My Year in 100 Books

As of the 8th of April, a year has come and gone. In that year I've read 107 books. That is a lot of books.

It has been fantastic. Some books I absolutely loved, while some books were just "meh." Some books reaffirmed beliefs I already had (feminism is important, as is immunization), while others contributed to drastic changes in my life (I am now a vegetarian). Some fiction touched me in such a way that I wish that I could read it again for the first time and think about the plot and the characters often, while other stories faded fast from my memory.

I feel like I learned a lot. I learned that I need to be more empathetic, and that entering into a conversation with someone about an issue can be extremely frustrating, but extremely worthwhile. I learned that sometimes it is important to give up on books that don't grab me by the first several pages.

Now that my year is over, I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do next. I've really loved writing about all the things I've read, though I am looking forward to not needing to read a book every three days (some weekends I just want to marathon Archer), and I would like to find ways to keep communicating about books, and issues that interest me.

If you have read this blog, I would like to thank you. Thank you for paying attention to me in all the noise of things that need attention on the internet. Thank you for caring about books enough to click the link, and thank you for putting up with my sometimes preachy prose. Thank you for everything.

I would also like to ask you. Would you like it if I continued some kind of book related blog? Would you read it, would you like to see different things in it? Would you prefer a different format (youtube, podcast ect...) What did you like about this blog, or what didn't you like? I would very much appreciate any feedback.

I'm hoping to stay involved with projects like this in the future (check out We Read Drinks by Andi B, Arielle S, and myself), and I will try to keep posting here occasionally to keep everyone posted.

Thank you for everything, and happy reading to you all.

So You've Been Publicly Shamed

"I suppose it's no surprise that we feel the need to dehumanize the people we hurt-before, during, or after the hurting occurs. But it always comes as a surprise. In psychology it's known as cognitive dissonance. It's the idea that it feels stressful  and painful for us to hold to contradictory ideas at the same time (like the idea that we're kind people and the idea that we've just destroyed someone). And so to ease the pain we create illusory ways to justify our contradictory behavior."

John Ronson

So You've Been Publicly Shamed

People's behavior on the internet is often atrocious. It is this fantastic tool for spreading information, but often the things that are said are inappropriate and unkind. Part of the reason for this is that people have the ability to be anonymous. It's easy to be a bully when no one will call you out.

 Jon Ronson explores why public shaming, specifically shaming that take place online, has made a comeback in today's society. Most forms of shaming we taken out of governmental laws for punishment in the late 1800's, not because they didn't work, but because they were so brutal. They have recently made a comeback on social media sites, and while conversation and transparency should be encouraged, the form of public shaming that occurs is just brutal, a form of bullying when it comes down to it, and the victims are often people with minor infractions. 

Those who do the shaming are often not held accountable for the damage done and seldom any thought is given to how it affects the victim.

"I suppose that when shaming are delivered like remotely administered drone strikes nobody needs to think about how ferocious our collective power might be.. The snowflake never needs to feel responsible for the avalanche."

 He explores the subtle sexism and racism that shows itself in what threats are used against different people (Do men people say "I hope you get fired), to women people say "I hope you get raped").

I liked this book. I think it is important, a sort of "How to be a Human Being on the Internet." It reminds us that, while we should be accountable for our mistakes, the punishment must fit the crime and social media public shaming is a punishment that is heave for the crimes that it is often used for. Ronson encourages us to be kind (that doesn't mean not standing up for whats right, bur it is in no way ok for anyone to wish job loss or rape on anyone, EVER!), and to pay attention to nuance, because it is important.

Everyone who is online should read this book. Everyone. Its funny and serious, a quick read that will have you turning pages.

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

"Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. He knows my thumb smarts and his girl friend has a bruised breast and the doctor is loosing his glasses, but he won't let the pain blot out the humor no more'n he'll let the humor blot out the pain."

Ken Kesey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

This one was part of the We Read Drinks project, and I highly recommend you check it out here!

Terrible Virtue

"The process was slow and frustrating. What little information existed was veiled in in euphemisms and hidden in puritanical ellipses."

Ellen Feldman

A Terrible Virtue

Margaret Sanger was an amazing woman. She was one who I had never heard much about, but what she did has made my life so much better. She lived from 1879 to 1966, coined the term 'birth control,' was a sex educator, and started the organizations that would eventually lead to Planned Parenthood. My life would be unbelievably different if she had not existed.

Ellen Feldman tells her story in A Terrible Virtue, and fictionalized, first person account of Sangers life. Sanger was one of thirteen children, and she saw that poor women's inability to choose the amount of children they would have and when they would have them was dangerous to the women, and a means for keeping those who were poor poor (its hard to save money with another mouth to feed). Birth control was available, but only for men and only for the rich. She did enormous amounts of research into birth control, provided information on women reproductive health (much of the information was restricted, as were the procedures and medicine that would improve women's livelihoods), and worked to provide these services to all women who needed them.

I didn't much like the book. The writing was contrived, there was no nuance or subtlety, the narration didn't sound like a person, and the letters from others to Sanger were randomly dropped in seemed contrived and didn't add to the story. While it attempted to show the complexities of the woman herself, it didn't add much context to many of her complexities and the controversies surrounding her.

The story of Sanger, however, is fascinating and important. Her struggle shouldn't be forgotten, nor her goal to provide women with health care and the ability to control their lives and bodies by choosing if and when to have children. Her fight for women's rights should not be forgotten, and it should not be believed to be over. 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

"Such journeys have convinced me that it is not always possible to restore one's boundaries after they have been blurred and made permeable by a relationship; ourselves as the autonomous beings we previously imagined ourselves to be. Something of us is now outside, and something of the outside is now within us."

Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

There is so much fear in the world today. So much fear, and not enough empathy. Terrible things have happened in the past several years. Terrible civil wars, acts of terrorism, people fleeing their home because it is the last chance they have. All of this amidst posturing and stereotyping, all on a world scale. 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the story that a man named Changez, that he tells to a jumpy American in a cafe in Lahore, and his love affair with an american woman in the days immediately following 9/11 and the events that lead him to quit America and to return to his homeland.

This book was an incredible commentary on globalization, racism, espionage, and the mixing of cultures in a world where people seldom agree with one another. It was fantastic. Beautifully written, it was a wonderful examination on the nature of being a stranger in a foreign country, particularly a stranger whose foreignness is view negatively by the native populace, and the strange way the global politics is conducted.

"I stated to them among other things that no country inflicts death so readily upon the inhabitants of other countries, frightens so many people so far away as American." 

The thing I liked the most about this book was how it examined how far the effects of Americas actions go, and how the average American seldom knows these effects.

Everyone should read this book.