The Bookshop, Evan Friss

 

The Bookshop:  A history of the American bookstore by Evan Friss

Started: October 14, 2024
Completed: October 17, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is an easy read with multiple venues (book shops and former book shops, apparently bookstore is not preferred) described.  Friss has visited these places and provides a certain sense of the space.  When that is not possible he has looked for reviews, reminiscences, and interviews to provide a feeling for the place.  Friss also tracks the development of book stores (ironically both real and fictional--Parnassus is both) and book sellers (not always collocated).  Not exactly interesting, but worth reviewing and remembering.

Living On Earth, Peter Godfrey-Smith

 

Living on Earth:  Forests, corals, consciousness, and the making of the world by Peter Godfrey-Smith

Started: October 8, 2024
Completed: October 14, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: The Guardian

Review:

Godfrey-Smith takes a hard look at what it means to go on living on the Earth.  He considers many angles, but I think he kind of whiffs on co-dependence.  Perhaps his feeling is that, aside from food, we don't really need the other animals on the planet.  I think we do.  Other than that, I really enjoyed his insights and the presentation.  He did not present these as truths, just reasoned analysis.  Very enjoyable.

The Life Impossible, Matt Haig

 

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

Started: October 5, 2024
Completed: October 8, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, but I mildly recommended The Midnight Library

Review:

This is an interesting book, but it is pretty predictable.  Again, I am not terribly fond of the "magic" especially when it is inconsistent (salt water makes a plant grow that has been extinct, but the coast which is in constant contact with the salt water doesn't have this characteristic despite proof that "the presence" goes to the coast).  I'm not sure how to make this story tighter (I'm not an author), but I can see how it could have been more interesting and less predictable with only a few changes.

Keeping the Faith, Brenda Wineapple

 

Keeping the Faith:  God, democracy, and the trial that riveted a nation by Brenda Wineapple

Started: September 18, 2024

Completed: September 26, 2024

Recommendation: Highly recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

There is so much about this trial that I simply didn't know.  I was unaware that William Jennings Bryan had died shortly after the case and also unaware that he had been put on the stand.  All shocking to me.  The rest of the manipulations around the case were not surprising to me although it was interesting to listen to how the case had been framed in its own time.

Lovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson

 

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson

Started: September 26, 2024
Completed: October 5, 2024
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I thought that this book might be interesting, but since it is written basically before Jackson had begun work on the Supreme Court, I was expecting an autobiography rather than an analysis of thinking.  In that sense, I was correct as this book covered her personal life (with occasional professional interludes) up to becoming a Supreme Court Justice.  All very interesting and I felt like I learned a lot about the newest Justice.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives, Hisashi Kashiwai

The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai translated by Jesse Kirkwood

Started: September 18, 2024

Completed: DNF

Recommendation: I have no recommendation

Recommended By: Kobo

Review:

I thought that this was a traditional detective story with a little food thrown in.  No.  This is a series of short stories with the same protagonists who use analysis to determine how to make a particular meal.  I was listening to this book and with unfamiliar names, place names, and food names, I had trouble distinguishing one from the other.  In addition, I neither recognized the dishes nor many of the ingredients.  That all made it very hard for me to enjoy or even have an opinion on this book.

Who's Afraid of Gender?, Judith Butler

 

Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler

Started: September 15, 2024
Completed: September 17, 2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody initially, but upon discussion cousin Amee

Review:

The audio book is read by Butler who sounds a lot like Martha Stewart, so the topic is initially jarring in that voice.  The arguments are truly stellar and the mechanical workmanship which goes into the refutations of particularly conservative and Catholic positions on gender is excellent.  This gives me a whole new perspective on how to talk about gender with those who have not really spent much time thinking about their positions.  What a wonderful work!