Tag: Simon & Schuster

Books, NonFiction

Humanity of Horses in Sarah Maslin Nir’s Horse Crazy

RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 304
Quick Review An exploration of the constant search for love, meaning, and belonging so many people find in animals, but this is a tale of finding stories and horses in the most unusual places. 

Just a good day.
Horse kisses are almost as good as my dogs’ kisses.

I’m a wanna-be horse girl. I have loved horses forever but grew up around cows. In college, I dated a man who’s mom has horses. Her farm is still one of my favorite places in the world. 80% because of the horses. They make me happy, but then again, all animals do. Reading Horse Crazy was like diving into a completely different yet oh so similar life’s journey. I think animal people, in the way Sarah Maslin Nir is, will find pieces of themselves tucked away within these pages.

Nir writes a fascinating and engaging memoir. She grew up in New York City with the kind of privilege that allowed her to be a true horse girl, which would have provided the backdrop for an already interesting memoir. Growing up Jewish on the Upper East Side, she’s the daughter of a holocaust survivor father and a workaholic mother. She was an outsider in New York City because of her love for horses. She was an outsider within the equestrian community as a city girl. Even within her family, she was often left alone. Though she has three half brothers, they’re two decades older and barely claimed her as family. She sought out community and belonging but found horses to be the only beings to truly understand and accept her.   

There is so much cool stuff in Horse Crazy. I legitimately learned a lot. Nir answers questions, I never even thought about. There are horses in New York City… Where do they live? Not only does she answer that question, she dives into the history of Black cowboys in the United States, brutalities of horse training, the rampant neglect and abuse that’s part of the horse life, and so many other things. 

There’s such a humanness to Nir’s persistent struggle with feeling worthy within her family and the world. She found validation through horses. Even when people tore her down and made her feel less than while training, horses were always there for her. I get that. More days than not, I only find validation from my dogs. Animals, whether they be horses or dogs or cats or a pet tarantula, are so many people’s joy and unconditional love and even lifeline to continued existence. 

Honestly, this is my happy place.

Horse Crazy is well written, funny, relatable, and filled with amazing moments of humanity. I’d read it again. 

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Buy on Amazon

Title: Horse Crazy; The Story of a Woman and a World in Love with an Animal
Author: Sarah Maslin Nir
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2020 
ISBN: 9781982145484

Books, NonFiction

Mother Winter by Sophia Shalmiyev

RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 288
Quick Review A meandering memoir. Shalmiyev talks about the dark side of growing up with an alcoholic mother and the scars that never go away.

201904153473527912663709598.jpg
Mother Winter by Sophia Shalmiyev | Jeans | Sandals | Shirt | Sweater

Mother Winter by Sophia Shalmiyev is one of the most interesting memoirs I have ever read, and I have read a lot. I’m drawn to memoirs because life isn’t defined by a single event or truth but the culmination of all experiences. Everyone has their own ever evolving truth, and memoirs are a beautiful exploration of that. Sophia Shalmiyev looks back at her life and how so much of it was affected by her alcoholic mother even after leaving the country and starting a new life.

Mother Winter reads like poetry. It doesn’t necessarily make sense at first, but in its entirety, it is a beautiful story. Shalmiyev was born in Russia during the communist years. Her parents divorced, and her father raised her due to her mother being an alcoholic and unfit to parent. Even so, Shalmiyev never stopped looking, thinking, or yearning for the mother she lost. In her youth, she left the USSR to make a home in the United States.

I speak Russian. I have a fairly vast knowledge of the history, literature, and culture because I studied it in college. For me, the language and culture was very accessible. It’s interesting to know the history of a country and government juxtaposed against the personal experience of a young girl. I love how Shalmiyev transliterated some Russian words instead of translating them; it granted a more insight into the culture.

The prose in Mother Winter is not straight forward. The chapters weave and jump, backtracking and side-stepping. It is a very complicated organizational system, which could have failed miserably, but instead it is the perfect fit. The reader gets lost and regains themselves in the text, in a way similar to Shalmiyev felt, I can only imagine, as a child in Russia between homes and again as a young immigrant in America. Discombobulated in the best of ways. I love how eloquent and transcendent her prose is; then, suddenly there is a bluntness to her sentence where there is no room for misinterpretation. On of my favorite passages can be found on page 46 and 47. Shalmiyev cuts through the bullshit.

