2023 Books in Review

 Another year of not a lot of reading, but there were many that I really enjoyed and recommend.

I read 39 books in 2023, mostly fiction (20) with Science (6) and History (3) being other favorite categories.  There were five titles made my "double stars" list:

#5 - Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver

#4 - A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

#4 - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

#2 - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

#1 - Home Safe by Mitchell Consky

Toward the end of the year, I really jumped into Artificial Intelligence and I asked chatGPT what it thought of the person who had read my 39 books last year - here's the summary:

Overall, the reader seems to seek out stories that offer both a mirror to reality and a window into different experiences and perspectives. She appreciates a mix of engaging storytelling, emotional depth, and thought-provoking themes. Her choices reflect a balance of fiction and non-fiction, suggesting a broad interest in understanding both the inner workings of individual lives and broader societal dynamics.

This reader is likely someone who values empathy and understanding, as evidenced by their engagement with books that delve into personal and collective identities, such as "There There" by Tommy Orange, a narrative of Native American lives, and "Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro, an exploration of love and desire from an AI's perspective. Their interest in "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides and "A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life" by Robert McGill suggests a fascination with psychological depth and the complexities of human emotions.

The inclusion of works focused on genetic research and its implications on society, like "DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America" by Bryan Sykes and "Who We Are and How We Got Here" by David Reich, indicates a strong inclination towards understanding humanity's past and its impact on the present and future. This is complemented by an awareness of contemporary issues, as seen in "Stolen Focus" by Johann Hari, which tackles the crisis of attention in the digital age, and "Enlightenment Now" by Steven Pinker, advocating for reason and science.

Moreover, this person has an appetite for learning about different cultures and historical periods, engaging with books such as "The Marriage Portrait" by Maggie O'Farrell and "Victory City" by Salman Rushdie, which offer windows into the Italian Renaissance and fantastical historical narratives, respectively.

In summary, the person who read these books in 2023 is insightful, thoughtful, and seeks a deeper understanding of the world through a blend of genres and topics. They are not just a reader but a seeker of knowledge and empathy, with a broad interest that spans across the human experience, its past, present, and speculative futures.

Can't wait to see what the future holds! 

Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus

 Why do I have to wait all year for the best book?  I put this one at the top of my list for 2023 although Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperfield came close, I enjoyed the laughter and spunk of Garmus's story.

Elizabeth Zott is a scientist to be taken seriously -- though in the 1960s that isn't going to happen. Her sharp intellect is ignored or overlooked by her male colleagues.  She finds her soulmate only to move on and become a daytime TV cooking show host.  

I found myself cheering for her and her perseverance and take-no-nonsense attitude.  It's a reflection of attitudes that were and are still with us.  Add this one to your list - you won't be disappointed.   

Published: 2023  Read: December 2023  Genre: Fiction

Tom's Lake - Ann Patchett

 

I indulged in actually buying a couple of new books for Christmas, this was the first one that I read.  I've read Ann's books before; The Magician's Assistant, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage and a long time ago, Bel Canto.

This story is about a mother and her three grown daughters who beg her to tell her the story of her life before she met and married their father.  They'd known she had dated a "movie star" and wanted to hear the details.  It is a gentle balance of children seeing their parents as people and parents shielding the children, even as adults, from some pieces of their past.  

I enjoy Patchett's writing although I found this one almost too nostalgic at times.  A good read for the holidays.

Published: 2023   Read: December 2023  Genre: Fiction

Not Anywhere Just Not - Ken Sparling

 This was just weird. Supposedly an insightful examination of human isolation it was over-hyped and annoying.  Thankfully it was short so I finished it but would not recommend.  Just recording that I read it.

Published: 2023  Read: December 2023  Genre: Fiction

DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America - Bryan Sykes

 

This is another book in my goal of reading all of the books by this author, who died in 2020.

I've read his other books: Saxons, Vikings and Celts, Adam's Curse, and The Seven Daughters of Eve.

While they are now somewhat out of date, it was fascinating to see the evolution of our understanding of using DNA to trace biogeographical ancestry, human migration patterns and the differences between the genders.  

In this one, Sykes travelled across the U.S. to research the origins of the U.S. population.  While we're familiar with Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims, he takes a deeper dive that explores the Native Americans that were here first and the slaves that were brought here against their will. 

He explains the origins of chromosome painting from the HapMap scientists that had worked on the Human Genome project.  He takes us through gathering samples (sadly, they appear to no longer be available after his death and the shuttering of his company, Oxford Ancestors) and identifying where the testers ancestors had come from. 

An interesting read that makes me sad he is no longer with us.

Quote:

"...whether from an endo- or exogamous ancestry, there will inevitably come a point where one person is the ancestor of everyone alive. "

Published: 2012  Read: November 2023  Genre: Science

Do You Remember Being Born? - Sean Michaels

This book addresses a rising technology, artificial intelligence.  The story follows an older woman poet who is invited to collaborate with an AI driven computer to write a poem that will be promoted nationwide.  She is hesitant but they offer money she needs to help her adult son buy a home in a bid to heal their relationship.  Throughout the story, she interacts with the computer, forming an unsettling partnership to create the poem.  

