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Book Report
Oct. 23rd, 2016 07:20 amMy rating system:
10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite
5 - average for what I read
1 – terrible, why did I finish it?
Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart - Last year I read the author’s excellent “Girl Waits With Gun”, and this is its sequel. The setting is New Jersey circa 1915, and our protagonist strives to be the titular “lady cop” at a time when women can’t vote. She has a supportive Sheriff but is put to the test when something goes wrong under her watch and she had better fix it. Like its predecessor, the novel kept me interested. My only complaint is that the first novel revealed a twist regarding one of the sisters of the main character, and that twist is never addressed or resolved here. (Making us wait for a third book maybe?) Grade: 6
A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan – I can’t figure out why this novel – which takes place during modern times – is so good. The plot is simple. The protagonist’s husband abruptly leaves his job, they decide that she should go back into the workforce (she’s been taking a break from paid employment to raise their 3 kids), she lands a job that sounds great at first, but things aren’t what they seem, the husband’s drinking problem escalates, the main character gets estranged from her best friend, and her father is terminally ill. See, there’s nothing all that enthralling in that description. So why did I devour the book in just a few days? The realistic examples of a workplace? The likeability of the main character? Or maybe it wasn’t just her workplace but everything about her life felt real and alive and relatable. Hmmm. Well I still can’t figure it out but I enjoyed the book so much. Grade: 7
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation by Sharon Salzberg – I used this audiobook more for reinforcement; I already knew meditation is helpful and it’s good to hear more about why and how it works and what it can do for you. This was a short audiobook. My only complaint is that it contains a lot of guided meditations which I really can’t do while driving (and I no longer have a way to play CDs inside the house, so I couldn’t do that at home either). So I had to skip parts of it, but that’s fine – I still love meditation! Grade: 7
Playing Dead: Inside the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood – This was really fascinating, a look inside a mysterious world. The author, burdened with student debt, ponders the idea of faking her death or disappearing to get away from her financial troubles. So she investigates the world of death fraud. She finds a man who successfully faked his own death before turning himself in years later, men who tried and failed to fake death or disappearance (this is the most common – most attempts at this sort of fraud do fail), Michael Jackson fans who believe their idol is still alive, an insurance company investigator who successfully tracks down fakers, and many more oddities. It was a great glimpse at something I’d never given much thought to. Grade: 8
Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking by The Ladydrawers and Anne Elizabeth Moore – A very unusual book. The authors use mostly comics and some text to explore the world of the global garment industry, sex trafficking, workers’ rights and more. I love the concept but I have a lot of complaints. One, the font on many of the comics was just way, way too small – I don’t use or need reading glasses for anything else but I could not make out the words too often here. The book also displays a kind of “rah rah rah” attitude towards sex work which I see a lot from too many on the left, and which is too one-sided. It’s like they trip over themselves to view sex work as positive and empowering - and they downplay the horror of people being forced into sex work -- without ever considering the other side. After reading “Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution”, I have to admit that I can’t get behind this attitude. Then the authors try to posit that anti-trafficking activists are in bed with the garment industry. I just don’t buy that either. Also, the book spends a lot of time looking at the history of the garment industry in Austria. Austria? I mean it has the population of Chicago, it’s just kinda weird to devote so much ink to it when the span of your book is supposed to be global. Still, the authors made a few good points – like question everything, even when an organization says it provides fair trade products and is helping workers, and that clearly workers’ rights and unions would make an impact. Grade: 3
10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite
5 - average for what I read
1 – terrible, why did I finish it?
Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart - Last year I read the author’s excellent “Girl Waits With Gun”, and this is its sequel. The setting is New Jersey circa 1915, and our protagonist strives to be the titular “lady cop” at a time when women can’t vote. She has a supportive Sheriff but is put to the test when something goes wrong under her watch and she had better fix it. Like its predecessor, the novel kept me interested. My only complaint is that the first novel revealed a twist regarding one of the sisters of the main character, and that twist is never addressed or resolved here. (Making us wait for a third book maybe?) Grade: 6
A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan – I can’t figure out why this novel – which takes place during modern times – is so good. The plot is simple. The protagonist’s husband abruptly leaves his job, they decide that she should go back into the workforce (she’s been taking a break from paid employment to raise their 3 kids), she lands a job that sounds great at first, but things aren’t what they seem, the husband’s drinking problem escalates, the main character gets estranged from her best friend, and her father is terminally ill. See, there’s nothing all that enthralling in that description. So why did I devour the book in just a few days? The realistic examples of a workplace? The likeability of the main character? Or maybe it wasn’t just her workplace but everything about her life felt real and alive and relatable. Hmmm. Well I still can’t figure it out but I enjoyed the book so much. Grade: 7
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation by Sharon Salzberg – I used this audiobook more for reinforcement; I already knew meditation is helpful and it’s good to hear more about why and how it works and what it can do for you. This was a short audiobook. My only complaint is that it contains a lot of guided meditations which I really can’t do while driving (and I no longer have a way to play CDs inside the house, so I couldn’t do that at home either). So I had to skip parts of it, but that’s fine – I still love meditation! Grade: 7
Playing Dead: Inside the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood – This was really fascinating, a look inside a mysterious world. The author, burdened with student debt, ponders the idea of faking her death or disappearing to get away from her financial troubles. So she investigates the world of death fraud. She finds a man who successfully faked his own death before turning himself in years later, men who tried and failed to fake death or disappearance (this is the most common – most attempts at this sort of fraud do fail), Michael Jackson fans who believe their idol is still alive, an insurance company investigator who successfully tracks down fakers, and many more oddities. It was a great glimpse at something I’d never given much thought to. Grade: 8
Threadbare: Clothes, Sex, and Trafficking by The Ladydrawers and Anne Elizabeth Moore – A very unusual book. The authors use mostly comics and some text to explore the world of the global garment industry, sex trafficking, workers’ rights and more. I love the concept but I have a lot of complaints. One, the font on many of the comics was just way, way too small – I don’t use or need reading glasses for anything else but I could not make out the words too often here. The book also displays a kind of “rah rah rah” attitude towards sex work which I see a lot from too many on the left, and which is too one-sided. It’s like they trip over themselves to view sex work as positive and empowering - and they downplay the horror of people being forced into sex work -- without ever considering the other side. After reading “Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution”, I have to admit that I can’t get behind this attitude. Then the authors try to posit that anti-trafficking activists are in bed with the garment industry. I just don’t buy that either. Also, the book spends a lot of time looking at the history of the garment industry in Austria. Austria? I mean it has the population of Chicago, it’s just kinda weird to devote so much ink to it when the span of your book is supposed to be global. Still, the authors made a few good points – like question everything, even when an organization says it provides fair trade products and is helping workers, and that clearly workers’ rights and unions would make an impact. Grade: 3
