In a lot of ways, this is a typical boys coming of age novel in which a bunch of boys set out on a grand adventure in which women and girls are marginalized, although the introduction of the occasional voice of one woman left me with the impression that the book itself was highly aware of this situation and this seeming self-awareness made it substantially more palatable.  The strength of this book is in the prose, which is expertly paced and worded.  The juxtaposition of a young reader's obsession with a book that contains highly compressed short stories about adventurers against the adventure story in his own life is crafted in the best way that stories within stories are sometimes crafted.  The complexity of the characters, with no one being good or evil (except maybe one character who has no redeeming moments that I recall) reminds us that behind so many youths making poor decisions are parents who did things that make those decisions make sense.  I found the bouncing between narrators kept this perspective fresh and overall the story just kept unfolding in layered, interesting ways that kept me enthralled.

Recommend.

A self-help book about how to replace bad habits with good ones with various techniques. I am not a fan.  A lot of the habits he talked about were exercise and food restriction based, which felt to me like reinforcement of diet culture and a fixation on losing weight.  I just couldn't get past how unhealthy I thought the messaging was and it was even worse that it was touting that as "healthy" and that it was desirable to form habits like that.


Not recommended.

I am not sure how I ended up with a second Nepoleonic naval war novel on my list this year.  Christian and Scott must have been on the same wavelength to some extent.  Having slogged my way through this one just a month or so after Mr. Midshipment Hornblower, I can't say that I am any better off for having read so much about sailing and ship culture circa 1800.  Barely a mention of any women characters, the politics of command and the interpersonal relationships between the officers and others just didn't resonate for me and as such I would say skip it.

Not recommended.

​A podcast series written and performed by a former Vanity Fair writer who covered Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, it was fast paced and interesting.  With interviews and re-enactments of some of the many, many conversations that she had with Epstein, it was easy to stay engaged.  Having just watched Inventing Anna, it was interesting to hear about Epstein's scamming of powerful billionnaires out of so much money in much the same way that Anna Delvey did.  There are many times when I found the narrator of this podcast to be self-serving and seemingly naïve as to the impact of her ignorance about sexual abuse and assault (she keeps talking about 2003 as if no one knew what grooming and sexual abuse was at that time) had on how this entire case played out in the media and in the courts.  I found this frustrating, even infuriating.  But the fact that she ran in the same rich and powerful circles as Maxwell provided enough interesting material, some of which has not previously be released or at least focused on made it worth the listen.

​This is an unusual YA romance/dystopian future/sci fi read that starts not only slow, but just weird, before taking many twists and turns in unexpected directions as a world of corporate control, artificial intelligence, and military power coincide in a myriad of ways for the young people on the front lines of war.  I have had a hard time deciding if I would put it on the recommended list because it is really a very strange story and the audible production is a little weird, for lack of a better term.  So, I am going to put it in the Not Not Recommended category with the expectation that folks who are looking for quirky might give it a try.


Not not recommended.

​This is a relatively short and easy read with exercises about attachment styles. A great summary of research and current thought on the topic and how attachment disorders in particular can impact relationships and adjustment, it was easy to read and provided clear and concise, if not novel, information.  If you are interested in how trauma and poor parenting might be impacting your own life or the life of someone you know, this is a really solid read.


Recommend.

 I had previously read the original trilogy in this dystopian series that came out about ten years ago.  If you lived The Hunger Games or the first Divergent book, then this will be right up your alley and the addition of a fourth book to the series did not disappoint.  Because it had been so long since I had read the series, I went back and re-read the entire set, which I highly recommend doing since much of the richness of detail from the first stories tie nicely back into this one, which is set ten years after the last book.  I particularly love how it characters have matured in the interim, but the distinctly YA flavor of the narrative continues with some of the focus of the storyline shifting to Day's younger brother's story.  The addition of a Queer character's backstory that is entirely consistent with what was already there is a nice touch. The political commentary, the nuance of various financial structures, the complexity of propaganda, power, and community control is handled at a high level for a YA read. Add to that some powerful women characters, along with men grappling with what it means to support those powerful women in their lives while also figuring out how to be effective leaders themselves and you have a series that really should have gotten a lot more attention.
 
Highly recommend.