July 2021 books
Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival by Laurence GonzalesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book has been on my to-read list for YEARS and it did not disappoint. Meticulous, unflinching, compassionate, recursive - this is a nearly perfect book. It reminded me of Flashes in the Night: The Sinking of the Estonia in that by the time you finish reading it, you have gone through the crash (or sinking) dozens of times, through many different victims' eyes. (In my irreverent moments, it also reminded me of that gif of a truck endlessly speeding toward a pole from multiple angles but never crashing into it.)
I said this book was nearly perfect - I think Chapter 17 should have been cut out. It details the process each deceased victim's body went through to be identified and although I think its purpose was to show how respectful the process was, writing about it actually seemed...disrespectful? There is also a truly outlandish line in that chapter talking about a dead woman's perfect breasts and the dip of her pelvis?? There is humanizing, and there is...whatever that is. I also initially thought this book was written longer ago than 2014 because of all the quaint ways the author described women (live ones this time): they are slim, trim, gorgeous, with doe-eyes and miniskirts and panythose (OK the pantyhose is relevant because it turns out synthetic fibers will burn you up in a plane crash). I think the author meant well but it made me wrinkle my nose as I read.
Still: nearly perfect.
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Hunted by Meagan SpoonerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was really good! I actually wish it would have been a little bit longer and gotten into the mythology even more. Its shorter length means it's not as richly developed as, say, The Bear and the Nightingale, but it also means that you can finish it off in the space of an afternoon. And sometimes that's just what you need: a Russian fairy tale version of Beauty and the Beast that's not too long, not too complicated, and has really nice ideas and lessons about different kinds of love.
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Twice Shy by Sarah HogleMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another airplane read, but I didn't like this one as much as You Deserve Each Other. Just not my cup of tea!
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