What a quaren-time to be alive. DC is finally starting to “open up” from our quarantine state but things are still pretty weird and distanced.
But let’s get down to it. Here’s everything I read this month:
The Upside of Being Down by Jen Gotch
I have a bit of a hard time identifying exactly how I felt about this book upon finishing it. I was very excited about this book before I got my hands on it: I found Jen Gotch's story very relatable as a creative with my own mental health struggles. But honestly, for marketing itself as a mental health-focused memoir, I think it lost that focus for a good amount of the book.
The Upside of Being Down started off very focused on mental health and very vulnerable and expository, but it quickly transitioned to chronicling her starting and scaling her business, ban.do. While I understand that is all a large part of her story, it felt to me like there was a bit too much focus on things like the logistics of building and growing the business that it lost a lot of that real feeling it had in the beginning. There are definitely some valuable pieces of wisdom related to mental health that can be gained from reading this book, but I think overall it fell a little short for me.
Overall Score: C+
All Adults Here by Emma Straub
This was my first time reading Emma Straub and WOW - what a phenomenal writer! This one was a Book Club pick, and I also had the opportunity to view a live streamed book talk with Emma in conversation with Jen Gotch (whose book I also read this month). The chat was great and only further reinforced my love for Straub (plus - she started an awesome indie bookstore in New York called Books Are Magic!!) But back to All Adults Here. The writing was beautiful - exposing us as readers to some very real human emotions and predicaments within a fairly dysfunctional family. I loved the LGBTQ themes in the book and the commentary on parenting in all of its different forms. This book was so easy to read, but not for lack of depth or emotion - quite the opposite! I'm excited to read more of Straub's work.
Overall Score: A
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Something you should know about me (if you haven't already noticed) is that I love WWII historical fiction. My boyfriend makes fun of me because from the outside it seems like I read the same book in different words over and over again, but I just love it.
Anyway, as far as my WWII historical fiction reading goes, this one is definitely near the top of the list in terms of quality of writing and storytelling as well as also serving an educational purpose in bringing light to actual events and people of that time period. For example, Caroline Ferriday was a real person and tireless advocate for the disadvantaged and mistreated. The book was based, in large parts, on the various records and letters she donated to various historical societies. In addition, I learned a lot about specific atrocities that took place at the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, including the sulfonamide experiments that Kasia and her sister Zuzanna are subjected to.
I really liked the style in which Lilac Girls was written, rotating between the stories of three girls who come from very different backgrounds, but you know that their story lines will eventually merge. I loved that this particular story focused almost solely on the experiences of women in different facets during that time period. While I'm interested to learn about lives of all people in history, I am especially glad to have the stories of women, particularly those of the brave victims and survivors, being told and honored as well.
Overall Score: A
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
Steal Like An Artist was just a quick little artsy fartsy read that I've been meaning to get to for a while. I love the concept that Kleon posits of embracing that ALL artists steal and that no idea if ever truly unique or original. None! All ideas for art or anything else are always built on other ideas or things you’ve saw or experienced in your life up until that point and what makes your work unique is not that it's your idea, but that it’s someone else’s idea with your spin on it. Mind. Blown.
Overall Score: B+