My reading criteria remains the same as last year—the shorter the better. Nevertheless, several longer books captured me this year.
All my life, books have been my life-is-a-classroom seat-partner, ally, playmate, collaborator, pal, and sidekick. I can rely on them. They both calm my tendency to overthink and stir or stretch my thinking. I feel a little lost when they are absent. Perhaps among these faves is your newest companion?
 |
| You might think you know her story... She never wanted to be a pop star. I was in Ireland reading her unflinching, humble, brazen life story when she died. This memoir felt like a gift. Read more here. |
 |
| It's so beautifully- written. It's as if it were written all at once by someone with a broken heart. An Irish girl unlocks love from grief and no one is ever the same again. |
 | ||
| A farmer friend asked me to read this. The title made me reluctant. But this modest, nostalgic and somewhat broken young farmer reminded me how fragile non-corporate agriculture actually is in the 2020s, and also how vital. Touching funny, important. |
 |
| Like her other book, (Quiet, about introversion) Susan Cain asserts that those typically moved by pain & sorrow often possess a sharpened perspective. Essentially melancholy might just be your superpower. |
 | |||||||||
| Much-needed in- sight into "limiting" (not toxic) masculinity and how we boys are sentenced by patriarchal norms into rigid roles that undermine becoming loving and caring men. |
3 comments:
I've read other books by bell hooks but not that one. I'm sure her feminist analysis of limiting masculinity brings clarity to this misunderstood area. While men have historically reaped the benefits of patriarchy, they have paid a terrible price for it. Women reaped none of the benefits and also paid a terrible price for patriarchy. The point is -- patriarchy is an evil system that has warped human kind for much too long.
@DSWS Well said.
Thank you for these reviews. I love the comment about patriarchy above from Debra She Who Seeks. I think I shall pick up the Sinead O’Connor book on your say so. She was an intrepid soul.
Post a Comment