what i read in november
happy to say hello to december
Well, what a month it was. 🫠We got through the election (far from unscathed) and have our work cut out for us for at least the next four years. I anticipate I'll be picking up a range of books as work on the ground maintaining resilient communities ensues, grows, challenges, and energizes. Here's the mix of books from several genres I read in November.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
I saw this book everywhere, but it never grabbed me enough to pick it up. Finally, I decided to crack it open. Gottlieb, a therapist, openly discusses how therapy uplifts her life and those of several of her patients in a funny and surprisingly light way (albeit about heavy topics). She discusses her experience as a therapist and a therapy patient of another doctor.
America's Deadliest Election: The Cautionary Tale of the Most Violent Election in American History by Dana Bash and David Fisher
It might seem like times are dark, but history is one of the best ways to remind ourselves that we have successfully seen darker times and progressed from them. This book details a handful of elections during Reconstruction in Louisiana that resulted in extreme violence for several years and that ultimately laid the foundation for a century of Jim Crow laws in the South.
The parallels to today feel all too familiar. The book can be both a reminder of what could be (it could be worse) and what consequences can arise from unhinged and undeterred political action by a governmental administration uninterested in equality and ethics.
Shameless: Republicans' Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy by Brian Tyler Cohen
I loved this little book. It's like comfort food for the liberal, democratic soul (little L, little—D), the people who hope and work to build a government that works well for the people).
Cohen runs an independent media channel on YouTube and has expanded to other outlets. In the book, he explains some contributing factors that led to the broken, angry, and divided political media atmosphere in which most Americans wallow today. He calls out Republicans, who decided after Obama's election to become the Party of No. They oppose, lie, and fight any semblance of bipartisanship to break the government and then blame the dysfunction on the Democrats to regain control and power for themselves.
Well.. it worked... for now. But it's not over. Cohen continues to offer ideas about how we can move forward and create an independent media environment that doesn't necessarily change everyone's minds but gives Democrats the tools and information to be truthful and persuasive advocates for good government in their circles.
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
The main character and narrator, Cara Romero, comes to the United States from the Dominican Republic to live the American Dream. In her fifties, she loses her job and attends twelve sessions with a job counselor to help her through unemployment and find a job.
The book is about Cara's meetings with her counselor, told by Cara as if the reader were the counselor and listening to Cara share about the trials and successes of her life. It's an engaging book that pulls the reader into the ups and downs of the life of an immigrant who left behind everything to start a safer life in New York with her young son.
I Shouldn't Be Telling You This by I'm Going to Anyway by Chelsea Devantez
Devantez is a comedian who spent time at Second City in Chicago on their improv team and has won awards for her work as a writer for comedy shows. This book is her memoir about growing up in a somewhat broken family without many resources and how she crawled out of that life into one of success in comedy. She tells the story mainly through her relationships with important women in her life.
The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic by Stephen Vladeck
In a political environment increasingly weighed down by partisan divides, author and legal scholar Steven Vladek explains why the United States Supreme Court is losing public trust and acting in ways that appear more politically driven than independent. While he mentions many ways this has been happening for several decades, the book focuses on the Court’s current heavy reliance on the shadow docket.
The Shadow Docket is the list of cases the Court refuses to hear on its regular merits docket. The cases it takes up through its regular schedule require a full review and public opinion. The Shadow Docket, however, effectively results in decisions by choosing to specifically allow or override lower court decisions with little discussion and often no documented rationale for its conclusion.
The Shadow Docket, not an official term but one defined by the legal scholars who study and follow the Supreme Court's work, has been in play for decades. But Vladek argued its use has increased significantly during the Trump term, and it's been politicized more aggressively in the name of Republican priorities since his first term in office.
For government nerds, it's an interesting perspective into the darker side of how a seemingly stodgy and arcane group of nine justices is dramatically influencing our lives and how the government works. At the same time, most of us have no idea it's happening.
The book was published before Trump was elected to return to office. With four years to plan how to exploit the shadow docket and use the Supreme Court to advance its agenda, I can only imagine what shenanigans the Trump administration has up its sleeve for the next four years.
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
I wrote a full review of this book previously. You can check it out here.
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