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julis's reviews
538 reviews
The Serious Business of Small Talk: Becoming Fluent, Comfortable, and Charming by Carol A. Fleming
In other words: Men found that women were “the problem” when they acted like women, and also when they acted like men. Perhaps the problem here is the sexism?
3.0
Conflicted feelings here. About 75% of this is a reasonably useful, extremely functional guide to starting social interactions, presented in a plain language way. Some of the tips I’ll absolutely be using.
Buuuuut she doesn’t remotely bother to unpack any assumptions, there’s large chunks that are just quoted from someone else’s work without much (or any) critical analysis, and then there’s this:
So I took it upon myself to interview thirty-five C-level executives in San Francisco (thirty men and five women), asking them the following question: “Women’s speaking style is frequently cited as a reason they are not elevated to upper levels of leadership in corporations. I am designing a course on Executive Level Communication Skills for Women. Based on your own observation, what would you want me to be sure to include in such a training?”
Long story short, and amid a wide variety of answers (it was an open-ended question!), I made the following observations:
• Men cited the features of women’s voices and speech patterns that typically differed from men as “the problem.”
• They don’t like it when women try to act like men.
In other words: Men found that women were “the problem” when they acted like women, and also when they acted like men. Perhaps the problem here is the sexism?
But no. There is literally no discussion of this second finding. Just several more pages on how women can be less offensive to men’s delicate feelings :(
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
It turns out that he had read it: My grandpa gave it to him (inspired by the same train of thought as me), and then was slightly perturbed to see him reading it completely stone-faced.
'Catch-22 is full of irony and black humor basically from page 1–it’s a little unsettling to think of someone reading it and not doing the awkward laugh and then catch yourself because that character just died horribly.
“No,” my great grandpa said, after a moment. “It was worse.”
challenging
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
My great-grandpa died in 2019 at the age of 102. During WWII he served as ground crew in the Army Air Corps in England. Towards the end of reading this book I asked his son, my grandpa, if he’d ever read it and what he thought.
It turns out that he had read it: My grandpa gave it to him (inspired by the same train of thought as me), and then was slightly perturbed to see him reading it completely stone-faced.
'Catch-22 is full of irony and black humor basically from page 1–it’s a little unsettling to think of someone reading it and not doing the awkward laugh and then catch yourself because that character just died horribly.
But my great grandpa finished it, so my grandpa asked him what he thought, dissembling a little, leaving room for disagreement–authors always exaggerate, you see, was it really like that?
“No,” my great grandpa said, after a moment. “It was worse.”
In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John M. Marzluff, Tony Angell
Two problems with this book, one of which is not its fault but also impossible to overlook: It was published in 2006 which with publishing times means it was largely written in 2004 and 2005. I interned in a crow lab in the early 2010s and did my Masters in animal behavior in the late 2010s, ergo, 99% of the interesting things in this book I was already told as part of my coursework 5 or more years ago.
Even if you’re not an animal nerd, a lot of what he presents is common knowledge* by 2024: Crows can transmit information about people to others in their community; crows mob to drive off predators. Like…yeah?
Anyway problem 2 is the writing style, which is somewhere between “academic review paper” and “wikipedia page”. He** is very, very concerned with being neutral and not overstepping his conclusions but like…these are crows. This is a crow book. This is a pop-sci book at best, please tell me more funny crow stories.
*My idea of “common knowledge” is not necessarily common because I am friends with a lot of fucking nerds
**Yes it was cowritten by Angell but my impression is that Marzluff did most of the writing and Angell came along with drawings.
2.0
Me, wistfully as I got towards the end of this book: When will I get to read a good book again?
Two problems with this book, one of which is not its fault but also impossible to overlook: It was published in 2006 which with publishing times means it was largely written in 2004 and 2005. I interned in a crow lab in the early 2010s and did my Masters in animal behavior in the late 2010s, ergo, 99% of the interesting things in this book I was already told as part of my coursework 5 or more years ago.
Even if you’re not an animal nerd, a lot of what he presents is common knowledge* by 2024: Crows can transmit information about people to others in their community; crows mob to drive off predators. Like…yeah?
Anyway problem 2 is the writing style, which is somewhere between “academic review paper” and “wikipedia page”. He** is very, very concerned with being neutral and not overstepping his conclusions but like…these are crows. This is a crow book. This is a pop-sci book at best, please tell me more funny crow stories.
*My idea of “common knowledge” is not necessarily common because I am friends with a lot of fucking nerds
**Yes it was cowritten by Angell but my impression is that Marzluff did most of the writing and Angell came along with drawings.
The Saga of the Volsungs by Jesse L. Byock
Anyway: If I’d read the Nibelungenlied within the last year that might’ve been nice for comparison; as it was I mostly repeatedly got deja vu. I would love to hear someone talk about the role of women here, because there’s something really weird going on where the women are both accurate soothsayers and often incredibly cruel, casually disposing of their own children. But I can’t pull those threads together into something cohesive on my own.
medium-paced
5.0
I have so many ancient texts that are bargain bin editions, an out of copyright edition in mass market paperback to be sold at lowest possible price, no notes, no introduction, just the text. So it’s nice to read something that was translated within the last 50 years and includes footnotes AND an introduction AND a glossary at the end, I’ve been spoiled.
Anyway: If I’d read the Nibelungenlied within the last year that might’ve been nice for comparison; as it was I mostly repeatedly got deja vu. I would love to hear someone talk about the role of women here, because there’s something really weird going on where the women are both accurate soothsayers and often incredibly cruel, casually disposing of their own children. But I can’t pull those threads together into something cohesive on my own.
The Dog-driven Search: Handling Our Nose Work Dogs to Promote Independence, Joy and Enthusiasm by Sue Sternberg, Dana Zinn
The book presumes that your dog is already on target odor (and that you, the handler, know what “target odor” means). I’m not marking it off for that because it’s true for me and this is really a book for scent sport trainers and handlers and it in no way pretends to be an introductory book to the topic.
tl;dr: It’s lovely. Very well organized, laid out, funny photo captions, some excellent exercises, and all based on the thesis that we should get the fuck out of our dogs’ way when they’re searching. Which is true!
challenging
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
First book this year I really LOVED and it is so targeted to its audience that most of y'all will probably not get anything out of it.
The book presumes that your dog is already on target odor (and that you, the handler, know what “target odor” means). I’m not marking it off for that because it’s true for me and this is really a book for scent sport trainers and handlers and it in no way pretends to be an introductory book to the topic.
tl;dr: It’s lovely. Very well organized, laid out, funny photo captions, some excellent exercises, and all based on the thesis that we should get the fuck out of our dogs’ way when they’re searching. Which is true!
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
medium-paced
2.0
I had vague memories of this book from when my wife had to read it for school (spoilers: she hated it) and then it turned up in a stack to sell at a used bookstore and I went, hey, why not.
Spoilers: I hated it.
It gets 2 stars for not being ATROCIOUSLY written and for having a handful of compelling points buried in a lot of trash.
Problems:
- It’s written in a casual tone full of exaggerations for dramatic effect–which whatever, but when the things he’s exaggerating are commonly misunderstood scientific principles and he makes no real effort to clarify what actually happens in evolution by natural vs artificial selection… Hm.
- He thinks citations are things that happen to other people, except for one page where there are three citations and the entire rest of the book just gets a list of works consulted by chapter. Good luck.
- In MULTIPLE chapters about the ills of factory farming and the current meat & dairy industries in the US he somehow fails to mention that this is a system that developed within his lifetime–factory farming started at all post WW2 and only really kicked into gear in the 50s. Jeremy Bentham didn’t say anything about the horrors of industrial slaughter because they post-date him by 150 years. Instead he spends multiple pages on Peter Singer (ugh) and animal rights theory, which does belong in this book but there is a total of one (1) mention of animal welfare. Which is like. Much more up his alley. Bro??
- Ties into 2 and 3 but he makes a lot of sweeping statements about animals that are misleading or outright wrong, and the entire basis of the book (that omnivores struggle to decide what food to eat and so need to put a lot of cultural or individual energy into choosing foods) is somewhat undone by common counter examples. He talks a lot about rats (as being like humans, and very smart) and koalas (as picky and very stupid), but 1, we know a fair amount about food-based decision making that does not come up AT ALL and 2, bears will eat trash can lids and are not the brightest bulbs in the bunch. Parrots are exceptionally smart despite being aggressively herbivorous.
