Four Stars

Best for:
Folks who like stories about women who society can’t quite place. A little bit like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but different.

In a nutshell:
Mia is married to Tristan, stepmother to Oliver, and deals with Tristan’s ex wife Belinda on a daily basis. She is an executive at a very small business, and has started attending a pet grief support group. Only issue: her beloved cat Pigeon is very much still alive.

Worth quoting:
“There must be so much freedom when you know you’ll always land on your feet.”

“Rather than society acknowledging women who are struggling and helping them, they put firm hands on our shoulders and push us into the darkness.”

“Nothing is a waste of time if it gets you to where you’re supposed to be.”

Why I chose it:
I needed a book to read while getting my latest tattoos, one of which is a picture of one of my cats. Seemed like a good fit.

Review:
While my review doesn’t go into detail, I should say that the book itself should have a content note for pet loss and grief, emotional abuse, and unexpectedly graphic sex scenes (there aren’t many, and they sort of fit, but they still pulled me a bit out of the book).

There is a lot to not like about Mia. She’s very judgmental for someone who is so deeply annoyed at other people judging her. She’s the type of manager who would drive many people to leave a job; she has strong negative opinions about people with tattoos. There’s also a lot to like about Mia. She’s also someone who cares very deeply for her step-son, someone who takes good care of her husband, and who loves her 16-year-old cat Pigeon very, very much.

Mia has had a challenging life, and has made some choices that got her to where she is now. Over the course of the book, she undergoes a transformation, allowing her to become the authentic version of herself. Along the way, she examines what it means to be a wife (and if she even wants to be one), to be the head of a small business, to have so much of one’s love and affection tied up in one’s cat. What do we need from others? What should we be willing to give to others? And is it reasonable to assume the answers to those questions will be the same for everybody?

As someone who has two 13-year-old cats, and would do pretty much anything for them, I appreciate Mia’s respect for the relationship between pet carer and animal. I appreciate how the author discusses pet loss in the grief group, and how for some people, their animals can really be the things that help them get out of bed and keep going every day. At the same time, she does a great job of showing how important relationships with other people are as well. She looks at how we don’t know what other people are going through unless we make the space for them to be comfortable to share it with us, and that everyone is going through something.

What’s next for this book:
I’m not quite sure. The book, like its protagonist, is a bit odd. So I might hold onto it and read it again. Or I might donate it.

Four Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy a well-written fable. Those who don’t need certainty in their books.

In a nutshell:
Pew shows up in the town church one morning, and the townspeople don’t know what to do with them. Over the course of the week, Pew is pawned off on a variety of people who feel a strong need to fill the silence.

Worth quoting:
“You can’t be sure of who someone really is, or really was, before you knew them … or even after, sometimes.”

“But what about when you lose someone who is still alive? When you lose track of the person you know within a person they’ve become — what kind of grief is that?”

Why I chose it:
The plot was intriguing and I love a good meditation on life.

Review:
There is a lot going on in this book, but the plot itself is very simple: Pew, someone of indeterminate age, gender, and race (though likely young enough to not be considered an adult), has appeared in town, found sleeping in a church pew on a Sunday morning (hence the name). The family whose pew they were sleeping in decided to take them home, to decide ‘what to do with them.’

Right from the start, we know that Pew is different from most people we encounter. The entire book is told from their perspective, but they don’t have a lot of information to share about themselves; not with the reader and definitely not with the townspeople. They become almost a vessel or (in some cases) a dumping ground for the thoughts, concerns, and hopes of the people they encounter. Pew generally doesn’t speak, doesn’t touch others, but isn’t ‘rude’ or disagreeable. They are just there, and for the most part going along with what the townspeople demand they do, except for some (very understandable) moments when they refuse to participate.

Most of what happens in the book is in the discussions – well, in the talking at that occurs when people encounter Pew. Some people assume things about Pew’s background, like they must have suffered some horrible tragedy, or must have committed some crime. Some take Pew’s silence as rudeness or obstinance; others make kinder assumptions.

Some of the townspeople are full of self-righteousness. There are quite a few conversations that talk about people being born wicked, broken, needed religion. On the flip side, some conversations explore the idea that it’s a bit of a shame that some folks appear to need religion to even consider being kind to others.

