Friday, December 31, 2021

December Reading Wrap Up

Looks like I didn't get much (any) blogging done during December. Which I suppose makes sense given how busy the month is generally and also the fact that I rarely manage to blog at all anymore. I'm still keeping at it but just, trends show this isn't going to get better anytime soon.

December was a good month. Cookies were baked. Trees were decorated. Gifts were exchanged. All in all I think things were a success and I'm sad to be taking the decorations down, though happy to be gaining the space back. 

I'll do a full year end wrap up but let's look at those sweet, sweet December stats.

Number of books read
6
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manasala
The Big Four by Agatha Christie
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

Number of pages read
2,098
The most pages in one month through the year. Instead of thinking up blog posts I was just listening to books.

Fiction
67%

Female authors
83%

BIPOC authors
33%

US authors
50%

Book format
audiobook - 100%

Where'd I get the book
library - 100%

Rereads
17%

Decade published
1920s - 17%
1970s - 17%
2010s - 33%
2020s - 33%

Resolution Books
83%
Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson and the 2 Agatha Christie books are by UK authors
When No One is Watching is by Alyssa Cole, a Black author
Arsenic and Adobo is by Mia P. Manasala, a Filipino author

Let's see what 2022 brings (reading wise anyway. I want to walk very carefully and quietly into the new year)

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

November Reading Wrap Up

November has come and gone and as with every month, it happened so fast. Holidays certainly make things seem like they go faster. So much planning for the moment. Hope those that celebrate had a happy Thanksgiving with minimal familial stress. Ours was good if busy and I would be fine with a vacation from the vacation.

Good food was eaten, Christmas decorations were put up and we even got to see some dinosaur bones. Last time we were at The Museum of Natural History was November 2019 so seemed like a nice opportunity to go again this year, even if toddlers can only pay attention for so long, even if it's something they want to see
But hey, let's check out some stats

Number of books read
4
The Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette
Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Number of pages read
1,354
Only 10 pages more than last month, when I also read 4 books. And apparently all books are about the same length
(Longest book between Oct & Nov was 375. Shortest 304. Average 337. Because I know you were on the edge of your seat wondering about that)

Fiction
100%

Female authors
100%

BIPOC authors
25%

US authors
75%

Book format
audiobook - 100%

Where'd I get the book
library - 100%

Book club books
25%

Decade published
1940s - 25%
1960s - 25%
2020s - 50%

Resolution books
75%
A Deadly Inside Scoop is by a Black author, Abby Collette
Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie was published before 2000 AND is by a non-US author
The Left Hand of Darkness was also published before 2000

Not bad BUT could be better. As always. Let's see what December brings though fair warning, I will probably focus more on comfort and quick reads because December feels like it's going to be a very busy month. Also I would very much like to get to 52 books by the end of the year and I'm close! 

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

2020 Mini Reviews - January 2020

I am getting to some 2020 mini reviews and it's still 2021! I'm within a calendar year in these reviews. Are you impressed? I am. I mean, that's not going to last very long but it's something for now.

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie 
Read January 2020
It's a Poirot mystery. That's basically all I remember. As a matter of fact, I was just looking it up and realized originally I had the title wrong. I had it written as Mrs. McGinty's Murder. So I didn't remember enough to get the title right. I was trying to read some summaries and none of these sound familiar either. I'm not going to worry too much and just say it's a Poirot mystery so it was probably pretty fun and you knew what you were getting and it not being super memorable isn't a huge fault. 

White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A. Hagerman
Read January 2020
Here's another one I don't really remember. I remember the cover and that it was a book I found when I was browsing through the library app available books. It's basically a book of how white children learn about race in a country where white people really don't talk about race much but race is obviously a big and important topic. And how when race isn't talked about explicitly there are lots of implicit lessons being learned and maybe we should pay more attention and take more control of that? 

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
Read January 2020
You know I love a Bryson book. And hey, here's a book I actually remember. It's Bryson writing about the body. It's funny, you learn something, and who doesn't want to learn more about this meat sack we're carrying around? Or that's carrying us around? Anyway, I loved it, I loved Bryson's enthusiasm for what the body does and how we learned what we learned and that enthusiasm is infectious. I kinda want to read it again even though I think I've already read it twice in less than 2 years. And he reads this one so that's fun too.