Iron & Velvet by Alexis Hall
However, it loses points for the plot which is very much just assembled out of whatever scenes the author found cool. There’s no consistent tension–it just jerks from plot point to plot point, and the final battle has no stakes at all. I also didn’t get into the romance–like yes on paper it’s exactly my jam, but I don’t buy that either of them has anything beyond some fun sex here, and yet Kate is fighting a fairy prince for her. Sure.
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Again no memory of where I was recommended this, although it’s not bad. It’s VERY “hardboiled detective novel but queer” (and, as it turns out, E rated??), which is cool. I hate the writing style but I think it’s genre appropriate so ymmv here.
However, it loses points for the plot which is very much just assembled out of whatever scenes the author found cool. There’s no consistent tension–it just jerks from plot point to plot point, and the final battle has no stakes at all. I also didn’t get into the romance–like yes on paper it’s exactly my jam, but I don’t buy that either of them has anything beyond some fun sex here, and yet Kate is fighting a fairy prince for her. Sure.
Avocado Drive Zoo: At Home with My Family and the Creatures We've Loved by Earl Hamner Jr.
Philosophically fascinated by the kind of person who hates zoos but takes a dozen turtles from Virginia and decides to keep them in NYC. Which is just sort of the surface level of “guy who says he loves animals but only as a way to buffer his own ego” that we’ve got going on here.
1.0
This is one of any number of books my parents got for me under the assumption that they feature animals heavily and so therefore I would like them; unfortunately this one only sort of transiently featured animals and I came away hating the author.
Philosophically fascinated by the kind of person who hates zoos but takes a dozen turtles from Virginia and decides to keep them in NYC. Which is just sort of the surface level of “guy who says he loves animals but only as a way to buffer his own ego” that we’ve got going on here.
The Roman Way by Edith Hamilton
Unfortunately her conceit is using ONLY contemporary sources–so Livy can only be used to talk about Augustan Rome, Cicero about the late Republic (which tbf is all we really want Cicero for anyway), etc, which means it’s a very scattershot book that skips over LARGE CHUNKS of Roman history (and ends with fucking Juvenal, like you’re telling me there were ZERO Roman writers after 128????) and for unclear reasons anything written by Romans in Greek doesn’t count, so there’s nothing from Marcus Aurelius.
2.0
This one gets a point for being from 1932 so I am significantly more generous about like, the lack of good source criticism or incorporation of archaeology because I am aware that archaeology and classics weren’t talking to each other in the 30s. (Sidebar: Some absolutely Apollo’s dodgeball prophecy in the conclusion.)
Unfortunately her conceit is using ONLY contemporary sources–so Livy can only be used to talk about Augustan Rome, Cicero about the late Republic (which tbf is all we really want Cicero for anyway), etc, which means it’s a very scattershot book that skips over LARGE CHUNKS of Roman history (and ends with fucking Juvenal, like you’re telling me there were ZERO Roman writers after 128????) and for unclear reasons anything written by Romans in Greek doesn’t count, so there’s nothing from Marcus Aurelius.
Which does very nicely highlight the problems with this sort of historical analysis, that being that you’re left with Cicero’s personal letters and some poetry*, and that’s not…helpful. For most things. And I’m left wondering if you’re using such limited sources, what is the reason to read this book? Like it’s an interesting exercise for a graduate student but what is the lesson for the reader?
* Also some people I KNOW wrote about their own periods IN LATIN were inexplicably left out–nothing from either Pliny? Sallust??
Smith of Wootton Major & Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien, Pauline Baynes
Apparently Farmer Giles is in The Tolkien Reader, which I’ve also read and reviewed but cannot be arsed to find the review now. Not super positive that I didn’t remember it, but I enjoyed it on re-read. Smith has a lot of interesting thoughts that I’ll be unpacking for a bit.
medium-paced
4.0
This is the sort of thing I only recommend reading if you are already into the author’s oeuvre, because otherwise these are two short stories about completely average English village life and fairy tales.
Smith is printed first but was composed later, towards the end of his life; Farmer Giles is pre-WWII and shows it. Smith is very much interested in the same sorts of issues as Leaf by Niggle, or at least in the same genre of it, whereas Farmer Giles is a just-so story, more or less, and working out some thoughts about dragons that are pretty easily linked to Smaug.
Apparently Farmer Giles is in The Tolkien Reader, which I’ve also read and reviewed but cannot be arsed to find the review now. Not super positive that I didn’t remember it, but I enjoyed it on re-read. Smith has a lot of interesting thoughts that I’ll be unpacking for a bit.