Rating:
2 Stars

In a nutshell:
Anger, vulnerability, and desperately needing an honest editor.

Best for:
I can see that many people have sung the praises of this book. If you’re interested in reading it, maybe see if the people who liked it seem to have similar taste to you? And no matter what, don’t pick the audio book.

Quote that made me think:
N/A

Why I chose it:
Memoir read by the author. That’s like, at least 25% of what I read. Kinda wish I hadn’t.

Review:
Book CN: Child sexual assault, domestic violence

Some memoirs written by famous people are brilliant. The can get to the heart of really tricky matters, discuss important issues, and help the reader feel as though they have gotten to know the author. At the same time, I think that we all know that every memoir author has to make decisions about what to include and what to leave out. Sometimes that means one gets a fun little collection of essays that shows some vulnerability but that the author has been clear isn’t the full story, which is absolutely fine (like Anna Kendrick’s Scrappy Little Nobody). Sometimes that means one reads what feels quite self indulgent and lacking self-awareness (like Rebel Wilson’s Rebel Rising).

Here we get something else – the ‘maybe this story should have stayed between you and your therapist’ memoir. And that is NOT to say that memoirs cannot or should not dive into really tricky, challenging, even uncomfortable topic areas. I think a great example of this is Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died. Great writing, tough topics, but I got the sense that the author had processed her emotions, and her story, and gotten to a point where she could tell it.

I don’t think Applegate is there yet. I think she has faced – and come through – way more than any one person should have to handle. And she’s very forthcoming about how all of it has affected her. She leans HEAVILY into the opposite of bright-siding things – she is more likely to focus on the negatives than the positives in any situation. And that is her absolute right – she gets to decide how she handles the trials she faces. But there’s an overall chaos to this memoir that does not work in its current form. I think the editor and publisher have let Applegate down, because she has put so much of herself out there, in a book that ultimately is not, to me, well done. And as always, it feels gross to write that about someone’s life story, but the book is telling her story, and I think her story deserved better.

She also suffers from the same thing I’ve seen in other memoirs – the inclusion of problematic people without acknowledging it. This is such a small thing, but in a book where there isn’t actually just a flood of name dropping, two names she does choose to drop somewhat affectionately are Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt. Two men who have been accused of domestic abuse. Wild.

As I said in the title, what I think may have deeply impacted my feelings on this book was the bizarre delivery of the audio book. When talking about things she will go from chuckling to actually crying, to making weird sarcastic voices in places where it doesn’t quite make sense. It felt as though someone was reading it as sort of a joke melodrama audition? Where they’d not read the material beforehand but got to parts where they wanted to make an acting choice and just went all over the place? It was disconcerting to the point that I again want to know where were the people who should have caught this. Where was the audio book producer, the voice coach? Was she receiving proper support when having to put her voice to the words she’d written about her own trauma? It was just … off. So I do wonder if reading a hard copy of the book would have led me to a different conclusion. Alas, I’m not about to read this again, so this review will stand as is.

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
No.

Rating:
3.5 Stars

In a nutshell:
Una has left Reykjavik to take a job in a remote small town in Iceland, spending the winter teaching two young girls. While there, things transpire.

Best for:
Fans of the genre of cozy, Icelandic mysteries.

Quote that made me think:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I love Ragnar Jónasson’s books.

Review:
Una is a bit of a frustrating character, but also somewhat relateable. She’s lost and looking to change things up, and while a move in general seems like a reasonable choice, picking a place with fewer than a dozen residents and thirty minutes from the nearest proper grocery store is a bit extreme. She vastly underestimates the insulatr nature of a town with just ten residents, most of whom grew up there. She’ll never really belong, but the question she wrestles with is can she fit in?

She stays with the mother of one of her pupils, in a house that might be haunted. But then one of the pupils dies, and there is possibly a missing man who has disappeared in town. Is any of it connected? Do the townspeople know what’s really going on? And if they do — will they share it with Una?

The townspeople are often infuriating, and there were a couple of scenes with them that pissed me off to no end – like I could feel my blood pressure and anxiety cresting. I get why the scenes were necessary for the book, but ugh, I didn’t like that at all.

The book resolved fairly nearly, though not entirely in a way I would have liked. Even so, this was an interesting read. As is somewhat standard in Jonasson’s books, there is the main story, and a side story, and it isn’t clear until the end how the two stories interact. But they always do. Predictable? Yeah. But for me, it’s entertaining nonetheless.

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
Yes

Rating:
4 Stars

In a nutshell:
Noah, Loralei, Charlie, Alice and Izzy are a family of five heading to Charlie’s last lacrosse tournament before he heads to university on a scholarship. He is behind the wheel of the family’s self-driving minivan, with his dad Noah next to him. There is a car accident, and the individuals in the other car die.

Best for:
Those wrestling with the creeping of AI into every aspect of our lives, and what that means for personal and communal responsibility.

Quote that made me think:
“We do the world no good when we throw up our hands and surrender to the moral frameworks of algorithms.”

“When humans do something wrong, they generally face consequences…Algorithms face no such consequences for their misbehavior, either societal or emotional. Punishment, guilt, culpability are alien to them. There are no moral qualms in an algorithm.”

Why I chose it:
I was a bit hesitant when I saw the ‘Oprah’s Book Club’ sticker (she did help platform grifters Dr Phil and Dr Oz), but my sister-in-law mentioned it was on her list, and I generally trust her taste in books. Plus the premise was intriguing.

Review:
I tore through this book because I found the plot interesting, and the writing clever. But I also enjoyed the philosophical questions underpinning the actions taking place on the page.

