What I've Been Reading Recently

Book reviews: another non-fiction favourite, a novel everyone's been talking about, quotes galore and just enough of the details

Image by Freepik

I’ve got two fiction and two non-fiction reviews for you that I’m excited to share.

One non-fiction I’ve been anticipating for a long time, I did get round to Lessons in Chemistry (Spoiler: What a joy!), as well as Conversations on Love and The School for Good Mothers.

Let’s talk about the books. . .

Similarly to 1 month 4 Books (my last book reviews post) — which seemed to go down well — it’ll be a brief description, my thoughts and some well-written or thought provoking quotes because I just can’t help myself.

I’m definitely having a good reading year so far, I’ll say that to start with!

Let’s go with, potentially, my favourite first. . .

Stolen Focus

by Johann Hari

In a nutshell

Johann takes us on a journey — seeking out the reasons for our collective loss of attention and the possible solutions, starting with a compelling story about how a specific experience with his godson drove this whole endeavour.

His research takes him down many avenues such as diet, surveillance capitalism, stress, free play, the purpose of sleep and more.

The book covers forms of focus I hadn’t thought about, what needs adding when you take away distractions, Johann’s personal digital detox in Provincetown, individual responsibility vs. systemic issues and, of course, technology (but, he points out that it’s definitely not all about tech).

He spoke to many people all over the world; a doctor, sleep researcher, psychologist, neuroscientist, a former Google engineer, professors, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of another great read — Flow) and others. All whilst being transparent about the limitations of his research.

Thoughts

This was the one I’d been anticipating.

I thought I was enjoying my previous read, until I picked up Stolen Focus and I was almost immediately, absolutely hooked. Johann is great at jumping right into extremely engaging story-telling, and integrating this seamlessly with a lot of research and self-reflection.

I could see, so well, through reading this how and why my attention wanes in so many areas of my own life, from things like work to reading, and how it impacts my general mental health and relationships.

The Details. . .

Some things I loved

• A surprisingly calming read despite the subject matter — I think due to Johann’s masterful story-telling, as well as including a sense of optimism

• Anecdotal aspects such as his trips to both Graceland and Provincetown

• His honesty about the successes and pitfalls of his personal digital detox experiment and how he touches on his experience of the pandemic

• It confirmed some of my ideas — e.g. multi-tasking isn’t really a thing — but also introduced new concepts or gave names and succinct explanations to things I’ve grappled with — e.g. cruel optimism and mind wandering

• Strong arguments for why Stolen Focus really matters and what else is affected by our increasing lack of attention

• References to previous issues that have been tackled and how

• How concisely and purposefully he explains realistic solutions

Some notable quotes

Some great ideas and a writing style I just love

• ‘I wondered if in some ways, we are increasingly speed-reading life, skimming hurriedly from one thing to another, absorbing less and less.’

• ‘Trying to lose weight in the environment we’ve built is like trying to run up an escalator that is constantly carrying you down. A few people might heroically sprint to the top - but most of us will find ourselves back at the bottom, feeling like it’s our fault.’

• ‘The risks of letting them continue behaving the way they have are greater than the risks of overreacting.’

I’m excited about reading this book again, already. I think, next time, I’ll really think about the solutions I could share in future conversations and make a plan of action — Where can I, personally, take some of my attention back?

I was thinking about this, but it needs solidifying, you know.

Lessons in Chemistry

by Bonnie Garmus

In a nutshell

Elizabeth Zott is introduced through a disgruntled interaction she has with a TV executive about his child eating her daughter’s lunch. Elizabeth is a scientist who, consequently to this conversation, ends up hosting a cooking show called Supper at Six. The novel is about all the things in Elizabeth’s life that led her to end up on this show, and all the difficulties she faces along the way as a woman in Science from the 1950s to the 1960s.

Thoughts

I felt a fondness for Elizabeth Zott from the offset. I thought Bonnie Garmus was great at describing all of her characters and injecting humour into this story.

Of course, there are an unlimited number of infuriating, and traumatic, incidents throughout Lessons in Chemistry (a lot of sexism), but it has an incredible lightness to the novel at the same time.

The events, Elizabeth’s history, the many relationships depicted and settings like the university, her lab, her home and the TV show, are all utilised well to demonstrate her character and the plethora of difficulties she faces. I liked the length of time it spans — over ten years (there is so much backstory and time to get to know Elizabeth) — and there were a few twists along the way, and a lot at the end, that I didn’t predict.

For me, Elizabeth was the main hook. But, this novel is also about friendships, family and other women’s experiences.

The Details. . .

Some things I liked

• Elizabeth is assertive, intelligent, blunt, unfailingly honest and doesn’t play by the ‘rules’

• There is a great mix of likeable and unlikeable characters

• The tone is set incredibly well from the very first page

• Being spread over years meant there was a lot happening, which made it a compelling continuous read (I barely put it down)

• The inclusion of Six-Thirty’s voice (It had The Humans by Matt Haig vibes)

• Madeline reminded me of Roald Dahl’s Matilda (A delightfully nostalgic character to read about)

Some notable quotes

Mostly on Elizabeth to avoid spoilers. . . but, also, just great!

• ‘it was obvious: she had “it,” the “it” being that elusive, entirely watchable quality. But she was also a person of substance—someone so forthright, so no-nonsense that people didn’t know what to make of her.’

• ‘The lyrics were racist, the actors were white, and it was blatantly obvious that the female lead was going to be blamed for everyone else’s misdeeds. The whole thing reminded her of work.’

• “One thing I’ve learned, Calvin: people will always yearn for a simple solution to their complicated problems. It’s a lot easier to have faith in something you can’t see, can’t touch, can’t explain, and can’t change, rather than to have faith in something you actually can.” She sighed. “One’s self, I mean.”

