Category Archives: book club

The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self by Michael Easter

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Here’s another of the self-help genre I’ve been reading lately: The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self by Michael Easter. These books pump me up for exercising and following other habits that are healthy for me, but that I don’t naturally gravitate toward, and that’s exactly what this book is about–doing the hard but healthy things.

Some of the best ideas in the book had to do with healthy movement and being outdoors. Like many, most of my exercise is not necessarily natural, and while not completely ideal, it’s still better than nothing. The book reminded me why yard work, harvesting, and shearing sheep feels so good (afterward). This kind of work can be hard. It can be annoying. It can be uncomfortable, but I always feel better afterward. The impact is tangeable.

I don’t necessarily know what to do about the increasingly sedentary life that I live and/or what it will mean for my kids or society, but for now the book reminds me to get outside, go for walks, and continue to prioritize the seasonal rituals I grew up doing, even if and when they become obsolete or inconvenient.

The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom

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The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom landed on my tbr list after reading a slew of self-help, optimization, and investing books. I like reading these on the side, especially when I’m deep in routine (exercise, skin care, meal prep, work goals, etc.) and benefit from the encouragement these books can offer.

However, I started this book because I thought it was about investments. I unthinkingly thought it would offer some deep analysis of five different types of investing. I was wrong. This book is actually more of a self-help book. The emphasis is that you will die. So, you might as well optimize your life to achieve what you want while you can.

Overall, this book offers that good self-help pacing. And, there is information about one of the types of wealth, which is financial, and there is a good overview of that included. However, much of the book is about other types of wealth, like personal health and deep, rewarding relationships.

Spiral Staircase: A Meditation on Alchemy by Alyssa Spungen

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Normally I post these books in the order that I complete them, but looking back through my notes, it appears that I didn’t get around to posting about this one, which I also read this summer.

I initially bought Spiral Staircase: A Meditation on Alchemy by Alyssa Spungen because the publisher, White Stag Publishing, is just so intriguing. They are an indy press that specializes in the spooky, mystical, spiritual realm, but with literary quality. (This combo is RARE!) They also offer kits that go along with the books, which include things like candles, tokens, and charms that all align in some thematic way with each individual book.

This book, and the kit that came with it, offered such a lovely and meditative experience. The whole thing kind of felt like a spa day–to open a package, light a candle, look through the little treats, and then read a book of poetry. It was a unique experience, but one I would definitely treat myself to regularly whenever the press publishes works that catch my eye. Spiral Staircase is a beautifully woven tapestry of poetry with themes of spiritual alchemy artfully tied in throughout.

The Goodbye Kit by Daneen Bergland

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I keep seeing people posting about the “Sealey Challenge,” which is to make a point to read books of poetry during the month of August. I figured it was a good time to clear some poetry off of my tbr pile.

I found The Goodbye Kit by Daneen Berhland to be a completely clean and readable book of poetry, with beautiful imagery, some funs turns of language, and relatable themes throughout.

How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti

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I have a quick follow up after yesterday’s post because I just also recently finished How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti.

Lately, I’ve had a hard time telling if some main characters are intentionally or unintentionally insufferable, and this is one of those instances where I couldn’t always tell. The main character is supposed to be insufferable to a degree, sure, but to this degree? I’m not so sure.

That said, with books like these, I’m always glad they get published. I’m glad this was published. For most, this is worth the read. However, if you are feeling a bit on the sensitive side, maybe skip this one (for now). There is a wandering, an aimlessness, and unknowing that may be comforting, but there is also deep friendship and closeness, which I could imagine may feel alienating to some. There is also some short sections of depravity that may be better left unread by some.

For the average reader, acquainted with and able to stomach what I’ve mentioned above, do read this unique book.

Women We Buried, Women We Burned by Rachel Louise Snyder

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I can’t remember how Women We Buried, Women We Burned by Rachel Louise Snyder got on my reading list, but about half way through the book, I realized I was vaguely familiar with Snyder’s work from NPR. I could recall some of difficult human rights stories she reported on, especially surrounding women’s rights abroad.

