If it weren’t for two super great reads, I would have said this is an average/not great week. But two super good reads in a week is pretty excellent.  Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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Tangle’s Game (2.5 stars): As someone who has a history in both finance and tech, I was excited to read this book. I wasn’t exactly sure what the plot would be but I thought it had potential.

I am loath to say anything bad about a book because I know a ton of effort goes into writing a book and it’s a huge accomplishment. This book has an interesting story line and I liked the last 15% more than the rest of the book. For someone who’s looking for an interesting, plot-driven story, it might just be the thing.

For me, there were several things that made the book less than ideal. The beginning of the book dragged quite a bit longer than I would have liked. It took a long time for the reader to find what was in the drive and what this whole thing was about. This would have been interesting in a character-driven story but in a story that was mostly about the plot, it made me impatient and frustrated. Some of the details of this future world were interesting to me but I felt the author didn’t give me the depth I would have liked. The characters were reasonably under-developed with possibly the exception of the main character. Even Ichi did a lot of telling of her backstory as opposed to feeling like a 3-dimensional character for me. Most of them didn’t change or grow much (except Amanda) so it just fell flat for me.

What ended up being the most frustrating part for me was the lectures the women gave each other (and the men) about how hard it was being a woman (or being biracial). It felt super didactic and super condescending. As a woman, I felt offended and annoyed. As a reader, I felt like the characters were taking a pause in the middle of the plot to lecture each other. It just really didn’t fit at all. There were several other political commentary sections that felt the same way. Like the author was lecturing through the characters. It bothered me enough that I almost put the book down.

I don’t want to give away the interesting parts of the plot but I did enjoy Tatsu and found the plot around Tatsu to be interesting and enjoyable. I think this story would have been more enjoyable without some of the extra commentary, especially if you enjoy plot-driven stories.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

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The Secret of Clouds (3 stars):  I saw this book in my library and the cover looked so beautiful that I wanted to read it. I knew nothing about the book and had never heard of the author.

This book is about a teacher who is tutoring a sick boy and through her relationship with him, her perspective (and then life) changes. It’s a good book but it’s not a book that will stay with me. It’s more in the sweet, little story category. It felt more plot, less character development and those books are usually not my favorite.

If you want a sweet, easy-to-read book that’s touching, this is not a bad pick.

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Be Angry (3 stars): I’ve never read a book that contained the wisdom of the Dalai Lama that didn’t teach me something important. This was no exception. This book was a bit disjointed and that made it hard to keep up with but the wisdom, the teachings, the thought-provoking perspective is all there.

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Being Creative (3 stars): I like the message this book is imparting. That creative is something you are. It’s inside you. The book is broken into 5 sections, each with 4 ideas around how to get you more and more into the creative mindset and to unlock the creativity within you.

The first section really resonated with me, the idea of beginner’s mind, starting small and reducing the size, and even consistency. I have done all of these in my own work and they do work like magic. I love the sentiment that “we don’t push the difficulty away. we don’t put it off until tomorrow. We stay with it now – with all the terror it induces.”

I also liked some of the new-to-me ideas like “internal camera” and “prepared piano.” There are other ideas that I don’t use regularly but make sense tome like making small changes daily, like your first thought being your best one, like not theorizing.

I also loved this: “Remind yourself each day that you have some responsibility for your creativity. You can change things.”

At its core, this book comes with this message: “Abandon the illusion of creativity. Instead, address what’s there….Be free of the mess.”

I love the ideas in this book.

Here’s where it fell a bit short for me: The format of the book was hard for me to get into, I felt like there was a lot of repetition, the chapters were too short, not enough details for the ideas and not enough solid examples. It was a bit too abstract at parts where I wasn’t sure I understood what he was saying fully. I could have used a bit more depth.

At the end of each section, there’s a “further learning” section which is full of things to read, listen, study and visit. They are delightful and wide-ranging and add so much depth to this book. I loved reading each of them and I can’t wait to dive into many of them.

On the whole, I am glad I read this book and I feel energized to keep creating and to heed the reminder to “stay with yourself as the only source of creativity – it’s not out there but inside you. You are the receptacle of all things creative.”

How can one not be inspired by that?

i received an advanced copy of this in return for an honest review. thank you to netgalley and the publisher.

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Shout (4.5 stars):  I wanted to read this from the moment I heard it was coming out. If you’ve read any of her previous novels, you know Laurie Halse Anderson is a powerful writer and this memoir in verse is no exception. It’s powerful writing at its best.

too many grown-ups tell kids to follow
their dreams
like that’s going to get them somewhere
Auntie Laurie says follow your nightmares instead
cuz when you figure out what’s eating you
you can slay it

if you have never read LHE, there are a lot of trigger warnings to be had with this book, so please be careful before you pick it up. I am grateful for people who tell their story and for people who tell their truth. We need so many more books like these.

