Monday, March 11, 2024

#5 [2024/CBR16] The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of writing partners and best friends, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. I didn't know this book was by a writing team until after I finished, but it sounds like a fun idea. And then you get to do press with your best friend, which would be way more fun than traveling around the country by yourself. Anyway, they wrote The True Love Experiment (2023), a contemporary romance novel about a reality television dating show. Now, my husband and I have been a little bit obsessed/frustrated with Love is Blind, so we are very up-to-date on reality dating shows. I thought it would be fun to read about one where love really wins out in the end. 

Fizzy Chen is a romance author who played the role of best friend in The Soulmate Equation (which I haven't read yet, but looks interesting). And now she has her own story. Fizzy is 37 years old and a successful romance author, but she's found herself in a slump. She has extreme writer's block, and hasn't had sex in over a year (which is very unusual for her). 

But then Connor Prince decides that Fizzy should headline his new reality dating show. Fizzy finds Connor intriguing, and decides that the dating show might be a fun idea. Fizzy and eight men will use a new DNA dating match app that Fizzy's best friend developed (and is the subject of Lauren's previous book). Fizzy will go on dates with them, and the audience will vote out two men each week. In the end, the audience will choose a winner. Then the DNA dating app info will be revealed, and everyone can see whether the audience did as well or better than the DNA dating app.

The main problem is that Fizzy is more attracted to Connor than any of her potential suitors on the show. She tries to squash her feelings because she doesn't want to ruin the show and/or get Connor in trouble. But both of them are having a hard time staying away from each other.

On the whole, this was a fun novel. I liked the two main characters, and I felt some emotions as I read. Although there were times, when I felt the authors were reaching a little for plot purposes, I enjoyed this one. I have so many other books to read, but I might go back and read the earlier novel as well.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

#4 [2024/CBR16] The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell

I generally avoid books on climate change because they scare the shit out of me. There's nothing like reading for hours about how we're mindlessly ruining our only planet to bring out maximum anxiety and helplessness. I'm always left with a deep urge to do something, and feeling that it's all out of my hands anyway. But I also don't like to be ignorant, so when I saw The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet (2023) by Jeff Goodell on NPR's "Books we Love" list, I figured it was time for me to face the mess we've made of this planet.

I listened to this on Audiobook, and I found it both interesting and informative. It wasn't exactly what I expected. There was plenty of information on climate change, how much we need to change our habits, and how late we are to the game in terms of actually making a difference. However, it did not go too much detail on fossil fuels, how much we are burning, and how badly we need to stop; that's more of a given. Instead, there are a lot of in-depth stories of people suffering from the heat we already have, and even personal stories of the author's travel near the Arctic. 

The book begins with the tragic deaths of a couple, their toddler, and their dog from heat exposure while on a hike in California. I remembered reading about this in the news because it was initially a mystery as to what killed them. Goodell goes into great detail of the family's plans for the day and what happened to them. And even though these deaths may or may not have been specifically caused by climate change, it does viscerally show how quickly heat can turn a fun, active day into an unexpected disaster. The author even details how he overheated while hiking in South America. It came on so fast, and he didn't realize how serious it was until it was over. It's a scary and dangerous thing.

In a long section on air conditioning, Goodell delves into the history of air conditioning, where it began, how it spread, and how it changed building styles. As we deal with higher and higher temperatures, more air conditioning just compounds the greenhouse gas problem as we burn more fuels to stay cooler. And because many buildings today were made for air conditioning, they are especially bad about using shade and breezes to naturally cool down.

Air conditioning is a nice segue into the problem with cities. Cities get significantly hotter than surrounding rural areas because of all the asphalt and lack of trees. Goodell discusses the heat wave in France that killed thousands of people. Paris was a city that was built in cooler temperatures, and the zinc, uninsulated roofs, make the upper apartments near death traps during heat waves. But all cities will have to deal with the heat. More trees, painting roofs and streets white, and other solutions have started being implemented in some cities, but you need money and political capital for that kind of thing.

