I could blame work being crazy for my lack of reading this past month, but that would be only partly true. The main culprit is the new 55-inch TV that is sitting pretty in my living room. Anyway, I hope the novelty wears off soon so I can go back to reading as per usual. I’m at 63 books for the year so far, another 37 to go.
- The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice: The name is self-explanatory but this book tries to explain the inequality that is embedded in the notion of “smartness”. In the process of trying to do so though, the author Fredrik DeBoer, a self-proclaimed Marxist, gets pretty defensive about intelligence being a genetic thing and not a race thing. You doth protest too much, methinks. Anyway, the book was a thought-provoking read, although the utopian solution proposed at the end is a futile exercise left to the reader to actually execute.
- Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness: A memoir about a woman’s descent into postpartum psychosis—like we don’t have enough to worry about during childbirth. The book was a bit jarring, especially with the writing being quite stark, but the non-fictional story was enough to keep my interest from waning.
- Transcendent Kingdom: I somewhat impulsively picked up a signed copy of Yaa Gyasi’s second book, and damn she is such a gifted writer. Her writing still feels a little rough around the edges, but her plot-work and her characters have the right amount of style mixed with substance. The New Yorker profile of the book did call out the stereotypes and cliches the author succumbed to in parts, despite which the book was still a very enjoyable read.
- Ecstasy and Terror: From the Greeks to Game of Thrones: This was a random bookstore find. My knowledge of the Greeks is minimal at best but fortunately this book was a good primer! Marrying Greek tragedies with modern-day events and pop culture – could there be a better way to learn?!