Sarah

This book had a lot of travelogue filler followed by a few chapters of excitement followed by a very tedious battle followed by a great ending. It kept me reading because of the great characters and the ending was so crazy that I had to pick up the next one even though I'd thought I'd take a break from the series after this.

A surprisingly fascinating autobiography of the first (and for a long time, only) woman to be CEO of a fortune 500 company. Though sizable sections of this book dragged for me, others were riveting - the obvious highlight being Watergate. I think a lot of women my age might find Katharine Graham disappointing: she was wealthy, politically moderate, and she acquiesced to her husband and many of the other men in her life for a long time. Though she didn't always live up to modern feminist standards, she was a hell of an impressive person.

Sexism
My favorite anecdote in the whole book is when someone explained to Kennedy why women liked his less-attractive friend more than they liked him:

“While you both love women, he also likes them. He conveys they idea that they are intelligent and worth listening to. He cares about what they're saying and what they've done.”

To which Kennedy responded “Well I don't say your wrong, but I'm not sure I can go to those lengths.“

What the fuck? THIS IS THE WATER WOMEN WERE SWIMMING IN! I mean what an unbelievably ridiculous thing to say. As Katharine Graham chronicled her life, I thought it was interesting to see start to realize the ways that sexism was impacting her own behaviors as well as the way others treated her. Though she often describes herself as underprepared and lacking in confidence, when you see the picture of her at the head of an entirely male board meeting, you know she must have had some guts.

In 1969, the post published its first feminist editorial, which included the line “Let's start with the radical idea that a woman is a human being.”

Her Husband
Her husband Phil Graham was manic depressive - a wonderful genius who developed into an insufferable asshole. He became mean and condescending, cheating on her and eventually trying to divorce her and take the paper. He had so much angst about whether he would've had the same successes in his life under different conditions (of course not, get over it). I was impressed that she stood her ground on the paper - to me this was the beginning of her asserting her independence and taking control of her life. Though Katherine Graham writes about him with admiration and deep empathy for his illness, when he died I was sort of glad she was rid of him.

Politics
I actually learned a lot about 20th century politics from this book. In particular, it made me realize how much Trump is NOT an anomaly. McCarthy intentionally made false statements near news-cycle deadlines so that the later-published analysis and fact checking would have less impact. Nixen was a paranoid man who valued loyalty, hated ‘the media,' and would go to any lengths to retain his power. Trump, amplified by social media, may have been extra ridiculous in his own way, but we have had and will have more like him.

I had a free Sunday and read the whole thing - it was fantastic. Now that I know how it ends I almost want to start over so I can catch all the clues.

This is a book that got me excited about books again. The detailed and immersive worldbuilding was so welcome after reading some books where those components felt a little shallow and unsatisfying. I have been shying away from more dense or heavy books lately and this reminded me how good it feels to get immersed in something more complicated.

I'm often underwhelmed by short stories, so I wouldn't think a book that is basically 6 connected short stories would be compelling to me, but each one completely stood up on it's own while also helping you puzzle out the overall narrative. The scifi details are dropped in with little explanation and your understanding of the world builds up over the course of the book - but rather than being confusing it was super immersive not having things explained to you. Each story was insane and the structure was brilliant, I'm really excited to read the second one.

I was pretty concerned about the next book with Laurence getting shipped to Australia until it was revealed that most of the best characters are going with him. The dragon militia was awesome. England is dumb and Laurence's sense of duty to the country over his own well-being is getting kind of tiresome, although also interesting to see his feelings evolve into something more complicated during his time with Temeraire. Is the next book an enemies to lovers story for Temeraire and Iskierka? Because that's a pretty hilarious setup.

Longer than it needed to be, and at times I felt like the author was exaggerating or leaving things out to make her point. However, valuable ideas and research made it worth listening to.

-There are measurable consequences to society when we always let the loudest ideas prevail.

-At the beginning, the author stated “if you get one thing from this book, I hope it is a newfound sense of entitlement to be yourself.” At the end, “There are many different kinds of powers in this world. The trick is not to amass them all, but to use well the ones you've been granted.” This book did a good job of showing the value in letting people contribute in the ways that best suit them.

-It definitely made me hate business culture more than I already did.

-Whether your an introvert or extrovert, studies show that spending time independently focused on an activity is a vital part of gaining mastery. Very much supported the ideas from Deep Work.

-At various women's events, it's common to hear something along the lines of “Men speak with confidence even when they aren't sure, women hedge their language even when they are sure. Be more confident, ladies!” And I always want to yell “Actually, men should be less confident!” Like women who are encouraged to take on ‘masculine' traits, the burden is always on introverts to be more extroverted.

2021 reread:
I guess I'm going through these backwards now because I'm not feeling done with re-reading and greek mythology.

