Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises (and Essays) – Rebecca Solnit

I read this book over Christmas (yes, I know it was a long time ago, but I'm doing my best to catch up) and despite it being quite short (just under 200 pages) it took me several days to finish it. Every time I stopped reading it I didn't feel like going back. Don't get …

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My Year of Rest and Relaxation – Ottessa Moshfegh

I did not read Eileen, but this book caught my attention both due to its title and cover that really stands out. The title sounded almost serene to me, but the cover was a dissonance. The blurb on the cover made it pretty clear that the title definitely is ironic, if not full-on sarcastic. Our main character …

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Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar – Brad Tolinski, Alan di Perna

My Bigger Half is a musician, a guitarist, so when I saw this book in Judd Books during my bookshop-crawl, I thought it may be a good idea to learn a bit more about the instrument. Especially that with me being completely a-musical our conversations about music tend to be a bit one-sided. It was …

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Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold – Stephen Fry

I always loved Greek mythology, having read it when I run out of fairy tales and just before reaching for J.R.R. Tolkien. My first version was a pretty conservative, run-of-the-mill thing, but already then I was fascinated by the imperfect gods that succumbed to rage and passion so easily. Later I discovered a richer and a …

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Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less – Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

My end-of-year reading was quite heavy on non-fiction. This is yet another example. The title of the book is a pretty good indication of what it is about. IT explores the connection between rest and work, rejecting the dichotomy and advocating instead a deep dependency between the two. The book's thesis is that deliberate rest …

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The Right Amount of Panic: How Women Trade Freedom for Safety – F. Vera-Gray

I suppose it’s conflicting messages, isn’t it? It’s take care of yourself but then if you imagine that someone is maybe a danger you’re being a silly woman. You have to do just the right amount of panicking, don’t you? I liked this book a lot, but it’s taken me forever to review it because …

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