Book Report

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

 Not Too Late by Gwendolyn Bounds – Picked this one up at the local indie bookstore (the one that is CLOSING!! So sad) and decided to give it a try. The author is a corporate exec who turns 45 and feels an itch to do more and decides to start training for lots of really hard physical stuff like Spartan races, which sound like grueling torture. She faces lots of setbacks and health scares but she keeps going, entering race after race and often coming in top 3. (She also happens to have a wife, which I didn’t know when I picked up the book). Even though I think that training to run races in a desert at age 51 is somewhat insane, this was a very engaging read. Grade: 8

 

Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult by Michelle Dowd – Listened to it on audio. The author was raised in a cult; not The Family but kinda similar to it, called The Field. Right-wing Christian shit where the females are abused and taught to be submissive, though this one has the cool extra twist that they live on a mountain (in Northern CA I think) and the author’s mom teaches her all sorts useful things about foraging and surviving on a mountain. And the same mom looks the other way as horrific abuse happens, and doesn’t visit her daughter when she has to stay in a hospital for months. Please can stupid idiots who join cults and who don’t want to love their children please just stop having fucking children?? Well, a review says this is a “fierce and empowering coming of age story”, and I agree. Grade: 8

 

These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere – Oh how I wanted to enjoy this novel! Taking place in modern Cameroon, the book’s main character is a lesbian who has to live in the closet and who has lost the love of her life. There’s a great storyline in here but it all unfolds slowly and I had to force myself to pick the book up. Grade: 3

 

The House With the Golden Door by Elodie Harper – Book two of a trilogy taking place in ancient Rome, starring a (formerly) enslaved woman named Amara who is just trying to survive. I don’t think anyone reading this report will ever read these books, but I’ll still avoid spoilers. This is SUCH GOOD historical fiction! It’s a page-turner and it’s well-researched, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the third book. Grade: 8

 

Wavewalker by Suzanne Heywood – A long memoir that I read in a few days. The author’s parents decided, when she was 7 years old, to sail around the world. So Suzanne spent 10 years on her parents’ boat. They mostly sailed around the South Pacific, her dad did stupid things and lost money, her mom was a cold-hearted jerk who viewed Suzanne as a servant. I was infuriated reading this: the parents had no interest in their kids’ schooling or social lives or anything. The mom in particular was horrible and needs to be tossed over the side of a boat. In any case the story is absolutely enthralling, and at least it has a happy ending though Suzanne had to fight tooth and nail to even get to somewhere where she could occasionally mail her correspondence courses. Grade: 8

 Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko - It’s not the kind of book you read cover to cover but I will include it here because it’s good. It’s a workbook with tons and tons of ideas on creativity, especially as it applies to work problems that you want to find a solution to. The book is dated (one section references using “a computer with a modem” lol) but there are so many suggestions and things to try when you need to problem-solve or need a dose of creativity, and I actually pulled a few for an actual work project, and….they worked! So I am keeping it. We do need to employ more creative problem-solving techniques in the business world – that’s for sure. Grade: 8