I think the first two books in the series are almost exposition to build up to a pretty epic final 3 books. I can certainly appreciate that but as individual books I think Lost Hero and Son of Neptune are the weakest in the camp half-blood universe. Plus Jason is definitely the Captain America normie of the group and I'm not as compelled by his perspective - Leo and Piper really carry the book in my opinion. Boy do I love the introduction of the awesome Hephaestus powers, though.

Just as good as Legends and Lattes somehow. Same cozy vibe without being a carbon copy. Proof that a book can be 100% nice and still compelling.

This was the absolute definition of filler. I did not need a book about Laurence and Temeraire exiled in Australia, and I think if I would have skipped from book 5 to 7, there would be very little plot or character growth that I would've felt like I missed in between.

Also, I was super sure that there was some hidden meaning in Jane's letters to Laurence with her weird capitalizations, but apparently not? Maybe I was just trying to invent a more interesting plot in my head?

Still can't say I hated it because I just consistently enjoy Naomi Novik's writing.

I was a little hesitant to read this after the disappointing Nico spinoff, but this really captured the voice of Percy while also aging the characters up in a way that was believable but still middlegrade appropriate. It was just a fun, low-stakes adventure with some favorite characters. There was also an internal monologue about aging that gave me goosebumps and almost made me cry. I also hope it shows any young boys who read this how much you should respect and admire your girlfriend. Anyway, it was just nice seeing these characters “all grown up.”

Fun, but I can find other fun books without the extra large helping of male gaze. Except for one elderly neighbor, every. single. woman. introduced in this book is immediately rated for her attractiveness.

Goddesses? Smoking hot, kinda scary, all want to have sex with the main character.

His Apprentice? Devastatingly sexy, but our poor main character is luckily able to avoid an embarrassing pants situation around her as long as she's dressed conservatively.

Witches? Definitely not fuckable because they are so dangerous, but the author makes sure the reader knows exactly how attractive each one of them is anyway.

Innocent bystander to a dangerous and ongoing fight that should be taking up the brain space that the main character would normally devote to judging the hotness of each and every woman? A poor frumpy lady who probably never gets laid.

2021 read:
I love Frank and Hazel. I used to think Octavian's evilness was pretty over the top, but now I'm old and jaded and realize he's basically Tucker Carlson.

2019 read:
I just love all the characters!

I saw this recommended on a reddit thread where someone was asking for ‘Percy Jackson for adults' - an idea I can get fully behind. I'm not sure this series will ever have the warmth or character development of Percy Jackson, but it's a good time. I liked the ‘all gods are real' premise, snarky narration, and the humorous eye towards the anachronisms that show up when ancient gods navigate a modern world.

It does have a bit of the ‘male wish fulfillment' feel that has been historically very hard to avoid in fantasy, but that I have in fact successfully avoided for (checks to see how long it's been since I read Name of the Wind) a good two and a half years. So far, every lady god has been horny for the main character. And his dog got a harem of French poodles at the end as a reward? wtf? I have some hope that his female apprentice will have a big role in future books, and therefore help tone down the male energy. On the other hand, she may just be another way for the mc to show off how smart and hot he is. The first one was fun enough that I'm willing to give it a chance.

This book was much more about being a black gay man in America than it was about birding, although birding was a thread that tied a lot of the story together, and beyond that it was just an introspective memoir of this guy's life. Some things that kept me thinking about it:

The most interesting part of this book to me was actually Cristian Cooper's relationship with his parents, especially his dad. I think parents are often presented as either perfect heroes or the monsters at the root of all our trauma, but Cooper had a much more complicated story. He largely credits his dad with helping him get into science and nature, even though he spent much of his childhood scared of the man's temper and a lot of his adulthood estranged. When his dad is interested in reconciling later in life, they don't just have the occasional obligatory dinner together -they become great friends. They bond over scifi movies, travelling, and getting arrested at protests. I think oftentimes the easiest thing to do is cut complicated relationships out of our lives, and sometimes that is the best and healthy thing to do, but this book shows that it's not always the route that brings us the most happiness.

I really valued reading about his 5 decades of lived experience being gay and black as an outdoorsy nerd in America. Realizing that even his beloved inclusive Star Trek defaulted to whiteness in all of their alien races. Making a mental map of where it is an isn't safe to be outside. His liberal, nonreligious mother saying “what did I do wrong” when he came out to her. When he was working at Marvel, he got in trouble for his role in a comic where a character came out as gay. It's crazy to be asked to write stories that you are not allowed to be in. He explained how cases of police violence have shaped the way he sees the world. When he was travelling, he noticed that in the places where his skin color wasn't discriminated against, there was always someone else. It just seems like it would be so easy for humanity to just be better than this.

