Even though September has passed, any chance we could still get a book list?
Yes, yes. I know I’ve owed you a fresh book list for some time now. Unfortunately, my library isn’t as fun as it used to be, but that’s what happens when an incompetent, narcissistic grifter becomes president and a bunch of punk bitch neo-Nazis feel emboldened enough to march through the streets with tiki torches dressed like little racist Best Buy employees.
We live in interesting times, y’all. I’m still hopeful that this country will get its shit together and the Democrats will win back the House in 2018. I’m also looking forward to the day when the Mueller investigation finally sinks the Trump administration. Until then, stay frosty, and enjoy this list of slightly more serious books about the fucked up world we’ve created for ourselves.
The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President by Bandy Lee, MD
The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore: A Story of American Rage by Jared Yates Sexton
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen
The Retreat of Western Liberalism by Edward Luce
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessions from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur
Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion by Alain de Botton
Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist by Cristof Koch
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll
The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk MD
Fuck Feelings: One Shrink’s Practical Advice for Managing All Life’s Impossible Problems by Michael Bennett MD
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (They can’t all be serious.)
Thanks, I always end up getting a couple from your list. Personally, I’m not very hopeful right now, in the States or here. In Canada, the new head of the NDP is dangerously photogenic and charismatic. He’s a Sikh, so basically unelectable as PM in this country, and he won’t change the votes of a lot of the more centre Liberal types, but he’ll be the reason why the Conservatives win instead of Trudeau in the next election. I don’t particularly like Trudeau, but he’s the enemy of my enemy.
Addendum: Bah, it’s US-centric or new stuff, which means I can’t get cheap secondhand copies from AbeBooks.
Rupi Kaur? Really?
I thought that too..
Hey, we all have our thing.
I’m amazed she like Milk & honey. It was truly bad writing (lazy metaphors, haphazard structure) as much as I wanted to like it.
I cant decide if Kaur is in on her joke or not. So I like to read the book as her being totally self aware, which makes it way more entertaining.
Coke, I’m truly curious about that choice…do you have a response to all the criticisms of Kaur?
It’s like reading pintrest. Coke is trolling us.
On another note: it would be cool if this community transmorgified into a book club.
Skype conference with Vendetta masks.
I’ll make cookies.
HAAAA!! yes, exactly.
Ha!
It’s exactly what it says it is. Milk and Honey. Sweet, simple, whole. It has a calm and tender flow, it’s a short read, and unlike most poetry you’ll find, it doesn’t purport to be deep. It’s genuine, and there’s value in that alone. It’s certainly not something to cherish, but it’s both real and easy to consume.
Hi guys,
I’ve set up a forum website for us to chat on.
It will be a fun extension to the Coque-verse to be able to talk to each other more freely than in the comments after each of Coke’s posts.
http://dearcoquette.boards.net/
check it out,
it’s super easy to make an account and get chatting .
I’m reading Fuck Feelings immediately. It was published on my birthday so it’s destiny.
Hey Coke! Have you heard of/read any Thomas Frank? His book “Listen Liberal” made me question and rethink my whole world view as it fit within the Democratic Party framework (while I realize that party politics are woefully inadequate to handle the societal ills we face today, being a Progressive and voting Dem was always one way I felt I could be effective). I Was poorly informed about the fact that our champion “Dems” of the 90s and 00s did so much damage to the middle class and poor people. What do you think about that? How can the Democratic Party get back to our roots and wrench power back from the oligarchy?
You don’t owe us anything, but thanks for the list! 🙂
Muah!
You’re really recommending ‘What Happened’? LOL
Jennifer Egan! I’m meeting her at an event this week and I could not be more pumped. So happy to see her listed here.
I’ll definitely check out Body Keeps Score. While I feel a lot better than I used to, I’m still diagnosed with Chronic PTSD.
Fuck Feelings has a good enough title to at least crack the spine.
But 5 books are in front of anything else – the new David Sedaris diary is recommended so far.
Thank you, Coke.
Ratfucked, new non-fic
Propoganda, Bernays
Blindspot, new non-fic
Twenty Lessions? Uh…that sounds like a gross book.
It’s interesting that people are calling out the Kaur, while not calling out Fuck Feelings, that has an Amazon description like this “The only self-help book you’ll ever need, from a psychiatrist and his comedy writer daughter, who will help you put aside your unrealistic wishes, stop trying to change things you can’t change, and do the best with what you can control—the first steps to managing all of life’s impossible problems. Here is the cut-to-the-chase therapy session you’ve been looking for!”
Now, this may not be the author or publisher’s description obviously, but there are some red flags in that description. It’ll probably still check it out, but with a grain of salt as you should most self help and “here is the truth” style claims.
My point is that Kaur is not the only one, if even a one, that should be called out for pithy sayings as art. Most art can be critiqued, but I don’t understand the Kaur hate out there, beyond that people don’t trust her as a person for some reason.
I recommend a hefty grain of salt with Fuck Feelings for sure.