2022 Reading

Troubled Water - Seth M. Siegel. I bought this from the local Little Village Toy & Book Shop. The back room is a discount area with 50% off books and I thought I wanted to learn more about climate change and concerns to our water supply. I didn't, really. Now I know all about the microplastics in every sip of water I drink. It was incredibly informative and depressing and I wish the EPA had the teeth to regulate industry and keep people safe.

Bringing Down the House - Ben Mezrich. A LFL book that tells the true story of MIT students and their teacher who used math to win from Las Vegas and other casinos. I can't imagine winning - and losing - millions. The movie "21" is based on this book and if I find it on tv or streaming, I'd watch it.

Slow Burn - Julie Garwood. A LFL book I read because it was based in Charleston/Savannah. Definitely chick-lit.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland - Patrick Radden Keefe. I ask for anything off the Washington Post or NYT bestseller/year end book lists every year for Christmas. This is a gripping story about the Irish troubles and how people died and disappeared. I don't think I grasped how much this affected people in Belfast for three decades.

Ordinary Justice: How America Holds Court - Amy Bach. This took me a couple attempts to get through because it hit so close to home about some of the failures of the criminal justice system. If you like Season 3 of Serial, this book is for you. This should be required reading for public defenders or prosecutors, along with Just Mercy.

The Dry Grass of August - Anna Jean Mayhew. A LFL book about 1950s living in the south. It gave me insight into a world very different than my own childhood. Some DV.

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle - Amelia Nagoski. This book was a refuge in May when I was contemplating quitting my job and taking some time to think about what I wanted to do with my life. Fortunately, I was able to take a month off and start a new, fulfilling position.

The Boys in the Boat - Daniel James Brown. A fun, quick LFL read about the 1936 Olympic men's rowing team. It's being adapted into a movie and I found that my mom and several other people read it this fall as well, so it was nice to talk about it with others.

Where the Deer and Antelope Play - Nick Offerman. I won a $25 gift card to the Little Village Toy & Book Shop for winning Littleton's cupcake eating contest! I treated myself to the first book that caught my eye, on the new releases table - a book from Park & Rec and Making It's Nick Offerman about getting outdoors, being less materialistic, and eating ethically raised meat. I don't agree with ALL of it (for example, the quantity of meat being consumed) and Nick could at times get pedantic, but overall I loved that it supported my newly found impulse to get outside more and just BE in nature.

Wish You Were Here - Jodi Picoult. I borrowed this from my mom, and I think it's the first Jodi Picoult book I've thoroughly enjoyed. I was hooked all the way through the twist. I wasn't annoyed like I was with Small Great Things or A Spark of Light.

The Rent Collector - Camron Wright. My mom really enjoyed this book, and when I borrowed it last year, I had trouble getting started because of the negative imagery of the slums of Mumbai and the human suffering. Once I got moving, it was an immersive story.

A Beautiful Mind - Sylvia Nasar. I finally got through this book! It took a year or two. It was interesting but dense, and, obviously, had a lot of depressing mental illness.

2021 Reading

Solutions and Other Problems - Allie Brosh. I told multiple people that my favorite cartoonist was publishing a sequel to her amazing Hyperbole and a Half book, and I received TWO COPIES as gifts! It lived up to my very high expectations.

One Day - Gene Weingarten. This is by one of my favorite authors, a feature writer for the Washington Post. He picked a date by random - December 28, 1986, and then researched multiple things that happened that day, and wove them into one incredibly well written book. I met Gene in 2016 in my Stadium Armory neighborhood, not too far from his Capitol Hill home. I recognized him from the car - I had driven my dog the 1 mile to the dog park since I had recently torn my MCL and meniscus. I tweeted him later that day with a photo of my collection of his books, and he responded, which was pretty cool.

We Fed an Island - Jose Andres. I donated some of my COVID stimulus money to World Central Kitchen, and when I saw there was a $12 book, I got it to learn more about what WCK actually does. It's a fast read about Puerto Rico in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Andres is definitely political and name checks people in the U.S. government who weren't moving quickly enough to get aid to the island.

The Thing About Jellyfish - Ali Benjamin This is a Little Free Library YA read. It was sad, but an enjoyable read, with a creative plot.

Look Alive Out There - Sloane Crosley. Another Little Free Library read. It's a collection of short humor stories. I enjoyed some, but not all of it.

Troubled Water - Seth Siegel. I picked this up in the discount section of the local book store, Little Village Toy & Book Shop. I learned A TON, but it was also pretty depressing to learn that the EPA basically hasn't taken any steps to protect people in the last 30 years. They get information about new chemicals, and conduct studies...and don't do anything.

The Testaments - Margaret Atwater. I was excited to receive this sequel to Handmaid's Tale for Christmas and read it in a day or two. It wasn't as good as the original, which is always a challenge, but I enjoyed the story.

Miller's Valley - Anna Quindlen. One of my favorite LFL finds in quite a while. The author tells the story of her family and their hometown, and how it is shaped by the government's decision to flood it. I found myself looking up the (limited) history of how nearby Moore Reservoir was formed in my town. It's part of the Connecticut River, drawing the border between Vermont and New Hampshire, and there is a hydroelectric dam immediately south. I know about 9 towns were flooded to create the reservoir, and I've heard you can find some of the old stone boundary walls if you look carefully while kayaking close to shore.