While the book was less about birding than I expected, I did really enjoy reading his interpretation of the joys of birding (and nature in general). You can see throughout his life that this connection to nature has given him something to be excited about, wonder about, learn about, and connect with people over. Birding is a form of escapism for him, not dissimilar to travel, myths, comics, scifi & fantasy. I think we all need somewhere to direct our wonder, curiosity, and imagination - one of my biggest takeaways from this book is that I should always prioritize the things that provide that. While it wasn't a topic of the book exactly, I noticed that Cooper (approaching 60) had a very healthy relationship with aging, and I have to imagine birding (and meeting his 90 year old birding friend at central park) has something to do with that. He is excited and grateful for the opportunity to be living his life.

He loses some points for having a gym bro moment implying that you will automatically lose muscle if you eat vegetarian. Does he know how much reducing his consumption of animal products could lower his carbon emissions and protect wild bird habitat? Has he tried cooking with tofu, tempeh, lentils, ect? There were a few other areas where I felt he held a casually confident opinion about a subject that may not be backed by adequate investigation on the topic. He was sort of casually dismissive of the entire American south - which is absolutely understandable as a descendant of slaves, but also felt like it was in the realm of New York City pretentiousness. There are gay black men living in Alabama, too. Maybe I was just being sensitive as someone who loves a lot of the people and places in the politically backwards state that I live in. He realized his opinion had been unnuanced when he traveled there for a trip with a birding group

Anyways, always appreciate when a book makes me think about a lot of topics. Excited to see him speak at Boise State in a few weeks.

The whole setup for this book was that, after an 8 year relationship, the main character and her FIANCE broke up over a 4 minute phone call and never had a conversation about why they broke up and never had a conversation before that about anything being wrong in their relationship or trying to fix their problems. You're supposed to root for them after that? COME ON that is way too much to be explained away by “he's self deprecating and she's conflict avoidant.” I just don't think you can end an engagement like that and if you do there's really no coming back from it. And I never feel like there's that much of an attempt to explain why you should want them to get back together except for how incredibly lustful they are for each other and how it will make their friend vacations awkward if they break up. He's a jerk for thinking he knows what's best for her and they're both dumb for thinking that ending an 8 year relationship doesn't merit, I don't know, even 30 minutes of conversation.

I actually did enjoy the storyline about her questioning her people pleasing tendencies and realizing that maybe she doesn't really want to be a surgeon. Ok that's an interesting story. But quitting to work in a pottery studio because she's made like 5 beginner pots and enjoyed it is just dumb. I'm sure a lot of people have fantasies or ignoring their massive student loan debt and living a leisurely life doing a hobby they enjoy but I'm assuming it might take a little more than a few months of beginner pottery classes to make a career out of it?

My rating of this book may be a little unfair since I was reading it before my wedding and had little brain power left during that time. That said, it definitely felt a little disappointing after Hyperion was such a unique and gripping story. Increasing the scope so far beyond the main characters just made it drag for me a little bit, and I felt like the whole ai situation was kind of confusing. Still kind of a crazy book with lots of twists and a very interesting premise.

2025 reread
I felt the length a little more this time around, as well as the overuse of simile. I mean good lord, sometimes something just is what it is and doesn't need to be compared to a knife slicing through butter or the unwanted crust of a sandwich or whatever.

I also can't tell if Shallan isn't nearly as clever as she thinks she is or if the audiobook delivery is just not doing her justice - the lines are not delivered in the bantery way that I feel they were intended to be read. Kaladin's story really carries the book for me, but I'm pretty much ok with that because it is possibly one of the best underdog stories of all time.


2021
Ok ok I get it. I had a very lukewarm reaction to Mistborn and so, despite the hype, my expectations were kind of low, but this series is really something else. It's not super fast-paced, but the detail of the world is immersive. And I don't know if any story has ever had me rooting for anything harder than the success of bridge 4.

I also thought he did a really interesting job of exploring cultural rules and traditions, especially gender roles. In fantasy, I feel like most things go either 1) ‘historical' approach of patriarchy oppressing women or 2) creating a society in which men and women have more or less similar societal roles and abilities. These both have their merits, but now it does strike me as odd that with the infinite possibilities of a fantasy culture, you don't see more variation. Here, the society has created distinct gender roles, but there is really no hierarchy. The highest calling for a man is to be a great soldier. Women are the scientists and scholars and (unlike men) they are literate. Though the roles are distinct, both hold significant societal power and influence. It was interesting, I enjoyed seeing the somewhat arbitrary cultural and gender rules applied in a completely different way, and it really added to the feeling that these books truly take place in a different universe.

It took me forever to read this because there is only so much I could really take at a time. It's definitely the most realistic dystopian fiction I've ever read - I could genuinely imagine myself arguing with some conservative family member about about whether or not this is ok. It was easy to imagine moderates saying “I don't love it, but they are criminals” and imagining that they are unscathed by living in a world where this is happening.

