Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

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Genre: Classics
Secondary genre: historical romance
Format read: audiobook
CW: racist/antisemitic remarks, child abuse, ableism
Rating: planchet-5

It almost feels unfair for me to review this book, as it’s a re-read for me and one of my all time favorite books.

Jane came into my life at just the right moment, as books sometimes do, and it has shaped so much of my adult thinking and my writing. I related so much to poor little Jane, abused by her peers and her teachers, largely alone in the world even when surrounded by people.

As this is a classic, I will skip over the bulk of the plot summary, as it can be found literally anywhere online, including Google and Wikipedia.

However, this time was a little different, as I noticed more of the subtext. I’ve read this book so many times, but up till now it’s always been in my mostly white, mostly Christian hometown, and the last read through was about 3+ years ago.

This time, I noticed how many comments Jane and Rochester make, using comparisons to people of color or Jews (negatively)*. I also noticed how awful her cousin John is, which is not something I realized when I read the book the first time. But when I look back, I see that he shares many qualities with people who abused me when I was younger, so his judgmental, controlling nature was something I took for granted.

Still, I find that it’s a story of hope and independence. While it has its problems, it’s remarkably forward thinking for the period in which it was written. Not perfect by a long shot, but it still strikes a cord in my heart, and I will never let this book go.

 

*This is actually pretty fascinating because the book was written not so long after slavery was abolished in England and its colonies, and the pro-slavery camp started spreading all sorts of racist rumors to further their cause. For more information on this (including a fascinating discussion of whether or not Mrs. Rochester was mulato (mixed race), please see this series on youtube. Please note there is a fairly high rate of white appologists in this particular documentary.

The Almost Nearly Perfect People by Michael Booth

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Genre: Cultural Anthropology
Format read: Audiobook
Rep: Scandinavian (various)
CW: Ethic based humor
Rating: planchet-4

We have all heard that the Scandinavians are the happiest people on earth, the most satisfied. They have the best healthcare, the best education, etc, etc. They’re even experimenting with a guaranteed universal income.

But is it all true? Is the grass really greener, the snow really whiter? What’s it really like to live in this mysterious cluster of quite, frost-bitten countries with their absurdly high taxes?

Michael Booth is a sarcastic British ex-pat, with a Danish wife. The two of them live in Amsterdam, which Booth uses as a jumping off point to visit Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland.

In this book he looks and the good and the bad about each of these countries, and the personal freedoms citizens have given up–willingly or unwittingly–for the level of security they enjoy in their homelands, poking fun at the bad, including age-old rivalries and stereotypes, and celebrating the good.

Considering the extent of my knowledge of Nordic countries was limited to the Kirsten books I read as a child and a single subtitled movie about Kristina of Sweden, I basically went into this book blind, and honestly that just made it more enjoyable. I’ve added a couple of unexpected places to my travel wish list. If you are curious about how a polite, socialist society works, then this is definitely worth a read.

Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell

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Genre: modern history
Secondary genre: cold war, espionage
Format read: audiobook
Rating: planchet-4

Though the Cold War has been over for nearly a lifetime, the repercussions of that tense period in world history can still be felt. This book is the story of how a very bad spy and a man who wasn’t a spy but was accused of espionage anyway, and a pilot in the wrong place at the wrong time, wound up on a bridge on the edge of the iron curtain in a forgotten prisoner exchange that prevented the Cold War from turning hot.

This book tracks two sides of the same story up to the point where the finally converge on that isolated bridge.

While it started out somewhat slow for me, this book was a fascinating look at the politics of the time. I also can’t help but give points to the author for pointing out, practically on page one, that’s it’s essentially the story of privileged white men, most of whom were far more confident than their skills actually merited. As the book went on, however, things started to get more and more intense.

I don’t want to give away too much, since this is a work of nonfiction. If you want to look at the tensions between Russia and the US and where they started, then this would be a good choice for your TBR.

The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd

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Genre: YA historical
Secondary genre: scifi
Format read: audiobook
Series: The Madman’s Daughter vol 1
Rep: chronic illness, autism coding
CW: graphic violence, violence against animals, attempted sexual assault
Rating: planchet-4

Inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau, I was drawn to this book from the title alone. I’m always down for a book about mental illness, and this one seemed to have a good chunk of mystery and intrigue to boot.

If you are looking for something light and fun, then please turn around now because that is not what you’re going to find. This book is dark, it’s gritty, and it questions what it means to be human and how bad a person has to be before they aren’t worth saving anymore.

Juliet has been ill her entire life. For the most part, it doesn’t affect her–provided she takes her daily injections. But life is hard in the slums of London, and even harder with no family or friends to lean on.

Left destitute after her father’s exile and her mother’s desk, once genteel Juliette finds herself scrubbing the floors of the lectures halls where her father once taught. But why he fled England is still something of a mystery. While rumors abound, which ones are true?

Then, just as her life in London becomes unsustainable, Juliet runs into a familiar face: Montgomery, her family’s old servant, who vanish at the same time as her father.

Call it flirtation, call it blackmail, call it sheer force of will, Juliet convinces Montgomery to take her with him, back to the remote island where her father now lives.

This heart wrenching novel of family, friendship, betrayal, and redemption is highly problematic to say the least, but largely in a way that questions morality and humanity; it usually calls itself on the questionable content, but be ready to be horrified.

Good for fans of Frankenstein, Mindy McGinnis, and Penny Dreadful. 

 

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

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Genre: YA dystopian
Format read: audiobook
Content warnings: violence, death
Rep: disability
Series: Not a Drop to Drink vol 1
Rating: planchet-3

In a world where water is a limited and valuable commodity, Lynn has had to do hard things since she could walk. Hunt. Steal. And defend the pond that keeps her and her mother alive.

But when her mother dies suddenly, Lynn has to do all this on her own. That’s fine–she’s always been on her own to some extent.

But hard than all her chores–harder than hauling and purifying water, harder that shooting at trespassers and killing coyotes, might be learning to lean on others.

When a group of violent newcomers threatens not just Lynn but the entire area, she’ll have to make alliances if she wants to live.

Can she risk those alliances turning into actual friendships?

This was Mindy’s first book, and one of the few she’s written I hadn’t read yet. Dystopian isn’t really my bag, but it was still quite good. I haven’t decided if I want to read the second book in this duology, In a Handful of Dust. Have you read it? Should I give it a go?

Spirit Keeper by K. B. Laugheed

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Genre: YA historical
Format read: ebook
Series: The Spirit Keeper book 1
Positive rep: Native American (multiple, unspecified), trans/2 spirit (minor character)
CW: racist slurs, character death, miscarriage, violence, rape, abuse
Rating: planchet-4

Not gonna lie: As much as I enjoyed this book, it was pretty problematic from page one.

The main problem I had with it was the slurs and the way the main character (a 17 year old white girl) looked down on anyone who was different from her. She did grown out of this as her worldview expanded, but there were a lot of questionable decisions made by all the characters.

Katie’s family is abusive. There’s no lost love between her and her mother, and her alcoholic father is hard on all of them. What’s more, her older siblings agree with her mother, that she’s a curse on the family who brings them bad luck.

Her plans to run away, however, are thwarted when a group of Natives attack their Pennsylvania farm, killing most of her family. Katie, her mother, and one of her sisters and one brother are taken captive and sent on a grueling hike, the destination of which is a mystery.

But Katie has attracted the attention of two of their captors, who appear to be from a different tribe. With no idea what they want from her, she struggles to learn their language and in the process a tiny spark of friendship grows between her and one of the men, whom she calls Syawa. When offered the chance to leave her family behind for good and follow Syawa and his companion “Hector” west to their home, Katie finds the decision isn’t all that hard, and she steps into the unknown with only two men–whose true names she can’t even pronounce–to protect her.

Despite all the problematic elements in this book, I did enjoy reading it. There were places, especially near the beginning, where the story lagged and I wasn’t sure I would finish it. However, things did pick up around the 30% mark and I enjoyed the rest of the book, even if I didn’t like everything that happened.

There is, apparently, a second book. I haven’t decided yet if I want to read it as it’s set many years in the future, and there were places where I didn’t care for the writing style, which was in journal entries and summarized or skipped over quite a lot.

It is something you should pick up, however, if you are interested in stories of people adopted into native tribes in the 1700s, or frontier life.

 

Machines of Loving Grace by John Markoff

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Genre: nonfiction, technology
Format read: audiobook
Rating: planchet-3

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t pick this book because of the title–which was borrowed for Machines of Loving Grace, one of my favorite typewriter research sources (yes, I am a nerd. You just now noticed?).

Anyway, the book explores the role of technology in the human experience, and the difference between machines that think for themselves to replace humans, and those that are intended to make human tasks easier.

While the concept is interesting, I found a great deal of the material to be repetitive and dull. It also focused exclusively on innovations by men, and I know there are women making great strides in robotics and adaptive technology. In fact, most of the anti-AI and anti-technology arguments made in the book were centered on how technology impacts male-centered blue collar labor, while most of the pro- arguments (such as how technology could aid the disabled, or stay at home parents, or more female-occupied jobs like teaching or nursing) were glossed over or skipped completely. It was a glaring oversight, in my opinion, especially for a book that was only published in 2015.

