Books I've read

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Note: The fact that I’ve read a book does not necessarily mean that I agree with or endorse its contents.

Leaderboard

List of greatest novels ever written, according to Ren (ordered by publication date):

• The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger, 1951)
• Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin, 1953)
• The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson, 1959)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee, 1960)
• Sea of Tranquility (Emily St. John Mandel, 2022)
• The Chromatic Fantasy (H.A., 2023)

The Recluse List

I’m keeping track of fiction novels about recluses!

• Must Love Silence (Lucy Bexley) [queer ff]
• That Woman Next Door (Harper Bliss) [queer ff]

2025

Classics

The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)

> This is such a good book
> (re-read n+1)

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin)

> outstanding writing, what misery. its like nada except with gay people in paris.
> some very difficult content, e.g. the miscarriage, the misogyny, the way david treats giovanni, and the bit about the crossdresser is very very interesting in the way it is framed
> the bit where he kinda dissociates when having sex with sue is a bit real and familiar!

A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller Jr.)

> was this novel written for me? post apocalyptic monastery where the monks copy old manuscripts!
> excellent sense of humour
> quite nuanced and subtle treatment of ethics and morality, especially around war and physical suffering. some challenging vaguely ableist content, though i dont think the author is endorsing this.
> "Martyrdom is all very well, but we have a job to do first."
> interesting how they use the desert rhetoric to talk about space travel
> graphic description of animal suffering and death in chapter 28

Queer fiction

Always the Almost (Edward Underhill)

> Verdict: A, so good! Great vibes, honest but wholesome trans experience, and the Great Lakes in the winter. Biggest stan for Stefania.
> "Add that to the list of things that make a lot more sense in hindsight." hahahahaha
> "You get nervous because you care. But your kryptonite can also be your superpower."

The Road to You (Harper Bliss)

> B, bread and butter, fast paced and fun if not terribly profound. some of the discourse re the dodgy professor is a bit yikes. also casual fatphobia and ageism is a bit annoying. also fuck susan for dismissing the cats' concerns.

Dragonfall (L. R. Lam)

> A-, fun and original! I think its really enjoyable and well written, goodreads is wrong

No Strings Attached (Harper Bliss; the Pink Bean series)

> B-/C+ish, pretty generic but in a way that I enjoy. Very little in the way of sensory descrptions, a real missed opportunity for a book set in a coffee shop. Annoying that the MC conflates sex and gender but might simply be the book showing its age. glad that its narrated in an american accent despite being set in sydney.
> "She sounded American, and acted like it." hahahaha

Grace Notes (Ruby Landers)

> B/B- in terms of writing
> did not finish; got 1/4 through then hit the bit with near drowning of a toddler, so i stopped. needs a content warning at the front of the book for that. its not a cute plot device for a romance novel.

The Falling in Love Montage (Ciara Smyth)

> A, a gem. Hilarious and also very very touching in several ways. the inner conflict is a little contrived, maybe the books only flaw
> one sad kid
> oliver is a class act and beth is too kind
> "Dogs are boys, cats are girls. Everybody knows that."
> Soccer is "Gaelic football for wimps" hahahahaha

That Woman Next Door (Harper Bliss)

> B+. was this book written for me? pretty amazing, cottage in the middle of nowhere, doctor facing grief and guilt and a translator cat lady living a very quiet life in a remote house, with a bit of chilling out in a new city
> a little 0 to 60 but i do understand the attachment issues
> the guilt and grief wasnt dealt with as much as id have liked
> "I never answer my phone. [...] I just hate talking on the phone."
> "I just want to be left alone in my quiet, perfectly pleasant life."

No Strings (Lucy Bexley)

> A! So fun! The misanthropy is really well executed especially because of the context of professional puppetry, just really works. Excellent and funny writing. Also some really touching depression/fatigue and non-binary rep.
> "The lesbians on my soccer team are also my apocalypse team."

Euphoria Kids (Alison Evans) (R)

> I love this book so much. It does something that I haven't seen in any other book.
> "I want to cover my body in art and stories, watch them move and flex as I go through the days. I want to cover my body in flowers and vines."
> "I want to ask her if she knows Iris is the most wonderful person in the world"
> "And then I asked if I could not be a girl too. They nodded."
> "Sometimes I still can't believe you can see me [...] I'm so scared you'll stop altogether one day and I’ll be alone again."
> "fiery mess of a girl"

Purposefully Accidental (G. Benson)

> B+. writing is good, characters are pretty compelling, the professional relationship is interesting. grief bits are powerful.
> doesnt strike me as realistic that the characters care so much about the events of age 9 from 25 years ago. like i've had similar experiences at age 15 that we just forget about by 3 years later.
> weird that wren didnt just wear a face mask to avoid being recognised in the hospital, book was published in 2022

At the Water's Edge (Harper Bliss)

> B-. nice broody story of ecologist taking a break and living with burnout and depression. some parts really annoyed me but finished bc the good bits were really good.
> suicide attempt. just a huge vibe.
> "the world will survive without you constantly being sorry for everything"
> "nut brown skin" bit of a yuck phrase
> mc is a bit of a tool to the love interest, surprised the latter gave her so much patience. parents insufferable too.
> flirting over dead chickens is not cute

Memoirs and biography

In Praise of the Useless Life: A Monk's Memoir (Paul Quenon)

> enjoyed this! especially interesting having the perspective of one of Merton's novices
> narcissism; just live the life, its an easy life
> "I have never seen a decade when there is no war. But, you keep on breathing, and praying." at the monastery during the cuban missile, all living under the threat of imminent death and nuclear warfare. wow! i hadnt connected that.

My Greatest Save: The Brave, Barrier-Breaking Journey of a World Champion Goalkeeper (Briana Scurry, Wayne Coffey)

> career ended due to traumatic brain injury
> suicidal ideation
> prays each game for like safety and competence, not for victory
> the most important skill a goalie can have: a short memory
> so interesting that she calls opponents' fouls "dirty play" but her coming off her line early in penalties is "within the spirit of the rules"
> the bit about her weight and eating after the world cup is a bit difficult to read and probably she could've written it in a more sympathetic way
> the fact that she says she disgraced the US Soccer crest due to gaining weight when she then got her brain injury and was financially stricken with no health insurancd and $55 to her name after selling her car and 100 cap Rolex, then pawning her 1996 olympic gold medal - I think the real disgrace to US Soccer is that they let this happen to one of their players

Thomas Merton and the Noonday Demon: The Camaldoli Correspondence (Donald Grayson)

> It's interesting to me that, like Abe Lincoln, once he found his calling and began the great work of his life, he continued to suffer, in Merton's case from restlessness rather than melancholy per se.
> into books on self actualisation hahahaha
> after meeting Thay wrote an article called "Thich Nhat Hanh is my brother"
> accidia is a great example of a long storied history of monastics wishing they were elsewhere and pursuing a different vocation instead; "frantic escapism"! hmmm!!
> he argues that accidia is not depression and that merton was not depressed; i dont think his argument re the latter is very good, i think he has a reductionist (mental) view of depression and references to mertons behaviour (lack of specific symptoms) are unconvincing, so i think a more correct conclusion re whether merton was depressed is "insufficient evidence to say". though i do wonder if a study of his diaries could illuminate this.
> turning from a focus on the monastery to the world as seen from the monastery; so solitude is distinct from "false" isolation, and the former involves returning to the world and turning towards compassion for others (obvious links with that internal renunciation idea; and the bodhisattva ideal)
> unrealistic expectations of the monastic life and grass is greener attitude re other monasteries
> fathered a child he never met before his religious life?!
> "a hermit in my heart and a coenobite in my body"
> love the politics; nigel is right that people are people wherever you go!
> Merton's frustration with Gethsemane but also the feeling that if it's God's will for him to be there, then it's *because* he doesn't fit in and his ideas aren't accepted
> "Your vocation is to have no solution, and then keep on going." !!!!!
> when the author mentions the aspect of accidia that, especially for the intellectual elite, involves an awareness of a hollow and meaningless world - isnt that straight up depression? or at least an existential crisis
> and when he was finally offered a hermitage, he baulked and didnt want it anymore!
> article "Placemaking as contemplative practice" (Burton-Christie 2008)
> lmfao the author references Robert Kull's memoir on solitude hahahahaha (see below!!)
> Merton's religious feeling only awakened in his mid 20s!
> solitude as a life of love without consolation

Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extreme Times—A Year Alone in the Patagonia Wilderness (Robert Kull)

> ok so I actually stopped this after ~10% because the overt animal abuse became too much, especially in a book that promises wisdom
> this is the vibe
> does have cat abuse which is hard to read and fish death. also why is he allowed to hunt fish if his cat isn't allowed to hunt birds
> while this is a valuable and almost unique record of solitude, some of the author's politics and especially content on environmentalism is much less interesting / a bit cardboard (and empirically false in places).
> peak spiritual experiences are transient
> locals in Chile using cats as "guinea pigs" to test whether shellfish is poisoned by red tide
> the year is 2001 so will be interesting to see if he notices 9/11
> how he gets sick of physical work and craves intellectual work hahahha

Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness (Joshua Wolf Shenk)

> a very moving and comforting history book
> "Even when he began to do the work for which he's remembered, and took evident satisfaction in finding a great cause to which to apply his considerable talent, he continued to suffer."
> "I could not have slept tonight if I had not given those two birds to their mother."
> suicide as the desire for mindlessness
> chronic vs episodic depression
> everyone around him knew it and noticed his clearly gloomy moods (!!!)
> the poem he loved that deliberately echoed ecclesiastes
> author argues that the melancholy "bears fruit" when Lincoln begins fighting against the extension of slavery - not a cure, but like a meaningful purpose, a la Frankl; suffering doesnt go away but responds by looking for meaning
> "both his pain and his potential"
> disciplined and strategically silent about the existence of slavery in the southern states, as part of the discipline required to prevent its spread
> taking the long view (incl accepting a very long battle that will last beyond one's lifetime)
> Lincoln: "even schoolboys knew Wilberforce, but who could name one of his opponents"
> still a racist and white supremacist, like most whites of the day
> religion; instrument of a larger power
> Meditation on the Divine Will: "In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. [...] God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began."
> found comfort in Job!

They Don't Teach This: Lessons From the Game of Life (Eniola Aluko, Josie Le Blond)

> what an amazing human being!
> "I see now that there’s no sense in putting on a mask to make others feel comfortable."
> hassled by the boys' parents for being better than them at soccer
> "Atticus Finch made me a lawyer." ! (though i think she says boo radley when she means tom robinson?)
> interesting to me that her background is both marginalised (Nigerian birth, not a British citizen until after her first callup, Black) and privileged (daughter of a Nigerian senator, granddaughter of a famous economist, then how she becomes a lawyer and uses that to speak up)
> final history exam at 9am, england team kickoff at 4pm, crazy!
> "He had lessons for me to learn... my life would unfold according to His timing, not mine."
> Her mentor who said "You have two options. Either you don't play because you're too scared you might lose, or you play, give it everything you've got, and afterwards accept the result. Whatever happens, God has already allowed it to happen. You have nothing to lose, so enjoy the game, play for god, an audience of one. put your faith in him. That's all you can do."
> "Never again would I question God's wisdom. I saw now that there was a time for defeats and a time for victories ... a place in his plan. Defeats were not only failures, they were a place to grow."
> "The ones who break the mold are isolated and succeed anyway... your light might shine too bright for some to cope with... their problem, not yours."
> doesn't want a pity party, wants solutions; our validation comes from God
> glad she stans Rapinoe's protests

Scoring Goals in the Dark: The Extraordinary and Brave Story of International Footballer Clare Shine (Clare Shine, Gareth Maher)

> Life goes on, with or without football.
> very good and honest about the ugly details
> dont love the regular fatphobic allusions but its an attitude that makes a bit more sense in the context of professional soccer
> eating issues esp with anti D's (if i read correctly), dizziness
> after extreme weight loss "forget barbells" had to learn how to sit and stand again
> hates flying and travel
> "being smart" in managing one's body

Politics, history, and society

Euphorias in Gender, Sex and Sexuality Variations: Positive Experiences (Tiffany Jones)

> very valuable book! makes me feel really valiated. also appreciate the chapter on intersex people.
> caution against letting happiness stop further political activism and progress; euphoria rather than stagnation, happily queer rather than a happy queer
> intersex chapter: "My fears about being excluded and being a freak simply haven't played out." > (reading ch1-4,7)

Lost Cities of the Ancient World (Philip Matyszak)

> enjoyed this. not sure i agree with every historical statement made, but good fun.