The biggest running theme I saw was how desperate some people are to be able to put folks into boxes. They need to know someone’s age, their background, their race, their gender, so they can feel comfortable and make the necessary assumptions about them. And how when they don’t have that information, they can get more and more frustrated, and can assume the worst. At the same time, it is clear throughout the interactions in the book that knowing what people are willing to share about themselves doesn’t necessarily mean one knows them at all. With information or not, people make assumptions and categorize people in ways that may or may not be accurate, and that isn’t great.

One thing I found interesting is that throughout all of this, none of Pew’s narration sounds like them judging anyone. They’re observing, they’re interacting, but even when some fairly shitty action and assumptions are made about them, they aren’t interested in using that information to make judgments about the person’s individual character.

I could imagine reading this multiple times and getting something different out of it each time.

What’s next for this book:
Donate

4 Stars

Best for:
Mystery fans who enjoy jumping back and forth across time.

In a nutshell:
Saffy and her husband Tom live in a bungalow gifted to her by her grandmother Rose. While making some renovations, two sets of remains are found buried in the garden.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I read one of Douglas’s previous books earlier this year and found it to be interesting and well written.

Review:
Ah, I love a book where we hear from different perspectives and jump around in time. As this is a mystery, I’ll share the set-up and characters, and provide a little bit of information on what made me like the books.

Perspective Chapters from:
Saffy: In her early 20s, who lives in the house her grandmother Rose gifted to her via her daughter Lorna.

Lorna: Saffy’s mother, who had her at age 16 and who now lives in Spain.

Rose: Saffy’s grandmother and Lorna’s mother, who is in a care home and now has Alzheimer’s.

Theo: A chef in his 30s who doesn’t understand why his father is so interested in news of the discovery of human remains in a town far away

There are also others who play a big role in the book, including Theo’s father, a woman named Daphne, and Saffy’s husband Tom, but they don’t tell things from their perspectives.

The characters in this one – especially the women – are well developed. Theo doesn’t have as much space in the book, but we do get a sense of who he is and his relationship with his father.

I appreciate how the author plays with the idea of memory – what we see, what we know. What two different people might remember, and what happens when our memories become mixed up with other things, or start to fade altogether.

I think this book is different enough from the previous one that I’ll probably check out more of her work when I’m looking for something to read while I have a bunch of chores to do.

What’s next for this book:
Recommend to folks who might enjoy it.

Four Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy a little bit of history with their sentimentality. Those who love cats.

In a nutshell:
Grimalkin is a cat living in a tenement in Edinburgh in the 1880s. One day he passes away, and a cat god is shocked to learn that little Grimalkin has only gotten to live one of his nine lives. He is granted the other eight with the understanding he has three to stay (of which he has used one), three to stray, and three to play.

Worth quoting:
“…it was the suffocating burden of holding knowledge he could do nothing with.”

Why I chose it:
I was visiting Edinburgh. And there’s a cat. I mean, come on.

Review:
What a sweet little book. Admittedly I am a cat lover, so any book told about or from the perspective of a cat is going to be for me.

Grimalkin travels across a dozen decades, living just a day in each time. His eight lives allow him to witness all sorts of changes, all taking place in and around a tenement in Edinburgh. He connects to his first owner; he overhears man landing on the moon. He feels sadness and freedom and confusion and peace. Also, he can read.

It’s fun to think about how so much has changed over the last century, and explore what it would be like to just be dropped into a time in the future and have to understand what on earth you are seeing. Imagine going from a time without electricity to a time with mobile phones. Or suddenly being aware of the availability of commercially produced snack foods. At least Grimalkin knows to expect something new each time he wakes up, though it is always a surprise to determine how much time has passed since his last life.

The book is an easy read – each life is a chapter, so they are almost like little connected essays. And Grimalkin is such a … well, he’s such a cat! He’s terrified of the vacuum cleaner. He hates dogs. He’s mischievous and loving and sweet and a bit of a jerk. And he feels the longing for connection and love, as he can experience these lives, but he can’t be seen or touched, and that is hard for a kitten. Or anyone.

What’s next for this book:
Donate so others can enjoy its sweetness.

Three Stars

Best for:
Those who are already invested in the HMRC (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven) series.

In a nutshell:
An alternative telling of exactly how and why Anne Boleyn ascended to the throne and then was summarily removed.

