July Book Drop

Iran: A Modern History

By: Abbas Amanat

Holy Tomes Batman! This was a fuuuuuuuucking long ass book. So long, in fact, I earned a special badge for finishing it on Audible. I learned a lot. I also missed a lot that went over my head because this is a book that was not well-suited for audio consumption at times. There were long segments that were Old Testament in style - long diatribes of names and lineages that were difficult to invest in as a listener.

The format of the book is interesting and threw me off at first. Later, I found it useful. The author covers timeframes from the POV of one ruling family or significant historical figure and will often times circle back and cover the same territory from the perspective of someone else significant. Once I realized that was happening it was useful because you get more than one exposure to important events and ideas.

Iran has a rich history. That should be a “duh” for anyone who may be interested in picking this book up. I definitely think the time investment is worthwhile. For me, personally, I enjoyed learning about the religious history of the country. I also learned about some of the cultural elements that have been used in some of the fictional works I enjoy.

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Arlo Finch: In The Lake of the Moon

By: John August

Fantastic. The danger and suspense increase appropriately between this and the first book. The setting shifts and is almost fully outside at camp which allows for some great themes to be played out. For parents who love magic and supernatural/sci-fi, this is a great intro to some mind and time-bending that ups the ante from book one. To me, there is no way these won’t be made into a screen adaptation. John August IS a screen-writer. These are going to kick ass as video works just as much as books. I’m a huge fan. I’m honestly super glad I have a kid so that I get to discover these books along with him. Oh yeah, my 5-year-old approves of this one, too. The mains in this book are great role models for kids upward of their tweens. Highest recommendation.

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Utopia

By: Thomas More

Its good to read the classics. The concepts from this work are ubiquitous in the higher falootin’ works I read. Case in point: the Red Rising series. I have read so many quotes and excerpts from this book over the years that my familiarity with those quotes kinda stole the bluster of the original.

My thoughts are that this is a very creative work; especially considering when it was written. If you don’t mind reading an older and more formal version of the English language, this is an interesting read. I think its a good framework for playing around with the philosophical underpinnings of socialism and government critique/satire.

I’ll put it this way, I don’t discourage you from reading this book.

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Golden Son

By: Pierce Brown

OK…

I loved this series so much that I begged Matt to read it. He acquiesced and immediately fell in love with it as hard as me. As a result, immediately upon finishing the first three books, I turned around started reading them again. I will therefor, address these books in my August book review.

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Arlo Finch: In The Kingdom of Shadows

By: John August

A natural ending to the trilogy. There are some really intense moments in this book! Thoroughly enjoyable for mom and son, alike. In addition to the magic and dimension bending themes of the previous two books, you get a heavy dose of real-world suspense as well as Arlo takes on the FBI here and there. Four thumbs up - two from me and two from Vor.

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Stella Batts #1: Needs a New Name

By: Courtney Sheinmel

OMG, this was surprisingly enjoyable. I have grown accustom to serialized children’s works being either - blah, gross, annoying OR HOLY SHIT YES! This, however, resides right in the sweet spot of something that is age appropriate and sweet without being overly heady or adult. YET, its not at all saccharine or annoying. Well, done Courtney Sheimel. RIYL Judy Blume books. Vor was immediately invested and learned a lot about going to public elementary school by listening. More below. We read a lot of this series in July.

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Stella Batts #2: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Valuable lesson territory. The writing between books one and two is consistent. The tone is really conversational. This is a nice way of drawing younger readers in. It feels conspiratorial. Sheinmel is clearly building a readership as the series progresses. Age recommendation would fall from about 5-years-old up to about 8 or 9. I think interest would probably fall off pretty quickly once the age of the reader surpasses the age of the kids in the book - they’re in third grade.

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Stella Batts #3: Pardon Me

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Another cute story. There is a perfect amount of tension for a young reader to manage this book on their own without a parent supervising the read. I don’t really believe in gendering things for my son. He seems perfectly into these books regardless of the female mains. At the end of the day, though Stella is a little girl and sometimes skews toward “girly” things, mostly she’s just an 8-year-old kid with a 5-year-old sister. Her personality doesn’t center her femaleness which makes these fun for my 5-year-old son.

