Category: Our Shared Shelf

Favorite Books in 2019 (so far!)

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, Lists, Memoirs, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction, Our Shared Shelf, TravelLeave a comment

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Somehow it’s autumn, and I don’t know where 2019 went. Or rather, I know where it went, I just don’t want to believe it’s almost over. This year has passed by in a montage of airplane windows, mountain views, sunset walks, 6am meetings, indulgent dinners, countless beers, and yes- a number of books enjoyed from my couch, a park bench, and hotel rooms all over the world. But now it’s fall- my favorite season full of all the best things in life: cozy sweaters, apple cider, pumpkin beer, ankle boots, colorful leaves, and red wine. Keeping in the spirit of all my favorite things, I’m sharing the top ten books that I’ve read so far in 2019 (and a few honorable mentions because I’m incapable of limiting myself).

  1. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

This book was on my radar for a long time, and I finally read it in July. Months later, I still feel haunted by this novel. The story and characters have stayed with me, I can’t shake them from my head. Much of this book took place in the confines of one hotel in Moscow, but the themes and emotions it inspired go far beyond building walls and the pages that contained them.

  1. Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

On a rainy Friday night in March I treated myself to a Bradley Cooper movie marathon, and Silver Linings Playbook was part of the lineup. Watching the movie again reminded me of how much I enjoyed the book, and so I decided to reread it. It’s a beautiful story that explores relationships and mental illness; it’s equal parts endearing, heart-wrenching, and at times comical. Pat, the main character, is so engaging that you can’t help but root for him to succeed, even if you know what he’s doing is ill-fated. (And, of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a certain attractive, blue-eyed actor as the mental image of the main character.)

  1. Red Notice by Bill Browder

Another book that haunted me, but this one is a true story. It’s a combination of high-stakes business, international law, Russian politics, and ultimately the global fight for justice for a man wrongfully imprisoned and killed. The events in this memoir read like a James Bond novel, and it was sobering to remember that it was all real. This was also one of the first nonfiction books that I’ve read that has mainly taken place during my lifetime, and it was disturbing to picture where I was and what I was doing at the time of some of the more horrific events in the book.

  1. Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

This book started out slow for me, but once I was hooked I couldn’t put it down. After an embarrassing first encounter with a crippled girl, a young lieutenant takes pity on her and begins a friendship. She misinterprets his interest as romance, and he plays along to keep her happy and in good health. His actions are kindhearted in intent but cruel in practice, and they get worse as he finds himself more and more entangled with her family. This was a brilliant exploration of compassion and human nature set against the backdrop of pre-World War I Austria-Hungary.

  1. Butterfly by Yusra Mardini

This was a moving memoir, beautiful in its simple and direct style but heartbreaking in the events described. Yusra tells the story of her childhood in Syria, and her dreams of becoming an Olympic swimmer. As she enters her teens she describes the gradual yet devastating way that war took over her normal life, and how her family made the unimaginable decision to flee to Germany. Their journey was difficult, terrifying, exhausting, and very nearly fatal. As Yusra goes on to eventually compete in the 2016 Olympics on the refugee team, she reflects on what it means to be a refugee and have that word thrust upon you by a world that seems determined to use it against you.

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Rereading To Kill a Mockingbird always feels a little bit like going home. I love Scout as a character, she reminds me a little of myself when I was younger. The story is so familiar to me yet it never seems to bore me. Scout’s innocent perspective of a very mature and traumatizing situation not only makes Tom Robinson’s trial more “palatable” to read but it brings out the true injustice and unfairness of the case.

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Blomkvist’s apartment overlooking Gamla Stan in Stockholm
  1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I’ve loved this book since I first read it in 2012, and this year I had the wonderful experience of rereading it while in Stockholm, staying in an Airbnb just a few streets away from Blomkvist’s address! Never having been to Stockholm before I didn’t realize how much of the city makes it into the books, but within a few hours of walking around Södermalm all I wanted to do was read this book and find the real-life locations mentioned throughout. Thanks to my local library and the Libby library app I was able to satisfy this craving and virtually borrow the book from nearly 5000 miles away- technology is great!

  1. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

This is the better, real-life version of Moby Dick. It’s more exciting, less wordy, and based on the disaster of the whale ship Essex that inspired the novel. It’s an amazing tale of survival, and an interesting piece on early American history. I expected it to be dry and boring, but I was captivated. It had my book club talking for months!

  1. Educated by Tara Westover

This was an eye-opening memoir that made me feel truly grateful for my own family, upbringing, and opportunities for education. Growing up off the grid in rural Idaho, Tara Westover didn’t set foot in a classroom until she was seventeen. It was amazing to read of how she came to grips with her family and the unconventional way that she grew up while also accepting that she has every right to the education and accomplishments she has earned thus far in her life.

  1. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

This is unofficial required reading for anyone interested in mountaineering and travel. This is Krakauer’s account of the 1996 disaster on Mt. Everest that claimed eight lives, and until 2014 was the deadliest year on the mountain. I think it’s brilliant how he captured the essence and personalities of his fellow climbers while also showcasing the physical, mental, and emotional toll that summiting Everest entails. It was clear that he was still reeling from the disaster as he wrote the book, and I appreciated his honesty in admitting his mistakes and regrets.

Honorable mentions…

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

This is Angie Kim’s debut novel, and I was very impressed with it. She really brought the characters to life and made them real people with believable thoughts and actions. I can’t say I’m happy with how the novel ended, but I loved the way the story was told.

