Book Review of Strive

I make a point of regularly reading non-fiction books to fuel the idea that I am always learning,   I enjoyed Dr Adam Fraser’s The Third Space several years ago, and was drawn recently to Strive, a book about how as humans we need challenge, we need goals to work towards for our own wellbeing.

This was an easy read but had plenty of useful insights.

Goals are key to happiness – we lack purpose and meaning if we feel that we are accomplishing or striving towards nothing.  A little bit of challenge or hardship promotes resilience and self-esteem.  They are good for us.  It’s why some people suddenly decide to do a Tough Mudder, and why we can be unhappy even when things are perfectly fine for us.  We need more than perfectly fine.

Which is good – because struggle is an inevitable part of life.  Helicopter parents take note – we do children no good by paving the way for them to an easy life. Not only will they fail to develop crucial skills around resilience, self-confidence and problem solving, it wont actually make them happy.  There is something around this for leaders in the workplace as well to ponder.

People who cope and thrive with struggle internalise it in positive ways – they consider it an opportunity to learn, grow and develop that they can be excited about.  They praise themselves for their efforts and connect it to a greater sense of meaning or purpose.  Practicing gratitude and real, regular self-care that ensures you have a full cup helps you deal more effectively with difficulty.

When we see others struggling, we should validate their feelings, ask if we can assist but trust and reinforce that they have the skills (or access to them) to accomplish what they need. 

This was readable and full of everyday examples and practical advice.  I’ll likely take his advice for self-care days and lighter moments throughout the week – something I can see if key for my own personal balance and resilience.

Book Review of The Busy Body

This is lightweight and entertaining – and I enjoyed the voice immensely. I often borrow books from the library if I am unfamiliar with the author and many get returned quite quickly if I find they are not my metaphorical cup of tea.  But my continued delight in mysteries narrated by unique characters has won out again here.

The narrator of this book (which appears set to become a series) is a ghostwriter. remains nameless, witnessing and contributing to the plot but nonetheless a mystery to the ready in many ways.  She’s witty, self-deprecating, clever but not the star of the show.  I was impressed when I realised Donovan never mentioned her name throughout – like many ghostwriters she allows the real hero to shine and provides a lens through which the reader views the various suspects.

We experience the plot through her lens, although she is very much the Dr Watson in the crime solving scenario.  The real sleuth is the woman she is penning a biography of:  Dorothy Gibson, failed presidential candidate but a woman of intelligence and character.

When a local woman who recently took a selfie with Dorothy is found drowned in her own bathtub – Dorothy gets involved, initially as a concerned neighbour and public figure.  However, as the death becomes more and more curious, Dorothy is unable to stop herself from undertaking her own investigation. 

I had hints as to the solution but didn’t quite put it all together which is refreshing.

I’ll pick up the next one in this series with interest – it ends with some teasing hints of a personal trauma in the ghost writer’s life that may yet come to light- and may have played into her desire to help solve this novel’s crime.

Book Review of Supercommunicators

Solid foray into what makes us good communicators – beginning with examining how some people just seem to not only draw people to them, but to elicit more from the conversations they are in.  And while some people are naturals at this, books like this show what we can all learn to communicate more effectively perhaps more importantly, deeply, with others.

It’s hard to go past Never Split the Difference as the best book on communication I have read recently, but this had some pertinent things to offer about interpersonal communication in more friendly settings, whilst also how to negotiate unfriendly ones.

Duhigg begins by explaining there are three elements to a good conversation.

The first is all parties knowing that they are really discussing – and as you can imagine many marital disputes are the examples here, when people argue about one thing but really it is symbolic of another.  These never end well unless the injured party is able to identify what is really going on, or unless the other party asks deep questions to get to the real point.