It might be an interesting read if only for the questions it raises, but only about the first half of the book is useful. After that, the author just repeats himself a lot. Save your time for something more valuable.

Black Flags by Joby Warrick

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Genre: modern history
Secondary genre: war
Format read: audiobook
Content warnings: violence, racism,
Rep: Middle Eastern (various), Muslim
Rating: planchet-4

Another effort to educate myself on modern history and countries and events we didn’t talk about when I was in school.

Black Flags tracks the start of ISIS, from the 80s/90s up through the 2010s, weaving together a handful of seemingly disparate events into the terror organization we are familiar with today.

I found this book difficult to take notes on, just because so much of the information was new to me. I also think I would have gotten more out of this book if I’d had a physical copy to references. There were a lot of names my brain didn’t want to keep track of, and it would have been helpful to have maps for reference.

For these reasons, it’s also hard for me to write a proper review. But I found it highly educational and a total gut punch to read. I still don’t understand why Christians, Jews, and Muslims can’t just get along and let each other live as they want to live. But it does help me understand some of the background to current events. I wonder if white supremacists know who similar they are to Jihadists, and vice-versa.

If you have the spoons to handle this kind of book, and want to learn more about the world we live in, this is definitely worth a read.

American Panda by Gloria Chao

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Genre: YA contemporary
Secondary genre: romance
Representation: OCD coding, East Asian (multiple, mostly Taiwanese)
Content warning: “tricky families”
Format read: ebook
Rating: planchet-5

Mei’s parents have a PLAN. After graduating early and attending MIT, she’s going to become a doctor, marry a nice Taiwanese boy, and have a bunch of kids.

At seventeen, Mei has played along for her entire life. It seemed like a good plan. Especially after her older brother was disowned. The last thing she wanted to do was let down her parents.

But as her first semester of pre-med drags on, it becomes clearer and clearer that she is not cut out for med school. She can’t even go into a public bathroom without the urge to spray everything in Lysol, or shake hands with someone without whipping out the hand sanitizer immediately afterward.

The fact that her crush is definitely not Taiwanese is just the cherry on top of a Mei-shaped sundae.

Torn between her loyalty to her family and her own desires, Mei must come to terms with not only her own feelings, but a pile of secrets, misinformation, and tradition her family has been sitting on for years.

For those of you not familiar, “tricky families” is a label used by psychologists to label families that work well on paper and look great from the outside, but cover loads of emotional and psychological abuse and neglect. Having been raised in a “tricky family,” I know the feeling all to well, though my situation was quite different. I highly recommend this book for anyone who comes from a similar background, or anyone who is looking for an emotional Asian-American led story, or a book focusing on the transition to college life.

Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

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Genre: memoir
Secondary genre: medical, modern history
Rep: poverty
Format read: audiobook
Rating: planchet-4

We all know the show. But does the book match the drama and intensity of television?

Hell yes.

Following WWII, the UK made an effort to equalize things between the classes, instituting a large network of social services and welfare oportunities to increase health, sanitation, and access to services throughout the country.

Eastern London was poverty stricken, reeling from bombings during the war. The slums that had housed so many for centuries were in the process of being shut down, but with a housing shortage across the country and in London in particular, there were few other places for people to go. Residents of the now-famous Poplar neighborhood found themselves crammed 10-20 deep in 1-3 rooms, with no running water, except maybe a tap in the hall. Toilets were shared and located outdoors. Families scraped by on minimal food and income, wearing clothes until they became little more than rags.

The midwives of St. Nautilus house were a major part of the welfare initiative, proving free pre-natal screenings, delivery, post-natal care, and in home health services. At a time when one couldn’t simply go to the pharmacy to pick up a month’s supply of insulin–for starters most of their patients didn’t even have refrigerators–they administered medication, tended wounds, and checked in on the elderly or injured.

Jenny Worth was one such midwife and district nurse, working in the early 1950s. By bicycle she traveled all over London, mixing with the lowest members of society. Even on streets where policemen feared to walk, a midwife could go alone and be unmolested because of her uniform.

This book looks at several specific cases, some of which are interwoven as patients come back again and again. The last story in particular–which I won’t spoil here–was absolutely amazing to hear, and I have a hard time believing it’s even true.

Is it identical to the television show? Or rather, is the show identical to the book? Absolutely not. But I do think the show has done a great job of maintaining the heart of Mrs. Worth’s memoir, so if you enjoyed that, you should certainly pick up the book.