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick

This was another eye-opener for me. Despite all the CNN that my mom watched when I was a teen, I’m disappointed to admit that I didn’t know a lot of what was discussed in this book. Warrick researches the people and events that led to the founding of ISIS. He highlights decisions and mistakes that were made for the sake of politics- in both the US and Middle East. It’s sad to look at the state of things today and wonder if the situation could be any better if only a few different choices were made.

 

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

On By onehappybookwormIn Memoirs, Nonfiction, Our Shared ShelfLeave a comment

Hunger Makes Me a Modern girl

To be honest, I couldn’t really get into this book. Partly it was because of the subject material, but I think my biggest issue is that I’ve had so much other stuff going on, and my interest just wasn’t there.  As I mentioned in my previous post, my vacation is coming up.  In fact- I leave for New York this afternoon and we fly to London tomorrow!  So needless to say, I’ve been rushing around and doing some last-minute shopping and attempting to pack and prepare for everything.  The trip has been the main thing on my mind, but I’ve also been busy with the young professional networking group I’m a part of, and I’m also trying to line up everything at work while I’m gone.  There were so many points over the past two weeks where I wanted to just stop reading this book and devote my energy to something else, but I promised myself I would finish it before I left.  So I pushed through.

I had never heard of Carrie Brownstein or Sleater-Kinney before, so I really had no idea what I would be reading about when Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl was announced as the July/August book for Our Shared Shelf. Looking back at my progression through music, I think I was too young for the Riot grrrl movement and the whole indie-punk scene in general.  I was around seven years old when I got my first CD, which was the first Backstreet Boys album.  I spent the next few years in the mainstream pop music world, listening to not just Backstreet Boys but NSYNC, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera too (such a diversity).  My older brother might have listened to some punk bands, but his music never made it outside his bedroom or headphones or anywhere that I would be exposed to it.  In my early teens I started gravitating toward more “emo” bands, and the trend stayed throughout high school.  New Found Glory, Dashboard Confessional, Bowling for Soup, and Fall Out Boy were some of my favorites (enough so that I still listen to them today when I’m feeling nostalgic).  College was mostly about Top 40 and whatever was playing at bars and parties, and then after graduation I discovered Spotify.  Nowadays, I would say 50% of my music library is made up of singer-songwriter acoustic type artists, then split evenly between classic rock, country, electronic pop, and Top 40.  So, reading about a feminist punk rock band from the nineties was unlike anything I was familiar with.

The beginning part of the book, when Carrie talks about her childhood, I could relate to. She talked about putting on plays and performances for her family, and I kept smiling because I used to do that too.  My best friend and I always had a performance ready for our parents after sleepovers.  I think our best one was about two girls who lived by the beach.  The worst was when we created a band called Blue Ice, and our opening song was “We’re Blue Ice, we’re so nice, we’re Blue Ice and we’re so nice.”  The most entertaining one was the video we created of my Beanie Babies competing in a game show, complete with me using different voices for each contestant (this video still exists somewhere).  But then she started to grow older and had to deal with serious issues.  Carrie’s mother began suffering from an eating disorder, and as a reader you could see how that affected her.  Her life took a darker turn, and it was more difficult for me to relate to.

As Carrie described how music began to become more and more important in her life, I began to lose interest. She referenced bands I had never heard of, and feelings I had never experienced.  When she wrote about seeing bands live and discovering new music at record stores, I began to wonder if it was an age thing.  Would I be able to relate more if I had to hunt for good music, if it wasn’t as simple as opening an app on my phone?  And as for Sleater-Kinney’s experience touring and recording, I just couldn’t garner any appeal for it.  Sleeping on borrowed and possibly dirty mattresses, practicing in confined places that smelt bad, struggling to get by; it all repulsed me.  Maybe I’m too mainstream or protected or snobby (I seriously hope not) but I just couldn’t connect with it.

Despite all that, there were two important aspects of Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl that I really enjoyed and appreciated. The first is Carrie’s complete openness about her struggles with depression and mental health.  It takes a certain kind of bravery to be that open and honest with the world, and I have so much respect for her.  I wish others (myself included) could be more open about our personal vulnerabilities.  In the world today, I think people are so exposed; there’s no break in attention.  It requires us to be “on” all the time, and it takes effort to maintain the image that’s out there, the image we want people to view us as.  So for someone to basically strip that image away and open up about such personal details, it’s amazing.

The second aspect that I appreciated were her thoughts on being a female musician, and why the word “female” shouldn’t really make a difference. A musician is a musician, regardless of gender, yet Carrie (and the other band members of Sleater-Kinney) faced countless questions about what it’s like to be a female musician, and they had to deal with so many gender stereotypes throughout the band’s career.  It’s frustrating.  As Carrie wrote in Chapter 15, “Anything that isn’t traditional for women apparently requires that we remind people what an anomaly it is, even when it becomes less and less of an anomaly.”  I mostly feel the same way about my job.  Being a woman in business is still something I have to explain; it’s like I have to constantly justify myself.  In reality, my job would be the same if I were a man, but it’s the perceptions and attitudes of others that make it different.

Despite my struggles connecting to Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, I’m glad I read it. So far, the books discussed in Our Shared Shelf have pushed me and expanded my knowledge about a number of different subjects.  This is definitely a book that I would never have considered reading if it weren’t for this book club, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to get outside my comfort zone and try something new.  And I’m happy to have learned about Carrie Brownstein and Sleater-Kinney.  I’m definitely planning on checking out the band on Spotify, and I’ll probably try to catch a few episodes of Portlandia as well.