Four Stars

Best for:
Those interested in Buddhism.

In a nutshell:
Zen priest Hagen offers his take on Buddha’s observations.

Worth quoting:
“First, you must truly realize that life is fleeting. Next, you must understand that you are already complete, worthy, whole. Finally, you must see that you are your own refuge, your own sanctuary, your own salvation.”

Why I chose it:
Continuing my spiritual journey. (I’ve always assumed I’m way too sarcastic for that level of sincerity, but here we are.)

What it left me feeling:
Content

Review:
This book is both extremely straightforward and also challenging. Not because of the writing, but because of the concepts. And even that isn’t the best way for me to describe it.

Hagen breaks the book into three parts. In the first, he looks at what he calls ‘The Perennial Problem’, basically the human condition as most people experience it. In the second, called ‘The Way to Wake Up,’ he explores different concepts: wisdom, morality, practice, and freedom. In the final section, ‘Free Mind,’ he looks deeper into Truth and Reality.

This is the kind of book that I’m still processing, and that I’ll read again. I think that’s kind of the case with books of this type – it’s not something that one just reads and sets up on the shelf, or put in the donation bin. The way the information is presented generally worked for me – the chapters were fairly short, and there are some good examples to help solidify the ideas. But it requires a lot of thinking from me. I think that’s the point, though. Not that it requires a lot of thinking (one might even argue that goes against the main points of the book!), but that it’s got me thinking in the right direction.

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

Four Stars

Best for:
People who enjoy thrillers. Not for people who are triggered by discussions of abusive partners.

In a nutshell:
Tallulah is 19 and lives with her mother, 1 year-old-son, and her boyfriend Zach. One night, Tallulah and Zach go missing, and the people they were with ostensibly didn’t know them very well. Tallulah’s mother Kim tries to figure what has happened, and is helped when new clues appear a year later.

Worth quoting:
N/A – Audio book

Why I chose it:
I enjoyed her other books I read this year.

What it left me feeling:
Satisfied and surprised.

Review:
CN: Intimate partner abuse

This was a great book, helped along by the voice acting in the version I listened to – narrated by Joanne Froggatt. Considering there were at least a half dozen women’s voices she had to do, she managed to make them so distinct that I could easily follow what was going on.

The plot itself is once again a back and forth in time. We keep moving from the disappearance (June 2017), forward to the investigation as it is reopened in August / September 2018, then back to the 2016/2017 academic year to help us understand more of the situation. But the basics are: Tallulah is a young mother who, in 2017, had only reunited with her son’s father about nine months prior. She is someone who keeps to herself, focusing on school and her child.

Scarlett is someone who Tallulah perhaps knew? Perhaps not? The story unfolds but Scarlett is the home that Tallulah and Zach are last seen at before they disappear. Zach is also seen as a doting father and boyfriend, but its possible that isn’t the case.

Kim is Tallulah’s mother, who is now caring for her son and desperate to figure out what has happened. And Sophie is the partner of the new headmaster of the school Tallulah and Scarlett attend, and also happens to be the author of many detective novels.

As with the other books I’ve read by this author, I could possibly see some of the twists coming, but nothing was so foreshadowed that it was obvious. And once again, the epilogue brought resolution to a side storyline that I didn’t know I needed resolution to, and was a disturbing little addition that I appreciated.

As an aside – Jewell is really good at writing creepy men. Sometimes they are outright violent, sometimes it’s more emotional, but I could see this book being triggering for anyone who has been manipulated and abused by a partner.

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

Three Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy a fairly light Hollywood memoir that primarily focuses on the industry while also providing some glimpses into one’s personal life.

In a nutshell:
Actor Geena Davis shares stories from her life.

Worth quoting:
“If a human can do it, I can do it.”

Why I chose it:
Looking for a fun listen while starting up running again.

What it left me feeling:
Impressed.

Review:
I didn’t know much about Davis’s life before reading this. I was familiar with her work in Beetlejuice and A League of Their Own, and Thelma and Louise. I also was vaguely aware of her work on gender representation in media. This book helped me feel like I know her a bit better now, though not a ton more, and she’s pretty upfront about that.

