Review: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really good memoir of an incredibly unusual medical condition that Cahalan suffered from as a young professional. She had a sudden onset of strange symptoms that seemed like mental illness, but her family and friends continued to pursue doctors and research and ultimately discovered a specific illness that could be cured medically. She uses a unique combination of medical notes, journals, interviews, and other records to rebuild her story, as she lost a lot of her memory from the time.

I liked reading this book the same way I like reading the "Diagnosis" column in the New York Times. It was interesting to follow her symptoms and see how she was diagnosed. I was shocked by how deliberate and strong her family had to be to pursue the right solutions. And I was sympathetic to her experience, rooting for her along the way.


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Review: The Rent Collector

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I did not like this book, which isn't to say that I didn't feel sympathy for the fictionalized characters in the story - I did. The book is set in one of Cambodia's largest garbage dumps, where a small family is struggling to get by. They earn a living by sorting trash and selling it, barely getting by. They live AT the dump, along with several of Cambodia's other poorest families.

The story is about their attempts to improve their lives - by learning to read, getting to the bottom of their son's illnesses, and creating a small safety net past what their landlady collects each month. Ironically it is their landlady (a cantankerous drunk) who teaches them to read and ultimately helps them.

I don't know where to start with what I disliked about this book. The writing was too simple, barely capturing any of the characters' inner voices past their obvious actions. The circumstances in which they lived were deplorable, but described unemotionally. And the story seemed both obvious and contrived. I later learned that it was based on a true story of a family - one that the author's son had filmed for a documentary. Perhaps that is the source of some of the problems - too much of a "movie/video" angle and not enough one of a book.

Whatever the case, not one of my favorites.

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Review: What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was time for more of a "beach read" and this was a good one. The story is about Alice, who wakes up in a hospital, finding that the life she thought she had (pregnant with her first child, very in love with her husband) is not true anymore. She is in the middle of an acrimonious divorce from her husband, the father of her three children, and dating someone different. She doesn't remember her children, but finds herself close to her sister, which she learns is not how she left things. Yikes!

The writing was at the level of Jodi Picoult, which is to say well-written enough but not poetic or "literature." Alice is a likable character, and as she pieces her life back together, it's easy to root for her to rebuild into something that makes her happy.

I've already ordered another Moriarty book for the next time I need some light reading that doesn't make me hate myself in the morning.

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Review: The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

The Pearl that Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really unusual book, and one I liked. It followed two women, one in modern-day Afghanistan and one several generations earlier. In each case, the women were in poor situations where dressing and acting like a son rather than a daughter (or a man rather than a woman) was preferable to their alternatives. In modern times, a young girl begins to dress like a boy to help her family. Generations earlier, a woman finds herself alone past marrying age and chooses a role in the royal palace as a man.

I liked reading this book because it was about something completely foreign to me. I also liked how well both sets of characters and situations were developed. When I was reading one chapter (they alternate) I couldn't wait to read what was happening in the other story, and vice versa. Neither plot was predictable, although the stories hung together very well.

Definitely recommend.

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Review: The Children's Crusade

The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm beginning to think that The Dive From Clausen's Pier was the pinnacle of Ann Packer's work. This book was good enough, kept my interest and I was invested in the characters, but here I am about a month later with no real memory of anything outstanding about it.

The story is about a young family who has four kids in the 1960's and '70's. While by all outward appearances, the family is reasonably happy, over the years the fragile framework begins to break down. The mother estranges herself increasingly from the family, losing herself in her art. Meanwhile the youngest child, all but ignored by his mother, grows into a dysfunctional adult. The book is told in flashbacks to childhood, one section by each of the four children.

I can appreciate the complexity and detail of the book but I also found some of the character development stale, relying on familiar tropes. Not a bad read but not an exceptionally memorable one either.

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Review: The Last Good Paradise

The Last Good Paradise by Tatjana Soli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Soli's book The Lotus Eaters and was excited to read this one. The premise of this was strange - an unusual collection of people end up on a quiet island in Polynesia, among them a couple who is escaping a financial and personal crisis as well as an aging rock star, not to mention the island's staff (a distant extension of a luxury hotel across the water). There was a point in the book where I thought it was jut too far-fetched and contrived. But like Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, somehow Soli makes an unlikely collection of characters in an awkward situation seem credible.

