Slated for publication in September 2024 or March, 2025 (I see conflicting information about this - maybe the former is for the UK, the latter the US?Slated for publication in September 2024 or March, 2025 (I see conflicting information about this - maybe the former is for the UK, the latter the US?)
This is really stirring nonfiction about how a singular hare changed the author’s life for the better.
When Dalton found a leveret, a newborn hare, chased out of its hide into the open, she first waited to see if its mother would find it and hide it away safely once again. When that doesn’t happen, she sets herself to learning how to raise a wild hare. After caring for the animal through its infancy, she ensures it is free to make its own choices. The hare comes and goes, roaming the English countryside at nighttime and returning to the author’s garden and even into her home to rest, eat, and play. Dalton tries her best to not anthropomorphize the wild animal, or to make it into a pet. Regardless, the hare is so comfortable with her human associate, she even gives birth to one of her litters inside her home, and keeps her babies hidden away safely there while she forages at night.
A focus of this book, besides the story of the interactions and relationship between woman and hare, is how changing her life to accommodate this animal and watching it thrive led the author to learn a new appreciation for nature and life itself. She slowed down, observed more, lived in the moment, and developed mindfulness that allowed her to take more joy in the small realities of life. Additionally, she became more conscious of how human endeavors affect the habitat around them, as well as the wildlife that depends on it. She was able to effect some change to help alleviate some of these environmental harms.
Beyond being educational about hares, their behaviors and natural habitats (a subject that has apparently historically been somewhat neglected), this was an emotional, meditative and reflective book that was a pleasure to read.
My thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This was okay, but I didn't find it all that funny. I actually wonder if, when I start reading a humor author's work several books in instead of startThis was okay, but I didn't find it all that funny. I actually wonder if, when I start reading a humor author's work several books in instead of starting with their first, maybe they've just run out of good material. Or else it's just not for me because on the other hand, every single one of Jenny Lawson's books are still hilarious to me.
But also, this author kind of came across as a big snob to me. I wondered, is he intentionally trying to poke fun at his snobbish tendencies and I'm just not picking up on that? He buys clothes that don't fit his smaller frame and then has them altered because "that's what tailors are for"--as if just anybody could afford to pay for clothes AND a tailor? He makes fun of the names of people he's asked to sign books for (like literally right to the faces of the people asking him to sign), gloats about his right to be seated sooner than others on airplanes, insists that workers are watching as he puts tips in jars, shops gratuitously and then doesn't even want the items he purchased, hopes the loud neighbors two doors down die, points out that one of the problems with his childhood home was that it had no view, and throws away the things his elderly father is excited to gift him. One of his sisters, when upset by someone, says, "She doesn't know this, but I could buy and sell her". I don't know, maybe this sort of behavior is unsurprising for people who, as children, vacationed to a condo that "was arranged over five floors".
And I just plain didn't understand why he would want to feed his lipoma to a turtle.
I found a few things in this book to be amusing, and he had a lot of interesting things to say about family relationships. But overall, I was underwhelmed....more
A very interesting look at the work of a medicolegal death investigator, not for the squeamish. Working for the medical examiner’s office for New YorkA very interesting look at the work of a medicolegal death investigator, not for the squeamish. Working for the medical examiner’s office for New York City, the author and her colleagues would investigate the bodies of those found dead within the context of their setting, and decide if the manner of death was natural, accidental, homicide, or suicide. And since this is a memoir, in addition to stories from her job, Butcher shares about her own personal experiences with substance abuse and mental health struggles. An overall commendable work....more
I don’t normally participate in the Amazon First Reads program because the books I’ve tried from it in the past have been real stinkers. But I nabbed I don’t normally participate in the Amazon First Reads program because the books I’ve tried from it in the past have been real stinkers. But I nabbed this one as soon as I saw it because, for whatever reason, I was OBSESSED with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation and all things tangential - including the Waltham murders, and Ibragim Todashev's fatal interview with the FBI. There has been a certain lack of transparency in regards to some of these things, and Zalkind's book with all her own investigative journalism on the topics was everything I could have hoped for and more. I was absolutely riveted from start to finish.
