I’ve written before about the massive impact that services like Bookshare and the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) have had on my ability to enjoy reading longer or more complex books given my learning issues. I think what happened before is that my visual processing/comprehension abilities got outpaced by the books I wanted to read, thus leaving what I was truly able to tackle limited. Fortunately, switching to consuming books mainly by audio has truly changed things for me. At the rate I’m going, I’m going to crush my reading goal of 115 books this year, having read 15 in January alone! Except, two of them were sort-of “cheaters” because they were really short reads I’d acquired from Bookshare near the end of 2018 for “just in case” purposes. But I mean, a book is a book!

Here’s what I read in January 2019. (And yes, I’m still on occasion typing 2018!)

  • The Girl with the Broken Heart – Lurlene McDaniel Far less sappy than the title sounds, this is actually about a girl with a heart problem. But also about love because that is what Lurlene McDaniel does, basically. Teen/YA.
  • Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative – Austin Kleon. Super short, I think this took 45 minutes to read. Probably one I should read on a regular basis until I commit it to memory. Also, I just read the first two lines of this review by a dude named Peter and I think he’s spot on.
  • The Deepest Secret – Carla Buckley. This one had enough twists I just wanted to keep going. And then [semi-spoiler] it just sort of ended. I have so many questions but I don’t know if I have enough questions for a sequel, if that makes sense.
  • Dancing with Dementia: My Story of Living Positively with Dementia – Christine Bryden. Like any memoir of this nature, it was captivating but also representative of many best-case scenarios.  Super interesting, however, and captures a form of (non-Alzheimer) dementia not as readily understood by most.
  • Meant to Be: The True Story of a Son Who Discovers He is His Mother’s Biggest Secret – Walter Anderson. You know when people discover they’re adopted after doing an online DNA test or whatever? This book was like that except without the DNA test.
  • A Life that Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo — A Lesson for Us All – Mary Schindler. At the end of 2018, I read “the other book” about Terri Schiavo by Mark Fuhrman, “Silent Witness”. In 2005 when the most urgent parts of this case were unfolding, I was in Orlando—at 13 years old, I didn’t understand but the urgency of Terri’s story always stuck with me. This book was written by her mother, and I’d still be interested in reading an account by her husband Michael Schiavo, from the “other side”. I ranked both this and Silent Witness 3/5, though I experienced a much greater cognitive dissonance with the inability to “let go” in Schindler’s book given Terri was not truly Terri anymore. (I tried not to let my opposing political views play into my rating, but it was hard.)
  • Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate – Ginger Strand. After the construction of the US Interstate Highway System, murder rates began to shoot up across America. I started this December 30 but finished it on January 7 with quite the break in the middle—I think the styling initially made it difficult but I got through the last 35% really quickly so maybe it was just me.
  • Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House – Omarosa Manigault Newman. Yes, I finally read the Omarosa book. I still don’t think I know my thoughts on it.
  • Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston. This is one of those books where you know how it ends but you have to still find out how it happens. This is the one where an experienced outdoorsman gets his arm caught beneath a boulder and has to decide how to free himself, ultimately cutting off his own arm and somehow living to write a book about it.
  • Al Franken, Giant of the Senate – Al Franken. Despite that Al Franken is no longer a Senator, I decided to read this memoir. It was quite funny at times but also was sort of trying too hard, though I think that goes with the “award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that” territory. 
  • Tragedy in the Commons: Former Members of Parliament Speak Out About Canada’s Failing Democracy – Alison Loat, Michael MacMillan. I’m not sure I agree with the title, but I did find this an interesting read (with some familiar names). The best part of this, to me, was learning more about the dynamics in the House of Commons. (I’ve since started reading “Procedure in the Canadian House of Commons” which is not quite as dry as one might think).
  • Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Safe Itself — While the Rest of us Die – Garrett M. Graff. This book was fascinating in a terrifying sort of way, describing the secret underground facilities for saving the lives of government employees and the inner workings of an alternate government should a nuclear bomb hit Cold War America. (Also, I learned there are/were similar secret underground bunkers here in Canada, too.) 
  • Private: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks, and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History – Denver Nicks. In 2010 in a sociology class we had a massive discussion about WikiLeaks that continued throughout the 6-month term following the Collateral Murder video release. Since then, like many, I’ve been captivated by the whole WikiLeaks story. (However, while this was published in 2012, before Chelsea Manning’s transition, I spent the whole book “correcting” these things in my head, though I realize contextually this would have been challenging.)
  • The Most Dangerous Man in the World: The Explosive True Story of Julian Assange and the Lies Cover-ups and Conspiracies He Exposed – Andrew Fowler. Continuing on the WikiLeaks train, this book was far less memorable than the one focused on Manning. It was honestly a bit boring, sadly.
  • You’re Welcome, Universe – Whitney Gardner. I was really pleased with this book’s ability to capture disability while making the character actually, you know, have other character traits than being d/Deaf. Julia is kicked out of the School for the Deaf for graffiti to help her friend, and must find her way in a mainstream school—this book has a lot of nuanced plot aspects without being too unrealistic. I actually gave it 5/5. Teen/YA.

15 down, 100 to go. 
What are you reading?