This year, I read:
Culturally fascinating! I learned about this book from Jessica DeFino’s anti-beauty-industry newsletter and found it a really interesting perspective on K-beauty, cultural norms, and the performances we all do in our lives to project certain ideals.
Maybe a fine 101 book, but if this interests you you should probably just read Leigh Cowart’s Hurts So Good instead (also referenced by Greenberg’s book!)
The audiobook is read by Michelle Williams and is honestly an amazing experience of the book. Justice for Britney.
This is among my favourite Miéville so far, which is saying a lot.
One of my favourite reads of the year. Just so human and funny and full of feelings. It’s so weird to me when people criticize books solely because “the main character is unlikeable” - surely there is more room for nuance than that? This main character is not altogether likeable and I really enjoyed reading about him all the same.
I was convinced “growth mindset” was a tech bro concept (you know, constant unsustainable startup growth, maximizing shareholder value, always be hustling) but in fact it is not. “Growth mindset” and “fixed mindset” really just refer to the way you think about your basic qualities (can they be changed?) and subsequently how you look at what new experiences can bring you. This book genuinely changed the way I think, and if you are a perfectionist or you’re really hard on yourself and find it hard to be open to new things (because what if you fail at them?) this is a really useful framing. (Goes very well with Self-Compassion above)
Very of-its-time and sometimes in a bad way (a few terms used in the book made my eyes bug out a bit) but overall a breathtaking work of journalism. Buford embeds with football hooligans in the UK for years to try to understand the culture. He’s beaten up by police in Italy during a riot and describes it in searing detail. I’ve never read anything else like this.
I loved this. I don’t even know what else to say about it other than I think you should definitely read it.
Unreliable narration by a woman obsessed with someone who won’t give her the love she wants. Painfully relatable at points. I found some of it heavy-handed when addressing certain broader topics but overall a really fun read and a format I enjoyed.
If you like the Southern Reach books, you should read this, which probably inspired them (or at least influenced them in some way).
I know I’m so late. This book is as harrowing as you might have thought, or maybe more so!
Another Jessica DeFino newsletter recommendation.
I just loved this, and it’s one of the only books I’ve read that references COVID in a way that felt perfectly normal rather than jarring and unwelcome. I love Zoe Whittall’s writing style, and the prose poetry memoir format was so immersive, especially since so much of it took place in the city I live in and know really well.