Worth quoting:
N/A (Audio Book)

Why I chose it:
Audible recommended this to me as I’d already read The Shadow Cabinet this year.

Review:
We start with the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, then jump back and forth between the events years prior to her marrying King Henry VIII, and events in the days immediately following the execution. We are introduced to the idea that Boleyn was indeed a witch, and part of a coven that was interested in ensuring that a witch would be on the throne. As most of us know, that didn’t quite work out for her.

We don’t get any telling from Boleyn’s perspective, however. We mostly follow Lady Grace Fairfax, who is a married member of the Queen’s court, and Cecelia de la Torre, a witch who appears to have been behind the events leading to Boleyn’s execution.

Men feature in the book, but as usual, they are generally obstacles to be overcome, not fully fleshed out characters. They are caricatures, and I think that’s fine, because their stories aren’t the ones we’re interested in.

This isn’t a bad little novella. It’s probably 1/3 the length of the other books, and provides an interesting little prequel to the novels Dawson has written set in the 2020s. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite tell as much of the story as I was hoping for, though perhaps that was on purpose (maybe to leave room for more prequels?)

What’s next for this book:
N/A (Audio book)

4 Stars

Best for:
Anyone who ACTUALLY cares about women, or women in sports, or racism, or equity. Also JK Rowling should read this as maybe she’d learn a thing or two (though I’d love to keep Semenya off Rowling’s radar, since Rowling is generally horrible when it comes to women’s issues).

In a nutshell:
Olympic runner Semenya shares her story, from growing up in South Africa to becoming one of the fastest women in the world, to facing the racism and misogyny of the sporting world.

Worth quoting:
“It is hard to explain the psychological violence of having your gender identity questions or ripped away.”

Why I chose it:
I am a (very much non-elite) athlete who loves women’s sports. I’ve always thought Semenya got totally screwed over, and I wanted to hear her story in her own words. (Spoiler alert: she definitely got screwed over.)

Review:
Caster Semenya has been put through a lot, and after reading this book I find myself even more disgusted with the way World Athletics has treater her and other elite athletes like here.

Semenya has had a confidence her whole life. She knows who she is – she was a girl, she’s now a woman, and she’s a damn great runner. Unfortunately, as she found success at a very young age, she has been forced to face a whole lot of racism and misogyny. Because she doesn’t fit the white European standard of strength and beauty, she came under scrutiny and was forced to undergo all sorts of invasive examinations that I’d argue were sexual assault. She was also forced to essentially poison herself to change her hormone levels so she was able to compete (and even then, was still winning her races, so…).

Semenya talks about her childhood, discovering her talent for running, and her love of the sport. She also spends a lot of time talking about how supportive and loving her family has been, and about her relationship with her wife Violet. She’s a multi-faceted woman who has a strength and confidence in who she is that so many people struggle with. I find her story and her drive inspirational, and I find her ability to truly leave it all on the track impressive as hell.

Especially in light of the vile treatment of Imane Khalif, who won the gold in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics and was subjected to weird, pathetic commentary from people like JK Rowling and Elon Musk, we need to be serious about how we treat women in sport. Specifically, how we treat brown and black women in sport. Bizarre made-up ‘studies’ used to justify wildly unethical treatment; medical records leaked to the press; whining white tears by competitors who just aren’t as good – it’s all related and it’s all disgusting.

I find that lots of people who speak up about things like ‘unfair’ advantages of biology variances in (Black and brown) women athletes have no issues with the features that make someone like (white, male) Michael Phelps able to smash swimming records. There’s an insidiousness to people who suddenly claim to care about women’s sports choosing these issues and not, say, pay equity, or equity of equipment, or proper medical studies of the impact of different activities on women’s bodies (look up the ACL issue in women’s football), or equity of media coverage. They don’t care about any of that – they only want to police femininity and ensure that only a certain type of woman athlete is able to be successful. It’s gross and I hate that people like Caster and Imane face this ignorance.

The book is broken down into four parts, and while it took me awhile to get into, I was eventually hooked and raced through it. For the most part I found it to be an excellent read; the only moment where I sort of found myself questioning things is when Semenya took a moment to talk very positively about murderer and fellow runner Oscar Pistorius. Very odd choice.

