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jiujensu's reviews
421 reviews
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
This was a good one too. A historical fiction of the first inhabitants of what we call the US. Specifically, it deals with the poverty and the attempt at termination of treaties between the government and tribes, which would result in further extreme hardship. Boxing and Mormon missionaries also factor in.
At the end, there are references to congressional transcripts and what historical figures inspire or correspond to fictional ones.
At the end, there are references to congressional transcripts and what historical figures inspire or correspond to fictional ones.
Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
4.0
So this second book is basically my review for the first book, but more so. There still isn't great development of female characters, but you'll get to know further the inner lives of two absolute trash people and one okay guy who might not turn out to be an abusive misogynist. There are some broad life, political, or philosophical questions covered that remind me of Russian authors, so it's not all bad.
The part of my previous review:
At the end of Palace Walk, I'd say it makes a lot of sense to find he was influenced by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Proust, etc. I thought of Anna Karenina while reading. I'd put it in the same classics category as the Russian greats.
An article I read suggested reading his later, nationalistic work or these instead: Ahmed Naji, Iman Mersal, Mohamed Salmawy, Mansoura Ez-Eldin, Youssef Rakha.
The part of my previous review:
At the end of Palace Walk, I'd say it makes a lot of sense to find he was influenced by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Proust, etc. I thought of Anna Karenina while reading. I'd put it in the same classics category as the Russian greats.
An article I read suggested reading his later, nationalistic work or these instead: Ahmed Naji, Iman Mersal, Mohamed Salmawy, Mansoura Ez-Eldin, Youssef Rakha.
Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance by Tareq Baconi
informative
slow-paced
4.0
The book interestingly began simply as Baconi's own effort to understand Israel's 2014 assault and the "moral stain on our collective conscience," as he says in the acknowledgements. It turned into a book from there. I believe he's Palestinian but doesn't live there - I'm not sure - but it's a more honest discussion than most can manage on this subject, so with a look.
In a way, there's nothing new here, if you've been reading about Palestine long, since it moves through major agreements and historical phases of what people call the Palestinian Israeli peace process, but by the end, I still feel moved to recommend it.
It's free of the propaganda of the US or Israel describing the peace process or Hamas as terrorists, archiving all sorts of incorrect motives, so I think this is one of the more informative and descriptive presentations out there.
You'll learn about Hamas's rise to power, what it is exactly, governance vs revolution, Islamism vs democracy (are they at odds as the US tries to say), as well as abundant legitimate criticism of their trajectory and governance. To understand any of that sufficiently, you have to read something like this that isn't a memoir, doesn't have the US government or media bias, though the former is great and the latter is most prevalent and hard to avoid.
In a way, there's nothing new here, if you've been reading about Palestine long, since it moves through major agreements and historical phases of what people call the Palestinian Israeli peace process, but by the end, I still feel moved to recommend it.
It's free of the propaganda of the US or Israel describing the peace process or Hamas as terrorists, archiving all sorts of incorrect motives, so I think this is one of the more informative and descriptive presentations out there.
You'll learn about Hamas's rise to power, what it is exactly, governance vs revolution, Islamism vs democracy (are they at odds as the US tries to say), as well as abundant legitimate criticism of their trajectory and governance. To understand any of that sufficiently, you have to read something like this that isn't a memoir, doesn't have the US government or media bias, though the former is great and the latter is most prevalent and hard to avoid.
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
5.0
TW for rape.
This book is about that, yes, but is so much more. In the search for and discussion of justice, so much ground is covered - tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction, native traditions and culture, coming of age, extended family, friendship, and it treats Catholicism almost like Derry Girls, which is great stuff. I especially like how the main character's fate is sprinkled throughout the telling of the story rather than tacked on the end in an epilogue. I'll be sad to let these characters go.