The author explains at the end of the story that he utilized AI to write and edit the book in the same way as the poet collaborated with AI.  The highlighted text that appears on most pages, mostly a word or phrase, was generated using AI.    

It did not feel like a cohesive, flowing narrative but rather an experiment of man and machine. 

Quotes:

"It takes a few decades to know what we really like; the two decades after that are for learning how often those preferences are obstacles to our happiness."

"...a diary's function is not to show you who you are but who it is you have ceased to be."

Published: 2023  Read: November 2023  Genre: Fiction

Signal Fires - Dani Shapiro

 I'd previously read Dani Shapiro's story of her adoption and chose this at the airport to read during the ride home.  I finished it in the 3 hour flight and layover.  It's the story of a family unwittingly caught in a tragedy and its affects on their lives and the lives of those in their neighborhood.  She uses the popular (and annoying, IMHO) device of skipping from character to character and from timeframe to timeframe. That aside, once the stories merge we see the long range impact of a moment's mistake.  A sad book and a commentary on how intertwined our lives can be with those on the fringe of our days.

Published:          Read: November 2023   Genre: Fiction

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

 I think I've enjoyed everyone of Barbara Kingsolver's books.  Her characters are realistic and engaging. In this story, she borrows from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens using the same first person narrative of an orphan from birth to adulthood in a modern day setting.  The story was so moving because she poignantly portrays the struggles of single moms, abandoned and fostered children, drug abuse from prescriptions for pain, the power of love and ultimately the strength of the human spirit  This one goes near the top of my 2023 list.

Pulitzer Prize Winner

Published: 2022  Read: October 2023  Genre: Fiction

When I Wear My Alligator Boots - Shaylih Muehlmann

 Sub-title: Narco-Culture in the U.S. - Mexico Borderlands

I was given this book as a gift.  The young woman who wrote it was working on her doctorate and stayed in the communities of Mexico that live with the drug culture that has invaded parts of the country.  It was eye-opening.  She suggests that the "war on drugs" has feed the growth of the cartels as it provides a market for illegal drugs. Everyone becomes involved either directly or indirectly.  A difficult read.

Quotes:

"The phenomenon whereby people simultaneously become defensive during an interview and inflate their own role is what Elizabeth Dunn (2007) has called the 'pufferfish syndrome'."

Published: 2014  Read: October 2023  Genre: Non-fiction Sociology

When the World Didn't End - Guinevere Turner

 Using the journals she kept from her childhood, Turner revisits growing up in a cult that worshipped its leader who declared the world would end in 1975.  Shuttled between communal homes across the U.S. hoping for a seat near the "Queen"- the cult's mother - she's constantly judging herself unworthy and racked with guilt over the slightest criticism.  Shipped to her mother and mother's boyfriend who leave the cult, she's torn from everything she knows and thrust into the World, which she's been taught is evil.  The true evil is her stepfather and mother.  A bizarre and sad story that highlights how children are shaped by their caregivers and yet survive by their own will and belief in themselves. 

Published: 2023  Read: October 2023  Genre: Memoir

A Fever in the Heartland - Timothy Egan

 

In the 1920s, after WWI and when the Jazz Age, flappers, and prohibition lived, the Ku Klux Klan emerged again, after having been eliminated after the Civil War.  This story tells how they came to have over 500,000 members in the mid-1920s, marching in mass in Washington DC.  The horrifying fact was that a major stronghold was Indiana, the "heartland" of the U.S.  The membership spread from there at the instigation of D.C. Stephenson, a despicable manipulator who coerced men to join for $10 a piece. He exploited the prejudices of whites against Jews, immigrants, and African-Americans. The book chronicles the rise of the Klan and its downfall (or maybe only its receding) after Stephenson is tried for a brutal attack on a young woman. It's easy to see the parallels to current U.S. divisive factions.  A must read.

Published: 2023  Read: October 2023 Genre: History 

Halcyon - Elliot Ackerman

I fell for the jacket summary on this one.  The story is told by a professor trying to finish a book on the Civil War. He's hanging out at an estate called Halcyon, owned by a lawyer.  The twist is, Al Gore is president, the lawyer has been raised from the dead with new medical technology.  The "alternate reality" approach was intriguing at first and I kept getting pulled through the story to see what could have happened.  In the end, nothing changes - our culture and national outlook lead to the same results.  The ending was unsatisfying and abrupt.  I liked the writing style and found many admirable turns of a phrase quoted below.  

Quotes:

"A low sky weighed on the earth, gradually absorbing the distance into the fog"

"...he never glanced back [at the presentation slides] for reference...He wouldn't think to, in much the same way a dancer would never think to mouth the count of his steps."

"Never forget history is what the living think of the dead"

"The thing of it is you can have more than one life, but there's only this one world to live it in."