In that regard, this books nearly reads like two books. First, there is the story of Snyder’s traumatic and tumultuous childhood. Then, there is her life and journey to motherhood, and finally there is the story with Barb at the end. To me these all feel like a cohesive whole.

This is an important book, with a main character that grapples with tough cultural questions, chief among them have to do with women having a right to understand and have control of their own bodies. The painful stories she recounts illustrate these issues and bring to light the ways in which social controls take away basic bodily autonomy.

At times I thought some of the details were strangely specific, without being clear as to why, the book too lengthy. By the end, I was convinced that most of it was necessary. The books is a beautiful and important book. Next, I’d like to see her write more about the middle part, about her life abroad, about motherhood and marriage. About relationships. I hope she does.

Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl

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I read somewhere that Wendell Berry (and I mostly like Wendell Berry!) was one of Margaret Renkl’s influences, and I could definitely see that as I read, especially in the attention to and elevation of the natural world.

Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss is a beautifully written book that does so many important things: it captures the lifespan intimate family relationships, the landscapes that hold them, and the socio cultural aspects of these southern spaces as well.

It is also very clear that Renkl is a trained poet, as this makes the prose beautiful to read. I always love it when writers are able to produce unconventional structures in books AND also get published. Overall–a bittersweet, but life affirming book.

The Best American Short Stories 2024

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My creative writing classes keeps me reading The Best American Short Stories each year, but looking back through my notes, it appears that I don’t typically write about it, which is a shame! This year’s story collection was edited by Lauren Groff, who I have been reading and enjoying lately. (Though honestly I typically don’t have a sense of an editor’s taste from one year to the next.)

This year’s collection was epic and stunning as always. In my opinion, these anthologies are the single best way to get a sense of contemporary writing, although the works remain fairly conservative in their form and approach. These are all typical short stories.

One of the most memorable stories this year had abuse in it. As I think back over the years, I now realize that some of the stories that stand out the most have featured some type of abuse. Not because they are better stories, but because they can be so traumatizing to the reader. I don’t like it and seem to get increasingly sensitive to it with each passing year. I even think the series may need to start integrating trigger warnings. Maybe literary fiction more broadly needs to integrate trigger warnings. And, yet, as I write this, I am aware that the trigger warning significantly changes the reading experience. I don’t have the answers. I think this work should exist. It lends insight into the human condition. Even still, at this point I can’t help but think that the subtler works are the greater works.

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

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Alexandra Fuller’s book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight offers beautiful writing and insights on living in Africa through the 1970s-90s, amid war and revolution, amid those complicated social dynamics, but also amid the personal dynamics of family, of alcoholism, of mental illness, and parents who offer their children a childhood that is at once amazing and also, probably, negligent.

Fuller’s writing is consistently beautiful throughout. Even in its sometimes stark depictions, the book is infused with a contagious love of Africa. Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi have not necessarily been places I’ve ever wanted to visit. I’ve grown up in wilderness areas, and so the great safaris that have drawn others have less pull for me. However, this book made me see some of the other beautiful aspects of the country. After reading the book, I wouldn’t hesitate to go.

This year there’s a new movie out based on the book. From the trailer, it appears that the film follows the book closely. I hope I get a chance to watch it.

I Like to Watch by Emily Nussbaum

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If you’re an intellectual who also likes to watch bad TV, then I Like to Watch by Emily Nussbaum is the book for you. Of course, if you also like high quality TV, then this book is also for you. Nussbaum offers nuance, attention to detail, deep insights, but also brings a real love and fandom to the shows to she describes.

I don’t get to watch much TV these days, and I haven’t finished (and in many cases even started) most of the shows Nussbaum analyzes. I still got a lot out of this book. I think TV is so ubiquitous that many readers will appreciate her analysis too.

As short reels and clips and homemade YouTube videos start to take over media consumption, I found myself feeling appreciative, nostalgic, and impressed by the many shows Nussbaum mentions in the book. If you’ve watched some TV, this book is worth reading.