She weaves USSR history into her life giving the reader context and understanding of what she went through. She blends history, science, feelings, memories, anecdotes, adjective strings, third person narration, quotes, directives to her mother, and so much more. The amount of knowledge Shalmiyev includes extends from literature, medicine, philosophy, science, and history – I probably missed some.

Mother Winter is an absolute joy to read. I loved it from a personal stance because of the Russian component, but it is also the story of a mother and a woman surviving. I absolutely cannot recommend this book more.

Memorable Quotes
“Yesterday has never ended.”
“a book like Henry and June roasted my throat with the fear that tough and smart doesn’t protect you from subservient and used up.”
“Goods are damaged often by no fault of their own.”

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3548770″]

Title: Mother Winter
Author: Sophia Shalmiyev
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781501193088

Books, NonFiction

The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson

RaeAnna

DSC_0221_3-01.jpeg
Reading The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson | Pink Shoes | Black Dress

Worth a Read Yes
Length 256
Quick Review Tommy Tomlinson has “always been fat.” After living a full life, he decided to make a change and lose weight.

Tommy Tomlinson is a well known journalist. He had a brilliant career and the love of his life, but he was a fat man. His weight kept him from enjoying his life to the fullest. Over the course of a year, Tomlinson documented his weightloss journey in The Elephant in the Room.

The memoir delves into his year of weight loss but also his past. The past can rear its ugly head forever if it goes unconfronted. To deal with his issues with food he had to look into his past and why he loved food as much as he did. Each chapter documented one month of his weight loss journey. At the end of each chapter he document how much weight he had lost or gained. His honesty about the struggle is refreshing. It is a journey with ups and downs; all of which he experienced.

Tomlinson’s honesty is inspiring. His style of writing is funny and sad and deeply insightful. I really enjoyed reading The Elephant in the Room.

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3532945″]

Title: The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America
Author: Tommy Tomlinson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9781982106690

Books, NonFiction

Good & Mad by Rebecca Traister

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 320
Quick Review Anger has been subdued, ignored, and vilified in women for-literally-ever. It’s not even something that can be discussed as if it’s in the past. Good & Mad is a look into women’s pent-up anger.

201811047590078273242962907.jpg
Good & Mad by Rebecca Traister || Red Dress || Heels

Earlier this year, I read Rebecca Traister’s All the Single Ladies (read the review here) and enjoyed it very much. When I found out about her newest book Good & Mad, I was ecstatic to read it.

Anger is a natural emotion. Everyone is angry at some point, in some way, on some level. For men, anger can be an asset. For women, it never is. Anger is something I have struggled with my entire life. I was never encouraged to be angry; instead, calm down became a mantra. Anytime I was angry, it was always played off as irrational and, when I got older, or just PMS. Just so you know, it was never PMS. The even more infuriating thing: it was women telling me these things. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized other women experienced the same thing.

Good & Mad isn’t necessarily ground breaking, but it is important. Now is a time of upheaval. Women are fighting for their rights. Equal rights. A lesser known right: the right to be angry. We deserve to feel angry and express it. Rebecca Traister explores the history of women’s anger with a great of emphasis on American women.

I enjoy reading Traister’s work because she has a sense of humor even when writing about dark topics like feminism, violence, and anger. Good & Mad is no exception. She finds flaws in the American system, but through the criticism, it is obvious she loves this country and wants the best for it. Focusing on competent yet vilified women in politics is one way of showing examples of women’s anger being unacceptable. Women can’t win on either end. If they’re angry, they’re vilified; if they’re too kind, they’re adorable and a push over. Neither way is a woman taken seriously.

One of my favorite points, which I had not thought of much, is the idea that when a woman criticizes a man it is reminiscent of maternal criticism and marks an emotional return to childhood for men. This is a really interesting concept that could be expanded upon.

I highly suggest this read. It’s very interesting!

Buy on Amazon || Buy on Book Depository

Memorable Quotes
“Over the threat of a potential female leader, brutal masculinity won.”
“The aspersions that a woman who is angry is also unstable is cast every day in popular political discourse.”
“Maybe we cry when we’re furious in part because we feel a kind of grief at all the things we want to say or tell that we know we can’t.”
“The close cousin of sadness is laughter”

Title: Good and Mad
Author: Rebecca Traister
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9781501181795

Books, NonFiction

You Are A Mogul by Tiffany Pham

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 224
Quick Review The Founder of Mogul, Tiffany Pham, compiles her knowledge, experience, and desire to change the world in You Are A Mogul; it will leave you motivated and confident. The perfect book for every female entrepreneur finding her way!

201809147905028790069866806.jpg
Reading You Are A Mogul by Tiffany Pham || My friend has the cutest dog!!!

At the age of 27 (what am I doing with my life), Tiffany Pham had already graduated from Yale AND Harvard Business School, been a producer on movies, been on Forbes 30 under 30 list, worked in finance, a whole bunch of other stuff, and then launched a website, which she coded herself, that would become one of the most successful and influential communities of women. Yikes. She sets the bar so high! In her book You Are A Mogul, she talks about her life and all the hard work, time, and determination it took to become the mogul she is today.

Pham writes a book which cannot be described as self-help or memoir; it’s a combination. She uses her life as a basis to inform and help lift up other women. Her life and tips for success intertwine to create a portrait of who she is. She comes across as a beautiful, kind, hardworking soul. Honestly, as I read her book, I really want to be friends with her. The biggest pieces of her advice in succeeding in business and in life are incredibly similar to what I tell people. You’ll believe her more because she’s, well, successful, and I’m … working on it! The three things you should take from You Are A Mogul: 1) Be authentically you, always. 2) Don’t just make connections, create relationships. 3) Work as hard as you can on everything you do.  

DSC_0156_1-02.jpeg
Cover of You Are A Mogul by Tiffany Pham.

I want you to read this book. Not because it’s groundbreaking information. It’s not. All the tips and advice and statistics in the book are not new if you are aware of the world and women’s place in it. What is beautiful about You Are A Mogul is Pham’s ability to seem like she’s chatting with a friend. So many women mention their accomplishments with humility if at all. Other’s go overboard trying to prove they are competent. Pham has confidence in who she is and what she created. She shares her accomplishments with a sense of pride, while also giving credit to everyone who helped her achieve her goals. More women need to have confidence and take pride in their accomplishments. She is an amazing role model.

At the end of every chapter, another female mogul write a one to three page blurb giving her own advice and story. Even though women are vastly under represented as moguls, they do exist. It’s important to hear their stories and know their faces.

Pham writes You Are A Mogul for women. Her business is for women. It’s an important book to read as a female entrepreneur, if for no other reason than to support one another. Though, I think it is probably more important for men to read this book and ones like it. They need to see and understand the difficulties women face in the business world. More importantly, they need to see women killing it. When women win, men win.

Tiffany Pham, if you’re reading this, I would love to be friends! You’re amazing.     

Click to buy on Amazon! Buy on Book Depository.

Memorable Quotes
“Be flexible but strategic.”
“True failing is not doing, not trying.”
“Always trust that you have the willingness to learn.”

Title: You Are A Mogul; How to Do the Impossible, Do It Yourself, & Do It Now
Author: Tiffany Pham
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 978150119855

Books

The Caregiver by Samuel Park

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 288
Quick Review A novel about the desire to understand people and situations. The desire is rarely satisfied, but you don’t have to understand to connect and care.

DSC_0005_1-01.jpeg

The Caregiver by Samuel Park was published posthumously. He passed away from stomach cancer at the age of 41. It is hard to read this novel without seeing it as being written out of a place of hope and sadness.

Mara Alencar is a young woman living in the United States sans documents after a childhood watching atrocities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the caretaker to a woman dying from cancer. She reminisces about her childhood home and her mother, Ana. Mara is both caretaker and child to her mother. Like most children there is a duality to her. She understands more than the adults around her realize, but she also is only able to accept the world as it appears to her without perceiving the nuance, complexity, and difficulty that is being human.

The writing style is very beautiful. Park allows Mara to witness situations as a child she cannot understand, but the reader, with adult experiences, sees what she cannot. Lacing the present with the past, brings a fullness to Mara’s adulthood that would otherwise result in a flat character. Park uses lexical foreshadowing to create emotional space between characters without giving away any events to come. The use of Portuguese words brings the reader closer to Mara’s cultural heritage.  

Park captures the experience of trying to understand a situation from the outside. There is a yearning for understanding in Mara, which comes to fruition through her connecting with those around her.  

Title: The Caregiver
Author: Samuel Park
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9781501182426