August and September 2024

 Hi friends,

August was a busy month again and September has been nuts as we welcomed the arrival of a new baby to our family, Sarah. Chloe and Maya are still excited about their “adorable baby sister” and ask to hold her whenever they have a chance. Lincoln has warmed up to her as well. He enjoys pointing at her and saying “Girl!” and then poking her while she’s nursing. 

I did read a few good books in August that I wanted to review before our lives were turned upside down by the arrival of the new baby. September featured just a few short, standalone cozy fantasy reads that were all I was interested in reading postpartum. The craziness of four kinds, including a newborn, has been particularly manifest in writing this blog, which took me no less than 2 weeks and 7 attempts to complete. 

Anyway, let me know what you think of these books and if you have suggestions for further reading. 

Best,

Tonya 

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommendation: meh

Review: This book was a little too much for me. Do not be fooled by the word dragons in the title, or in the story. This is not a fantasy novel. It’s an alternate history of the 1950s that supposes what would happen if women could change into dragons, and this happened on mass to hundreds of thousands of women at the same time. This book contains a lot of unbridled feminist rage as the protagonist has to navigate a world where her own aunt and thousands of others turned into dragons and went missing, but no one is willing or allowed to talk about this taboo topic. It’s a bizarre premise, but I think it allowed the author to explore the themes she wanted to. It didn’t work for me though. I felt that the whole thing lacked subtlety and was internally inconsistent. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good fantasy story and am more than willing to suspend disbelief when immersed in a made-up world, but this story wasn’t logically consistent. It claims that women have been able to transform into giant, fire breathing, man-killing beasts for all of human history, but because this is a taboo subject, like many other female-specific subjects, the world continues to be male-dominated.  I guess if I were drafting a story where only one gender could transform into what could essentially be a huge weapon, I think history would have played out differently, but I also understand that that’s not at all the point the author was trying to make. 

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This book tells the story of the lead-up to and resulting investigation of the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle accident. Higginbotham focuses on the stories of the crew that lost their lives and the NASA civil servants and contractors that participated in the shuttle development program and the ultimate decision to launch Challenger’s final catastrophic mission. Higginbothm makes the point that while a failed O-ring on the solid rocket booster was the technical cause of the accident, to understand the root cause, you have to go way back to the initial decision to proceed with the shuttle program in the post-Apollo 1970 period. NASA sold the shuttle to the nation as a rapidly reusable, cheap access to space that would provide all launch services for the entire US government. NASA initially said that the shuttle would fly multiple times a week to justify its business case to Congress for developing such an expensive vehicle. To accelerate to this launch cadence, NASA and its contractors started to accept increasingly large deviations in performance from the intended shuttle design, eventually leading to the accident. Following the accident, Congress stood up a commission to determine the cause, and while the technical cause wasn’t hard to pinpoint and fix, the larger issue was NASA’s safety culture, which continued to be an issue that eventually resulted in the Columbia accident some 15 years later. The big question for me was has NASA learned its lesson? Based on the decision to not complete the recent crewed Starliner test flight with astronauts on board, I think maybe they have. I will say that just as the Rogers commission found back in the 1980s, it is still impossible to get a straight answer out of NASA when asking hard questions about program cost, schedule, and performance. That at least, hasn’t changed. 

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This seems to be the book that is trending among parents my age. Haidt argues that the combination of 1) unregulated and uninhibited internet access facilitated by smart phones and social media companies that don’t care what content they feed you as long as your eyes are on their site; and 2) the increase in real-world regulation of children’s outdoor activities out of misplaced parental fear for their safety has created the perfect storm responsible for the increase in mental health issues among teenagers and young adults since 2010. He cites a lot of research that support this conclusion and makes a very convincing argument. However, I still thought  that some of his conclusions went a bit beyond what the evidence supported. That being said, I think he’s probably right and have decided to implement his advice for smart phone and social media use in my family. This is one of those books that I actually bought after I finished reading the library’s copy and asked my husband to read it as well so that we’re both on the same page when these issues arise in our family and parenting. Thankfully, my kids are all still young enough that access to technology hasn’t been a serious issue yet, but I know that it’s coming. Hopefully in a few years by the time that they're clamoring for cell phones and social media accounts, there will be more research completed into the long-term effects of uninhibited internet access and social media use on mental health and child development and common sense policy informed by that research both at the company and government level to help us appropriately know how to use these mind-changing technologies. In the mean time, I'll be referring to Haidt and his expertise for guidance.

Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy by Craig Whitlock

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This book kind of made me more cynical about humanity in general. Let me explain. The book tells the true story of how one Malaysian man, Leonard Francis (a.k.a. Fat Leonard), committed massive fraud and compromised national security by leveraging Naval officers' vices against them mostly with bribes and sex. Fat Leonard was a husbanding contractor for Naval ships in the Indo-Pacific area responsible for providing logistics and security for naval ships when they come into various foreign ports. These aren’t small contracts, and Leonard would pad his contracts with extra and dubious expenses, which isn’t super surprising in and of itself. The surprising part is that he also had dozens of high-ranking Naval officers on his payroll who leaked classified information to him about ship schedules and plans; deterred Naval investigations into his wrong-doing; and helped him secure large contracts by providing sensitive information about his competitors. Leonard paid in cash, nice trips, lavish parties, and prostitutes. Some of the stories in this book are truly remarkable. Like you can’t make this stuff up. At one point, Leonard had a Naval investigator on his payroll who would flag him when investigators started getting too close. The amount of fraud he perpetrated is still unknown, but is likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Leonard was eventually arrested and received special treatment from prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation in cases against the Naval officers that worked with him. The saga is still ongoing today, and gets pretty wacky the more you read. It’s amazing to me how these otherwise upstanding and rule-abiding Naval officers put aside their ethics and values so quickly. What’s even more astounding is the sometimes lack of accountability for the highest-ranking individuals caught up in the whole fiasco. As one observer notes, “Different ranks, different spanks.” The consequences of this wrong doing have echoed up to the highest ranks in the Navy with one Admiral having to withdraw his name from consideration for the Joint Chiefs of Staff role due to his connections to Fat Leonard. The most astounding story that I found was that the head of the Naval Intelligence organization had his security clearance revoked following the investigation into his dealings with Fat Leonard, but he kept his job for two years after that until he was able to retire honorably. It’s mind-boggling how many people perpetrated the crimes, and how the Navy is still covering up for many of them. Like I said, reading this true story kind of made me more cynical about humanity and also made me wonder how I would react if I was in a similarly morally compromising situation.

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommendation: not really

Review: Of all the books I read the past two months, this one was the most forgettable. Like, really. I’m trying to write this review and remember what stood out to me, and what my takeaways were, and maybe it’s the postpartum baby brain, but I’m drawing a blank. I remember enjoying it and thinking that Brooks made some good points. I think I even resolved to focus more on building deep and meaningful relationships with others, but yeah… So, I guess it wasn’t that remarkable. 

After Apollo?: Richard Nixon and the American Space Program by John M. Logsdon

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This book takes a very in-depth look at the Nixon administration's decision about what direction to go with human exploration following the Apollo moon landings. Like, really in depth. There are whole chapters devoted to task group reports that end up getting set aside and not acted on by the Nixon administration. I’m saying Nixon administration because civil space was not a priority for Nixon himself, and he often said contradicting things and changed his mind about the importance of human space exploration. However, a small group of his advisors and bureaucrats in the Office of Management and Budget were responsible for the long-lasting decision to relegate civil space life from the special budget carve out that it received when the Apollo program was a key facet of international relations and security to just another part of the domestic budget that has to compete with hundreds of other programs for its budget every year. NASA is still in this position today, and the effects of this prioritization are apparent in that since Nixon human space exploration hasn’t extended beyond low-Earth orbit. This seems self-evident to us now based on history, but at the time, NASA was proposing a lunar base, space stations with artificial gravity, a Mars transport system, a cheap and reusable space shuttle, and humans to Mars by the 1980s. Of all of these, the only one that came about immediately was the shuttle, followed some decades later by a much more modest space station in low-Earth orbit. The crazy thing is that even though the Apollo program’s special treatment was only a few years and occurred more than 50 years ago, I still hear folks at NASA complaining about how small their percentage of the federal budget is now compared to the Apollo program. Nixon had many flaws, but he was largely right in interpreting the lack of voter appetite for spending hundreds of billions of dollars on sending humans to Mars during the inflation-heavy 1970s. Since then, NASA has had to learn to do what it can with what it’s given, and so far, that hasn’t been enough to even return to the Moon let alone on to Mars.

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: The first half of this popular book tells the fictional story of a female nurse who enlisted in the Army and served in Vietnam during the height of the fighting there. The second half focuses on her return to civilian life and the lack of services and recognition she received for her service while dealing with an intense case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Reading that story helped me gain a new appreciation for Vietnam War vets and an understanding of that time period in history. However, there were some choices that the author made that didn’t work for me. Our protagonist seems to get hit with a truly remarkable and unlikely amount of awful things happening to her. It’s like the author took all the stories of awful things that happened to female Vietnam vets and had them all happen to this character. It just felt unlikely, and kind of drew me out of the story. Considering all of the very traumatic events she experiences, and the lack of care she receives to deal with it, her resulting mental, physical, and emotional breakdowns are understandable. However, I did not understand the love interests plots. Like, they were really so bad, and the badness didn’t add a lot to the themes that I thought the author was trying to convey, but maybe I was wrong about the themes she was focusing on. While the book ends on a hopeful note, I felt like it was kind of rushed and at odds with everything else that had happened in the story. Overall, I think it was a good book about a topic that needs more discussion, but I didn’t like how the whole thing was executed. 