Apocraphyl Gospels: A Very Short Introduction (Paul Foster)

> really enjoyed this one, very well written
> interesting that the word gospel (euangelion) was frequently used to refer to a public proclamation of good news, especially a new emperor's accession - ties in with the "two lords" view
> they're not so much a source of original historical truth as a different thread of meaning or a competing interpretation in the early community, perhaps by a community marginalised by exclusive and mainstream early christianity
> the nag hammadi thomas manuscript dates to around the 4th century; nag hammadi gospel of philip ~3rd century; gospel of truth ~2nd century
> thomas promotes a solitary and self-contained life, not quite monastic rule but in that direction
> thomas saying 114 references gender transformation
> in the protoevangelion of james, elizabeth seeking refuge with infant john the baptist from herod in the mountain is very touching (and mary hiding jesus in a feeding trough)
> anti jewish flavour in many of these texts too (like the canonical gospels)
> "vagaries of history" is a nice way to express that concept

Nation Branding and Sports Diplomacy: Country Image Games in Times of Change (Yoav Dubinsky)

> very interesting and quite uncomfortable how it begins on israel (the authors country), the occupation of palestine is mentioned but a bit sanitised
> (3) mens world cup
> most important event of the most popular sport in the world, which is why its a big opportunity for public image, only comparabale event is summer olympics
> mussolini bribing people and pressuring referees when italy hosted, then govt and the team using victory to promote fascism and nationalism
> different styles of play at points in history (at least before transfers became easier and the game was less globalised and commercial), e.g. brazilian focus on beauty and creativity, italian focus on doing what is necessary to win, german precision and discipline
> very costly to host, while fifa pays operating costs (not upfront costs) it also takes all the revenues, so criticised as host pays heaps for new stadiums etc to make money for europeans
> fifa's culture compared to mafia, jfc
> qatar accusations of sportwashing, human rights violations, etc vs reference to positive changes in the country because of the event
> saudi arabia investing billions for soft power
> (4) olympics and tokyo
> nazi germany hosting the olympics a very clear case in point
> munich massacre, 1972 terror attack against israelis
> semi-regular boycotts for political purposes
> local communities usually object to hosting
> disproportionate US influence esp due to enormous broadcasting revenue from the US, including putting events on US primetime, getting off more lightly after scandals
> individual athlete diplomacy and politics, eg cathy freeman celebrating with aboriginal flag, kneeling against racism, simone biles mental health, helped by social media
> growing influence of arabian peninsula and opinionated dictators
> most of the US's medals at Tokyo were from women
> silent boycotts
> (5) america and title ix
> title ix demonstrably caused a huge increase in female sport participation, and therefore business!
> title ix as a competitive advantage in americas branding and american sports
> but then obviously the sexual abuse scandals in gymnastics and soccer, 20-25% of college students (not just sports) experiencing rape or attempted rape
> so a way to hide hypocrisy
> interesting argument (unsure if i agree) that womens collegiate sports lose money and thus can only be sustained by taking advantage of mens american football, where a) black people are overrepresented, b) common brain damage, and c) athletes are not paid a salary despite the fact that american football players would in fact become millionaires by graduation
> (6) european super league, announced in 2021 but quickly collapsed under scrutiny
> many english clubs sponsored by UAE via Fly Emirates brand/campaign
> and many countries in Arabian Gulf either buying/investing in clubs (e.g. City group) and hosting major events, same as Russia (e.g. Chelsea) and China, in some cases using unsustainable spending backed by e.g. oil to achieve major sporting successes; many motivations, one of which is laundering the national image
> barcelona as championing catalonion values/identity
> in germany, all clubs are majority owned by club members, so cannot be dominated by foreign interests
> (7) sportswashing
> asks is it actually a thing, or is it a negative framing used to delegitimise non-western countries by people afraid of losing power, hmmmm!!
> has been done by fascist italy, nazi germany, francos spain, argentina, south africa, romania
> ping pong diplomacy in the 70s as a successful and, it seems to me, positive use
> so its not a new thing
> but recently shaped by china (esp 2022 winter olympics in beijing), russia, and the gulf countries incl qatar
> football stadiums used in some countries e.g. afghanistan for public executions
> discourse re international sport frequently islamophobic
> limits of sportswashing, media doesnt hesitate to roast the countries still
> countercriticism which is extremely fair; e.g. USA arent innocent when it comes to human rights; FA president is traditionally a british royal
> some see this as taking steps towards the west and normalising international relations

History of the English Language (Seth Lerer)

> reading 6-9, 14, 20, 29, 31
> old english: 5th to 11th centuries, branch of lowlands germanic brought by germanic settlers to the british isles. largely but not entirely displaced celtic (from the celts) and latin (from the romans). we call the germanic settlers anglo-saxons.
> so celtics -> romans -> anglo saxons -> normans. obvs some mixing along the way. scandinavian settlers and raiders also introduced their own germanic forms.
> long period of syncretization
> 11th century norman conquest marks the transition from old to middle english (normans were actually germanic peoples from scandinavia who assimilated themselves into france; you can see specific sounds from northern french compared to central french still surviving in english), incl restoration of latin and introduction of french. so england as trilingual.
> great vowel shift ~= middle english into modern english
> thou is informal! but due to its use in bible translations and bc its unfamiliar, misinterpreted as formal
> MLK permanently influenced the style of american political rhetoric
> argues that even the concept of idiomatic speech is a legacy of African American speech

Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Very Short Introduction (Martin Bunton)

> originated in late 19th century zionism in europe, itself a result of european antisemitism, so more about modern nationalism and colonialism than ancient religious beliefs of religious animosity. cared more about agricultural land than historically significant religious sites. religious stuff came in later.
> Palestinian national identity relatively recent too, they were under rule of the Ottoman Empire until British invasion. though definitely was a thing with a national identity from then until the fighting in the 60s when Palestine was "wiped from the map".
> and exacerbated by specific world geopolitical dynamics and, surprise surprise, some fumbling by the British
> then WWII brings the Holocaust and sympathy for Jewish refugees, the destitution of Britain, and the heightened influence of the US and UN
> since the formation of an independent state of Israel, longstanding policy of disproportionate retaliation, originally as a show of military force to secure israel's place in the region, but since then has contributed to a cycle of enmity
> have been atrocities throughout this whole process
> please stop killing civilians
> continued settlement by Jews in Palestinian areas making any partition practically very challenging
> popular support of Hamas, trounced the previous Palestinian leaders in elections. though many Palestinians view both sets of leaders as self-servingly perpetuating division.
> Obama: "This is just really hard. This is as intractable a problem as you get."
> a two-state solution a relatively recent phenomenon (1930s) and then Palestine recognised by the UN General Assembly in 2012, though prospects appear to be fading due to hardliners on both sides, continuing Israeli settlement means approaching Israeli majorities and strategically fragmenting Palestinian land, and Palestinian political fragmentation. So a two state solution is looking less likely. But then if it's a one state solution, either Palestinians get to vote etc (in which case it's a binational single state and therefore not necessarily a Jewish state) or they don't (in which case it's a non-democratic "Apartheid state")

Covered in Ink: Tattoos, Women, and the Politics of the Body (Beverley Yuen Thompson)

> mainstream woman models weigh 23% less than the general public, even before photoshop
> tattoos as motivation to care for oneself
> something for oneself, not socially mandated caring roles
> "what about when youre old" as a gendered attack on women

Religion, philosophy, and lifestyle

Uncompromising: How an Unwavering Commitment to Your Why Leads to an Impactful Life and a Lasting Legacy (Steven White)

> cool having a Black, poor/working class, and Christian perspective on this topic, feels more real and hard-won (even if corporate stuff is not always relevant). worth listening purely for the narrator. more memoir-y than the description leads you to believe, but in a good way. some cringe bits.
> "an unwavering commitment to your why" really sums it up
> vernon jordan who was (paraphrasing) executing a life plan, not educating others when they make mistakes
> not allowing distraction to interfere, "sideshows" or "prizes of lesser value" that keep you from reaching your potential. what are the *real* prizes?
> a victim mentality can be a sideshow
> "I could have done more. I could have spoken up more." > doubting yourself is a fear of failure; when others doubt you, it's their fear of your success

Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time (Laura Khoudari)

> got like 40% in and felt that was enough
> this book is nice and comforting
> weights as a movement practice, like yoga
> "suddenly feel weird and unsafe in familiar environments or relationships"
> exercise good for all sorts of systems you cant see
> modelling self compassion and a healthy self relationship as a way to help others
> dissociation as a survival strategy

Help, Thanks, Wow (Anne Lamott)

> this book is really special. excellent writing, touching and compassionate with a sense of humor
> contains animal suffering and death
> keeping prayer simple
> "Please help me not to be such an asshole."
> "I am existentially sick to death of death."
> (to God) "What on Earth could you be thinking?"
> people are disappointing
> interesting she was raised in a non-religious family
> "Help for the sick and hungry, home for the homeless folk, peace in the world forever. This is my prayer, O Lord. Amen."
> "the wrinkly peaks of maturity"
> too much time in the old testament hahhaaha
> God's idea of a good time is picking up litter, serving food at the soup kitchen, or calling a relative who nobody else talks to
> sin is a hard heart, a lack of generosity
> dieting as time wasted

Misc

Last Night in Montreal (Emily St. John Mandel)

> beautiful, such a deep insight into every day life
> ancient and endangered language vibes, really poetic. also chilling in a random city vibes
> "I don't mind not being the hero of the story. I don't mind being the shepherd, watching you fly out over the sea with your child."

The Poet's Dog (Patricia MacLachlan)

> doggy
> getting sad when the storm ends is such a vibe
> this book actually kills me its so beautiful

Sea of Tranquility (Emily St. John Mandel) (R)

> I dearly love this book
> "We were still thinking in terms of getting work done. The most shocking thing in retrospect was the degree to which we all completely missed the point."
> "I'm more interested in this than, well, anything I can remember."
> "There were certain friends he didn't miss. He was quietly applying for new jobs."
> "When have we ever believed that the world wasn't ending? [...] We long secretly for a world with less technology in it."

2024

april 2024 -> end of 2024

Classics

The Looking Glass War (John le Carré, BBC radio dramatisation)

Good fun, not much more than that. I enjoyed having Palpatine, what a wonderful actor! Poor old Sarah.

Hapworth 16, 1924 (J. D. Salinger)

I don't think this is bad like the critics say; it doesn't feel that different from the rest of his stories and novellas. Maybe I just like slice of life stories more than the average critic. I admit some of the content isn't terribly believable (especially the 7-year-old narrator talking repeatedly in detail about young women and their virginity, and the whole thing with the books - I'm simply pretending the narrator is 17 or 27) but it definitely has some gems

"This has the hallmarks of being one of the future despairs of my life" hahaha

"For all our extreme youth, we remain quite vulnerable, amusing foils where gorgeous, untalented girls are concerned. I'm working on it, but it is a fairly severe problem."

"A fine, undisguised Australian accent does not seem to lend itself quite freely to arousing affectionate regard. It is practically foolproof against pleasing or diverting for its own sake. This is a sad state of affairs [...] If you can possibly do it without unhappiness, excessive strain, or the feeling that you are slighting or offending the decent, charming Australian people of your childhood, please keep your accent off the record." LOL

Big Sur (Jack Kerouac)

Verdict: A+/C-.

SO funny! The entire passage in ch11 about the bidets and the share house hahahahaha! "George and his theories about erogenous Buddha" hahahaha
It's also distasteful in a weird way. Can't tell if it's a profound work of art or three drunk guys in a trench coat (Kerouac's biography points towards the latter). Like what would the author have written if he weren't an alcoholic?

Lots in common with Catcher - it's essentially a slice of life story depicting an unfolding existential crisis, though death and alcohol rather than alienation and innocence

"'You want to be a hermit, you say, but you don't do it much, I noticed, you're just tired of life and want to sleep.'"

The cat dies (among many other animals). The occasional content about Japanese people feels a bit weird, other random bits like that (the 10-year-old girl??).

Journal of a Solitude (May Sarton)

It's fine, not great. Does what it says on the tin. It's the journal of a poet, so naturally beautiful/touching writing. It's about solitude, depression, writing, gardening, feminism, postwar society, life. I'm not sure I'd actually get along with the author! The bird dies.

East of Eden (John Steinbeck)

Deeply enjoyable. The writing is so good. It's pretty messed up in a lot of ways, though certainly realistic and detailed - it's got a lot in common with Anna Karenina in that these characters are so detailed and could walk off the page. Very insightful about society, people and their lives, etc. Lots of pretty intense violence. I really like Lee (the beets! hahahahah!). the bit about "an ability to generalise that only the inexperienced can have". Tom's suicide, wow. Poor old Adam. "To inflict any hurt on anything for any purpose became inimical to him." Mary trans vibes!

The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)

Beautiful.
"But are they worthy to eat him? No. Of course not."
"God, help me endure."

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson)

Excellent of course, but didn't grab me quite as much as Hill House. The OCD is a bit heartbreaking but also I kinda understand. The last few chapters are very powerful and heartbreaking.

Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)

It's good. Beautifully written and passionate; the passage where Catherine talks about the lapwings is touching. Immense grief and sadness: "You have a heart and nerves the same as your brother men. Why should you be anxious to conceal them? Your pride cannot blind God." The domestic violence is hard. Got about halfway through as it gets pretty dark.

Nada (Carmen Laforet)

"the need, felt by all people who are not very attractive, to make material payment for what is, to them, extraordinary, someone's interest and affection"
"The next day I’d hover clumsily near my grandmother. I detected so sweet a smile in her light eyes when she looked at me that I was moved as if the roots of my spirit were clutching at me until I wanted to cry. If, impelled by my feelings, I’d put my arms around her, I’d encounter a little body, hard and cold as if made of wire, inside which beat a surprisingly strong heart."
It's good - a much darker Catcher in the Rye plus poverty, and a woman's experience which is very different. Honest and real. Andrea's poverty and chronic hunger makes me sad (and IRL more grateful for the Marshall Plan). A lot of suffering in this family and community - the DV is hard to read, especially towards the end.

Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin)

Amazing. Perfect, I can't even describe. I have a suspicion that I'll need to reread this when I'm a bit older. The grief towards the end of Gabriel's part is the most moving thing I have ever read. I like Richard a lot. Deborah: "The Lord sure give that woman [Esther's mother] a heavy cross to bead." Esther: "Be careful how you talk to me. I ain't the first girl been ruined by a holy man, either."

Contact (Carl Sagan)

Good fun. Extremely realistic, it's very obvious (in a good way) that the author is an expert. Overall a really imaginative and well-founded first-contact story. I like VeGe a lot. A bit explainy / telling rather than showing / unrealistic dialogue, I guess because it started as a screenplay. The religion content is a little weak/strawmanny on both sides of the on-screen debate which I think is a shame (where are the deeply religious scientists and the historical-critical bible scholars?).

Edgar Allan Poe (POE! by Selected Shorts)

This guy is Good At Writing. I love that these particular recordings were performed in front of an audience - certainly the best way to perform poetry.

Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)

Excellent. Beautiful writing in the interpersonal bits, and really atmospheric when describing Manderley. Really masterful actually, everything from the whether to nuances in the social interactions. In a weird way, I felt a lot of respect for Max in how he behaved during the events after the party onwards, especially with Favel. Mrs Danver's grief. "I find a little of my family goes a very long way." Ben breaks my heart. The blackface bit is unfortunate.

The Haunting of Hill House

Ok I'm pretty sure this book is actually perfect, like genuinely Catcher/Mockingbird tier. "Ghost story" doesn't do it justice. Amazing, even from the very first paragraph. Really beautiful characters and examination of interpersonal dynamics. Eleanor's road trip/escapism mental monologue at the start! "I think that I should like this better if I had the blanket over my head." Biggest mood hahahaha

Level 7 (Mordecai Roshwald)

Automation: a cautionary tale. Not terribly deep (heh) or sophisticated. "Somehow I did not feel as sorry for humanity as the speaker seemed to. [...] Why is it better to have more people rather than less?"

Cat's Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)

Got about halfway through. Pretty funny. Not terribly deep or profound. It's very slice of life but also a darkly satirical novel about the bomb and the international order - imagine Monty Python x Dr Strangelove x Midnight Diner. The casual ableism/racism/misogyny is a shame. "He had a dazzling talent of spending millions without increasing mankind's store of anything but chagrin." "The form of government was anarchy, save in the situation when Cassel Sugar wanted to own something, in which situation the form of government was feudalism." And "Never index your own book" hahahaha

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) (R)

Perfect. One of the greatest books in the English language. For me, that category has this book and The Catcher in the Rye. "Right pretty spell we're having, isn't it, Mr. Arthur?" Beautiful.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)

"Your prayer of pride has been answered, and your prayer of repentance will be also." It's fine. There are a few strokes of genius in it. Poor old Basil. It's funny if you enjoy the ironies, though it has no small degree of misogyny, anti-semitism, etc.