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The Fall of Hyperion: Cantos #2

By: Dan Simmons

Prepare for a major perspective shift! Ok, so Book One you have seven different POV characters. Book Two you have two. BUT, one of the two characters can voyeuristically engage with the perspective of the characters from Book One. Its pretty wild and creative. As someone who writes, this is a very cool work around in terms of the “voice of the narrator.”

The scope of this book jumps pretty drastically. In Book One you are more or less locked into retrospectives from the main characters. You get a glimpse into the universe as a whole, as a result but understanding the culture of the time doesn’t isn’t the point. You get a much better sense of the cultural context of the characters from Book One, here in Book Two.

You do also get a sense of resolution from Book One to Book Two. That being said, its short-lived if you pick up Book Three and not FULLY resolved if you don’t follow to the end of the series. You really have to read all four books to get a clear understanding of what’s at play throughout.

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Endymion: Cantos #3

By: Dan Simmons

I mean, damn. Not since Dune has a series expanded in a way that blew my mind quite like this. In Books One and Two you get that time is going to get a little wonky but damn. Shit gets cray.

In Books One and Two you get some really awesome character building. In Book Three you get that and amazing world-building. This feels more like the middle book of the series. What I mean by that is, it is 100% an alley-oop to Book Four. Additionally, there are call backs and important plot-points you need to have read the first two installments to fully appreciate Endymion.

In Endymion you get a sense of what’s to come. Meaning, when you’re done with this book you know you are about to get the philosophical hammer. From the get-go Simmons has been preparing you for that fact but by Book Three its imminent.

At this point, the only series this compares to is Dune. Yes. That is correct. I did just draw a comparison between this series and my all-time heavy-hitting favorite. Aside from Herbert I can think of no other author that so seamlessly, thoroughly and masterfully interweaves science fiction with philosophy and poetry.

:: un-ironic slow clap::

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Stella Batts #4: A Case of The Meanies

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Ok, there’s three more of this series this month and more next month so let’s condense, yeah?

Themes in this book are: being left out and being a team player even if you’re not in the spotlight. You get all the mains you have come to know and love. You get to hang out with Stella in Batt’s Confections and at school. If you liked the first three, you will like this one.

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Stella Batts #5: Who’s In Charge

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Stella’s mom is not a dog person. She clearly doesn’t get it. I honestly don’t like her very much. This was actually interesting as a jump off point to talk about animal ownership and responsibility with Vor because I thought Stella was actually more appropriately invested in her role than her parents were.

Of the whole series, this provided some interesting food for thought and discussion points. As far as the writing goes, its more of the same. Sheinmel is a remarkably consistent writer.

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Stella Batts #6: Something Blue

By: Courtney Sheinmel

Themes of blending a family, traditions and superstitions, getting into a pickle from bad decision-making.

I’m not a wedding person and was anticipating this book being more annoying than it turned out to be. I liked the resolutions to the tension points of this book.

For a Book Six, it was also nice to change both the pacing and the setting for the mains.

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June Book Drop

When I started writing book reviews, I didn't have the foresight to realize I might one day need to indicate the year to which each post belongs. As I approach this fifth Book Drop installment, I realize keeping my website up-to-date and regularly sharing on this platform has become a habit. I enjoy it and hope that one day more people interact with me on here vs. social media. Lately, I have spoken to more and more friends who are fatigued, or just plain done, with social. Social media is flashy. By its flashy nature, it is not intended to keep our attention. I’m surprised things like Instagram have had the longevity they have enjoyed. I mean, they have a place and can be fun and even useful at times, but I don’t think the place for social media is at the centerpiece of a full and actualized human life.

I took a little break from writing weekly because the previous two posts required a big effort to research and write. I’m using this post as a palette cleanse. I managed to read another 11 books this month. I was excited about a few in particular (noted below). If you’re keeping tabs, I've read 11 books per month this year with a running total of 66 books. Is that a humble brag? Maybe a little. Moreso, let this encourage you to get off social, turn off your screens, and embrace literature. For me, listening to audiobooks has made it possible to be an artist, athlete, entrepreneur, mom, and foreign-language student while maintaining a high volume of reading.

