Book 16: White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf

What does cottony white bread mean? That is the question posed by this book.

© 2006 William Clifford, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Many of us grew up eating fluffy white bread, and Aaron Bobrow-Strain explains why those loaves were virtually all that was available for a time, and why they have fallen out of favor now.

As this book described the pendulum swing of food fads (from dark homemade breads, to fluffy white "sterile" loaves, then back to dark artisan loaves), I saw myself and my bread choices. It was a bit eerie to see something as specific as the kind of bread I buy described so clearly as a response to a food fad.

Book 15: The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

This is an account of how a group of Afghani sisters started a dressmaking business that supported their large extended family, then went on to train other women in dressmaking.

I love stories of women making things happen and taking care of themselves and their families. I felt like there were a few details missing or glossed over in this account, though. How can someone learn intricate bead work in a single lesson and do it well enough to use as a salable sample? Overall, though, this was an interesting window into women's lives in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

Book 14: The Aquariums of Pyongyang

Another book about North Korea.

What made this one different was that the author's family returned to North Korea from an expatriate community in Japan, hoping to be part of building a glorious socialist society. Their disillusionment is that much worse, I think, since the older generation had experienced such prosperity and freedom in Japan.

It looks like there is a film adaptation being made. Honestly, I'm not sure how much of this story I'd want to see on screen.

Book 13: Girls Like Us

This is a must-read. Many of us think sex trafficking only happens in other countries, and can't imagine how girls in the U.S. could get caught up in it. This book describes some scenarios in which girls become victims of the sex industry, and how they can make the difficult journey out of it.

If you have wondered, as I have, how a girl in the U.S. could end up being trafficked, this will make it terribly, sadly clear to you. Girls Like Us is an apt title; these girls and I are not so different.

Book 12: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

I was completely absorbed by this narrative, which is all written in the second person and doesn't name its main characters.

This is definitely worth reading, and I'd like to read Mohsin Hamid's other books.

Book 11: Super Freakonomics

I read the original Freakonomics book several years ago and really enjoyed it, but this one wasn't as compelling. I don't know what was so "explosive" about it.

The chapter on climate change was just too long and seemed to take over the book. It felt like that was really what they wanted to write about, while the rest of the book was filler.

Book 10: Tiny Beautiful Things

I write this post four-ish months after I read this book, and still there are Dear Sugar phrases that run through my mind.

Cheryl Strayed can put an idea or feeling into words in such a way that I gasp in recognition. Not every page is that perceptive, but enough are that I think I may actually be a better person because I read this book.

Book 9: Year of No Sugar

Remember when I said, "No more 'Year of . . .' books"? Well, I'm glad I made an exception for this one.

Eve Schaub and her family made the decision to avoid sugar and fructose-sweetened everything for a year. If you've ever tried to avoid added sugar in its many forms, you know it's in pretty much everything you can buy at a store or restaurant, outside the produce section and meat department.

To me, the most impressive part about this experiment was that Eve had two elementary school age daughters who also agreed to the challenge. If you think you'd like to change the eating habits of your young children in a way that seriously goes against the grain, this book gives insight and ideas.

Book 8: Grain Brain

This book claims that grains are not only bad for your weight and pancreas, but also they're bad for your brain.

This was an interesting book, but I have a healthy dose of skepticism about anything that says that being gluten free prevents and/or reverses a wide variety of illnesses and conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, dementia, ADHD, anxiety, and depression.

I'm not going grain-free, just so you know.

Book 7: The Girl Who Fell to Earth

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book and its view of a part of the world I don't know much about, and how someone from Qatar and someone from Tacoma would go about having a family together. The descriptions of people and places were detailed and colorful.

But after a while, it began to read more like adolescent navel gazing, and I'm just not that interested in adolescent navels--but hey, give me ten years when I'm sharing my house with many adolescent navels and and I might be really into them.