Tag: books

Back-cover blurb for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid:

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? 

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jump-start her career. 

Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late ’80s and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds – revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love – Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways. 

“Sometimes reality comes crashing down on you. Other times reality simply waits, patiently, for you to run out of the energy it takes to deny it.”

― Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

This book was a tabloid tale walking through memories of a golden era of Hollywood glamor gone by. It was a nuanced and timely look at the difference between what society suggests we should want vs. what actually makes us happy, the image we project vs. the realities we live with, the things we hide vs. what we share and how both make us who we are. This book did an excellent job of demonstrating many different ways that love can show up over the course of a life: how we can have chemistry with people who are not good for us, how our relationship with each person we love is unique, how each life is a whole tapestry with some longer threads and some shorter threads to make our own beautiful picture.

Yet, this book was very easy to read. It dealt with heavy themes, but never struck me as deep. I can’t tell if I think that is a feature or a bug, but somehow they could talk at length about the extreme measures taken to hide race, domestic violence, or LGBTQ+ sexuality and still seem a bit on the superficial side. The people all seem kind of selfish and willing to do anything to be successful (except, sometimes, actually working hard), but then maybe are a bit morally conflicted as an afterthought. Perhaps it reflects actual society in that way.

Still, listening to the audio book was a joy. The performance was entertaining and the story flowed through me. Overall, I recommend this story.

Back Cover Blurb for A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas:

When 19-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin – one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it… or doom Tamlin – and his world – forever.

“I love you,’ he whispered, and kissed my brow. ‘Thorns and all.”

― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

I had read the Inheritance Games and found it cute and thought maybe I should read some more Young Adult literature. Inheritance game reminded me of a light mystery/romance novel. So, therefore, I was not prepared, when I started this book, for what I found to border on erotica. There were only a handful of sex scenes, but a handful more than I was expecting. The sex itself was not problematic, just a violation of my expectations.

The problematic part for me is how this genre of romance novels go. Her powerful, rich, immortal hunk rescues her from a life of poverty and strife and punishes her with luxury while caring for her and her ungrateful family while she brats around a palace. Sounds pretty rough.

That said, I did enjoy the fantasy aspects of the different takes on legends going into the fae. I finished it, and it is not particularly poorly written, but I doubt I will read the rest of the series.

Back Cover Blurb for The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy by Christopher Leonard

If you asked most people what forces led to today’s unprecedented income inequality and financial crashes, no one would say the Federal Reserve. For most of its history, the Fed has enjoyed the fawning adoration of the press. When the economy grew, it was credited to the Fed. When the economy imploded in 2008, the Fed got credit for rescuing us.

But the Fed also has a unique power to reshape the American economy for the worse, which it did, fatefully, on November 4, 2010 through a radical intervention called quantitative easing. In just a few short years, the Fed more than quadrupled the money supply with one goal: to encourage banks and other investors to extend more risky debt. Leaders at the Fed knew that they were undertaking a bold experiment that would produce few real jobs, with long-term risks that were hard to measure. But the Fed proceeded anyway…and then found itself trapped. Once it printed all that money, there was no way to withdraw it from circulation. The Fed tried several times, only to see markets start to crash, at which point the Fed turned the money spigot back on. That’s what it did when COVID hit, printing 300 years’ worth of money in two short months.

“The Federal Reserve system is unlike any other in the world; it is a crazy genetic mashup of different animals, part private bank and part government agency.”

― Christopher Leonard, The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy

I have gotten stuck on this review for a long time because money and how the American money supply effects people all over the globe is such a big topic that is both academic and has real affects on lots of really different people. I found this book both interesting and informative and I think about currency and exchange more than I did before I read this book.

As an expat, I interact with a number of people who left their home countries for reasons that seem related to effects of the policies of my home country. Then there are some people (the Federal Reserve) who have the power to create American dollars out of literally nothing. Money has always been an abstract and invented concept. The economy seems to be a name for the sum of the tallies of what and who counts and what and who does not.

I would not call this a beach read for most people, but it stays with me in small and large moments from what and how to invest to buying falafel from a stranger. It is not a favorite in the enjoyment sense, but it has opened my eyes and expanded my horizons in a way not many other books have.

Back Cover Blurb of Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

Isolated by Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.