Jakes Quest For The Five Stones

By: Hanit Benbassat

This was not a great book. The thought behind the book was nice enough. The world-building was meager. The characterization was lacking. The sound design was distracting. There was absolutely NO nuance to the subject matter. I will have a little grace and say, it is a book meant for children so perhaps there is some benefit to being blunt. It felt terribly rushed. And that was all before I listened to the epilogue wherein the author tries to pass Atlantis off as having been a real place where people could manipulate energy and matter with the use of crystals 😩. I would recommend skipping this book entirely.

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Temple Grandin

By: Sy Montgomery

I learned some things about Temple Grandin. Her story is definitely interesting. I wanted to dig a little deeper into books exploring neurodiversity. I’m not sure I loved that this book was written by someone else about Temple. Temple has written books of her own so I think, in the future, if I decide to read about her in greater detail I will choose one of those. This book was a good jump off point for getting the basic understanding of who TG is and what she has done in her life to make her stand out. Not a waste of time but I wasn’t super pumped about it by the time I was done.

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The Mystickwick School of Musicraft

By: Jessica Koury

This was a good one! In fact, this is the second time Vor and I read this book. It definitely is giving Harry Potter vibes as far as the magical school is concerned but its it’s own book for sure. The characters deal with loss, failure and social dynamics. There are satisfying obstacles the main characters have to overcome. There’s an implied diversity to the cast of characters. There’s enough drama and resolution to be satisfying but there are some mysteries as yet unsolved so Vor and I both want another installment.

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The Doors of Eden

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

This book started as a mystery/disappearance novel. The scope then started to expand and bloom. The past ramped up significantly from the beginning to the middle. And before I knew it I was careening toward the end. There were no dull moments for me. I was happy to gain some insight into the author’s worldview. He incorporates vibrant and convincing LGBTQ main characters and takes some time to skewer bigotry in a way that is clearly pointed at real-world archetypes. If you enjoy Tchaikovsky’s other works of biological sci-fi or like the lore of cryptid-hunting and want a mind-bending twist, you will enjoy this book for sure.

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Camp Cacophony

By: Jessica Khoury

This book was released this month in the “included” catalog for Audible which is why we re-read The Mysticwick School of Musicraft. In the process of writing these reviews I discovered the sequel Vor and I were hoping for has been released as well. This is a prequel. It is a perfect little snack of a book. It is nice and consistent with the vibe of the original and is a nice way to get some more details on the life of our heroine. If you read and enjoy the first Mystwick book I recommend you check this out as well.

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The World’s Strongest Librarian

By: Josh Hanagarne

I liked this dude immediately. He is your ever-sensible, metal-loving, always-sardonic, frequently-irreverent dude-friend from high school or college. If you didn’t have one of those, I suggest you find the nearest middle-aged dude in a Black Flag shirt and interview them for the position immediately. Your life will be improved with laughs and refreshingly non-toxic masculinity.

I think we sometimes shy away from listening to neurodivergent or disabled people because of how painful it is to imagine ourselves on the receiving end of the social bullshit they often have to wade through. Furthermore, empathizing with the physicality of such things is not the easiest thing for able-bodied people in our culture. It takes a will to self-teach in order to gain the perspective and compassion to not suck at empathy in general and specifically for the aforementioned communities.

Books like this are important because they allow readers from all communities insights that, one hopes, will engender the kind of empathy discussed above. Its easy to follow Josh from a child to an adult. Its easy to envision him as your friend or brother. It is therefor less difficult to imagine the terror of feeling no control of your body. It is easy to envision yourself, as a parent, worried for the well-being your child who may have inherited one of your less-desirable traits.

This is a great, approachable and relatable read. File it under memoirs and definitely check it out at some point.

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Unspoken: A Memoir

By: Luke Daniels

I knew this book was going to rip my heart out. But I also fully trusted the author. Luke Daniels is the narrator of many of Vor and my favorite books. You can tell from the way he handles characterization and the subject matter he gravitates toward that he is a man that knows his way around a story - even a tragic and personal story like the loss of a small child.

I wasn’t wrong to trust him. I also wasn’t wrong about how heart-breaking this story is. Despite the utter tragedy of this story, Luke guides you through steadily and knowingly. He provides levity without making light. He takes pause for breath in the way only a consummate professional knows how to do.

I don’t even know the man personally but I’m proud of him. We need to share our humanity with one another. This book is a triumph to that end.