The book was released in 2022, and since then, Caster has won her latest appeal, in the European Court of Human Rights. I hope it’s the first of many victories, and that it leads to serious change in World Athletics.

What’s next for this book:
Recommend to others.

4 Stars

Best for:
Anyone who has every worked in an office.

In a nutshell:
Due to slumping sales figures, Management have decided to slowly flood the sales floor.

Worth quoting:
“She had always secretly suspected that her work at MoneyTownCashGrowth was meaningless. She had her clients and she sold them things, but none of it actually meant anything.”

“‘I’m sure that’s not allowed, to mock your employees like that.’ Hanna, and her lack of experience with the Evans of this world! Rose blushed with how much she wished that she, too, still led such a sheltered life.”

Why I chose it:
It looked clever.

Review:
This is an absurd book in the best ways. It’s a novella, so a quick read, but author Neuwirth still manages to fit quite a few highly relevant observations into just under 130 pages.

Rose works in finance, and one week receives an email that the floor where she and her colleagues in sales have office will be slowly flooded with saltwater until productivity turns around. Management (who does not work on the floor and so will not be subject to this slowly increasing discomfort and indignity) seems to operate under the philosophy that the best way to get workers to do something is to harm them.

Throughout the book, the water continues to rise. Staff at first think it’s a bit fun, but as it impacts their lives in and outside of work (what will they tell their friends, how can they go out in public at the end of the day when soaking wet), Rose and others get more desperate.

The book is a decent metaphor not just for the toxicity of workplaces — and how upper and middle management contributes to it — but also for how individual workers choose to react.

What’s next for this book:
Keep and recommend

5 Stars

Best for:
Those who love a meaty philosophical explorations about the meaning of life and the decisions we make.

In a nutshell:
One morning, everyone age 22 and older in the entire world receives a box that says ‘The measure of your life lies within.’ Society quickly learns the strings inside correlate with how long each person will live.

Worth quoting:
“Since the strings arrived, so many of our conversations are about such big, heavy ideas, literally life and death. And I miss talking about the little things, especially in a city filled with so many wonderful little things.”

“Living long is not the same is living well.”

Why I chose it:
My sister-in-law recommended it and I’m so thankful because I found it to be so thought-provoking and so, so good.

Review:
You wake up one morning and find a box on your doorstep. Inside is a string. You quickly learn that everyone other adult in the world has received the same thing, and soon you all discover that the strings are, in fact, truthful. If your string is short, you will die before someone with a longer string.

This book looks at how eight adults handle the receipt of these strings. Do they look at them? What if their partner has a shorter or longer string? What if the string is so short that they know they will die within the year? What if it’s longer but not long enough – like they’ll die in their mid-40s and they’re currently in their early 30s?

Through the eyes of these individuals we learn about all sorts of things that one could predict might happen. Some people with short strings become distraught; other don’t trust the people with the short strings because those people appear to have nothing to lose. Couples break up. Parents fight to get custody from exes who have shorter strings. Insurance companies consider canceling coverage. Politicians and CEOs look for ways to exploit this knowledge for power.

I absolutely loved this book. I think despite following eight characters, each one was developed well enough for the reader to care (or perhaps not care) about them, and to generally understand their feelings about their particular situations. I appreciated the issues that were raised by the author as background national and international issues, but also the interpersonal concerns. The strings impacted everyone, whether they chose to look at them or not.

I could go on and on about this book, but if it sounds even remotely interesting to you, I recommend you check it out.

This is a 350 page book that I read in one day. I only put it down because I was on holiday and had other things I wanted to do.

What’s next for this book:
Recommend to everyone

Three Stars

Best for:
New fans of Formula 1 who are interested in learning about the specifics of a race season and a race weekend.

In a nutshell:
Former F1 strategist for Aston Martin Bernie Collins shares her experience in F1 and gives a detailed behind-the-scenes look a Formula 1.

Worth quoting:
N/A – lots of interesting items but nothing I would choose to revisit.

Why I chose it:
My partner and I have recently started watching F1 and he spotting this book in an airport bookshop. We’ve enjoyed the author’s commentary on Sky F1 coverage so thought the book would be an interesting read.

