Guess what, dear readers: with this post going up, I’ve finally cleared my book reviews. Now let’s see if I can keep this up.
As usual, I’m only talking about the books I like unless I really have something specific to say about a book I dislike.
Fiction
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles: I read this for book club. I thought I would hate this book from the first chapter, when working class girls Katey and Eve meet the seemingly wealthy Tinker Grey at a bar who befriends them, and they start introducing each other to their respective lifestyles. My first thought was “Oh gods, another book about rich people and their problems? This better be entertaining.” Fortunately the book goes deeper than that. It’s a snapshot into the year of a life in these three friends. The prologue hints at the fact that Katey, the narrator (who loves books!), was no longer in touch with Eve or Tinker, which raises the question… what happened? Well, a lot can happen in a year when you’re still finding yourself as an adult and trying to make it in New York. But Katey finds herself bouncing between social circles, including the elite circles, and some of those circles get her started in her new career in a surprising way.
The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indriðason: I read this for book club. It’s been awhile since I’ve read an Icelandic mystery, and I forgot how much I like this subgenre. They’re such an interesting dynamic: Iceland ranks among the happiest countries in the world, yet there’s a heavy drinking culture and their mysteries are miserable as fuck. Detective Konrad has a dark past with his father, is a widow, still feels guilty about being unfaithful, and is depressed in his retirement but doesn’t admit it. This book is the kind of murder mystery I like, where the murder itself (in this case, an unsolved mystery from thirty years ago where someone has been accused but is never proven guilty… and then the body is found) is incidental to the story and the real story comes from getting to know all the characters along the way while solving the case. If that’s not the kind of mystery you like, you probably won’t like this book.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer: Okay, I’m breaking my guideline for including my favorite reads here, and that’s because I have opinions about this book. Warning for spoilers. I like and hate this book. I hate this book because Doug is an abusive asshole who clearly wants women to be subservient robots who serve him at his request, and the robot company wants to do research into their relationship because it’s so special. I like this book because, sadly, Doug acting like a decent dude while no one suspects anything is a realistic depiction of an abusive partner. And while Annie is programmed, and Doug says he loves that she feels like a real woman, but the more she starts acting like a real woman, the less perfect she becomes, and the less Doug loves here, and unfortunately this is realistic from an abusive partner. Ugh. This book felt like it was more about abusive relationship dynamics with some robot themes sprinkled in, and that’s not what I signed up for, even though Annie does escape in the end. I also hate that the robot brands are Stellas, when that’s what they’re called in my universe that I started writing over five years ago. Gah. One more thing: can we talk about how it’s really fucking weird that Doug requested an Annie who looks exactly like his ex… who broke up with him because how dare she have a life outside of him? Hell yeah Gwen, I hope you’re living your best life now even though you’re a fictional character.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins: Finally a Hunger Games prequel I care about! I’ve loved Haymitch since the original trilogy, even if Peeta did call him an embarrassment to District 12. I love this book so much and meeting some familiar characters while also meeting some new ones. Some people may call it retconning, but I think enough was demonstrated in the trilogy to show that the movement didn’t start with Katniss, it just reached a peak with her. But anyway, poor Haymitch, having to lose everyone he’s ever cared about and then fail at mentoring anyone to victory for almost 25 years. That’s more than enough to fuck anyone up. To be honest, I’m surprised Hunger Games victors aren’t more fucked up, especially after reading this book and the original trilogy. Also, I cannot imagine having my birthday ruined forever because of being reaped. (This isn’t really a spoiler since it’s on page one.) Knowing about the other prequel via internet osmosis and learning about some of the other people in District 12 almost makes me want to read A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Almost, but not quite because fuck President Snow forever. You know whose story I want to read next? Plutarch. Or Beetee. Or Mags. Those stories might read like a full history of Panem.
Nonfiction
The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us by Rachelle Bergstein: What can I say, I’m a Judy Blume fan. But my favorite books of hers aren’t the ones that get a lot of attention in book ban talks; Rachel Robinson was the girl I wanted to be. I was the anxious overachiever and perfectionist with a fucked up family and a host of friendship insecurities (remember Stephanie getting a second best friend?), and I wanted to be in ninth grade advanced math as a seventh grader (yes I was a nerd). I knew almost nothing about Judy’s life, like her unhappy marriage or how Forever was written because her then-teenage daughter wanted to read a book about teens who have sex and everything’s okay. There’s also a big section in the book about the book banning and backlash, which unfortunately isn’t getting better now. I need to go to her bookstore before she goes.
Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan: I’ve read a lot of books about language and grammar over the years. The author positions two characters: the Grammando, the part of you that cares deeply about correct grammar and usage, and the Wordie, the part of you that is open and curious to how we use language. This book comes off as a bit cutesy in parts, and I’m already a bit of a Wordie, but overall a good read.
Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York by Ross Perlin: I love this book so much and highly recommend listening to the book so you can hear spoken samples of the languages discussed. The author runs the Endangered Language Alliance, and this book follows six speakers of endangered languages in New York City to learn how they keep speaking their language when, in at least one case, most of the language’s speakers live in a single apartment building. The featured languages, for those curious, are Seke, N’ko, Lenape (Munsee), Nahuatl, Wakhi, and Yiddish. There are so many more languages spoken in the city, and you can explore the languages of New York City with this map. The big points of this book are that all languages are equal, and that most languages aren’t dying natural deaths–they’re being killed by Big Language.
The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman: This is an essay collection about the 1990s. While I’m a nineties kid, this book doesn’t specifically target those of us who were actually kids in the nineties. While nineties kids will feel seen by many of the topics discussed, this book encompasses the entire decade, and depending on exactly how old you are, the early nineties may be just out of your memory, just as it was out of mine. The people this book will truly resonate with, in my opinion, are the people who were teens or young adults in the early to mid 90s–old enough to recognize items from the entire decade, young enough where the decade was still formative.
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi: This book was published in 1991, and the audiobook is 24 hours long, but I zoomed through it in just over a week, and not because it was due back at the library soon. All I could think while listening to the sections about work and reproductive rights was “Are we sure this book isn’t written for the current day?” This book breaks down the fight against feminism in the 1980s: the many ways the media influences our thinking (the infamous Guess ads, the Charlie girl in the Revlon ads who was portrayed as independent and fabulous but was pulled a few years later because women didn’t need a Charlie role model anymore amirite, just to name a couple), the idea of a “man shortage” and that women were more likely to be killed by a terrorist than get married after 40 (wtf?), the way experts painted a picture of women being miserable at work and wouldn’t they be less miserable at home with the kids, and then the war on reproductive rights, which reads scarily like it would happen today. Even though the book details the 1980s, the book is relevant as ever. We’ve come a long way in some areas for equality but have fallen so far back in others. This book should be required reading.