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Red Rising

By: Pierce Brown

My Gawd. I loved this. Not too long ago but before I started writing reviews, I read The Owner Trilogy by Neil Asher. I’m going to draw a couple similarities. Here they are: lots of action, sci-fi, space, very-masculine main character, a grudge against the ruling caste. One can also draw some similarities between this book and The Hunger Games. There are those on the internet that would have me feel basic for liking this book. I dunno, man. First of all, I’m listening to it and Tim Gerard Reynolds is a fucking boss of a narrator. He bodies the fuck out of this. Darrow veritably jumps out of the headphones and into real life the way this guy reads. For that alone, its a masterpiece. But I will take a moment to give some credit to Pierce Brown, too.

Hyper-masculine, though he is, Darrow is a complex character. Furthermore, the way in which his perspective his shared through Brown’s writing is nuanced. This is a first person narration but at times Darrow is unreliable. He is honest with himself in layers and thus, as the reader, you don’t get all of his intention up front. This style of writing keeps things interesting. I’ll also take a moment to acknowledge that I am an Aries moon and rising sign. I identify with Darrow - with his quick temper and aggression. I’ve tempered these traits of mine over the years and learned nuance but I would most certainly be in House Mars if I were in this book. So, there’s that.

Shout out to Shannon who recommended these books to me in 2017. I finally got around to them. This book is not without major losses from start to finish but the end was very satisfying. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

I have more thoughts that veer away from review and more toward speculation and philosophy. I love when a book sends my mind on tangents that get incorporated into my worldview.

RIYL the two series listed above and ASOIF but without the pomposity and 1000 POVs.

SIDENOTE: I almost always read things people recommend to me. Put them in the comments if you want to be my reading bestie.

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The Other Animals

By: Rachel Hamburg

The purpose behind this book is very cool. Again, this heads into the territory of mental health and neurodivergence. If you don’t like short-stories you might want to skip this one. That is not my preferred genre but this looked like one of the better offerings in the Audible “included” catalog so I decided to give it a go.

Some of the stories were better than others but they were all enjoyable to me. I will admit that the slightly morbid thread and animal themes tying all the stories together reminded me heavily of one of my friends (also a writer), Seth Meeks. Seth is one of the few people who revels in diction and will discuss word-choice with me ad nauseam. Something that reminds me of Seth is going to get high marks by default.

With Seth as my guiding beacon for this book the two stories that I liked the most are: Death and Company about a trio of vultures and Rectangles the story of a crow attempting to decipher the human ritual of burying rectangles in the ground.

If you enjoy breaking from run-of-the-mill perspectives you will likely find this book worth your time.

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Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire

By: John August

YEEEEEEES!!! Vor and I both LOVED this book. What great world building! This guy is a screen-writer and it shows. This book could easily be converted to screen. It is so easy to get wrapped up in this story. Arlo and the scouts are the perfect vehicle to teach life lessons to kids. I think Vor may be a little ahead of the game as far as listening comprehension goes since we have been doing reading and audiobooks in tandem for so long already but I would say the sweet spot is going to be readers/listeners from ages 7-10. And also 36-year-olds.

You get: encouragement to love nature, a push to find wonder in nature, guidelines for being a decent human being that are easy to discuss with young children, action, danger, magic and mystery.

A perfect kids’ adventure novel!

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Hyperion: Cantos #1

By: Dan Simmons

Fun fact: I get it from my mama! Yes, my mom has been reading sci-fi since the early 70s. She’s the first person to put a sci-fi book in my hand. She and I still regularly share book recs and reading lists. This be one of them! I can remember being freaked out by the cover of this book my entire childhood! I probably would never have read it for that fact but Matt picked it out and I love sharing reads with him so I went for it.

It was likened by one reviewer to the Canterbury Tales. Its not an obvious comparison but its there. Unsettling at times, the diversity of characterization that you get from one story-line to the next is impressive. The book is a vice, tightening slowly toward the inevitability of The Shrike.

Not my favorite by a long-shot but a worthwhile and well-written read. The story is not at all wrapped-up in the first book so I will refrain from further commentary until reading onward!

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May Book Drop

What If?