Tanica Jones by Matt Boren
Read January 2020
This one I have some vague memories of. It was an Audible Original, one of those free items they used to give away every month. A story about a woman (Tanica Jones) who finds her identity is stolen by some other lady. This isn't in a thriller-y way. Tanica is working to launch a lifestyle brand and is VERY proud of her name when she finds out some other lady is making herself famous off of this name. This will not stand. The book/short story was performed by Retta (from Parks & Rec) and consider her character from there if you want an idea of the tone of this story. Funny and short.

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Mini reviews - finishing up 2019!

Lookit this. After this post I'll have finished up at least mini reviews through 2019. 2019, which was, by my calculation, 200 years ago. Let's wrap up these mini reviews and then I'll only be 1 year behind. Until you know, we wander into 2022 and I'm multiple years backlogged again.

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling
Read December 2019. 
Nothing. I got nothing on this book. I mean, it's a Cormoran Strike novel. I remember liking those. But this rings no bells. 
OK so I looked up the summary and it's vaguely familiar. I remember it not being a favorite although I was happy it wasn't as gross as The Silkworm so that's something, right? 

Dear Girls by Ali Wong
Read December 2019
Ali Wong is hilarious and I have watched her 2 Netflix specials I don't know how many times. As a matter of fact, one of my Xmas gifts 2019 was to go see her perform. Of course, then things happened so you know, that hasn't yet occurred. Anyway, the book. Very funny letters Wong wrote to her 2 daughters with advice. It's funny, she's funny, and I remember sitting the parking lot of a Target laughing at some nonsense piece (I was listening to the audiobook).

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie
Read December 2019
What a seasonally appropriate book I picked. Good job, me. I mean, I don't remember what the mystery was. I think plum pudding might have been involved. Forgettable sure, but it's Poirot so it was entertaining. I assume. They usually are.

So there you have it. Some sorta-kinda-barely-at-all reviews and now I'm at least caught up through 2019.

Monday, November 1, 2021

October Reading Wrap Up

Here I am, sitting around Halloween afternoon, all by myself and writing my wrap up. It's a strange feeling having the house to myself. Or more accurately, having the house to myself while also not currently working (since I've been working from home - by myself from home at least - for almost a year now). It's a nice feeling, and I got really excited by the idea of being able to go out and buy face cream.* Toddlers help you appreciate the little things, I suppose.

Here's a picture of the tiny T-Rex in his Halloween costume which he wore for about 3 minutes (refusing to put the hood up) before school on Friday and then he refused to wear again. Instead trick or treating featured Halloween dino themed jammies. I'll take what I can get.
But onto the reading. I got some seasonally themed reads in so good job for me remembering where I am and what season it is. Let's take a look at those stats.

Number of books read
4
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

I know I don't normally do any book review type things in these wrap ups but since I'm so bad at updating this now, I want to say that, while both Graveyard Book and My Best Friend's Exorcism are re-reads they are SOOOOO GOOD and I encourage everyone to read them immediately. ANYWAY

Number of pages read
1,344

Fiction
75%

Female authors
25%

BIPOC authors
0%

US authors
50%

Rereads
75% - it was that kind of month

Book format
audiobook - 100%

Where'd I get the book
Kindle/Audible: 25%
Library: 75%

Decade Published
2000s: 25%
2010s: 75%

Resolution Books
50%
A Man Called Ove is by a Swedish author and is also a translation
The Graveyard Book is by a British author so counts even if it feels a bit of a technicality 

*I could not find the face cream I wanted. It was a failed journey but I was still pretty jazzed by it nonetheless. 

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Fredrik Backman, new fav author?

I think I have a few favorite author. Maybe that's getting too far ahead. I've only read two of his books and I think you need three for it to be a trend. So we're on the cusp. But if you haven't checked out Fredrik Backman, might I recommend that you remedy that? 

Let me step back. I hadn't heard of him until recently though he seems to have books going back about a decade. Now I will admit to being far less up on book trends since the little monster came around but I was pretty active during that window and he didn't come across my radar. It's a nice reminder just how many books there are. Anyway, I hadn't heard of him till recently when a friend recommended A Man Called Ove. A few times. And I said "yeah yeah yeah" and put it on my TBR list, which is currently 470 books long. And it may have sat there for a while. Except this friend and I are in a (currently virtual) book club together and another book by that author was picked (Ove having already been read by a couple people). So, by virtue of the fact that it was an assignment, I read Anxious People. And oh man.

