what i’ve been reading: july & august 2016

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{The Story of A New Name by Elena Ferrante}

This is the second of the Neopolitan series, and the goodness of them is just blowing me away.  The story is about two friends, Lena and Lila, (who don’t always have the friendliest relationship) growing up in Naples.  While the first book (My Brilliant Friend) took us through childhood and adolescence, this one takes us through the teenage and young adult years, through schooling, boyfriends, marriage, jobs, etc.  Elena Ferrante is a master writer of social situations and emotional implications of love and betrayal and even indifference.  The third book of the series is on my list to read sometime this fall.

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{Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi}

After reading my first graphic novel/memoir last year, I swore I was going to read more of them.  I hate to say that this is the first one I’ve picked up since then, but it certainly was a good one.  Satrapi writes and draws about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.  I learned so much (and Googled a lot more).  She depicts the death and terror of the time in a beautiful way, and her black and white drawings only give more power to the story.  If you’ve never read a graphic novel before, I think this is a great one to start with.

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{So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson}

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed was so fascinating and made me so uncomfortable in the way I think everyone should be from time to time.  Jon Ronson follows the online public shamings of several different people, from the famous to the unknown (but suddenly infamous).  He tries to understand how their shamings happened, how it has affected their lives, and how the new world of online shaming that exists on twitter and other social media either helps or hurts the pursuit of justice.  It is a well done book and so captivating, but it certainly made me feel afraid of the internet at times.

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{All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr}

Full disclosure: I’m not quite done with this one yet.  Also, I fully realize I am two years behind on getting to this book.  I’ll just say this: if you haven’t read it yet and plan to, bump it up on your list.  It is absolutely stunning.

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