Davis has been acting since the 80s. She’s been in some very high profile films, and also had some fairly high-profile romances, including marriages to Jeff Goldblum and Renny Harlin. After finishing this book, I find her to be a bit intriguing. She’s honest throughout about her challenges with speaking up for herself and her need to be polite, but she also seems to have been blessed with a naivete that some could mistake for gumption. She would just do things that others would never dream of (such as pretending to be an animatronic mannequin, or sitting next to the director on set), but not because she wanted to be subversive – she just thought it would be interesting or cool or help her career.

One of the through lines of this book is her growth in her ability to speak up for herself, which culminates in her creating the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. It started out as a way to look at gender representation in children’s media, but now looks at other historically underrepresented identities as well. She also talks about taking up archery and making it quite far in the sport, which I found fascinating.

I appreciate that Davis chose to draw a line around her children – she doesn’t talk about their conception or really much of anything having to do with them. I’d imagine that will disappoint some people, since she had her kids at 46 and 48 respectively. She does touch on the inappropriate questions she received from the media about that, but explains that its just none of our business. And I respect that. She is open about her childhood, and her relationship with her parents and her husbands, but she chooses to keep that private. Good for her – we’re not entitled to all that information.

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

Four Stars

Best for:
People who find their brain — and their heart, lungs, possibly uterus — talking to them.

In a nutshell:
Tik Tok comedian Hayley Morris shares how she’s dealt with intrusive thoughts and other life challenges with her signature wit.

Worth quoting:
So much made me giggle, but this was an audio book so I didn’t end up writing any down.

Why I chose it:
I follow her on Tik Tok and her shit is hilarious.

What it left me feeling:
Warm and fuzzy

Review:
What a delightful book. I’d heard Morris was releasing one, but forgot until I saw it in a bookshop. But then I quickly checked if there was an audio version read by her, as knowing what her Tik Tok style is, I knew that would be the way to go. And boy was I right.

Each chapter of the book involves some part of Morris vs either another part of her (e.g. me vs brain) or vs something in the world (such as dating). She does the voices of each, and it’s so, so funny. But also wise. And relateable. While I haven’t experienced all the things she has, I can very much relate to things like intrusive thoughts and feeling internal conflict. She is able to make jokes about serious things in way that I found both charming and deeply honest.

As I said, I think it’s really key to get the audio version (or both, if you want to be really supportive) because the voices and the humor really come through with Morris’s delivery.

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

Three Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy well-written memoirs that involve a religious upbringing.

In a nutshell:
Author Lockwood was raised by her father, a Catholic priest. Unusual, no?

Worth quoting:
“I know all women are supposed to be strong enough now to strangle presidents and patriarchies between their powerful thighs, but it doesn’t work that way. Many of us were actually affected, by male systems and male anger, in ways we cannot always articulate or overcome.”

Why I chose it:
This was recommended to me at a bookstore after a discussion of the types of books I enjoy.

What it left me feeling:
Vaguely annoyed.

Review:
On paper (heh) this is the type of book I enjoy. It is extraordinarily well-written; Lockwood has a talent with words. It involves someone who has rebelled against the expectations put on them. But something about this book just wasn’t for me.

Lockwood’s father started out as a member of clergy of a different religion, one that allows the church leaders to be married. He then decided to convert to Catholicism, when he already had a wife and some kids. Apparently if one converts and passes some tests, one can be a married Catholic priest.

Obviously, there aren’t many people like Lockwood’s father, so her experience isn’t one people can necessarily directly relate to. However, as someone who is no longer a part of the faith that her family practices, I’m sure her story is relateable to many. And it is impressive that despite not sharing some many strong beliefs with her father, mother, and siblings, her family is still supportive of her. So supportive, in fact, that the majority of this book is written while Lockwood is living with her husband at her parent’s home after some back luck with employment.

I think the challenge I had with this book is that Lockwood’s father is not someone I can like or support. He’s misogynistic and just strikes me a deeply unpleasant and destructive person. He doesn’t treat his wife well, and it turns out he was publicly supportive of a Bishop who moved sexual predators around diocese. To Lockwood’s credit, she discusses this, but that doesn’t make it any more understandable as a reader.

I also don’t believe I had the same reading experience as those who provided some of the blurbs – I did not weep with laughter, though I did chuckle. I’m not sure I’d call this a ‘comic memoir;’ I think it’s more a lyrical memoir with some funny moment but also some deeply disturbing ones.

I’m not disappointed I read this book – as I said, the writing is fantastic – but it just wasn’t for me.

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

Four Stars

Best for:
People who enjoy clever bits of history, and geography.

In a nutshell:
Defoe explores the origins and collapse of 48 countries.

Worth quoting:
“Note: if your plan involves the British coming to your rescue at any point, then it is a Bad Plan. Can’t emphasise this enough.”

“…countries are just daft stories we tell each other. They’re all equally implausible once you get up close.”

Why I chose it:
I’m a sucker for geography and weird historical facts.

What it left me feeling:
Amused.

Review:
This book was exactly as described, and very entertaining. Obviously a book that deals with real people and real lives has to strike a balance, and Defoe does that quite well.

Each country is covered in five or fewer pages. Each entry includes the now-defunct nation’s population, capital, languages, currency, cause of death, and what nation it is part of today. It also includes the location not in latitude/longitude, but by using three words, as part of the What 3 Words system.

Defoe doesn’t hold back judgment of the people who declare these nations, or destroy these nations. He offers commentary and wit, but also educates the reader. And the very short entries make it a great book to read before bed, when you want to learn something but still be entertained.

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

Five Stars

Best for:
White people living in the UK; anyone who likes to suggest that there isn’t racism or classism in the UK.

In a nutshell:
Journalist and rapper Akala discusses racism and classism in the UK and the places it colonized set against the memoir of his life growing up as someone racialized as Black in the UK.

Worth quoting:
I listened to the audio book so no specific direct quotes, but I can say that I did take a lot of notes in my notes app.

Why I chose it:
Growing up in the US I was barely taught anything about the history of racism and the current racism there. And definitely learned nothing about racism in the UK.

What it left me feeling:
Better educated

Review:
This book is part memoir and part well-researched political discussion of race and class. It isn’t so much prescriptive — Akala isn’t writing a book about how we end race and class disparities in the UK, though he definitely touches on how things can be improved — as it is descriptive. It comes across as extremely well researched, and the arguments puts forward (especially when pointing out hypocrisy) make sense.

Akala was born to a white mother from the outer islands of Scotland and a Black father from the Caribbean. He discusses the education he received in Camden, a part of London, and the racism he encountered from teachers there. He also discusses what is was like as a Black teen, and what he and some of his peers went through, including interactions with racist police and less-than-legal activities.

These stories of his youth and young adulthood serve to tell us more about his life experiences, but also serve as jumping off points to discuss broader political and sociological issues. He touches on so many topics, from the abandonment of the Windrush generation, to the fight against apartheid, to society’s desire to only focus on racism when it’s the type typically engaged in by poor people (as opposed to the institutional racism of the wealthy ruling class).

He has a great chapter debunking a lot of absurd thoughts and comments, such as playing the ‘race card,’ the concept of going back where they ostensibly came from, identity politics, and freedom of speech. He always backs these comments up with data; for example, did you know that in 2017, Jamaica was 8th in the world for press freedom, while the UK was … 40th?

He also talks a lot about the assumptions around which countries have racism, and what that racism looks like. For example, there tends to be rumblings in the UK that the racism here is not as bad as in the UK, which I’ve heard myself as someone from the US living in the UK in 2020 when police murder of Black people was getting news coverage. There was a lot of ‘it’s not as bad here’ comments from white British people. At the same time, Akala offers a nuanced take about how racism manifests itself given the different histories in different countries.

