Review 66: The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia

The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia: Get a Good Night's Sleep Without Relying on Medication by Shelby Harris
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I don't have insomnia, maybe a night or two here or there, or a week at most at a time, but nothing long lasting. But who doesn't want a better night of sleep? I definitely have a problem with Sunday night as during the weekends I time shift. It's automatic, I can't help it. I fit myself into a sleep schedule to fit work, but it does not fit my internal time clock. Actually sounds like a recipe for chronic insomnia, so the fact I don't, makes me feel lucky.

Yet, I do struggle at times, which is why this book looked interesting to me. I wanted to also understand why it was geared towards women and not everyone. The author, Harris, mentions several things that are particular to women: we tend to worry more, our brains are harder to shut off, then there's those things such as menopause, perimenopause and pregnancy. The hormones and cycles definitely play a role in our sleeping.

It's sometimes hard to rate self-help books, and this one definitely fits in that category. One reason for a lower rating is the repetitiveness that is here. I think authors of these types of books figure people may skip around and not read every chapter, but this book is geared for reading in the usual manner. Another reason I rated the book lower was for lack of examples. It felt like more examples for the situations would have made for a better book. If there was repetition due to padding out the book, more of these examples would have taken care of that issue.

In a moment of synchronicity, I received an email yesterday that discussed a new FDA Black Box warning for insomnia medications. The short article states that the best primary way to tackle insomnia is not medications but cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, known as CBT-i. I had never heard of this before reading the book, but the book is all about CBT-i.

Despite the flaws of the book it still contains a lot of useful advice. I will likely add some of these recommendations to my sleep routine.

Book rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to W.W. Norton and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 65: The DNA of You and Me

The DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Another book that didn't do well for me. Had a few duds lately. I wanted to like this, a story about scientists and personal relationships, maybe love. But it was too odd really. The seemed to be no reason why our main character Emily fell for Aeden so quickly. And their relationship was odd too. Definitely needed more in that department.

As for the science there was definitely enough. The first large portion of the book was about the science and Emily getting into this new lab, and bickering. Too much of that. Perhaps it is realistic, I don't know.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an excellent job of the book.

Review 64: Opioid, Indiana

Opioid, Indiana by Brian Allen Carr
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

This book was a good attempt at showing how a teenager deals with things he shouldn't have to. He is an orphan at too young an age and moved from caretaker to caretaker, the lastest being his mother's younger brother who is a drug addict. Our narrator, Riggle, never tells us the name of the town, instead naming it Opioid for all of the addicts.

The book takes place over about a week of time, and each day we get a little fable that his mom told him with using a hand shadow puppet they called Remote. I didn't like these asides. Also made it feel like the character is much younger than his 17 years, but that's understandable with his circumstances. He's had to take care of himself at too young of age.

During this week Riggle is suspended from school and he and Peggy (his uncle's live-in girlfriend) are trying, half-hardheartedly, to find the uncle. Riggle's only friend plays a small role in the story too, grounding us in the reality of kids living with the possibility of school shootings. There's a lot in this short novel, too much perhaps, and unfortunately a lot of it is lost.

There are interesting sentences and observations but somehow the book isn't pulled together well. It's hard to pin down exactly but the book didn't resonate with me. Perhaps for teenagers this will be a better read for them, yet I find it hard to call this young adult. (I did add the tag.) The book is grity and dark, but the language and main character does lend it to that YA genre. I wanted the book to work, but unfortunately, for me it didn't.

Book rating: 2.5 stars, rounded down


Thanks to Soho Press and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 63: The Warehouse

The Warehouse by Rob Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A dystopian tale that seems all too plausible, well mostly. As society crumbles with climate change and governments failure to do much, one company steps in and solves all of our shopping needs. After a deadly Black Friday massacre people just don't want to go into stores anymore. So now there is Cloud and nearly the only place to work. It reminded me a little of the movie Idiocracy, with the huge warehouse that everyone shops. As a worker you also must live there. It's a self-contained company store, with entertainment and everything. It's a bit creepy. The watch that tracks your movements and tells you were to go next when to wake up for your next shift.

We have two main characters, one a woman, Zinnia, who is undercover with a mission: find out their power source, it can't all be solar. The other is a discouraged inventor, Paxton, with prison guard work in his resume who ends up on security. We also get the founder's Gibson Wells voice in his blogs that he writes as he nears the end of his life.

The pacing of the book was great. I do like how we see the "other" side with Gibson's blog postings. He sounds like a down-to-earth guy, not a creep who has taken over just about everything.

There are a few aspects to the story-line that was kinda weird, seemed unnecessary. Some parts maybe not explored well or overdone, otherwise a decent book. It looks like the book has Ron Howard interested in the movie rights, so we may see it on the big-screen sometime. I'll definitely see it if that happens.


Preview of the book: https://youtu.be/lh4jJk4rBJc
Like a movie trailer! Wow, looks exciting!
The book was exciting...and may become a movie. So the trailer makes sense.


Thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 62: Vox

Vox by Christina Dalcher
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

I listened to this book on audio and it propelled me forward with such strength that I could not stop the book. Now that it is all over, looking back well, the book was not so fantastic.

The first problem is that the basic plot has been done before. Sure there are some twists to it, but it is not anything new. I normally do not compare to other books, but this one lends to that too easily. First you take The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Then add a bit of All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis for limiting speech, but just women. Then you throw in (nearly any) medical thriller, say Next by Michael Crichton.

This book is a dystopian future where the Christian right goes way overboard on their "Purity" movement and wants women at home and not speaking. The main character was a neuro-linguistic scientist that happens to have a "cure" for aphasia, which the President's brother gets from a ski accident.

Part of the problem with the book is way too many people seem to be getting aphasia from various reasons. Lacks believably. The thriller part, the action, was overdone. The main problem really is that the story line just doesn't hold up well enough. Not really. The romance? That was incongruous and didn't belong.

Best to stick with Atwood's book, it was done much better. This book is too similar in idea that no need to branch out further. Unless you just must have more.


Book rating: 2.5 stars, rounded up because yes, I was hooked in.