⭐⭐⭐ The Wager by Grann
| Full Title | The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Grann |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Date Read | March 27, 2024 |
| Rating | 3/5 stars |
Read in part because of the upcoming film. Found it to be a less engaging than Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI and had to force myself to finish it — never became a page turner.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Body Keeps the Score by Kolk
| Full Title | The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bessel van der Kolk |
| Year Published | 2014 |
| Date Read | January 16, 2024 |
| Rating | 4/5 stars |
Great book. Paired extremely well with some of the stuff I was doing while reading it (ayahuasca; silent retreat). Constant individual examples not linked to each other get a little tiring, though.
⭐⭐ How to Do Nothing by Odell
| Full Title | How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jenny Odell |
| Year Published | 2019 |
| Date Read | January 13, 2024 |
| Rating | 2/5 stars |
Very disappointing. Author treats the book more like an art project of random thoughts rather than bothering to actually create a cohesive book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pachinko by Lee
| Full Title | Pachinko |
|---|---|
| Authors | Min Jin Lee |
| Year Published | 2017 |
| Date Read | January 09, 2024 |
| Rating | 5/5 stars |
Great read. A reminder to add more fiction into my diet. I read this right after KotFM, and it was interesting to notice the casual and sometimes aggressive racism parallels — Japanese vs. Koreans as with KotFM’s US whites vs. Indians. we’ve all got some skeletons in our respective closets.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Killers of the Flower Moon by Grann
| Full Title | Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Grann |
| Year Published | 2017 |
| Date Read | December 27, 2023 |
| Rating | 4/5 stars |
Solid read. Probably could have done without the final third, but even with it the story moves fast and keeps you engaged. For people into detective novels, an easy recommendation. And it’s short enough that those wanting to read it before the movie aren’t signing up for anything too hard.
⭐ Labor of Love by Weigel
| Full Title | Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating |
|---|---|
| Authors | Moira Weigel |
| Year Published | 2016 |
| Date Read | November 24, 2023 |
| Rating | 1/5 stars |
The topic of how dating and courtship has changed across the decades and centuries is an extremely interesting one. Unfortunately Weigel bungles her chance at telling this story, opting instead to focus much more on woke traps like why mainstream feminism (especially first- and second-wave) wasn’t inclusive enough or how the dominant dating approach (during any period, really) is anti-women.
Not serious enough to be a good text about feminism; not curious enough to be a good treatment of “the invention of dating.” Not recommended.