stormkeeper_lovedoris

The Natural Mother of the Child by Krys Malcolm Belc – The subtitle is ‘a memoir of nonbinary parenting’. It’s delivered in short, easy to read essays. Belc’s a fine writer and I liked reading what he had to say, but the book isn’t a stunner either. Grade: 6

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Hardcover by Hans Rosling with Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling - The book is just what its title suggests. Wow! Prepare to have your worldview challenged with the power of data and facts, accompanied by useful anecdotes. This book was so good that I can’t do it justice so I’ll just try to hit a highlight or two. Most of us when surveyed believe that the world is far worse off than it actually is, whether it comes to poverty or girls’ education or a host of other issues. Being unaware of the facts renders us way less effective when we want to deal with a situation. (Quick side note on how this book helped me. I’m fandom friends with someone who I’ll refer to as K. We like each other, she has a conservative streak but she’s not some crazy MAGA. I made a remark on the Discord about Europeans having better healthcare, K pushed back saying she’s lived in the Netherlands and seen her friends unable to get basic preventive care. I listened to her and I also wrote words to the effect of ‘let’s look at the facts and data’, and indeed they showed that on almost every measure, Europeans have better healthcare than the US. It sounds obvious but being fresh off the approach of this book helped me react in a positive way, and K seemed to listen to what I had to say). Grade: 9

Growing Up Shaker by Sister Frances A. Carr – Got this memoir from a Little Free Library. The author was raised by the Shakers in the 1930s; apparently they functioned as something of an orphanage and foster home for decades. Carr never shares why her mother placed her and several siblings with the Shakers, but this book covers daily life with the religious group. There is prayer and school and structure and farmwork and sewing. When she comes of age, the author decides to join the Shakers, though interestingly none of her siblings do. I know that it doesn’t make sense to yearn for the past. Maybe we would be better off with less time spent staring at screens when the “fun and exciting” things were picnics or trips to a movie, but let’s never pretend that life 100 years ago was perfect either. In any case, I enjoyed reading this account and it wasn’t boring. Grade: 6

Trashlands by Alison Stine – A post-apocalyptic novel, along the lines of “Station Eleven”. (It probably isn’t fair to keep comparing stuff to Station Eleven and I should stop. I guess I use it to say that the story had emotion and heart to it; it wasn’t just “omg look how bad it is!”) After several global weather disasters and general societal collapse, the people who live in what used to be called Appalachia scrape together a living by scavenging plastic. They try to avoid having their children taken from them to work in plastic-sorting factories or falling into the clutches of men who collect women. The novel follows a small group of characters, mainly a woman named Coral who has lost her son to the factories. The story worked on every level. It was realistic, it had depth, and it made me feel things. Nearly got teary at the end and at how well it all came to fruition. Grade: 8

Without You by Anthony Rapp – A memoir by the actor who was one of the original cast members in Rent and plays Stamets in Star Trek Discovery. It was published about 20 years ago, and it focuses mostly on Rent, Rapp coming out to his mother, and his relationships. Loved the tidbits about the acting business. (He had a small role in a movie called Twister. He spent 3 months on location in Oklahoma but only spent 5 days in front of a camera. It wasn’t fulfilling he said, but he did need the money). I appreciated the way he gently pushed his mom to talk about her feelings about his sexual orientation. (Let’s admit that in my family, we just ignore stuff and don’t talk about it). Full disclosure: I skimmed a lot of this book though. Many segments drag quite a bit. The parts I liked were good, but there was a lot of “meh” in here. Grade: 5

EDIT - I have no idea why some of the author's names link out to Amazon and I'm not even gonna try to fix it