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

Excellent, great even. Much more detail and depth than the popular summaries you hear would suggest. "I'm seventeen and I'm crazy." For me, the only thing stopping this from being a perfect book is that it's a bit one-sided in its allegory and isn't super nuanced in its critique of society (as Catcher and Mockingbird both are, in my opinion).

The Last Man (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Truly excellent. Deeply beautiful. Sublime, even. Even the philosophical reflections are genuinely outstanding. Amazing expression of grief / overwhelming sadness at the climax of vol 1 chapter 8, and of renunciation at the start of vol 2 chapter 4. "You are all going to die. ... not one of you, my ill-fated crowd, can escape." Lots of interesting parallels with Station Eleven, e.g. the "Farewell" chapter, and the prophet.

Hamlet (Shakespeare)

Lives up to the hype. Can't say I understood all of it. Probably would be easier watching as a movie with subtitles. Act 3 Scene 1 is a banger: "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me"

Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf)

A bit challenging to follow at first, but very enjoyable overall. Got 63% through. The bit about Sally and the bit about Septimus are sad and very beautiful. "Oddly enough, she was one of the most thoroughgoing sceptics he had ever met, and possibly (this was a theory he used to make up to account for her, so transparent in some ways, so inscrutable in others), possibly she said to herself, As we are a doomed race, chained to a sinking ship (her favourite reading as a girl was Huxley and Tyndall, and they were fond of these nautical metaphors), as the whole thing is a bad joke, let us, at any rate, do our part; mitigate the sufferings of our fellow-prisoners (Huxley again); decorate the dungeon with flowers and air-cushions; be as decent as we possibly can. Those ruffians, the Gods, shan't have it all their own way,—her notion being that the Gods, who never lost a chance of hurting, thwarting and spoiling human lives were seriously put out if, all the same, you behaved like a lady."

Franny and Zooey (J. D. Salinger)

Excellent. Franny's existential crisis in *Franny* is just outstanding - "sad-making" and her obsession with The Way of the Pilgrim. Seymour's haiku and suicide. Salinger, of course, has a compelling way of writing about the every day details of life. I suspect much of the book went over my head, I think rereading when I'm older would be interesting

Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)

Got to 76%, bit of a slog! A detailed, deeply nuanced, and even sympathetic look at the countless facets of life and society, especially when it comes to class and gender. The level of detail, especially about people's inner lives and the complicated relationships and interpersonal dynamics, is pretty amazing. I like Kitty's religious awakening towards the end of Part II and Levin's interactions with the peasants and existential crisis.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, An Introduction (J. D. Salinger)

The first book is outstanding, masterful. I don't know how Salinger can write a book about nothing and make it so rich and layered. Seymour, what a character! "How beautifully difficult, and therefore true." Despite the topic it feels closer to Catcher than Franny and Zooey in vibe. The second story went over my head a bit.

The Beautiful and the Damned (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Did not finish. Struggled to get into this one. I picked this due to the narrator being Kirby Heybourne.

Queer fiction

The Chromatic Fantasy (H.A.)

> absolute perfection. funniest and most touching thing ive read in a long time.
> unironically think its a best-ever book
> just outstanding originality and honesty and also just hysterical
> esoteric trans guy camp bullshit
> I wrote this because I was really sad
> Julius Caesar never could have even met Mary Magdalene!! And he hated sucking dick!!
> Julius Caesar, you have sucked your last dick! Now, I will be giving **your** head... to the people of Rome!
> We'll die no matter what. There's no need to rush it.
> Holy shit, I'm obsessed with your single chair no table setup! I lived in a house like this when I first experienced psychosis.

Paper Love (Jae)

> Verdict: A. What a comfort book! Germany! Rain! And a business consultant reforming a stationery store, no less. Fun and cozy.
> "There's no place for sentimentality in business" is that a Monty Python reference hahahaha

Must Love Silence (Lucy Bexley) (R)

> biggest vibe. checks out.
> (re-read)

Late Bloomer (Mazey Eddings)

> Verdict: A-. It's funny! It's mostly well-written and very wholesome (occasionally on the nose - but hey, it's a rom com about a flower farm). relatable and endearing mess of a main character
> autism rep! I really, really feel for Pepper's dread and discomfort at the start. and migraines rep.
> vague criticism that a couple of the subplots are solved simply because relatives have wealth
> "Don't call the flowers sluts."
> "I've discovered the cure to indecent thoughts about one's roommate. Spreadsheets."
> "All my clothes are the perfect sensory texture. I'm nowhere near stable enough to introduce new fabrics!"
> "I'm a 5'2" human disaster with green hair. What part of me is scary?"
> "Me telling you it's time to get up is not a hate crime."

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches (Kate Scelsa)

> verdict: strong A. its lovely and touching, coming of age with depression and alienation and reclaiming a messed up history and living with trauma. also beautiful social anxiety, loneliness, and lyme disease rep. feel very seen. some of the specifics are a bit on the nose but the protagonist is so, so relatable and endearing that it sorta works.
> how lucky to have a friend like susan!
> "this is what ive been reduced to; needing my mother's password to try to make a few friends"
> "what if you were enough, all on your own?"

Something's Different (Quinn Ivins)

> B+, it's good fun, academic office politics and a slow burn romance. flirting over linear models and antidepressants hahahah
> "thank god for my zoloft"
> "the formatting was hideous! nice slide, jackass"
> caitlin's anxiety/ocd/catastrophising resonates very strongly, and overachieving as a defense mechanism
> her family is a bit harsh given what she did for them!
> (contains cockroach death :()

The Coldest Touch (Isabel Sterling)

> got to about 75%, stopped because became pretty violent. this book is real. pretty intense look at grief and secondary trauma and depression. this is one traumatised kid.
> plot feels slightly undercooked
> i feel like these vampires are bad at project management. like paying for clares vampire therapist would have to have like a 10x ROI for the vampires. i could go on.
> (contains a frog dissection)

Make the Season Bright (Ashley Herring Blake)

> its good, clear A. really well-written. a gay, vaguely antisocial classical musician who hates december.

The Brightness Between Us (Eliot Schrefer)

> Extremely good, a worthy follow up to the first book (no easy task). Very well put together (a challenging task given the many moving pieces in the story).
> great science. love all the little details of the planet
> i vibe with early-book yarrow
> delicious cameo of the indonesia radio signal from the previous book
> the bit with kodiak the sheep is really beautiful
> (death of infants; violent death of animals; and the bit with the earth animals makes me sad)

How You Get the Girl (Anita Kelly)

> Verdict: A-/B+. quite heartwarming and wholesome; enjoyable and refreshingly strong implementation of the genre. Nice mental health content. BUCKY THE PIG!
> minor gripes: some of the details of the romance plot feel vaguely juvenile; the coach babysitting one of the players feels a bit off; weird that the characters, given their politics, aren't critical of thanksgiving
> I love the first name "London"

All Our Hidden Gifts (Caroline O'Donoghue)

> Verdict: A. Really sweet and touching, high school drama about loneliness and guilt featuring a cursed Tarot deck and genderqueer rep! Very original
> also strong subplot about queer backlash :( hate crimes in ch32 and 36 :(
> It has some similarities with Sarah Jane Adventures (the Doctor Who spinoff) in that there are children making wild crackpot theories based on nothing and those theories turn out to be exactly right, probably the book's only weakness
> "Er, Ro doesn't *get* metaphors because he's a Protestant" hahahahahaha
> "Oh, you're all pro-woman and genderqueer until I start talking about my period" hahaha

It Started with a Kiss (Clare Lydon)

> B/B-. Bread and butter. I like the running-a-business/ops vibes.

The History of Living Forever (Jake Wolff)

> Verdict: A. This book is a gem. Beautiful and heartbreaking. Extremely well-written. The loneliness of super smart people. The narrator/protagonist is quite funny. It's like a dark academia version of Lolita set in a contemporary high school. A bit of discomfort (drugs, travel, etc) but it works well. Ending was satisfying too.
> It's got a similar sense of deep moral discomfort and an adult's betrayal of a child as Lolita (in a weird way it feels refreshing to read about a really unhealthy queer relationship; I know many would disagree but I feel like I'm at that point). This man is truly unhinged.
> contains animal experimentation and death; also multiple explicit autopsies
> "I should clarify, for the record, that Sammy's relationship with me was against the law."
> "'I'll call the police!' It was the first time I'd seen one of those devices [an emergency falls alarm] used for the purpose of intimidation." hahahahaha!
> "Radkin, for all his menace, had a nine-to-five."

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Becky Chambers) (R)

Still a strong A, perhaps A+; as good and fun as I remember! One of my favourite realistic/near-future scifi worlds. There is a deep beauty in the world and the characters - I love how much care the author has taken in fleshing out the world and how it's extremely realistic but hopeful. Wonderfully slice-of-lifey; this book is like a warm hug. (Re-read.)

The Pairing (Casey McQuiston)

Verdict: B. Actually stopped at 20%, just didn't feel motivated to finish it.
Good fun. You have to suspend disbelief a little bit (the story is hot people drinking expensive wine and having lots of sex). Very funny though - the author has returned to the comic gold of their first two novels.

The Absinthe Underground (Jamie Pacton)

Verdict: B/B+. Got about 60% through. It's fine. Absinthe-themed steampunk fairy lesbians. (As creative a setting as Light from Uncommon Stars, and that is saying something.) I feel like the book could do with 10% more detail in the characters' reactions to events and inner lives, which seem a little bit stiff and on rails given the story.

The Senator's Wife (Jen Lyon)

Verdict: probably a B/B-, and not as much soccer content as I'd have liked. Got like 80% through. The men in this book are all complete turds; the violence and humiliation makes me uncomfortable but I must admit it's realistic. The whole "hidden relationship" dynamic drags on a bit, I get that it's necessary given the setting but it feels a bit old school for an American queer fiction novel. The Australian accents are truly depraved.

Stay Gold (Tobly McSmith)

Verdict: B, maybe B-. Good characters. The representation of transitioning is very good. The height and voice anxiety. Lots of casual microaggressions and fear (not to mention the medical gatekeeping) and the occasional slur, all of which *really* resonates. Some violence at the end. The relationship with his sister Rocky is really endearing. "No-one knows I'm trans. No-one knows I'm alive, really. I couldn't be happier." "Love Actually-shaming" hahahaha. I must say, I was a bit disappointed by Georgia's response to Pony coming out. Georgia has lots of naivete and privilege that gets really on my nerves. Same issue with Max honestly (he should have known better). I can understand why the book got some poor reviews. But I think given that the author is writing an own-voice story, there is a bit more leeway for this sort of thing - it certainly is realistic.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (Taylor Jenkins Reid)

Stopped reading at about 20%, entirely because the themes don't resonate with me. However excellent writing, especially the soliloquies. The teenage bits are heartbreaking.

Ophelia After All (Racquel Marie)

Did not finish. Struggled to get into this one. Botany!

A Day of Fallen Night (Samantha Shannon)

Verdict: A. Beautiful, slow, gentle, compelling. Outstanding writing. Certainly lives up to the quality of the first book. It's actually very readable as a standalone. I feel like the pregnancy was represented very well (the ageism was sold a bit too hard which was a shame). This quote from when the character in the cold North feels the volcano erupt: "Pleasure and pain and fear, a deep recognition." I love the cheeky trans rep.

Those Who Wait (Haley Cass)

Verdict: B. Did not finish. It's fun, but nothing really grabs me or draws me in. The two main characters' professions (politics and academia) are given in less detail than I'd have liked, and many of the details that are given seem unrealistic.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Benjamin Alire Sáenz)

Verdict: A. A touching and extremely relatable look at what it is to be a geeky, vaguely depressed male going through adolescence. "I had a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than bored with someone else. I pretty much lived by that rule. Maybe that was why I didn't have any friends." The scene with the BB guns is really, really relatable. Some of the themes were pretty heavy.

Him (Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy)

Verdict: A-. Smuttier than I anticipated (I read it for the articles!). Still, quality writing and a great voice performance and got heartwarming towards the end.

Wolfsong (TJ Klune)

Verdict: A. Wow! The quality of the writing is extremely high. Touching. Beautiful. I actually did not finish it because it became too violent for me (and this is why I deleted the rest of the books in the series from my reading list and replaced them with other books).

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World (Ashley Herring Blake)

Verdict: A. Beautiful. "A storm was coming, which was perfect."

The Lightning-Struck Heart (TJ Klune)

Verdict: A. Hysterical. It's quite rare to find a genuinely hilarious comedy novel. Despite being absolutely packed full of penis jokes, the story is engaging and genuinely touching. Poor old Todd. Though some of the jokes come off as ableist or fat-phobic which is a shame, and the Roma thing doesn't sit comfortably with me.

How to Become a Planet (Nicole Melleby)

Verdict: A. Beautiful book. Such a mood. A girl who loves space and has depression and anxiety. And there is trans rep and OCD rep! Beautiful look at how families cope too.

On the Same Page (Haley Cass)

Verdict: A-/B+. It's good fun and a cute, wholesome story if you don't take it too seriously and if you suspend disbelief a little bit.

Here We Go Again (Alison Cochrun)

Verdict: B+. Really funny - the humour really lands. Was this book written for me? A queer anxious coffee-addicted overachiever takes a road trip, with the romantic interest and a dying old man, and at least beginning in the PNW. Stopped at 80% because it got too heavy.

Not My Problem (Ciara Smyth)

Verdict: A/A-. Good fun. The humour is good. The loneliness and rejection/separation anxiety at the beginning really hits, and the class thing. You have to really feel for this kid. The neglect (and its interaction with the schooling system and power dynamics) is heartbreaking.

A Destiny of Dragons (TJ Klune)

Did not finish. It leans into the story and fantasy content rather than the humour, the problem being that the former isn't that good. Also the book leans into the racially charged content a bit which is unfortunate.

The Follower of Flowers (Natalia Hernandez)

Verdict: A. Banger. The writing is excellent. I'm often not a fan of sequels, but this one really meets expectations.

Season of Love (Helena Greer)

Verdict: B, maybe B-. Bread and butter, if nothing too memorable or special. The pacing has some issues, though I must admit that it sort of makes it feel mundane in a really realistic way. The dialogue often feels a bit stiff. I like how the plot didn't fall into the common trap of "there's a secret rich character who saves the day".

