Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner

56%

22.08.25

I was 15% of the way through and wondering when the plot was going to kick in before I realised this was non-fiction. Even having experienced my own version of what the author describes, it did nothing to change my mind about the point of memoirs beyond therapy for the writer. It was well written but, oh, the endless descriptions of bonding over food - yes, I get it.

Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: An Introvert’s Year of Living Dangerously - Jessica Pan

 55%

22.03.23

For some reason, my extrovert friends are horrified when I tell them I'm an introvert, as if it's something bad. The introvert author of this book seems to agree with them and decided to act (sometimes literally act) like an extrovert for a year. I found it quite hard to relate to - even the title seemed odd, as I'd never dream of being late for anything. And I wasn't sure why it involved doing things that many extroverts wouldn't want to do either, such as stand-up comedy and talking about Deep Feelings at inappropriate moments. But it was a readable slice of life, I suppose. 

I Feel Bad About My Neck - Nora Ephron

 51%

19.01.22

Nora Ephron was probably great fun to hang out with, full of wicked gossip and wry advice, but I'm not sure her writing entirely lives up to the hype. Her very specific brand of humour, based on her affluent New York lifestyle, is hard to relate to (as I found with her novel, Heartburn). There are some laughs but even more 'so whats?'.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

 

56%

07.10.21

Interesting from a cultural viewpoint - accounts of everyday life, poverty and starvation in Malawi usually go unchronicled. But otherwise not emotionally gripping, and problematic in terms of the Western privilege of 'choosing' a boy to fund and champion.

Just For One Day - Louise Wener

55%
16.05.20

I imagine the target market of Britpop fans is quite specific, but it includes me. I saw Sleeper perform two or maybe three times in the mid-90s so it's fun to go behind the scenes in this memoir. But it's not as enlightening as I hoped. There was a little gossip (probably within legal boundaries) but I'd have liked to know more about the mechanics of writing a song or making a video or planning a tour.

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics - Richard H Thaler

56%
20.12.19

I know, right? Not my usual genre, and indeed I found large swathes pretty hardgoing. But other parts were really enlightening - not least because economics seems so male-dominated.

Touching the Void - Joe Simpson

53%
31.10.19

The best thing about this book is the title - although the French title (La Mort Suspendue) is even better. Yes, it's a tale of survival against all the odds, but emotionless, repetitive descriptions of experiences and mountains I couldn't visualise meant the hills never came alive for me in the first place.

The Case Against Sugar - Gary Taubes

62%
02.05.19

Well, sure, Taubes is biased and selective in his facts, but that's how to make a case against something that is inexplicably not generally accepted as being as dangerous as it is. And the case is pretty conclusive - I didn't want to consume sugar for at least a week after reading this. (Full disclosure: I don't eat much sugar these days anyway, so he's preaching to the converted.) But, still, it's an important and persuasive book.

Quiet - Susan Cain

61%
29.03.19

Amusingly, an extrovert relative bought me this from my Amazon wishlist, saying they didn't really understand it. I can see why it's a seminal work, and it is readable and interesting. I'm not sure, however, that it will influence how I think and behave - and the odd editorial decision to alternate male and female pronouns for examples, rather than using 'they', was annoying distracting.

The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

59%
25.01.18

It will seem as if I've learned nothing from this self-proclaimed 'stunt non-fiction' classic if I criticise it - and I did pick up a few useful tips - but that is exactly my issue. In general, the recommended path to happiness seems so passive - don't complain, don't steer a situation, don't express an opinion... improve by not improving. I was also put off at times by the general 'look at my perfect family!' sentiments. That said, it was engaging and it's always useful to be reminded of one's good fortune.

Fat for Fuel - Dr Joseph Mercola

59%
17.11.17

I'm starting to know quite a bit about this subject - enough to be critical of this book, anyway. While Mercola offers much good advice, he also made me laugh out loud with his suggestions of moving to Florida for the Vitamin D, adding ground eggshells and earth to smoothies, and walking on dewy grass for direct medical benefits. Oh, and constant promotion of a particular website he sponsors. It's that kind of thing that undermines the good science.

The Obesity Code - Dr Jason Fung

55%
24.09.17

This influential book can be summed up as 'Eating increases insulin, which makes you gain weight, so try fasting'. While I'm interested in the theory, some of the science quoted seems contradictory, and there's, surprisingly, no mention of the triggering/psychological aspects of not eating. At least it makes me want to do some more research.

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

61%
13.06.17

Yes, this is the famous '10,000 hours' book, and it makes that case engagingly, if not particularly convincingly. Basically, [spoiler!] success is a mixture of hard work and luck. And this book is a mixture of repeatable anecdotes and forgettable links.

H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald

Didn't finish

I persisted with this book as the author does with her hawk, hoping I'd get on with it if I just tried harder. But there comes a point when you have to admit you're bored and unengaged and you just need to fly free.

The Road to Little Dribbling - Bill Bryson

60%
18.08.16

Bill Bryson is one of the very few authors to make me laugh out loud and bore anyone around me with choice phrases. After lending this book to my mum and her partner, it seems I'm not the only one. But it did seem a rather a filler between more meaty volumes (though after writing the history of the universe, it's unclear how much more meat is available to Bryson), and a little incoherent - but great fun and slightly insightful all the same.

Angry White Pyjamas - Robert Twigger

65%
12.02.15

I really enjoyed this, which is odd considering it's a badly structured, typo-strewn autobiographical account of a masochistic macho martial arts course taken 20 years ago. But it was intriguing because it was different and an insight into the lives others choose to lead.

The Establishment And How They Get Away With It - Owen Jones

73%
25.09.14

Very few non-fiction books are promoted to my To Be Read pile but I bought this on its day of publication because I admire the work of Owen Jones so much. True to form, he confirms what I already suspected, in this immaculately researched exposure of moral bankruptcy within the framework of the UK (and probably elsewhere). Whatever your political views, this is the sort of book that turns you into a ranting activist - it did me.

I hope the second edition gets a more thorough proofread, though - the typos are distracting.

Back Story - David Mitchell

52%
03.03.14

I'm not a particular fan of David Mitchell but he seems like a nice enough bloke and we'd probably get on quite well if we met down the pub. As long as he didn't know that I think he should have waited another 30 years before writing his autobiography as perhaps something interesting would have happened to him by then.

The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway

61%
26.02.14

The suffering of the people under siege in Sarajevo is almost incomprehensible and this book does a good job of recreating its horrors, provoking me into further research on atrocities not so long ago and not so far away. But doesn't work as a novel; you can almost see the interview transcripts that inspired the rather bland characters. Does it matter? It does if you're passing it off as a work of fiction. This is more education than art.

Orange is the New Black - Piper Kerman

60%
01.08.13

Don't get me wrong, this was entertaining and enlightening. It just makes (admittedly, a low-security) prison seem like a girls' boarding school - limited freedom, arbitrary rules and an assortment of mismatched friends. The biggest insight is that prisoners seem really... nice. Could have done with more in-depth assessment of the US criminal justice system but it's a diverting enough read.