Zalkind's reporting style here is top notch. She shares all of her primary and secondary sources as she is able to, and is sure to point out that people may or may not be telling the truth and that she can't tell you which it is, but she presents what evidence she has that may either support or refute what others have told her in her interviews. In the end she is able to say, "Here is what the evidence shows happened in Waltham/with Todashev, and here is why authorities have never told the public about it (not even the families of the victims murdered over a decade ago)". Her investigation and reporting is thorough, and she never makes unsubstantiated claims, but rather always supports her conclusions with what she was able to learn, with the caveat that there may be more we don't know and what that other information might possibly pertain to. Her personal relationship with one of the murder victims does not prevent her manner of reporting from being admirably professional.
The organization of the book did throw me a bit at times, but I assumed the author had her reasons for presenting the information in the order she chose, and I was always able to follow along easily.
My Kindle tells me that I made 275 highlights in this book - some of those are of multiple paragraphs! There is just so much here that I want to be able to look back at. I think this likely means I should just reread the whole thing sometime. I got the ebook version for free through the Amazon Prime First Reads program, but since finishing it I have preordered a print copy to support the author and all the amazing work she has done over the past 10+ years, uncovering truths about a topic I have long been fascinated by.
I started reading a nonfiction book about the Trail of Tears written in 1975 for book club. I was struggling Oof, this is a challenging one to review.
I started reading a nonfiction book about the Trail of Tears written in 1975 for book club. I was struggling a bit with the writing style, so I decided to read this book instead. It was not any easier to get through.
Something about the author's writing just made it very hard to follow or stay engaged. It was difficult to determine any sort of logical organization to the topics she addressed, and oftentimes she repeated herself, stating and explaining the exact same information multiple times. I did learn some things, but I think my eyes glazed over and skimmed a fair bit as I pushed myself to keep reading.
The author also makes it clear that this book is going to be saturated with her personal opinions on subjects. I personally would have preferred reading a history that presented objective fact, and then let me as the reader see for myself how terrible certain people and acts were. Here we are spoon fed, like with introductions of people such as "the genocidal sociopath Andrew Jackson". Teach me what the man did, and let me understand for myself that he had no conscience when it came to the treatment of Indigenous peoples; explain the definition of genocide, then let me see that he helped to implement policies that can retroactively be described as genocidal (retroactively because the term was coined later in history). The fact is I AGREE with most of the author's sentiments, but it makes me take her less seriously as a trusted source when she so blatantly explains things only in terms of her own personal opinions, like "the election of George W. Bush turned over control of US foreign policy to a long-gestating neoconservative and warmongering faction of the Pentagon and its civilian hawks".
I also found myself suspicious of the way that the author seems to paint every Indigenous person as a paragon of every positive attribute you can think of. I came to this book expecting to learn about the shameful treatment of humans by other humans. But when she writes that Indigenous soldiers in some US military campaign or another were the most effective because of their bravery and commitment, but then supplies absolutely no support for that statement, I start to wonder if she's mythologizing just as much as the "noble savage" idea perpetuated by James Fennimore Cooper and others.
Then there was this horrifying statement: "return of lands and water and other resource rights illegally taken certainly could be termed 'reparations,' but they have no parallel in the monetary reparations owed, for example, to Japanese Americans for forced incarceration or to descendants of enslaved African Americans. No monetary amount can compensate for lands illegally seized, particularly those sacred lands necessary for Indigenous peoples to regain social coherence." This sounds like she is saying "our suffering is way worse than yours" to the US citizens who were incarcerated for their ethnicity and to the descendants of enslaved peoples. I wasn't aware it was a contest.
So really it was the way the author chose to write this book that did not work for me. When I was able to keep my brain engaged long enough to absorb information, I did appreciate learning things I was unaware of. I am familiar with the names Wounded Knee and the battle of Horseshoe Bend, but couldn't have told you what either of those were about, but now I know. I am glad to now be aware of what is going on with the Black Hills (including Mount Rushmore) and the Sioux. I was particularly interested to learn about the supreme court case involving a city and Indigenous nation local to me regarding whether or not taxes are owed on land bought back after being cheated away long ago.
Overall, though, I think there must be better history books written through the lens of the Indigenous experience....more
Comedian Maria Bamford talks about her family, her career, her penchant for 12 step groups, and living with mental illness. It's interesting and funnyComedian Maria Bamford talks about her family, her career, her penchant for 12 step groups, and living with mental illness. It's interesting and funny, it's just not what I was expecting. I was not familiar with the author prior listening to this audiobook, and I thought there were going to be stories about actual cults, but obviously some of that is on me for not looking into it beyond seeing the cover and title and thinking, "Sure, let's give this a try". ...more
This is a memoir by a woman who lived through the Holocaust. She tells of her early life with her parents as German Jews, who eventually left for Wow.