By: Randall Munroe

This was interesting but due to the nature of the content and its original format, it felt more like podcast material to me than book material. I appreciate the spirit of this book, however, and did find a lot of the information interesting, if not particularly useful. There were sections, based on my level of interest in the subject, that were less interesting than others. Overall it was entertaining. I read a great many books that are heavy-hitters and for that particular reason, I chose this entertaining read to break up the tone and pace of my reading list. I would not re-read this book but I am not mad that I invested my time to give a once-through.

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Dance Dance Dance

By: Haruki Murakami

WARNING: some spoilers if you have read or watched Burning.

My love affair with Murakami’s works remains unbroken. Dance Dance Dance was weird. It was uncanny. It was just the right amount of eery. It reminded me A LOT of a long-format Burning. The characters were rich. The pacing was steady, methodical, detailed. I find Murakami’s writing extremely inspiring. It shows you don’t have to have a story with fantastical leap after leap to create something unique, interesting and beautiful.

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Cthulu Casebooks #1

By: James Lovegrove

This was a really cool twist on Sherlock Holmes. But first, let’s deal with some unsavoriness. From wiki: “Reviewers have praised Lovegrove's use of Doyle's characters within a Lovecraftian conceit.” Due discussion is given, in the book’s intro, to the racist worldview of H.P. Lovecraft. I didn’t realize that was the literary style in which this book would be written. What I mean by that is, the author draws heavily from the occult themes popularized by Lovecraft in a re-telling of an otherwise classic Holmesian story. This is what I would consider to be an attempt to NOT throw out the baby with the bathwater, to NOT partake of cancel culture if you will. I just think you should know that ahead of time if you decide to read this book. I thought it was super fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the mysticism interwoven into the narrative style of Sherlock Holmes. Also some useful reviews on GoodReads. Hit the summary button below for more.

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The Fairies of Sunflower Grove

By: PJ Ryan

Ugh. I hate everything that PJ Ryan writes. They are, however, the perfect level for my 5 year old. He is such a champ and listens to and reads things far beyond his five years so I have to throw him a bone every once in a while. I cannot stand Gwedolyn Druyor’s narration. She choose the most infantile sounding voices and she is wildly inconsistent in her assumed accents. Its trite and annoying but for a kid its fun, I suppose. In fact it has almost a 5 star rating everywhere. Of Ryan’s catalog, we have listened to this, Rebecca Girl Detective, RJ Boy Detective and the one where everyone teams up. Anyway, they’re all pretty bad as an adult though they are great for emerging readers. RJ is the best. Rebecca was insufferable. The Faires are totally saccharine. You were forewarned.

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The Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down

By: Haemin Sunim

While the content of this book was valuable, I didn't particularly enjoy the format. Does this mean I’m a picky bitch about books? Yes. I definitely have my opinions. This is a book that was created by transferring tweets to page. Some of the longer tweets that spiraled into narrative were good for listening. The shorter ones were a little disjointed feeling. I do think that a written version of this work would be good for those who like a mindful jump-off point for journaling. I chose this book as a “book to listen to while dozing off.” For that purpose, it really was perfect. Since there wasn’t a narrative, it was easy to double back and re-listen to parts I fell asleep to. It took a little longer to make it through than a fully wakeful listening but as far as subject matter and narration go, it filled its role in my library well.

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My Grandmother’s Hands

By: Resmaa Menakem

A great book overall. In short, its about race and trauma with equal emphasis placed on both. I have specific categories of people I think this would be best suited for if I had to prioritize. IMO this book should be a priority for white people who are stepping into social justice and who find themselves uncomfortable with other writer’s tone toward white people (perceived or real). This is the first book I’ve read that does a good job at kindly walking white people through their own historical trauma. Resmaa lays out how simply being white perpetuates systemic racism but he does so in a way that feels devoid of judgement. It also coaches the reader (white) on how to recognize and de-escalate the sometimes knee-jerk push-back to being confronted about white-body privilege. For example, I requested a family member read The New Jim Crow. They made it through and gained a lot from the read but felt very attacked throughout. Had they read this book first, I think they would have been much better equipped for The New Jim Crow.

