Category Archives: relationships

If You’re Seeing This It’s Meant for You by Leigh Stein

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If you’ve found my corner of the internet, then you’ve likely found other odd little corners of the internet too, and that means Leigh Stein in If You’re Seeing This It’s Meant for You is going to sling some references your way that will feel intimate and weird and odd to be known, but also you will feel seen.

It’s a 21st century gothic novel, and definitely outside of my normal wheelhouse, but so far I’m liking everything by Leigh Stein, so to you I’d say, trust the process. This book has great, knowable characters, and the setting is a place where readers will want to spend some time.

In her bio, Stein writes that she “makes fun of the internet,” and she does. But I think her work goes much deeper than that too. There is some great social commentary, and the themes feel like they could sustain a level of inquiry that you find in a college classroom. Yes, I think you could teach this novel!

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.

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.

Women by Chloe Caldwell

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I had two of Chloe Caldwell’s books in my backpack, and so I read them back to back. Women by Chloe Caldwell is her more well-known book, and I do think it it has the most literary merit and staying power of her work that I’ve read so far. Caldwell offers a very focused, very detailed immersion into an intense, obsessive, and destructive relationship with a woman.

This book is not the triumphant lesbian novel I think people want it to be. It is unclear to the reader the extent that Caldwell is lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual, and this is a key question throughout the book–for Caldwell and for her readers.

A clear look at the experience of being intensely caught up in forbidden love is the point of the book, I think, and also just that experience of living life as a human with desires, stupidity, and pleasure, plus some good old fashioned bed rot and mental illness. Most readers with a beating heart will recognize at least some pieces of this book.

I’ll Tell You in Person by Chloe Caldwell

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I read I’ll Tell You in Person by Chloe Caldwell right before reading her other more well-known and previous book entitled Women. The book reads as a memoir and Caldwell as the main character is unhinged and insufferable, but recognizable, and this seems intentional and is the interesting thing about this book.

Caldwell’s depictions of coming of age in the 90s and early aughts is detailed and nostalgic, and this part will resonate with most readers who have lived through that era.

There’s something to say about privilege/social class and mental illness, but I’m not sure what except maybe just that people with support networks can experience drug addiction and depression more safely than those in more precarious situations.

I found myself wishing I’d read the book 20 years ago, but it was published in 2016.