Beautiful, deep, heart-wrenching, and truth telling. Thank you, Laurie Halse Anderson.

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A Woman is No Man (4.5 stars):  I have so many thoughts about this book. I was very much looking forward to reading this book even though I didn’t know too much about it. The most consistent thing I’d heard about it was that it was harrowing. So I braced myself as I started reading it and I will say that I think knowing there was going to be devastating parts of the book really helped me so I wanted to make sure to pass this on in case in helps other readers too.

This book is about three generations of Palestinian women living in America (Brooklyn, NY.) The mother-in-law, the bride, and the daughter of the bride is how I think of it in my head. Each of their stories is raw, honest, and has heartbreaking parts. Each, in their own way, highlights the difficulties of growing up as a woman in this very patriarchal society/community.

There is a lot that happens in this book, and since I grew up in Turkey so much of this rang close to home for me. I heard so many of the same messages around a woman’s worth when I grew up (even though I am not Muslim.)

Each of these women’s stories makes you feel deep sadness. How they had to sacrifice their soul and identity to exist. How they had to endure. And how they just passed this on from generation to generation (that’s the part that made me both angriest and saddest. that it’s not just the men who do this but the women do it to each other.)

This novel doesn’t hold back. It’s not sensationalist, it’s not trying to be loud, it’s not trying to preach, it’s not trying to do anything but tell the truth. A terrible, sad truth.

I will also say this novel is compulsively readable. It’s well written, the characters are deeply developed and you feel for each character, even the ones doing horrible things. You can feel each person’s brokenness. The author did a terrific job.

We need more books like this. We need to tell our stories. We need to speak our truths. To me, it’s one of the best gifts of books, that I get to learn about others’ truths. I get to relate. I get to feel empathy. I get to care. It helps connect us and make each of us feel less alone. I am grateful for those who choose to be brave and who choose to tell their stories.

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Riots I Have Known (2.5 stars):  I wasn’t even sure how to rate this book. I requested this book because it sounded intriguing and it sounded like it would be funny but also thought provoking. “Smart, wry, and laugh-out-loud funny” said the reviews. In retrospect, I should have known better than to attempt a book on satire. Satire, sarcasm, and dark humor are not my thing. I like heavy/serious books, I like light/funny books, I like a very wide range of novels but I have historically never been a fan of satire. It feels off to me. If you have a point to make, make it. Don’t make it in a way that’s belittling and underhanded.

I know this is a point of view and completely my opinion. I also know that it’s hard work to write a novel so I am going to do my best to make sure this review is not colored by my anti-satire bias as much as possible.

This is an interesting story by a Sri Lankan prison mate during a riot. He is locked in the media room in the jail and narrating the events of his life. It’s mostly written in a stream of consciousness style and it weaves in and out of present day and is set against the backdrop of this big riot so there’s a lot of rhythm to the story. For me, this style made the story hard to follow and I kept losing my focus. But it also added a layer of both urgency and a bit of deliriousness into the story which I felt viscerally.

Despite my dislike of satire, there were parts of this book that were just laugh out loud funny, even for me. I couldn’t help myself. I shared some of them with my 14-year-old who also thought it was hilarious. There are many, many mentions of our daily lives and twitter, and kickstarter and things that are both obnoxious and so true. And while it’s exaggerated of course, it never veers so of course to be unbelievable. Sadly, for our society, most of this crazy was still in the plausible range which is what made it so much more funny.

If satire is your thing, and you do not shy away from stream of consciousness novels, I am confident this will be a winner for you. It might even be one of your favorite novels of 2019.

I received an advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

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The Perfect Liar (3 stars):  I was tired yesterday and in a mood where no book felt appealing. All the books I was looking forward to reading felt heavy, complicated, too much. I don’t know if I am the only one who has days like that. Anyhow, when I saw this on my list I decided it would be just the thing.

And it was.

It’s a simple mystery novel. Not trying to be all twisty and turny and shock the reader though it has some twists and turns but none of them are super unpredictable in my opinion and, for me, this kept the book more fun and enjoyable.

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By Invitation Only (3 stars):  I was feeling in a slump and wanted to read something light and fun and this book was due back at the library in 3 days so I decided it was time to tackle it. Just as I had hoped, it was totally able to take me out of my slump. It’s light, sweet, and funny in parts. I don’t think much of it will stay with me but I still enjoyed it while I read it. Sometimes that’s all I need from a book and I am grateful to be able to be sure I will find it.

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And there we go, a good week of reading. Here’s to another good week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

Another solid reading week this week and quite a variety.  Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.