"You really think I want to live life, parsing who did what to me and when, and how come that means I can never achieve x or become y, trapped in an endless feedback loop of my own trauma?  That's not progress."

Published: 2023  Read: October 2023  Genre: Fiction

Home Safe - Mitchell Consky

 This is my favorite book I've read in 2023.  It is  memoir by a young man whose father is diagnosed during the pandemic with aggressive liver cancer.  Their family comes together to care for him at the end of life at home, many of them healthcare professionals impacted by being essential workers.  Throughout, they demonstrate so much love and caring for each other.

It made me reflect that we all still have a single shared experience that we can relate to: the losses suffered in a million different ways during two years of panic, fear, confusion and isolation during Covid.  It made me think we need a national day of recognition to honor the individuals and experiences we lost due to the pandemic.  It made me think that this is something we can share with each other instead of the vitriol and divisiveness that is separating us.

Quotes:

"[Caregivers] ...caring for yourself when you want to save someone else is easier said than done."

"[on not being able to hug during the pandemic] Hugs are like the universal language for saying 'You're going to be okay'...The word 'embrace' has a Latin origin brace deriving from the word braccia which in the combination braccia coro circumdare means  'puts one's arms around'.

"Life is a series of compromises.  He told her its not about picking sides as much as it's about choosing to participate in the inevitable struggles life throws at you.  Giving up when life gets hard, that's what you want to avoid."

[On parents] "The love that they gave me stayed with me long after they died.  The love I give you will stay with you too.  Because that love is immortal.  That love will bring us together no matters what's happening in the world. No matter the circumstances that keep us apart."

Published: 2022  Read: September 2023  Genre: Biography

Dust Child - Nguyen Phan Que Mai

This is a story of an Amerasian and a Vietnam veteran that reveals the tragedy of that war from the Vietnamese point of view.  The vet is seeking a way to overcome his nightmares from his time as a helicopter pilot in the war and the half-African American, half-Vietnamese, called Amerasian, man is seeking a way out of the discrimination he suffers in his homeland.  It is a compelling story and heartbreaking to read of the aftermath of war.  It is a more contemporary piece than many books on Vietnam, skillfully blending the country's history with current realities.  It discusses the plight of Amerasians, the attempts to assist them (DNA testing, for example) and the difficulties both they and their American father's face in healing.  Recommended reading.

Published: 2023  Read: September 2023  Genre: Historical fiction

Victory City - Salman Rushdie

I picked this book up at the library because of the author.  I haven't read any of his work before and I wanted to see what it was like.  The book is based on real events in the 13-15th century in southern India.  It tells the tale of the rise and fall of dynasties told through the life of Pampa Kampada.  When we first meet her she is a young girl who has lost her mother and is possessed by a goddess.  The goddess's gift is to have her live without aging for 250 years, during which she writes the story of the Bisnaga empire.

I struggle with books where I can't hear in my head the names of the characters because I don't know how to pronounce them, I lose track of their gender and their relationships.  An annoying shortcoming on my part.

I followed the tale nonetheless and I feel I got a taste of the history of a part of the world I know little about.  I initially tried to draw parallels to today's events but that was misguided.  The book received praise however I wouldn't recommend it as I never felt connected to the characters or their stories.  I did note a couple quotes below.

Quotes:

"Maybe this is what human history was: the brief illusion of happy victories set in a long continuum of bitter, disillusioning, defeats."

"... I will learn that the deepest meaning of love is renunciation, giving up one's own dream to fulfill the dream of the beloved." 

Published: 2023  Read: September 2023  Genre: Historical Fiction 

 

 

God, Human, Animal, Machine - Meghan O'Gieblyn

 This was a deeply philosophical read, a book created from a series of essays and new material. The author was raised a fundamentalist Christian and in college began questioning the teachings and now considers herself a humanist. However, her background allows her to draw parallels to humankind's creation of an omnipotent being and our speculation about the evolution of machines into sentient beings.  

I found in interesting how her spiritual beliefs evolved and as she left her fundamentalist roots brought a unique perspective to humanism. The book exposed me to many philosophers old and new and provided a context for their writings. I also learned about several technology contributors. The author wove both into a view of where we are going from where we have been.

Quotes:

"I can trace my interest in technology to Ray Kurzweil's 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines"

"...belief in an immanent transformation (resurrection) persisted, improbably, century after century... Dante in the Divine Comedy makes up an entirely new word [translated as] transhuman. It was the first time the word was used in the human language." 

"In addition to our physical bodies their exists -- somewhere in the ether -- a second self that is purely informational and immaterial...that lingers in the shadowy dossier of third party aggregators. It is they, not we that are the most valuable and real,"

[Poem by Swinburne] 

From too much love of living,

    From hope and fear set free,

We thank with brief thanksgiving

    Whatever gods may be.

That no life lives for ever;

That dead men rise up never;

That even the weariest river

    Winds somewhere safe to sea.

"Technology companies learned long ago that their products ar for more appealing -- and more profitable -- when humans manage to bond with them."