Have you ever read a story where partway through you realize how invested you are? And just how much you're enjoying it? Because that was my reaction here. I started out a little skeptical. Which is silly because the book starts out saying "This is a book about a lot of things,  but mostly about idiots" and really, that should have done it. But then part way through I remember thinking "Ooooh no. I think...I love this?" And I did. I did love it. I loved the tone of the story. The dry humor. I loved the characters and how they transformed from pure caricatures to people that were more complicated than first impressions would suggest. The plot, insomuch as there is one, is a bit confusing and the story tells itself and retells itself from different perspectives with different information each time. But in simplest terms, it involves a failed bank robbery and an accidental hostage situation during an apartment open house.

Loving this book, I decided to give A Man Called Ove a try and once my reading schedule and my library's hold schedule lined up, I started reading (or listening, as the case may be). But I was again worried. I mean, there's no way I'm going to like this one as much, right? That's ridiculous. And again, I started it a bit skeptical. Even though it had a very similar tone. But just like before, part way through the book I found myself thinking "Oooh nope, I was wrong before, I love this one too, just as much". It was a slow burn that won me over just as strongly. The plot is a bit odd. It's basically a curmudgeon wants to kill himself to be reunited with his wife but keeps getting interrupted by his neighbors and I swear, it's funny and sweet and not dark. Not too dark.

I will definitely be reading more of his stuff (Beartown next, perhaps?) and I'll probably go into it thinking "Well I mean, this can't be as good as the other two" and hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Monday, October 11, 2021

September Reading Wrap Up

Hey guess what? We are several days into a new month and I have yet to update my September reading. I can blame a lot of things. And I will. Work was especially busy this past week with a workshop up lots of time. Last weekend the little monster got a cold which has been a fun game of is it COVID? IS IT? And having a toddler cough in your face an entire weekend isn't great for your health, so then I got sick. It's just been a lot, is what I'm saying. But suddenly I realized that post I meant to write last weekend ne'er was writ and I am way, way behind. Moreso than usual. 
Here's the germ monster, practicing his chopstick skills

Anyway, stats, shall we?

Number of books read
4
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

Number of pages read
1,489
Almost the same as August (1,485) Weird.

Fiction
100%

Female authors
100%

BIPOC authors
25%

US authors
50%

Readalong/bookclub
50%
Gideon the Ninth as a fun readalong with online book friends
This Is How It Always Is as a book club choice with IRL book friends

Book format
audiobook: 100%

Where'd I get the book
Library: 100%
My library card expired on me this week, which also meant none of my library apps worked and thus necessitated a trip to the library Saturday morning. But all is fixed, all is well.
Also, tbc, I own P&P as an audiobook as well as physical covers. Yet I still just got a copy out of the library. I dunno.

Reread
25%

Published decade
1810s: 25%
2010s: 50%
2020s: 25%

Resolution books
75%
Gideon the Ninth - New Zealand author
Pride and Prejudice - UK author and first published a bit before the year 2000
The Other Black Girl - Black author
Special mention for This Is How It Always Is which is a story about a trans child

So there you have it. Not a bad month, even if I am way behind. Will October be any better? Who knows! Not me

Friday, September 3, 2021

August Reading Wrap Up

There have been multiple times in August I opened up a blank post to write a review, either mini or an actual one. And clearly that never happened. Sometime that was block where I couldn't think of what to write. Most of the time it had to do with a certain someone requiring constant attention. 
It was also just general busy month but now the month is over and we're even a few days into September which have also been busy. 

But hey, I've spent a long time half writing this/half paying attention to rewatch 100 of Ted Lasso so let's just get into those stats, shall we?

Number of books read
5
Shit Actually: The 100% Definitive Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West
Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffian and Lacey Lamar
Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for Ultrahuman Protection by Alexander C. Kane

Number of pages read
1,485

Fiction
40%

Female authors
80%

BIPOC authors
20%

US authors
100%

Bookformat
audiobook: 80%
paperback: 20%

Where'd I get the book
chain bookstore: 20%
Kindle/Audible: 60%
library: 20%

Reread
60%
Apparently this was a busy month and I do remember a lot of not wanting to think. I was going to add some more to the end of that sentence but really, "not thinking" is enough.

