#67: The Power by Naomi Alderman

And snow, Wordle, and Tik Tok

Happy Friday, readers. It has been below 0 in Colorado! We had a big storm this week and have been shoveling snow and building a sledding hill in the front yard. Can you spot the camouflaged shoveler?

January was an excellent reading month and February is also fixing to be solid.

Quick Stats:

• Books Read: 4

• 2 fiction, 2 non-fiction

• 3 female authors, 1 male author

• Pages Read: 1,209

• Favorites: Pride and Prejudice, A Year of Biblical Womanhood

• Lukewarm: The Power, The Art of Impossible

Naomi Alderman’s The Power and Steven Kotler’s The Art of Impossible were both excellent books that got me out of the comfort zone of my typical thinking, I just can’t say much for the reading experience of The Power and the applicability of Art of Impossible.

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Naomi Alderman is talented, no doubt about that. There were moments of gut-wrenching tension. But if I’m being honest with myself, I should have DNF’d The Power. The concept was fascinating (women gain a supernatural power that allows them to physically overpower men, thus disrupting global power structures) but the execution wasn’t my style and was uncomfortable to read. Similar to last year’s American Dirt, there were a few too many moments of shock for shock’s sake.

Here’s a dilemma you may have faced: I read this on a friend’s recommendation. She loves it and highly recommended it. I was worried that I’d offend her if I didn’t finish. How do you break it to someone that their jam isn’t your jam?

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The Art of Impossible was great, but I’m not in a phase of life where I can dedicate a ton of time to chasing flow. It inspired me to push myself more and I took some notes, but any intense or dedicated application may have to come later. Also, this had a lot of brain science that I glossed over. The brain doesn’t interest me! I don’t get it!

There have been high-pressure moments at work (I help build space hardware) that forced me into flow so it was good to read about and recognize the triggers.

But also, Kotler strikes me as a bit “broish” and one of those “always-on” personality types, whereas I like when an author comes across as a little more approachable. You know, someone who you could imagine eating ice cream and bingeing a Netflix show every once in a while.

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February Plan

I’m excited for what February holds! I’m 200 pages into Warmth of Other Suns and I love it. Well researched, well written, beautiful. I’ve also started Their Eyes Were Watching God and it took some adjusting but I’m very invested now at 100 pages in. The Color Purple and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings are up next on the list. I also got a library copy of Four Thousand Weeks so I’ll be trying to squeeze that in.

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Fun Stuff

I’m late to the party but I started playing Wordle and I’m hooked! It’s certainly addicting, but in a healthy way, ya know? I like the one-puzzle-a-day aspect. You make your six guesses and that’s it for the day. Book lovers = word lovers = Wordle lovers.

At the beginning of the year, I mentioned that my friend Michael started an ambitious reading project and has been documenting it on Tik Tok. Well, it blew up.

See, his wife is forcing him to get custom covers for all his books so they have a more aesthetic color palette. He has a lot of books and they have to measure each one. He made a video about it which now has 1.8M views. BookTok has opinions about shelves and books, tell you what! But also, he’s so handsome, has a radio announcer voice, and has thoughtful opinions; that others would discover and love him was pretty much inevitable.

I hope you all had a great month. Let me know what you’re reading and enjoying!

Kyle