One interesting discussion was about a woman who has created a model that can take natural disasters that occur now, and see if they were more likely to have occurred because of climate change. It is a way to more clearly see the effects of climate change and possibly even point a finger at those who are responsible.

This book mentions again and again how it is the poor who will suffer the most from climate change. The ones with means will be able to move, will be able to cool themselves, and be able to afford the higher cost of food and other essentials. The Heat Will Kill You First has accepted that we are now dealing with climate change, and is now focused on living with it.

So, did this book scare the shit out of me? Yes. But it was interspersed with a lot of detail and stories that occasionally took me out of "panic" mode. The author himself ends the book on a relatively positive note--saying that he has been inspired by all the smart, talented people working on this problem.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

#3 [2024/CBR16] Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

I was seeing Fourth Wing (2023) by Rebecca Yarros all over the place, including NPR's Best Books List. Fantasy is not a go-to genre for me, but I was starting to get some FOMO and decided I needed to see for myself. Fourth Wing is the first book in a planned series of five. Right now, only the first two books have been published. 

I wasn't sure if I would like it when I started, and there were a couple of scenes in the beginning that had me rolling my eyes. However, it didn't take too long for me to get sucked in. I enjoyed the twists in the narrative, and now I'm excited to read the second book. In some ways, this book reminded me of Divergent because you had the different schools/factions, one of which is exceptionally violent. But it also reminded me of Twilight because there is a (kind of annoying) love triangle and the love interest has a ridiculous number of red flags.

Violet lives in the kingdom of Navarre: a place with dragons, magic, and war. Her mother is a very powerful General and her recently deceased father was a Scribe. Violet wanted to follow her father's footsteps and become a Scribe, but her mother forces her into the school for Riders--riders of dragons. This school is very violent and dangerous. Three quarters of the students die their first year. What makes this even harder for Violet, besides the fact that she's been studying for years to be a scribe, is that she has a connective tissue disorder that makes her more vulnerable to injury.

Violet faces many hurdles in school. She meets Jack her first day; he is a psychopath who tries to kill anyone and anything he meets. (This character was ridiculous, and I don't see why the people in charge would even want him in that school.) And then she meets Xaden. Xaden's father was a rebel who was executed by Violet's mother. Xaden is a very powerful third year who has bonded with a huge dragon, and he certainly has reason to hate her.

Violet becomes friends with Rhiannon, a cool young woman whom she meets the first day. And her childhood friend, Dain, is a second year who does his best to help her out. After not falling on the "parapet", surviving deadly sparring games with other students, and making it through the "gauntlet" (literally the Ninja Warrior course on a cliff), Violet makes it to threshing day to see if she will bond with a dragon.

After a cadet bonds with a dragon, they can continue their training. The cadets are able to channel magic from their dragon and each one has a special power--everyone's is different, and they are wide ranging. I thought the expansion of the world with the introduction of the dragons was a very fun part of the book.

I had a good time with this book, and I'm definitely planning on reading the second one. But this was not great literature. There were some glaring plot holes, and the sex scenes felt very generic. I almost felt like I was reading another book when I got to them. In addition, Xaden is everything you don't want in a love interest, but Violet cannot help her attraction to him. It's not exactly an example of a healthy relationship.

This book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I was a little frustrated because I was thinking I was finally going to get some answers and then it ended! I'll definitely be reading the second book--after a little break.

Saturday, January 13, 2024

#2 [2024/CBR16] The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I saw The Midnight Library (2020) on a random book list that popped up on my phone. It was a list of ten books that the author wished they could read again for the first time. I liked the idea of this list, and I liked some of the books on it. In addition, the premise of this novel sucked me right in. Somewhere, there is a library of books that holds every possible life you could have lived. I've spent many moments of my life wondering what it would be like if I'd made different choices--and wondering if I made the right choice--so I was very curious about this novel.