This book is about that, yes, but is so much more. In the search for and discussion of justice, so much ground is covered - tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction, native traditions and culture, coming of age, extended family, friendship, and it treats Catholicism almost like Derry Girls, which is great stuff. I especially like how the main character's fate is sprinkled throughout the telling of the story rather than tacked on the end in an epilogue. I'll be sad to let these characters go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
I'm not wild about the genre of the likes of Pinker and Harari where they misinterpret and cherry pick scientific data to fit their philosophical ideas. Bregman seems to be doing this from the left, which I appreciate because this is how I see the world and because it offers pushback to their sort of pessimistic view of human nature as selfish and how systems operate as something we can't change and shouldn't try. So while I don't know that he's any more correct than any of the others, I certainly think Bregman offers more hope and should be added to any list of this sciencey philosophy genre.
A note of mine from reading the first few pages: He quotes Emma Goldman and is coming at this seeing the good in humanity from a more leftist POV, reminds me of the Jane Goodall book some. I think it'll be uplifting...and help me mitigate my inner cynic?
I really enjoyed all his debunkings of Lord of the Flies, Stanford Prison Experiment, Easter Island, Robbers Cave Experiment and several more. I believe those were his examples to counter the humans are selfish by nature argument. In some, we learned the wrong lesson or didn't listen to the corrections that came out. It was nice to revisit these things.
On contact theory near the end, I think he misses some key bits. His examples are conflict zones but he doesn't really address inequality, so it's rather simplistic. Though in general, he's right, contact theory isn't not a horrible concept. We need to get out of our bubbles. He doesn't mention, as Jamil Zaki does in War for Kindness, studies on how the oppressed group vs the priveliged group were affected - IF there is a power imbalance. If all things are equal, sure, contact is all that's needed and each group can learn more about the other and be better for it. Zaki mentions the fact that often the oppressed group will be worse off because having had to get by in the priveliged folks' world, they know those facts already, and it just grinds them down more to hear it explained again by someone else without having their inequality or whatever issue acknowledged or injustice or imbalance addressed - while the priveliged group generally learn a bit and feels better.
I do like how he points out that compassion is maybe better than empathy and how reason makes us human and understanding at a rational level is a skill you can learn. All good stuff.
There is a list at the end. I do love a list. It's not a terrible one.
But I'm going to have to disagree on the don't punch a Nazi point. I think nonviolence is important but often cannot be the only prong of attack against injustice. They can be large and popular and that's great. Slavery, colonial rule, apartheid, racial injustice - those types of things aren't ended by nonviolence alone (historically speaking), though there have been some very large and helpful nonviolent actions and movements.
His tenth point is be realistic - change the definition of realism from cynical to more trusting/generous. So in the end, I do like the premise even if I take issue with some things.
A note of mine from reading the first few pages: He quotes Emma Goldman and is coming at this seeing the good in humanity from a more leftist POV, reminds me of the Jane Goodall book some. I think it'll be uplifting...and help me mitigate my inner cynic?
I really enjoyed all his debunkings of Lord of the Flies, Stanford Prison Experiment, Easter Island, Robbers Cave Experiment and several more. I believe those were his examples to counter the humans are selfish by nature argument. In some, we learned the wrong lesson or didn't listen to the corrections that came out. It was nice to revisit these things.
On contact theory near the end, I think he misses some key bits. His examples are conflict zones but he doesn't really address inequality, so it's rather simplistic. Though in general, he's right, contact theory isn't not a horrible concept. We need to get out of our bubbles. He doesn't mention, as Jamil Zaki does in War for Kindness, studies on how the oppressed group vs the priveliged group were affected - IF there is a power imbalance. If all things are equal, sure, contact is all that's needed and each group can learn more about the other and be better for it. Zaki mentions the fact that often the oppressed group will be worse off because having had to get by in the priveliged folks' world, they know those facts already, and it just grinds them down more to hear it explained again by someone else without having their inequality or whatever issue acknowledged or injustice or imbalance addressed - while the priveliged group generally learn a bit and feels better.
I do like how he points out that compassion is maybe better than empathy and how reason makes us human and understanding at a rational level is a skill you can learn. All good stuff.
There is a list at the end. I do love a list. It's not a terrible one.