Published decade
2000s: 20%
2010s: 40%
2020s: 40%

Resolution books
20% - just the one Amber Ruffian book, which was a reread from earlier this year but it was SO GOOD

Monday, August 2, 2021

July Reading Wrap Up

Summer is already more than halfway over. It's crazy. July is a busy (ish) month here. The little monster turned 3 and HOW is he so big already? He was a teeny baby a second ago. Now he tells full stories and has strong opinions on things. It's also our wedding anniversary in July. The same day as the monster's birthday, because he made sure from day one to make it known things were about him now. 
But hey, let's talk books. I won't get into any details now but I will say that I just finished the book Anxious People, and it was so good, I might even write an actual review. Stats time!

Number of books read
6
Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides and the Untold Story of America's Most Dangerous Theme Park by Andy Mulvihill and Jake Rossen
Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History by Jennifer Wright
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Number of pages read
1,773

Fiction
67%

Female authors
50%

BIPOC authors
0%
This is no good

US authors
33%

Book format
audiobook: 100%

Where'd I get the book
library: 100%

Book club read
17%

Translation
17%

Reread
17%

Published date
1920s: 33%
2010s: 33%
2020s: 33%

Resolution books
67%
The Murder on the Links and The Mystery of the Blue Train both Christie books so both by a UK author and published well before 1990
The Rosie Project is by an Australian author
Anxious People is by a Swedish author and is a translation

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Wee little reviews

Time again for some mini-reviews! Let's dive right in, shall we?

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez
Read October 2019
This was real good. Assuming you want to get mad hearing about systemic gender-bias built into everyday things. I added this to my TBR after listening to the author talk about her work on a podcast and excellent choice. Thinking about it, I might re-read this one soon.

Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear by Kim Brooks
Read October 2019
I don't remember this one. I had to go look up the cover on Goodreads to see if it looks familiar. It does, but I was originally thinking about a different parenting book. Which isn't a great endorsement. I skimmed the summary and it's sort of coming back to me. Woman leaves her child in the car for a few min while she runs into a store, someone calls the cops on her and she has to deal with the consequences for years (her child was ok, btw. Those aren't the consequences she dealt with). She talks about how parenting has changed and people are more fearful and it's of course important to make sure kids are safe and cared for but are we as a society going overboard. Interesting topic and one that apparently just did not stick in my memory. So make of that what you will.

Damn Fine Story: Mastering the Art of a Powerful Narrative by Chuck Wendig
Read October 2019
Writing advice story that isn't judgey. Not quite Stephen King's On Writing but if you're looking for another book about writing, this is a good choice. He uses Die Hard as an example of a good narrative and it's something I think of whenever it's on (which is more than I would have otherwise thought).

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Read November 2019
Hey, more Gaffigan! It's very much like the Dad Is Fat in that it's fine. It's mostly like this standup. I believe the food stuff has even more of his stand up material than the other book, which isn't surprising if you know his routines and how much of them are about food. It was fine. Something I wouldn't mind listening to again though I probably wouldn't be able to recall much more of it even if I read it more recently.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)
Read November 2019
The second Cormoran Strike detective novel. This one is stranger than the first one and spoiler, gets way grosser. I don't believe i guessed the solution before the end so good on that, I suppose. I liked the Cormoran books but this was prob my least favorite out of the collection. 

Almost done with 2019! So close, I can feel it. Then I'll just be a year and a half behind.

Monday, July 19, 2021

Hot Days, Cool Reviews

I dunno about how the weather is in your part of the world but given the news, my guess would be not ideal. We've been in the 90s (30s for celsius folks) for what feels like forever with lots of thunderstorms that luckily in our immediate area have not caused flooding issues. It has been interesting to see how these rainstorms have done nothing to cool things off. I took a walk in the later afternoon yesterday after a big thunderstorm thinking this would be the time it's cool enough. But the sun came out and laughed at our assumptions. That'll teach me to try to go out in nature.