The book begins with one of my favorite quotes from The Bell Jar:

        "I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life."   --Sylvia Plath

We meet Nora Seed in the beginning of the book, and things are not going well. She is alone and miserable. Her parents are dead, she hasn't talked to her brother in years, she gets fired from her dead-end job, and then she finds out that her cat has died. Nora does not want to live anymore, so she writes a note and takes a bottle of pills.

When she wakes up, she's in a weird, endless library. The only other person there is her old school librarian. The librarian informs Nora that this is her chance to see all the other lives that she could have lived. At this point, all Nora wants to do is die, but she picks up her Book of Regrets and sees everything she wishes she had done with her life.

Nora's first three or four lives hit her biggest regrets. She wanted to know what would have happened if she hadn't quit swimming, if she hadn't broken off the engagement with her fiancĂ©, if she hadn't quit the band, and if she'd become a glaciologist. And it turned out that even though Nora may have been more "successful" in some of these lives, she wasn't much happier. 

The book continues through countless lives until Nora finds one that feels almost perfect. She learns a lot about herself, what she wants in life, and how she can obtain it:

        "Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savor the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum."

I liked the idea of this book and what it stood for. I feel like it did make me more comfortable with some of my regrets or "what if's" I've had in my life. But I also wasn't enamored with reading about Nora's many lives. Her first couple of lives satisfied my curiosity, and then I got a little bored. In addition, I tend to avoid books that deal with suicide, and I didn't realize that suicide was a major plot point in this novel until I began reading. On the whole, I'm glad I read it, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Monday, January 8, 2024

#1 [2024/CBR16] The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (and Sam Lansky)

Britney Spears is only two years younger than me, so we grew up in the same era. I never followed her too closely, but I remember her famous music videos, dancing with the snake in the VMA's, and her dating Justin Timberlake. I also remember the paparazzi hounding her when she had her baby, when she shaved her head, and when she was taken out of her home on a gurney.

The public, on the whole, seemed to delight in the "downfall" of Britney Spears. Looking back, the entire circus was ridiculously sexist and misogynistic. But at the time, all I remember thinking was, "Oh, she's losing it. That Mickey Mouse Club totally messes kids up." I know people are attacking Diane Sawyer for her ridiculous questions towards Spears now, but at the time, Sawyer was asking what everyone wanted to know. Spears' team didn't try to protect her, and I don't remember anyone calling out Sawyer at the time.

I'd never heard Britney Spears's side of the story. I did not even know that she was in a conservatorship--let alone for thirteen years--until recently when it all became news. Spears tells a story of an alcoholic father who took control of her life when she was vulnerable in order for him to make money. Her entire family has been unsupportive for what sounds like her entire life. In fact, it seems everyone around Spears did their best to make themselves money with no concern for her wellbeing. 

I did not know everything Spears was going through at the time. Justin Timberlake encouraged Spears to have an abortion and then dumped her only a couple of months later. Then he blamed the breakup on her cheating on him and turned her into the scapegoat. According to Spears, Timberlake cheated on her a number of times during their relationship, and she made out with one person. Then Spears has two kids in two years, her husband leaves her, and in the middle of her postpartum depression, she isn't allowed to see her kids. Her response is understandable. But instead of anyone helping her, she is hounded everywhere, and her family moves to secure her body and money.

I couldn't help but compare Britney Spears and Taylor Swift as I read this book. They're both famous, female artists who have had negative press and sexist assumptions made against them. They've both made comments that they've always tried to be "nice" and come across as "nice." I think the most obvious difference between the two, though, is that Taylor Swift seems to have loving, supportive parents. 

I also kept thinking of The School For Good Mothers as I read about Britney Spears trying to play the game in order to spend time with her children. The promise of her kids was dangled in front of her in order to keep her under control while she was also constantly shamed for her perceived wrongs. 