The book is told almost entirely from the point of view of the father Noah, who is a generally smart guy (he’s an attorney), but I think he’s meant to stand in for all of us who kinda get the issues with AI but don’t quite know all the details or understand exactly what questions need to be asked all the time. His wife Lorelei is an actual expert in AI, a bit of a rock star in her field of ethics of algorithms, and someone who is clearly grappling with the morality of it all.

While the actions of the book are set in motion with the car accident, nearly the entire book takes place over the course a few days about a month after the accident, when the family returns to seaside rental to spend a week just enjoying each other and recuperating. But the house is next door to a compound that we learn is owned but a tech billionaire. A tech billionaire with a daughter Charlie’s age, and they end up getting along QUITE well.

Charlie is being investigated for the collision that sets the book in motion, and it becomes increasingly clearer that there is more going on. Was the car driving itself? Was it the AI that fucked up, or did Charlie do something wrong? To that end, there is a side plot where we get another perspective – that of Charlie’s sister Alice, via her conversations with her AI ‘friend.’

The book has the plot action, but as I said, it also is dealing with real questions. From as basic (ish) as ‘how do we sort out the safest way of using self-driving technology’ to ‘what role should AI have in military action’, the book explores so many of the challenges that I don’t think society is taking seriously enough. There’s zero mention of the ecological impact of AI use, which is fine, as that’s not the focus of the book, but it’s a reminder to me that there is so much that AI can already fuck up, and society has entrusted some of the least trustworthy people (e.g. billionaires) with implementing this technology. And what happens when it causes harm? Who suffers? Do CEOs go to prison? Do companies get fined out of existence, their founders banned from starting new companies in their place? Who is, in a word, culpable?

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
Yes

Rating:
4 Stars

In a nutshell:
Gilda is anxious. Or maybe depressed? Or perhaps having a heart attack? She’s definitely unemployed and needs a job. So why not a Catholic church receptionist? Perfect for a gay atheist.

Best for:
Those who liked books like “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine”

Quote that made me think:
“I am smiling despite it. I am presenting as happy because people prefer that.”

“I find it so bizarre that I occupy space, and that I am seen by other people.”

“It’s strange people don’t like how their bodies look. It’s strange we waste any of our time concerning ourselves with how our skin drapes over our bones or how fat cultivates.”

Why I chose it:
I was perusing my favorite bookstore in Seattle and saw this one, and it did not disappoint. The cover caught my eye and the blurb kept me interested.

Review:
What a delightful surprise! This book could have felt weirdly dark, or cheesy in the vaguely philosophical questions Gilda asks throughout, but in the hands of author Austin it instead feels grounded. I believe that Gilda is going through it, HAS been going through it, and isn’t sure what she wants to be doing. She cares about her life but also finds it hard to do the basics like get up for work on time, or clean dishes in a reasonable amount of time.

It’s the former that leads us to the main plot of the book: when she is late too many times, Gilda is fired from her job at a book store. She also gets in a minor car accident, and has a challenging relationship with her parents. She sees a flyer for therapy and goes to the address, which turns out to be a Catholic church. When she arrives, the priest assumes she is there for the receptionist job, and she just goes along with it, not revealing that she is an atheist and also a lesbian.

Through her work at the church, as well as her time dating Eleanor (and possibly dating a guy she definitely is not interested in), she starts to spiral, but also make some connections she’s not made before. In the background is the question over the death of the person whose job Gilda has taken but this isn’t a murder mystery. I don’t quite know how to define this book, but I appreciate it and I enjoyed reading it. Gilda is complicated but relatable, and by the end I just want the best for her

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
Yes

Rating:
5 Stars

SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW – If you don’t want to read on, just know that it’s a really freaking good book.

In a nutshell:
Joan is an astronaut in the US in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The book tells the story of hos she becomes an astronaut, what that means for her, and the relationships she builds, set against the backdrop of an emergency on board the space shuttle in late 1984.

Best for:
Those who enjoy books that feature romance but don’t focus on sex; those who appreciate books with LGBTQ+ themes.

Quote that made me think:
I read the audio version so didn’t end up taking notes, but the writing in this is beautiful without being overdone.

Why I chose it:
My sister-in-law suggested it, and we tend to like much of the same when it comes to books.

Review:
This book hooks the reader from the start. We begin with a space shuttle trip – our main protagonist Joan is on capcom, communicating with the crew. A couple of crew members are manually releasing a satellite when the worst happens: an explosion. Much of the crew is incapacitated, leaving Joan (and the rest of the NASA crew back home) and navigator Vanessa to come up with a solution to bring everyone home.

That alone would be an interesting premise of a book, but that’s really just the backdrop. The main focus is Joan’s journey not just to becoming an astronaut, but to discovering who she is outside of work. It’s a gorgeous discussion not just of space but of relationships – friendships, romantic relationships, parent/child relationships. And of the impact it has when people are required to hide who they are.

There are loads of exciting and dramatic moments, as well as simpler ones. But the final chapter is intense. I was in tears while reading it, and it’s going to stick with me for a long while.

I love the complexity that Reid brings to her characters – Joan of course, and astronauts Vanessa and Lydia, plus Joan’s sister and niece. I’m familiar with Reid’s work, but this is the first of her books I’ve actually read, so I imagine I’ll be reading others if they are anything like this.

I listened to the audio book while going through runs around Trillium lake in Oregon while on a family holiday. Being out in nature while reading about the stars was a pretty fantastic experience – strongly recommend it.

Would I recommend it to its target audience:
Yes