IMO this book is a less academic (on purpose) handling of the same info metered out by The Body Keeps The Score. There are fewer (at least for white readers) anecdotes that are the same level of triggering as TBKTS. There is also immediate incorporation of the body-work into the writing so you have tools to use while reading. I will say, there is one moment where the author used a hypothetical to elicit a response from the reader and he totally freaking got me. As a reader, you are warned, goaded, cajoled, coached and implored time and again to stop and do the practices laid out by Resmaa. And about 3/4 of the way through he put a scenario out there so infuriating and personally significant to me, that I had a very strong visceral reaction. Immediately after he writes - now stop and do the practices we have been talking about. And I did. Almost immediately after settling myself down, I realized how brilliantly he got me to do the work. I was deeply impressed. This book covers a lot of the same ground as TBKTS but in a totally different way.

There are whole chunks of this book intended to deal with trauma for Black and POC people as well as whole portions devoted to “The Police” as a body and the trauma they endure. I found both of those sections unique and insight-giving. While there are some people who I think would gain more from bumping this up the reading list before other reads, this book is a must for pretty much everyone.

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My Dyslexia

By: Philip Schultz

Insightful, poignant, beautifully written once it gets going. This is not my first read about Dyslexia. It probably won’t be my last. What I’ve read in the last was at the intersection of clinical and anecdotal. This book is narrative, poetic and personal. I have quite a few neurodivergent people in my life. You probably do too, it’s not uncommon just not talked about enough. Books like this feel important to me for the sake of learning to be compassionate. If you want to be able to rise above being an asshole to people accidentally, you have to self-teach. We do not live in a society where “non-normative” experiences are culturally mainstreamed let alone championed. Additionally, My Dyslexia functions as a historical primer on Dyslexia and its clinical arc over the last 70 or so years. The author, Phillip Schultz, came up in the 50s and 60s. Some of what he experienced hasn’t changed much, some things are very different. Again, not information you’re likely to know about unless it touches you directly or unless you go out of your way to seek it out. A good, short read.

Noteworthy: This book is only rated a 3.75 on GoodReads. I would rate it higher, a hair over 4. It seems like most of the negative reviews are from people wanting instructions to follow for how Schultz overcame his dyslexia. That seems unfair to me. Everyone’s path is different and this book never claims to be self-help. Its self reflexive and poetic. Insights are there for those who can pick up on nuance. I don’t think this is a book to read if you have an agenda.

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The Princess and the Goblin

By: George MacDonald

High falootin language. This was not a modern re-telling so the English was a bit difficult for Vor to follow. It wasn’t impossible nor did he completely miss the narrative arc, it just required more stopping and making sure that he was paying attention, asking questions and explaining than what we are used to. I remember reading this as a kid but I’m not sure at what age. It is definitely good - whimsical, sweet, suspenseful - it did the work. I would recommend finding a modernized version for young readers. For the slightly older crowd, I suggest undertaking a hard-copy read so as to facilitate the absorption of narrative, vocabulary and formal linguistic stylings. Also, I knew this was an old book but damn, it was written in 1872. Does put some perspective on it.

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Gulliver’s Travels

By: Jonathan Swift

More of the same as The Princess and The Goblin, really. Also, it’s not written for children. I totally read it as a kid - probably at eight or so years old, Re-reading along with a child, it’s clear that the voice is as an adult to an adult even though the subject matter is fun and imaginative. Le sigh. Good ol’ Vor hung in there nonetheless. Poor thing. Those two older stories really stretched his listening skills. Neither kept his attention very well. Read them if you like, probably skip them for the beginning readers.

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The Vor Game

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Fun! From what I can tell there’s a whole series. Choosing not to get mired down in it currently but I look forward to doing so in the future. Yes, you read the name correctly and yes they are a woman! A woman Sci-Fi author. But Carlina what about Le Guin or Jemisen etc? Great authors, misgenred imo. Those works are Fantasy with a sprinkling of or thread or two of science. McMaster-Bujold’s entire universe hinges on knowing enough about space that you can create an entire universe that abides by its rules. Now, before I get ahead of myself, she demonstrates that she knows enough but this is still not hard sci-if. It’s more like an underdog story inside of an empire-building story with a solid coat of sci-fi paint. Also, if you’re looking for a feminine touch, look elsewhere. My closest comparison here would be John Scalzi. If you like his Collapsing Empire books these will be right up your alley. Returning now to the things I liked: great characters and character development, so many twists and turns, a believable Universe, quick-witted and sometimes acerbic dialog. Thoroughly enjoyable as should anything be that bears my son’s name.