The character building was done incredibly well, as was the crafting of the story itself. The final quarter of the book was nothing that I could have anticipated, involving class issues, a critique on the media, and very core relationship pain between individuals. After all that is her best skill as shown in The Lotus Eaters - her ability to depict the rawest part of relationships without fear.

I look forward to her next book.






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Review: All Our Names

All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can appreciate that this book represents good writing but I just didn't love it. It is the story of a young man who escapes the war in Uganda (where he has become involved in the military) and lands in the Midwest. He begins a relationship with his social worker as he tries to adjust to life in America.

The story alternated between time in Uganda and current time - the latter told from the social worker's point of view. While some of the storytelling was unique, a lot of the plot was familiar if you've read a lot of African literature - how local militias come to power, impact on young people, who gets pulled into being a revolutionary and why.

To me, this was just a retelling of themes I had heard in the past. Not bad, just not unique.

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Review: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really really enjoyed this book. It was on my list from the NYTimes Notable list I think and when I got it from the library I didn't remember what it was about and started reading it blindly. Which I completely recommend! Because there is a major plot twist about half way through the book and it made it all the more better to read.

The story follows a young woman who grows up with a brother and sister, but something happens to the family and once she is college aged, the sister is no longer part of the family, and her brother is a federal fugitive on the run. The plot was unique and shattering, and the themes of family responsibility, sibling relationships, and regret were well-developed.

A great read, especially if you don't know much about it ahead of time.

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Review: The Story Sisters

The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I really, really liked this book. Alice Hoffman always does something special with her books - infuses a bit of magic or supernatural. And this is no exception, although the supernatural in this book is imagined by one of three sisters who is slowly descending into mental illness. While her exact diagnosis is never named, it seemed like schizophrenia to this armchair psychologist.

The story follows three sisters who are very close until the eldest becomes sick with some illness. They have a secret language and secret imaginary world that are harmless at first but become the center of the eldest's illness and delusions. While she copes with her illness and becomes dangerous and increasingly unhappy, her sisters and mother cope with her absence and its impact on the family.

All the characters were very well-developed in this book, which I appreciated. I also appreciated the skill with which Hoffman represented mental illness, not just as a set of familiar symptoms but as an imaginary world come true. While the denouement of the book was long and somewhat manufactured, the rest of it held my attention as a unique and masterful portrait of a girl in trouble, both from her perspective and that of her family.



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Review: The Tiger's Wife

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was a really unusual book. It takes place in Eastern Europe somewhere, kind of like Croatia or Serbia, but the country is not identified. A young woman is traveling across the border to vaccinate children at an orphanage when she finds out her grandfather has died. She wants to retrieve his belongings and also to provide the vaccines, and as she does both she also reminisces about the stories her grandfather has told her about his childhood.

The stories are really unique - fairy-tale esque in a lot of ways. One about a woman who marries a tiger, and one about a man who doesn't die. They are interwoven into the modern-day storyline in pieces, as this woman comes to terms with her grandfather's death, and tries to understand what is happening in her country, besieged by war.

I liked this book because it was different. It wasn't the story itself or the allegories that I enjoyed so much as the surprise of reading something different than a linear narrative.



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Review: Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed

Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed by Glennon Doyle Melton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Meh. I really like Glennon - I read her blog regularly and really enjoyed her TedX talk. She's obviously a very strong person whose vulnerability and transparency are both very generous. (She is known for being a "Mommy Blogger" but her life was dominated for many years by eating disorders and drug abuse until finding out she was pregnant and hurriedly marrying her boyfriend at the time.)

I guess the thing about this book was that there wasn't that much new in it. As someone who has read a lot of her posts and essays, I didn't find a new part of her story or a new angle. It was more of a collection of her best essays, or her best stories, and perhaps some new ones, but nothing thematically new. It was also a bit more religiously oriented than her other stuff seems to be, which I didn't really mind but didn't do anything for me either.

I'm still a big fan of hers, and grateful for her writing, but there wasn't anything special about this book.



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Review: Gold

Gold by Chris Cleave

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I really enjoyed this book. [b:Little Bee|6948436|Little Bee|Chris Cleave|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344401905s/6948436.jpg|4126074] remains one of the most haunting books I've ever read, and this was not that impactful, but the story was really compelling and I looked forward to my commute when I could continue reading it.

The story is about two friends who are both olympic-caliber cyclists. They have a long and complicated friendship while competing with each other over many years, and the book alternates between present time and history to build the story. One is married, with a daughter who becomes very sick, and this impacts her dedication to racing. The other is a lifetime loner whose entire life is about cycling. As the book goes on, the relationship between the women, as well as with the married one's husband and daughter, and their coach becomes more complex.

What I really liked about this book was how Cleave unfurled the story - similar to Little Bee, there were secrets and twists and things that weren't revealed right away, which built characters across multiple dimensions.



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Review: Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



After reading [b:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption|8664353|Unbroken A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption|Laura Hillenbrand|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327861115s/8664353.jpg|12946965], I put this one on my list. It was ok. If you were to tell me that I'd want to read an entire book about racehorses during the Great Depression I probably would not have believed it, so from the perspective of learning something completely alien, it was great. But on the scale of everything I read, it was not my favorite.

Horse-racing during the 1920's and 1930's was a national obsession - to the degree that the NFL is today. People traveled around the country for races and more newspaper inches were dedicated to many of the heroes and the horses than to the wars and presidents of the time. I had no idea.

This book follows a particular horse, Seabiscuit, who is an underdog from the start. By carefully crafting a story around how horses are bred, groomed, and sold, the unlikeliness of Seabiscuit becoming a hero is made clear early in the book. Yet he does become a great racehorse, and Hillenbrand does a comprehensive job of describing all the people involved in getting him there - the handlers, jockeys, owners, competitors, and fans. The relationships among these people are fascinating too, and she dedicates significant word count to each of their backstories.

I am glad to have read this but can't say it was a page-turner. Some required reading never hurt anyone thought.



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Review: How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much

How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much by Ellyn Satter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This might be the best book on parenting I've read so far. I have had a lot of anxiety around Sasha's food consumption - no doubt based on my own ambivalence around food issues, but nevertheless it has been stressful. Is she eating enough? Is she eating enough of the right things? What do I do when she doesn't want to eat?

Satter's premise is simple. As a parent, it is my job to determine what Sasha eats, and her job to decide how much of it to eat. When put that way it seems so simple, but the ramifications in our family have been staggering. It has enabled me to completely let go of feeling stressed out at meal times. It is easy to say "you don't have to eat that if you don't want." And it has definitely reduced the "control" oriented fights around food. Satter is realistic too - she says that having family dinners is probably the best thing you can do, and that they should have carbs, protein, and vegetables. But then she says that if the only way to do that is with a frozen pizza, then do it with a frozen pizza. She also suggests that as your child is learning to try new foods or doesn't like what's being served that you should be sure that there are carbs at dinner for them to fill up on. She has other helpful tactics for snacks, kids who don't want to eat at the table, etc. She is completely against feeding kids a separate meal than adults, which I believe in too, but has some ideas on how to make that palatable (pun intended) for everyone. For example - every meal should have at least one item on the plate the kid likes. Hence our dinner the other night of spinach lasagna and strawberries.

The book starts with newborn feeding and goes through adolescence, so there are parts of the book I didn't find relevant, but I did like that the themes she suggested would be relevant over the long haul - that the tactics might change but the strategy would be consistent. There were also sections devoted to more serious eating disorders than a picky toddler, but while irrelevant to me, was still good to see her method applied in different ways.

I've been recommending this nonstop to parents of young kids. A classic in our family's library for sure.



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Review: The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You

The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You by Eli Pariser

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I first heard Pariser speak when this book was initially published - maybe on NPR or a TED Talk. His thesis was intriguing - the tools we use to access the Internet (like Google) are filtering our view of news and information in an effort to customize for us. For example, as you like things on Facebook, the algorithms find more things similar to that to show you - so if you like a few liberal-leaning articles, or news sources that are liberal-leaning, more will begin to populate your feed.

I filed this idea away, occasionally thought about it, and put the book on my booklist. Finally got around to reading the whole book and I learned a lot more. The first thing that I learned was that the reason that Google and Facebook do this is all about revenue. Maybe this is obvious but I enjoyed the analysis of how all these corporations make money and use our information. Even though the book is now a few years old, it was still valuable to read.

The rest of the book had similarly interesting content around things like a long-term perspective on news sources, and how democracy is impacted by this "filter." While a few of the sections on historical context went a bit long for my taste, it didn't ruin the book for me. Overall I am glad to have read it, and it keeps me thinking as I use the Internet for information how to try to get to the information that is outside my "bubble."



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