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The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper (3.5 stars): This sweet book is about an older man who discovers a charm bracelet that his deceased wife owned (that he knew nothing about.) This discovery starts a journey for him to find out the story of each charm and through those, bits and pieces of his wife’s life before him, and through that journey him examining the bits and pieces of who he is and reconnecting with the people around him.

It’s a lovely story with touching bits, real-life bits, and covers some serious topics alongside some very funny moments. It was the perfect read for a long and arduous week.

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Wingspan (3 stars):  This is a very short play that takes place during a transatlantic flight to London. There are two flight attendants, one veteran and one for whom this is the first transatlantic flight. The latter is also afraid of flying. We get to hear their conversation as the plane takes off and endures several bouts of turbulence.

I don’t want to describe much of the plot because it’s so short that there’s no way to tell it without really giving it away. I will say I was surprised at the content compared to what the blurb says and if you’re easily triggered, it might be sensitive. There isn’t much detail and the conversation stays reasonably on the surface, which I found to be so unlike Chris Bohjalian’s usual style. What I usually like about his books is how deep they are willing to go into emotional impacts of the consequences of his characters’ choices/lives.

I’m still thinking about it, pondering what the author was trying to tell with this particular story. And a story that stays with you is always a good story for me.

[i received an arc of this in exchange for an honest review.]

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The Unhoneymooners (4 stars):  I have read several of Christina Lauren‘s standalone books in the last few years (as a side note, was i the last person on earth who didn’t know this is two people and not one?! How super awesome is that?!) Ok back to the book, I’ve read and enjoyed several of their books so I was looking forward to digging into this one.

And it charmed me from page two. The characters, the dialogue, the scenes in this book are funny, touching, vivid and joyful. It’s the kind of book that effortlessly transports you into a little world the authors have created and keeps you in this lovely cocoon that you don’t want to leave.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book and laughed out loud quite a few times. I loved that some parts were predictable and others not as much. This book delivered what I’ve come to expect from the authors and what I’ve come to love about them, too. For me, these are the best kind of romance books because they don’t feel fluffy and cookie-cutter. I grow to care for the characters, they are not two dimensional or thrown in there for the sake of plot. Maybe Dane is the only one where I would have liked to see a bit more balance because most of us are many layers but in this case it didn’t bother me.

I expected this book to be a lot of fun and it delivered on that 100%.

Thank you to netgalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Brave Love (4 stars): I read this book without stopping. I’ve known Lisa Leonard and her jewelry for quite some time. Back in 2008, she designed a beautiful piece of jewelry for a creative site I used to host. I only talked to her online briefly and she was very kind and generous. I’ve also bought quite a few of her necklaces. But it had been almost ten years since I’ve followed her career since then. Kids, life, work got in the way.

When I saw she had a book out, I was excited to read because I knew it would likely be touching and true as most of her jewelry feels to me. It was all that and more. The book starts honest and real but gets deeper and more raw and more truth telling with her kind and gentle and loving tone.

Lisa is excellent at putting words around the struggles of finding oneself after we’ve regularly made the choice to give up who we are to serve others around us. So much of her book, her thoughts, her struggles resonated with me. So much of what she wrote are reminders I will have to repeat daily so I can remove some of the tapes in my own head so I can take up space and have my very own red bowl.

Thank you Lisa, for your honesty and reminder that we all deserve love. May we all love bravely.

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Girl, Stop Apologizing (3 stars):  I have lots of mixed feelings about this book.

On the one hand, parts of this book speak to me and the part of me that likes to get things done. I am inspired by Rachel Hollis’s determination and bottomless drive and energy to reach her goals. She worked hard, she had big goals, and she achieved many of them. I don’t think that’s deniable. I think if this book was a memoir, I could read all of it as a path that worked for her and a path that is inspiring for others, too.

But where it gets a bit stickier for me is that this is a book to help others how to achieve their goals. And it’s supposed to be shame-free and yet, there are some very specific recommendations she makes. Not to figure out what works for you but to do what she tells you to do. Every single story is about her life experience. The path she walked. The choices that worked for her. So if you’ve done this and it doesn’t work for you, or if, for whatever reason you can’t/won’t do it, then what? There isn’t enough variety or research here that can help adapt some of these ideas.

I also know it can be a lose-lose situation where if she doesn’t make specific recommendations, the readers will say “there’s nothing tangible here” but then when she recommends something, there’s the potential that her recommendation only works for a segment of people.

So I did what I always do with these books: I took what works for me, and left the rest. There are parts of her story I don’t connect with at all and parts of it that resonate with me. Some of her ideas inspired me. Some of her story made me want to get up and write my own story. I took those parts and let them really excite me. (And I ignored the rest.)

