The Address Book by Dierdre Mask
When Deirdre Mask was living in Ireland she wanted to send a letter home to her family in North Carolina. When she was affixing the stamp she started to wonder about the postage and how it's possible to pay such a small fee and have your letter delivered across the world. That led to some Google searching and her stumbling upon the Addressing the World initiative that is working to help map and address homes around the world. That then led Mask to go down the rabbit hole of addresses and what they can mean for people, why street names and numbers matter (and what they also say about wealth, race, and class), and how different cultures view neighborhoods, streets, and what constitutes a home or address. While I did find the book interesting it was a little all over the place and often the chapters delved very deeply into history when it didn't always seem necessary (to me anyway). There was a LOT of interesting and unique information though. A few new things I learned - how often street names are changed (around the world and in the US), that in New York it's possible to buy "vanity addresses," and how a language reads often influences how that culture views neighborhoods and addresses (English speakers/readers vs. Japanese speakers/readers). An interesting book that gets a little too bogged down in details and history.
Some quotes I liked:
"China has used street names as a tool to keep ethnic minority regions in check, as political scientist Jonathan Hassid has described. You would expect place that have their own languages and cultures to have more variation in street names, but Hassid found that the opposite is largely true; areas with a higher concentration of ethnic minorities largely have streets that sound more like those in Beijing than other areas. Street names became one more tool to keep the locals under control." (p. 152-53)
"The more I read about German street names, the more I came across this word...Vergangenheitsbewaltigung. It's made up of two ideas - 'the past' and 'the process of coming to terms or coping.' It's a word that is very German, and it often used to describe the nation's reckoning with its Nazi past and the German division during the Cold War. But its meaning is universal. We all have the need to confront the past, memorialize it, struggle with it, do something with it. That something often involves street names." (p. 172)
"The growth of the Civil War monuments peaked twice: first, in the early twentieth century, when Jim Crow laws were being made, and then again in the 1950s and '60s when the laws were being challenged." (p. 185)
"As I write, the St. Louis suburb of Ladue, which is 87 percent white, has a median household income of $203,250. About seven miles away, the zip code around MLK Drive is 94 percent black, and the neighborhood's median income is about $27,608." (p. 198)
Some quotes I liked:
"China has used street names as a tool to keep ethnic minority regions in check, as political scientist Jonathan Hassid has described. You would expect place that have their own languages and cultures to have more variation in street names, but Hassid found that the opposite is largely true; areas with a higher concentration of ethnic minorities largely have streets that sound more like those in Beijing than other areas. Street names became one more tool to keep the locals under control." (p. 152-53)
"The more I read about German street names, the more I came across this word...Vergangenheitsbewaltigung. It's made up of two ideas - 'the past' and 'the process of coming to terms or coping.' It's a word that is very German, and it often used to describe the nation's reckoning with its Nazi past and the German division during the Cold War. But its meaning is universal. We all have the need to confront the past, memorialize it, struggle with it, do something with it. That something often involves street names." (p. 172)
"The growth of the Civil War monuments peaked twice: first, in the early twentieth century, when Jim Crow laws were being made, and then again in the 1950s and '60s when the laws were being challenged." (p. 185)
"As I write, the St. Louis suburb of Ladue, which is 87 percent white, has a median household income of $203,250. About seven miles away, the zip code around MLK Drive is 94 percent black, and the neighborhood's median income is about $27,608." (p. 198)
Taste: my life through food by Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci grew up in New York in an Italian family where food was love. And he got a LOT of love growing up. His childhood is where his love of food started and it's only grown from there. As an actor he began to look for ways to combine his acting with food -whether movies or his PBS series "Searching for Italy." A few years before COVID struck Tucci was diagnosed with a rare mouth cancer and while he survived it was a rough treatment and recovery. He couldn't eat during the treatment and had to have a feeding tube. And when he could start eating again he had to be very careful and couldn't eat anything and everything like before. Now he is back to normal, but I think that experience really highlighted how important food is for him - not just eating (everyone has to eat), but cooking, planning meals, enjoying food with family and friends, etc. The majority of the book is not about his cancer diagnosis, but more a collection of food related memories and experiences that shaped him. Was it the most amazing book ever written? No. But, it was a fun, food-filled memoir that also includes lots of family recipes. And if this book doesn't make you want to eat or cook then something is wrong with you.
A quote I liked:
"There have been two rather strange beneficial effects from the radiation treatments, neither of which I anticipated. One is an increased metabolism. I already had a very fast metabolism, yet now mine could keep pace with that of my eighteen-year-old self. The other is any food allergies I had, such as intolerance to dairy, sugar, and at times gluten, have basically disappeared. I have been told that because I didn't really eat for so long my system 'reset,' as it were." (p. 276)
A quote I liked:
"There have been two rather strange beneficial effects from the radiation treatments, neither of which I anticipated. One is an increased metabolism. I already had a very fast metabolism, yet now mine could keep pace with that of my eighteen-year-old self. The other is any food allergies I had, such as intolerance to dairy, sugar, and at times gluten, have basically disappeared. I have been told that because I didn't really eat for so long my system 'reset,' as it were." (p. 276)
Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad (Books & Banter book club)
Suleika Jaouad was just starting her "real life" after college. She'd just moved to Paris and had fallen in love with Will who moved to Paris to be with her. But, even before the move she'd been feeling run down and that only got worse in Paris. Eventually she was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia with only a 35% survival rate. She had to move back home with her parents and spent the next three and a half years literally fighting for her life. Once she was "cured" however, she felt lost. While she was sick there were different emotional struggles, but there was still the regime of treatment. Now she had to figure out who she was now and who she wanted to be. When she was sick she started writing columns for the New York Times and connected with people all over the country. So, once she was well enough she decided to take a 100 day road trip to connect with the people she had met online or through her articles. This 100 days turns out to be a different kind of healing process for Jaouad.
I was looking forward to reading this even though I knew it might be a tough book. But, honestly it was REALLY depressing. As several reviews I read mentioned, Jaouad is extremely privileged (which she does recognize), yet also seems somehow mad about her privilege and at her family and boyfriend who drop their lives to help her for several years. There aren't many people who would have stepped up like Will did especially after only dating for 6 months. She COMPLETELY took him for granted and expected him to behave like a long-time spouse. It took her a really long time to realize how badly she'd treated him and not just focus on the fact that he left her. I thought once she was better the book would get better, but it doesn't really. It's just a sad, depressing book and while it's well-written I didn't really enjoy it much. I bumped it up to three stars because the writing was really good. Overall, I didn't love it.
Some quote I did like:
"I understood now why so many writers and artists, while in the thick of illness, became memoirists. It provided a sense of control, a way to reshape your circumstances on your own terms, in your own words." (p. 107)
"After three and a half years, I am officially done with cancer - more than four years, if you start with the itch. I thought I'd feel victorious when I reached this moment - I thought I'd want to celebrate. But instead, it feels like the beginning of a new kind of reckoning. I've spent the past fifteen hundred days working tirelessly toward a single goal - survival. And now that I've survived, I'm realizing I don't know how to live." (p. 211)
"Trauma has a way of dividing you view of the world into two camps: those who get it and those who don't." (p. 271)
"I used to think healing meant ridding your body and the heart of anything that hurt. It meant putting your pain behind you, leaving it in the past. But I'm learning that's not how it works. Healing is figuring out how to coexist with the pain that will always live inside of you, without pretending it isn't there or allowing it to hijack your day. It is learning to confront ghosts and to carry what lingers. It is learning to embrace the people I love now instead of protecting against a future in which I am gutted by their loss." (p. 312)
I was looking forward to reading this even though I knew it might be a tough book. But, honestly it was REALLY depressing. As several reviews I read mentioned, Jaouad is extremely privileged (which she does recognize), yet also seems somehow mad about her privilege and at her family and boyfriend who drop their lives to help her for several years. There aren't many people who would have stepped up like Will did especially after only dating for 6 months. She COMPLETELY took him for granted and expected him to behave like a long-time spouse. It took her a really long time to realize how badly she'd treated him and not just focus on the fact that he left her. I thought once she was better the book would get better, but it doesn't really. It's just a sad, depressing book and while it's well-written I didn't really enjoy it much. I bumped it up to three stars because the writing was really good. Overall, I didn't love it.
Some quote I did like:
"I understood now why so many writers and artists, while in the thick of illness, became memoirists. It provided a sense of control, a way to reshape your circumstances on your own terms, in your own words." (p. 107)
"After three and a half years, I am officially done with cancer - more than four years, if you start with the itch. I thought I'd feel victorious when I reached this moment - I thought I'd want to celebrate. But instead, it feels like the beginning of a new kind of reckoning. I've spent the past fifteen hundred days working tirelessly toward a single goal - survival. And now that I've survived, I'm realizing I don't know how to live." (p. 211)
"Trauma has a way of dividing you view of the world into two camps: those who get it and those who don't." (p. 271)
"I used to think healing meant ridding your body and the heart of anything that hurt. It meant putting your pain behind you, leaving it in the past. But I'm learning that's not how it works. Healing is figuring out how to coexist with the pain that will always live inside of you, without pretending it isn't there or allowing it to hijack your day. It is learning to confront ghosts and to carry what lingers. It is learning to embrace the people I love now instead of protecting against a future in which I am gutted by their loss." (p. 312)
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Michelle Zauner grows up in a small town in Oregon. She always felt out of place as half-Korean in a small, mostly white town. She finds an outlet in music, but her mother doesn't really approve and wants her to go to college and find a real career. Zauner has a complicated relationship with her mother, but of course loves her and fondly remembers their annual summer trips back to Korea. When Zauner is 25 her mother is diagnosed with cancer so she moves back home to help care for her. While dealing with her mother's illness Zauner reconnects more with her Korean roots and is drawn to learn how to cook all the Korean food she grew up eating. When her mother passes away food is what continues to connect Zauner with her father as they sort through their grief together. It's a sad, yet hopeful at the end book. The main irony being that after her mother's death Zauner records an album of songs about her mother and then plans to quit music and find a "real career." But, that album is what kickstarts her music career that is able to support both her and her husband in the band Japanese Breakfast.
I wasn't familiar with Zauner or Japanese Breakfast before this book, but picked it up based on some friends suggestions and the good reviews I'd heard. I didn't love it because it's pretty sad overall. But, it's well written and I really liked how Zauner focused on continuing to connect with her mother through their shared love of food.
A quote I liked:
"Neither one of my parents graduated from college. I was not raised in a household with many books or records. I was not exposed to fine arts at a young age or taken to museums or plays at established cultural institutions...But my parents were worldly in their own ways. They had seen much of the world and had tasted what it had to offer. What they lacked in high culture, they made up for by spending their hard-earned money on the finest of delicacies. My childhood was rich in flavor - blood sausage, fish intestines, caviar. They loved good food, to make it, to seek it, to share it, and I was an honorary guest at their table." (p. 23)
I wasn't familiar with Zauner or Japanese Breakfast before this book, but picked it up based on some friends suggestions and the good reviews I'd heard. I didn't love it because it's pretty sad overall. But, it's well written and I really liked how Zauner focused on continuing to connect with her mother through their shared love of food.
