The Unaccustomed Earth

The Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri is my favorite writer of short stories and this is a wonderful collection. They are each long enough to stand alone, but taken together they are even better, and indeed the book ends with a trio of linked stories.

Lahiri writes mostly of young Indian couples in the US, and her characters are so well crafted the reader feels as if they know them. Wonderful stories, beautifully written, highly recommended.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo is a book that actually did change my life. This is different from every other self help, simplifying book I've ever read. I found Kondo's approach fresh, even revolutionary, and I dove right in, following her method completely.

It changed not only the space I live in, but how I live my life and where I put my attention. A highly recommended read.

Soulful Simicity

Soulful Simplicity:How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More by Courtney Carver, a minimalist blogger, is a self help book teaching the reader how to de-clutter, de-stress, downsize and enjoy the simple things in life.

Carver's wake-up call came when she was living a very busy and stressful life and was diagnosed with MS. There's a lot of good advice in here, just nothing too original.

The Power

The Power by Naomi Alderman imagines a world in which teenage girls gain an electric power in their hands that they can transfer to other women. With this new power, they soon become the dominate gender and begin to take over the world from men.

Although some parts of this book were fascinating, mostly I found it disturbing. As soon as women gained this power, they began acting as awful as the men who had oppressed them. A very grim view of the world. This is one to skip.