My Week in Books // 10-6-21

Humph. As we near the end of the year, I can honestly say that I am extremely frustrated with this reading year. I don’t know if it’s me or the books, but there are few books that have really stood out to me. On the bright side, it might make creating my Top 10 List easier?! 🤞🏼

I can’t tell you the last time I felt this discouraged for this long, but every week (er, month) I’m hopeful that the cursed slump will finally be over!

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

I had extremely high hopes for this book that was quite popular a few years back. While I enjoyed the story enough, it didn’t end up knocking my socks off. I appreciated the nuanced look into the radicalization of a person into a jihadist, but I felt like it lacked depth connecting that part of the story to the rest. I wanted to understand how uncomfortable Muslims felt in post-9/11 America, and while the opening pages promised just this, the overall arc lost steam and ended up falling flat. I don’t mean to make it sound like it wasn’t worth reading – it absolutely was! – but I think this is a case where my expectations preceded my overall enjoyment.

The Lie About the Truck: Survivor, Reality TV, and the Endless Gaze by Sallie Tisdale

I am not a dedicated Survivor fan, but I have got caught up in a few seasons. I’m never one to remember all of the contestants and everything that happened during a particular season, but I do generally enjoy the show. This book really opened my eyes to the “reality” of reality tv and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I was especially disheartened to read about the ways production treats the locals and environments…it was enough to make me really question why I’m watching (and inadvertently supporting) this show. I think we need to realize how our subconscious support can be pretty detrimental to the locals. After finishing the book, I don’t honestly know how I feel about continuing to watch the show…it definitely made me see things in a new way and also made me rethink my weekly viewings. (This book’s publication date was orignially October 19, 2021 but was recently changed to March 2, 2022.)

(#partner #freebooks: All books noted by asterisks (***) indicate I received the book for free from the publisher, the author, or another promotional company to review. All opinions are my own.)