Educated by Tara Westover

Educated by Tara Westover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I heard about this book and I wasn't initially excited to read it. I figured that I had already read The Glass Castle, Hillbilly Elegy, even Etched in Sand. I picked it up anyway, and I was fascinated by every single chapter.

Part of what's remarkable about this book is that even though Westover's upbringing was extreme, I can see analogous threads in various religions and in current political movements. I particularly enjoyed how she took us on the educational journey with her- her first times learning about slavery, the Holocaust, the civil rights movement, and feminism. I wish more ordinary people would "come out of the hills" on these subjects.

So many people are eager to discount the veracity of Westover's account in part because her transformation seems so extreme. (Other people discount her story because the life she describes in Idaho seems mundane and normal to them! Some people even make both somewhat contradictory points!) She credits many people for helping her achieve a remarkable education: her brother Tyler, her friends at BYU, a Bishop at BYU, a professor a Cambridge. Moreover, the world is, and always has been, filled with remarkable people. There is no more extreme story of transformation than that of Frederick Douglass or such remarkable thinkers as Benjamin Franklin. Why then are people so eager to discount Westover's accomplishments and life story?

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The End of Power by Moisés Naím

The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn't What It Used to Be by Moisés Naím
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Considering this was written in 2013, it was practically prescient regarding the dissipation of power in politics. So many sentences read as if the writer knew about Trump's takeover of the Republican party or even Brexit. I wonder how far this trend will go.

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The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At first I thought this book was vaguely hilarious because right up front you know they steal a baby. How do you even feel for a bunch of baby stealers? But then little by little the book ripped my heart out and showed it to me.

Also, I have a crush on this beautiful cover.

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Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very enjoyable read about really evil mermaids, and a large cast of characters that reminds me of the movie Clue (a favorite of mine). Like in many horror movies, the characters seem to bumble towards the danger and also "run upstairs" when the monster comes in the house. But overall very enjoyable.

I particularly enjoyed the primary nature of the female characters. Many of the men seemed to be ineffectual window-dressing. It's like revenge for all those 007 books and so many more. The book goes so far beyond passing the Bechdel Test, that the only time any women even discuss a relationship with a man, it's to inquire whether or not a woman has killed her ex.

The book also sparks an interest in the biology of unique marine animals. For Book Riot's Read Harder 2019 purposes, one of the main characters is neurodiverse.

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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a beautiful and perfect novel. Beautiful sentences, soulful, and even an incredible plot. While I'm not of the belief that the main character needs to be likable, I also loved the main character, Janie, and her unconquerable spirit. My heart couldn't even handle her third love, Tea Cake. I have read hundreds of books and something this well-written is rare. There are no words worthy of it. This is one I hope to read again and again.




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Power Moves by Adam M. Grant

Power Moves: Lessons from Davos by Adam M. Grant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very short audiobook. Some parts are really interesting and valuable, but other parts are difficult to put into use. The topics are varied and there doesn’t seem to be anything unifying the topics.

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Monsters: A Love Story by Liz Kay

Monsters: A Love Story by Liz Kay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While on the surface we seem to be focused on a slowly developing relationship, there's a lot of darkness under the surface of this book. It's not all darkness, and I enjoyed spending 2-3 years in the lives of the characters because it really gives time for all the friendships and relationships to develop naturally. However, the characters are deeply flawed and realistic and reveal their good and bad characteristics as you get to know them. The bad personality traits are pretty serious though and there’s a dark controlling undercurrent tugging at the romance in the book.

Also, there's an Escher-esk quality to it because the themes of the fictional epic poem are the themes of the real novel, Monsters. The main character Stacey is a poet and she has an epic poem that is being developed into a movie. The epic poem is about feminism, control, and mythological power, and the things that are happening during the development of the movie are decidedly not feminist, all the while the characters are fighting for creative and romantic control.

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The Diary of a Hounslow Girl by Ambreen Razia

The Diary of a Hounslow Girl by Ambreen Razia
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story is full of high drama told in a British slang dialect. It feels messy and it's a lot to wade through.

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The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie by Tanya Lee Stone

The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us by Tanya Lee Stone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was pretty interesting in that it explored both the history of Mattel and Barbie and modern-day opinions about her in a variety of communities.

The author left a ton of stuff undiscussed. What about Mattel's position against Barbie talking and potentially offending someone? Of course, after this book was written they abandoned that policy and now she has a cartoon. The author also failed to cover the Christmas Barbie phenomenon where tons of girls got these expensive Christmas Barbies they were told to leave in the box as collector's items. I hated that so much.

Personally, I played with Barbie as a kid and my objection was the same objection I had with all my dolls, that more of them were blonde and blue-eyed than brunette, which seemed the inverse of the world I experienced around me. I was delighted when I got a brunette and one each of redhead Barbie, black Barbie, and Hawaiian Barbie. It also helped me pretend that all the Barbies were actually different people instead of a clone universe. I had one Hispanic Barbie and one Japanese Barbie, but yeah, these were too expensive and fancy to actually play with which was a major bummer.

I kept many of my childhood Barbies and I've been handing them off one by one to my daughter. She loved them even before I gave her mine, having seen them at her friends' homes. Unbeknownst to her, I've now been building a bit of a Barbie community. I got her some young shapeless Chelsea and Skipper dolls, and some heavier and extra shapely Barbies. My Kens all disappeared from childhood so she got a new one with his own change of outfits. Unfortunately, there's still a bit of a blonde surplus in this community. We're working on it!

As a mom, another frustration is that it's now difficult to buy any affordable quality Barbie clothing. A lot of my daughter's Barbies are still rocking durable 80s outfits.

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Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula by Bram Stoker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the beginning and the end, but the middle was a bit of slog. I enjoyed the epistolary format and how it allowed for the viewpoint of various characters.

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Book Riot’s 2018 Read Harder Challenge

I finished Read Harder 2018! I put a little pink asterisk next to the ones I especially liked.

1. A book published posthumously: The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs * (2/28) 
2. A book of true crime: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 2/19, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean 2/9
3. A classic of genre fiction (i.e. mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, romance): City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin 1/27, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin 2/4
4. A comic written and drawn by the same person: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson * 2/22 
5. A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa): Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy * 2/24
6. A book about nature: Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau 3/1 
7. A western: Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour 4/5
8. A comic written or drawn by a person of color: Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates 3/23
9. A book of colonial or postcolonial literature: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * 9/11
10. A romance novel by or about a person of color: Indigo by Beverly Jenkins 7/13
11. A children’s classic published before 1980: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery * 1/19
12. A celebrity memoir: Just Kids by Patti Smith 2/10
13. An Oprah Book Club selection: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Becoming by Michelle Obama * 12/2
14. A book of social science: Evicted by Matthew Desmond * 1/12
15. A one-sitting book: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor 3/4
16. The first book in a new-to-you YA or middle-grade series: The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima * 3/5
17. A sci-fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author: Mem by Bethany C. Morrow 9/14
18. A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image: Quantum and Woody by James Asmus (Goodreads Author) (Writer), Tom Fowler (Artist) 9/29
19. A book of genre fiction in translation: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende * 10/17
20. A book with a cover you hate: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 9/27
21. A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author: Shelter by Yun Li 10/15
22. An essay anthology: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis * 2/2,  Not that Bad by Roxane Gay 11/8 
23. A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher 5/30
24. An assigned book you hated (or never finished): Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 7/10

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This isn’t a novel. This is a short story collection. While many of the stories revolve around Olive, some of them have no real link to her or the important people in Olive’s life.

There are beautiful sentences, and a little bit of light humor, but there’s a lot of desperation threaded through the stories that make this collection difficult to enjoy. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more when I was sadder myself, but now it feels like an undertow trying to drag me back.

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How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky

How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future by Steven Levitsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

People should probably read this. For me, it was really boring at the beginning. It set up a framework for analyzing American politics with 4 rules of waning democracy and lots of historical examples. But it didn't get to the main point of the book, the risk to American democracy, until the last third of the book. It really tests the patience of the most sympathetic reader.

It's not a partisan book, per se. When it finally gets to the American examples it cites Republican and Democratic sins against democracy. (You might notice though that the Republican examples are more numerous and extreme.) Instead, it focuses on our joint obligation to protect democracy by working in a healthy bipartisan way even when we don't agree on policy. However, the author fails to explain how we're supposed to maintain civility when one party is extremist, trying to steal democracy in such blatant, economically-disempowering, and racist ways. Literally, the world is being destroyed by human-caused climate change, and we're not supposed to speak or act like it is not apocalyptic, even though it is likely apocalyptic? I understand that civil rights were won by saintly forbearance in the face of harsh violent oppressors, but every time this happens lots of people literally die. And with broken healthcare in our country and the rise in climate disasters, the numbers of deaths are virtually unlimited.

The main solutions it offers are the Republicans getting control over its own party again, and liberals focusing on economic policy. Apparently, the Republican leadership has less control over its members than large donors (like the Koch brothers and the NRA) and Fox News. The author doesn't even talk about how Supreme Court rulings have made this virtually impossible. The main thing liberals can do is focus on economic policy and assisting the middle class again. We should focus on reducing income inequality and family policies to help everyone. Which we were already trying to do. Feeling... screwed.

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The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a hard book to rate or review because the substance is great, but I really think the order of the topics hurts her case. Like some of the other Election 2020 memoirs that are coming out the substance is more policy than a memoir. I'm generally a fan of that concept as I want to know what the candidates stand for, but that generally makes for bad memoirs.

But okay, if we're going to learn about what Kamala stands for, do we want to start for criminal justice reform? I don't think that's the winning focus for 2020, but because she was faking the memoir style, she started with her career expertise. The beginning felt extremely weak and boring and that was unideal. She should have started with economics and global warming probably in terms of election importance and actual importance. I almost quit reading the book before she hit her stride. I'm glad I didn't though because towards the end I felt a lot more persuaded by her thinking.

I particularly like how she talks about data collection in developing solutions in public policy. Some years ago I read the Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo book, Poor Economics, about this very topic, and I found it to be a complete game-changer in the way I think about policy data.

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The Vacationers by Emma Straub

The Vacationers by Emma Straub
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, and I especially liked the character of Carmen. There's not a lot of information about her at first, but as she is revealed, she is the character that reveals the most about all the other characters.

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Where should we begin? by Esther Perel

Where should we begin?: The Arc of Love by Esther Perel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this short audiobook was really interesting though it sounded more like a podcast than a book. I also found the session with a mother and Monique to be off-topic and jarring in a series where all the other sessions were romantic relationships.

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This Fight Is Our Fight by Elizabeth Warren

This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class by Elizabeth Warren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this book because it does a perfect job of explaining why I'm a liberal on the economics side of the equation. It's more of a policy book than a memoir and you'll get a sense of exactly where she stands on everything except foreign policy because, let's face it, neither party has a cohesive foreign policy right now.

It's clear that Warren has toughened up a lot over the years, especially since joining the Senate in 2013. She's not interested in taking any bullshit anymore. I wasn't initially that excited about a Warren presidency as I felt she missed her opportunity in 2016, but I've changed my mind completely after reading this and her other memoir. (I also read her much earlier personal finance book.)

Also, be assured that this is not another Trump book. He's mentioned because it's a bit unavoidable, but it's not about Trump; it's about making the economic system a fair system for everyone.

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Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I did not like this book. Forget liking the characters, I didn’t even believe the characters. It’s silly without being funny. It’s sexual without being sexy. It meandered in a way that made me feel the minutes of my life ebbing away. As a bonus, it’s layer upon layer of problematic.

I’m confused about the positive reviews because it feels like I read a completely different book than the one they are referencing.

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A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren

A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was approximately 15-20% memoir, 75% policy (which I loved), and 10% about her dogs.

I really liked this book because it cleared up a lot of questions I have about her. A lot of it was about the evils of the bank lobbying industry and the "snake oil salesmen" in the banking industry.

It stops right after she becomes a Senator for Massachusetts, so I'm interested in reading her second memoir as well.

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We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t typically read cozy mysteries but I assume this is one? A young adult cozy mystery? That's ultimately not so cozy.

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2061 by Arthur C. Clarke

2061: Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was so bored. I considered quitting or crying. Nothing ever made me care about any of the characters. It was grueling.

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Forest Bathing by Qing Li

Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness by Qing Li
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short book, but it's chockful of information. I couldn't tell how strictly scientific the advice is but it seems worth a shot to connect with nature and give it a try. Since the author discusses a number of Japanese forests I think this book is especially helpful for someone living in or visiting Japan. There are also many tips that can be applied even if you're not in Japan though.

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Outline by Rachel Cusk

Outline by Rachel Cusk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book mostly because I loved the ideas and the sentences. There was nearly no plot to speak of. The main character kind of wanders around talking to people in Greece. Mostly they tell each other stories about their pasts. She's in Greece to teach a writing class so there's also a brief scene in her class.

Here are some ponderous sentences I enjoyed nonetheless:

"The person she was involved with now, she said - a man named Konstantin- had given her for the first time in her life a cause to fear these tendencies in herself, for the reason that - unlike, if she was to be honest, any other man of her experience- she judged him to be her equal. He was intelligent, handsome, amusing, an intellectual: she liked being beside him, liked the reflection of herself he gave her. And he was a man in possession of his own morality and attitudes, so she felt for the first time, as she had said - a kind of invisible boundary around him, a line it was clear, though no one ever said as much, she ought not to cross."

The story about the dog is horrifying. And we're adopting a puppy on Sunday!



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Reading Resolutions 2018-2019

It's hard to check my general goals to read more of particular authors last year so I won't do it this year, but I can check some of the specific books I said I wanted to read.

Kevin recs:
Anna Karenina - Pevear translation
Madame Bovary - Lydia Davis translation
Tender is the Night- Fitzgerald
Alice Munroe Selected Stories
Flannery O'Connor Complete Stories
Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara
Elizabeth Bishop Complete Poems
Stop Time- Frank Conroy
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe

Dad related goals:
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman

Okay, so for 2019, I want to read these:
2061 by Arthur C. Clarke
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin
The Magus by John Fowles
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman
Tender is the Night- Fitzgerald
Stop Time- Frank Conroy
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami