Book Report
Sep. 18th, 2024 07:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedoris
The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris – Although I read this years ago, I got the audio from my library to give it another listen. Obviously politicians write their memoirs to shine the best possible light on themselves, but I gotta say that Kamala is awesome. From the program she founded “Back on Track” (it helps non-violent offenders get their lives back on track instead of just sending them to prison) to her fight for victims of assault to her grilling of Brett Kavanaugh and a hundred other things, Harris really has been fighting the good fight. My only complaint about the book is that it gets into “long and boring” territory when it comes to policy stuff. But I think that’s kinda required for memoirs by people running for office. Grade: 8
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper – I got this from a Little Free Library and it was great! A tale of ancient Rome, told by one who is enslaved. There is female friendship and brutality and intrigue, and it’s a page-turner. And there’s a sequel! Grade: 8
Diary of a Misfit by Casey Parks – The author is a lesbian journalist who grew up in rural Louisiana and has a complicated relationship with her mother. During a visit home, her grandmother tells her about Roy, someone who lived nearby all his life, was kind of a loner, and appears to have been a trans man though he might never have used those words to describe himself so we don’t know for sure. Parks commutes back and forth from Portland to rural Louisiana to uncover what she can about Roy’s life, speaking with people who knew him and trying to track down the journals he reportedly kept. All the while Parks dissects her own complicated family backstory. Although the book started to run out of steam somewhere after the midpoint, it’s still pretty good. Grade: 7
The Sorcerer of Pyongyang by Marcel Theroux – A novel that I listened to on audio, and it’s based on a true story. A young man in North Korea gets his hands on a role-playing fantasy game guide that a tourist leaves behind. With the help of a teacher, he learns how to play it and he eventually brings the game to his friends, but it gets him in trouble. Loved this book all the way, and was really on the edge of my seat during the last CD. Read by the author, and he has a truly lovely voice. Grade: 8
I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt by Madeline Pendleton – Years of book reports and I still don’t know what makes one book bingeable and another book a chore. I craved this book and finished it off in three days, though it’s not short. And I’m not even sure why I loved it so much. Pendleton’s story is much like others that I read: she grows up poor or poorish with parents who are okay but not particularly skilled at parenting and definitely not at financial matters. She struggles financially, somehow juggling college, full-time work much of it gig work, commuting in terrible cars, couch-surfing and staying in crappy apartments with multiple roommates, and starting her own business. Pendleton is never alone, and it’s clear she and her friends find ways to help each other even as they are all living paycheck to paycheck. The book starts with her boyfriend taking his own life because he feels bad that he can’t keep up with the bills. From that opening, Pendleton grounds her book squarely in the evils that capitalism is inflicting on society, and she offers some practical solutions. And….she triumphs. Her business eventually takes off, she has like a dozen employees, they all INCLUDING HER make the same wage and she helps them buy cars and houses, and they all put in just a 4 day workweek. Damn. I loved this book. Grade: 8
no subject
Date: 2024-09-19 09:52 pm (UTC)I've seen the Madeline Pendleton book around, I think. Love that title! I didn't realize it was a success story though. Good for her!
no subject
Date: 2024-09-20 12:00 am (UTC)