november
november '22
curating your life x gail golden
Genre: Psychology
Length: 📖208/🎧6
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
First I would like to say I was not looking to read this book. Instead, I had been searching for Publishing as Curating by Saul Marcadent. However, I did have time for an audiobook so I decided to check it out from my e-library and see if it was worthwhile. I can honestly say I know several people who would benefit greatly from this book. Curating Your Life is about creating focus, discipline, and conscious living in different areas of one’s life.
Gail Golden begins by sharing the three fundamental ideas that are to be understood before someone could start to curate their life. Regardless, in the age of social media and constant comparison, these feel like important reminders.
You might think someone is doing it all, but they may feel inadequate
Actually, nobody is doing it all
Don’t compare your insides to other’s outsides
Golden works through different analogies, such as art galleries changing the paintings that are hanging from time to time, and Burner Theory, where a stove top has four burners and can’t cook more than four dishes at a time. She isn’t focused only on improving a personal life or interests, discussing curating at work and in parenting as well. Overall the book is a short and easy read in which Golden shares tips to improve focus, refine your inputs, and maximize your returns.
the jakarta method x vincent bevins
Genre: Non-Fiction
Length: 📖320
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It’s hard not to wonder if the Cold War ever really ended, or if it just evolved. In The Jakarta Method, Vincent Bevins explores the vastness of the Cold War, not just two countries at proxy-war, but as a mass extermination of people and cultures.
“The thing about destabilizing a country is you don’t need surgical precision. A pretty big hammer works.”
The book is a large undertaking full of dark resolve that comes from thorough research and connecting with people who have lived these stories. He interweaves personal history from Indonesians at home and abroad, providing both documented research and first hand account from those who actually experienced these programs. Big hammers tend to leave a lot of scattered debris, and Bevins does a great job trying to find the pieces.
The Jakarta Method deeply examines the US led regime change operations in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Indonesia (1958), Cuba (1961) and Brazil (1964), and he gives further reports on anti-communist efforts by the CIA around the world, such as in Cambodia, Chile, China, Ghana, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. I don’t think its well understood coup attempts usually don’t work the first time, often taking several attempts to have the desired effect, such as in Guatemala where there were three CIA led coups in order to have the desired leader put in place.
My opinions on the Cold War had been heavily influenced by my own family connection to that time period, and I had no idea the full extent of the atrocities led by the US. I am sure there is more that are not included in this book. While reading, there was a particular report about Bali in particular that stood out to me;
“…few people who come to Bali are aware that a huge part of the local population was slaughtered right underneath their beach chairs.”
It is a chilling darkness; paving paradise and putting up a parking lot. Tourist hotels, sun beds, and avocado and toast served now on the very beaches “that had been a killing field of people who were affiliated with an unarmed political party that was legal just weeks earlier.” In two lines of text, we can see how quickly these horrors are covered up and moved on from by the responsible parties, without recourse or amends made, and the hard reality of the post-Cold War era.
a life on our planet x david attenborough
Genre: Memoir/ Non-Fiction
Length: 📖272/🎧6
Rating: ⭐⭐
Disclaimer: I almost stopped listening to the audiobook within in the first hour. I decided to keep going because I consider it healthy to do things you don’t want to sometimes. Also, it’s a short book.
The book, A Life on Our Planet, covers a brief history from Sir David Attenborough about his early life and career, while in parallel presenting changes to the natural environment in chronological order from the 1950’s to today. He then discusses upcoming challenges humans will face due to climate change and a select range of opportunities to ensure a better future. The content isn’t bad. It is very simple and easy to understand, regardless of the level of knowledge the reader/listener has about climate change or sustainability. There also was a film released on Netflix of the same title, on the same subject.
What frustrated me so much is my own irk towards Attenborough. I often find he blatantly dismisses or ignores colonialism by oversimplifying situations or problems. At the same time I do understand his impact on broadcasting and bringing nature into the homes of millions of people.
blue ticket x sophoe mackintosh
Genre: Fiction
Length: 📖304/🎧8
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
“Among all the things... I had an idea it might be about fragility, and so I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to be disappointed or disappoint. For I was not fragile. I was not protect-able. I was dark wind and dust blowing across a landscape, and there was nothing anybody could do for me.”
