/yourself/relationships/friendships/children blah blah blah but it's all good and funny. Preparing me for my future; now I know what not to do. It was very heartwarming for Amy to talk about her life and her family; how she started from the bottom (shoutout to Drake) and now she's doing better than ever. There is an aspect of this book that bored me but that's only because I'm not yet an adult that has to do adult things, there is also a lot of her writing about her acting career which I also sort of got bored of reading...but only because I didn't know half the people she was writing about. There is also a whole chapter dedicated to the Parks and Rec squad so I'm not complaining, YES PLEASE! 

You could say that this is my first ever memoir that I have read. Memoirs/autobiographies/non-fiction/classics are not my scene. I genuinely don't like reading them and that is why I have yet to finish: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling, Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham (both of which are on my 'Currently Reading' shelf on your right) and I have yet to read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. Don't get me wrong, I try really hard to be able to read everything and that is why I force myself to at least try but I don't know how long I'll be keeping this up. However this book was different, I'm not exactly sure if it's because it was more interactive and there were visuals but I enjoyed it thoroughly. When I say interactive I don't mean 'Wreck This Journal' interactive, I mean that it was much more relatable and you get to understand and experience Amy's world. 

*i feel like this is a good time to mention that i'm drinking chamomile/honey tea and it tastes like flower and i keep sniffing it* 

Another thing I would like to address is that this book isn't about comedy or how to be funny. I wish that I read more memoirs just so I could compare, for example Tina Fey's Bossypants but I'm a virgin to memoirs and this is my first. In this book she really delves into her career more than anything; how she got her job at SNL and quite a lot of simple improve she was doing in NYC. This book isn't about comedy and it's not a comedy book, it's simply Yes Please. This could be classified as a 'self help' book but then again not really. Like I see what you're saying and what you're getting at but nah. The advice in this book (personally) is top notch and really good (and very funny).  It's a very good, solid book. I thoroughly savoured this. Why I gave it a three stars? I don't know, I just wasn't feeling the 4 or 5. 

I'm glad this was my debut memoir because they can be really enjoyable if written and produced well. This had everything that the other two memoirs I'm trying to tackle didn't have. That is exactly why I actually finished it and revelled it. Can I also just say this photo shoot she did for the front cover is fantastic and basically sums up Amy Poehler. I love her. 

This book is also one of the goodreads 'best books of 2014' that readers voted on for the humour category. 

p.s

Check out my most popular reviews:
Love and Misadventure by Lang Leav
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
To All The Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn 

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IT | Alexa Chung

Now I don't know if reviewing this maybe drifting from my 'only y/a' mental contract I have in my head but I just don't care anymore.

This may be outright barbaric to some of you, mostly to people who maybe have read the book or know what it's about and you're probably wondering why I would do a full review on a book I read in less than 15 minutes. Heres why:

I 100% totally understand why many people hate this book or highly dislike it, I understand that it probably took you all less than 15 minutes and it consists of pictures and odd pieces of information you weren't expecting and nothing to take away from. Not your typical autobiography or memoir, if you will.

Maybe I'm biased or I just fucking admire Alexa Chung so bloody much and I'll tell you why. Ever since I could physically choose/buy what I wanted to wear and how I wanted to wear it I always browsed magazines for inspirations especially what Alexa wore. Not just that but the many people Alexa is inspired by have inspired my fashion choices as well, for example: Wionna Ryder, Jane Birkin, Kate Moss, Annie Hall, Natalie Portman, Margot Tenenbaum and the list goes on. We both share very familiar fashion choices. She's just a very lovely person.

The book itself is crafted so beautifully you have to see it to believe it. It consists of bunches of pictures Alexa has taken herself and a few of herself with some information about herself and her life, it's not all pictures there is quite a lot of information (sadly none of the pictures I took show the writing). She writes some advice for teenagers and just advice for life that she wished she had when she was a teenager; she talks about handling heartbreak, there's even some music recommendations. It's definitely not long enough for a 'perfect' autobiography but it's a snippet and I loved every bit of those 15 minutes. It was just a fun read just like this is a fun review. A spur of the moment.

I started this book at approximately just before the sun was setting and I read through the sunset and it was absolutely wonderful. The reading experience is just as great, I found myself laughing at the fun pictures and intrigued with her life story. I couldn't put it down and I ended up reading it in one sitting just before it got dark dark. A day later and I still find myself reaching for it and skimming the pages for inspiration.

A fabulous book for fashion lovers or anyone really. I highly recommend this. I gave it 4.5 stars on goodreads. It's so pretty. I really just wanted more, more of her life and overall just moreeee.