This is a memoir by a woman who lived through the Holocaust. She tells of her early life with her parents as German Jews, who eventually left for Amsterdam as Hitler rose to power. There, she met and befriended Anne Frank. We hear of her life as Holland fell to the Germans in World War II, and the rights of Jews continually were chipped away in a gradual procession toward a complete nightmare. When Hannah, her father, maternal grandparents, and two year old sister are deported to a concentration camp, she is operating under the belief that the Franks escaped safely to Switzerland. After nearly two years, when Hannah was the only one of her family left to try to keep her baby sister alive under conditions no human should be subjected to, she encountered Anne one last time, as a fellow prisoner in the concentration camp.
We all know what happened to Anne. Hannah's memoir is so valuable in that it gives details of the day to day life of someone who lived through the unimaginable, and made it out to the other side. It also depicts for us how such awful things evolve from small injustices built up one upon the other, how life actually looked during this time, and the difficulties of coming to terms with it all after the fact, as she rebuilt her life in the newly founded Israel. She also described her experiences with the beginnings of the Arab-Israeli war.
The subject matter of this book is obviously upsetting, but Pick-Goslar's voice is such an important one to listen to, and can be representative of so many others. I listened to this on audio, which was top notch....more
I have an anthropology degree I’ve never used (changing career tracks and attending nursing school immediately after obtaining it), but have 3.5 stars
I have an anthropology degree I’ve never used (changing career tracks and attending nursing school immediately after obtaining it), but have continued my lifelong interest in the subject, most especially with forensic anthropology. I read popular science books that are published on the topic. Oftentimes these are written by scientists in a very factual manner (like Sue Black’s survey of the human skeleton, including examples of specific cases she attended and what she was able to learn about a person from particular bones). This book takes a different approach. Written by a podcaster/writer/researcher/English professor, it describes the investigation into a specific Jane Doe’s identity with a narrative that includes the day to day process of planning and conducting the research.
I assume the decision was made to present it this way to make it more relatable, maybe? More like a story than strictly informational? However, for me, this made for a 50% fascinating read, and 50% boring drag. I honestly could not have cared less what hairstyle complemented Dr. Amy Michael’s cheekbones, or about the author’s skin care routine or keto diet; nor all the times the author ordered a Coke (Coke Zero twice at Mexican restaurants, Diet Coke at the trampoline park), the times she ordered a salad (including the time it came without dressing), all the times she flew Delta, and whether she then traveled to her hotel via rideshare or however else. I just wanted to get back to the matter at hand!
I also grew a little bored with the explanations of certain science topics with which I was already familiar, but of course the book couldn’t and shouldn’t just assume all readers are already brushed up on those. What I DID find super interesting was the specifics on the research and investigation done to identify this specific person, and several other Does brought up along the way. I also appreciated that the author includes in her writing the names of all the professionals who contributed, as well as some programs and nonprofits that readers might choose to look into more on their own.
Looking past the filler I did not care for, there was still plenty of great interest. Whether you’re a fan of true crime content or forensic anthropology and genealogy, you’ll probably find a lot to like in this book....more
Hmm. Parts of this book were great - providing insightful self-help tips in a humorous manner. Other parts were the author’s hot takes that made me thHmm. Parts of this book were great - providing insightful self-help tips in a humorous manner. Other parts were the author’s hot takes that made me think he might be the kind of person who drinks from a mug that reads “Liberal Tears” for a gas. And some seemed like he was saying stuff just to say stuff. And I am all for honesty, but hopefully he tells his wife, “I don’t care for that look/style” and not just “You look bad”.
The audiobook narration was excellent, EXCEPT when the artist attempted to do female voices. Seriously, voice artists, it’s so cringey when you do it like this....more
This book was a bit uneven for me, and I found I much preferred the second half. The messages there seemed more authentic.
The beginning came across tThis book was a bit uneven for me, and I found I much preferred the second half. The messages there seemed more authentic.
The beginning came across to me like she was just writing whatever came to mind for the sake of producing another book to sell. If she keeps writing memoirs that completely disavow all of the points she tried to make in previous ones, why should we read and take any of them seriously? She even literally talks about how she deliberately lived her life in a way that would make for a good second memoir. She quotes herself from her first book and then calls her own words horseshit. We all continuously evolve over time, but why should I bother reading this if your next book is going to tell me to disregard everything you wrote here?