This book is DARK. The premise of Blue Ticket is that on the day of a girl’s first period, she is brought to a center to draw from a lottery. A blue ticket means they will have careers and no children, while white tickets mean they will become wives and mothers while having no career. The concept is intended to play off the adage of women not being able to have it all, and further explores heightened stereotypes of women’s sexuality, where the blue ticket women are seen as sluts and the white tickets are pure.
The story unfolds of a woman determined to have a child despite having a blue ticket, and comes off at times as baby obsessed particularly due to the overall lack of world-building. There is no exploration of how she was able to get pregnant, even though it was implied that a surgery was performed on her after the lottery to implant an IUD-like device. There is no resolve on the perspective of white ticket women, men, how the country is organized, and so on. Further, it can be assumed that there is a shortage of men if only some women are eligible for marriage and childbearing, or that men are grouped in their own way so that some men never become fathers. This significant piece of information is not explored either, though the context would improve the story.
What makes the book so dark is the main character’s isolation in fertility and motherhood - at times physically, but primarily internally. As I have gotten older and seen women discuss being a mother, trying to become a mother, or feeling pressured to be a mother, isolation and loneliness are real emotions for women who are going through experiences that are not considered ‘normal’ by society. I did appreciate this book touching that element of femininity that is underrepresented, and misinformed by the media.
I was excited to read Blue Ticket, when I read its description I sensed heavy notes of Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and Children of Men (I have not read the book but the film is fantastic!). Unfortunately, it did not live up to either of these classics and instead falls flat for it’s lack of world-building, ironically narrow view, and blah ending. Bonus points for the accuracy of female friendship taking court in bathrooms.
the aosawa murders x riku onda
Genre: Crime Fiction
Length: 📖315
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
My love for Japanese fiction continues with Riku Onda’s first crime novel, The Aosawa Murders. The murdered are quickly revealed to be 17 people, many of who belong to the same family. They had gathered to celebrate the birthday which members from three generations of the family share. The festivities are cut short due to sudden widespread illness, caused by poisoning in the sake and sodas. Much of the story is connected to another book, The Forgotten Festival, that was published by a character in the The Aosawa Murders about the murders (yes, a book within a book, its very meta).
The Aosawa Murdes is beautifully structured for a crime novel, each chapter a different narrator from someone connected to the murders. The narrators have unique perspectives of the events from the day and the Aosawa family themselves, giving fragmented clues and suspense into what happened, who did it, and why. This structure supports much of the mystery around the story, allowing pieces to be revealed that otherwise wouldn’t have been as easy to without sacrificing the simplicity of the book.
“Yes, it was most fascinating to hear versions of the same event from many different perspectives. Hearing those stories frequently gave me cause to ponder the nature of truth.”
Throughout the book there is a constant presence of “crepe white myrtle” trees and flowers; seriously, it is mentioned in every chapter. While it’s meaning does become known in a way worthy of such repetition, the ending of the book was not strong. The ending comes so far from left field that it doesn’t fit into the story well - through pacing, resolution, or story arch. A great book up until the final few pages, leaving an unsatisfying resolve to mystery of the crime itself, I had to deduct a star.
eat the buddha x barbara demick
Genre: Non-Fiction
Length: 📖325/🎧11
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
In Eat the Buddha, the title coming from a period when Chinese soldiers would eat the Tibetan’s offerings to Buddha, Barbara Demick reports on the relationship between China and Tibet, from the difficult beginnings into present day.
Despite growing up hearing of the tensions between China and Tibet on the 5 o’clock evening news, I didn’t come in knowing much about Tibet outside of Buddhism, Dalai Lama, and self-immolation. Much of what I learned from this book I won’t get into here. However, I learned so many other things, and I will share a few of those instead.
I learned that Tibet has elements of a matriarchal system. They had a progressive tax system, split into 5 classes. That the traditional Tibetan funeral practice is the most sustainable; cutting up the deceased body to feed to wild vultures. And I learned that tension heightened over language barriers between British and Chinese rule, leaving the status of Tibet ‘vague’. I also learned about the Tibetan collection of caterpillar fungus, yartsa gungbu, which has medicinal uses such as improved lung capacity and kidney function. During a demand boom from mainland China, it contributed to as much as 40% of a family’s cash earnings as it could at times be worth the price of gold.
Eat the Buddha was a great, heavy read that takes first hand account and experiences of Tibetans and weaves together the history of a culture in an emotional yet informative way.
indelicacy x amina cain
Genre: Fiction
Length: 📖175
Rating: ⭐⭐
This short novel is about a woman who marries up and finds herself being very unhappy in the marriage, although the sex is good. He pays little attention to her and has even asked her to stop her pursuing her passion, writing (she doesn’t).
Having risen in social status and class from a maid at a gallery to a wealthy childless housewife, she takes notice to the new women around her, and the women who she previously identified with, including her own maid. In this new world, she battles with imposter syndrome and identity;
“I wanted to tell her about my writing, but I was afraid she would think I was exaggerating my relationship to it, that I was lying. After all, I wasn’t a real writer, yet I wrote every day.”
I added this book to my read list because it was reviewed well as a piece of feminist literature, however it felt whiny and aimless. I don’t think it was bad, the writing itself is calm, detached, and descriptive. There are notes of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl or Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, both in storytelling and character development. Ultimately, it wasn’t what I expected and for what it was, it wasn’t impressive.
deluxe x dana thomas
Genre: Non-Fiction
Length: 📖375
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Written in a different time, when Marc Jacobs was still creative director at Louis Vuitton and before Bear Stearns was sold to JP Morgan, Deluxe is about the decline of luxury in the luxury goods market. It has been democratized, commodified, and commercialized. Dana Thomas, all around fashion journalist with a keen finger to the pulse and precise attention to detail, explores tangible reasons for what has contributed to the decline of a uniquely human practice.
Origins of luxury go way back, with some of the earliest signs being the incorporation of silk embroidery 12,000 years ago in China, as well as 200 BC in Persia and Egypt. Luxury wasn’t about things; it was about tradition, quality, and experience. This largely remained true until a shift began around the 1900’s with the increasing ability to travel, and thus globalization. But at it’s heart, luxury, true luxury, is about superior aesthetic experiences. Meaning it should trigger your senses and evoke. It also means the buyer must be a knowing receiver.
“Luxury is not how much you can buy. Luxury is the knowledge of how to do it right, how to take the time to understand and choose well. Luxury is buying the right thing.” Cristiane Saddi to Dana Thomas
From counterfeits, cheaper labor, lower quality materials, logomania, licensing, the transformation of Old Hollywood to the celebrity red carpet, outlet malls, to tourism and rising middle-classes, there are so many factors that point to this de-luxification. And as this book was before social media, that would also need to be taken into account today.
As recent as the 1980’s, things were devalued because they were over-licensed. Dior had been committed to 260 licenses before Bernard Arnault took over. Gucci, 22,000 products. And Yves Saint Laurent had 167 licenses while only having direct ownership of 13 stores. A pillar to globalization is producing a single narrative, globally. But when you can buy the same thing in Vegas as in Paris, what’s the point?
Now, ‘luxury’ goods are overvalued because they oversold the dream. Everyone has a piece of the same, low-quality, pie.
never let me go x kazuo ishiguro
Genre: Fiction
Length: 📖288
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kazuo Ishiguro stays true to form with a fascination towards how body and person-hood could be socially and politically perceived with different technologies available, while rooted in a world like our own (I read Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, about solar-powered Artificial Friends, last fall - it was also very good).
In Never Let Me Go, we are introduced to the narrator Kathy, who slowly peels back the layers and systems in the world Ishiguro creates. The narrator rambles in her storytelling, but what she does reveal is a world where humans are cloned for organ donation. She is a clone, but has deferred when she will begin donating by being a carer for other donors.
Broken into three parts based on the stage of life she and her two closest friends, Tommy and Ruth, are in, we learn more about donors, their personal lives, and their time donating. The first part is while they are students at Hailsham, a sort of preparatory school for donors. Then there is their time at the Cottages, after Hailsham but before they begin donating. The final part is while Tommy and Ruth are donors, and Kathy is a carer.
The science of the donations are never explicitly explained, though it is said that the donations take place before the clone’s middle age, and are of vital organs. The book is definitely a love triangle, and uses this relationship dynamic to look at the social arguments for cloning and organ donation.
The title of the book comes from a beautifully composed song, Judy Bridgewater’s “Never Let Me Go.” So good. Silky. Raw.
The song is a good choice as the title, as it serves as a common thread for understanding Kathy’s mindset and innocence throughout the book. Early one, she describes the cassettes cover,
“She’s looking back in a friendly, not too sexy way, like she might be flirting just a tiny bit, but you’re someone she knows from way back.”