Cemetery Boys (Aiden Thomas)

Verdict: A. It's excellent. Touching and beautiful. Really creative and sympathetic, a top-notch example of what queer fiction can be. The desire for acceptance as onesself really resonates.

Idlewild (James Frankie Thomas)

Verdict: A, perhaps bordering on A+. Amazing. Insanely, insanely good writing. Absolutely hilarious and also touching and dark and resonates deeply. Actually damn near perfect, except that the Fay-Theo relationship disturbs me on a deep level (though I'm aware that was very deliberate). This book has something I've only really encountered in Euphoria Kids and Station Eleven: it's comforting in a really unique way (despite being disturbing), and there is no other book like it. "I can't talk about Idlewild. If you weren't there, you wouldn't understand." Excellent voice acting too.

Confidence (Rafael Frumkin)

Did not finish - felt too adversarial and unwholesome. I love how he says that words on a page are "static and parsable", I really relate to that.

Catch and Cradle (Katia Rose)

Verdict: B. A little on the nose, but good fun. Great rep (non-binary athlete!).

Playing for Keeps (Jennifer Dugan)

Verdict: B/B-, but stopped at 50%. Good fun. Mostly well-written, I think I enjoyed it more than her previous books. Minor gripes: it's a little zero to sixty; there's a vague first-girlfriend feeling and not so much actual chemistry; much of the plot is just "these are teenagers making very normal decisions and the adults all suck". The whole "secret girlfriends" thing sorta makes me anxious as a plot device - queer people put up with enough of that already. Surprise soccer content!

The Romance Recipe (Ruby Barrett)

Verdict: B, maybe B+. Good fun. Excellent writing. The relationship dynamic is a bit difficult to understand / zero to sixty. More smut than I expected. The vegan content is fun! The lobster analogy was quite regrettable. "I'm a 27-year old woman but his tone alone makes me feel like a kid." "The things I want are smaller than that."

Memoirs and biography

Late Bloomer: How an Autism Diagnosis Changed My Life (Clem Bastow)

> dont love the diagnosis language but respect that they feel differently; this book makes me feel extremely seen
> selectively forgetting not interesting stuff
> crushing homesickness
> goddamn i hate nazism
> and police violence :(
> reading the wikipedia citations hahaha
> "the lost generation", people who, had they been born in the 21st century, wouldve been recognised as autistic at age 6 or 8
> clothing tags
> fear of skin picking!
> worst case scenario and catastrophising, easier to imagine (clem bastow)
> repeating phrases from long forgotten media hahahahaha
> eating disorders and trouble eating; nothing wrong with autistic kids finding comfort in certain foods; eating the same thing every day
> comfort in formulaic and predictable plots, looking up spoilers in advance
> school uniform textures (!)
> fucking hate child abuse
> musicals as stimming!
> "vivid inner world"
> school refusal
> "if we suffer from anything, it's too much empathy"
> "an inhuman ability to produce reams of content" !!!!!!!
> autistic burnout
> freelance and remote work (irl a "social and sensory nightmare")
> abusive boyfriends make me sad
> feminist media and "the demand to perform trauma"
> becoming more comfortable living as obviously autistic with age
> difficulty following conversations in loud environment
> "pathological need for justice"

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality (Sarah McBride)

> simply one of the best books ever. very possibly the best non-fiction book ive ever read (which is saying something!)
> she is a very thoughtful woman! both politically and strategically. with some serious intestinal fortitude.
> the impression that one's dreams and one's identity are mutually exclusive
> coming out as helping someone else process their emotional journey hahahahha
> dysphoria as analogous to a feeling of homesickness
> having no references for successful trans people
> imagine having the governor of delaware to help you come out to your parents hahahaha
> book feels a bit like its aiming to educate cis people, but only partially
> having to learn how to not smile at strangers
> "Welcome to the White House, Ms McBride." beautiful
> during the toxic senate debate on the trans equal protection bill and she just gets fed up and sends herself in hahaha what a legend
> had to skip a lot of the content around Andy's death, which I found too difficult to read

Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model to America's Future (Pete Buttigieg)

> got like 50% through. beautifully written, strikes me as a pretty sensible and compassionate, if very conventional, guy; just made me tired to read about all this hand-shaking.
> mentions romero! partially stimulated his interest in human rights
> "For others, work can only be meaningful if its fundamental purpose is in things that would matter even if no-one would pay you to care about them."
> "There is something jarring about the idea that anyone thinks himself truly fit to perform the tremendously difficult and sensitive tasks of public office."
> the extremely local and retail politics gives me the heeby-jeebies. all those *people*!

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

> how much suffering
> only got 50% through and even then had to pace myself with this one, both due to the subject matter and it's just challenging to spend too much time in this guy's head. one of the simultaneous crackpot and visionary types.
> "that they will even violate and mutilate their God-created bodies to try to look pretty by white standards"
> "Any person who claims to have deep feelings for other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to have other men kept behind bars, caged. I'm not saying there shouldn't be prisons. But there shouldn't be bars."
> (depictions of animal slaughter, as well as a great deal of violence against humans)

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power (John Meacham)

> Once again an excellent biography on an excellent subject from this biographer. It's a challenge to make this subject feel new but this writer does so, and without shying away from the (many) ugly bits.
> the underappreciated dynasty (jefferson, madison, monroe, van buren)
> hated arguing, avoided face to face conflict, actually not a great orator so didn't speak in front of crowds much and cultivated writing and conversation instead
> born into extreme privilege, obviously, enjoyed the high life
> owned over 600 slaves aye aye aye
> bit of a wannabe womanizer
> didnt know he was *comparatively* progressive on slavery, though on one occasion basically advocated for the genocide of Native Americans
> complained when his documents were critiqued and edited by the congress hahahahahah same
> "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."
> Virginia's legislature almost voted to establish a dictatorship! actually makes sense given all that talk about importing a monarch
> the grief over his wife's death is very touching
> "We are therefore never safe til our magazines are filled with arms."
> the whole thing with Sally Hemmings, while certainly nauseating and heartbreaking, is told here in a level-headed balanced way that I think works well. Hemmings is a very crafty and strong operator.
> intense animosity and occasional gridlock within the congress even at this early stage
> the alien and sedition acts were more messed up than i thought!
> hamilton straight up tried to illegally overturn jefferson's election win, and jefferson's supporters spoke of marching on the capitol!
> pet mockingbirds as president!
> concerns about blind party loyalty; heaps of impeachment happening at this early stage; federalists stacking the judiciary

William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity (Kevin Belmonte)

> Perfection. An excellent biography of a truly great man. The biography is all the more readable for being thematic rather than chronological, though it occasionally leans slightly into hagiography.
> I wish I could be friends with Wilberforce! I think he would get along with the EAA crowd, especially given his significant animal welfare advocacy.
> It always strikes me that many of the greatest reformers in history (Paul, Wilberforce, Nightingale, King) come from comparatively privileged upbringings.
> Didn't realise he was around for the height of the American revolutionary war and on at least one occasion hung out with Franklin and Lafayette, plus friends with John Jay and John Quincy Adams (!). And he was besties with *that* Pitt. And friends with Bentham maybe? And as an abolitionist, collaborator with William Smith, grandfather of Florence Nightinggale! Influenced Victoria (*that* Victoria) directly and indirectly. Sponsored the education of the Brontes.
> even after his Great Change, very conscientious and considerate about what specific religious doctrines he assented to
> the brief consideration about leaving public life which we are *very* fortunate he didn't act on; similar to my "against kindness" blog post and Thay's "Buddhas are found in places of suffering" in that it's about doing as much good as we can, not chasing purity (the "Eusabian temptation" as the author puts it); as Wilberforce puts it "to consider our pecular situation and then to do all the good we can"
> answering the question "Who is my neighbour" (in the context of Jesus's two commandments) by looking at the story of the Good Samaritan - yep that's an elegant and powerful way of looking at things
> a huge bookworm and big on self-improvement
> chronic illness
> basically took the GWWC pledge hahahaha
> of course faced huge amounts of "venom and vitriol" from his opponents

Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship (Jon Meacham)

> Really excellent. Outstanding writing.
> Vaguely irritated by the uncritical "Churchill good, Axis bad" characterisation of the war. Though I certainly agree that Churchill fellow was one hell of a leader.
> "It is fun to be in the same decade as you."
> FDR as a "frustrated clergyman at heart"
> Roosevelt "had about a hundred ideas a day, four of which were good" hahahaha
> This outstanding bit about rest: "... Roosevelt slept well. At the pinnacle of their power and responsibilities during the war, both men did. They knew there would be another fight another day, probably the very next day, and that energy spent fretting about what could not be undone was wasted."

Florence Nightingale at First Hand: Vision, Power, Legacy (Lynn McDonald)

An amazing book. A+ for Nightingale's life (a bona fide gem of humanity), and even A/A+ for the book itself (it's crystal clear that this is written by the world's foremost expert, and I love how it's rigorously and almost entirely based on primary sources - cuts through the overabundant noise).
A statistician, researcher, lobbyist, and a skilled liberal/social reform political activist (often from her own sick room), and also deeply religious (an experience of being called to service by God; accountable "we serve not a committee but the Lord"; "a blessed life when we can live it for others"; saw the face of God in the poor, sick, and imprisoned; "how I wish God was king or at least the Prince of Wales"!) - amazing!
struggled with illness/permanent disability ("prisoner to my bed") but used her best hours on the most impactful projects, kept a limit on social visitors
advocated for more M&E of government's laws; a fan of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations; an animal person, took care of animals; mortification and self-denial as a form of seeking one's own desires!; intellectually an ancestor of Gandhi (via mentor of his mentor) and thus King; was frequently insulted in the pages of academic journals, even simply for being a woman

Politics and history

Tackling Stereotype: Corporeal Reflexivity and Politics of Play in Women’s Rugby (Charlotte Branchu)

> Just outstanding!
> (cw: final paragraphs talk about a ban on trans women)
> rugby as a space and an activity
> "it is dangerous both physically and morally" on women's rugby
> physical risk to women in large part caused by the fact that they arent encouraged to become strong and train from a young age
> questioning the sex of women who do not conform to specific gender roles
> "Politics are undeniably acted through and within sport."
> re unequal treatment of women in sport "Women athletes are never just athletes. They are sexualised, reduced to mothers, potential heterosexual partners, or denied their womanhood altogether."
> sex tests
> women cannot perform well or succeed without raising questions (!!!!!!!!!!!!! all those transphobic articles)
> "the good pain", the physical sensation of feeling one's body and one's strength
> lesbians as sexual predators who invade sports and especially changing room
> makes deviance a way of life
> position as identity
> external standards of fear and violence
> when one cannot play, feeling like one is "slipping away from the team"
> learning to care for your own body; not always feel cared for and appreciated by medical professionals ("normative expectations of white male dominance")
> "My body is doing what I want it to do and it's working for me and it's more than something to look at."
> confidence that comes from knowing one's strength and overcoming challenges in rugby can translate to other spheres; biology is far from fixed and the bar can be raised
> "it is something to take very seriously and it is just a game"
> "came for the sport, stayed for the girls"
> fluidity and mundanity of same sex relationships and sexual activity, frequently within the team, though rarely using the word "lesbian"; more like "gay" or "girls who like girls" or triggering an identity/sexuality crisis. liberating to be away from men and the male gaze.

The Social Semiotics of Tattoos: Skin and Self (Chris William Martin)

> interesting, tattoos as a permanent commitment in an age of liquid modernity (ephemeral consumer culture), a refuge of stability
> tattoos have multiple meanings, and the meaning of even a specific tattoo can have different meanings over time and space
> as a body modification form, near universal and extremely persistent
> 19th and 20th centuries, tattoos were among the thing violently stamped out by Christian missionaries
> the association with deviance is fairly new and also declining today (especially due to artists' pursuit of higher standards over time), and is heaps problematic in any case
> "flesh journey"; representing one's journey and others' journeys in flesh
> the extremely deceptive artist that the author encountered
> questioning whether tattoos, like film, music, and other art forms, will be monopolised by corporations, it's unusual as an art form that is controlled by individual artists rather than corporations
> modern custom tattoo shops originate in the 1970s but are now standard
> "pinterest is the new flash, and instagram is the new portfolio" but most artists wont directly use an internet design, inspiration only; to do with the evolution into an art form (and flash on walls giving way to fine art)
> the sexuality aspect, e.g. physical attraction to tattooed people

Neuroqueer Heresies (Nick Walker)

> I think this information is important and worth reading. I find myself getting irked by the way the information is presented, somewhat repetitive etc. So I found some bits extremely useful and others irrelevant, which I skipped - treated the book more like a set of lectures than a single narrative
> This book makes me feel better about myself and the future of society
> I disagree with some of the author's strategic details, e.g. focus on (her specific interpretations of) language, her apparent pursuit of a distant utopia. at least in my experience of the animal advocacy movement, I haven't seen these to be terribly effective choices, but of course this is a movement whose day-to-day details I know far less about
> social anxiety as an oppression and trauma as disproportionately imposed on neurodivergent people by a neurotypical society
> the essay "What is autism?" makes me feel very seen
> the quote "Power is the ability not to have to learn."
> stimming includes fidgets, plus enjoying specific sounds, scents, and sights (bit broader than I previously assumed, but makes perfect sense)
> she's into zazen. which is actually a bit strange because much of her language and approach is hostile and exclusionary/name-cally, e.g. "stop acting like a fucking cop", which is not in line with Buddhist practice, a shame from an otherwise rigorous and compassionate thinker
> heteronormativity and neuronormativity as the same oppressive process
> likewise, neuroqueering as something that is done, analogy with gender and sexuality
> though the author doesnt reject essentialism totally in either neurodiversity or gender/sexuality, theyre roughly 80/20 constructionist/essentialist but essentialist as "innate tendencies or dispositions" not "shape of genitals"
> there's no "neurotypical brain" or "autistic brain", just like there's no "male brain" or "female brain", especially as neurotypicality and neurodivergence have a large component of performance and cultural context

The Contemporary Reader of Gender and Fat Studies (ed Amy Erdman Farrell)

