Seduced and reduced by startup culture

There’s a lot of money in Silicon Valley so it’s easy to understand why Anna Wiener wanted out of book publishing and in on big data. In her memoir Uncanny Valley [2020], Anna Wiener reflects on her experience working, hustling and sometimes thriving in the seductive world of startups. As a woman and a (non-essential) non-programmer, Wiener sees plenty of the bad we expect from young bros with too much money and no formal HR. Disillusionment is inevitable.

Four friends wrestle with abuse, shame, and loyalty

Are you emotionally ready for 800 pages of heartache? A Little Life [2015] by Hanya Yanagihara is set in NY and follows four friends - Willem, J.B., Malcolm and Jude - with different aspirations, privilege, relationships, and temperaments. Before taking a quiz to see if you’re a Willem or a Malcolm, let me say that this is not a boys version of Sex In the City. Or any version of it. A Little Life is excruciatingly painful to read. We watch them grow up, grow apart, be there for one another, disappoint each other. We also learn about their pasts and the pains, physically and emotionally, that influence who they become. Beautiful and harrowing, this novel is one that might take you a while to read but is worth the journey.

Thank you to Will Simpson and Andy Whalen for recommending this book to me!

Life goes on for two wartime friends whether they like it or not

An Englishman and a Bangladeshi walk into a bar. Again and again. Old habits die hard, and these two friends, bound together by WWII, can’t seem to move on. While several years have past, they now have wives and children, neighbors and in-laws - all with opinions of their own. Everyone is on the brink of disaster, including the city of London. But at least they have the bar, their usual orders, and the “incident” that keeps them together. White Teeth [2000] by Zadie Smith is as funny as it is moving.

Boyhood but with a reluctant art thief

Kid takes a painting from museum that was attacked by terrorists. He goes on this nuts adventure trying to protect this bird painting. He befriends a Russian kid in Las Vegas, an old antiques refurbisher, a former classmates’s mom, and a girl who also survived the museum attack. There’s alcohol, drugs, guns, car chases, international destinations…it’s as if Fast and the Furious was wearing tortoise shell glasses. I’m not really doing this book justice. I mean it is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Read The Goldfinch [2013] by Donna Tartt if you have a lot of time on your hands. It’s good and anxiety-inducing (just return the damn painting!!!!), but it’s long.

Two white people try to outwoke each other over a relationship with a Black woman

Woman-empowering, business consultant white influencer lady tries to outwoke a Black-obsessed white man. Stuck in the middle is a twenty-something Black woman who is just trying to figure out her life, and more importantly, how to get health insurance. Nanny for the woman. Girlfriend of the man. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid looks into privilege, race, transactional relationships, and guilt. Couldn’t be more timely.

Ah, to be a rich, older white lady in New York City

If I could have another life, would I choose Nora Ephron’s? Probably. I Feel Bad About My Neck: Other Thoughts on Being a Woman could use some qualifiers to “woman”, like rich, white, successful, older…but despite not being any of those (my litmus test being I don’t have a cherished doorman, or a doorman at all) this book of essays is entertaining and (don’t let the title fool you) aspirational. Who knew menopause, aging, divorce, and New York City living could make it onto my vision board?