I am so enthralled with the very concept of this book in which the author uses her obsession with sea creatures as the basis of these fabulous life stories that use the sea creatures as complex allegories for her life. Even the title, referring to the point in an ocean where the light can no longer penetrate, relates to moments in her life.  As a memoir, it is insightful and tells the story of a unique life of Queerness and mixed-race identity.

I particularly appreciated how the author's experience of trauma and sexual assault were presented in such an unusual and poignant way.  All of this was done in the midst of providing rich details about marine ecosystems and creatures, some of which (like the octopus), we often hear about in other contexts, but some  of which I knew nothing about and found fascinating.  This is just such an unusual set-up and read. 

I highly recommend it.

Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

I didn't even know there was a genre of hockey romances and I certainly did not know that it was going to end up being a book genre that I would end up liking, but here we are.  This is, I think, the third book in the last few months that I am recommending in which there is a romance and there are hockey players.  And truly, who knew there was an entire genre of hockey romance in which consent and health reciprocal relationships was front and center?  This one also weaves in themes of the pull between traditional families with modern kids struggling to find a balance between the two, sexism in sports, and figuring out how to manage competing career tracks in relationships.  It was just a really unexpectedly fun, light romance.  Perfect bedtime or beach reading.

Recommend.
​
Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

It is sometimes hard not to romanticize groups of people I have little contact with.  Seeing Rastafarians while I travel or from a distance and reading some of the more popular writings, the combination of political and spiritual philosophy is alluring in what might helpful an inappropriate exoticism.  This book, though, is a reminder that dysfunctional fanaticism exists everywhere.  Here, amidst a philosophical framework that is essentially pacifist and equalitarian, the rigid sexist code of the author's father leads to abuse and control that mirrors what is found in so many other religious communities.  

This memoir of childhood abuse, multigenerational abuse and neglect, and isolation is a powerful reminder that there isn't a single path to healing.  Reminiscent of  Educated, I loved the arc here, at once critical of the abuse and showing compassion for the pain of the abuser's abuse as a child and young adult.  With such a different setting, though, this book had something new to offer and I appreciated the reminder that extremism in all its forms is problematic.

Moreover, this is a lyrical book, written by a true writer.  Every word seems carefully selected, every thought part of bouquet of thoughts, placed together is just the right way to convey the complexity of a life.  I am often turned off by this highly curated type of poetic writing, but not this one.  The wording was just joyfully crafted, even at the most heartbreaking moments of narration.  

​Recommend.

Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

I absolutely loved this quirky, unique, and entirely unexpected murder mystery with a twist--the twist being whether it was even a murder at all.  A classic whodunit, but with nothing classic about it.  The hero is simultaneously sympathetic and yet not, an unreliable narrator and yet earnest, unbelievable and yet not.  As she insists on investigating an unexplained death in her tea shop, her distrust of law enforcement and her deep desire for love, connection, and meaning drives to sometimes humorous, sometimes shocking, and always unexpected lengths.  Without giving anything away, I am just going to recommend it and tell you to go read it! 
​ 
Highly recommend. 
​
Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

As a general rule, when reading a microhistory, I either really love it or really hate it, but in this case I came out of the book with mixed feelings.  Perhaps it was because a lot of this book is about art history and, not being very interested in that topic, I was often bored and found it difficult to even listen for the larger themes in those sections because they were so detailed about things I just don't care much about.  Yet, there were other parts that I did find really fascinating, including the history of BMI and the focus on weight as part of health having been started by the health insurance industry glomping onto bad data and then pushing this idea that to be thin was to be healthier than to be plump.  I also thought the shift in Christian thought towards austerity and self-denial went hand-in-hand with the idea that it was unChristian to be "fat" because it was associated with gluttony and indulgence was interesting.  Finally, while I had heard about the racist history of fat shaming, I was surprised that for quite a while, "doctors" and purported "scientists" had strong opinions that considered the Irish to be much closer "racially" to Black people than white people with respect to the heathenism they associated with larger bodies.  I was also not expecting the discussion about pastors pushing "diets" to lose weight and, in particular, how messaging from the Seventh Day Adventist church leaders played a roll in these cultural shifts.  I didn't know that the vegetarian, high water diet came from a religious judgment about weight rather than a place of health.  The book is full of side-facts and small details that I found interesting--like that Kellogg and Post cereals both came about as part of the movement that valued slim builds and saw vegetarian diets that included a lot of milk as the answer.  So, overall, lots of obscure and fascinating tidbits, but not enough to hold my attention for the whole book. I suspect people who are more versed in art history would like this a lot more than I did.

Not not recommended.

​Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

A really light, playful romance set in a snowed-in airport on Christmas Eve.  It is sweet and fun, nothing offensive (or even juicy), but nothing deep, either.  If you want something to read over the holidays without needing to put an ounce of emotional energy into, this might be for you.  

Not not recommended.

Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

This is an intense memoir about child sex abuse, domestic violence. immigration, and cancer.  Yeah, it is a lot.  Especially since it is a pretty short book, but the author conveys an incredible amount of information, emotion, and content with an unusually efficient writing style that didn't feel clipped when reading.  

Recommend

​Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

This memoir about moving beyond a life time of abuse is both well written and insightful.  Providing a detailed accounting of what it took to leave, this book is one of the better life stories of domestic violence that has come out in the last five years.  From teen parent to CEO of the National Coalition Against Domestic violence, her story reflects a deep understanding of the complexity of relationships steeped in domestic violence.  Definitely worth the time to read.
​
Recommend.

​Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

I loved this book.  Stephanie Foo, of This American Life fame, combines exceptional storytelling with high quality journalism in this memoir about her experience of child abuse, neglect, and abandonment. The first part of the book is the story of her childhood, written with compassion and reflection.  But then, she shifts gears in the second part of the book, where the book follows her path learning about trauma and trying so many of the approaches to healing that are available from body work to EMDR, traditional and alternative therapies.  She reviews the research and data, then weaves that into her experiences in a way that was unique, interesting, and informative.  She holds herself responsible for the ways in which her unaddressed trauma made life for those around her more difficult, while also modeling the ability to recognize that and not beat herself up for what she did when she did not know better.  It is another really great read about abuse, resiliency, and healing.

Plus, she reads it herself and she has that podcast voice and cadence that is so recognizable.

Highly recommend

Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

This memoir written by the founder of the #MeToo movement focuses on what it is like to have done the work of helping survivors without attention or gratitude and certainly not without credit and glory.  I loved how she recounts her unwillingness to say "me, to" in so many contexts over the course of her life and the impact that had not only her, but on the people in her life, including the survivors she was working with.  It is my favorite kind of memoir about domestic violence in that it is not graphic, but instead gets its intensity and strength from a deep reflection on what it means to be a survivor and how healing can happen for someone.
Recommend

Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

​