Four Stars

Best for:
Anyone who is looking for a bit of encouragement in a non-self-help format.

In a nutshell:
Through dozens of tiny chapters (many no longer than a paragraph long), author Haig offers reflections on life for the reader to take comfort in.

Worth quoting:
I underlined so many phrases in this book, so this section could be miles long.

“Don’t drain yourself trying to be understood by people who insist on not understanding you.”

Why I chose it:
I think I was looking for a little bit of comfort and some inspiration.

What it left me feeling:
Safe

Review:
What a lovely little book. In the hands of a less talented writer it could have felt overly … sappy? Meaningless? Shallow? A book full of paragraph-long chapters could come across as a gimmick, but this doesn’t. It comes across as the writings of someone who has felt profound sadness and depression as well as happiness and joy.

I get the feeling from reading Haig’s books that he just wants other humans to feel like they are enough. That there is life out there and in here for all of us, and we don’t need to spend our time focused on things we don’t need, or relationships that aren’t good for us. We don’t need to lose weight, or have children, or get a promotion to have value. That life is for living and enjoying, and that we have no way of knowing the future, so we need to find ways to live with and even value the uncertainty.

I struggle with things I cannot control (like, you know, pretty much everything, right?). Uncertainty, the unknown, the unplanned – these are not things that I thrive on. But reading, in many different ways, ideas for how to think about the unknown, the uncertainty is indeed comforting.

This book is going up on my shelf, and I will be taking it down whenever need a reminder that I am enough.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend and keep

Five Stars

Best for:
Those familiar with Davis’s work. Those interested in a serious discussion of the challenges a Black woman faces.

In a nutshell:
Actor Viola Davis

Worth quoting:
“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a different past.”

Why I chose it:
I heard people talking about it so I purchased the audio book (I do love a celebrity memoir read by the author). Then she won the Grammy for the performance of it so I decided it was time to start it.

What it left me feeling:
Happy (for the author)

Review:
Before this book I didn’t know much about Viola Davis. I’ve seen some of her work – Doubt, The Help, How to Get Away With Murder – but I didn’t know how she chose this career, or what her life was like.

This is a memoir that feels deeply honest, written by someone who has done the work to sort through experiences that hopefully most readers can only imagine. Living in poverty, having an abusive parent, facing racism, sexism. And managing to find a way to be successful and happy working in an industry that is notoriously racist and sexist.

Davis’s childhood was rough. Like, rough in a way that I can’t quite fully comprehend. The fact that society just … allows living conditions like the one her family experienced. And that’s not a commentary on her parents – that’s a commentary on social support and safety nets. If food stamps only last half the month, that’s better than nothing but it’s also not nearly enough. No adults, let along children, should be fending off rats. The fact that she not only survived that childhood but is a functional, thriving adult? I mean, damn.

Another area that I wasn’t really expecting was Davis’s experience at Julliard and the how the gatekeepers of talent perpetuate the systems of oppression. People associate Julliard with training some of the most talented people in the arts, but Davis shared how that training promoted and perpetuated white ideals of what talent and art are. I’m not surprised to learn this, but I am disappointed.

I appreciated Davis’s transparency around being a working actor, and the ideas about ‘integrity’ and what types of roles people take. She breaks down how few people are able to make enough money to get the good health care in SAG – I think it’s 4%? – and the threshold for that is earning $20,000 a year. Imagine. 4% of all actors on TV and in film making that much. She is clearly someone who desperately loves her art and her craft, and takes it very seriously, but also seems to recognize that work is work, and very few people can afford to be choosy.

After listening to the audio book, I can see why she won the Grammy (completing the EGOT, and for performances only for the first time in many years). I’d recommend if you’re thinking of reading this to choose the audio version.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend to a Friend.

Four Stars

Best for:
Those interested in learning more about language (mostly English, but other languages as well).

In a nutshell:
Author Jones looks to answer 20 different questions about language.

Worth quoting:
“No matter what we say or how we say it, communication is fundamentally a demand for a person’s time, attention, effort, interest, knowledge and cooperation.”

Why I chose it:
I enjoy books like this.

What it left me feeling:
Informed.

