Book 82: Queen Bees and Wannabes

This is definitely one I'm going to have to re-read as my daughter grows older, though the author says some of these queen bee and cliquish behaviors can start as early as kindergarten.



I found it really eye-opening to read about the forces that affect our daughters and sons as they navigate their social world. The new edition of this book also has a lot of information about technology like texting and Facebook and how they has changed the social landscape for kids as well.

Book 81: Lean In

This book has been a bit controversial: do women really need to do more to advance their own careers, so there can be a more equal representation of women in higher positions? Or is it the culture of the workplace and really, the overall culture of the U.S. and Canada, with its subtle and not-so-subtle ways of discouraging women from pursuing those higher positions?



I do see the wisdom in focusing on what women themselves can do, and the things we do unknowingly to sabotage ourselves. We can control what we do--we have far less control over the rest of the culture of work and leadership.

As someone who took the "off-ramp" to have a family, after years of singlehood and building a bit of a career of sorts, I felt a little bit guilty during the first couple of chapters. But like many women, I will almost certainly use the "on-ramp" again someday, so these are great ideas to consider for the future. Some criticized this book as being only for young women, just beginning their careers, but there are lots of ideas that apply to women at later stages, like me.

Book 80: The End of the Suburbs

Lately I've been thinking about the issue of walkable neighborhoods and commute times, so this was a perfect book to encounter!



This book discusses the forces that are changing the suburbs and what they may look like in the future. It discussed the history of suburbs as we know them now, and the forces which are affecting them today. I especially liked how the book addressed that quality of life can actually improve when we move past the "dream" of a suburban detached home and individual yard.

I received this book as a free copy in exchange for providing my review.

Book 79: Mighty Be Our Powers

At the beginning of her book, Leymah Gbowee says that the story of the African woman is not often told to the rest of the world, and when it is, it is either the story of either starvation or systematic rape as part of warfare.

 
Gbowee tells a story that is neither of these. She was a co-winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the Liberian peace process.

I found her work in ending the Liberian civil war incredibly interesting, and her personal growth throughout the story was very inspiring, too.

Book 78: The Idealist

I was so excited to read this. And it really was fantastic.



In 2005, economist Jeffrey Sachs wrote a book called The End of Poverty, in which he outlined specific steps that could be taken to alleviate the world's most extreme poverty. His passion about the subject is really quite inspiring--basically, he challenges people to either sit back and allow their fellow human beings to suffer and die, or to do something about extreme poverty.

The book follows the funding and establishment of Millenium Villages, where Sachs' ideas were put into practice. Sadly, there are a lot of unintended consequences of all of these ideas, and things don't turn out quite as anyone expected.

Book 77: The Painted Girls

This is a historical fiction piece about three sisters during the belle époque in Paris.



Edgar Degas and his art play a fairly major role in the story, too. It's been interesting to look at the paintings and sculpture with the book in mind. Overall, it was quite a good read.

Book 76: The Sibling Effect

I was curious about the issue of siblings and how they affect children and adults. This title intrigued me.



The feel of this book was a little too magazine-y and not quite academic enough for what I wanted from the information; that's not too unexpected, since the book began as a series of articles for Time magazine. The information was still really interesting, though I wish it had been more in-depth. I feel a bit like anything I might have learned from reading the book has already evaporated from my brain. That may be more my fault than the book's fault.

Book 75: The End of Your Life Book Club

This was a very interesting memoir about a mother and son who read and discuss books together as the mother is terminally ill.



I put a lot of books on my To Read list after reading this. And it was quite lovely to read about the relationship between mother and son.

Book 74: Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End

I don't really even need to say anything about this one. Of course it was wonderful. I'm just a little bit sad that I've read the whole series now, and there aren't any more to read.



Jennifer Worth's way of describing people is probably the best part of all of these books.

Book 73: Shakespeare Saved My Life

I forgot to post about a book!



This one was excellent. Laura Bates reads and discusses Shakespeare with inmates in solitary confinement and supermax prisons, what our society considers its most dangerous criminals. Many of these men dropped out of junior high school, and yet I'm afraid in many cases their Shakespearean analysis puts me, someone with an English B.A., to shame.

This was such an amazing look into prison life, and what can be done to rehabilitate inmates.