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The Claw

By: Patrick Carman

And-a-strike. I managed to pick three books in a row for Vor that just weren’t it. This books was fun for me but a little too scary/suspenseful for him. At the point of choosing this book, I was scraping the bottom of the barrel of children’s books included in my Audible subscription. Thankfully, they have updated offerings for June. Anyhow, RIYL RL Stine’s Goosebumps. This is a serialized offering. It read like a collection of short Goosebumps stories. Fast and fun with a spoooooky narrator and sidekick. It could also be compared to Tales from the Crypt!

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April book drop

The Kingdom of Copper

By: SA Chakraborty

Wow. The last quarter of the book is teeeeeeense. And there is no resolution. It ends in the middle of a huge cliff. Thankfully, I was able to go right on to the next one. As middle books in a trilogy goes, this was well done. Enough happened to feel like the action warranted dividing into three parts - this is being written from the perspective of having also finished the third book just a few weeks later. I’ll expand my review of the series in that break-down.

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Tales of Beatrix Potter

By: Beatrix Potter

I find it a little off-putting to anthropomorphize animals and then to have them eating each other. For that reason these stories never really sit well with me. It feels like low-key cannibalism. For such well-beloved children’s stories I found them really rather grotesque. Just me? Vor seemed to enjoy them. Maybe there just weren’t that many books/children’s books back in the day and that is how this book gained such reknown but I didn’t find them endearing or loveable or really at all valuable in terms of teaching lessons even. Pass.

Note: The works in this book are presented in a lot of other books with similar names. This is the exact version I read.

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Goodbye, Things

By: Fumio Sasaki

I really loved it. I’ve been minimal for years yet I still found this book both inspiring and useful. An ironic note, the list of tips for going minimal is NOT a minimal list.

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The Goose Girl

By: Shannon Hale

I started listening to this with Vor and it was clear there was an impending dark turn. He wasn’t fully into the story anyway, so we paused and I finished on my own. My intuition was correct, there is a dark turn. It was not as insidious as I had feared, however. In the end this has a big character arc for the heroine and feels like a good read for the tween group. There are sequels. I probably will end up reading them eventually.

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Peter Pan

By: JM Barrie

This was an Audible Original adaptation. It was very engaging for Vor but a far cry from staying true to canon. I feel like the title is misleading and should have been billed as being “based-on.” You know the story of Peter Pan. No need to elaborate.

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Coyote America

By: Dan Flores

An unexpectedly interesting book. There was a depth and nuance to the information offered so that I never felt bored despite the deep dive into a specific subject matter. Narrative works well as a literary device to help the reader/listener stay invested in the overall arc of the book. Another free offering for Audible subscribers.

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For White Folks Who Teach In The Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too

By Christopher Emdin

Damn. This book delivered. I think one of the biggest pitfalls of the social justice genre is that they are essentially self-help books for white people. It gets pretty repetitive. Especially, if you have read Bell Hooks, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, etc etc to whom newcomers writing in this genre often can’t hold a candle. Their contributions are welcome but often come off as basic for people who have been invested in “doing the work,” for a long time. This however, phew. Is it narrative? Yes. Is it pointed? Yes. Is it also broadly applicable? Yup! Not only is this a critique of and solutions for white teachers entering into POC spaces, it is a brutal commentary on the epic failings of our education system. BUT! The thing is solutions exist. They are also deftly laid out in this book. Highly recommend.

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What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

By: Haruki Murakami

How does he do it? How did he write a book about a hobby/sport I have next to no interest/involvement in and make it interesting? He has a way about examining the minutae that gives his writing a perpetually fresh, familiar feeling. I just finished another Murakami book and it was no less detailed about no less mundane things yet it was still engrossing. This book is not quite so standard in the author’s style in that, there is always some central crux-point for his narrative works. And around that point Murakami weaves exquisite insights into mundanity/the human experience. Here its just - running. Running and life. Life and Running. A beautiful meander through the mind of a truly gifted writer and apparent multi-sport athlete. I Stan.

