Reading Wrap Up: May 2021

Welcome to the May edition of, My Monthly Reading Wrap Up! 

Check out April’s reading wrap up if you missed it. 

After not reading too many books in March and April, I seem to have gotten back to my regular speed in May. It’s been a pretty good month of reading! Some duds but some great reads too, as well as some surprises. I’m looking forward to even more great reading this summer as we get into the season of outdoor reading!

I recently asked friends on my personal Instagram to recommend really engaging books with great writing that aren’t too dark or heavy, and got a ton of great recommendations. So I’m excited to get more into those next month.

All right, without further ado, onto the reviews!

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World Travel by Anthony Bourdain & Laurie Woolever

Food/travel non-fiction, 480 pages, published 2021

“Toronto, Vancouver, I love you. But not like Montreal.”

Criss-crossing the world (alphabetically by country), this book shares tidbits from the late Anthony Bourdain’s travels to that country, as well as logistical information and the occasional essay by a foodie friend who travelled with Bourdain. The book was put together by Laurie Woolever, Anthony Bourdain’s long time assistant. Sadly, Laurie and Tony only had a one hour conversation about what this book would look like before he died, so don’t mistake this for the last unfinished manuscript by Anthony Bourdain. All of his words in this book are borrowed from his past TV shows and writing.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I liked being dropped into the different countries and could definitely feel the wanderlust growing and my mouth watering, especially during the section about food in Shanghai. However, if you’re a Tony super fan, none of these stories will be new, and you’d likely get more out of rewatching old episodes of his shows. And if you’re not a Tony super fan, you may find you get bored in parts (it’s a long book with the exact same format for each city).

I really disliked the logistical information that was added in. From the top, Laurie explains that this isn’t a travel guidebook and you’d be better off buying a real guidebook or using the internet for practical information. But then she adds information about the local airport, how to get into the city and the website for the transit system for every place mentioned. It seemed really useless (no one is picking up this book to figure out how to get from CDG to the Eiffel Tower) and took me out of the book completely. Maybe in the paper version this would be easy to skim over, but in the audiobook, it was awful.

My favourite parts of this book were actually the essays penned by fellow writers and foodies who travelled with Anthony Bourdain. In my opinion, a collection of these essays would have made for a much better book. They were all original and extremely heartfelt, sharing glimpses of Anthony Bourdain people might not know (instead of just recycling his past TV show episodes). I particularly liked the story of the bone marrow shooters in Toronto and of a crew member reigniting her love for her culture in South Korea.

A quick note on audio VS paper: On the audiobook you can hear the voices of Laurie, the different chefs and, I believe, Anthony Bourdain’s brother reading Tony’s parts. In the paper copy, there are illustrations.

Rating: 3.5/5

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Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

YA fantasy, 336 pages, published 2017

“The world is hard, his mom liked to say. You have to be harder.”

I joined a new book club this spring and this was the May pick. I don’t think I would have picked up this book if it wasn’t for book club, because YA fantasy is not usually my thing, but I am so glad I did! Son of a Trickster pulls you in right away. I was hooked and totally engaged from the first few pages. It took me a little while to get used to the style of writing – it’s a different tense and perspective than I’m used to. But the characters are so rich and the storytelling is amazing.

Son of a Trickster is a coming of age story about Jared, a sixteen year old indigenous kid in BC who comes from difficult family dynamics and struggles to keep everything and everyone afloat. There’s also a fantasy element to this book, which becomes a bigger part of the story in the latter half. I almost think I would’ve liked this book better without the fantasy, as it was a great coming of age young adult story, but did love that the fantasy part had indigenous roots.

My main complaint with this book was the ending. I won’t spoil it but it felt so abrupt and out of place to me, with a lot of loose ends not resolved. I literally said out loud, “What!?! That’s it???” when it ended. I felt very unsatisfied and I look forward to discussing the ending at book club to see what I missed.

Despite the ending, I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. I haven’t read many (any?) indigenous, Canadian stories and have ready very few YA/fantasy books. I’m looking forward to picking up Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach sometime soon.

