The colon returns: Revenge of the colon.
Book 16:
From One Cell: A Journey into Life’s Origins and the Future of Medicine by Ben Stanger
Rough Review:
4 stars. I particularly enjoyed the last chapter, “Day Science and Night Science” – reading that whole section made me want to get a job in a lab and just start some Night meandering. I share the author’s concerns that the focus on practical applications (read: ways [for pharmaceutical companies] to make money) over general knowledge gathering is a huge problem in science, particularly advances move so fast these days that there’s just more info out there than any one person can know.
Having read The Emperor of All Maladies, and reading The Philadelphia Chromosome at the same time I was reading this, the discussion of the history of developmental biology research and cancer research wasn’t particularly gripping (I think it was about as well done as Mukherjee’s, but it didn’t really add anything), so it was really the latter part of the book that grabbed my attention.
For me, I enjoyed this more than Human Error because it went into more detail, but the abundance of scientific terms and technical details could be a problem for a general reader – it’s not as accessible as a lot of the other pop science I’ve read, so keep that in mind if you’re looking for something to read. I loved the detail, though – for me it’s the ideal amount between a general pop science book like Human Error, and an actual biology textbook.
Final Review: Phew. 231 words.
Book 17:
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Rough Review:
4 stars. I can’t decide if I liked this or Book Lovers better. I think I just really like Charlie, and Book Lovers was such a surprise in how much it made me laugh out loud that it edges this one out, but I really enjoyed this and thought the character development was A+ and it didn’t feel as overwrought as some of the super emotional moments from the other Emily Henrys I’ve read (and that is a very light and nit-picky criticism, it’s just that nothing about this one felt forced or overdone at all, I totally believed every moment, and I did not expect to based on the plot description and some reviews). Also there were some weird editing blips where Ashleigh seemed to be introduced as a new character twice, and characters would sit up or move in ways that didn’t totally track with how they were just described. I am the nittiest of pickers.
Do all of her romances involve characters in book-adjacent fields? I hope so, because it looks like I will be reading all of them while eating junk food and drinking coca cola and crying about my dead dog. Thank goodness for Emily Henry, emotional comfort food that isn’t just empty calories.
Final Review: 207 words fuck yes.
Book 18:
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, Erica Moore (Translator), Elizabeth Manton (Translator)
Rough Review:
4 stars. Much like Stolen Focus, this is a book about a lot of things you probably know, or knew, and a book written with a very specific goal and therefore focusing very specifically on the stories it wants to tell.
Almost exactly a year ago, I picked this up while visiting my cousin in Seattle. She took me to Elliott Bay Book Company and let me indulge. And I picked it up because I was moved by the little marker sticking out underneath it, written by employee Laura, that said: “The first thing I’ve read this year that offered a rush of genuine hope.” And I decided to read it now because I thought I could use some genuine hope, as could we all. And I ran up and down the hope to hopeless spectrum while reading it, swinging wildly from feeling like all Bregman says could well be true and it doesn’t matter because we’re too deep in the current vicious cycle of hatred, violence, isolationism, and too much empathy (not enough compassion), to FUCK humans are amazing, to JESUS humans are stupid, finally settling on a determination to just try to be more optimistic, more hopeful, more generous, and less angry. Much like Stolen Focus, even if I think some arguments aren’t fully realized and even if I’m skeptical of some of his conclusions, I still think it’s not only worthwhile, but an important book that I think everyone should read. Because Bregman and Hari both touch on what I think is so vital – the political and economic systems that we’re currently trapped in are not inevitable and they’re not invincible, but the only way to change them is to do it together, and that requires trust, will, and focus. But it’s possible. I believe it.
Final Review: 298 words…
Book 19:
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Rough Review:
3.5 stars. [oh good, I didn’t forget there were other numbers] There are so many typos and errors, which does a disservice to the trustworthiness of the book. It’s incredibly readable and even if we knew the broad strokes, the specifics are indeed jaw dropping. As another reviewer wrote, the constant “I just couldn’t believe it! But then I stayed and kept doing the exact same thing until something else I just couldn’t believe happened” wears a bit thin, but I do think SWW does a decent, if not entirely successful, job of admitting her complicity. And I can easily imagine getting caught up in the speed and intensity and importance and lack of sleep and lack of reflection that it isn’t until you’re fired at the end of a sham review of your sexual harassment complaints that you take a step back and think through how it all spiralled out of control. And the last book I read did encourage me to try not to assume the worst of people., so.
Most of all, it’s important to understand and accept how careless these people with immense power and influence are with it, and what that means for the rest of us. The Epilogue is honestly chilling.
Final Review: 198 words and please please please 1 hour to go.
Book 20:
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Rough Review:
3 stars. This is barely a review, more of a stream of consciousness word vomit from a very tired decrepit millennial and who even reads these anyway, so who cares?
First off, the illustration is wrong with this one. Poppy is repeatedly described as “tiny” and that is not the sense I get from the woman on the cover. Also I’m about 73% sure Alex is blond? And in general, I’m not a fan of ROM COM COVERS because I guess the feminist in me resents it getting mistreated and misunderstood as a genre (despite me mistreating and avoiding it myself, for the most part, for the same reason I hated pink and never wore dresses until I grew up and learned to like what I like because I like it and fuck the patriarchy from outside the system and not within it, etc, etc, etc) and the cartoony, pastel covers that ALL rom coms/chick lit seem to use just makes me roll my eyes, but I actually kind of like Henry’s covers, for the most part, especially because they MATCH and that is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING about books in the same series/by the same author, you don’t even understand.
But you have to at least make the illustrations correct-to-text, I mean come on.
All in all, I think this is my least favourite of Henry’s books (that I’ve read), but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good time and a fast read. I just don’t tend to have a lot of patience for miscommunication and oh-so-noble self-inflicted hurt (not because I don’t think it’s realistic, I know full well that people are messy and I’m not exactly brave about talking about my romantic feelings myself, but I’m learning my rom com tastes as we speak and I have realized that reading about this sort of thing does not fill me with joy), and I didn’t really connect with Alex or Poppy as characters (TELL ME MORE ABOUT SWAPNA). And as is always the case with travel, I can’t enjoy watching or reading about other people doing it because I just get too jealous. But the characters were likeable and believable and Henry does such a good job building their inner worlds.
Goodreads is doing these list challenges that you can complete in addition to whatever your reading goal is, where you get a little bookmark reward when you read a book on one of their lists. I don’t think I have ever read a quote unquote “romance novel” before (except romantasy by T. Kingfisher and maybe Leigh Bardugo, although it was the fantasy part that drew me to those), but one of those lists was “Sweet and Spicy” (https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2…) and literally the only book on that entire list that I had any interest in was Book Lovers, and it happened to be on sale, so I downloaded it because I am a sucker for checking things off lists, and I LOVED IT and then the sweetest, bestest baby old lady puppy died and I didn’t feel like reading anything that wasn’t Emily Henry for a while, but judging by the book descriptions, only Beach Read seemed remotely up my alley, so I read that an enjoyed it as well, and then I needed more and Funny Story had a book-related title and felt on theme, so I read that one and enjoyed it even more than Beach Read, and then I wasn’t going to read any more until her newest came out because the other two didn’t sound appealing, but I came across the Layover short and didn’t know who the hell Poppy and Alex were, so I read this one, and now I guess I have to read Happy Place because I am a compulsive completionist and I don’t have the energy to bother trying to resist myself, and I’m sure I won’t love it but it will be fine, and will pass the time until Great Big Beautiful Life, which seems much more my speed, comes out.
Final Review: 669 words!!!