Review:
A few years back I started watching Drive to Survive on Netflix. Never before did I think I would be interested in cars driving around for a few hours – I didn’t get why it would be interesting, or really understand any of it. I now find myself building weekend activities around when qualifying and races start. I check in on the F1 sub-reddit regularly. Part of my TikTok algorithm is F1 news. And over time I’ve learned things about how F1 works, but not to the level where I understand the choices or the work going on behind the scenes.

This book provides a detailed look at how Formula 1 works. Bernie Collins went to university for engineering and ended up working in F1 for the first part of career in various roles, ending up as a strategist before moving over to the broadcast side. She worked primarily for teams that weren’t vying for championships, but as I learned from Drive to Survive, it’s not just about coming in first – there’s a lot going on throughout the grid.

The first part of the book focuses on Bernie’s background and then moves to looking at F1 overall. I found this section a bit tough to get through as the writing was detailed but felt more like technical writing than a book. The second half was more what I was looking for – each chapter follows each part of the weekend, from free practice one through to debriefing and ending the race weekend.

Overall I think the book could have benefited from a bit more beefing up of the descriptions as it is quite technical, but I did learn a lot I didn’t know before, so on that front it definitely got the job done.

What’s next for this book:
Donate

4 Stars

Best for:
Anyone who is interested in the ways capitalism is bad for individuals and society; how it is propped up by the state; and crucially, what alternatives exist that we can fight for.

In a nutshell:
Author Blakeley shares her thesis that capitalism is an inherently undemocratic system with illustrations of corporations and states acting poorly while adhering to the very essence of capitalism.

Worth quoting:
“Most people are denied autonomy over their lives, yet we are told we are free to choose how we live.”

Why I chose it:
Capitalism is not a system I support or want to live under, but I struggle with alternatives. I lack imagination, partly because I want my alternatives based in reality. I’m not a ‘blue sky’ thinker; I’m a former emergency response planner so … yeah. Anyway, this book looked like it might offer not just an analysis of why capitalism is a failure, but also alternatives. And spoiler alert: it did!

Review:
This is a dense but accessible book that explores all manner of ways capitalism is actually one of the largest barriers of democracy. Which is hilarious, given how so many ardent capitalists also claim to be strong supporters of democracy, and given how so many people suggest that alternative approaches to managing society are anti-democratic.

Each chapter looks at a different way capitalism is failing the vast majority of individuals and communities in the world, and starts with a story to illustrate that. She covers Boeing and the changes that came in when it merged with another aerospace company; Ford; the villainous McKinsey consulting company; WeWork (side note – I’m two episodes into the AppleTV serious about it and YIKES); and Blackrock, among others.

Her main points are that capitalism is not about free markets – it is actually an intensely planned system that requires constant state intervention. Capitalism is about power over individuals and the amalgamation of money and power by a small number at the top. And it isn’t failing; it is working exactly as it says on the tin. And that’s the problem.

She provides loads of examples of the features of capitalism that cause harm, some of which are familiar and some of which are new – like in the chapter illustrated by WeWork, she talks about how banks control time by buying or loaning money to the companies they see worthy, allowing them the time and space to fix whatever is wrong. Crucially, the banks aren’t making decisions about what might be best for society or communities; they’re deciding what will make the most money.

The chapter on imperialism and how it isn’t just about taking land – but about controlling what is done on that land, even if one isn’t technically the governing power – was intense and a pretty damning indictment of the USA.

The book isn’t just chapters reiterating how much capitalism really does suck; there’s a chapter full of eleven examples of communities taking actions outside of capitalism’s rules to improve their communities. It’s inspiring and evidence that another way is possible.

Getting back to my lack of imagination – in the final chapter, Blakeley offers some suggestions of things we can do to move society away from capitalism. At one point she says she isn’t really a fan of universal basic income, and my first thought was ‘ugh, what? Why not? Why can’t people be happy?’ Her reasoning is she thinks that contributes to consumerism and individualism. I don’t really agree with that, but she follows that up with a short discussion on universal basic services, arguing that instead of giving people the money to buy the services, we make the services themselves free. Free housing, health care, public transportation. Which would be pretty freaking cool, isn’t something I even really thought people were considering.

I listened the audio book, but would instead recommend buying a physical copy if you’re interested in reading it.

What’s next for this book:
Keep – maybe pick up a physical copy so I can refer back to it easily.