Now I'm staying cool in the house, with some Blue's Clues on the in background as the lil monster crawls all over and figure I'll take this opportunity to try to get through a couple mini-reviews. Let's see how far I make it.

Confessions of a Domestic Failure by Bunmi Laditan
Read September 2019
Story of a stay-at-home mom with a young child who can't really cook or keep the house clean and is really trying to just hold it all together. But she wants to do better so she enters for a chance to win life-coaching from someone who knows what she's doing (I pictured a judgey Joanna Gaines type) with a group of other women and things don't quite go as planned, there are shenanigans, etc. A fun, light read

The Honest Toddler: A Child's Guide to Parenting by Bunmi Laditan
Read October 2019
What if a toddler wrote a parenting advice column? it would mostly be a collection of responses explaining why toddlers should be allowed to eat all the candy they want, why nap time is nonsense, why you should keep the juice flowing and other such pieces of wisdom. As the description of the book says "What makes toddlers so fascinating is their unique blend of cute and demonic behavior. A toddler will take your hand and say "I love you," then slap you in the face." Something I have experience with. Funny if it's something you're dealing with because it's nice to know that it's not just your kid.

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan
Read October 2019
Apparently I went through a parenting (or parenting-adjacent) book phase. Anyway, this book. It's basically comedian Gaffigan talking about becoming a dad. And then doing it again. And then a few more times. (He's got 5 kids in a 2 bedroom apartment.) It's basically a book of his stand-up which isn't a bad thing. I'm a fan of his standup and have watched his specials more times than I can count. Nothing super special here but if you like his stand up, it's entertaining.

My own toddler is yelling for "Juice right NOW! Juice please! Juuuuuuuuuuice" so I'm going to go take care of this. 

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Micro-review Time

It's the end of a long weekend, so why don't I write a couple super teeny, mico-reviews before we have to go back to our regularly scheduled work and such.

I'm still making my way through the backlog so this is going back to fall 2019. Crazy right? I did write a semi-for-real review of Bringing Up Bebe recently but that is certainly the exception and not the rule when it comes to me reviewing things. Even though while reading I still think "Oh man, I'll have to make sure to talk about X when I write about this". It's too bad that time almost never comes. Sigh.

Where the Crawdad's Sing by Delia Owens
Read September 2019
Read this for bookclub, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. But hey, bookclub is for reading outside what I would normally read so it's all working out. Good story if slow much of the time and the mystery format is interesting. 

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Read September 2019
On the one hand, it's Poirot and those are aways a measure of fun. On the other hand, I barely remember this one. Which hardly makes a difference and I absolutely recommend this.

Someone Could Get Hurt: A Memoir of Twenty-First Century Parenting by Drew Magary
Read September 2019
I have read very few actual parenting books but man do I enjoy books about parenting that aren't like, advice books. I suppose they're more parenting commiseration books? Because parenting is wonderful and stressful and a lot of work and very strange and I love hearing stories about why there is a household rule that you must wear pants while brushing your teeth. Or the "What's up, fuckface?!?" story that is making me laugh thinking about. 

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
Read September 2019
Excellent true crime about a truly heinous terror. It's so sad to think about what more the book could have been had it not been for McNamara's sudden death, but what was completed is great. And while police say that nothing in the book had anything to do with the guy finally being captured, I'm going to go ahead and ignore that.

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

June Reading Wrap Up

June has come and gone. The first half of the year has come and gone. What is time, even?

We took a trip in June! A real vacation. We flew to San Diego and got to see people because vaccines #yayscience and it was lovely. Not relaxing because vacations with a small one are not relaxing, but it was a good time. Friends! Zoo! Pool! Beach! Strawberry Picking! So Much Mexican Food! 
I was going to try to write more but honestly it is too hot and I'm not even dealing with the heat in other parts of the country. Please everyone stay safe and cool. So let's just get to those stats.

