Nonfiction
Delving into a few more nonfiction books, skimming through for the main ideas.
Trust Your Mind by Jenara Nerenberg, May 6, 2025; HarperOne; NetGalley
Genre: self help, adult nonfiction, health, mind and body
My take on this book: the author feels that people are not being honest with each other, not saying what's really on their minds or what they think about various topics society considers sensitive. This means that real conversation and debate is stifled in the interest of compliant behavior, not "rocking the boat" and only "going with the flow."
My question about this is: if you are honest all the time, are you opening yourself to being slapped, punched, ostracized, or being canceled in this "cancel culture" ? Are we staying nice or neutral just to please or to fit in and be part of a group?
Description: self-silencing culture and the toxic impact of groupthink. How to navigate an increasingly polarized world
Goodbye to Inflammation by Sandra Monino, July 1, 2025; HarperOne; NetGalley
A diet plan, recipes, and the basics to combat inflammation and improve health.
I'm interested in the anti-inflammatory diet plan that helps promote health, and downloaded this book to read in depth.
Currently reading: fiction
The Gulf by Rachel Cochran, June 13, 2023; Harper; NetGalley
Genre: adult fiction, mystery, thriller
I pulled this book from my vast to be read list, chosen for the colors on the cover. I admit that blues and blue greens are a draw, also ice and snow on book covers, paradoxically.
The characters and plot are good, so far. Lou hasn't seen Joanna for a good fifteen years, when Joanna returns to town to ask Lou for a favor - to help refurbish the crumbling mansion of her late mother Kate, whose death might have been accidental, or not.
Description: set on the gulf coast of Texas in the 1970s at the height of the women’s liberation movement, a closeted young woman attempts to solve her surrogate mother’s murder in a tight-knit, religious small town.
The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain, July 1, 2025; Pushkin Press; NetGalley
Genre: literary fiction, romance
I love everything Paris! This is a good reason to read this book - chasing through the city with a bookseller in search of the writer of the notebook he found.
Description: a bookseller pursues a mystery woman—known only through the jottings in her red notebook—through the streets of Paris.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week?
Memes: The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday
I'm very curious about The Gulf and Rachel Cochran because of the setting of the story. I tried to track down where she was raised, but she never named her hometown.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought The Red Notebook was great fun!
Yes, notes on the author at the end of the book says she was raised in Texas but not which town. She has a Ph D in English and teaches and writes in Nebraska.
DeleteI’m looking forward to reading your thoughts on the Goodbye to Inflammation book Harvee.
ReplyDeletePresently coming up to half way with 'Footmarks - A Journey into Our Restless Past' by Jim Leary. After that it'll be 'Desert Raiders' by Lucien Soulban.
ReplyDeleteThe Red Notebook sounds like a fun adventure in a great city for adventures!
ReplyDeleteThe Red Notebooks sounds fabulous!
ReplyDeleteThe Gulf and The Red Notebook both sound good! As for Trust Your Mind - which I have not read - it feels to me that people have lost the art of disagreeing respectfully. So many lead with “You’re a moron,” rather than “That hasn’t been my experience. Why do you think that?” So many equate being honest with being blunt, rather than diplomatic.
ReplyDeleteThe Gulf sounds good! That first book hit a lil close to home - my goal at work now is to 'talk less, smile more.' Speaking your mind is sometimes risky and not rewarding at all.
ReplyDeleteThe Red Notebooks sounds like something I might enjoy. You've got a lot of great books! :)
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed a couple of Antoine Laurain's other books and am adding The Red Notebook to my list!
ReplyDeleteThese all sound good. The Gulf is going on my wish list. It sounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteYour question about Trust Your Mind is a very good question to consider. I think we can try to be honest all the time, and out spoken, but there is also a time to keep quiet, LOL!
ReplyDeleteTrust Your Mind sounds interesting, but I've just finished reading Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters, and I'm not sure that we even know if we are being honest with ourself! I do think we need to talk more about things some people thing are not acceptable, but I also think we need to acknowledge that it's our truth. I remember bringing up some menopause issues with a group of women in our staff room. The response was dead silence, but then later on, three of those women came to talk to me about the issue and asked if I'd found a solution.
ReplyDeleteToo much truth doesn't always seem like a good thing. I mean, we should always be honest, but doesn't mean we always have to share what's on our minds. Both your novels sound good. Enjoy your week.
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/04/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-mailbox.html
I've had my eye on the Paris Notebook, too. I don't read enough books set in France.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes pull books from my shelves based on the cover, too, and The Gulf has a great cover!
ReplyDeleteThese are all interesting books! I really like the nonfiction one and hope you find them useful and enjoy them :)
ReplyDelete