> 100% certified banger!!! like i think much of the overall vibe i already agreed with at least on a conscious level, but really helps to have it written down in detail and explored from all these angles i hadnt considered. the writing is excellent.
> despite the fact that I work full-time in trying to dismantle economic systems of oppression, this book has done more to radicalise me than anything I've read in years hahahaha
> a small number of the essays (like just a couple) strike me as uncritical and one-sided
> skipped a few that were difficult to read (especially around eating disorders and surgery)
> (1) adipose tissue exists, but the meaning tied to it is entirely discursive (and wrapped up in other areas of discourse and context, i.e. gender, race, one's occupation, one's culture esp neoliberal and individualist culture)
> masquerades as being about aesthethics and health
> (2) "an anti-fat society"
> "the courtesy of civil inattention" but often not paid when a person is not meeting the standards of the male gaze "emphasised femininity"
> "obesity epidemic discourse"
> a form of violence (!!!)
> femininity is linked with thinness and whiteness (and shortness), causes much suffering in trans and gender non conforming people wrt "passing"
> fat people (especially fat femme people) often erased from queer spaces, incl queer dating community, misgendering
> (3) the neoliberal commodification of the body, which must meet often numeric and usually arbitrary requirements (size, exercise, diet), which is then taken as a measure of health or lack thereof and understood to be determined by one's own individual will and discipline
> healthiness and attractiveness are often conflated
> obesity epidemic discourse -> simultaneously diseased and villified, cause of a social, economic and political problem, esp associated with greed, use of resources -> a moral panic (!)
> but in fact these problems are caused by the structures of the neoliberal economy itself, and fat people are thus scapegoated
> neoliberal body discourse has appropriated feminist ideas, e.g. choice, self-determination, empowerment, and of course commercial appropriation of the body positivity movement
> "perform health in a normative manner"
> (4) being queer and being fat both seen as deviant and hiding perversions
> "comfort and respectability politics" (antisocial queer studies)
> (5) "it's an impossible task, but one completely worthy of you"
> "if there is an end to our suffering, it is not ..."
> "understudied, and therefore positioned as anecdotal"
> (6) "the university classroom erases bodies"
> nobody should be forced to be mindful, can be good reasons (esp power imbalance) to keep your guard up
> fat people being denied gender affirmation surgery, including with no data to back up this denial
> beauty privilege (where beauty means white supremacist cisheteronormative standards of beauty)
> the language of horror to describe both transness and fatness
> "at some point in my early thirties, privilege stopped being my aim on most days. im more interested in justice..."
> (10) denial of IVF based on weight
> weight control of parents and children as eugenics
> (12)
> eating disorder literature centres the experience of white Western people/women
> (16)
> wall-e equates fat with laziness and decay
> "what if you were ok with your body the way it is right now?" fear of letting oneself go, failure of keeping up with standards
> the female body as something to be watched
> while plus sized models can extend the set of acceptable standards, in doing so this supports the culture's obsession with objectification and reproduces heternormative bodily ideals. i.e. plus sized models are still sexualised and subject to the male gaze; more bodies are now worthy of objectification.
> (17)
> "why do we oppress fat people, and who benefits from that oppression?"
> "gender apathetic" as a gender identity, what a great phrase!
> "benevolent anti-fatness"
> "pretty privilege" and "ugly others"
> "if one seeks gender affirmation, one must always be moving away from fatness"
> occupying fatness as a form of protest (the chapter gives many examples of doing this in a subversive artistic context)
> (19)
> "compulsory body-thinness" and the "not-thin-yet body"
> (20)
> "I miss believing that we were changing the world in radical ways."
> a house filled with images of fat women!
> "part of ageing for me is needing more time to rest and recover"
> ideology of food as bad
> (22)
> noone can read or learn all of Torah, but everyone can find the teachings that are most our own
> (23)
> "no requirement that we have to love our bodies for them to count"

The United Nations: A Very Short Introduction (Jussi M. Hanhimäki)

> Very well written (if a few turns of phrase that are a bit yikes)
> the classic "prevent you from going to hell, not get you to heaven" reminds me of Masaryk's "practical little utopias"
> indispensable and flawed
> cultural conflicts in the day to day work of the civil servants, hadnt thought about that but makes perfect sense!
> kinda argues that being politically messy and a bureaucratic monster is a necessary consequence of its goals (an international organisation), I find myself kinda enjoying this feature! like how cool that messy humanity is doing something like this at all!
> has definitely done some good, esp WHO, UNICEF, some positive effects of the UNSC and so on, just need to interpret this in the context of the obvious political reality of countries pursuing their own interests (and the fact that this is baked in might limit its power but stops countries walking out like Japan did from the League, so kinda good design; this vibes with my pre-existing view on the UN)
> the UNSC as a context for negotiating the end to conflicts, not a way to prevent conflicts
> certainly some peacekeeping hits, if well below 100%

The New Frontiers of Space: Economic Implications, Security Issues and Evolving Scenarios (Stefania Paladini)

> Excellent overview of the space industry and policy, very broad in scope. I like all the data and history that puts things into perspective. It's about 6 years old now but seems mostly up-to-date, only exceptions are a few specific projects/missions. > Satellies (esp communication and earth observation satellites) are two major components of the industry, though more seemingly mundane. And originally defense. > Some recent impressive growth but perhaps a bit slower than I'd have thought. All sectors still bottlenecked by launch costs. > The insane billionaire and his company are just one actor among many (incl many emerging chinese companies), if certainly the most successful private actor > regional space agencies (e.g. asia pacific) as an emerging trend > orbital space is a limited resource > TIL ESA isnt actually an EU institution and the lists of states involved in each are different > EU space budget has increased, unlike NASA > in terms of absolute national budget spent on space, France is actually second after USA > China pursuing numerous space collabs with other countries, generating soft power > very interesting discussion on the many limitations of current space law > helium 3 is abundant in space (not on earth though!) and can be used to power fusion reactors > you can put nanosatellites into orbit for $8000! crazy! > Ultrascope, a 3D printable telescope > a large economic and practical gap between putting something into earth orbit and leaving earth orbit, high failure rates for mars in particular > the colonial language in the space settlement section makes me deeply uncomfortable, probably there's less critique of the idea is present in this book than what exists in the literature

The Most Controversial Decision: Truman, the Atomic Bombs, and the Defeat of Japan (Wilson Miscamble)

> This is good history, really puts you in the mindset and worldview of the people present.
> argues that the bombs did speed up the surrender, but this wasn't necessarily deliberate or expected or guaranteed (even an attempted coup to stop the surrender)
> they wanted to end a very bloody conflict against an entrenched enemy minimising American lost lives, took the bomb and its implications very seriously (as they did the moral costs of conventional war) but didn't have a great idea of exactly what its effects would be. in fact they were expecting to have to keep fighting a conventional war
> but clearly it was a very big bomb so a more economical way of carpet bombing cites which they were already doing, and had some idea of its shock value.
> truman inherited the overall strategy of "of course we'll use this weapon in this war" and no military leaders or advisors seriously suggested otherwise, and there were no serious alternatives
> the author distinguishes between "pre-Hiroshima world" and "post-Hiroshima world" which seems reasonable to me; after the war truman became much more reluctant and cognizant of the cost in civilian lives of nuclear bombs
> the author emphasises how bloody the war was, esp re indiscriminate bombing and the acceptance of targeting non-combatants (see tokyo, london, many other examples): "a moral Rubicon had been crossed long before Hiroshima"
> so (my elaboration) it's almost like "why are we focusing on the nuclear bombs in the first place?". i actually find this very convincing
> the author contrasts the salient destruction of a city with the dispersed but equally or more horrific atrocities committed by japanese soldiers against civilians in china and many other parts of asia. this reminds me of the distinction between the salient chernobyl vs the diffuse but more deadly human cost of fossil fuels
> I definitely get the feeling that I couldn't have come up with a less awful decision even with perfect hindsight and infinite time for reflection, luxuries that the people at time certainly did not have: "Harry Truman of Independence, Missouri was hardly some moral monster... those who from the safe distance of 65 years criticise his decision would do well to place themselves in his shoes and ask what they might have done in the circumstances."

The Earliest History of the Christian Gathering: Origin, Development and Content of the Christian Gathering in the First to Third Centuries (Valeriy A. Alikin)

> reading ch1-3
> originally essentially a supper on Sunday evenings, in the tradition of meal -> symposium common in the greco-roman world in all sorts of religious cults and associations or clubs
> sunday was a working day until 325 CE when Constantine made it a day of rest
> the Christian meeting was held on Sunday evening after work (being the first possible opportunity after the Saturday evening sabbath meal, so it's additional to the sabbath, not a continuation of it); there was a festive vibe to this meeting and this made the whole sunday special
> meeting houses, private houses (by far the most common!), rooms, or precincts of temples; "adapted themselves to the spaces available"
> gave way to Eucharist on Sunday morning, open to everyone who was baptised (!) in contrast to the more exclusive (even if for purely logistical reasons) Sunday evening meals which continued though more of a charity meal
> the author argues that the Eucharist originates from an earlier communal meal, and the association with Jesus' body and blood and the tradition of Jesus having instituted the meal are later developments (!)
> the Last Supper, including the episode in the Gospels, is thus a later development (though still very early!) to explain a pre-existing community tradition, in the context of the community's existing view that Jesus died for them and that they are one with Jesus' body
> the author reports that this view is widely accepted among scholars
> in other words the communal meal (~ the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving) existed first, and the Last Supper story was created to explain the meal and give it meaning. so thanksgiving meal first, and only then body and blood and purported origin as Jesus's final meal.
> not clear from the sources how the Eucharist was understood beforehand, though elements of thanksgiving, unity (everyone eating from one loaf)

Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction (Mark A. Noll)

Wonderful global perspective. Very well-written.
that Luther fellow was a bit of dynamo (and cheeky Marburg bit!). Kierkegaard described as "intensely whimsical" HAHAHA I want that on my tombstone!
Pentecostalism as rapidly expanding but somewhat distinct as a branch, especially having had major breaks from historical Protestantism (esp e.g. megachurches), same with independent churches
the Protestant challenge to Catholic authority, and resulting conflicts, as also contributing to secularisation

The Spartans: A Very Short Introduction (Andrew Bayliss)

Good book. Sparta was not very egalitarian! multiple classes (esp Helots, somewhere between serfs and slaves, and the Spartan reliance on the Helots is a key reason for Sparta's eventual decline) and definite inequality in wealth. Tough to tease apart the truth from exaggerations and later myths, but there do seem to be some unique aspects. Probably didn't systematically commit infantacide (or at least no more than normal for the time). Certainly no feminist paradise. I enjoy the summary of later thinkers' views on Sparta (negative from Alexander Hamilton, positive the NRA and English schools, strong positive from Hitler/official Nazi policy)

Lives of the Anchoresses: The Rise of the Urban Recluse in Medieval Europe (Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker)

Excellent rigorous piece of historical study, brings a great gender lens and makes the case that the phenomenon of anchoresses, and women's contribution to lived religious experience (as opposed to the influence of male-dominated formal institutions) more broadly, has been systematically underestimated by historians. I love how it's both comprehensive (the author kept a list of all anchorites that they knew about!) and a detailed look at the lives of 5 specific anchoresses. Chapter 4 (Juliana) gets very technical!
Society did not permit women to become hermits, hence the anchoress/recluse (plus contemplative nuns and Beguines). "clausura" referred to cloistered nuns but also livestock and prisonsers! (not to recluses).
the 12th and 13th century as a religious renewal, the first time when many Europeans felt an inner/personal experience with Christianity, focused on the parish community
the anchorhold as a charismatic and theologically and politically influential position. anchoresses as focused on serving the community (like the desert fathers in fact stayed quite close to the people and felt called to serve the people's needs pastorally, and later views of extreme withdrawal from the world are thus a bit of a false projection backwards, see ch7), "dedicating themselves to God without turning away from the world"; "mainly a women's affair" and "an urban phenomenon" (an evolution from pre-12th century when reclusion was part of rural monasticism); extremely stubborn!; usually older women, specifically restricted to 40+
My favourite is Margaret of Magdeburg, who initially experienced intense loneliness and despair and also had a disability ("lameness"). enclosed at age 12! Really neglected and mistreated by the church superiors and the wider community.

Cicero: Letters to Atticus (tr. Eric Otto Winstedt)

This is nuts - a front-row seat to the end of the Roman Republic, crazy! Actually quite touching and sympathetic to have this insight into Cicero's day-to-day life and thoughts and world.
I enjoy the insights into electoral politics: "Candidates are plagued with all sorts of unfairness nowadays."
You can really feel his despair about the state of the country.
Letter 13 (1.1.13) mentions a "man in woman's clothes".
"What will history be thinking of me 600 years hence?" (1.2.5)

"I am sick of life. The whole world is so thoroughly out of joint." (1.2.24) "I can't write anymore. I am so downhearted and wretched." (1.3.2) "My life is one long misery and I am crushed with the weight of my sorrows." (1.3.5) And he hints that Atticus advised him against suicide! "What is there for me to live for?" (1.3.6) Not being able to sleep (2.8.1). After Tullia dies it gets real, using writing a book to keep his grief in check (3.12.14). "In the morning I hide myself in a dense and wild wood and I don't come out until evening ... my only discourse is with books, though tears interrupt it" (3.12.15). Preparing shrine/memorial arrangements. Really touching. I wish his book on grief had not been lost!

The Dangerous Life and Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic

So good! Short but rigorous and enjoyable. "The big thiefs are leading away the little one." And on whether the gods exist: "I do not know, only that they ought to exist." Covers Cynicism and life in the ancient world in general. It's refreshing to read an ancient thinker place animals (dogs especially!) above humans on a hierarchy! The book definitely takes advantage of how thin the sources are to give more detail than is probably necessary about the chronology of the barrel as an invention/money laundering practices/etc etc (I dig it though). There are a few interesting tidbits on gender assignment.

Tides of History's Season 4: Prehistory, eps 1 - 49 (Patrick Wyman)

Verdict: A/A+, depending on episode. Extremely high-quality and very rigorous - the author shares many of my core views on doing science and interpreting evidence. My absolute favourites were the episode on Ötzi and the episode on the Yamnaya Culture. The tattoo episode was cool too. Skipped a few eps that didn't interest me (especially post-agriculture).

Paul: A Very Short Introduction (EP Sanders)

Verdict: A.

Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945 (Tony Judt)

Verdict: A+. Masterpiece, extremely detailed and well-researched. I particularly like the earlier chapters on Europe's immediate postwar economic development and the later chapter on how the discourse of human rights emerged, neither of which was guaranteed (and two things that often get taken for granted today).

The Landscape of History (John Lewis Gaddis)

This book is good fun. It's a personal and philosophical reflection that focuses on what it means to do history, though it's witty and it meanders enjoyably along the way. Chapter 4 and its emphasis on staying attached to reality, over theoretical purity and elegance, resonated with me. Some of the conclusions in Chapter 5 seem invalid to me, but I suppose this is because my job is to predict and influence the future (i.e. make policy), and the author is very clear that he doesn't think this is the job of a historian.

