The first section of this book pretty much tells you everything of interest in the book.  The author cites to a lot of good scientific data, but take at least some of those studies out of context, uses different language, and I think downplays the complexity of both the science and the experience of feeling stuck.  It feels hollow in places where there could have been a lot more depth and help that was tied to data and best practices instead of trite anecdotes. It is a quick read with some useful tips, but I definitely feel like it could have been summarized in a one-page TLDR (TooLongDidn'tRead) handout.  One the plus side, she makes it very clear that the book is not meant to address trauma or mental illness, which really cuts down on the readership audience and, for me, makes it way less interesting or relevant.  

Not recommended.

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I really do tend to love a good WWII historical fiction novel.  Classics like All The Light You Cannot see are solid choices, but my favorites include The Nightingale and Beneath The Scarlet Sky. I recently read and recommended The Winemaker's Wife, which I also quite liked.  This one, however, I just did not love.  There were significant pieces of the plot that I just did not find convincing.  It felt less historically accurate than many other books I have read about the era.  Not being an expert on really any historical era, let alone this era, I don't have anything to base this on other than it just didn't feel like it made as much sense or held together the way other novels have.  Here, it is the story of an American woman living in Paris and volunteering for the resistance.  At the same time, there is a parallel story of a Jewish father-daughter unit trying to make their way out of Nazi occupied Europe.  Their rescue and evacuation is complex and interesting.  There is some romance and some sweet moments.  But there was a lot of parts that seemed too light for the content. The characters just weren't developed in a way that made their actions make any sense to me. 

Not recommended. 
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This wasn't just read by the author, it was turned into a full-on podcast.  Sections of the book made him laugh so much that he as giggling on the air.  I could not decide if this was endearing--because he just loves the historical pieces he was talking about or if it was an annoying distraction.  I think the first few times, it was cute and fun, but after a while, it was too much.

That said, I found the book/podcast really interesting as it looked back not just at sketch comedy and standup, but at comedy in general. I learned quite a bit about history, but also about how people become comedians and about the structure of sketch comedy.  

All in all, I can't recommend, but also cannot not recommend.  
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I have tried to like Terry Pratchett. I mean, I have really tried.  This is my third try reading one of his books.  I really like a lot of people who really like his work.  I have read countless articles that have urged me to fall in love with the Discworld universe as a replacement for the much loved, but now boycotted universe created by the problematic J.K.R. series.  And yet, I have to say that despite all my efforts in this endeavor, I despise these books.  For sure, they are quirk and there are humorous moments, particularly embedded in the quick dialogue the characters often share, but I keep waiting for some meaningful arc to develop, something that I can follow and be invested in.  Instead, I continue to find the books an exercise in performative wit-- so focused on trying to be clever in the moment that the plot and character development seem like just an means to that ends.  Pratchett's distinctive writing style, so revered by so many, truly grates on my nervous with its nonlinear storyline that never quite explains anything about this alternative universe.

Sadly, not recommended.

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A story about midwifery in the midst of flu epidemic during WWI, this story was good enough, but I thought it was trying to do much in such a short book.  Queerness, epidemic, how Irish rebels were being treated, maternal death, hospital policy, orphanages, adoption, religious oppression, unmarried mothers, sexism in the workplace, intimate violence, post-war PTSD, and so much more.  I felt like it just wasn't able to delve into any of these in a meaningful way and it took away from what could have been significantly better character development.

​Not recommended.

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If you liked Sapiens, you will probably love this book, too. 
I think I liked it more and I really liked Sapiens. The book is really clever in its layout, focusing on different aspects of women's bodies and how those can be traced back to various "Eves" who were the first ancestor to have those traits.  The author has a sense of humor that sometimes made me giggle the way one might giggle in a middle school sex ed class, but there were also entire sections that I found really interesting.  Her discussion about the history of midwifery was just fascinating.  From breastfeeding to menopause to tools to legs and hearing, this book kept me engaged the entire time.  I particularly loved the discussion about hearing ranges and loss in men and how male hearing loss corresponds with the pitch of young women's voices and babies cries.  

As a side note, I was pleasantly surprised at how the author dealt with trans-ness throughout the book.  It was a rare treat to have a book so rooted in bodies and particularly women's bodies be so nuanced in its treatment of trans bodies.

Highly recommend.

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Sometimes, a book is just too sophisticated and avant-garde for me.  I started this book twice before I could get past the first 100 pages, plus it took me more than a month to read  The confusion I felt even after reading the beginning three times did not stop there.  After slogging through another 600 pages after that, I remained confused and frustrated with the story on many levels.  First, the main characters in the three different eras are mostly names Charles/Charlie, David, and Edward.  The story starts with an alternative history of the US, the origin of which is the end of the civil war when the South secedes after losing and the West breaks off into its own country.  In this alternative history, racism and classism persist, but homophobia is completely eliminated as prominent men regularly marry each other and take on childrearing, particularly by raising orphans abandoned because of the economic pressures on the poor.  In all three eras, women are relegated to their role as a daughter, sister, (birth) mother, or grandmother.  The book is entirely devoid of strong women, with perhaps one exception at the very end, but she would be considered "strong" in an unconventional way.  Instead, a complicated history unfolds that shows that putting gay men in charge of things does not result in a any better outcome than the mess straight men have made.  

The second section of the book tells another David's backstory growing up in Hawaii, filled with intimate violence and sorrow, and the third section is a dystopian landscape in a future New York under authoritarian rule that comes to power while trying to manage pandemics and natural disasters brought on by climate change.

I spent a lot of time and energy trying to link the three books, thinking that there must be a cohesive family tree I was supposed to be following, but could not.  In reading book summaries after I finished it because I remained so confused (something I almost never do--reading summaries, not getting confused), I think I have finally accepted that the three books were completely independent of each other, other than the tie each story had to a mansion in NYC.  I could have saved myself a lot of intellectual energy if I had realized it was three entirely separate storylines.  I am sure someone more committed to analyzing the books could come up with a lot more themes and B plots that tie it together, but I only caught a couple.  I did find the reuse of the names to be unnecessarily confusing.  

Each of the books were incredibly depressing.  The misery the characters inherit and then create for themselves and those around them is beyond my emotional capacity for the kind of investment this story required.  And yet in many ways the writing, particularly with respect to  character development and the absolutely lovely, detailed descriptions of their misery, was so good that I was sucked into the stories--despite being incredibly confused about who people were and how they related to each other.  As if this wasn't enough, each of the three sections leaves us with a cliffhanger such that I can say that this book at the most unfulfilling ending I can ever remember a book having-- and it had three of them.  I left completely unsatisfied, despite the author having put in an incredible performance in many ways and despite the fact that I invested a lot of intellectual energy trying to keep up with the narrative and figure out what was happening. 

The number of characters alone, many of them introduced quickly at the same time and many of them with the same names, just made this even more complex.  I am all for an intellectual challenge, but I left feeling that I put in a lot of effort only to find that none of that effort actually mattered. Moreover, the story is full of intimate and state violence that was exhausting and was left unresolved and unanalyzed. 

Ultimately, this is one of those books that I feel like I should have loved, but that I ended up feeling like I wasn't intellectually up to the challenge of loving.  

​Do not recommend.
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