Number of books read
5
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr
On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
Dial A for Aunties by Jessie Q. Sutanto
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Number of pages read
1,719

Fiction
60%

Female authors
60%

BIPOC authors
40%
Not perfect but not bad

US authors
80%

Book format
audiobook: 80%
paperback: 20%

Where'd I get the book
Gift: 20%
Kindle/Audible: 20%
Library: 60%

Book club read
20%

Published Date
2010s: 40%
2020s: 60%

Resolution books
40%
Dial A for Aunties is by an Indonesian-Chinese author
Such a Fun Age is by a Black author

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Bringing Up Bebe: What to take and what to leave behind

During a book walk* around the neighborhood, I picked up a copy of Bringing Up Bebe. It's a book I had heard about but since it came out well before I was thinking about babies, it didn't really make it on my radar. But now that I have one of those, it is of more interest. Except I am still finding my time to sit and read is minimal so even though I now HAVE a copy of this book just sitting on my bookshelf, I still took out an audiobook copy from the library. 

I'm sure I missed whatever drama happened around the book when it came out (because it's a book about parenting so of course there was drama) but here's my takeaway.

Good/useful information
Patience is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced and you don't have to make motherhood your entire identity

Those are good things to keep in mind and I certainly didn't think of patience as something you learn and have to work out, so hey, something to try in my own life. 

I also like the idea that trying different food and eating together for regularly, very scheduled meals is just something everyone does and so the children do it and meal times are in general easier. This is appealing to me right now since I'm pretty sure my monster subsists on energy he pulls from the air since he hardly seems to eat, but it would be nice if he ate everything like he used to do.

HOWMEVER

There are also a lot of bits of this book that I was not crazy about. 

The book purports to be about what American moms do (wrong) and what French moms do (right). But this is a VERY narrow window mostly looking at upper-middle-class Park Slope/Tribeca moms and upper-middle-class Parisian moms. (Sorry, I don't know stereotypes about the types of people in different Paris neighborhoods/arrondissements like I do NYC stereotypes, but I read another review that referred to them as "bobos" as in bourgeois bohemian moms so go with that.) Her section about daycare is really focused on how Americans distrust daycare and focus on mom's that have the option to use other forms of childcare (such as a nanny or not working at all). She allllllmost makes an interesting point about how so much of the childcare in France is subsidized and not so much in the US and perhaps that's an area to explore. But no. Instead there is a line about how expensive daycare is and she assures the readers that "it's not just the well-off who are overwhelmed by childcare costs." That is a direct quote as I stopped what I was doing to write it down as soon as I heard it because WHAT???

The fat-shaming. It's exhausting and comes up over and over and over again. At a fairly early point she talks about how a mom friend was making cupcakes but saw them as something for kids and thus didn't have one herself. And also did not offer the author one, on the assumption she (the author) viewed them the same way. The author then says (I'm paraphrasing since I don't feel like finding the direct quote in the book, but instead was going by what I heard from the audiobook) "My mother, for all her great qualities, never turned down a cupcake." And then I was happy my son was not in the car with me, since I blurted out "OMG just have the fucking cupcake."

The book is also light on data. Maybe if this was treated more like a memoir (which I suppose it semi-is) this would be less of an issue. And this may not be an issue for most people (although I do encourage you to question the broad generalizations without the data behind them), but since my fav pregnancy and early-childhood books were ALL ABOUT THE DATA, I'm skeptical of any advice books that lack this. 

So there you go. A lot of this book was a leave it for me but there were moments. Let's see how good the goblin can get at waiting.

Also hey, an actual review. Would you look at that? 

*Everyone participating puts out any books they no longer want on their front porch or wherever and people walk around and take what they want. You get to clear out some old stuff and you get new books. Wins all around.

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

May Reading Wrap Up

Another month has passed and I know it's been said a million times but man time flies. May was pretty good. We got vaccinated! We traveled! It was still I would say fairly conservative travel* but travel nonetheless! That was pretty neat. I didn't get a huge amount of reading done while on this trip, unless you count kids books, in which case I read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom many a-times. We also watched a lot of Moana. Like a lot. There are certainly worse movies the little one could have been obsessed with but I could go for some variety. I may not have been able to get much relaxed reading done, but the goblin got to play with the cat and dog (we are pet-free at home) which made for a lot of cute moments so that was almost an even trade.
I also cut off my hair! I hadn't gotten a haircut in...let's just say a long time and the pandemic is only partially responsible for how much time passed. But hey, I had enough to donate. It's slightly shorter than I was planning but I was like an inch from donation length and it seemed silly to not just go for it. 

Why don't we get to those stats?