There’s so much more I could go on about, and I won’t because the book isn’t prohibitively long so I think you should just go read it. But I did want to mention some areas of inconsistency / hypocrisy that Akala brings up a couple of times. One is Black on Black crime. Specifically, why a Black person stabbing another Black person in London gets that label, but a gang fight between two white people in Glasgow, or the entire Troubles in the North of Ireland isn’t considered or referred to or brought up as white on white crime. Another is how we can support and celebrate Mandela for ending apartheid while also celebrating those who helped enact it (Churchill) or denigrating others who early on were vocal in opposing it (Cuba and Castro).

I enjoyed hearing the author read the book in his own voice, but I think I might pick up a physical copy too so I can have it to easily refer back to.

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

2 Stars

Best for:
People who are really interested in the translation of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s papers.

In a nutshell:
A detailed biography of Emily Anderson, one of the female code breakers in the UK during WWI and WWII.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
It sounded interesting – who doesn’t enjoy a good story about the people who helped fight fascism?

What it left me feeling:
Bored

Review:
I am just not having a lot of luck with books this year. I’ve had more 2 and 3 star reviews so far this year that at this point in any other year, I think. And this is another one. This is not a bad book, but it is not a book that I enjoyed.

Emily Anderson definitely had a secret life, and she was a great code breaker. But I can’t tell if this book didn’t do her justice, or if her story would perhaps have been better suited for inclusion in an anthology or as a long read magazine article.

Anderson was an Irish woman who was very talented in linguistics. She assisted with code breaking during the first world war, worked as a professor, then returned to work on reviewing diplomatic messages before resuming her work to assist the allies during WWII. Her work in Africa was critical in helping to defeat Italy, so that’s wild. She was also super into translating Mozart’s and Beethoven’s papers, and the discussion of that takes up nearly as much of the book as the discussion of her work on state secrets.

There are definitely interesting aspects of Anderson’s life – she appears to have been a lesbian, never marrying a man and living with at least a couple of women for an extended period of time. She also was a woman working in a field that was overwhelmingly male. A field where only the only women who could work in it were unmarried women or widows, and they had to resign if they got married. A field where (shockingly) women were paid much less (like, 75% less) than men for the same work, and sometimes less than their inferiors.

I’m not sure if it’s because it was the audio book, but so much of this just felt like a reading of papers without real story-telling. We know very little about Anderson because very little of her personal correspondence was found, and since she worked in a sensitive field she never shared what she did. Instead, she was known for her work translating letters. Ultimately I don’t feel like I got to know Anderson well at all, and I think that a good biography should help the reader do that.

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

Three Stars

Best for:
People who enjoy sweet, thoughtful books.

In a nutshell:
Two lives collide on the streets of South London.

Worth quoting:
“He wondered if one day every feeling in the world would be identified, cataloged and marked for eradication. Was there no human experience that did not merit treatment now?”

Why I chose it:
It was recommended to me as part of a book spa.

What it left me feeling:
Contemplative

Review:
This is an interesting book that I found more challenging to read than I expected.

The plot: Attila is a psychiatrist originally from Ghana who has traveled around the world to various war zones and other areas filled with trauma, assisting the traumatised. He is in London, where he once lived, for a conference. Jean is a scientist originally from the US who tracks foxes in South London. Their lives intersect when the son of a family friend of Attila’s goes missing after his mother is wrongly detained by immigration authorities.

The book takes place primarily where I live and work, so I recognize so many of the geographic markers, which made the book so vivid for me – I go for runs in the part where Jean is tracking foxes, walk along the street where Attila meets with someone caring for another friend of his. I regularly see foxes on my morning runs, and had a fox den with three pups behind the garden of my first flat here. So in some ways I could see the scenes of the book playing out as clearly as if I were watching them on screen.

The book deals with so many themes – aging, family, community, immigration, prejudice, racism, love, loss, trauma. It looks at the conclusions people jump to, and the pathologizing of human emotions. It explores how people relate to people they love, how the decisions we make can take us far from what we once thought of as home, and how we build new lives.

The book moves through time a lot, but I found it a bit harder to follow in this book than in similar ones. That didn’t make it bad, or wrong, and I can see the thread and the reasoning behind it, but I’m not sure it worked that well for me. That said, it is definitely a book that I will think about for a long while.

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