Review:
Jones pulls off something that I think is a bit tricky: he’s written a fun book about language that is easy to read but also include a lot of interesting trivia and in depth history. In the hands of a different writer this might have been a challenge to read – it could have been too dense, or pulled out information that just wasn’t as interesting. But Jones has found a way to pick the right examples to explain things, and also to pick questions that I did indeed want to know the answers to.

The answers to each of the questions is a chapter long, with some just eight or nine pages, while others are over 20. The first four are the longest, as they tackle what is a word, what is a language, where do languages come from, and where do words come from. After that, it’s a bit more trivia focused, with questions like why does the ‘i’ have a dot, and why is the alphabet in ABC order, though by the end it returns to more philosophical and scientific questions, like how do we read and how do we speak.

I found myself occasionally interrupting my partner to share things I’d learned in the book. Like, for example, there’s a language in Australia (Guugu Yimithirr) that doesn’t use words for right and left; everything is direction based. So a speaker of that language would say ‘hand me the book that’s west of the lamp,’ instead of saying ‘hand me the book that’s to the right of the lamp.’ This then wires their brain to know where they are relative to north and south for the rest of their lives. Fascinating.

I think my favorite question from a trivia perspective was what is the hardest language to learn, because it looked at so many different ways different languages do their things. But all the chapters offered things I had never learned before. I think this might be a cool book to get someone who is thinking about studying language, as a sort of starter kit.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Keep.

Four Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy a clever, complicated mystery.

In a nutshell:
Those diamonds from the last book? Someone else wants them back. Also, the group looks into the ten-year-old unsolved murder of a journalist.

Worth quoting:
N/A (Audio book)

Why I chose it:
I enjoy the series.

What it left me feeling:
Pleased

Review:
Another winner from author Osman. I was intrigued, guessed a little bit but not the rest, and found that any twists made absolute sense and were not out of left field.

Spoilers for the previous two books and some for this one as well.

I like how the author weaves characters from previous books into the story. It’s as though I’m reading multiple installments of the same TV show, as opposed to a procedural like Law and Order. Because it isn’t just the Thursday Murder Club who is the focus of this book – though they are – but also people who have appeared in previous books. Connie plays a pivotal role while she awaits trial; Bogdan is still around from the first book, and I bet that some people from this one will feature in the next book in the series.

The mystery itself was an interesting one that did keep me guessing but also trying to figure things out. Each revelation was greeted with me thinking ‘oh, that’s clever’ but also ‘oh, that makes sense.’ There weren’t any loose ends, either, which I appreciate.

I’m also continuing to enjoy the development of the older characters. Elizabeth was getting on my nerves during the last book, but not so much this time. The description of her husband Stephen and his continued experience of dementia really struck a nerve as well. Just a reminder that the characters in these books are obviously not real, but are dealing with very real situations along with the more fantastical elements.

I was lucky to get to race through these three books in a matter of weeks, but that means I’ve now got a Thursday Murder Club-shaped void to fill. It looks like the fourth installment will be out this fall, so I’ll need to come up with something else in the meantime.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend

Four Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoyed the first book.

In a nutshell:
Elizabeth’s ex-husband — also a former spy — is in a safe house, accused of having stolen diamonds from a criminal he’s investigating. Then, he and his handler are killed, and the diamonds are nowhere to be found. Also, Ibrahim has been mugged.

Worth quoting:
N/A (Audio book)

Why I chose it:
I loved the first one.

What it left me feeling:
Surprised.

Review:
So, you don’t NEED to have read the first book to enjoy this one, but I think it helps because the characters are so well built out there. Plus, this book takes place only six weeks after the ending of the first book. These folks have had a busy few months!

This book followed a fairly similar formula to the first one – some chapters are standard narrator perspective, some are Joyce’s journal entries. There are twists and turns and unexpected situations. There are also deeper story lines, like how Ibrahim handles being mugged, and how the situation fills him with fear after he’s finally gotten comfortable being out in the world. Or the storyline related to Joyce making bracelets to raise money for a dementia charity, knowing Elizabeth’s husband has dementia.

I figured out one small part of it before the characters did, which I appreciate. I’m not a fan where the twists are so out there that the reader could never guess at them. I also enjoyed that there continued to be character development, and we learned more about the main people. They have lives and hobbies and sadness and joy. They aren’t just murder-solving automatons.

Obviously I’ll be getting book three this weekend.

Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend