Roots: The Saga of An American Family
By: Alex Haley
Stellar. Probably many of you have seen at least one of the TV adaptations but as a work of art, the story is so powerfully told via the written word that this is 100% worth the time and emotional energy it takes to read. In the parts of the story that are easy-going, the characters are so real its easy to become invested. That of course makes the tragedies so much harder to bear. I think this book will hit even harder for readers with an understanding of trauma and epigenetics. For a primer on both, scroll down a bit and consider reading The Body Keeps The Score in tandem with Roots. For the internet version here is the Wiki on Trauma and the Wiki on Epigenetics. No human with empathy could possibly be unmoved by this book. It is truly remarkable. Can’t recommend enough.
Becoming Fluent: How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn A Foreign Language
By: Richard Roberts and Roger Kreuz
This book was a fun trip down memory lane for me. It is a great pick-me-up for adult learners in general. Furthermore, it is a 101 on the Psychology of Learning and teaches some of the best tools I remember studying in undergrad in a concise and clear way. You will come away with methods to apply to all you endeavor to learn, not just language. I felt like the authors did omit one worthwhile tidbit I use to this day if I have to cram facts into my brain for recall - primacy and recency. So here again, I present to you a Wiki on Primacy and Recency Effect.
Taming The Tiger Within: Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions
By: Thich Nhat Hanh
A short read, this is a nice intro to shadow work in no such specific terms. Definitely recommend if you are dealing with difficult emotions or the echoes of such. Shadow-work is an important concept to be able to apply to oneself for personal growth. This book is a really approachable explanation and guide to beginning to integrate memories and emotions that maybe don’t feel so great to suppress.
Super Mario - How Nintendo Conquered America
By: Jeff Ryan
Fun AF!! I can’t praise this enough for a fun read. It was welcome amidst the heavier hitting reads this month. You get a deep-dive into Nintendo. I had NO idea what a powerhouse they are. The nostalgia factor is through the roof and inspired me to download MarioKart on my phone just to dip my toe back into that world. Highly recommend to anyone who enjoyed Nintendo games growing up. I feel like this book is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face if you had any affinity for Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Pokémon, etc. The writing is punchy and fast-paced. This is another one of those books where the real-life people seem larger-than-life. Enjoy!!
Twain’s Feast
By: Andrew Beahrs & Nick Offerman
In its written format, this is a solo work by Andrew Beahrs. The audio version is narrated (in part) by Nick Offerman. In his own right, Nick Offerman is an entertaining author. I very much enjoyed Paddle Your Own Canoe and Gumption. Furthermore, he is really easy to listen to as a wind-down before bed. Not every narrator is. I also am familiar enough with N.O. to know him as highly progressive and thus to be mightily curious about him attaching his name to a book about Twain, who I’ve always viewed as racially problematic. My take-away and what I will share is this: I wouldn’t run out and get it nor would I read the actual book vs. listening. I wouldn’t however recommend against it. Controversial topics are not glossed over. They are also not covered exhaustibly as this book is about something specific. I think if you have a special interest in Twain, early American literature or Offerman you will find it enjoyable. To me and probably everyone else - palatable. Given the book’s subject matter that seems fair.
The Body Keeps The Score
By: Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
Wow. And when I say wow I mean…the term masterpiece is used on the cover and I can 100% endorse this book as such, personally. That being said, Neuropsychology was/is my area of interest almost over-archinginly so. It’s what I studied in college. I considered pursuing it for Ph.D. work. Hell, I still consider going back to pursue it. But this book is so much more than an overview of brain structure and function. The anecdotes are heart-wrenching and as a trauma survivor, myself, this was a very difficult read. A book of this size would normally take me a couple of days to get through. This book took me 2.5 weeks with lots of breaks for walks and being in my feels as well as unexpectedly being triggered into panic attacks. The thing is, as much as I know about the various methodologies that are covered in the second half and even with 13 years of actively working to reset my brain from childhood trauma, it still was impactful. Everyone has been touched by trauma because its either you who experienced it or its impacted someone you know. This book is important for everyone to read. Period. Underscore. If you have also experienced trauma, personally I recommend you plan a lot of self-care while reading. But please do not shy away. We are on the edge of huge break-throughs in how we work with the brain + mind-body connection. You can be on the front lines of that with the right knowledge, much of which is covered in this book. For further reading and inspo (and less painful anecdotes) I also recommend The Brain’s Way of Healing by Norman Doidge.
Astrophysics For Young People In A Hurry
By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
This was a cute book and BONUS, if you listen to it on Audible its narrated by Lavar Burton!!! I Stan. Anyway, I read this with Vor who is 5. He liked it. We will listen again when he is older. Comparing this to Tyson’s book on the same subject for adults I am still wanting something in the middle between the two! But for kids this is great and for a really fun refresher on the basics this is also great for adults reading along with their kids.
Stargazer
By: Dan Wells
This is the 3rd installment in this trilogy. Of the three it was my least favorite but also that’s like ranking cookies, ice cream, pizza, etc. You can only go so wrong here. All three books are quite fun and well done. This is a series intended for kids and as an adult I was delighted by the application of science to the world-building. If you love sci-fi and want to pass that on to the younger generation this trilogy does the work for you. If you are a person who loves sci-fi and occasionally needs to cleanse your palate of empire, killer AI, intergalactic battles etc, this would be a fun and fresh break. Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed all three books and would rank them 1, 2, 3 in their chronological order. I could totally stand an expansion of the series beyond 3 books.
The Double Drastic Time Capsule Caper
By: Van Temple
This is one for the kids. It was structured enough to be enjoyable as an adult but we aren’t moving mountains or changing the game with the story. It is good-natured and appropriate enough for very young kids. The protagonists are quirky and fun for the little ones. I think it would be a little boring past the age of 8-10 depending on how advanced your kid’s reading skills are.
Young Samurai: The Way of the Dragon
By: Chris Bradford
This is the 1st of 2 books Vor and I started reading together that I decided are not a good fit for him. But I have a thing. If I put the book in my library I read it unless it is extremely offensive or terribly written. This book has excellent reviews but I find it to be middling. It did however grow on me as time went along. The reason I immediately didn’t love it for Vor was the subject matter was a little too mature for him. Then I realized the main character is a white person in 18th century Japan and he’s the “hero” of the story. A white savior book is never going to sit well with me. That being said, some of the cultural issues I thought were going to be mismanaged turned around significantly as the book continued. Definitely not appropriate for little kids. It turns out there is a lot of violence and I also don’t like to condition my son toward heteronormative romance at this stage of his life. This book makes overtures in that direction as well. All complaints aside it was an adventurous story and not terrible at least as I sit as a white person who thinks they like Japanese history but is also white and has a limited perspective on such.
The City of Brass
By: S.A. Chakraborty
BUYER BEWARE!! I thought this book was written by a woman POC. It is not. In that regard I feel like I got fleeced. I’m a little salty tbh. I have forgiven it as much as possible because damn if this isn’t a fucking interesting and fun world with great characters and so many layers of intrigue. I listened to a podcast with the author. It seems as though the Arabic world-building is done from a place of reverence and respect - she’s Muslim by conversion as well as being married into the culture she’s writing about. That this is not a POC author is challenging for me. UGH!
Judging from the reviews people of all backgrounds seem to love this series (its a trilogy). Despite my moral dilemma the story is really damn good so now I’m hooked. It’s also being Netflix’ed as we speak. The negative reviews largely center around the “slow” pace of the book. That was laughable to me, a person who regularly reads sci-fi with an entire encyclopedia of specialized terms and with series that have 10+ books. I don’t even know what these people are reading to consider this book slow. Some reviews do call Chakraborty out for cultural appropriation. I don’t even know. This is a topic I’m regularly examining - appropriation vs appreciation/reverence because as a white yoga teacher its baked into my very existence. I do know the story is great, the author is Muslim and a Middle Eastern scholar. I’m going to assume she gets most of it right with some significant oversights that being white are unavoidable.
RIYL vast empire-building, castle intrigue, mythical creatures and stories that don’t blow their load in the first 100 pages.