The Dollmakers by Lynn Buchanan

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This was the first book I tried to read after Sarah was born at the beginning of September, so it took me longer than usual to finish a 300+ page younger adult fantasy novel. That’s not a reflection on the book, though, but rather on the lack of time and my mental state immediately after giving birth and while navigating the still ongoing adjustment to being a mom to 4kids under the age of 8. Anyway, this book was recommended by Brandon Sanderson. Buchanan was a former student of his, and since he doesn’t recommend books often, I decided to pick it up. I heard it described as cozy horror, and I think that’s an accurate vibe. It mainly felt like an introduction into a larger fantasy world that Buchanan plans to write more in. At least, I hope she writes more because the world was fascinating and really well realized. One of the reasons I found this book hard to get into is that the main protagonist is really unlikeable at the beginning of the book. It’s one of those stories where the main character has to get humbled and learn a lesson, and man, I was waiting for that humbling to happen. The plot tells the story of an apprentice dollmaker that wants to build dolls to protect the kingdom from the monsters that killed her parents, but the person granting her a dollmaking license says that her dolls won’t work as guard dolls, only as pieces of art, and so she starts her journey to prove everyone wrong about her dolls. There’s some good character growth from her, but my favorite character was the other dollmaker that she interacts with as part of her journey. This is one of those books that I probably wouldn’t watch a movie adaptation of because the monsters and the dolls sounded too creepy. When I’m reading, I can imagine in my head a version of events that won’t give me nightmares, but I’m pretty sure that a visual rendering of this story would be too scary for me to watch. That being said, I recommend for fans of Sanderson due to the great worldbuilding and explosive conclusion. 

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This is a classic cozy fantasy read that was perfect for me a few days after giving birth to my daughter. It’s extremely predictable, and you know from the beginning exactly how it’s going to end, but that doesn’t make the ride any less enjoyable. This book felt like a romcom, and I enjoyed how well executed the tropes, character arcs, and plot points were. In classic romcom fashion, the big city girl is forced back to her rural home following a revolution that burned the imperial library where she was responsible for protecting illicit spell books. With nowhere else to go, she returns to the small island she was born on, determined to hide out and protect her magical literary charges. Her side kick is a mobile, intelligent, talking spider plant, which I loved. I loved the found family trope, the awkward neighbor to romantic interest trope, and the small town vibe really lovely. I highly recommend for anyone looking for a well-executed light read. 

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This book won a Hugo award, and I can see why. Kingfisher takes common fairy-tale tropes and turns them on their heads to make an interesting and well-executed story. The story focuses on the third and youngest princess, Marra, of a small kingdom, trapped between two larger kingdoms. In an effort to keep their kingdom from being caught in a war between the two kingdoms, her mother marries her two oldest sisters off to the prince of the Northern kingdom with her second oldest sister marrying the prince after the oldest dies in a mysterious accident. In this fairy tale though, the prince is no hero. He is a horrible monster who terrorizes and abuses his wives. Upon learning of her sister’s abuse, Marra, who’s spent the past 15 years in a convent away from politics, has to make a decision. She’s no hero, but she enlists the help of an unlikely and hilarious group of friends to help her on her quest to deliver her sister from her torturer. The story takes us to barren lands, fairy markets, and ghost palaces. It’s a remarkably good ride with a minor romantic plotline that I really enjoyed. Each character gets a chance to shine and their own development arc that leads to a really satisfying ending. It has a great comedic horror vibe with some really hilarious moments and some really freaky moments. It’s an unusual combination, but it worked for me. I highly recommend for any fans of the fantasy genre. 

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: After finishing Nettle & Bone and thoroughly enjoying it, I wanted to keep reading Kingfisher, so I picked up this Hugo-winning novella. It’s a twist on the Sleeping Beauty story. Kingfisher once again, takes classic fairy tale tropes and turns them on their head. In this case, the fair godmother is the protagonist and the beautiful, bewitched princess is evil. It packs a lot of character and suspense into a few pages, and I really enjoyed getting to know our somewhat inept but very sincere main character and the dashing knight who has come to free the princess from the spell. My only critique is that the ending felt a little convenient. I think because of the short word count the author chose a clean way to wrap up the conflict so she could focus more on the characters arcs. In any case, it was a great short read.