A quote I liked:
"Neither one of my parents graduated from college. I was not raised in a household with many books or records. I was not exposed to fine arts at a young age or taken to museums or plays at established cultural institutions...But my parents were worldly in their own ways. They had seen much of the world and had tasted what it had to offer. What they lacked in high culture, they made up for by spending their hard-earned money on the finest of delicacies. My childhood was rich in flavor - blood sausage, fish intestines, caviar. They loved good food, to make it, to seek it, to share it, and I was an honorary guest at their table." (p. 23)
The Power of Fun: how to feel alive again by Catherine Price
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this one, but I put in on hold through my library based on the title. As I've gotten older I feel like I struggle to have fun and tend to let chores take over my free time. So, I thought this might be helpful to motivate me to find more fun in my life. The first section of the book is mostly about how smartphones are ruining people/things/etc. Her previous book is How to Break Up With Your Phone so that makes sense and mindless scrolling on social media is what the author deems "fake fun." It seems fun/relaxing, but really it's not good for us at all. The second part of the book spells out her SPARK fun philosophy - Make Space, Pursue Passions, Attract Fun, Rebel, and Keep At It. While she had some good ideas the majority of the book seemed to focus on continuing to break up with your phone and keeping a fun journal. I get the idea behind the journal and trying to figure out what made fun times you've had in the past actually fun and then trying to find ways to replicate that now, but it seemed super un-fun to have to do all this work on the front end. The book overall also kind of made me feel bad about myself (even though she constantly says not to be hard on yourself) for my lack of fun. Overall, I didn't love it. I initially thought I might like to read her prior book, but but now I'm not sure. Several reviews I read said this book seems to be a recap so maybe I already got the gist of that one too now.
Some quotes I liked:
"In a 2017 cover story in The Atlantic titled 'Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?' psychology professor Jean Twenge made this point when she wrote that 'it's not an exaggeration to describe [the generation that has grown up with smartphones] as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.'" (p. 53)
"Before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the average adult was spending upward of four hours a day on their phone, and for many of us, the number is now even higher. Four hours a day adds up to nearly sixty full days a year. It's nine months' worth of forty-hour work weeks. It's a quarter of our waking lives. And that's just our phones. Add in our tablets and televisions, our computers and videogame consoles, and I think it's safe to say that many people are now spending most of their waking lives staring at screens. Yes, obviously some of this is necessary for work. But think about it: How much time each day, if you're being honest with yourself, do you actually spend on your hobbies or with your partner, family, or friends, in person? Even if you add them all up, does it come anywhere close to four hours - let alone the total time you spend on all screens?" (p. 58-9)
Some quotes I liked:
"In a 2017 cover story in The Atlantic titled 'Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?' psychology professor Jean Twenge made this point when she wrote that 'it's not an exaggeration to describe [the generation that has grown up with smartphones] as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.'" (p. 53)
"Before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the average adult was spending upward of four hours a day on their phone, and for many of us, the number is now even higher. Four hours a day adds up to nearly sixty full days a year. It's nine months' worth of forty-hour work weeks. It's a quarter of our waking lives. And that's just our phones. Add in our tablets and televisions, our computers and videogame consoles, and I think it's safe to say that many people are now spending most of their waking lives staring at screens. Yes, obviously some of this is necessary for work. But think about it: How much time each day, if you're being honest with yourself, do you actually spend on your hobbies or with your partner, family, or friends, in person? Even if you add them all up, does it come anywhere close to four hours - let alone the total time you spend on all screens?" (p. 58-9)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Evening Edition book club)
The Vignes twins grow up in a small Louisiana town called Mallard. Desiree and Stella look identical, but their personalities are very different. Mallard was founded by an interracial man who wanted to create a town for light-skinned African-American people and so that became what Mallard was known for. The twins decide to run away together to New Orleans when they are sixteen. While there Stella ends up being mistaken for white at a job interview and takes it because she can make better money. She doesn't intend to "pass" as white forever, but when she falls in love with her boss who only knows her as white she marries him and keeps that identity. But, the cost of that is her relationship with her sister and mother. Years later, fleeing an abusive relationship Desiree comes back to Mallard with her daughter and is constantly reminded of her missing sister. Eventually Desiree's daughter Jude and Stella's daughter Kennedy cross paths and begin to reconnect these two sisters very different lives.
