All This Could Be Yours, Jami Attenberg

All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg is a book that made the best books of 2019, so it made my list.

Started: 1/27/2020
Completed: 1/28/2020
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By:  A number of top 10 lists

Review:

It is disconcerting to read this book that pretty much opens with a female submissive right on the heels of Normal People which made me uncomfortable with the story of a submissive.  This story, however, makes me uncomfortable with the role of a submissive in a whole different way.

The inability of the other characters to accept that abuse is appropriate in a healthy relationship helped make this story more palatable.

The author seems to feel the need to leave no character unexamined.  I get that, but it feels to me like the author built the back story but an editor did not help the author figure out what should and what should not be included in the book.  That is just my take--who knows, the editor may have pulled a bunch out of the book to get it to here.

In the end, however, every character takes a look at loneliness.  What is it to different characters?  It seems like some characters pursue loneliness while others run screaming to anyone to avoid loneliness.  I don't know what the take-away is.  It is a good examination, however.  Maybe the secondary characters help define some of the ways to look at loneliness.  It feels to me, though, that the secondary characters just brought some of the same points again and added unnecessary complexity to the story.

Normal People, Sally Rooney

Normal People by Sally Rooney showed up on so many top 10 lists for 2019, I added it to mine.  A television series is due based on the book in 2020.

Started: 1/24/2020
Completed: 1/27/2020
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By:  A top 10 list

Review:

This book has its moments and I did get something from it.  I enjoyed the occasional insight, such as, "...the same imagination needed to be a reader is needed to understand normal people and to relate to them..."  On the whole, however, I left the book uncomfortable.  There is a strong theme of a submissive woman who seems to seek abuse.  It is a sad and disturbing character trait to me.  Everyone gets to have their own sexual thing, but abuse seems just wrong to me.

In many ways I like the female protagonist and found things about her to which I could relate.  At the same time, the vast insecurity of the male protagonist was something I immediately saw in myself, but the cycles of mild abuse between him and the female protagonist made me uncomfortable.  While the book does find a way for a female submissive and a male non-dominant to find a way to make things work, it just left me uncomfortable.  It is not my cup of tea and it was so disconcerting that I can not recommend this book.

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates was exceedingly well received when it was printed and Ta-Nehisi Coates has become an exceptional American commentator since.  I wanted to read this book and understand better his message.

Started: 1/22/2020
Completed: 1/24/2020
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By:  Everyone

Review:

This book is a letter.  This book is a tribute.  This book is a cautionary tale.  This book will move you.  All of that and I do not live in the world in which Coates grew up (despite being in Prince George's County, Maryland because his world is not a place, but a mentality--he calls it a tribe). 

I am definitely not a member of his tribe.  I live among people who are.  This is one tribe I would never hope to join.  I recognize and appreciate the good parts of this tribe, but I am sad for the situation that caused it to arise.  I want to eliminate the need for this tribe to exist.

In the meantime, however, it is important to understand the internal dialog that Coates exposes.  How can I hope to change my own errors without understanding the effect of our culture on people who grew up like Coates.  I thought I had an intellectual understanding of this tribe (I have no hope of understanding this tribe in any other way), but I was wrong.

A really, really important piece of understanding for me was the talk of the body.  Coates focuses repeatedly on the integrity, safety, and nurturing of his body.  Why?  Because those things cannot be taken for granted (as they are in many ways by me).  Our culture has exploited the bodies of Coates' tribe in every way imaginable and we continue to do it.  Members of his tribe are mostly black and brown, but not exclusively and, again, nobody should be a member of this tribe.

One step, one way, to start to make change happen is to respect everyone's body.  Especially those whose bodies have historically not been respected.  I say this in the same sense as "Black lives matter."  Yes, everyone's lives matter, but the point is that all too often black lives have not mattered, so take a moment and remember that black lives matter.  Take a moment and remember that black and brown bodies matter.  Yes, like everyone's bodies matter, but don't forget that black and brown bodies matter.  Unless you feel like an attack on the body of one of Coates' tribe is an attack on "everyone's" body, then you aren't getting it.  We all need to protect everyone. 

I need to work to make this an action, not just an idea and it is going to start, for me, by supporting District Attorney candidates all over the country who see the mass incarceration of black and brown people (yes, everyone, too) as wrong.  Who support the elimination of cash bail.  Who oppose stop and frisk.  I will start by doing a small part to protect people's bodies.  I will do more, but that is where I will start.

I also think it is insightful that Coates refers to Howard University as the Mecca, but is not a religious man.  He feels the need to have a focus, a center, a heart for his understanding of the world and this book says to me that Howard University is that place for him.

A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin

A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin is the second book in the
A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Started: 1/14/2020
Completed: 1/22/2020
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Everyone

Review:

If one is reading this book, then one has pretty much been caught by the general premise that there is going to be one huge clash upcoming.  It is pretty much impossible to buy into that premise and not be busy reading the prelude.  This is mostly prelude.  There is a lot of work setting up future stories, but this book is not one that stands alone.