“You were amazing,” Scott said. “Yeah,” I said. “Amazingly slow.” It had taken me over twelve hours, meaning that Scott and Arnulfo could have run the course all over again and still beaten me. “That’s what I’m saying,” Scott insisted. “I’ve been there, man. I’ve been there a lot. It takes more guts than going fast.”

Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

This book was not what I expected based on the title and enthusiastic recommendations. I tend to alternate between fiction and non-fiction books as an optimal balance for me and I read this book in a non-fiction spot, but it felt more like fiction than non-fiction. I enjoyed the fantastical story telling. However, I took the facts and figures as hyperbolic representations of what we were supposed to remember rather than exact representations of research after everything was either 99.9% or a round number.

I came to this book after reading about the rise of ultrarunning in Hurt So Good, about masochism. This book really downplays the amount of pain obviously involved with running for 12 hours straight. Rather, runners bound and float through dead defying courses. But then, maybe a performance is always that way.

I don’t run enough myself to determine if the running advice is useful. It does seem likely that our ancestors were good runners, but it is also not a trait currently being explicitly selected for, so I’m not convinced that I can get up off my couch and not just marathon but ultramarathon. I’m a fan of being barefoot in general, but not sure about barefoot running curing all injuries and form problems. I also may be past the point in my life where drinking all night and then running all day sounds like a good time, if it ever did. Like at least one other reviewer, I bought some chia seeds and have been enjoying them quite a bit. I also downloaded a metronome and figured out how fast 180 steps per minute is… and it is very fast.

Perhaps the most useful notion from the book for me was the idea of learning to rest while still performing a peak activity. He discusses different tricks runners have for relaxing while still running. This is a powerful idea for endurance and avoiding burnout, and I am looking for ways to pull this concept into other areas of my life.

Back Cover Blurb of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman:

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together, they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?

“Thank you so much for reading The Thursday Mystery Club. Unless you haven’t read it yet and have just turned straight to the acknowledgments, which I accept is a possibility. You must live your life as you choose.”

― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

Thursday Murder Club was a romp through a retirement community where not everyone survives and discussion of murder is mixed with gossip and tea. This book delivers on quirky characters and cozy mystery with light humor.

Unfortunately, to me it seemed like an advertisement for getting old. Look! Old people can still do things! Like day drink and gossip! I do like the concept of digging into old people’s fascinating tales, I felt like the nature of them being old lead the book to treat their murder and/ or suicide very casually. It did sort of make a sideways point about those getting to live in the classy old folks home as life’s winners, which I suppose is true, but maybe also depressing.

In the end, I finished it gladly, but have not picked up any of the sequels. Maybe next winter I will read another one. Or possibly good as a beach read, but I never actually read at the beach. It has a few to many details and characters for putting down part way through and picking up weeks or months later.

Back Cover Blurb for A Metal Heart Shines Brightest: A Dystopian Novella by Michael Duda:

Young One watches the metal people proudly marching back to Tekna Magnus. They give meaning to her simple existence on an apple farm. If she could be just like the metal people, she too would bring joy and hope to others.

But after jumping the protective chain-link fence, the world is not what she first believed.

A virus has infected the world, slowly rotting the body. The dirty bloods, those infected by the virus, don’t want her help. And Crow, a man made of both flesh and metal, wants to use her for his own purposes. Even the metal people are not what she first thought.

With no place to go, not even the apple farm, can Young One discover what she truly wants and still survive a dystopian world?

“The heart can always change. But metal will only rust.”

Michael Duda, A Metal Heart Shines Brightest

I am so excited to share that this novella is my first (digital) Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of a pre-publication book. I received it (for free) through BookSirens, and really enjoyed the insight it gives me into the process of the publishing industry and how reviews drive exposure. I hope to do more of these in the future.

As for the story itself, here is my honest review:

See the world through the fresh eyes of this story, just be prepared for a brutal coming of age journey through a world full of tech and biotech wonders inspired by modern day life. The reality of living your dreams never matches the illusion, but doing hard things prepares you for the journey ahead.

I deducted one star each for two separate sections of choppy, unmotivated or unclear action. Other than that, this was a fun, quick read.

Back Cover Blurb of Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown

In Atlas of the Heart, Brown takes us on a journey through 87 of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances — a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heartbreaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.