The second part is getting to ho you feel about the topic at hand, and this was the most relevant section of the book.  Contrary to what you might think, many people do want to talk about their feelings and will open up readily under the right circumstances – which is largely to do with how well we show we are listening.  Repeating back for understanding and establishing reciprocal vulnerability are important here, as I am sure we have all seen in our own lives.  This is why communication online is more explosive – there is less empathy when responding to words on a screen than with people.

The third conversation is about values and identity.  Things we hold true about ourselves shape our conversations.    This can create rapport if you find shared values and identities, or can build barriers.  But all of us have many identities, parent, business owner, sports fan and so on and acknowledging at times the complexities of this can be interesting.

Rapport is at the key of all things here.   Not a bad read although nothing particularly earth-shattering.

Book Review of What Happened to Nina?

This is a middling-at-best mystery, and possibly the least enjoyable of the Dervla McTiernan novels I have read. Her Cormac Reilly novels are excellent and I’ve enjoyed some of the shorter freebies on Audible as well.

The main issue here is largely that there is nothing to solve – the reader knows pretty much straight away what happened to Nina, and instead the story is about the family’s struggle to learn her fate and come to terms with it.

It’s not a spoiler to tell you that Nina was killed by her boyfriend. But what follows is the story of two families – one desperate to learn the truth and another desperate to cover it up. Both families do the unthinkable – McTiernan is trying to show us just how far we will go to protect our children. But the novel lacks nuance. Characters don’t really grapple with the morality of their actions. Nina’s mother bends minor rules and laws such as trespassing in her quest, but the ordinarily sensible step-father seems pushed to the brink all of a sudden. Both parents of the boy realise he is guilty – and while the father goes on the offensive, his mother shows some signs of guilt that aren’t fully explored.

A bit of a disappointing outing – I struggled to stay interested.

Book Review of Until August

They are selling this as the lost and unfinished novel of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of my favourite authors and while it does reflect elements of his style, it is definitely undercooked and doesn’t quite deliver on the blurb.

Instead much feels rushed and the ending leaves gaps and feels a bit odd and forced.  It is unique and could have worked well under the right circumstances, but seems a bit anti-climactic in context. 

The premise is interesting – each year a woman visits an island each month for one night, takes a lover and leaves. You learn soon that she goes to visit and place flowers on her mother’s grave and that for years, nothing of significance occurred.  Then suddenly there is a short cluster of years with lovers.  There are a couple of issues with this. Initially, the woman’s marriage is presented well and it is uncertain in the reader’s mind why she is drawn to other men.  Later, without hints, cracks are explored in the marriage.  Secondly, the timeline is too short.  The woman’s growing relationship with herself, through her experiences on the island, does not have time to fully develop.  There were interesting possibilities here than perhaps would have been fleshed out if the novel was finished and extended beyond it’s 100m or so pages.

For fans only.

Book Review of Babel

I read Babel after enjoying R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, and I could not imagine two novels less similar.

The strength of Babel is the fully-realised world in which it takes place, an alternate history of Britain in 1840 in which magic is possible through the use of silver and language – specifically pairing words in two languages which have slightly alternate meanings.  The gap between the meanings creates a specific reaction which is used to power transport, technology of all kinds and even everyday devices.  The world runs on silver magic, and the linguists who study at Babel who create new magic with words.

Robin, a half-Chinese scholar comes to Babel to learn but eventually uncovers the dark side of silver – a Britain determined to subjugate other countries and in particular, his Cantonese brethren.  He must make a choice – choose the comfort of a future as a celebrated Babler, or work against what he knows to be wrong about his world. 

His three closest friends, all outsiders too in their own way must also face the same decision with devastating consequences. Friendships will fall and loved ones will be lost.  Robin will come to understand what he is capable of – but can one student really bring down a corrupt nation?

There’s a lot in this book – politics, racism and even elements of family drama. It’s clever and detailed but too long.  I loved the four friends and their world – it’s a book lovers delight – and was shocked by what lay underneath.  I was almost disappointed that this seemingly magical world on the surface was so corrupt. I ended up putting the book down for a rest and picked it up again after several weeks.  At nearly 600 pages it’s quite a slog – but the writing is great.  I skimmed through some sections that seemed drawn out but slowed right down again at the urgency of the ending.