Rules of Civility, Amor Towles

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles is by the same author as A Gentleman in Moscow, so I decided to look into it.

Started: 1/11/2020
Completed: 1/14/2020
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This book feels like literature.  It sort of commands comparisons to other books during the read.  For example, there is a skeet shooting scene in both this book and in Stiletto.  In both, the female protagonist is put off by skeet shooting.  In this book (which is a multi-layered study in a fish-out-of-water theme) the protagonist comes to skeet shooting not through the front door, but by literally walking through bushes.  In Stiletto, the protagonist is presented with her own guns for the purpose of the skeet shoot.  In both books, skeet shooting is used to indicate a sort of male dominance.  In this book, the skeet shooting emphasizes the class differences between the protagonist and her love interest and contrasts the protagonist with another who causes her love interest to blush instantly and is an expert on the range (adding another layer to the protagonist's feeling of displacement).  In Stiletto, the skeet shooting is used as a metaphor for acceptance as the protagonist is extraordinarily good on first attempt.  It indicates a coming of age (symbolically with the guns and being part of society by being included) in Stiletto, but in this book it indicates how far the protagonist is out of her class.  This kind of simple comparison of classic metaphors (in both books) and how the authors use them comes about because of the subtlety in this book as opposed to the heavy handed attempt in Stiletto (the gun metaphor never goes anywhere and the tableau is sort of handed to the reader).  In this book, there comes a time when the protagonist comes in through the front door, but likens her presence back to going through the bushes and ends up out of place in a new and different way.  Later a sheet shooting gun gives the encounter a certain awkward fondness.

This book also conveys the "fish-out-of-water" theme through several different characters who are all out of place (though it is not necessarily obvious moment to moment) in different ways.  There is also a theme of self-destruction running through the characters in the book (one literally goes off to war, another pursues acceptance and having received it rejects it, yet another leaves a job having just gotten a promotion and accepts another job with much less pay, etc.)  By constant undermining themselves (in new and interesting ways), the characters can never find stability (indeed, one character is encouraged to "get out the rut" to his further displacement).

This is a well written book and I recommend it highly.

Black Powder War, Naomi Novik

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik is the third book in the Temeraire series.

Started: 1/8/2020
Completed: 1/11/2020
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I really like Naomi Novik's writing style.  In addition, it is a pleasure to see how dragons might have been used as part of a Napoleonic army.  It was also good to see that not every battle is won.  I also really like the way that Novik is using dragons to explore slavery.  Just a great book in a great series.

All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders is a book I found on a list of science fiction.  It has received both the Nebula and Locus awards.

Started: 1/5/2020

Completed: 1/8/2020

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

occiput -- the back of the head or skull

Review:

This is an interesting book and can be thought of as a coming of age novel.  It is sort of a magic meets tech story and has the push and pull of a nascent love story mingled into it.  I like some of the ideas that were put forward for an AI, but the approach to magic was very appealing as well.  The story is well assembled and the characters take a back seat (for the most part) to the magic/tech development.  I can recommend the book as a good, quick read.

The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa is a book I saw in a list of important science fiction by non-English writers.  The book was a finalist for the National Book Award (under translated literature) in 2019.

Started: 12/31/2019

Completed: 1/4/2020

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By: This was from an article, but I don't remember the article (it might have been in Current Affairs).  The idea was that there were authors unknown to American readers who are quite popular in their home countries and only now are their works being translation.  This was one of those works.

Review:

The book is interesting on many levels.  It absolutely addresses some unusual human frailties and takes "group think" (at least) to a new level.  The book also takes a shot at the police not being subject to the same rules everyone else must face.  The book takes a really hard look at living in a controlled society from a perspective of someone who is a willing subject to those controls.  It is a novel perspective in United States literature and points out the value in reading works from authors of other cultures.

America's First Daughter, Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie came recommended to me by my wife after she read a review on line.  It sounded quite interesting.  This is the story of Thomas Jefferson's oldest daughter and it is based on her original letters as well as extensive research of the time period.

Started: 9/7/2018

Completed: 1/3/2020

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  My wife

Review:

This book is not a biography, but it is not exactly fiction either.  The authors do take some license and identify a personal relationship which is only circumstantially supported.  Of course, it is impossible to know exactly what one person said to another, but they crib letters and put the text from the letters in the mouths of the speakers when it makes sense.  In short, this is pretty close to a biography, but it is very approachable as a novel.  Occasionally timelines or foreshortened or the sequence of events is not strictly adhered to in order to allow the book to flow as a narrative and this is not distracting to the casual reader.

Weapons of Math Destruction

Weapons of Math Destruction:  How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy by Cathy O'Neil.  This book has been on my list for years.

Started: 11/29/2019

Completed: 1/1/2020

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By:  Nobody

Review:

The particular examples in this book are not going to age well.  Already, some are out of date--that is the side effect of writing about Information Technology in the Digital Age.  The general concepts, however, are quite solid.  The path forward laid out in the Afterword remains a good path forward even 4 years after the book was written.  Well worth the read.