But I'm going to have to disagree on the don't punch a Nazi point. I think nonviolence is important but often cannot be the only prong of attack against injustice. They can be large and popular and that's great. Slavery, colonial rule, apartheid, racial injustice - those types of things aren't ended by nonviolence alone (historically speaking), though there have been some very large and helpful nonviolent actions and movements.
His tenth point is be realistic - change the definition of realism from cynical to more trusting/generous. So in the end, I do like the premise even if I take issue with some things.
These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons by Ramzy Baroud
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
These Chains Will Be Broken is small, but a real gut punch. It is simply the stories of individual Palestinian prisoners. Men, women, children. Some arbitrary, some sentenced to 600 years, some arrested for resisting occupation, unlucky enough to break down in front of a checkpoint. All are stories of horrific Israeli cruelty and extraordinary Palestinian patience and resilience.
The prisoner issue is often left out of the conversation, though freeing these thousands of people is the reason Israeli hostages get taken. There is great info at the end on international law and whether or not it is useful by Richard Falk
This is definitely an accessible angle into understanding a slice of what people have come to call "the conflict." (Ethnic cleansing, occupation, apartheid, genocide are more accurate descriptions.) I highly recommend it.
The prisoner issue is often left out of the conversation, though freeing these thousands of people is the reason Israeli hostages get taken. There is great info at the end on international law and whether or not it is useful by Richard Falk
This is definitely an accessible angle into understanding a slice of what people have come to call "the conflict." (Ethnic cleansing, occupation, apartheid, genocide are more accurate descriptions.) I highly recommend it.
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
slow-paced
4.0
I've heard this book praised by a wide swathe of readers and literary greats. I found it a bit slow to start and had less of the historical setting than I was hoping. As I read, both things improved and I think I'll read the next book to see what happens to thre family. There is, however a lot of misogyny - maybe historically accurate, maybe to comment on it - but be warned, there is sexual assault.
It touches on the interior lives we lead - like how much are you willing to risk in a revolution - I just read an article about beginning activism and some of the decisions were in there too. The family and gender roles weren't radically questioned but maybe there were hints of change? At the end of Palace Walk, I'd say it makes a lot of sense to find he was influenced by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Proust, etc. I thought of Anna Karenina while reading. I don't know if it lives up to the hype, but I'd put it in the same classics category as the Russian greats.
An article I read suggested reading his later, nationalistic work or these instead: Ahmed Naji, Iman Mersal, Mohamed Salmawy, Mansoura Ez-Eldin, Youssef Rakha.
It touches on the interior lives we lead - like how much are you willing to risk in a revolution - I just read an article about beginning activism and some of the decisions were in there too. The family and gender roles weren't radically questioned but maybe there were hints of change? At the end of Palace Walk, I'd say it makes a lot of sense to find he was influenced by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Proust, etc. I thought of Anna Karenina while reading. I don't know if it lives up to the hype, but I'd put it in the same classics category as the Russian greats.
An article I read suggested reading his later, nationalistic work or these instead: Ahmed Naji, Iman Mersal, Mohamed Salmawy, Mansoura Ez-Eldin, Youssef Rakha.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence
Montgomery Bus Boycott: Women Who Started It by Jo Ann Gibson Robinson
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
5.0
If you've ever heard any iteration of Rosa Parks' bus seat story, you're going to need this volume - it gives details from the inside of the bus boycott of planning, cooperation, faith, organization, consequences, beginning, and results. There's so much I didn't know.
It's an inspiring story, especially now in trying to mobilize against genocide. Segregation and genocide are depressingly popular things. But there's proof humanity and good can win. But you have to organize. And be a little unruly.
It's an inspiring story, especially now in trying to mobilize against genocide. Segregation and genocide are depressingly popular things. But there's proof humanity and good can win. But you have to organize. And be a little unruly.
Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America by Mayukh Sen
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
This was a suggestion from the Twitterverse!
If you've enjoyed Julia Child or Anthony Bourdain, you've got to add this collection of seven women who changed American tastes despite all odds (and sometimes disability) and the very white food establishment.
If you've enjoyed Julia Child or Anthony Bourdain, you've got to add this collection of seven women who changed American tastes despite all odds (and sometimes disability) and the very white food establishment.