I’m not surprised that it’s going to be a TV show. There were lots of moments I thought were reflective of things that happen on the big screen and I wasn’t mad about it — I’m a film lover. (I have a particular love for a good biopic and this would make a great film in that style, depicting a fictional character.) I just hope the TV series captures the tone and the joy of the book.

Conversations on Love

by Natasha Lunn

In a nutshell

This book is a collection of Natasha’s thoughts and interviews on all different kinds of love; from our love for our friends and siblings, to parental love, as well as marriages, motherhood and grief. (There is a lot about fertility and loss.)

It is structured by delving into finding love, sustaining it and losing love.

There were many thoughts I’d already had or read about, but I didn’t mind that, and there were also new perspectives too.

Thoughts

Reading this, I really felt like Natasha had a similar curiosity to me. I enjoyed the parts where she shared her own thoughts and learnings the most, which is consistent with the kind of things I like to read, over the interviews and overall structure of the book.

I do think that in whatever stage of life you’re in, and for whatever relationships you have in your life, there will be something useful in here for you.

I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed it more, reading each interview separately with some more time and space in between, and I found some of the interview questions a bit out of the blue. It wasn’t a seamless read for me, but I did enjoy it nevertheless.

The Details. . .

Some things I liked

• The sections of Natasha’s unbroken writing the whole way through

• All of the areas of love covered, and appreciated, over just romantic love

• Many perspectives showing how so many truths about love can exist at the same time for different people

• The philosophical overtone highlighting the importance of being grateful, about acceptance, taking action, coping with uncertainty etc.

• A lovely conversation Natasha has with her mum early on

• Natasha and Dolly’s discussion about friendships between women with and without children

• Tender discussions on sustaining love

• I also felt gently ‘called out’ in some small ways — there are definitely things I could do better in relationships (of course)

Some notable quotes

Helpful, thoughtful, insightful or made me feel less alone

• ‘I’ve learnt that the action of love is everything. It’s physical touch, it’s picking up the phone, it’s going to see someone, it’s saying what you believe or need to say, and it’s doing those things again and again. Love consistently asks you to be answerable to it in actions.’ (Lemn Sissay)

• ‘you don’t really find love at all; you create it’

• ‘sometimes even the ‘work’ of relationships doesn’t feel like work at all – actually, it’s just maintenance. A series of daily decisions we make in order not to take the people we love for granted.’

• ‘We see other people’s losses as terrible, far-away things; we say we can’t imagine them, but we must.’

• ‘my sadness robbed our friendships of authenticity in these moments, which we would never get to do again.’

I might dip into this one again, or look into Natasha’s newsletter. I also think this book was the one that I noted down the most quotes from (I thought that was important to mention).

The School for Good Mothers

by Jessamine Chan

In a nutshell

Frida’s ‘very bad day’ is the catalyst for the rest of the novel. She left her 18 month-old daughter alone at home and is consequently sent to Pierce Hall, an old arts college, to undertake a new government-led program alongside many other women to learn to become a ‘good mother’.

Thoughts

The tension in this read builds from the very beginning. It gets very dark, dystopian, and it treads the line between completely unfathomable and, at the same time, imaginable, really well.

I found it captivating and extremely unnerving. I’m not sure I would recommend it to parents — I imagine it would be even more harrowing. (Although, reading through her inspiration, I think Jessamine Chan wrote it, at least partially, for mothers.)

I think it was incredibly clever of her to use, as she says, a ‘truly problematic’ incident and a character who is not ‘automatically “sympathetic”’ and I thought the uncovering of Frida’s internal world was intriguing all the way through.

There is a lot about all kinds of judgement on parenting; about power, race, extremely questionable systems, imprisonment, surveillance and even competition and suicide.

The Details. . .

Some things I liked

• Frida worries a lot about perceptions in this novel which was extremely believable

• It made me feel a lot of things — shock, frustration, fear, unease, sympathy, sadness

• The complex relationships between mothers, in various circumstances, throughout their time at the school was interesting

• The infuriating injustice, in a lot of areas, and the various measures the mothers were tested against seemed extremely well-thought-out and well written, which kept me reading

• The interactions and dynamic between Frida, her ex-husband, his new girlfriend and Harriet (Frida’s daughter)

Some notable quotes

For an idea of the writing style and atmosphere

• ‘She should work or pray or exercise. She should clean. She shouldn’t watch television or waste time on her computer or phone. She must show them that she’s wrestling with her guilt. The more she suffers, the more she cries, the more they’ll respect her.’

• ‘Frida delivered the required platitudes about Helen’s son as a beacon of hope, tried to convince Helen to give the program another chance’

• ‘In this light, no one would be able to tell that they’re losing hope. That they’re dangerous women. Women who can’t control themselves. Who don’t know the right way to love.’

I’ve enjoyed many other dystopian reads before — The Hunger Games, The Divergent series, Vox and Q by Christina Dalcher. The School for Good Mothers captivated me as much and is definitely unforgettable but horrifying.

I hope I’ve given you enough to go on with these reads, without giving away any spoilers, I’d love to know if you’ve read any or plan to!

---

As always, please look up trigger warnings for any of these titles if you feel like you need them.

---

What’s next

I haven’t made my decision yet, but a few of my options are Taylor Jenkins Reid’s One True Loves, Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss (which I started once before and I can’t remember why I didn’t finish) and Emma Gannon’s Olive. I may also pick out a non-fiction re-read. . . or go for something completely different!

---

---

Have you read any of these? What did you think? What are you currently reading?

---