June was a bit of a dark reading month.

Books read included a fictional retelling of a kidnapped woman and her son born in captivity, real-life interviews with people who survived Soviet communism, and two psychology books that contradict most of the popular psychological assumptions about mental illness and its proper treatment.

Yep. Real light-hearted stuff, alright.

However, every once in a while, we need to take some time to be serious and consider the darker side of life in order to learn how to keep it at bay and appreciate goodness that much more.

Maybe that’s why the ancient writer said:

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning…
— Ecclesiastes 7:4

Okay, without further ado, here’s how I did on my reading list for June…

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June 2021 Book Reviews

Personal Ratings & Review

I use 2 criteria to rate every book on a scale of 1–5:

1. Content: the ideas in this book are interesting, edifying, and worth learning.
2. Craftsmanship: the work is polished, skillful, and well-written.

In June, I had 4 penalty books, and had to finish at least 1 of them. Then I had to read at least 3 books from the tic-tac-toe board. The result? I didn’t succeed with the penalty list, but I did get one row across for tic-tac-toe!

Here is the list, starting with penalties:

F = Fiction. N = Nonfiction.

Penalty List

1. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (F): A quartet of motherless sisters meet a interesting boy while on vacation.
   How I did: Read the first chapter, and lost interest. I’m still not very into fiction right now, not when nonfiction is often more fascinating.
2. Quiet by Susan Cain (N): The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking (←that’s the subtitle)
   How I did: Didn’t start, didn’t finish. I thought reading about introverts would be interesting, since I have long considered myself one, but right now I’m not too interested in learning about introversion.
3. Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen (F; re-read): A middle school sleuth accidentally witnesses a theft. Now she has to discover the thief’s real identity before he does her in.
   How I did: Didn’t start, didn’t finish. This would have been a re-read, so I confess I wasn’t highly motivated to read it when I had other more interesting books on my list.
4. Lies of Locke Lamora (F): A young master thief leads a team of thieves known as the Gentlemen Bastards, but must face an enemy from within.
   How I did: Read the first 100 pages or so, then lost interest.

Tic-Tac-Toe Prompts

1. Prompt: Highest Rated (4.5 stars or higher on Goodreads)
   Room by Emma Donoghue (F): A kidnapped woman hatches a daring escape plan after many years of bondage. Told from the perspective of her five-year-old son, who was born and raised in their one-room prison.
   How I did: Finished.
2. Prompt: Title Doesn’t Contain the Letter “A”
   Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher (N): Emigres from the former communist Soviet bloc tell their stories of resistance and survival, illuminating how today’s America is beginning to tilt dangerously in the direction of totalitarianism.
   How I did: Finished.
3. Prompt: Somewhere I’ve Been (SoCal)
   Positive Addictions by William Glasser (N): A nontraditional psychologist argues that people can build moral strength through something he calls “positive addictions.” (Like negative addictions, but the opposite)
   How I did: Finished.
4. Prompt: Pinterest reads (A book that was recommended by someone on Pinterest)
   Reality Therapy by William Glasser (N): Using case studies from personal experience, Glasser lays out his psychological theory, contradicting traditional psychotherapeutic assumptions.
   How I did: Finished.

Thoughts on Books Read

Warning: Light spoilers ahead! They will be marked with a [SPOILER] sign.

Room (F)

1. ★★
2. ★★★★

I decided to give Room a try because I’d heard how popular it was a few years ago. I thought I’d just skim the book to see what it was all about, but ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting.

It’s a disturbing premise, that’s for sure, but the author does a decent job of not dwelling on the ugliness while not excusing it, either. It’s also a challenge for an adult writer to write from the perspective of a small child, let alone a small child who has been born and raised in unimaginably limited and unhealthy circumstances. But she managed to pull it off.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for content, but have to say that it is well written from a story craft perspective. It makes you want to know what happens next, and that’s a huge part of what makes a good story.

But then again, part of that might be due to the fascination of the subject matter — there’s a reason why human beings can’t look away from a train wreck, or a car accident. And it’s the same reason why some people are drawn to horror movies. Even though (or rather, because) they are terrible and destructive, they pique human curiosity more than anything else.

Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher (N)

1. ★★★★
2. ★★★

I won’t mince words. Live Not By Lies is kind of a depressing book. But it’s an interesting one, and growing more relevant to us in these troubling days.

