Mini Book Reviews
Reactions to books I've read. This list does not necessarily represent every book I've read.
Most recent at the top.
The Lilac People: A Novel by Milo Todd (Finished February 25, 2026)
- Historical fiction book about transgender people in Berlin during and after World War II. This was a good read. I learned a bunch of history from it, and the characters had a touching story. It feels like an important part of history for people to be aware of.
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (Finished January 3, 2026)
- Very different than the musical/movie which were inspired by this book. I liked it a lot. In my opinion, it's a stronger story and better writing than the musical. I was told the book was darker, and that definitely comes through.
The Indigenous Triplet at start of 2025
(Just my own way of referring to this sequence of books)
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Leguin (Finished January 8, 2025)
After the election results of 2020, I searched Reddit for book suggestions based on the sentiment of those results, and this was a suggestion (jumped into this right after finishing Book of the New Sun series). It's an anthology of a fictional civilization, with origin stories, histories, poems and songs, descriptions of culture and ceremonies. Looking back a year later (I'm writing this in March 2026), it still carries a feeling of warmth and comfort -- the title is a good one -- the feeling is that no matter where you go, there will always be a home to return to. There's also a corresponding album of music that was created for this, which I listened through once -- interesting companion (most distinct word I carry forth from this is "heya"). Le Guin's last work I believe. This definitely solidified her as one of my favorite authors. The book also had an autobiographical section with essays by Le Guin, and I read and appreciated them (especially the ones relating to the connections between ACH and her own life).
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Finished March 1, 2025)
This is a book that my close friends in college were recommending to me -- took a couple years for me to get to it, but it felt like the right time: After Always Coming Home, which talks about the culture and stories of a fictional indigenous-like civilization, I wanted to gain a sense of the culture of real world indigenous people. This book delivered, combining indigenous stories and some history with a strong and impactful environmental lens. At the start, it posed the question of how humanity can have a positive relationship with the environment (while not giving up technology and our core way of life), and it delivered on working through answering this question, in an optimistic way. I think this genuinely shifted how I think about the relationship of humanity and the environment. Spoiler: a core part of the "answer" is restorative ecology.
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Finished April 6, 2025)
Braiding Sweetgrass had hints of the terrible history of the indigenous people in the US, and it felt like the perfect time to go deeper. I had added this book to my to-read list after a visit to the National Museum of the American Indian (in Washington, D.C.). This book was groundbreaking and transformative material for me. Tore apart everything I thought I knew about indigenous people in the US. Made me feel betrayed by what they taught me in school (or rather, what was lacking in what they taught). I think about the land of the US completely differently after reading this.