As I mentioned in the introduction, we asked around seventy-five hundred people to identify all of the emotions that they could recognize and name when they’re experiencing them. The average was three: glad, sad, and mad—or, as they were more often written, happy, sad, and pissed off. Couple this extremely limited vocabulary with the importance of emotional literacy, and you basically have a crisis. It’s this crisis that I’m trying to help address in this book.

― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

I typically love just about anything Brené Brown writes. I had a psychology minor in college and I love the insights that data can provide about why humans do what they do. Brené Brown writes this book to help us go from our glad-sad-mad view of emotions to a world of nuance and color, like upgrading from the box of 8 crayola crayons to the 64 box with the sharpener in the back. But I struggled with this book. I’ve found other reviewers that have complained that it reads like a text book. This may be a case of Professor Brown’s past performance setting the bar so high. She is a college professor, so it is reasonable that she would write things that sound like text books. I am so grateful that she took her teammates’ suggestion to group the emotions by topic, as that made it more readable. However, I think the book needed 2 more structural shifts to reach the perfection that I associate with a Brené Brown Book.

First, she introduces that Buddhist concept of near and far enemies in chapter 7 and I would have benefited from having that as a guiding concept from the beginning. I like it so much, I will add a second quote from the book so you can have a taste:

“The near enemy of love is attachment. Attachment masquerades as love. It says, “I will love this person (because I need something from them).” Or, “I’ll love you if you’ll love me back. I’ll love you, but only if you will be the way I want.” This isn’t the fullness of love. Instead there is attachment—there is clinging and fear. True love allows, honors, and appreciates; attachment grasps, demands, needs, and aims to possess.”

― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

I have a friend who once pointed out to me that the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. Here, we were also playing with this idea that it is not always or maybe even usually that the obvious opposite is what undermines a desired human emotion, but one that can look very similar on the surface. I needed this guiding principle earlier to trudge through a list of 87 emotions with fine differences. I understood that they had restrained themselves from the original list of 150 emotions that therapists find that naming helps people process, but until I understood the insidiousness of mixing up envy and jealousy, I found it a bit hard to care the people frequently mix them up. Language commonly changes with usage, but here it matters because not differentiating can coat good things in an icky feeling and vice versa or make it unclear how to remedy the feeling or situation.

The second structural thing I would do differently in subsequent editions is arrange the emotion clusters in a Hero’s Journey. As it is right now, there is not much to pull me through the negative emotions, and I would set the book down for long breaks when I hit Regret or Despair. If these emotions were arranged in the order we are used to experiencing them in narrative, this might feel more like a story and better carry us through the dark emotions.

I recommend you read it with these two caveats in mind, and hopefully you will get even more joy than I did from these pages.

Back Cover Blurb for The Way of Integrity: Finding Your Path to Your True Self by Martha Beck:

In The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us – people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits – all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.

1. “Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to question 3.)

2. Can I absolutely know that it’s true? (Yes or no.)

3. How do I react, what happens, when I believe that thought? Is it helpful? Who or what would I be without the thought?”

― Martha Beck, The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self

I am charmed by Martha Beck. I think she is kind of crazy as a loon, and brave for being so open for things people have long been thought to experience, but shy away from discussing in public lest they be considered crazy, like mystical experiences. I like that I do not always agree with her and yet I still feel that I learn a lot from her. It’s quite a journey from Mormon preacher’s kid to lesbian self-help guru, including a year of not lying at all, not lying by staying silent, not even white lies. I’m sure it is instructive, but I’m also glad not to live with her.

I first found her work about a decade ago with Finding Your North Star, where I read the most in depth analysis of Hero’s Journey up to that point in my life. Here, she does something similar with Dante’s Devine Comedy. But also, she just renames or retranslates different parts of his story if she likes a different framing better. It is way more interesting than the literary analysis I remember from high school, especially when she claims Dante might be being literal in places that common wisdom agrees is allegorical.

This book is categorized as self help and it veers into the mystical, but I never find it preachy. It does suggest things like, “I am meant to live in peace,” but for me the focus on questions rather than answers keeps it from slipping too far into the new age. Every chapter contains a series of questions you can ask yourself, if you want to. Otherwise, you can enjoy the journey down into the depths of the Inferno and back out the other side.