Personally, I would recommend Just Mercy or The Sun Does Shine over this book if I was trying to change a mind about the criminal justice system. I think my reading of this benefitted a lot from the nonfiction background provided by those books. What this one added for me was a visceral sense of how deeply capitalism is intertwined with every aspect of the prison system, and a more nuanced understanding of what abolitionism means. I was horrified to see how much people were able to disassociate from and even relish in the suffering of others, and to understand that this is an absolutely honest depiction of humanity. The real-world statistics included at various points in the story were used to amazing effect.

A striking moment to me was when a character claimed that abolitionists needed to think about the jobs created by chain-gang. It reminded me of another book, The Feather Thief, which described how the migratory bird was opposed because the hatters who used the feathers of nearly-extinct birds would be out of work. It reminds me of our inability to move away from fossil fuels or terrible agricultural systems. How many times has this kind of argument been used to justify obvious wrongs? How far will we go to enable a few people to profit?

Fun, not especially good. I enjoyed the excerpts from his guidebook, satirizing corporate ethics and the sort of interesting perspective on commodifying things that nobody really has business owning in the first place.

I like the characters, but I think the stakes didn't feel real because there wasn't enough of the nitty gritty in this book. What is the economy of the celestial kingdom? Do other people besides the main characters even exist? What are they doing? Even with the love triangle, there was a lot of proclaiming love and not a lot of detail to make the reader believe it. I think the first book was better because there was more of the coming-of-age/underdog story pulling it along. I still liked the characters and the setting, it wasn't a drag but it wasn't incredibly compelling either.

Shocked that I didn't love this book, something was just a little off. Felt closer to a YA romance than an adventure, but for a middle grade audience I just don't know that it keeps the same fun silly tone as the rest of the series. It was just a little... sappy. I don't think a more fun tone would have been at the expense of the serious themes or the relationship growth, I always thought Riordon did a good job of bringing in intensity an emotion even though his books are so fun overall. Maybe it would be hard to keep the character voices consistent to the previous books with a co-author.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for nerds and jocks becoming friends.

A few of my favorite moments: Too-cool Rory being so goddam enthusiastic about climbing through the air vents.Smith's conversation with Ash about being non-binary. I teared up.Chloe's conversation with Georgia about how it's important for her to stay in False Beach. I think about this with Idaho a lot because I know multiple people who have been driven away by the politics here - and I think that's totally valid. But I also think it's totally valid to stay and try to make a place better.

I liked a lot about this book - the themes were interesting and a lot of the writing was clever and moving. Full of gems like: “Sadie liked the phrase ‘an abundance of caution.' It reminded her of a murder of crows, a flock of seagulls, a pack of wolves.” But it ultimately got so frustrating that I didn't want to pick it up.

I liked reading about Sadie's experience as a woman making video games. There was a part where Sam and a friend play Sadie's first game and the friend says “Your friend is sick as hell. And maybe a genius. How do you know him again?”

“Sadie often had to put herself into a male point of view to even understand a game at all.”

“In those days, girls like Sadie were conditioned to ignore the sexist generally, not just in gaming – It wasn't cool to point such things out. If you wanted to play with the boys, they couldn't be afraid of saying things around you.”

I thought Sam's experience with chronic pain and phantom limb syndrome was really well executed.

“The doctor said to him ‘The good news is that the pain is in your head.' But I am in my head, Sam thought.”

“Sam did not believe his body could feel anything but pain, and so he did not desire pleasure in the same way that other people seemed to. Sam was happiest when his body was feeling nothing. He was happiest when he did not have to think about his body – when he could forget that he had a body at all.”

I loved the sort of love letter to how powerful video games can be.

But good god the main characters were awful. I don't need a perfect main character to appreciate them and care about them, but I was just exhausted by them by the end of the book. I wasn't really rooting for them because the kinds of grudges, miscommunications, and total lack of empathy they had for each other well into middle age was just kind of ridiculous. I think it was a good book, and it certainly gets points for being thought provoking, I just didn't like it.

Bonus quote: “Sam used to say that Marx was the most fortunate person he had ever med – he was lucky with lovers, in business, in looks, in life. But the longer Sadie knew Marx, the more she thought Sam hadn't truly understood the nature of Marx's good fortune. Marx was fortunate because he saw everything as a fortuitous bounty. It was impossible to know – were persimmons his favorite fruit, or had they just now become his favorite fruit because they were growing in his own backyard?”

While I would never actually want to spend 5 months backpacking, there's something very soothing about imagining spending 5 months backpacking.

This is one of the most delightful things I've ever encountered. Hardly anything happens but I couldn't put it down. I would love to play an RPG where you build and run this coffee shop.