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.