The book consists essentially of interviews with people who lived through the worst of Soviet communism — people who were tortured and/or tempted to bow their heads to tyranny, but who somehow found the strength to resist and survive and even help overthrow the Marxist leaders that took over their countries for long, miserable years.

[SPOILER] The most memorable anecdote in this book was the interview with the Benda family. They were Czech dissidents who fought against Communist culture. The parents did so by inoculating their children against Communist ideology, reading to them for a couple hours or more per day, offering hospitality to fellow resistors, and living life outside the mainstream.

The whole concept of spending time with your kids by reading to them for hours a day was particularly interesting, as was the fact that these parents taught their kids so well the entire family survived the ideological pressures of the time. Shows how powerful good books can be, and what an encouragement in dark times!

Positive Addictions by William Glasser (N)

1. ★★★★
2. ★★★

Positive Addictions is a book about the concept of positive addiction — what it is, what it does, and how to develop a positive addiction of your own.

Glasser begins with a story about a baseball player (George Shuba, see The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn) who developed a “natural swing” by swinging his bat at a knotted string 600 times a day from the age of 16 and throughout his baseball career.

Glasser argues that this practice is more than just a self-willed decision to practice baseball. It was an addiction, pure and simple, and people can develop addictions like this that not only make you feel bad when you don’t do them (like negative addictions), but that actually ADD to your life when you do it.

In the book, Glasser lists six characteristics of positive addictions, how to develop a positive addiction should you want to, and gives examples of people who have positive addictions in their lives. He does get a bit wordy in this section, but I think the original concept is worth considering.

I found Glasser’s description of people who have “half-given-up” most intriguing.

He writes that all human beings need two things to live a healthy life: love & worth. And if someone can’t get one or the other (or, I think, usually both), they eventually stop trying, lose their moral courage, and instead look for any way to numb the pain of not having love/worth.

However, very few people give up entirely (giving up = suicide or complete mental break) and instead give up “halfway” instead, which is where negative addictions (to drugs, etc) come in.

Glasser’s argument is that people who develop a positive addiction instead can counteract this vicious cycle and gain strength to fight for love, worth, and a worthwhile life.

So here’s something to think about — what kind of positive addictions would you like to cultivate in your own life?

Reality Therapy by William Glasser (N)

1. ★★★★
2. ★★★

I actually read Reality Therapy before reading Positive Addictions, and was intrigued by Glasser’s theory. He basically goes against most of the currently accepted assumptions in modern psychotherapy, which is still largely based on Freudian psychotherapy:

For one, he believes that all mental illnesses come from the same cause (denial of reality), and can be treated in the same way (reality therapy). He also believes that people choose various “mental illnesses symptoms” in order to deal with a life that has become too painful to bear.

For another, Glasser argues that it’s not actually therapeutic for counselors and therapists to maintain a cool, professional distance from clients in order to allow “transference.” Instead, he states that because one of the client’s key issues is lack of love, it is good for the therapist to befriend and even bond with the client.

There are other elements of conventional psychiatry that Glasser disagrees with: digging into the client’s past to figure out why they’re suffering is thrown out, as is the concept of “becoming aware of the unconscious.” Morality is important in Reality Therapy, even though it’s often ignored in conventional therapy. Behavior is more important than thoughts, and more.

I’m not sure I 100% agree with all of Glasser’s concepts, but I think they’re at least worth considering. If something isn’t working, it’s worth trying out a different idea, and it’s pretty clear that standard modern psychotherapy isn’t a whole lot of help for many (most?) people, especially people with heavy, serious problems.

Summary

I didn’t exactly have a favorite book this month because they were all so heavy. But the books were interesting and thought-provoking. Reality Therapy was probably the most intriguing, although I don’t know yet how much I agree with all of the ideas presented in the book.

Positive Addictions was similarly thought-provoking, and I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to form a positive addiction to, and how. Several of these books I suspect will continue stewing in my mind for a while and we shall see how they affect me in the future.

So that’s it for June. I’ll be uploading the video to our Brilliant Writer app (join our Merry Band using the link below and find out how to get access to the free app!)

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I’ve curated The Brilliant Writer Reading List to help you avoid terrible books and find the best of the best!

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