Wednesday Reading

Just Finished

Educated by Tara Westover
I completely enjoyed this book. I don't pick up memoir very often, but I heard a booktuber's glowing recommendation for this one and they were completely right.

A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer
Underrated! This book is one-third pulp romance, one-third fantasy, and one-third deep social commentary. The premise is that male babies are extremely rare and the society sort of grows and adapts around that problem. It becomes a matriarchal society with huge families of sisters and daughters and just one or two men. The traditional gender roles are also completely flipped, with women as soldiers, business owners, rulers, and criminals. Men are kept confined to the home and domestic work (ostensibly for their safety, as "husband raiding" is a common crime). There were some leaps of imagination that were required to completely explain the world-building (one example is the over-emphasis of the risk of STIs as a male-version substitute for the social stigma and risk of pregnancy for unmarried women). Despite the little flaws, I found myself enjoying this world run by women. Plus, the book provoked a lot of thoughts for me about women's abilities, the concept of matriarchy, and traditional family structures.

Currently Reading

The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh
I'd like to learn more about Buddist teachings, and this is the second book on Buddhism that I've read this year. I vastly prefer the philosophy of Nhat Hanh to the last author I read (Kelsang Gyatso). I'm not sure entirely what I'm hoping to get out of this study, because I'm not a believer in the supernatural and I don't see that changing any time soon. Still, I'm drawn to a lot of the Buddhist concepts and I find them very beautiful.

Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman
A reread for me, but damn this book gets me every time. I can't get enough fantasy/sci-fi depictions of the psychology of dehumanization and class oppression. Plus, I get to use my Tedla Galele icon, so that's exciting.

Up Next

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson