Book Report

 

My rating system:
10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite
5 - average for what I read
1 – terrible; why did I finish it?

 

 

Nine Continents by Xiaolu Guo  -  A memoir by the novelist Xiaolu Guo. She was born in 1970’s China. I can’t lie – when written well, memoirs by folks who live (or lived) in China almost always fascinate me. Guo’s story has to be one in a million too. Her parents gave her away as a baby to a childless couple, but the couple had no food so they gave her back shortly afterwards. (Maybe do your research before giving your baby to someone, find out if they’re starving or not? Sorry, I shouldn’t joke about that.) Guo was raised by her grandparents in a remote fishing village, and she didn’t attend school until her parents came back for her (when she was maybe 7 or 8). I won’t go into the rest of her story in case someone wants to read the book; her journey to becoming a published novelist with international success is interesting, though it is a lonely one. Life in China – whether ancient or modern China – is such a bizarre mix of brutality, tradition, shame, fear, with occasional glimpses of beauty.  Grade: 7

 

Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran – Ever want a book to never end? This was soooo good! The book is exactly what its title suggests. Moran describes the process of applying to get into the CIA, the training, and then her 6 years in the field as a spy. Completely fascinating. Oh, and as a fan of Agents of SHIELD, I have to make some comparisons! In Season 1 of SHIELD, Phil Coulson says that choosing this kind of life means you give up holidays with family and PTA meetings, and Moran’s book certainly bears that out.  She and her coworkers basically work all the time, and can’t tell their families or friends what they do. Another interesting thing is that CIA operatives are not referred to as “agents”; that is actually the term they use for the people in other countries who they’re trying to get info from. (Looks like the TV show got that wrong then!) Grade: 9

 

The Pisces by Melissa Broder – A novel that takes place in contemporary times but has an element of fantasy to it. Lucy is pet sitting for her sister in a house by the beach, and she’s fleeing her addiction to bad relationships and trying to find out who she is.  Then she meets a merman. The jacket tells us that the book is funny, strange, original, and sexy. I’d say maybe it’s a little bit of each of those, but it’s also kind of meh. Like you know where it’s going, and most of the time you just don’t care that much – about the characters or the plot. Grade: 5

 

My (Underground) American Dream by Julissa Arce – The subtitle is ‘My true story as an undocumented immigrant who become a Wall Street Executive’. The author’s story certainly is exceptional. I won’t recount it here, other than to say that she worked her butt off while also living in fear because she didn’t have the proper documentation to live in the US. Apart from the whole documented/undocumented issue, I think anyone who wants to look at how to be successful in the business world can learn from Arce. (She put in long hours and worked hard. She was also very extroverted, loved sports, and was able to talk the game of sports to businessmen and go with them to sporting events. It’s a miracle I’ve done as well in my career as I have, given that I’m not extroverted and I hate sports!) As for the book itself, it really hooked me and kept me enthralled during a long flight. There is a bit too much God-talk in here for me, though I am glad Arce’s faith gave her strength. She loves X-men too though, yay! Grade: 8

 

It’s All Politics: Winning in a World Where Talent and Hard Work Aren’t Enough by Kathleen Kelly Reardon – This was a re-read of a book I purchased and read about 10 years ago or so. It’s a basic primer on office politics and how to survive them. I’m lucky that I work in a non-toxic place, so I haven’t had to deal too much with office politics lately. Reardon’s book would be great for anyone who needs some strategies to stay afloat in a workplace that had a politicized office culture. Grade: 8

 

Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan – This is a young-adult novel centered around two teenage girls, their small circle of friends, and their passion for turning their already somewhat-progressive NYC school into a better place, and their fight against racism and sexism. I wrote out a really long list of the pros and cons of this book, but I think that might make for boring reading here. So I’ll just summarize that I disliked the fact that the book contains characters who seem too good to be true, clunky dialog, vegan-bashing, melodrama, and tons of mediocre poetry. But I did like that the book contains a theme of body acceptance, the main characters and their parents act in a way that I wish I had when I was a teen (they support each other! They fight for social justice!), and that despite the book’s flaws I kept on reading. Grade: 3