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Midsummer’s Mayhem

By: Rajani LaRocca

The woman POC author I was looking for when I was duped by SA Chakraborty. JK, kinda. This was GREAT! I chose this book as a Mama-Vor book and it didn’t disappoint. The constant calls to A Midsummer Night’s Dream are of course lost on a 5-year-old but as I was hoping, the story was alive and substantive without any Shakespearian background. There’s magic, fae and BAKING! The author clearly knows her stuff. I think I can safely say, if you enjoy The Great British Baking Show you will enjoy this book. There are even recipes at the end! I enjoyed every bit of this scrumptious story (read it to get the inside joke).

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Who We Are and How We Got Here

By: David Reich

A book about genetics. I found the first part of this book SOOOO boring. There was a lot of science info unanchored by meaningful real-world discussion or narrative. I think that was its failing. I was not in the right mindset to take it all in. Its one of those books I wish I had a hard copy of and would read slowly making annotations on the side. But in all honesty, I doubt I would have had the patience to make it to the last third. The last third of this book was great. It was everything it promised to be and didn’t deliver on in the first 2/3. The last bit of the book really dives into the current sociological and philosophical war that is going on in the field of genetics. I will let the author speak for himself on this as I found his writing to be profound.

“It is now undeniable that there are non-trivial average genetic differences across populations in multiple traits and the “race” vocabulary is too ill defined and too loaded with historical baggage to be helpful. If we continue to use it, we will not be able to escape the current debate which is mired in an argument between two indefensible positions. On the one side, there are beliefs about the nature of the differences that are grounded in bigotry and have little basis in reality. On the other side, there is the idea that any biological differences between populations are so modest that, as a matter of social policy, they can be ignored and papered over. It is time to move on from this paralyzing false dichotomy and to figure out what the genome is actually telling us.”

I’m impressed with Reich’s boldness and willingness to put himself in an unwinnable position. He is making friends on neither side of the aisle here and instead seems to really hold his idealistic ground. I find that admirable and impressive. Aside from the style/pacing of the book, my other critique is that author somewhat minces words on the topic of male genetic dominance. when one society takes over another men sexually assault and rape women, a fact that is never stated forthcomingly. I found that he was being realistic but way too kind in the way he was painting the picture.

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The Empire of Gold

By: SA Chakraborty

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Ok, now that is out of the way. This is your last chance. I’m going in and I’m not holding back. You were warned.

GAAAAH. They did Dara so dirty!!! There is a little redemption for him at the end but the whole time I was just gritting my teeth at Ali and Nahri’s hypocrisy. Did Ali grow on me? Yes. Did I overall really like Nahri? Yes. But they still both pissed me TF off. Dara is hands down a tragic figure for the ages. By the way, I’m not structuring my thoughts on this trilogy because most of it is just me emoting and there’s no reason behind it.

Jamshid and Muntadir! Love. Would have really liked to have more Zaynb in the series. She was amazing. Queen Hatset also amazing. Sobek - such a cool concept. End of the day I want so much more from this world. I want to follow Dara to the ends of the Earth. I want to circle back to Ali and Nahri’s descendants and see how they interface with Dara and the slave rings. I want to know more about the Peri. There’s endless material here.

Surprises that made me happy: Nahri’s grandpa. I straight up did not see that coming. It was a great way to end on a positive note where so much else was tinged with sadness. Speaking of - Dara riding off into the sunset to gather slave rings and free the enslaved Djinn. It was the mature thing to do and so I begrudging accept it. Did I want he and Nahri to end up together? 100,000%. But in all honesty, they are both damaged goods and their love, though real, was also a tangle of trauma bonds. And he needed to go heal and she didn’t need to save him. Its a RuPaul moment. If Dara can’t love himself…

Final thoughts. Still angry the author is white. It means some POC writer somewhere who also could have written and published this story was displaced. I’m obsessed with this world and excited to see it come to screen on Netflix. There is SOOOO much room to cast this with actors who cover a wide range of skin tones and ethnicities. I’m am hoping desperately that they don’t white-wash everyone. Ugh. pleeeeease let them get it right!! I want more books. I would love to see Chakraborty team up with an actual author of color to flesh out some of the stories that are begging to be told. Overall I fell in love with this trilogy. And was happy to spend the 60+ hours of listening to see it through to the end.

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March Books

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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