"reality is "that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away" - Philip K Dick sci-fi writer.

"...how much of our science and philosophy has been colored by the justifications of shitty men?"

"people become trapped within the mirror of their digital reflection, a process that Google researcher Vyacheslav Polonski calls 'algorithmic determinism'."

"Elon Musk - a man who once referred to humanity as the biological bootloaders for AI.  'Bootloader' is a computational term that refers to the minimal line of code that is used to start up a computer.  It is a tiny, insignificant program whose sole purpose is to initiate larger, more complex program."

Published: 2021 Read: September 2023 Genre: Philosophy

Saxons, Vikings and Celts - Bryan Sykes

 

It took me a while to get through this one.  I've read other of Sykes's books; Adam's Curse and The Seven Daughters of Eve where he had written about Y-DNA and Mitochondrial DNA.  In this book, he builds on those to share his research into the Y and mtDNA of the British Isles.  At the same time he gives a history lesson on the inhabitants and migration of people to the lands.  

It took a long time to wade through the history to reach his summary of the different haplogroups he found in the regions and his interpretation of their meaning.  His research concluded that the origins of the people of the British Isles are primarily Celtic, which is no different from Picts, overlaid with a bit of Vikings and Saxons.  The female lines show a greater influx of women brought to the land and the male lines show the persistence of the ancient settlers although the Genghis Khan affect left secondary group of conquering subsequent intruders. He also used male and female names for the haplogroups as a means of personalizing the ancestral lines instead of reducing them to a code.  Its good background for genealogists and historians.

Published: 2006 Read: Genre: Science, History

Control - Adam Rutherford

 Sub-title: The Dark History and Troubling Present of Eugenics

With my recent delving into genetics use for law enforcement cases and discussions about the ethics of the practice, this book caught my eye at the library.  The author reviews the history and widespread belief in eugenics in the past and its re-emergence in the present.  Its disheartening to see how the human race so readily embraces the desire to be better than others rather than being a better self. 

The ability to alter our genetics before birth and/or after is moving ahead rapidly (the author cites the gene altering done in China to prevent HIV in the embryos of two sisters whose father was HIV positive) and the point of the book is to raise questions about the ethics and impacts.  A thoughtful read.

Quotes:

"Embryo selection for traits (as opposed to diseases) is not permitted in most countries in the world with the notable exception of the United States."

Companies - Genomic Predictions, Inc; Orchid Health, MyOme

Published:  2023  Read: August 2023  Genre: History

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell

 In 1560 a 13 year old daughter of the Medici family is promised in marriage to the 24 year old son of another Italian family.  At 15 she is married to Alfonso Ferrara and her purpose is to produce an heir.  His two-faced personality is a shock to the girl and has disastrous effects on her life.

I bought this in LaGuardia airport for a trip home from a conference and finished it on a delayed flight out of Dallas.  O'Farrell's writing is rich without being cloying, intensely evocative without unnecessary words.  I was captivated from the first pages.  Great read for a overly long trip.

Published: 2022  Read: July 2023  Genre: Historical Fiction

Homestead - Melinda Moustkis

 This was different.  A young woman, just 18, visits her sister in Alaska before statehood and meets a man homesteading 150 acres.  After meeting him in a bar, she goes out with him once and with both of them wanting to move on with their own personal plans, he to create a home on land he hopes to own and she to escape her stateside home, agree to get married.  Not an auspicious beginning.

They confront their differences in goals and dreams, through having children, building their home and planting the crops required to meet the homestead requirements.  Through their eyes we see the origins of a new state with all its possibilities and the life of those early inhabitants.  There is a parallel of a growing community of pioneers with the growing understanding in a relationship.

The writing style was awkward many times, like the author was struggling in a new venture just like her characters.  

Published: 2023  Read: July 2023  Genre: Fiction  

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

 There is nothing so satisfying as escaping into the pages of a good book for a few hours or a day.  A friend had recommended this to me, not giving any clues to the story, just that it was a good read.  How right she was.  I'll not give away anything either.  Let's just say I did not figure it out, an unusual experience for me.  Enjoy.

Published: 2019  Read: July 2023  Genre: Fiction

Enlightment Now - Steven Pinker

 Subtitle: The case for reason, science, humanism and progress.

I've enjoyed other books by Pinker and this one came highly recommended.  It makes a case for the world situation being much better than we think because we have reached and are exceeding the goals of the intellectual movement called the Enlightenment.

I read the first 100 pages, had several sticky tags, but I just couldn't keep reading.   It was laborious and repetitive and written in 2018, so pre-Covid it felt naive.  I'm putting it aside and I'll see if I can finish it some other time.

Quotes:

"conatus (effort or striving) defined as 'an endeavor to persist and flourish in one's own being' which was a foundation of several Enlightenment-era theories of life and mind."

"Human cognition comes with two features that give it the means to transcend its limitations.  The first is abstraction....the second ..is its combinatorial, recursive power."

