Books Read: June 2021 (Depressing With a Shake of Happy)

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
There is a whole new sub-genre of books that seem to be revealing themselves to me:  beautifully written but very depressing content.  Unsettled Ground is a story of family drama, poverty, trust, independence and was captivating from the word go.  I was hopeful that many moments would be uplifting and hopeful but in fact, it was mostly all sad and unsettling.  If you’re down with that, it’s worth a read!

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Killers of the Flower Moon:  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
File this one under nonfiction books that are beautifully written but with depressing content.  Actually this thoroughly researched and well told story of how maddeningly awful that Osage nation was treated after they struck it rich through the discovery of oil on their land is depressing-with-purpose.  This is a story that needed shared and there was no need (or way) to sugarcoat any of it.  Fascinating, all of it.  

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Excavation by Wendy Ortiz
Last month I read My Dark Vanessa and shared that I was planning to read Excavation due to the accusation by Ortiz that Vanessa’s author had plagiarized and that the stories were extremely similar (despite Ortiz not having actually read My Dark Vanessa).  I wasn’t too excited to delve back into the world of professors preying on their young teen students, but I wanted to read Excavation while Vanessa was still clear in my mind.  This memoir certainly has a similar central focus but is really disjointed and the criminal act(s) in question seemed to affect Ortiz much differently than they did the fictional protagonist in My Dark Vanessa.  While the comparison was interesting, the actual memoir wouldn’t be anything I would recommend to anyone.  

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The Geography of Bliss:  One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
Enough of all of the depressing stuff!  Where can we go to be happy?  Luckily Eric Weiner travels the world to find out how other countries and other cultures achieve complete contentment.  What an awesome travel memoir with a twist!  The author is great fun as well (despite being a grump).  You’ll laugh and learn and Google everywhere he goes.

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Up Next:
July looks like it will be my month of brand new and buzzy bestsellers, including Kristen Hannah's newest which is receiving mixed reviews.