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.

Fear

Fear:Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward, investigative reporter from the Washington Post who uncovered the Watergate scandal, is an in depth look at the first two years of the Trump presidency. If you weren't afraid enough of our current administration, this book will surely strike fear into your heart. It tells in detail how decisions are made on a day to day basis, addressing everything from North Korea, to Afghanistan, NAFTA, WTO, and much more, as well as how the staff try to handle Trump.

If this wasn't written by Woodward, perhaps one would question the truth of this administration being in such total chaos, but this is so extensively researched and documented, it's hard to deny. Most of the staff written about in the book have already left the White House or been fired. All I could think the entire time I was reading this book was 'How did we get here?!' Not for the feint of heart.

The Girls in the Picture

The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin is about the early days of Hollywood, especially one of the first movie stars, Mary Pickford and her friend, screenwriter Francis Marion. They forged a strong friendship during the days of silent films, but their relationship suffered in later years, especially as Mary went off on tour with husband Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin.

Not my favorite of Benjamin's books, but great historical fiction about the early days of movies, a time when women had much more power in Hollywood than they do today.

When the English Fall

When the English Fall by David Williams, an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, is a novel about the Amish way of life. Told in simple, sparse journal entries, Jacob, an Amish farmer tells what happens when a solar storm disrupts all technology and life outside their community is thrown into chaos.

A beautifully written little book about what will happen if all our devices suddenly fail and we are left with no skills to survive. A meditative and timely read.