Number of books read
3
The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman

Number of pages read
984

Fiction
33%

Female authors
100%
BIPOC authors
33%

US authors
67%

Book format
audiobook: 100%

Where'd I get the book
library: 100%

Bookclub read
33%

Published date
2010s: 100%

Resolution books
67%
The Trauma Cleaner is by an Australian author. It also focuses on the life of a transwoman, which doesn't technically "count" towards my resolution since I don't have a stat for LGBTQ+. Not that I think I shouldn't but I find that one is harder to easily quantify and thus I avoid it as a qualification. But I mention it here anyway.
The Leavers is by an Asian-American author

*We drove from NJ to SC to visit my dad out in the middle of no where so we weren't seeing tons of people or going out but still. Change!

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

She wrote some itsy bitsy, teeny weeny...yellow polka dot reviews?

Sorry, that title started off strong but sort of fell apart on me. Anyway, it's been a while. Like a while, a while, so why don't I try to write up some more teeny book reviews about books I read 2+ years ago and barely remember. Sound good to everyone?

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
Read June 2019
I do not remember this book. I mean, I sort of remember it. Vaguely. I remember being annoyed at it at times (a bunch of times) but other times I was on board. I realized after the fact this is the second in a series, though it never read like that, but maybe I would have liked it better had I read the first one. Rom com and misunderstandings and eh.

Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed and Sick by Maya Dusenbery
Read August 2019
What a fun, light-hearted topic! This was a very good book about an infuriating topic. It made me very mad many times over. As the subtitle says, it's about all of the ways medical science fails women, usually by not bothering to test anything (including birth control at some stages) on women and not taking into account that medications, treatments and symptoms may be different in women and this is literally killing people. 

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch 
Read (first) August 2019
Do you like linguistics? Do you spend time on The Internet? Do you want learn about linguistics on the internet? Of course you do, don't lie, you nerd. McCulloch is very enthusiastic about the topic and it was very fun listening to her narrate this. Especially when she had to say things like "aldhaighdajghda" or whatever the actual written "keyboard smash" looked like in the book. Definitely recommended

It's Not What It Looks Like by Molly Burke
Read August 2019
I have no idea what this book is. 
OK I looked up the cover and I have some memories of it. Less than The Bride Test so not great. It's a memoir from a YouTube star who is blind and it's about her being blind and growing up blind and it had interesting parts but overall it was...just OK. And not all that memorable

Monday, May 3, 2021

April Reading Wrap Up

Spring is here! Most of the time anyway. I mean, we got hail the other day and we went from 85 down to like 50 so that was something. But hey, some nice weather and a chance for the small one to get outside and cause chaos in a new environment. And things are looking better for getting somewhat back to normal. Well not quite normal but normal-er. But we're vaccinated in this house (at least those of old enough to get the shot) as are our families and more and more friends and it's so nice to see even a little bit of light at the end of this very long tunnel. 

Also, let's take a look at where the lil monster is
Art project! He refused to take it off for awhile. Also he thinks it's a cat mask. I'd correct him but butterflies don't make cute noises so kitty it is.

On a reading side, April was a re-read month. I dunno why. I didn't intend for it to be at the start of the month. But that also seems to mean this was a very, white month. Not great, I know. Why don't we just take a look at those stats.

Books read
5
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
Broken in the Best Possible Way by Jenny Lawson
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
World War Z by Max Brooks

Pages read
1,900
so close to hitting, nay exceeding, 2,000. I saw it, thought about reading something short to push me over the edge and then...didn't. Whatchya gonna do?
Fiction
40%

Female authors
20%

BIPOC authors
0%
See this is not great. 

US author
100%
...again
Book format
audiobook: 80%
paperback: 20%

Where'd I get the book
Chain bookstore: 20%
Gift: 20%
Audible: 20%
Library: 40%

Rereads
80%
sometimes it's what you (I) need

Bookclub read
20%
I recommend The Princess Bride for your bookclub, especially if you haven't done much reading about the book. A+ bookclub. Also then you have an excuse to rewatch The Princess Bride 

Decade published
1970s - 20%
2000s - 60%
2020s - 20%

Resolution books
20%
Just the one, The Princess Bride originally published in '73. Low bar that I'm just barely managing not to trip over.