Michelle Williams did a very good job in reading this audiobook, and I am glad I was able to hear Britney Spears's side of her story. However, it did feel like something of a work in progress. There was not much detail about what actually happened. I wanted to know how Britney Spears lost custody of her kids in the first place. I assume it was all the "partying" the paparazzi was capturing? But did she have a bad lawyer? Was everyone making assumptions about her based on the paparazzi photos? Even if there were concerns about her, why wouldn't there be visits?

In addition, I didn't feel like I got a good idea of what her life was like under the conservatorship. There were certainly infuriating details, but I didn't get a good idea of what powers she had and how it may have changed throughout the thirteen years of her conservatorship. It does seem like she has had, and may continue to have, struggles with mental illness. And she did go to therapists. Were they helpful at all? Or because she was forced into it and the therapists were hired and directed by her father, did they do more harm than good? How does she feel now? Is she in therapy now? Or is she turned off by therapy after being basically involuntarily committed.

I have heard that Spears is getting divorced from the man she was married to while writing this book. It is probably a hard time for her, and I wish her the best. She bore the brunt of a lot of unfair and sexist attitudes. I think society has improved, at least incrementally, since then, but this book is a reminder that there are real people with real suffering behind our misconceptions and assumptions.

Monday, January 1, 2024

2023 in Review

I'm trying not to procrastinate this year, so I'm getting right to my year in review. I've been distracted with many things this year. I'm still reading a lot, but I have been listening to more Audiobooks this year. I need simple, straightforward books if I'm listening to them, so I think this has led to me reading more non-fiction and memoirs than I otherwise might.

Total # of books: 58

Fiction: 32                       

Non-Fiction: 26


Women Authors: 40

Men Authors: 18


Non-Fiction by Women: 13

Non-fiction by Men: 13


Total Romance Novels: 11


Favorite Fiction:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Demon Copperhead by Barbra Kingsolver

The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan


Favorite Non-Fiction

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken


Saturday, December 30, 2023

#58 [2023/CBR15] Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (Audio version)

I read Born a Crime (2016) by Trevor Noah back in 2017, and it was one of my favorite books of the year. I was already impressed by Noah from watching him on The Daily Show, but I had no idea what his early life was like. I am also impressed by Noah's ability to see both sides of an issue and understand other points of view.

I rarely reread books, but I'd heard that Trevor Noah did a very good job reading his audiobook, and I was interested in revisiting it. However, my library never carried the Audiobook, so it wasn't until I got an Audible subscription that I decided it was time.

And Noah did a fantastic job reading his book. He is great at accents and languages, and he hits them all perfectly. I thought I still remembered a lot about this book from when I read it the first time, but there were still bits I'd forgotten. I clearly remembered his discussions about Apartheid and how he was "born a crime" because his mother was black and his father was white. His mother had to pretend Trevor was not her son when they were in public. I also remembered Trevor's abusive step dad and how much he terrorized Trevor, and especially his mother. Finally, I also remembered Trevor's dancing friend, Hitler, and how much unintentional upset that caused at a Jewish school.

One part of the book that I'd forgotten was Trevor's discussion of Alexandra, when he lived there after school. He couldn't live with his dangerous stepfather anymore and moved out, hustling and selling music to make money. But he described it as working your ass off but never getting anywhere. No matter how successful you were, Alexandra would always drag you down. After a couple of bad encounters with the police, he moved away.

The part of the book that stuck with me the most this time was Trevor Noah's mother and how she could do nothing about the violence she suffered from at the hands of her [ex]husband. She went to the police multiple times and they never did anything. He attacked her with a bicycle, and the police didn't do anything. Finally, after divorcing him and trying to move on, he shoots her in the head. And he doesn't even get jail time! He still lives in a neighborhood close to Noah's mother. At the time, Noah was frustrated with his mother for not leaving him sooner, but he has a much greater understanding of domestic violence now. He sees that his mother was in a societal trap that was almost impossible to get out of.

Trevor's discussion of Apartheid and racism as well as how his mother was a brave, uncompromising woman who raised her son to escape any human-set boundaries is eye-opening and important reading. Highly, highly recommended if you've somehow missed it.