And though I agree with the messages she says culture has been sending about ideal womanhood, it seems like she was actually a particularly shallow young woman, and assumes we are all as preoccupied with looking youthful and “Golden” as she was. And then she literally insults not just the societal norms, but the individual women who model for magazine covers—not a good look.
Many times when she writes “And then I said”, she follows it up with an arrangement of words that no one could be expected to believe she actually spoke. I can understand if she rephrased and polished up her profound thoughts for the written form, but there is no way she actually spoke them like that in day to day conversation like she tries to tell us she did.
And honestly, I just grew really bored during the first half of this book.
But I became engaged once more when she started addressing racism, religion, gender norms, navigating her second marriage having learned from the mistakes of the first, and her family relationships as they are now. There are some really powerful words and moving sentiments here.
So some of these chapters would get 2 stars from me, and some 4, leaving us at an average of 3 stars. I am definitely curious, though, to check out the We Can Do Hard Things podcast now.
Oh, but bonus points for the brief George Saunders cameo!...more
Forensic anthropologist Sue Black takes readers on a tour of the human skeleton, starting with the skull and moving downward. For each kind of bone, sForensic anthropologist Sue Black takes readers on a tour of the human skeleton, starting with the skull and moving downward. For each kind of bone, she explains normal development and variations, and what it can tell us about the life and death of a person when discovered postmortem. She then presents an example of an investigation she assisted with in which knowledge gleaned from that particular bone shed light on someone’s identity, circumstances, or demise.
Black is Scottish, and sometimes she mentioned things as a matter of course that I just had plain no idea what she was referring to. And although her writing was quite funny here and there, at appropriate times, she also sometimes came across as rather judgmental and vindictive. Speaking of judging and vindictiveness, some parts of the world have some really lenient sentencing, letting murderers and pedophiles out of prison after shockingly short periods of time!
As fascinated as I am with forensic anthropology, some of the cases presented were also quite troubling to read about. But if you’re able to deal with that, keeping in mind that the author is sharing what she learned in the name of pursuing justice, then you can appreciate how interesting and informative this book is....more
This was an interesting listen about the author’s experience being raised by a narcissist with who knows how many other disorders going on. It breaks This was an interesting listen about the author’s experience being raised by a narcissist with who knows how many other disorders going on. It breaks your heart to think of her as a child, believing that because her mother loved her, she would always do what was best for her; and then what a mind cluster it must have been to realize one day, looking back at her upbringing, how much abuse she was actually subjected to by the person who had been the center of her world.
As a side note, I actually don’t think the author was very good at audiobook narration. It seems a bit odd, as she is trained in the performing arts, but her speech was fast and didn’t have much enunciation, with little inflection in her voice throughout. But of course I still think it makes the most sense to have memoirs narrated by their authors, so it gets a pass. Her commentary at certain points was pretty funny!...more
This audiobook was loooong, but it was well written (well done, ghostwriter) and Harry did a great job with the narration (well done, Harry).
As far asThis audiobook was loooong, but it was well written (well done, ghostwriter) and Harry did a great job with the narration (well done, Harry).
As far as the content - how do you rate someone’s memories and how they feel about them? It was interesting to get a little peek into the life of English royalty, and Harry had many admirable things to say about several topics (African wildlife and Wounded Warriors, to name just a couple). He unflinchingly reveals things such as whether or not he is circumcised, which drugs he has used, and the contents of some of his sessions with his therapist.
And then there’s the crux: his lifelong war with the press, and how things came to a head when he married Meghan.
I can only imagine how upsetting it is to have to sit by while people publish lies about you, and I can respect that Harry took this opportunity to tell his own truth....more
Always love to hear from Jenny, who makes me laugh but also feel more comfortable with myself. Instead of feeling bad for the things that make me unliAlways love to hear from Jenny, who makes me laugh but also feel more comfortable with myself. Instead of feeling bad for the things that make me unlike other, “normal” people/parents/spouses/children, she makes me consider if I, too, should instead celebrate and get a laugh out of them.
The Bloggess will always be an auto-buy for me, whether she’s selling a full length memoir, a self-help coloring book, a short essay such as this, or anything else....more
Loading...