"The nature of news is likely to distort people's view of the world because of a mental bug that psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman called the Availability heuristic: people estimate the probability of an event or the frequency of a kind of thing by the ease with which instances come to mind." 

"Autobiographical memory.  Though we tend to remember bad events as well as we remember good ones, the negative coloring of the misfortunes fades with time, particularly the one that happened to us.  We are wired for nostalgia.  Two other illusions mislead us into thinking that things ain't what they used to be: we mistake the growing burdens of maturity and parenthood for a less innocent world, and we mistake a decline in our own faculties for a decline in the times."

"As we care about more of humanity, we're apt to mistake the harms around us for signs of how low the world has sunk rather than how high our standards have risen."

Published: 2018 Read: July 2023  Genre: Social Philosophy Non-fiction

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Shiguro

 

A good friend recommended this book as a thinking piece.  I was enthralled from the first paragraph.  

An AF (Artificial Friend) named Klara waits in the front display window of the store where parents in the future come to buy their children a companion. Klara joins Jessie's family, a frail girl who lives with her working mother and a housekeeper, her parents having divorced after the death of her sister.  Klara's role is to observe Jessie and anticipate her needs.  In doing so, Klara learns how humans love one another - or don't.  Klara tells the story in her naive, curious voice, and I was challenged to figure out some odd names she gave to objects she saw being used by the family.  The story evolves as Jessie grows weaker and older.  Klara observes without judgment, accepting the changes in their lives, having served her purpose.  

I thought the end was unsatisfying, much like life can be unresolved and yet continues.  An interesting read that I'll be pondering for awhile.

Quotes:

"We're both of us sentimental.  We can't help it.  Our generation still carries the old feelings.  A part of us refuses to let go.  The part that wants to keep believing there's something unreachable inside each of us.  Something that's unique and won't transfer."

"...science has now proved beyond doubt there's nothing so unique...That people have been living with one another all this time, centuries, loving and hating each other, and all on a mistaken premise.  A kind of superstition we kept going while we didn't know better."

Published: 2021  Read: June 2023  Genre: Fiction

Being Dead is No Excuse - Gayden Metcalf

 A tongue in cheek look at Southern customs at funerals, with lots of recipes of funeral food.  A quick read I finished on my Chromebook using Hoopla - I may end up reading this way more often.  

Published: 2012   Read: June 2023   Genre: Humor

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

I've missed reading just for enjoyment and this story was very satisfying.  Narrated by a curmudgeonly giant octopus in an aquarium, it is a story of living with grief and loss.  I was taken aback by the description of the main character, Tova, a 70 year old woman, that is portrayed over and over as old, feeble, frail, and needing help. Ugh!  Her story in a small town in Washington state near Puget Sounds intersects with a young man struggling to fit in the world.  A quick read, with a touching, uplifting message.

Quotes:

" All of these things had been stored away for her to pass along someday, relics to be carried up the branches of the family tree.  But the family tree stopped growing long ago, ts canopy thinned and frayed, not a single sap springing from the old rotting trunk.  Some trees aren't meant to spurt tender new branches, but to stand stoically on the forest floor, silently decaying."

Published: 2022  Read: June 2023  Genre: Fiction

There There - Tommy Orange

 When I first saw the title of this book I took it to be a phrase of comfort, as in "There, there, everything will be alright."  Instead, it refers to the classic quote about Oakland California where it says "There's no there, there" referring to what the place had been in the speaker's past is no longer found in the place.

The book is the story of a multi-generations of Native Americans trying to survive in a world where they feel they do not belong.  The author uses first, second and third person voice and skips from one character and timeframe in a jarring fashion.  I couldn't finish it, too depressing and disjointed.

Published: 2018  Read:  May 2023 Genre: Fiction

The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction - Linda Gordon

A story tied to the orphan trains of the early 1900s, this book revealed to me a slice of Arizona history I'd never known.  A group of Irish orphans from New York were taken by Catholic nuns to pre-chosen adoptive parents in Morenci and Clifton.  The towns were Arizona copper mine centers.  The children were to be adopted by Mexican families arranged by the local Catholic French priest.  When they arrived, the white locals kidnapped them, objecting to their placement with Mexican families. The resulting dispute between the kidnappers and the Catholic guardians went to the US Supreme Court.

This is a dense volume of historical accuracy with many details of the people, copper mining industry, Arizona territory settlement and the prejudices of the 1900s.  For those who have lived in Arizona, there are many familiar names that will resonate.  

Quotes/Notes:

p. 16 after 1880 the Catholic church had a faction with assimilationist tendency that promoted Catholic expansion westward

"Nortenos" were Northern Mexicans and they were anti-clerical 

p. 99 - "Race is a pigment of the imagination" - sociologist Ruben Rumbaut

p. 207-list of names of families and the children they adopted [saved image]

p. 257 - Vigilantism 

p. 284 - William Henry Brophy, mgr of the Phelps Dodge company store in Bisbee -founded Brophy Prep

[note: I gave book to speaker at WVGS conference in 2024]

Published: 1999  Read: 2023  Genre: History

The Woman They Could Not Silence - Kate Moore

 Sub-title: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear 

This is a true story about Elizabeth Packard, a wife and mother of six, sent to an insane asylum by her husband and confined for over a year because she was troublesome and disagreed with him.  She became a crusader for the rights of the mentally ill and married women - who at the time in the 1860s surrendered all their rights to their husbands.  

