Q1 2024 Reading: Fiction, History, and the Science of Cooking
Fiction led the first quarter of 2024, starting with Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in Chemistry. The novel follows a research chemist navigating personal tragedy and systemic gender discrimination. While original and thought-provoking, the narrative leans on exaggerated characters and somewhat shallow plot devices—elements that might be intentional but feel dated given the book’s retrospective setting. The dog, notably, is the standout character.
Martha Wells’s Network Effect, the fifth Murderbot Diaries entry, was less satisfying. This full-length novel revisits Murderbot’s familiar formula of missions, reunions, and near-death experiences. Since the earlier novellas already explored the core concepts, this installment felt mostly tedious. Skipping the first four books would likely leave new readers confused, but for those who haven't, the repetition is a drag.
Non-fiction offered a range of depth. David Sheff's Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World chronicles Nintendo’s evolution from a 1889 card company to a video game giant. The 1993 publication date shows, and the book prioritizes legal battles over technical detail. Beverly Gage’s G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century is a more substantial read. This Pulitzer-winning biography is lengthy but provides rich context on mid-20th-century US history. While the author holds clear biases, she manages them carefully, striving for objectivity in the prose.
David Grann’s The Wager recounts a dramatic 1740s British shipwreck off Patagonia involving mutiny and murder. The audiobook narration was over-dramatic, but the source story is gripping enough to carry the book. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s On the Banks of Plum Creek continues the Little House saga as the family moves to a Minnesota farm. Gregory Khait’s We’ve arrived!, read in Russian, is another collection of short stories about Soviet Jewish immigrants in the US.
The Mechanics of Cooking and a Historic Migration
Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat takes a unique approach. Half the book isn't recipes but an explanation of how cooking works, offering scientifically grounded yet practical knowledge. The included recipes lean elaborate, but the broader principles are easy to apply daily. Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns traces the Great Migration through three migrants’ stories, offering a compelling and informational view of this massive demographic shift.
Re-reads this quarter included John Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez and Carl Sagan’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Miguel Cervantes’s Don Quixote was a tougher slog this time around, barely finished due to its tedium.
