Brenna
One sentence synopsis... A memoir by Chanel Miller reflecting on the devastating aftermath of her sexual assault and the subsequent court proceedings. .
Read it if you liked... Miller's succinct and gut-punching Victim Statement (which was published by Buzzfeed anonymously during the trial). All the poise and strength suggested in her statement are given room to breathe in this full length memoir. .
Further reading... ‘Not That Bad' by Roxanne Gay, ‘Asking For It' by Kate Harding, ‘Speaking Truth To Power' by Anita Hill
I had to restrain myself from chucking this book into the fire after closing the final chapter. If you've never learned anything about mythology perhaps you may find something of interest in this otherwise bland, empty novel.
‘Circe' more closely resembles a checklist of events and characters which Miller ticks off a list - with absolutely no regard for character development or any ounce of originality in her retelling.
One sentence synopsis... Orwell's eyewitness account of the Spanish civil war is an invaluable piece of his personal experience but fails to provide broad, reliable analysis of the complicated politics informing the war. .
Read it if you like... “For Whom the Bell Tolls” or “Slaughterhouse-Five”. .
Further reading... “Capital” and other political writings help to better understand the ideologies that divided Spain so deeply.
One sentence synopsis... A fresh spin on the familiar dead girl trope that has more in common with a family drama than a mystery thriller. .
Read it if you like... ‘Big Little Lies' or ‘Little Fires Everywhere'. It's part who-dunnit and part emotional (if somewhat heavy handed) character study. .
Dream casting... It's probably no surprise given the books it reminds me of but I thought Reese Witherspoon would be all over this. Turns out Julia Roberts already beat her to it and has been attached to the film adaption since 2018.
One sentence synopsis... Gordon records her life as an artist and bassist of Sonic Youth in a collage style memoir that borders on a series of Forest Gump style celebrity cameos. .
Read it if you like... ‘Sonic Youth', the No Wave movement, the arts scene and its commercialization in 80s New York. Super quick read, chapters are 3-4 pages long and it's sprinkled with tons of cool photos. .
Further reading... for a slightly better girl-in-band memoir check out Carrie Brownstein's book ‘Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl'. A little less name droppy and more reflective.
One sentence synopsis... Set during an interstellar war in the future but inspired by the author's experience of the Vietnam War, the ideas are worth exploring but the writing becomes tedious after the millionth chapter of detailed military industrial complex criticism. .
Read it if you like... stories about alienation, PTSD, super technical military sci-fi. .
Dream casting... This story would 100% make a better movie than book. The story is great, the prose was a headache. Apparently Channing Tatum was at one point attached to lead... but after ‘Jupiter Ascending' he should probably stay away from space opera epics. I could see Taron Egerton as William Mandella.
One sentence synopsis... The history of the internet - from forums, to Friendster, and eventually Facebook - from the perspective of the user.
Read it if you like... ‘Halt and Catch Fire'. Both the show and this book look at the early stages of building communities online and how the utopian dreams of the World Wide Web have failed to play out in reality.
Further reading... for another personal story told against the backdrop of Silicon Valley and Big Tech try Anna Wiener's ‘Uncanny Valley'.
One sentence synopsis... A Silicon Valley outsider's astute observations about tech industry in all it's high-minded (and sometimes absurd) dreams and delusions. .
Read it if you like... ‘Silicon Valley' the show, Joan Didion, Jia Tolentino. If you have worked in the Bay Area you'll find yourself nodding and laughing at a lot of Wiener's descriptions. She's got a large dose of bitter ex-New Yorker in her, but taken with a grain of salt this memoir is a pretty specific, detailed representation of a specific time to be living in San Francisco. .
Further reading... the book is written so that all the company and character names are obscured. I found it entertaining to read up on what companies Wiener is actually writing about. My best guess is the book start up was Oyster and the developer loved acquisition was GitHub, but if anyone's read it and has another idea I'd love to know.
One sentence synopsis... A sharp collection of essays examining millennial self-deception (and exploration) through drugs, religion, feminism, and reality tv.
Read it if you liked... other popular culture essayists like Chuck Klosterman. If you've ever taken a barre class, shopped at Outdoor Voices, or eaten at sweetgreens - this is for you.
Further reading... Emily Nussbaum, Jenny Odell, Chuck Klosterman, or all Jia's articles for The New Yorker.
One sentence synopsis... A huge, pretentious, information dump of magical world building around Yale's elites secret societies and the titular house that police the black magic on campus.
Read it if you like... exposition. This door-stopper of a book is 95% exposition with a Scooby-Doo style unmasking of the villain in the final pages. Another example of my recent mistake of assuming if I like one of an author's books I'll obviously enjoy the rest of their work. Wrong. Again.
Dream casting... Amazon swooped up this property probably based on the popularity of Bardugo's other books (currently being adapted by Netflix). Selena Gomez as unlikely Yale freshman, Galaxy ‘Alex' Stern.