I'd read the author's other true story novel, The Radium Girls, several years ago and enjoyed her thorough research threaded with a strong narrative. In this book, she again uses direct quotes and source material from Elizabeth's secret journal and other publications. I must admit, I stayed up very late to finish this novel in one night! 

 It was horrific to read of the ordeal Elizabeth endured that failed to suppress her strong will and keen intellect, despite trickery and deceit by the head of the institution and her spouse. I think this one goes to the top of my favorites for 2023 reads.

Published: 2021  Read: April 2023   Genre: History, Women Studies

Boulder - Eva Baltasar

 A quick read about a couple where one decides to have a baby and the other reluctantly goes along. It examines choosing a relationship vs being true to yourself. 

Published: 2023. Read: April 2023. Genre: Fiction

I Know Who You Are - Barbara Rae-Venter

Sub-title: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever

Being involved in Investigative Genetic Genealogy this was a required read. The author was the genetic genealogist that identified the Golden State Killer. Unlike the thoughtfully written The Forever Witness, this book is written in the true crime style, appealing to those who like to read the gory details of a crime.  The author speaks from a personal perspective and shares her own process and opinions on IGG.  She advocates building and documenting thorough trees.  She confesses and justifies having used DNA databases before terms of service restricted the use of IGG specifically.  She explains her unique way of thinking and perseverance as significant factors in her success as well as her "angels" that provide unexplained fortuitous events.  Some may come away with the impression that she invented the technique and is its premier user as she doesn't mention the work of others in the field.  

Notes:

p. 39 She describes how she used a Kinship Report (RootsMagic has one) in descendant format to visualize all the relatives of a target individual.

p. 152 Doubling the shared DNA of a person and assigning the value to their parent and using in a WATO tree.

p.211 "The tree you build has to be perfect."

p. 230 [on ethics] "The truth is that, from the very beginning, I have never had any doubt that what I was doing was the right thing to do."

Published: 2023 Read: March 2023 Genre: True Crime

The Forever Witness - Edward Humes

 Sub-title: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder

This is the story of the first cold case solved and prosecuted at trial with investigative genetic genealogy, a technique that develops a lead for law enforcement .  The story was well-written, presenting a detailed background on the field while telling a true crime story without the schmaltz and phony drama.  It was an engrossing read that I finished in two nights.  I discovered how the company, Parabon NanoLabs, began its phenotyping method to tackle terrorism for the federal government. I understood the overlapping timelines of the Cuylenborg/Cook case crime that was the focus of the book, and the more highly publicized Golden State Killer case.  It's a history of the evolution of using DNA in violent criminal cases.

The author tells the of the lives of Jay and Tanya and their families and friends, making their murders a loss to us as well.  The detectives devotion to the case and the determination to try the new technique as it was emerging was compelling.  Highly recommended.

Published: 2022  Read: March 2023  Genre: Science, Non-fiction

Published:  2022  Read: March 2023  Genre: Non-fiction, genealogy

The Aftermath - Philip Bump

Sub-title: The last days of the baby boom and the future of power in America

This was a fascinating read for me as I've been tracking the impact of the baby boom on our society ever since I studied Gerontology back in the 90s.  The author defines the generation and walks us through its impact on everything from baby carriages to cemetery plots.  My takeaway is that the 76 million babies born in the U.S. from 1946 through 1955 created a unique society that thinks it is the norm while it may actually never be repeated.

The book illustrates the facts discussed with charts, almost every couple of pages, reinforcing visually the information about this mass "pig in the python" moving through society and now seeing its ebb.  After examining the impacts to date, the author shares the predictions for the future on how the fading of this generation will be superseded by the millenials.  He draws no definitive conclusions, rather, speculating with input from demographers, historians and political analysts on what the future may look like.  An interesting read.

Published: 2023  Read:  March 2023  Genre: History

Elizabeth Finch - Julian Barnes

 This was quirky.  It speaks to the impact a teacher can have on us for the rest of our lives.  A 30ish man attends a class taught by Elizabeth Finch.  She challenges her students to think and her lessons stick with him.  They become friends and we she passes he seeks to find out more about her.  There were many noteworthy quotes that made it enjoyable but not a particularly satisfying story; rather a comment on what we can do with our lives.

Quotes:

"We must certainly consider, not just in this class, but outside it, in our own turbulent and fretful lives, the element of chance.  The number of people we deeply meet is strangely few.  Passion may mislead us furiously.  Reason may mislead us just as much.  Our genetic inheritance might hamstring us.  So might previous events in our lives.  It is not just soldiers in the field who later suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.  It is often the inevitable consequence of a seemingly normal sublunary existence."

