Book Review: July 2024
A sunny month of travel, hammock hangs and pool time gave me a chance to read all sorts of great books.
What books are you enjoying (or not!) this month?
"The Light Eaters" by Zoe Schlanger
5 stars
A beautiful intersection of the scientific and the esoteric. Plants are so smart and yet we think they're just stuck to the ground. They literally keep us alive by filtering the air and providing us with food. The more I think about plants, trees and anything growing in the ground, the more in awe I am of the natural world. They are creative and cunning, just like animals and humans. They pre-date us by millions of years so of course they have a greater ability to adapt. If you like exploring the connection of science and beauty, this is a really cool book.
"Homebodies" by Tembe Denton Hurst
4 stars
This story is relevant and timely...trying to silence a whistleblower. It's modern with themes of desire, depression and systemic oppression. Some people get ahead while others are being held back for no reason other than their skin color or sexuality. I liked the main characters and also felt annoyed (in a good way!) at some of the minor characters for their transgressions. I listened to this book in less than 4 days because the narrator was awesome.
"The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan
4 stars
Yes, my 2nd book about plants this month (in case you already didn't think I was a dork) I love Pollan's writing style: equally detailed and well researched as it is personal interest. How the human desires of sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control were matched up with stories of the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato were really cool. We think we tamed nature, but what if nature has been taming us this whole time? Although not my favorite of his books (that honor goes to, "How to Change your Mind”) this was a fascinating read. More information about Michael Pollan's books can be found here.
"Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance" by Jessamyn Stanley
5 stars
What a balm this book was for my yogi heart. Some of these words I have actually written in my own journal…so to see them in print by another human felt so validating, like all of my random ideas weren't all that random. Like in the collective consciousness, other yoga teachers are having these thoughts. Being a teacher or practitioner of yoga would likely mean you enjoy this book more but given the range of topics from religion, patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism (things I think about A LOT) this would be good for humans interested in intersectionality of any of these. Jessamyn's IG account is fantastic and has lots of musings and inspo.
"The Cemetery of Untold Stories" by Julia Alvarez
3 stars
Cool idea and characters. Although in the format of the audio book, I wish there would have been different narrators, rather than just one. I love the thought that stories and characters have their own lives, even before an author writes them or puts them together. When stories and characters want to speak or when they want to be buried. I loved the multicultural perspective as well. I'd put this in the magical realism genre which is one I am getting into more.
“More: A Memoir of Open Marriage" by Molly Roden Winter
3 stars
Wow, so much to think about when reading this book, it brought up a lot of questions for me. As a child of divorce, I have often thought marriage is a weird institution. How could one person ever be married to just one person for their entire lives, especially as people are living longer? And why do we put marriage on a pedestal as the most important relationship when friendship is also so important? Marriage also has double standards for men and women, especially in terms of sexual expression. In this memoir, Winter challenges what we think of as a "normal" marriage. Because really, what's "normal" for one couple could be very different for another. I appreciate her candor in shedding light on an alternative marriage arrangement. Although I found her husband a little creepy and was bothered with gender stereotypes, this book reminds us that we never really know someone else's marriage and what goes on behind closed doors.
"The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness and the Making of Modern Sports" by Michael Waters
4 stars
Talk about the right book at the right time. I got this from the library just as the Olympics were starting. It’s wild to think how much the games have evolved and yet the same issues that popped up 90 years ago are still present. The Olympics stand as a mirror to the social and political situations around us. The intersection of political unrest, gender and sports….wow so much to explore. Particularly interesting are how men try to govern female athletes' bodies and how Nazi politics impacts the games. This is a deeply research book into seldom-heard stories.
Monthly book total: 7
Annual book total: 35