Hi friends,
I was able to get back to reading in November after we settled into a little more of a routine with baby Lincoln. I started light with a few fantasy/scifi novellas, but also managed a few nonfiction reads as well. They were all really helpful and informative.
November was good for the family too. We had a low-key but nice Thanksgiving with my in-laws and enjoyed some family time together over the break.
As always, let me know what you think of these reads and if you have suggestions for further reading.
Merry Christmas!
Tonya
When Women Lead: What They Achieve, How They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them by Julia Boorstin
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, for those interested in leadership women in the workplace
Review: This was an interesting book that focused on women who have achieved large success in founding and leading companies. While Boorstin discusses the abysmal deficit of female leaders in start-ups that receive venture capital funding, she doesn’t focus on the disparity, but rather draws from case studies of very successful women to make conclusions about what successful women have and continue to do to lead. For example, she has an extended discussion with Gwynneth Paltrow about her road to becoming CEO of her company, Goop. Topics range from how even the most successful women feel imposter syndrome, to characteristics of female leadership that lead to female-led companies generally and consistently generating higher returns than those with all-male leadership. In general, women are more thoughtful and empathetic leaders, less likely to take large risks, and more likely to create cooperative environments. This was a great and new take on the gender differences in leadership, and I would recommend for anyone interested in becoming a better leader --- male or female.
The Lost Metal (Mistborn #7) by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, for all Sanderson fans!
Review: Wanting to read this book is what drew me back to reading after my baby was born. Sanderson delivers an amazing conclusion to the second era of Mistborn. This book was so much fun to read. Sanderson is finally leaning into his connected universe, which he calls the Cosmere, and this book is full of Cosmere references and crossovers. You don’t have to read all the other Cosmere books to enjoy just the Mistborn series, but I promise it will be a lot more fun if you do. Even without all the connections, this book was great, and Sanderson wrapped up most of the major plotlines while leaving things open for Mistborn Era 3, which will be set some unknown amount of time in the future. Wayne was my absolute favorite this book. I felt like we finally got to really know him as Sanderson explored more of his backstory, and resolved his character arc so perfectly. There was plenty of engaging and fast-paced action, revelations about multiple magic systems, and with the exception of one plot in the middle that I felt dragged a little, was really well-paced. As usual, Sanderson delivered a highly-enjoyable reading experience. I’m just jealous that we didn’t get to go to the Dragonsteel convention when this book was released as we had a 3 week old baby. Oh well, we’ll have to make it to the next one.
Into the Riverlands (Singing Hills Cycle #3) by Nghi Vo
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, but not as good as the other 2
Review: This was the third installment in the Singing Hills Cycle, which follows a cleric whose job it is to collect stories and histories as they wander a fantasy world inspired by ancient China. I really enjoyed the first two installments in this series, but this one didn’t engage me as well as the first two. Maybe I was just having trouble following it because of my new Mom brain. I still enjoyed it though. Vo wrote a few really well-described and paced fight scenes, and it’s always fun to read the stories-within-stories that she includes and which allows her to explore several different story-writing styles within the same work. I’ll probably read any future installments that are released even though this one wasn’t as good as the first two, it was still definitely a good read.
Together We Burn by Isabel Ibanez
Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Recommendation: not really
Review: I read two other of Ibanez’s works and thought that Written in Moonlight was particularly good. However, this one didn’t measure up. Ibanez writes firmly in the Young Adult genre, which I usually enjoy, but this book had too many of the highly-criticized tropes that come with that genre. The romance at the center of the story just didn’t sit well with me. It felt like the relationship was kind of forced, and the prose describing the male lead was way too sappy. It also failed to surprise me, and I called who the villain was the moment he appeared on the page. The decisions of the female protagonist were also annoying, and while sometimes characters make bad decisions as part of a broader arc, I felt like this character didn’t learn from her mistakes and kept making silly choices. The concept is really intriguing: a period piece set in a fantasy world inspired by Spain with dragon fighting instead of bull fighting, but it wasn’t executed very well. There were some really good moments, particularly when Ibanez described the flamenco dancing, but they were mostly outweighed by the poor execution and sappy prose.
Artificial Condition (The Murderbots #2) by Martha Wells
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes, but must read the first one first
Review: For a human-like robot construct that has hacked its governor system and christened itself Murderbot, Murderbot spends a lot of time saving humans. This is the second-installment in Wells's short story series following Murderbot as they go on an adventure to discover their past and what actually happened during the incident that led it to override its governor system. Murderbot’s perspective and voice are so fun to read. For a killing machine, they’re particularly plagued with social anxiety as they now have to fake being human to avoid being recaptured by the company. Probably the most intriguing part is that for a being that isn’t human, Murderbot experiences and some of the most human emotions of any of the characters in the series and consistently acts with more morality and human virtues than the heartless corporations that rule this dystopian universe. These are such fun, short reads, and they always leave me thinking about what it means to be human and how emotions play a roll in that. Wells also writes excellent action sequences and does just the right amount of world building to provide a great atmosphere but not info-dump all over the page. Highly recommend, and I will definitely keep reading.
Platonic: How the Science of Friendship Can Help You Make --- and Keep --- Friends by Marisa G. Franco
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: Since getting married, I’ve noticed that the number of friends I have has markedly decreased, and the pandemic has exacerbated this. Of course, there’s nothing about marriage that precludes close friendships, but friendships do require, as Franco discusses in the book, an investment in time and energy that, especially after the kids arrived, has been hard for me to expend. However, I have started to feel the lack of close friendships more acutely than before, and being me, decided to read a book about how to make friends to help me relearn old and largely unused social skills. Franco summarizes and explains the research surrounding friendship and relationships really well and provides actionable advice for those seeking to establish more and more meaningful friendships. She starts with talking about how American society has over the last century or so downgraded friendships largely in favor of romantic relationships, assuming that for whatever reason romantic ones are superior, as typified in the assumption that being “just friends,” is inferior to being involved romantically. Franco pushes back on this and convincingly makes the point that friendships can be just as or more rewarding and valuable as romantic relationships. For me, the big takeaways from this book were that I need to take the initiative to develop adult friendships, and I should assume that people like me. She has more advice, drawn from research into how people make and retain relationships, and I encourage anyone who feels like they could use more or closer friendships to read because I bet there’s something that could help everyone. Now, I just need to make time to make friends! |
| Lincoln is our little ewok in his bear suit. |
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| Chloe and Maya had fun picking new ornaments, a tradition that we do every year. |
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| Lincoln makes a pretty fun faces. |
