November Reads
Squeezed
“Families today are squeezed on every side—from high childcare costs and harsh employment policies to workplaces without paid family leave or even dependable and regular working hours. Many realize that attaining the standard of living their parents managed has become impossible.
Alissa Quart, executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, examines the lives of many middle-class Americans who can now barely afford to raise children. Through gripping firsthand storytelling, Quart shows how our country has failed its families. Her subjects—from professors to lawyers to caregivers to nurses—have been wrung out by a system that doesn’t support them, and enriches only a tiny elite.
Interlacing her own experience with close-up reporting on families that are just getting by, Quart reveals parenthood itself to be financially overwhelming, except for the wealthiest. She offers real solutions to these problems, including outlining necessary policy shifts, as well as detailing the DIY tactics some families are already putting into motion, and argues for the cultural reevaluation of parenthood and caregiving.”
If you are tempted to make life choices that may lead to debt then read this book because it explains all the ways things can go wrong even when you make good ones. It really shows how poverty is not always a virtue and that doing what you love is a privilege. The book covers the person you know because they were your TA. It tells the story of what happens when you have a kid, not in high school, but just soon after you graduate with a reasonable degree and have started your first job.
I appreciated how cognizant the author was of how stressful things were the farther down the ladder you got and also pointed out how it was difficult to tell where general economic immobility ended and systemic racism began. I think that the take away for me was that we don’t have to wait. There are individual things we can be doing alongside getting to work on making the big changes happen so that getting a good degree for a career in a well-thought-of field (education, law, etc.) will actually allow you to do things like have children and have dinner with them more than once a month. Because that’s not a reality right now for a lot of Americans.
Hate Notes
“It all started with a mysterious blue note sewn into a wedding dress.
Something blue.
I’d gone to sell my own unworn bridal gown at a vintage clothing store. That’s when I found another bride’s “something old.”
Stitched into the lining of a fabulously feathered design was the loveliest message I’d ever read: Thank you for making all of my dreams come true.
The name embossed on the blue stationery: Reed Eastwood, obviously the most romantic man who ever lived. I also discovered he’s the most gorgeous. If only my true-love fantasies had stopped there. Because I’ve since found out something else about Mr. Starry-Eyed.
He’s arrogant, cynical, and demanding. I should know. Thanks to a twist of fate, he’s my new boss. But that’s not going to stop me from discovering the story behind his last love letter. A love letter that did not result in a happily ever after.
But that story is nothing compared to the one unfolding between us. It’s getting hotter, sweeter, and more surprising than anything I could have imagined.
Something new.
But I have no idea how this one is going to end…”
I honestly read this because it was free on Kindle Unlimited. It was cute. It also managed to surprise me. It is a typical rom-com type of romance, but as the story goes on she seems less manic pixie dream girl and he starts to seem more reasonable. I will point out that I hate when male characters try to decide what the heroine wants or needs. That’s her job.
Throne of Glass Series (Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows)
“After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her herfreedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.
Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.”
This is actually the synopsis of the first book since you can’t exactly jump right into the middle. I love a strong female lead. For once I’m not minding having multiple perspectives. At one point in the books I read, there was a parallel to real life where a majority had suppressed a minority group and even though one of the male characters knew it was wrong, he also worried about what would happen if the minority group ever gained power. People are afraid of what’s different, especially if they fear their own voice will be lost. I love when books let you work out real-world problems in an abstract setting.
