The Sisters Brothers

 

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a quirky western, full of gunfights and grizzlies and gold. But also an environmental cautionary tale. Sure, toothpaste and painkillers make life more pleasant, but turn those chemicals into a shortcut for finding gold and greed has people killing each other for the formula, regardless of the fact the chemicals are so caustic they can even kill the people using them. Its an outlandish story told in Eli's factual plodding point of view, making all that happens seem inevitable.


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There is a feeling here, which if it gets you, will envenom your very center.  It is a madness of possibilities.

Lessons in Chemistry

 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book seems to be on every "best of" lists and so it's hard to put preconceptions out of your mind while reading it. It is a good book--it has funny parts, it is well written, and probably all women can relate to some of the prejudices and mistreatment of Elizabeth Zott as she tries to make it in a predominately man's world. (Set in the past, the prejudices can be exacerbated but sadly still very relatable). Still, something was off for me and I couldn't say it was a great book. I think what it is, is that Elizabeth never seems very happy. Sure, she is smart, athletic, and compassionate, and has to deal with more than her share of belittling, humiliation, and underestimation, and her drive, uncompromising spirit, and persistence can be admirable. But she always seems to be ready for a fight, depressed, and defensive (not that I blame her). It's perfectly reasonable for her to be this way, and may be part of the point of the story, but it is hard to root for a character who never seems to take even momentary pleasure.

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other women did want children and a career.  And what was wrong with that?  Nothing.  It was exactly what men got.

She would weather what came.  But weathering is called weathering for a reason: it erodes.

Everyone needed help.  But maybe because she'd never been offered any, she refused to believe in it.

the dust that was so much a part of death

"What I find interesting about rowing," Dr. Mason was saying, "is that it's always done backwards.  It's almost as if the sport itself is trying to teach us not to get ahead of ourselves."

wasn't that the very definition of life?  Constant adaptions brought about by a series of never-ending mistakes?

Doing Harm

Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick by Maya Dusenbery
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have rarely read something so galvanizing, validating, and maddening. There are lots of things that objectively should bother me about how Dusenbery writes this screed of the medical community. There is a lot of repetition--but it just underscores her points. Over and over she gives valid, objective evidence of how women are ignored, their diseases not researched or treated, and the devastating results of these failures. Dusenbery also uses sarcasm and head shaking, which normally discredits authors in my view as being too biased, but honestly I don't think you could NOT be a little cynical given the overwhelming data. I only wish that there was another volume that explores question from alternative medical practices and also addresses the role of hormones in a lot of these conditions she outlines. A must read for every woman and medical practitioner.

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If a woman attempted to resist her feline role, this mental conflict could emerge in a number of symbolic ways--particularly in disorders affecting her reproductive system.  According to the textbook, in cases of dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation) " a thorough study of the women's attitudes toward femininity is often necessary." Nausea during early pregnancy..."may indicate resentment, ambivalence and inadequacy in women ill-prepared for motherhood."

To be sure, depression, anxiety, and prolonged stress can cause specific physical symptoms, but these symptoms are not limitless, nor are they actually unexplained.

psychogenic diagnosis tends to be what's known as a "diagnosis of exclusion".  AS Jutel explains, "It is a diagnosis made not ton the basis of what is but of what it is not.  The absence of explanation, rather that the presence of an ell-defined feature, defines the condition."

psychogenic diagnosis is a particularly sticky one because the only exoneration evidence that could show it be false--proof of an organic pathology--is exactly what doctors have now ceased looking for.  

In short, either all women are sick, or some women are crazy.

loss of knowledge that has resulted from medicine's distrust of women's accounts is staggering to think about.

The Longest Night

 

The Longest Night by Andria Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book solely for the location it was set in: Idaho Falls, ID. Growing up in Boise, ID, I was convinced that nothing much happened of note in ID and so I'm drawn to evidence that states otherwise. The Longest Night tells about the nuclear reactors located outside of Idaho Falls, site of the INL now. Apparently there was an explosion in one of the reactors in the 1961 and was the deadliest (immediately) of all of American nuclear disasters. Weirdly, I never learned about this despite growing up in Idaho! What was slightly disappointing is that Williams took that real event and created (a mostly interesting) story that largely fictionalizes what actually happened. (She even calls the reactor something different--(CR-1 instead of SL-1) so just by reading the book, I still wouldn't have known what really happened. The novel is more of an exploration of trust and fidelity in marriage, with some of those themes of integrity carried through to the various workers at the site. It is an interesting airplane read, but wished it adhered more to real history since it's based on real events.

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Terra Nulls

Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this exploration of colonialism from a new and original point of view. The characters were pitch perfect, the ambiance was of an old-time western, the writing spare yet beautiful. Definitely worth a read.

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The light like blades of ice in their unprotected eyes.

 

Monument: Poems New and Selected by Natasha Trethewey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Trethewey's poems are accessible but still play with words and meanings. She has a particular talent of taking a picture or painting, describing it and transcending it through the lens of her own experiences and life. It is worth it to google the pictures she's describing (most are famous paintings, easily accessible). I truly enjoyed this survey of poems highlighted from previous works.

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Dubliners

Dubliners by James Joyce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A series of short stories about every day life. I'll admit that I didn't understand all the allusions to Irish life and politics and some research could have made this a more interesting read, but it was enough to get a sense of Joyce's beautiful narratives. The beginning sentence of each story seemed primed with potential. Some of the stories were obvious in their significance; others were narratives of events that the characters obviously felt were significant, but seemed rather ordinary to the reader--the same way ordinary things at certain times mark consequential turning points in our lives. Reading this makes me think I may be able to take on Ulysses.

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The light music of whisky falling into glasses made an agreeable interlude