Ohh, very nice! I think I’ll add Food Saved Me, The Power, and the Throne of Glass series to my TBR list, which continues to grow longer and longer… It feels like I basically lived at the library this year, so my collection of unread books I own is feeling very unloved. Oh well. Good thing books last a long time! 
Here’s what I read this summer, with bite-sized reviews of each:
Necessary Trouble: Nicely written memoir, appreciated the perspective on the era.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry: Very small, compact, a glossing over of basic astrophysics knowledge. Not comprehensive and doesn’t try to be.
Fat Chance: Genuinely an excellent book, I ended up regularly talking about this one to my friends and family. No fat shaming, but well-backed studies on what drives obesity, and whether or not it’s harmful. Definitely made me more mindful of my sugar consumption.
The Day the World Stops Shopping: An interesting concept for a book that tries to help the reader understand the ways in which our current systems are layered and stacked together like a game of Jenga. It’s not a feel-good book, but it is useful.
The Buy Nothing, Get Everything Plan: A fluff book about buy nothing groups. Nothing of substance in here.
The Anxious Generation: Not the best, but a good book on how parenting practices since the 1990s have changed childhood and adult psychology. A should-read for anyone considering having kids.
The Privatization of Everything: Now this is a book everyone needs to read! I’m serious – if you’re wondering why the US economy seems broken, this is why.
More from Less: Can’t agree with a lot of the arguments or the overall take in the book, but an interesting perspective.
Nature’s Best Hope: Another book I think everyone needs to read. We’re in a severe climate and biological crisis, and it’s vital that we do something to help combat it. I was already putting in native plants before I read this book, but the arguments only continue to inspire. If there was a way for me to mass-distribute this book to everyone, I would.
Delicious: A fun look through the history of flavors and how humans have interacted with them. A unique field of study, with lots of memorable tidbits. I know I’ll never forget lake preservation.
A Wizard of Earthsea: I’m honestly not a fiction person, but I’m trying to broaden my horizons a bit and read more, and a fantasy series seemed approachable. I really enjoyed this book and even though I haven’t found the second one in the series to be anywhere near as strong (I finished a Wizard in two days – the next one I’ve been crawling through the first 30 pages for a week), I think it’s a great read even as a stand-alone book.
The Myth of Capitalism: Pessimistic, the numbers don’t lie. I feel like this book pairs very well with the Privatization of Everything. Make no mistake – this book is very honest, and will not try to give you any sort of hopeful “here’s what you can do at home to help!” spin.
How Are YOU Going to Pay For That?: A good book, but the information was very repetitive after reading The Myth of Capitalism, and the reasoning was often weaker. I’d recommend Myth over this one.
The Nature of Oaks: This is a good book, and we should plant more oaks. But Tallamy is fighting a crusade (and one we all should be joining him on!) and so in any book from him, you’re going to get a lot of repetitive information. There is a wealth of information unique to this book, yes, and there are all sorts of interesting things about the life in, on, and around, oak trees, but you will end up skimming some of the repetitive stuff from his other books.
Sing Like Fish: Took me a little bit to get through this book, as I’m not very knowledgeable about sound waves and the book required some knowledge to fully appreciate it, but this was truly an enlightening book. Definitely makes you think long after reading it.
Momfluenced: My only audiobook read on the list! I found the author a bit insufferable at times, and overall I don’t think the book had a ton of substance, but it was an OK read. Good for an audiobook, aka, something that you don’t need to pay 100% attention to.
Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant: I wanted a few fluffy books after Sing Like Fish, and this fit the bill. It’s nice, it’s sentimental, there’s nothing too ground-breaking here. A good enough memoir.
Can’t Even: More substantial than the previous two, but nothing too heavy or complicated in here. Honestly, if you can stand to drop the millennial-specific perspective, I’d recommend just skipping over this one entirely and reading the Myth of Capitalism and the Privatization of Everything – they’ll give you proper answers as opposed to just hang-wringing.
Stolen Focus: I didn’t like this one anywhere near as much as I expected to, based on all the hype it got. It’s a good book. It’s got substance. It’s timely. Just didn’t seem particularly earth-shattering to me, and I’ll likely end up forgetting about it at some point.
Selling the Dream: Did not expect the writing style for a book about MLMs. It’s a fun book, not a serious one.
Sisters in Hate: Makes you angry. And that’s good. I don’t know how much actual information I got out of this book, but it does inspire a lot of emotion, in spite of being written very neutrally.
Sorry for the very long comment, but it was fun to think back about each book I read from May-August. I normally read a book, then almost instantly start another, so I really appreciated the prompt to mull over and revisit the ones I had read this summer. 🙂ReplyCancel