It is NO secret that my reading hit a wall since 1) I stopped commuting to work every day and 2) I discovered TikTok. But this month I finished a book I started in November and could finally take my Kindle out of airplane mode.
Win Every Argument: Mehdi Hasan – Some people are great at setting convincing arguments, and then there’s me. I was raised not to argue, to be nice, whatever. That only gets you so far and now that I’m in a “Imma stop shutting up now, thank you” phase of life, I wanted to learn now to create convincing arguments. Seven pages of notes later, I’m in a decent place if I’m ever asked to debate a political issue, but the jury is out as to whether I can apply this knowledge to my personal and professional life. Some people on Goodreads say Hasan’s too political, but that’s only if you think treating people decently if they’re not Christian or Jewish is a political issue and not a moral one. Four stars.
Live on Svalbard: Cecilia Blomdahl – I found Cecilia on Tiktok. She lives on Svalbard, an island close to the North Pole. The island is so close to the north pole that it experiences 4 months of complete darkness and 4 months of complete sunlight every year. It’s cold and brutal but magical at the same time. She loves it. This book is a journal of sorts covering a year on Svalbard. I’m glad I splurged on the print edition. The photos are gorgeous, the paper weight is substantial, and it smells good. This is like a children’s reference book but for grownups, and I mean that in the most fun and respectful way possible. Because of the abundance of photos and and infographics, it was a quick read. Five stars.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: Stuart Turton – This is a dark murder mystery with a magical realism element. The protagonist is a man at an old English estate who wakes up in a different person’s body every day. The only way out is to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle before he cycles through his bodily hosts. There are many, many characters and quite a few of them have very similar names. Ex: Daniel, Dickie, Donald, Dance, the Derbys, This is the first book in a long time where I had to write character names down to keep them straight. After the 32nd new character name, I quit writing them down. The ending was great but for me, who doesn’t read a lot of twisty thrillers, Three and a half stars, quite violent in almost every possible way.
Speaking of my Kindle, I spent some holiday gift card money on silicone straps so that I can hook it to my hand, and a very pretty carrying sleeve. And I’m trying out StoryGraph but it’s a little bit lonely there. I miss the bustle of Goodreads but I’m trying to be more aware of how much of my info lies with the big companies. Am I going to disconnect completely from Amazon or Meta? No. But I can choose to not give them any more of me than they need to have.
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