Unclutter your space with feng shui, by Antonia Beattie and Rosemary Stevens

 

I enjoy reading books and articles about both decluttering and feng shui, but this book is light on the principles of both concepts. It's a very quick read with cute illustrations, but there are many other resources that are better. For decluttering, (why do they use the term "unclutter"? Even Google tried to correct the term), Marie Kondo's books would be a more thorough and practical approach.

Narcas: the secret rise of women in Latin America's cartels, by Deborah Bonello

With Narcas, VICE News reporter Deborah Bonello has provided readers with a short (160 pages) but fascinating look at some of the women who have risen to the top ranks of some of Latin America's most notorious cartels. Focusing on Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, Bonello demonstrates how the deep poverty of the region lead so many to enter into the drug trade. Many of these women were highly successful for a period of time, but most of them were arrested eventually; some of them even turned themselves in and collaborated with the DEA to avoid arrest or lengthy prison terms. Bonello's motive for writing the book is to show that there are women in these roles even though they have been largely overlooked by the news or popular media. Much of her writing consists of her impressions based on interviews not only with the women whom she was profiling but also with others in their organization, their neighbors, other reporters and researchers, and law enforcement.
 

Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton

 

I really liked this novel set in New Zealand. It's about a group of environmentalists who work together to farm and garden on unclaimed or unused tracts of land. They decide to farm a new property but become embroiled in a conspiracy that's incredibly dangerous. Mira is the de facto head of Birnam Wood, the collective of farmers and environmentalists. Her best friend, Shelley, is thinking of leaving the group, but stays in to be involved in the new project, which has the potential of being funded by an American billionaire, Robert Lemoine. He wants to invest in good works and non-profits; however, Lemoine has much more planned for the property than Mira and her friends can imagine, and how that plays out creates a slowly rising tension in the book that kept me reading to the end. Mira's friend Tony is a budding reporter who decides to investigate the story as a way to break into the field, and his probing sets in motion a series of events that will be catastrophic. None of the characters in this book are particularly likable, but their actions and motivations are fascinating, and I found it impossible to put this book down.

Water on fire: A memoir of war, by Tarek El-Ariss

 

This is a deeply moving memoir by Dartmouth University professor of Middle Eastern studies Tarek El-Ariss. Growing up in war-torn Lebanon during its fifteen-year-long civil war (1975-1990), El-Ariss and his family suffered through constant bombardment and other dangers while trying to survive on a daily basis. In spite of the war, he and his family went to the beach, attended school, and took vacations in England, with the war a constant presence around them. He spent some time in the Côte d’Ivoire to avoid being conscripted, returned to Beirut to attend college at the American University of Beirut, and ultimately moved to the United States to complete his graduate education. Occasionally El-Ariss digresses to provide brief history lessons on Lebanon and Syria, helping provide context for the events in his own life. El-Ariss tells his story in a roughly chronological fashion, but intersperses it with episodes from his adult life, and the entire memoir is framed around his recognition as an adult that he needed therapy to address the trauma of growing up surrounded by violence. VERDICT This important memoir documents the impact for a child growing up during the Lebanese Civil War.

This review was previously published in Library Journal here.

The year 1000, by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger

 

This is an enjoyable overview of life in England in the year 1000. Framed around the Julius Work Calendar, chapters follow the months and each month reflects a theme as illustrated in the Calendar allowing the authors to focus on food, animals, farming, harvesting food, war, and more. It's a fun, easy to read, and short history that is designed for the lay reader, although it provides a nice bibliography for people who want to learn more.