Book Review of Killing Me

I was quite excited about this novel which admittedly did have a unique voice although was a bit cliched in places.

The premise is interesting – a girl is taken by a serial killer but rescued by some kind of serial killer vigilante.  Then she finds herself the target of YET ANOTHER serial killer.  Far from being a coincidence, Amber finds herself caught in a cat and mouse game between bitter rivals.  But Amber is no shrinking violet, a former con-artist who tries to go straight, Amber has a few cards to play in this game herself. 

Finding herself stranded in Las Vegas, Amber makes friends with others keen to unmask this particular serial killer in retribution for a friend who was one of his victims.  They all work together to create an elaborate trap in the Las Vegas underworld… but the question is, do they have the right man?

Pretty light but at least original.  Clear indications in the end that there will be another instalment.

Book Review of Black Wolf

This is the follow up to Red Queen, which I raved about last year and is now a series on Amazon Prime.  The follow up – Black Wolf – isn’t as good although it does return us to the fascinating character of Antonia Scott, a woman with special abilities that have been trained to solve crime.  The ending of the first novel set Scott up with a new nemesis, and at the beginning of this second we find her still focused on that directive – but a new case calls her away and she is sent to retrieve Lola Moreno, the pregnant wife of a murdered Russian mafia figure.

Moreno and her whole scenario are not what they appear which is engaging but hardly a surprise.  But the whole novel feels like Gomez-Jurado is biding his time – place filling before he gets to the real point which is hinted at again in the novel’s final chapter. Even the title refers to something quite non-central to the narrative.

This is solid storytelling – and a delightful read in the sun between races at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix this weekend.  But it is a let down after the first explosive novel.  Let’s hope it picks up again in the third instalment.

Book Review of Pineapple Street

I’d heard good things about this book and so picked it up on a bit of a whim. I wouldn’t say it was worth all the rave reviews, but I did find as the book went on, I became more interested in the lives and the problems of the three women at its centre.  

The first, Sasha, married into the wealthy Stockton family – but does not understand their ways. Because of this,  members of the family have taken against her – and her husband, while loving, does not actively take her side enough. Worse still, they live in the traditional family home on Pineapple Street which all drop into on a whim, and that they do not feel they can change and make their own.

Farley was born into the family but deferred her inheritance to her children so as not to ask her husband Malcolm for a prenup.  What seemed like the ultimate romantic gesture has consequences when Malcolm loses his lucrative banking job and Farley considers what she left behind to be his wife and full-time parent of their two children.

The third, Georgiana was the spoilt baby of the family – totally privileged and never thinks about money.  She works for a non-profit and her life is a series of dinners and parties.  But she too has change coming her way as people in her orbit encourage her to ask questions of her lifestyle and of the generations of inherited wealth at her disposal.

The book brings the three women together and apart and together again. It’s about family, money and the consequences of being raised with wealth.  A solid outing that ends well for all.

Book Review of The Rachel Incident

This was a book that continually surprised me and in the best possible way.  It’s a book about being young, wanting what your older peers have, keeping secrets, and what happens when those secrets take over.

The blurb tells us that our main character Rachel is attracted to her literature professor – and that her gay best friend James decides they can entertain themselves by planning her seduction of him.  From this, I had certain expectations of the book that were quickly subverted.  There were plenty of times The Rachel Incident surprised me and kept me powering through to see what on earth James and Rachel would get up to next as they try to find their place in the world.

Caroline O’Donoghue has created a compelling narrative here that doesn’t run to the salacious but is nonetheless dramatic and believable.  Told largely in retrospect, the older Rachel intersperses this tumultuous time in her life with her older and wiser self, and the book ends well with loose ends coming together and many hatchets buried.  A balanced coming-of-age story that is also a real page turner.