I didn't have any expectations going into this one and I did like the book overall. It's well written and unique. But, I read several reviews that said that they felt like the characters weren't fully developed and I agree with that. I feel like a lot was left hanging with all the characters. I didn't fully realize it when I was reading it, but several reviews said that they felt the author was trying to compare Stella "passing" as white to Reece "passing" as a man. I just felt like Reece's character was odd overall because for that time period I don't think his relationship with Jude would have happened, much less lasted for years and years. That part to me felt forced into that time period because it's such a hot topic today. I do wish there had been more especially from Stella's perspective and I'd love to know if she stays in her marriage or not. I can't imagine living that kind of lie your whole life. Overall, I liked it but didn't think it was amazing.
Some quotes I liked:
[On the twins father being lynched] "'White folks kill you if you want too much, kill you if you want too little.' Willie Lee shook his head, packing tobacco into his pipe. 'You gotta follow they rules but they change 'em when they feel. Devilish, you ask me.'...But even here, where nobody married dark, you were still colored and that meant that white men could kill you for refusing to die." (p. 35)
"Sometimes she wondered if Miss Vignes was a separate person altogether. Maybe she wasn't a mask that Stella put on. Maybe Miss Vignes was already a part of her, as if she had been split in half. She could become whichever woman she decided, whichever side of her face she tilted to the light." (p. 188-89)
I didn't have any expectations going into this one and I did like the book overall. It's well written and unique. But, I read several reviews that said that they felt like the characters weren't fully developed and I agree with that. I feel like a lot was left hanging with all the characters. I didn't fully realize it when I was reading it, but several reviews said that they felt the author was trying to compare Stella "passing" as white to Reece "passing" as a man. I just felt like Reece's character was odd overall because for that time period I don't think his relationship with Jude would have happened, much less lasted for years and years. That part to me felt forced into that time period because it's such a hot topic today. I do wish there had been more especially from Stella's perspective and I'd love to know if she stays in her marriage or not. I can't imagine living that kind of lie your whole life. Overall, I liked it but didn't think it was amazing.
Some quotes I liked:
[On the twins father being lynched] "'White folks kill you if you want too much, kill you if you want too little.' Willie Lee shook his head, packing tobacco into his pipe. 'You gotta follow they rules but they change 'em when they feel. Devilish, you ask me.'...But even here, where nobody married dark, you were still colored and that meant that white men could kill you for refusing to die." (p. 35)
"Sometimes she wondered if Miss Vignes was a separate person altogether. Maybe she wasn't a mask that Stella put on. Maybe Miss Vignes was already a part of her, as if she had been split in half. She could become whichever woman she decided, whichever side of her face she tilted to the light." (p. 188-89)
I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet by Shauna Niequist
I love Shauna Niequist and was excited to read her newest book. It did not disappoint. As in her previous books this is a collection of essays about everything from aging to the stress of moving to disconstructing and rebuilding your faith. The title comes from her family's move from the Chicago suburbs to New York City. Everything was new and their family slogan became I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet because they were constantly learning the "New York way" to do things they thought they already knew. But, obviously that phrase could cover a lot of things in our lives. I love how honest and open Niequist is with her own struggles because as she says when you're going through something hard you always feel like you're the only one. In all her books she is saying "me too" and opening the door to talk about hard things. Another great book from a wonderful writer!
A quote I really liked:
"Prayer is like yoga for our insides. My number one favorite kind of yoga is the kind that's mostly breathing and lying down. But my second favorite kind is when you're in a pose that's really demanding, and just for a few seconds you trust your body and you trust your breath and your body becomes able in that moment to do things it wasn't able to do before. It's an amazing feeling. This is the sacred, interior version of that." (p. 110)
A quote I really liked:
"Prayer is like yoga for our insides. My number one favorite kind of yoga is the kind that's mostly breathing and lying down. But my second favorite kind is when you're in a pose that's really demanding, and just for a few seconds you trust your body and you trust your breath and your body becomes able in that moment to do things it wasn't able to do before. It's an amazing feeling. This is the sacred, interior version of that." (p. 110)
No comments:
Post a Comment