Science

The Little Book of Aliens (Adam Frank)

Verdict: A/A+. Holy moly science is cool! Extremely well written, great science communication, actually very funny on occasion. ("Once people realised what was going on, they got together, held hands, sang Kumbaya, and then severely curtailed the production of CFCs.") Cool how it covers both formal SETI and the UFO stuff. I like the rigour in the history bits. I really vibe with how the author thinks about science and empirical questions. (The point about climate change being a natural consequence of generating energy given the second law - hadn't thought about it that way bit makes perfect sense. And TIL that extra dimensions as a different plane of existence first caught hold after public reporting of general relativity, especially given seance-y type spirituality communities at the time.)

Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind (Annaka Harris)

Verdict: B. Decent overview, but doesn't go into the details of the relevant arguments as much as I would have liked, so the logic is a bit jumpy and incomplete. Some of the arguments were weak. There's a strong subtheme on panpsychism, which is fine for what it is.

The Character of Physical Law (Richard Feynman)

Verdict: A. The final lecture was a bit weaker, but all other lectures were so strong that it's overall very good.

From Eternity to Here (Sean Carroll)

Verdict: A. Completely amazing. Top-notch science communication too. The only real weakness is that the physics gets very very detailed and complicated.

Religion, Philosophy, and Lifestyle

Constructing Canine Consent: Conceptualising and adopting a consent-focused relationship with dogs (Erin Jones)

A Book of Silence (Sara Maitland)

> this book is a deep joy and a relief. very comprehensive and reflective yet mostly well-researched look at solitude.
> surrounded by 20 miles of nothing on all sides
> nothing in diary for the next fortnight, nowhere to be except mass and noone coming to visit
> passage at the start is like "we all do XYZ" which is annoying bc its demonstrably false and "protagonist of reality" energy. like i think the authors own experiences are v interesting and references to previous literature likewise, but when she dips into social commentary its a bit weaker. and similar when talking about depression, lots i dont agree with. her science is often a bit incorrect.
> conflating menopause with womanhood is a bit cringe
> designing a "sustainable lifestyle that contains as much silence as possible"
> interesting that the language used to describe her experience going to the shopping centre after a long period of silence reads almost identical to that of Clem Bastow and other autistic people
> "silence is the oar for something too deep for words"
> silence as protest, refusal to enter the arena
> contains animal murder, killing rabbits in a chapter that glorifies birds no less, absolutely bizarre
> silence as fulfilment (creative arts) vs silence as emptying (hermits) but still ofc many deep similarities
> "We would probably diagnose a substantial number of the famous and highly regarded saints of this tradition [eremitism and especially penance] as suffering from eating disorders."
> "I do not want to struggle each day to milk my goat or forage for wood for my fire, and even if I did, there would still be council tax. What I want to do is live in as much silence as possible."
> "a hefty dose of good administration" hahaha

Queer Theologies: The Basics (Chris Greenough)

Taking Off the Mask: Practical Exercises to Help Understand and Minimise the Effects of Autistic Camouflaging (Hannah Louise Belcher)

> nice and validating. also nice to have a late-identifying autistic person who gets through uni before figuring it out. the book is a bit "mental health 101" in some sections though the author does flag this up front
> grief and anger that she hadn't been recognised and helped sooner
> a strategy can be helpful to help survive at one point and then less relevant and worth letting go of later on
> imposter syndrome re accepting ones autism
> masking is also done by many/all neurotypical people, though at a lower level, as part of meeting other peoples expectations
> going to great lengths to learn the rules and scripts of particular social contexts
> so immersed in camoflaguing that she doesn't actually hear what the other person says (!!!)
> working as a freelancer rather than full time in a single location
> preferring to sit back and watch social situations rather than participating
> what you actually want in life being hidden by what you think you should do. so reframing one's identity and figuring out what one actually wants. especially identifying childhood interests.
> Fred the Bear!
> becoming less concerned with other peoples impressions as she grows older
> making databases of her movie figurines!

What Are We Doing When We Pray? On Prayer and the Nature of Faith (Vincent Brümmer)

> This is a masterpiece. 100% certified banger.
> Outstanding rigorous review of prayer but also many key topics in theology and religion (including faith, morality, theodicy, existence of God!). The topic is no small or simple one to address rigorously and sensitively. Quite profound - probably the strongest justification of enlightenment in the modern world that I've read, along with Borg's books and that book "Why There Almost Certainly Is a God". In fact, quite possibly the best and most universally useful summary of religion that I've encountered.
> ch1 on experimental tests of prayer: a topic that contains many stumbling blocks for people with only a cursory knowledge of theology or scientific falsification (I'm reminded of the Simpsons (?) quote "we're gonna start with the basics: how to play a flaming guitar with your teeth"). the author in fact only stumbles over the science in very occasional and inconsequential ways. though I wish the author had chosen a more impressive statistical study as an example! Even in 2007 I guess there would have been much more rigorous tests, and it's a shame to leave that avenue unexplored.
> prayer as helping God act through the person praying, a wonderful participatory view. not asking for favours or ad hoc changes to some predetermined blueprint, more like a master rugmaker constantly adjusting the rug's design to the decisions, skillful and unskillful, of the children who are helping him
> one's views on the world and the events in it cannot be separated from one's existing religious framework, and prayer influenced this framework, so prayer not only affects the individual and God but also how the individual relates to the world and to God; the same behaviour by different people can be conceptualised completely differently (example given is feeding the poor can be either bringing about the kingdom of God or preparing the oppressed masses for revolution)
> Credit to the author for, where necessary, clearly rejecting his earlier published views that he no longer sees as tenable.
> Origen: "The man who links together his prayer with his deeds of duty and fits seemly action to his prayer is the man who prays without ceasing."
> whether prayer is coherent essentially hinges on one's belief in the truth-claims of God (i.e. "there is a God")
> "In this sense, prayer is indeed a form of meditation in which believers face up to the way in which they relate to God, to themselves, to the world, and to other people in their actions and attitudes." (preceding examples of intercession, penitence, etc and how they are examples of this) "
> "Prayer and the life of fellowship with God are impossible without each other. [...] this fellowship is established and reestablished again and again, and this fact acknowledged in praise and thanksgiving. This is what we do when we pray."
> The Enlightenment's otherwise admirable epistemic focus as having distorted views of the purpose of religious belief by reducing it to a series of propositional beliefs (not representative of how pre-Enlightenment people of a given religion originally conceived of it, h/t Wilfred Cantwell Smith): "Faith is not primarily a way of knowing, but rather a way of coping meaningfully with life and experience in the world. [...] Faith is not like science... When measured by these [scientific and empirical] standards of meaning and rationality, it is clear that religious belief and ritual must be judged to be both meaningless and irrational."
> G. K. Chesterton, referring to the faith of Francis of Assisi: "not a thing like a theory but a thing like a love affair" (and hence faith requires work and training, just as loving somebody does - that's part of what all that scripture and spiritual literature is about!)
> "to believe" used to mean "to be-love"! (similar to what Borg argued)
> thus the author defines faith as "a way of understanding and looking on life and the world of experience in the light of the heritage of metaphors and narratives, moral principles, presuppositions and spiritual practices handed down to the community of believers in a religious tradition such as Christianity. This understanding bestows meaning and significance on our lives and our experience of the world, and thus determines the attitudes and actions that are appropriate in relation to life and to the world in which we live."
> Isaiah's experience of "awareness of divine reality behind the symbolism" !!!!!!!!!!
> cameo appearance of negative utilitarianism!
> for people who make it their life's mission to oppose evil and prevent suffering, two contrasting motivations: because out of love they are an absolute negative utilitarian and simply see preventing suffering as the highest good, or because this is God's will and out of love they align their will with God's and act in cooperation with God to prevent suffering (similar to "feeding the poor" analogy above - while these two people can cooperate, they'd do a poor job of consoling each other! as they are living in different moral universes and thus have different reference points and are looking for guidance from different sources, even if these lead to the same action. just as some people's success looks like other people's failure. so whether a theodicy is convincing sort of depends on one's pre-existing worldview.)
> narratives as primarily metaphors that help believers live and relate to God and the world (same view as Borg, I think these two would've gotten along!), thus e.g. scripture as the heritage of wisdom and insight passed down from a long history of the community of believers as "the expression of the meaning of life and experience"
> but while any possible historical kernels of e.g. bible stories might be beside the point, that doesn't mean that faith brings no factual commitments (otherwise prayer would be meaningless, see above). there are indeed factual presuppositions.
> To say that God exists is not the same as saying that a person exists. The word "exists" here is a metaphor—there are some similarities which is why it is useful ("we think about 'this' by thinking about 'that' because we cannot think about 'this' directly"), but also some points of departure. The latter use (an object exists or a person exists) means, in the empirical framework, "if I go to the appropriate time and place, then I will perceive that thing". What is meant by "exists"? Are theists and atheists, in fact, talking about the same proposition? The author argues that this is not the way that "exists" is working in the framework of faith; rather, it is not about what we can perceive, but about *what we can do*. "It is the difference between being able to live my life in fellowship with God and not being able to do so because there is no God in whose fellowship I can live. [...] between being able to understand my experience of the world in terms of the agency of God and not being able to do so [...] In this way, the meaning of the theistic claim that 'God exists' derives from the practical context of life of faith and experience in which it is made."
> "Claims about the existence (or non-existence) of God can only be derived from our experience of the world if this experience has first been interpreted in terms of the faith (or in terms of the rejection of the faith). But then not only the meaning but also the truth of the claim that God exists is internally related to the theistic framework of understanding. Accepting the truth presupposes that we accept this framework of understanding and rejecting the truth presupposes that we reject it. [...] '...one is first to have faith in order to be in a position to recognize the manifestation of divine activity in nature, history and individual lives.'"
> "For those who participate in a form of life and the language game expressing it, it is absurd to reject its constitutive presuppositions. This applies to all language games and not only to the language game of faith. Thus our belief that the world exists independently from our experience of it is not a hypothesis that we can somehow verify empirically. It is a 'natural belief' in the sense that it is constitutive for our normal human way of dealing with other people and in general for our dealings with our physical environment including the very practice of verifying empirical hypotheses. [...] 'neither a product of, nor justifiable by, philosophical reasoning' [...] It is clear that such constitutive presuppositions are not justified like empirical hypotheses. Their justification is internal to the form of life and the language game expressing it. We justify them by showing that they are necessary within the form of life for which they are constitutive. We justify our belief in the independent reality of the world of our experience by showing that this belief is constitutive for the form of life of personal relations and for our normal way of dealing with our physical environment. [...] Similarly belief in the existence of God is justified for believers by showing that it is a necessary presupposition constitutive for the way in which they make sense of their lives and experience. Truth claims regarding the presupposition stand or fall with the acceptability of the form of life for which it is constitutive. [...] Doubt about such presuppositions is not based on contrary empirical evidence as in the case of empirical hypotheses in science, but is internally related to doubt about the adequacy of the form of life and understanding as such in helping believers to make sense of their lives and experience." Holy moly.
> "a living faith is not an immutable system of thought fixed for all time. It is rather the heritage of a tradition handed down from generation to generation, and each generation, and indeed every individual believer, should learn to interpret the heritage in ways that make sense of their own lives and circumstances." - the story of Pentecost!
> "In the end, however, it is up to individual believers to decide whether they can adopt these proposals with integrity."

Following the Red Bird: First Steps into a Life of Faith (Kate H. Rademacher)

Great read, didn't touch me as deeply as the other book of hers that I read but still many nuggets of gold.
"embracing a life of service and devotion"
"There's always God's next call." "A gift that only they can give. A contribution that only they can make."
God as looking for how we respond to tension with the conflicting views of others, whose callings may be as legitimate as ours: "paradoxical, radical love" (in some ways it makes me think of when soccer players pray on the pitch)
self-promotion and being something (competitive hustle culture, "spectacular") vs "called to serve, not to be serve" and "he who is last will be first" (makes me think of baubles - we are worth more than that, hence doing worthy things, i.e. serving others)
"How does one receive accolades and advancement with a spiritually pure heart?" - can having influence and legitimacy in the public arena be a way to serve others?
sabbath as sacrifice and the passage in John (?) that the branches that bear fruit are pruned to make them bear more fruit
Borg: "divine intention" and "divine interaction" (as opposed to divine intervention)

Reclaiming Rest: The Promise of Sabbath, Solitude, and Stillness in a Restless World (Kate H. Rademacher)

Specifically reading chapters 3, 7, 9, 13, and 15 through 17.
Verdict: Unambiguously A+. Really outstanding. This book is lovely and beautiful and touching and it makes me feel very seen - the author has a way with words. Beautiful global perspective and deep mindfulness of history and historical legacies. I think I'll be coming back to this book for many years.
On the seventh day, God created _menuha_ (rest/peace/tranquility). Until the sabbath was created, creation was not complete.
sabbath as an immense privilege, and thus it feels weird to rest even as an advocate; the author's story of spending sabbath in a hotel in Nigeria manned by armed guards; doesn't shy away from the grief and despair about the modern world (see ch13 and 15 especially); "for many people, prayer and social justice work are inexplicably linked"; a protest where there was a memorial of silence for the duration of George Floyd's being choked to death, wow.; and the last chapter
the author works in global public health! TIL Nigeria is projected to be the third most populous country by 2050!
"silence and solitude are universally recognised spiritual practices" [and silence and solitude as preserving energy] - elizabeth gilbert
the bit about the total eclipse does an incredible job of putting into words what I have experienced but could not describe: "The experience was similar to what my sabbath year had given me: a new view of a familiar landscape, a glimpse of a different way of life, a life with more quiet and stillness and more space and time for God. [...] We no longer see ourselves as the centre of the universe. Instead, we experience a new alignment of the the heavenly bodies and, in the process, discover a transformed landscape on the Earth below."
time confetti vs time serenity (Schulte)
aspects of dual belonging: "a Jesus-infused version of a Buddhist meditation practice" (she has a Buddhist husband); then "becoming bilingual" in the language of secular humanism and the language of faith "maybe the world needs both"; "I needed a theology of work and rest that puts God's grace at the centre of things" esp ch17 quote from her cousin: "We can prepare the soil and plant the seed, but we don't make the plants grow. That's where the divine comes in." Wow.
lectio divina in the author's daily prayer practice as a way to listen, just a couple of lines of scripture
baptism as a tomb for the self
Wilberforce (!!!) was a massive sabbath fan and advocated strongly for rest

Letters to a Young Poet (Rilke)

Amazing. The writing has outstanding beauty. Covers many topics—producing art but also love, sexuality, religion, human existence, sadness. "But what may one day be possible for many, the solitary can prepare for, and build with hands less prone to error. So, my dear sir, love solitude and enjoy the pain it brings with lovely sound of lament. [...] solitude will be a haven and home to you."