"I have quite as many friends as I need.  They do not, on the whole, interconnect.  Which makes some of them imagine that they are more central to my life that they are.  Others, the opposite."

[After she is slandered in the rag newspapers] "They choose to understand nothing.  It was kind of you to be upset on my behalf, but unnecessary.  They choose to understand nothing."

[on the quote she repeated from the Handbook of Epictetus] Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us.  The things that are up to us are by nature free, unhindered, and unimpeded; while the things that are not up to us are weak, enslaved, hindred, not our own.  You can only be free and happy if you recognise this essential difference between what you can change and what you can't.  Among the things not up to us are our bodies, our possessions, our reputations and our public offices."

"Does civilization progress? Elizabeth Finch like to ask us that question.  Undoubtedly it does in terms of medicine, science, technology.  But in human, moral terms?  In terms of philosophy?  In terms of seriousness?"

"[I] ...turn my life into a story.  We all do it.  EF wasn't like that.  She'd give you the conclusion but not the narrative.  Why?  The obvious, normal reason would be a sense of privacy, of discretion.  But I decided that it was also perhaps something bigger: a sense that a life, much as we would like it to be, does not amount to a narrative---or not a narrative such as we understand and expect".

Published: 2022  Read: March 2023  Genre: Philosophy 

Stolen Focus - Johann Hari

 Sub-title: Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again

I cheated on this read and after going through the Introduction, I skimmed the chapters and cut to the conclusion.  Bottom line is get away from social media as an individual and as a society switch from consumerism and a goal of economic growth to enjoying what we have and economic stability.  Good summary at the end where he advocates for an "Attention Rebellion" and value something other than speed and growth.

Quotes:

[3 forms of attention, he adds a 4th] "spotlight (focusing on immediate actions, like, 'I'm going to make coffee'), starlight (focus applied to longer-term goals, projects over time), daylight (focus that makes it possible for you to know what your longer term goals are in the first place and, stadium lights (our ability to see and fight for collective goals."

[6 changes he made in his life]

1) pre-commitment to stop switching tasks so much (bought and uses a kSafe)

2) rather than beat himself up for getting distracted, he asks what would be something meaningful to me that I could do now?

3) takes 6 months of the year totally off of social media

4) act on what he learned about letting your mind wander (takes a walk without phone)

5) strict about getting 8 hours sleep

6) spend time with children just playing freely, non-structured free play

"...Under Covid, even more than before, we were living in simulations of social life, not the real thing.  It was better than nothing, to be sure, but it felt thinner.  And all the while, the algorithms of surveillance capitalisms were altering us - tracking and changing us -for many more hours a day."

"Growth can happen in one of two ways ...a corporation can find new markets by inventing something new or exporting something and the second is that a corporation can persuade existing consumers to consume more.  Mostly, we achieve growth today primarily through this second option [leading to our lack of focus]"

Published: 2022 Read: February 2023 Genre: Philosophy 

Adam's Curse - Bryan Sykes

This was a great read, in my quest to catch up with the origins of DNA science.  The author, Bryan Sykes, first got my attention with his book, Seven Daughters of Eve.  It's entertaining despite all the scientific details.  I've got another one of his books left to read.

Quotes:

"It is no secret that, underneath it all, men are basically genetically modified women."

"..the accumulated rate of non-paternity events...comes to 1.3 % non-paternity events per generation."

"Only men get haemophilia and only men are colour-blind.  Because the genes for both haemophilia and colour-blindness are carried on the X-chromosome."

Published: 2018  Read: January 2023  Genre: Science 

Who We Are and How We Got Here - David Reich

Sub-title: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

My Advanced Genetic Genealogy study group recommended this one when we were discussing books related to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).  It took me a while to get through.  The first two-thirds was a lot of science of whole genome sequencing (WGS) of DNA from ancient remains and covered how Europe, India, America and Asia were populated and how they tied back to Africa.  It provides a significant update of studies of ancient DNA.

The last part of the book covered how genomic studies reveal inequality, race, identity and concludes with a discussion of the future of ancient DNA. The author described how statistical genetics are applied to determine population origination and migration.  I enjoyed reading it and look forward to future developments in the field.

Quotes and Notes:

[explanation of DNA segments] "Females create an average of about 45 new splices when producing eggs while males create about 26 new splices when producing sperm, for a total of about 71 onew splices per generation."

[population bottlenecks] "European ancestry...Ashkenazi Jews, Finns, Hutterites, Amish, French Canadians of the Saguenay-Lac-St.-Jean region and others--have been the subject of endless and productive study by medical researchers."

"...around one-third of Indian jati [caste system] groups descend from bottlenecks as strong or stronger than those that occurred in Ashkenazi Jews or Finns."

