Three (+1) on Thursday

Three on Thursday is more nicely alliterative, but since I finished a fourth book I added the +1. Here in order from worst to best are the books I read this week. 

Radically Content is proof that you can't judge a book by its cover. I came upon this book while searching for something entirely different from the library, but it sounded interesting, so I placed a hold. The basic premise of Radically Content is one I agree with (your worth needs to come from within) but given the author's shallow writing style and what felt like endless repetition, I think that her ideas are better suited to Instagram. I was unaware of her content there, mainly because I already follow her advice to not let social media make me feel bad. I'm unclear if this book is meant to be a memoir, self-help, or some combination, but for me, it didn't accomplish either one very well. She writes about affirmations, healing, self-acceptance, body image, journaling, and how moving to Paris can help - a lot of buzz words but no depth or substance. The biggest help I can offer if you are looking for contentment and satisfaction is not to waste your time reading this book. 1.5 stars rounded down.

The publisher's blurb for The Book of George makes George sound fairly unlikeable. Maybe that would be the case in real life, but I enjoyed the person that Kate Greathead writes about in this story that covers his life from about age 12 to almost 40. George isn't a completely pathetic character, he just has very little motivation, or maybe it's not placed in the right areas. We meet his father, mother, sister, and long-term girlfriend Jenny, and begin to understand better why he might be the way that he is. Jenny provides much of the motivation that George lacks, and later on, George's mother and sister are his rescuers. The book does have some humor, but often it's presented in a humor-tinged poignant way. I'd like to hold out hope that George was eventually learning to take the reins and not just give up, as shown by his making multiple attempts to get a dead squirrel out of a car engine. Three stars for this one. 

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on October 8, 2024.

Here One Moment was a real page-turner! I wondered if I was really the reader for this book as I've never read anything by Liane Moriarty, but I couldn't resist the pre-publication copy from the publisher. On board a delayed flight, a woman gets up from her seat, points at passengers, and announces, "I expect," and proclaims their cause of death and the age at which they will die. Some passengers are told they will die at advanced ages, while others receive pronouncements of their death not far in the future. This is unsettling and unnerving for almost everyone, especially for those who are told they will die in the next several months, or the mother who is told her son will drown at the age of seven. As the book progresses, the short (and sometimes choppy) chapters alternate between Cherry's story (the Death Lady) and more details about some of the passenger's lives and reactions. There is a slow reveal of the Death Lady's details, and there were times that I wished for longer and more detailed chapters, but they did serve to propel the story forward. The explanation for the Death Lady's actions on the plane was a little weak, and some suspension of beliefs is necessary at the end, but the book was a nice examination of "Can fate be fought?" Three and a half stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Crown Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on September 10, 2024.

Seven Deadly Sins is both original and quite interesting. Guy Leschziner looks at the seven deadly sins (wrath, gluttony, lust, envy, sloth, greed, and pride) from a biological point. He considers genetics, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and pathology to explain how and why humans may do things that are cruel, or behave in a greedy or lazy way. Each sin is dealt with in its own chapter, and the author presents case studies with rare genetic diseases and illnesses that illustrate and cause the patient to act in a "sinful" manner. Some chapters offer fewer biological reasons for sins, like lust and envy, but even those provide curious and intriguing facts. I will be looking at people's index and ring fingers to judge how much fetal exposure to testosterone they had in utero, beginning with my two sons. Lest you think the author is trying to excuse the sins of the Holocaust or genocide and wars that have arisen throughout history due to wrath and greed, he has also written a chapter on free will and its importance. The glossary at the end of this book is especially helpful for those of us who have forgotten the structures and areas of the brain that we may have learned 45 years ago. This book can help us begin to understand how and why we humans act as we do and the ways biology may play a part in our actions. Four and a half stars rounded up.

I hope Mr. Leschziner's next book is about the Seven Cardinal Virtues, but until then I will be reading another one of his books, The Man Who Tasted Words, an exploration of our senses and how the brain understands and/or misunderstands the world around us.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on December 3, 2024.

Here's hoping you're reading something good!