TW: drugs, alcohol, addiction, child abuse, violence

Rating: 4/5

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Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Memoir, 256 pages, published 2021

“I’m searching for memories. I’m collecting evidence that the Korean part of myself didn’t die when they did.”

Crying in H Mart is Michelle Zauner’s memoir about the passing of her mom, her connection to her Korean heritage, and growing up and finding her identity. I have read a number of Asian-authored books and they continually show me the power of own voices and representation. I love seeing parts of myself and my life in these stories, especially as a fellow mixed kid with an Asian mom. I really identified with Michelle being too white or too Asian, depending on the situation, and trying to keep a connection to her Asian culture while living in North America.

This book evolved from an essay, and there were times when I felt a shorter format might have served the story better. Some parts felt drawn out and there was a very similar tone throughout the book. However, I still really enjoyed it. Michelle is very vulnerable throughout and shares her heartbreak very openly. There’s also a huge emphasis on Korean food and cooking, which I think is such a beautiful part of Asian culture, and Michelle’s story.

TW: cancer, death, mental illness

Rating: 4/5

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Weddiculous by Jamie Lee

Humour/wedding, 288 pages, published 2016

“Modern wedding planning is all about intentionally making mountains out of molehills. They’ll call it ‘being detail oriented.'”

As you can tell from my rating, I really struggled with this book. I decided to pick this up after watching Jamie Lee’s Wedding Coach on Netflix, and since I’m planning a wedding myself, I thought it would be a fun read. But I would recommend you just stick to the Netflix show and skip this book.

What I did like: I enjoyed that this book was easy to read, light-hearted and called out Big Bridal. Jamie does do a good job of commiserating with brides on the realities of wedding planning. I liked what she said about not needing a theme and not needing to over-personalize, and her thoughts on taking off the pressure of your Big Day by calling it your Medium Day.

However, I didn’t find this book helpful. It’s not really a how-to book and the advice isn’t anything super insightful or groundbreaking. Which is fine! But I also didn’t find this book funny. So I’m not really sure what the point of it was (which may have been the book’s biggest problem). The chapters were very short, repetitive and kind of all over the place. There were typos and issues with tenses switching mid-bullet point list. I think this book might have been better as an essay in a magazine, instead of a full-length book.

The part of this book I absolutely hated was the chapter on dieting. Jamie calls herself out and admits to being shallow and falling in line with the patriarchy, but then proceeds to say some truly ignorant, fat-phobic and horrible things. I get that not everyone is as “woke” about anti-fatness and certainly not in 2016, but some of this stuff made me want to put the book down. In fact, if I wasn’t already 150 pages in, I would have stopped reading immediately.

Some of the fat-phobic lines include:

• “I also feel bangin’ when I’m at my thinnest.”
• “I love looking back on my wedding day and thinking, ‘Not only was it fun, but I was thin.’ It’s another layer of happiness.”
• “Are you in a great relationship with someone who loves you for you? Sounds like a recipe for FAT!”

I get that she was trying to be funny. And I appreciate that she recognizes how shallow her thought patterns are. But she is still equating “thin” with beautiful, better and happiness, which is incredibly untrue, unfunny and harmful.

TW: fat-shaming and anti-fatness

Rating: 2/5

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Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho

Contemporary romance, 416 pages, published 2020

“Really, who needs a biological clock when you have a Chinese mother?”

Last Tang Standing starts with Andrea Tang attending a family function where her relatives berate her for being a woman in her 30’s without a husband. You then assume the rest of the book will be about her trying to find a husband or standing up to her family, but that’s not the case. The book changes focus to be more about her work, a co-dependent friend and, of course, a love triangle. The family pressure that is present in the title and first few chapters disappears. At one point her mother visits from Malaysia, surprises Andrea at her home once, and then is not heard from again until the end of the book. Almost like the author forgot the mother was still in town for longer than a night!