The Power of Thank You: Discover the Joy of Gratitude (Joyce Meyer)

Decent, maybe a B/B-, does what it says on the tin. I think this author would get along with Thich Nhat Hanh. I don't agree with everything the author says or how they say it, but there are some true nuggets of gold.
Being thankful for all things at all times (1 Thess) as a sign of spiritual maturity.
"Be thankful, and say so" (Ps) - people cannot read your mind! this is a way to help reduce negative self-talk in the minds of people close to you.
The idea of not wishing for others' problems to go away/praying that they can bear whatever they are facing: while I get and mostly sympathise with what the author means, I disagree with applying this belief to anything other than mild problems, and to me this belief is a sign that someone has not experienced high-intensity suffering (I think the commentary on Job I read a few months back gives this a much more sober treatment). (Update: this view of mine was very incorrect, see ch3 and ch5.)
the anecdote of the homeless guy who was grateful to be able to feed the birds - how touching!
presence, not presents
the uncritical analysis of Esther in ch6 felt weird considering how bloodthirsty that book is, though I am certainly not well-informed about that book and how it should be interpreted (same with Chronicles in ch12)
giving as a privilege
patience - you are not always ready for what you ask for
the bit about the moral decline of the United States felt a bit strange/out of place and fell into oversimplification and the "good old days" trap

Hyperefficient (Mithu Storoni)

(see dedicated blog post for my take)

Every Day Matters (Brandon D. Crowe)

Pretty bread and butter for the genre, but well-balanced and just generally moderate/sensible in a way that is strangely rare in the genre.
I enjoy the mix of wisdom literature (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes) and New Testament stuff (even if it is Paul! But I can see why the author chose Paul given the topic). I chose this because the author is a professor and I think it's more relevant for me for that reason.
"I'm called to love and serve my wife"
Biblical productivity must be guided by the two great commands: loving God and loving your neighbour (Mt 22).
From those to whom lots has been entrusted, lots will be required. (L)
There's a season of life for working hard and a season of life for resting (Ecc)
Humans are always limited (and thus we can't ever achieve everything we would like - reminds me of 4000 Weeks idea of giving up hope//Camus's Sisyphus) and our plans are only best guesses, not guarantees; enjoy the gifts of life (and make time to do this each day! Including sleep, which is a gift) but God is in control (Ecc)
Paul didn't measure his success by worldly standards; faced hardships and criticism by his contemporaries; but his work is still bearing fruit today
"Sometimes failure in the eyes of the world is success in the eyes of God."
So don't be afraid of hard work, but also work smarter and more strategically
Focus, and even be happy to remain under the radar
"You are responsible for yourself, and you must take that task seriously"
Bible verses for each of your purposes
what you do is who you are; your actions reflect your true priorities; your calendar needs to reflect your stated priorities
Success in family can't be measured in the same way as success in the professional world
You will not regret spending time with your family
Rest
Caring for body - energy and health
Daily spiritual discipline

Hearing the Message of Ecclesiastes (Christopher J. H. Wright)

Excellent. Academically rigorous but still grounded in the burning desire to figure out what the hell is going on with life. Doesn't shy away from the tough questions: "it's not just a world that baffles our understanding; it's also a world we can't bear to look at for very long", "a heart filled with grief and anger... it is just plain wrong, intolerably so". And very well-written and memorable, on par with some of the stronger science communicators. The idea of idleness/being deprived of work (broadly interpreted) as "dehumanizing to some degree". Wisdom and education and even pleasure are commended in Scripture, but do not contain the truth about life. The idea of a "faith-life balance". The idea of Kohelet as saying things that are true, but not the whole truth - what we can see and reason in our immediately surroundings is not the whole story - this challenging book (along with Job and Lamentations) is included as part of Scripture for a reason, but it is also only part of Scripture.

The Myth of Sisyphus (Camus)

I find the writing a little bit hard to follow, but I think I vibe with the book on balance. The absurd: the futility of the search for meaning in an indifferent universe that refuses to provide it ("unreasonable silence"). The absurd does not justify suicide; it justifies revolt, freedom, and passion - embracing all that life and the unreasonable world has to offer. "... whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear on the contrary that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning. [..] One of the only coherent philosophical positions is thus revolt. It is a constant confrontation between man and his own obscurity." And suicide does not represent the logical outcome (neither does being a dick - Camus was certainly no moral relativist, but it seems that what we think of as "morality" is not the topic of the book). So more like just leaning into it and Living Your Life, not accepting some external system of moral philosophy as literally and externally valid (= philosophical suicide) but looking the absurdist tension in the face and just doing what you dedicate yourself to, while being aware that that activity is still meaningless. The best example: Camus' love of soccer. (Criticises Kierkegaard for abandoning reason, though I think there are more similarities than Camus would admit: "Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable. [...] The absurd mind, rather than resigning itself to falsehood, prefers to adopt fearlessly Kierkgaard's reply: despair.")

Forgiveness: Finding Peace Through Letting Go (Adam Hamilton)

Really beautiful and well written. I like the image of sin as straying from the path or missing the mark. And sin - and not seeking forgiveness - as a burden, like carrying a backpack full of pebbles; so seeking forgiveness is the way to be set free. Putting justice in God's hands. Tillich: "Forgiveness is God's answer to the question of human existence." Of course: "Forgive us our trespasses/debts, as we have forgiven those who trespass/debt against us." "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you."

An Anthology of Poetry by Buddhist Nuns of Late Imperial China (Beata Grant)

Banger

The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (Wright and Borg)

B. It's fine. It mostly does what it says, though there is less focus on the specific points of disagreement than I'd hoped. There are many gems from both authors, though the arguments of Wright frequently struck me as poorly argued, rambling, and occasionally incoherent (and Wright's glorification of how Christianity influences politics in Africa struck me as uncomfortable, given e.g. the death penalty used against queer people).

The Novice (Thich Nhat Hanh)

A wonderful and deep teaching on equanimity.

Misc

The City and Its Uncertain Walls (Haruki Murakami)

> a very typical murakami, in a good way
> I like the stay in the small town, reminiscient of Commendatore
> Some quite beautiful reflections on love and loss
> the boy who is a savant but refused to participate in PE hahahaha
> very interesting meta passage on magical realism
> (death of a child and then a suicide in ch40; bit of transphobic content in ch40 though not in the context of trans people)

Butter, Sugar, Magic (Jessica Rosenberg)

> Verdict: B-. Bread and butter; a textbook example of escapist/cozy slice of life. The premise is a bit mary-sue and the details are a bit tropey, but since it's clearly and deliberately an escapist novel, these aren't a major issue. Writing is fine if not great.
> "Straight espresso. Badass." hahahahahaha
> setting the crickets free!

Pinball, 1973 (Haruki Murakami)

> It's a moody Murakami novel. I REALLY like the whole pinball thing. Bit of animal violence which is sad - but it is a moody Murakami novel.

The Shifting Fog (Kate Morton)

> Verdict: B. Enjoyable, as the author's other novels are, immersive and compelling characters. "Age is the great mellower." The protagonist is endearing, especially with her Sherlock Holmes novels! Alfred's shell shock is touching and heartbreaking. Got like two thirds of the way through, might finish but not super motivated.

What Comes After (Joanne Tompkins)

Verdict: A, maybe A- given the triggering content. Quakers and the PNW, what else can you ask for? Beautiful writing, very touching. I really like Isaac and Evangeline, beautiful characters. The religion content is very interesting. I like Isaac's distinction between meditation and discernment. The descriptions of the landscape are beautiful. "We name our villains, and then treat them in a way that proves us prophets." "It seemed such a normal thing, this invitation. It was a wonder Evangeline didn't cry." Picked due to narrators. A bit tricky to dodge the triggering content, which was often difficult and challenging to read (animal cruelty in Ch12 and 13 and others, and some domestic violence and sexual assault content too). The dog dies in Ch59 and Ch60. I stopped reading at that point.

Suicide and the Meaning of Civilization (T. G. Masaryk)

Got about 1/3 of the way through. I gather that the gist of his argument is that suicide might be influenced to some small extent by material and physical conditions, but the primary explanation is to do with spirituality in society. The whole idea that suicide is a moral failing or weakness and that it happens in response to invariably trivial events is a bit cracked. You definitely get the sense that this is an Old World Gentleman! e.g. some very colonial language; mentioning that "the primitives" don't commit suicide; Buddhism causes suicide; "it has been proved that the educated classes practice marriage most morally" hahahahaha! (I'm reminded of the line in Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs where he claimed that Singapore has no sex workers. Like, give me a break!) It's also funny that Masaryk (writing in the late 1800s) mourns the decline of virtue and morality at the expense of materialism! Some of the arguments border on eugenics, a real shame. And you can forgive a guy for the inconsistent treatment of confounding variables. Still, fairly impressive and systematic/data-driven as far as 19th century monographs on sensitive social issues go.

2023-2024

august 2023 -> april 2024

Bangers (except for the classics and Thich Nhat Hanh books) denoted by (!!!)

• An Anthology of Poems by Buddhist Nuns of Late Imperial China (Beata Grant)
• Meeting Millie (Clare Ashton)
• Effortless (Greg McKeown)
• Hear the Wind Sing (Haruki Murakami)
• Spellhacker (M. K. England)
• Essentialism (Greg McKeown) (!!!)
• The Strange Library (Haruki Murakami)
• After the Quake (Haruki Murakami)
• Dance Dance Dance (Haruki Murakami)
• Conversations with RBG (Jeffrey Rosen)
• The Hidden History of Burma (Thant Myint-U) (!!!)
• Killing Commendatore (Haruki Murakami) (!!!)
• Pelosi (Molly Ball) (!!!)
• When You Least Expect It (Haley Cass)
• Simon Sort of Says (Erin Bow) (!!!)
• The Undervalued Self (Elaine N. Aron)
• The Name-Bearer (Natalia Hernandez)
• Like She Owns the Place (Cara Alwill)
• Those Who Wait (Haley Cass)
• The Fascinators (Andrew Eliopulos)
• Love at First Set (Jennifer Dugan)
• Woman’s Lore (Sarah Clegg)
• The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Dealing with Toxic People (Shahida Arabi) (!!!)
• All That Consumes Us (Erica Waters)
• Sleeping Giants (Sylvain Neuvel)
• She Drives Me Crazy (Kelly Quindlen)
• 1,000 Ideas for Graffiti and Street Art (Christian Campos)
• Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul (Dorcas Cheng-Yozun)
• Sharpie Art Workshop (Timothy Goodman)
• House Lessons (Erica Bauermeister)
• These Witches Don’t Burn (Isabel Sterling)
• The Tender Parts (Ilyse Kennedy)
• The Mammoth Book of Tattoo Art
• The Mammoth Book of Tattoos
• If I See You Again Tomorrow (Robbie Couch)
• Botanical Curses and Poisons (Fez Inkwright)
• Hell and Other Destinations (Madeleine Albright)
• Down to a Science (Haley Cass)
• Woman, Captain, Rebel (Margaret Willson)
• Melt with You (Jennifer Dugan)
• The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger) (re-read, checks out!)
• The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person (Harold S. Kushner)
• An Atlas of Extinct Countries (Gideon Defoe)
• On the Beach (Nevil Shute)
• Must Love Silence (Luxy Bexley)
• Out of Character (Jenna Miller)
• The Gravity of Us (Phil Stamper)
• Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard)
• Man’s Search for Meaning (Victor Frankl) (re-read, checks out)
• Radical American Partisanship (Kalmoe and Mason)
• What Happened to the Vital Center? (Jacobs and Milkis)
• Faith After Doubt (Brian McLaren)
• Brave Enough Not to Quit (Millie Farrow)
• The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune)
• The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anxiety (!!!) (I cannot recommend this book enough)
• The Political Thought of Xi Jinping (Tsang and Cheung)
• King (Jonathan Eig)

2017-2023

late 2017 -> august 2023

Bangers (except for the classics and Thich Nhat Hanh books) denoted by (!!!)