There’s no one advice book out there that works for me. This book has lots of ideas from people I’ve already read and sometimes hearing it again helped and at other times it felt repetitive. That’s ok, I am not looking for a 100% here. I am looking for something small, something that inspires me even if just a little bit.

On that note, for me, this book delivered.

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Daisy Jones and the Six (4.5 stars):  This book had so much marketing that I approached it with a lot of trepidation. I am a firm believer that expectations built around a book impacts your experience with it. While I had read and liked Taylor Jenkins Reid‘s previous book, I didn’t understand why there was so much hype around this new one. Her writing is good, her story telling is strong and her characters are generally interesting and well developed but I still wasn’t sure if a book could live up to the amount of hype that seemed to surround this one.

I listened to this on audio and almost immediately felt captivated by the story. I will say that I am not one of those people who is into bands. I didn’t have any posters on my walls as a kid. I like music but I don’t spend too much time thinking about the musicians themselves. So I wasn’t even sure if this story would be appealing.

But it was. Because while this book is about music and musicians, it’s about so much more. It’s about connection, love, striving, addiction, family, what it means to give second (and third and fourth) chances, what it means to let people down. It’s about dreams and having them come true and feeling empty anyway. Just like her previous book, it’s about the journey the characters are taking and the thing that’s wonderful about her books is that the characters grow, learn, do better. They also fail, falter and are just imperfect.

I did end up loving this book. It was different, well-told, interesting and I felt connected to many of the characters even if I shared values with almost none of them. When you have characters so different from me and yet I can care about them so much, I feel like you’ve done a fantastic job as an author.

I will say that I still don’t know if all the hype is deserved. This is a good book. It’s not the best book I’ve read. Not even the best book I’ve read this year. But it’s a really good book. And I am really glad I read it.

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Factfulness (4 stars):  This book is a fascinating read.

At a high level, it’s very accessible and easy to read. When I first started reading the book, it quickly shifted my perspective of my understanding of the world and helped me realize how off I was (which is pretty much the point of the book since he spends much of the book repeating how most people, just like me, have an incorrect view of the world.)

The rest of the book is highlighting the different ways in which we make assumptions/mistakes that cause this disparity between truth and our knowledge.

There are a lot of interesting and valuable insights and anecdotes in this book. There’s a section where he highlights how the sizes of monuments in Vietnam put things in proportion. Wars with China lasted on and off for 2000 years vs the French occupation which was 200 years vs Vietnam War (which they call “resistance war against america”) lasted 20. This reminded me how we each hold such engrained perspectives that we often don’t even realize it’s a perspective and assume it’s the “truth.” There’s also a story around a company that was able to charge a low price for a bid (lower than raw materials) because they (instead of being a scam) actually came up with an innovative approach. That story really stuck with me as well (in this case it was about generalizing due to the innovative company being “pharma”.)

I don’t think this is the perfect book, there are details it’s defining and there are cases of repetition that makes you roll your eyes. But, what it does accomplish is make you take a big step back and revisit your perspective of the world. It helps remind you that things are moving in a positive direction. It helps remind you that you should seek data from its source. That you should not assume things. It gives specific examples of pitfalls to avoid.

All of this is tangibly helpful. It spurred a lot of discussion in my household and helped me revisit a lot of my thinking. Any book that does that is a win.

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The Cassandra (2 stars):  I was so looking forward to reading this book. I will openly admit to not knowing very much about the Cassandra myth except for the very basics about her having visions and about people not believing her. I didn’t even know the myth has a brutal rape in it, if I did I might have not chosen to read the book.

Nonetheless, taking that concept to working in a Research Center in the 1940s in what ends up being the atom bomb sounded very interesting.

And yet.

I feel the author did not much with it. The beginning was compulsively readable but each of the characters were pretty much 2 dimensional and there to serve a purpose. They never grew/learned/changed. The story got darker and darker and the main character became harder and harder to connect with (for me.)

By the end, I didn’t much care and couldn’t get myself to invest in the ending. What a missed opportunity.

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The River (4 stars):  I am a big fan of Peter Heller. I’ve read The Dog Stars, The Painter, Celine and have loved all of them. There’s a big range and variety in subject matter amongst his books but at the core of each of these, for me, is his ability to write beautiful descriptions and the depth of his characters.

This book is no exception. The descriptions of nature, especially in the first part are beautiful. Even later with the fire, he is so good at putting words into details and the feeling those details inspire.

But the best part of any novel, for me, is always the characters. I love 3-dimensional, deep, complicated characters with back stories and Peter Heller never disappoints when it comes to that. The two main characters at the heart of this novel are unique, well-developed and characters I’m thinking about long after I am done.

I am really glad I discovered this author and I am looking forward to reading more of his beautiful novels.

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And there we go, a week of reading. Here’s to another good week next week.

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Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.