[genomics of inequality] "The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas...argues that the arrival of the Yamnaya [nomadic Steppe culture dating to 3300-2600 BCE] in Europe heralded a shift in the power relationship between the sexes. "

"Between 2011 and 2015...23andMe provided customers with an estimate of their proportion of Neanderthal ancestry. The measurement made by the test was highly inaccurate, however.  Later, 23andMe changed its report....however the company continues to provide its customers with a ranking of the number of Neanderthal-derived mutations they carry.  This ranking, too, does not provide strong evidence that customer have inherited more Neanderthal DNA than their population average."

"At the rate at which ancient DNA data are now being produced...a single laboratory will be producing genome-wide data from thousands of ancient people a year.  This will make it possible to provide a detailed chronicle of how human populations have changed over recent millennia."

Published:  2018  Read: January 2023  Genre: Science

The Hummingbird's Daughter - Luis Alberto Urrea

I'd added this book to my reading list after hearing the author speak at the Nashville book festival several years ago.  I enjoyed his other book that he spoke about at the festival House of Broken Angels . This one was highly praised as well.  

It tells the fictionalized story of the author's great-aunt, Tereista, an illegitimate daughter of a a powerful ranch owner in 1870s Mexico, who becomes a healer recognized as a saint.

It took me months to slog through this book and I gave up about page 300, with 200 more to go.  It was too depressing reading of the atrocities during the war in Mexico and the poverty of the people.  

Published:   June 2006 Read:  January 2023  Genre: Fiction

A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life - Robert McGill

My second post-pandemic themed book, this is a dark look into the future where a plague can only be avoided by being "flatpacked"  --- preserved alive for future inflation (as in literally being inflated like a balloon), albeit without memories.  The main character, Regan, is thoroughly unlikeable, even to herself, and the flatpacks she orders to end her life lead her to an alternative she'd not imagined.  Is obliviousness a true escape from death?  

I felt the story was contrived and incomplete, posing questions without answers.  I can't say I recommend it though I think it will be sticking with me for awhile.

Published: 2022   Read: January 2023  Genre:Science Fiction

Lucy by the Sea - Elizabeth Strout

Looking at YouTube videos of the best books of 2022 from various reviewers, I found this one mentioned as one of the post pandemic themed reads.  I'd read the author's Olive Kitteridge  back in 2008 and enjoyed it.  Her books connect her characters across the stories, Olive playing a minor role in this one.

Lucy, her main character was not someone I liked very much.  She's 60ish and recently widowed from her second husband.  She's an insipid worrier that I thought might be experiencing the beginnings of dementia. The story is told from her point of view, where her first husband, a scientist, insists she and their daughters leave New York as the pandemic hits, taking off for Maine, hence the title.  

It's a painfully reminiscent chronicling of our lives during Covid-19 and there are recognizable reactions to our real life experiences during its scourge.  Her reflective, passive acceptance of what has happened in her life and what happens during their time in isolation is in contrast to the reactions of those surrounding her. 

In the end I found the story soothing and comforting, a looking back on what some have survived. I appreciated the story's handling of our fears and doubts and the changes it as wrought on our ourselves, our families and our lives.

Quotes:

"I had often thought before: that there had been a last time--when they were little--that I had picked up the girls.  This had broken my heart, to realize that you never know the last time you pick up a child."

"My mother, because she was my mother, had great gravity in my young life.  In my whole life.  I did not know who she was, and I did not like who she had been.  But she was my mother, and so some part of me had continued to believe things she had said."

"Because I would never have had an affair, I thought William would not either.  I had been thinking like myself."

Published: 2000  Read: Jan 2023 Genre: Fiction 

Escape Into Meaning - Evan Puschak

 Sub-title: Essays on Superman, Public Benches, and other Obsessions

I found this book through the author's Youtube site "The Nerdwriter".  He reviews movies and books and discusses issues in what is described as "video essays".  For me his channel provides a perspective on the thinking and ideas of a younger generation (he's 34 years old).  I was repeatedly struck by my lack of familiarity with his references from his childhood and life today because I am a different generation and have not been around people his age very much.  I did connect, however, with his analysis of today's digital, virtual, internet world and its destructive impact on our lives.

Quotes:

"From Emerson [Ralph Waldo Emerson] I learned two fundamental truths: first that we learn by expressing, not by thinking, which is to say that knowledge doesn't really exist until you can write it down."

"The modern world obliterates restraint.  The internet obliterates the time between experiences....'we [streaming services] are really competing with sleep on the margin'".

"The internet of today, designed to make you a permanent input, does more than just steal time from you; it erodes your agency and substitutes internet-awareness for self-awareness.  Those are the three things--time, agency, and self-awareness--that we use to construct our identities.  Without them, sense of self weakens, identity destabilizes, and the result is what we see in the research and feel in ourselves: stress, anxiety, or worse."

"To feel that someone really wants to understand and help you is a gift, and once you have it, you can't help but pass it on."

" A big undertaking, whether it's writing a novel, starting a business, or nurturing a relationship, requires emotional stability.  But our emotions aren't stable, so the best we can do is cultivate a bird's-eye view on ourselves to remind us of the colored lens [feeling] we're seeing through." 

Published: 2022  Read:   January 2023  Genre: Essay