• What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins (Jonathan Balcombe)
• Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (Yuval Noah Harari)
• The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century (Steven Pinker)
• Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific (Robert D. Kaplan)
• All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Malcolm Gladwell)
• The Weight of Ink (Rachel Kadish) (!!!)
• The Invisible Bridge (Julie Orringer) (!!!)
• The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew (Lee Kuan Yew) (!!!)
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
• On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks (Simon Garfield)
• The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales (Oliver Sacks)
• Lives in Ruins: Archeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble (Marilyn Johnson)
• Raoul Wallenberg: The Biography (Ingrid Carlberg)
• Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (Sebastian Junger)
• My Brilliant Friend (Elena Ferrante)
• Talks With T. G. Masaryk (Karel Čapek, tr. Michael Henry Heim)
• Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel (Carl Safina)
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Elizabeth Kolbert)
• The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human (Noah Strycker)
• Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World (Tim Low)
• Here I Am (Jonathan Safran Foer)
• The Corfu Trilogy (Gerald Durrell)
• A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees (Dave Goulson)
• Czechoslovakia, 1918-88: 70 Years from Independence (ed. H. Gordon Skilling)
• The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
• Jasper Jones (Craig Silvey)
• Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami)
• Norwegian Wood (Haruki Murakami)
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Haruki Murakami)
• A Guide to Berlin (Gail Jones)
• Exit West (Mohsin Hamid)
• The Forensic Records Society (Magnus Mills)
• The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature’s Salvation (Fred Pearce)
• Where The Light Falls (Gretchen Shirm)
• The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence (Martin Meredith)
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal (Christopher Moore)
• The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos (Brian Greene)
• The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth (Michio Kaku)
• Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman)
• Beartown (Fredrik Backman)
• They’re a Weird Mob (Nino Culotta)
• King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Adam Hochschild)
• From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000 (Lee Kuan Yew)
• The Search For Modern China (Jonathan D. Spence)
• The Happiest Refugee: A Memoir (Ahn Do)
• Révolution: C’est notre combat pour la France (Emmanuel Macron)
• Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection (John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick)
• Ache (Eliza Henry-Jones)
• Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (Barbara Demick)
• Hamilton: The Revolution (Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter)
• Arguing about Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress (William Lee Miller)
• Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World (David Brion Davis)
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (Siddharta Mukherjee)
• I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (Malala Yousafzai)
• Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics (Richard H. Thaler)
• Lucky Man (Michael J. Fox)
• Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968 (Heda Margolius Kovály)
• Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science (Dani Rodrik)
• Velvet Revolutions: An Oral History of Czech Society (Miroslav Vanék and Pavel Mücke)
• 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (Yuval Noah Harari)
• Germany: Memories of a Nation (Neil MacGregor)
• Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning (Peter H. Brown et al)
• Man’s Search for Meaning (Victor E. Frankl)
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Haruki Murakami)
• When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi)
• The One Hour China Book: Two Peking University Professors Explain All of China Business in Six Short Stories (Jeffrey Towson and Jonathan Woetzel)
• Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
• My Story (Julia Gillard)
• Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (Steven Pinker)
• The Rosie Effect (Graeme Simsion)
• The Cambridge History of Australia: Volume 2, The Commonwealth of Australia (ed. Alison Bashford and Stuart Mcintyre)
• Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia (ed. Anita Heiss)
• Australian Politics in the 21st Century: Old Institutions, New Challenges (ed. Stewart Jackson et al)
• Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country (Bruce Pascoe)
• The Consolations of Philosophy (Alain de Botton)
• What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture (Julian Meyrick et al)
• Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction (Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner)
• Us Against You (Fredrik Backman)
• The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian (Robin Lane Fox)
• Alexander Hamilton (Ron Chernow)
• Beginner’s Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize (Peter C. Doherty)
• Killing Commendatore (Haruki Murakami)
• Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner)
• Country of the Heart: An Indigenous Australia Homeland (Deborah Bird Rose et al)
• Optimism (Bob Brown)
• The Gifts of Imperfection (Brené Brown)
• Conservation in a Crowded World: Case studies from the Asia-Pacific (John Merson et al)
• Always Looking Up (Michael J. Fox)
• Think Like a Freak (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner)
• Time Travel in Einstein’s Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time (J. Richard Gott III)
• Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery (Henry Marsh)
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Susan Cain)
• The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism (ed. James Warren) (select chapters only)
• Meditations (Marcus Aurelius)
• The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically (Peter Singer)
• The World Atlas of Coffee: From Beans to Brewing—Coffees Explored, Explained and Enjoyed (James Hoffmann)
• The Enchiridion of Epictetus (Epictetus)
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Haruki Murakami)
• The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet (Benjamin Hoff)
• Tao Te Ching
• Men Without Women (Haruki Murakami)
• Seneca’s Letters
• Tall Order: The Goh Chok Tong Story Volume 1 (Shing Huei Peh)
• Creativity, Inc (Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace)
• Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections (Patrick Smith)
• Team of Rivals (Dorins Kearns Goodwin)
• Discourses and Selected Writings (Epictetus)
• 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami) (!!!)
• Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions (Johann Hari)
• After Dark (Haruki Murakami)
• Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures (Nick Pyenson)
• The Book of Chuang Zhe (Zhuangzi)
• A Woman of Science: An Extraordinary Journey of Love, Discovery, and the Sex Life of Mushrooms (Cardy Raper)
• The Martian (Andy Weir) (!!!)
• Pacific: The Ocean of the Future (Simon Winchester)
• Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond (Robin H. E. Shepherd)
• Perfect Rhythm (Jae)
• Upside Down (N. R. Walker)
• A Wild Sheep Chase (Haruki Murakami)
• Becoming (Michelle Obama) (!!!)
• Tao: The Watercourse Way (Alan Watts)
• Lieh-tzu
• Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation (Michael Keller and Nicolle Rager Fuller)
• Sex, Drugs and the Electoral Roll (Fiona Patten)
• The Wizard and the Prophet (Charles C. Mann)
• Sputnik Sweetheart (Haruki Murakami)
• The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
• Dark Emu (Bruce Pascoe)
• Unbowed: A Memoir (Wangari Maathai)
• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Haruki Murakami)
• Matter and Consciousness (Paul M. Churchland)
• The Life You Can Save (Peter Singer)
• Seven Taoist Masters (Eva Wong)
• The Federalist (Britannica Great Books)
• The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought (John James Clarke)
• Where the Forest Meets the Stars (Glendy Vanderah)
• Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) (!!!)
• The Planet Factory: Exoplanets and the Search for a Second Earth (Elizabeth Tasker)
• What Alice Forgot (Liane Moriarty)
• In the Clearing (J. P. Pomare)
• Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins (Ian Tattersall)
• Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems (Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo)
• Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel) (!!!)
• The Way of the World: Readings in Chinese Philosophy (ed. tr. Thomas Cleary)
• Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty)
• Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Atul Gawande)
• What Makes Love Last? (John M. Gottman and Nan Silver)
• Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Called Helga: A Not-So-Perfect Tree Change (Todd Alexander)
• The Three-Body Problem (Liu Cixin) (!!!)
• The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms (Vishen Lakhaini)
• The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday (Sharon Blackie)
• Demon in the Machine (Paul C. W. Davies)
• The Dark Forest (Liu Cixin)
• Death’s End (Liu Cixin)
• The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (Ken Liu)
• Einstein: His Life and Universe (Walter Isaacson) (!!!)
• Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (Timothy Zahn)
• The Architecture of Happiness (Alain de Botton)
• City of Girls (Elizabeth Gilbert)
• The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating (Elisabeth Tova Bailey)
• The Overstory (Richard Powers)
• In An Instant (Suzanne Redfearn)
• Stay (Catherine Ryan Hyde)
• The Memorandum (Václav Havel)
• Writing Better Lyrics: The Essential Guide to Powerful Songwriting (Pat Pattison)
• The Rap Rebirth Lyricist Guide: How to Write Amazing Hip-Hop Lyrics (Jesse D. Kramer)
• The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)
• The Art of Living (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton)
• Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War (Joanne B. Freeman)
• A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)
• Wildwood Dancing (Juliet Marillier)
• Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• The Goose Girl (Shannon Hale)
• Slow: Simple Living for a Fast-Paced World (Brooke McAlary)
• Destination Simple: Rituals and Rhythms for a Simpler Daily Life (Brooke McAlary)
• SPQR (Mary Beard)
• Switched (Amanda Hocking)
• The Great Conversation (Robert Maynard Hutchins; Britannica Great Books)
• The Iliad (Homer)
• The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) (Katie Mack)
• Havel (Michael Žantovský)
• The Trial (Franz Kafka)
• Refuse to Choose: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams (Barbara Sher)
• Screams from the Crypt (Darkwell Bled)
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)
• Collected Plays (Václav Havel, probably!)
• Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life (Ashley Whillans)
• Wen-tzu
• The Art of Communicating (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• Girrin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence (Nick Bantock)
• Some Kind of Happiness (Claire Legrand)
• Taking Flight (Siera Maley)
• Colorblind (Siera Maley)
• Prague Winter (Madeleine K. Albright)
• Plato
• Tales of the Taoist Immortals (Eva Wong)
• Master of the Three Ways: Reflections of a Chinese Sage on Living a Satisfying Life (Hung Ying-ming’s Caigentan, tr. William Scott Wilson)
• Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings (ed. Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki)
• When We Believed in Mermaids (Barbara O’Neal)
• Sustaining Spirit: Self-care for Social Justice (Naomi Ortiz)
• Czechoslovak Fairy Tales (Parker Fillmore and Jan Matulka)
• Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
• The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
• The BFG (Roald Dahl)
• Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage (Stephanie Coontz)
• The Bible
• World Without End (Ken Follett)
• Status Anxiety (Alain de Botton)
• Star Wars The High Republic: Light of the Jedi (Charles Soule)
• Star Wars: Master and Apprentice (Claudia Gray)
• Honeybee (Craig Silvey)
• A Vanishing Kind (John Wamsley, Stephen L. Davey)
• Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
• Taking a Break from Saving the World: A Conservation Activist’s Journey from Burnout to Balance (Stephen Legault)
• Column of Fire (Ken Follett)
• Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir) (!!!)
• Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow (E. K. Johnston)
• Training Ground (Kate Christie)
• Endgame (Kate Christie)
• Red, White & Royal Blue (Casey McQuiston) (!!!)
• Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years, Volume 2 (Shing Huei Pei)
• Breaking Legacies (Z. R. Reed)
• Star Wars The High Republic: The Rising Storm (Cavan Scott)
• Dreadnought (April Daniels)
• One Last Stop (Casey McQuiston) (!!!)
• The Noble of Sperath (Siera Maley)
• Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX (Eric Berger)
• Art, Inc.: The Essential Guide for Building Your Career as an Artist (Lisa Congdon, ed. Meg Mateo Ilasco)
• Star Wars: Lost Stars (Claudia Gray)
• Star Wars The High Republic: Into the Dark (Claudia Gray)
• Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: Ethics for a New Millenium (Dalai Lama XIV)
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers)
• Bolívar: American Liberator (Marie Arana)
• Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• Game Time (Kate Christie)
• Star Wars: Queen’s Peril (E. K. Johnston)
• Outside the Lines (Kate Christie)
• The Idealist’s Survival Kit: 75 Simple Ways to Prevent Burnout (Alessandra Pigni)
• The Road to Canada (Kate Christie)
• Girls of Summer (Kate Christie)
• Star Wars The High Republic: Out of the Shadows (Justina Ireland)
• Star Wars: Bloodline (Claudia Gray)
• Star Wars The High Republic: A Test of Courage (Justina Ireland)
• Star Wars: Leia, Princess of Alderaan (Claudia Gray)
• Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of the World’s Most Mysterious Continent (Gabrielle Walker)
• Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction (Susan Blackmore)
• Under the Lights (Kate Christie)
• Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (Cal Newport)
• Star Wars The High Republic: The Fallen Star (Claudia Gray)
• Star Wars: Ahsoka (E. K. Johnston)
• Light from Uncommon Stars (Ryka Aoki) (!!!)
• The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller)
• Making Space: Creating a Home Meditation Practice (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons for Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption (Kaira Jewel Lingo)
• The Animal Rights Debate - Abolition or Regulation? (Gary L. Francione and Robert Garner)
• What Now? Meditation for Your Twenties and Beyond (Yael Shy)
• Sea of Tranquility (Emily St. John Mandel)
• Star Wars: Dark Disciple (Christie Golden)
• I Kissed Shara Wheeler (Casey McQuiston)
• No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• Star Wars: Queen’s Hope (E. K. Johnston)
• Star Wars The High Republic: Midnight Horizon (Daniel José Older)
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (James Clear)
• She Gets the Girl (Rachael Lippincott and Alsyon Derrick)
• The Priory of the Orange Tree (Samantha Shannon)
• A Lady for a Duke (Alexis Hall)
• Edge of Glory (Rachel Spangler)
• A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Becky Chambers)
• Top of Her Game (M. Ullrich)
• Away with the Penguins (Hazel Prior)
• The Lean Startup (Eric Ries)
• A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Becky Chambers) (!!!)
• A Closed and Common Orbit (Becky Chambers)
• Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers)
• The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Becky Chambers)
• To Be Taught, If Fortunate (Becky Chambers)
• Both Can Be True (Jules Machias)
• Ana on the Edge (A. J. Sass)
• The Glass Hotel (Emily St. John Mandel)
• Legends & Lattes (Travis Baldree)
• Solo: How to Work Alone (and Not Lose Your Mind) (Rebecca Seal)
• Too Bright to See (Kyle Lukoff) (!!!)
• The Way of the Bodhisattva (Shantideva, tr. Padmakara Translation Group)
• Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven (Amy-Jill Levine)
• Euphoria Kids (Alison Evans) (!!!)
• The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World (Donald B. Kraybill et al)
• Some Girls Do (Jennifer Dugan)
• The Sting of the Wild: The Story of the Man Who Got Stung for Science (Justin O. Schmidt)
• ‘Tis the Off-Season (Kate Christie)
• Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices (ed. Elizabeth Marston and Kevin Manders) (!!!)
• Becoming Bodhisattvas: A Guidebook for Compassionate Action (Pema Chödrön)
• Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender (Kit Heyam)
• Nevada (Imogen Binnie)
• Star Wars The High Republic: Path of Deceit (Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland)
• The Power of Attachment: How to Create Deep and Lasting Intimate Relationships (Diane Poole Heller)
• Consider the Ravens: On Contemporary Hermit Life (Paul A. Fredette and Karen Karper Fredette)
• Healing: A Woman’s Journey from Doctor to Nun (Sister Dang Nghiem)
• Old Path White Clouds (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• How to Excavate a Heart (Jake Maia Arlow)
• Star Wars: Padawan (Kiersten White)
• First Buddhist Women (Susan Murcott)
• Suffering-Focused Ethics: Defense and Implications (Magnus Vinding)
• The Eight Realizations of Great Beings (Phap Hai)
• The Deepest Peace: Contemplations from a Season of Stillness (Zenju Earthlyn Manuel)
• Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War (Sister Chan Khong)
• Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (David W. Anthony)
• The Darkness Outside Us (Eliot Schrefer) (!!!)
• Kiss Her Once for Me (Alison Cochrun)
• From a Mountain In Tibet (Yeshe Losal Rinpoche) (!!!)
• Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age (Annalee Newitz)
• Elatsoe (Darcie Little Badger)
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Nghi Vo)
• Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art (Rebecca Wragg Sykes)
• The Platform Sutra (Hui-Neng)
• Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women (Kate Cooper)
• Entering the Silence: The Journals of Thomas Merton Volume Two (Thomas Merton)
• Julian of Norwich: A Very Brief History (Janina Ramírez)
• Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary (Margus J. Borg)
• Millennial Nuns: Reflections on Living a Spiritual Life in a World of Social Media (The Daughters of Saint Paul)
• Why There Almost Certainly Is a God: Doubting Dawkins (Keith Ward)
• The Lean PhD (Julian Kirchherr)
• Beyond a Binary God: A Theology for Trans Allies (Tara K. Soughers)
• Lectio Divina – The Sacred Art (Christine Valters Paintner)
• Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Eliminating Symptoms at Their Roots Using Memory Reconsolidation (Bruce Ecker et al) (!!!)
• Thoughts in Solitude (Thomas Merton)
• Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits (Bill Porter)
• Living with and Loving ADHD
• The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma (tr. Red Pine)
• Shobogenzo (Dōgen, tr. Kazuaki Tanahashi)
• The Lotus Sutra
• Revelations of Divine Love (Julian of Norwich)
• The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching (Thich Nhat Hanh)
• Religion in Human Evolution (Robert N. Bellah) (!!!)
• Star Wars The High Republic: Cataclysm (Lydia Kang)
• Call of the Penguins (Hazel Prior)
• Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization (Scott Barry Kaufman) (!!!)
• Illuminae (Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff)
• Gemina (Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff)
• Obsidio (Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff)
• The Secret Keeper (Kate Morton)
• The Clockmaker’s Daughter (Kate Morton)