This book starts out really slow. I almost DNF-ed it but was told it would pick up after the first few chapters. The book did pick up and I did find myself engaged while reading. But it was predictable and I struggled with the writing.

The author used the format of a diary throughout the book but it often didn’t make sense for Andrea to actually be writing in a diary. In my opinion, the diary format was kind of lazy on the author’s part and didn’t best serve the story. I also didn’t feel very connected to the character of Andrea, despite the book being written in her most honest perspective to her own diary.

I know that was a lot of complaints but I actually didn’t hate this book. As mentioned, it was engaging and I did stay up late to finish it. I just think it had a lot of flaws, I wasn’t really invested in any of the characters and it was predictable.

TW: alcoholism, racism

Rating: 3/5

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Don’t Call it a Cult by Sarah Berman

True crime, 320 pages, published 2021

“The irony wasn’t lost on Edmondson. It took leaving and challenging NXIVM to finally uphold the world changing ideals she thought Keith Raniere had taught her.”

If you’re into deep dives on cults, this book is for you. Sarah Berman, an investigative journalist, shares the story of Keith Raniere and NXIVM, his self-help group turned cult. I first heard about NXIVM years ago and listened to the CBC podcast about it, which Sarah mentions, so was intrigued when I saw this title at the library.

This book is very detailed as it recounts the horrifying and pretty recent story of NXIVM. I knew the cult was tied to Vancouver but it was eye-opening to learn more of those details, especially as Sarah is from Vancouver too. In past stories I’ve heard about NXIVM, the focus has been mostly on the (primarily white) actresses who rose to power in NXIVM. While this book covers those stories, it also shines a light on a family from Mexico who suffered greatly under Raniere and his cult. It was heartbreaking but very important to hear those stories too.

If you’re into true crime or cults, can handle hearing about the atrocious acts committed by Raniere and co, and appreciate books with lots of names and details, this one is for you. I did find myself getting a little lost in the details from time to time, and losing track of who was who, but the overall story Sarah Berman told was very engaging and well worth the read.

TW: cults, rape, child abuse, sexual abuse, violence, gaslighting, mental and emotional abuse, branding, brainwashing, eating disorders, self harm, child sexual exploitation, self harm, self isolation, suicidal ideation, trafficking

Rating: 3.75/5

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When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Memoir, 229 pages, published 2016

“Before my cancer was diagnosed, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. After the diagnosis, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. But now I knew it acutely. The problem wasn’t really a scientific one. The fact of death is unsettling. Yet there is no other way to live.”

When Breath Becomes Air is a memoir by neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi about his cancer diagnosis as a young resident and, ultimately, his death. This book is short, as Paul didn’t get to finish the manuscript before he died, but it is so powerful.

You can tell right away that Paul is not only incredibly smart but a talented writer with a very deep outlook on the world. I loved how he brought together his artistic and philosophical sides with his science and medicine training. He talked about neurosurgery as looking at the meaning of life – what kind of life is worth living?

Once Paul gets diagnosed with cancer, he has to grapple with going from doctor to patient and finding the meaning in his own life. (“My relationship with statistics changed once I became one.”) He shares so much wisdom as he bravely faces death. I think a lot of his wisdom went over my head and I can imagine reading this book again in a few years and getting different things from it than I did today. There were so many poignant lines and I was especially touched by his relationship with his wife and newborn daughter. So touched I started crying on the bus!

This is a really special, beautifully written and powerful book that I think would have a little something for everyone, no matter who you are and what stage of life you’re in when you read it.

TW: cancer, death

Rating: 4.25/5

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Best book of the month

Overall, my favourite book was When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Such a powerful book and I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it yet.

Annual reading stats update

Here is a quick update on my 2021 reading stats!

• Total number of books read: 32 books
• Total number of pages read: 10,089 pages
• Fiction vs non-fiction: 7 fiction & 25 non-fiction
• Male vs female authors: 8 male & 27 female (some books had two authors)
• Diversifying my reading: Of the 35 authors I’ve read this year, 16 are BIPOC and just one is LGBTQ+

 

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