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Review: Quiet by Susan Cain

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Quiet by Susan Cain

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking
Susan Cain
Crown Publishing Group
Published January 24, 2012

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Quiet

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society. 

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, QUIET has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

My Review

I first read this book years ago, and I remember a lot of things suddenly making sense about myself and my daughter specifically. At the time I was a single mom with an elementary-aged daughter whose teacher was very much an extrovert. She seemed to prefer a collaborative learning environment in the classroom, which can be great. My daughter struggled with some of the methods her teacher used. I remember her teacher seeming frustrated or worried about it. I think she wanted my daughter to be able to engage more fully and was troubled that she didn’t seem to be getting her work done. My suspicion was that there was too much stimulation making it difficult for her to work. Reading QUIET helped me articulate that more effectively. I ended up giving a copy of the book to the teacher, who also loved it.

I started listening to the audiobook again this year because I’d been having trouble sleeping. I wanted something kind of low key to listen to– you know, no big dramatic climax or high stakes– so this seemed like a good fit.

It really struck me how much I had forgotten or how many things that didn’t apply to my life when I read the book before do apply now. I’m currently married and now have two children, sharing a communal-style home with my parents. And we are a house FULL of introverts! So it’s been really interesting thinking about some of the challenges and advantages common to introverted people in various stages of life and… in the midst of a pandemic.

Thinking about the pandemic also really changed what stood out to me in the book this time as I read/listened to it. Cain discusses research into how different animals with both introverted and extroverted members of their species handle risks. Different situations tend to give one group the advantage over the other in terms of survival, because their natural instincts either protect them or expose them to additional risks.

Introverts, Extroverts and Covid (Skip this section if it’s too political for you.)

Early on in the pandemic, I remember thinking that being introverted gave us an advantage because we weren’t ever really big go-out-and-do people. We do things. Sometimes? At our highest level of social activity, my husband and I had nearly weekly game nights with another couple. We rarely eat out at a restaurant– he has trouble hearing and I don’t speak very loudly. We like restaurant food, but takeout has long been our preferred approach.

So while we had to make sacrifices and change our behavior, the changes weren’t nearly as dramatic as for our extroverted friends who have huge house parties every few months and are super active in our local theater productions. I figured that as things began to normalize or restrictions began to loosen/Covid-19 case numbers began to drop, our extroverted friends would be more easily able to return to going out because that was a more comfortable, natural life pace for them. And I think that’s been true.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the chapters on how introverts and extroverts process risk. If I can oversimplify, introverts tend generally to be more risk-averse than extroverts. Sometimes extroverts head directly into risk when it would be better to retreat. Cain discussed some examples and studies on this. I’ve been thinking about that as I watch all these heated discussions about mask wearing and social distance guidelines. It’s not like all the extroverts I know are anti-mask and all the introverts are pro-mask. It’s definitely not that simple. But I guess it has helped me to think about the fact that sometimes there are motivations that I didn’t consider or understand behind people’s behaviors.

That doesn’t change what I think about masks… I’m still really pro-mask and think it falls within the values of loving others and being a responsible community member. But it helps to realize that it’s not that simple for a lot of people, and that there may be genetic or scientific reasons they are behaving the way they are.

Review Summary

I enjoyed reading this book again. It’s one of those books packed with so much information that I don’t know if I could absorb it all in one read. Even now I like the idea of revisiting certain chapters when I’m ready to look at more information.

There’s also a version of this book for younger readers called QUIET POWER. I don’t have it right now, but I really want to check it out. I’d like to post a review of that one as well. If you’ve read it already or have posted a review, please tell me about it in the comments or you can reach out to me on Twitter.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Mostly discusses research and examples of famous introverts and extroverts. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. are both mentioned. The depiction of Rosa Parks doesn’t line up with some of the descriptions from her autobiography. Cain also interviews a Chinese-American college student who’s an introvert in a program that overtly values extroverted behavior. He talks about how a summer in China was so different because some of the cultural values were more comfortable for him as an introvert and how validating that was for him.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Rea and the Blood of the Nectar by Payal Doshi

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Rea and the Blood of the Nectar (Chronicles of Astranthia #1)
Payal Doshi
Mango and Marigold Press
Published June 15, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Rea and the Blood of the Nectar

It all begins on the night Rea turns twelve. After a big fight with her twin brother Rohan on their birthday, Rea’s life in the small village of Darjeeling, India, gets turned on its head. It’s four in the morning and Rohan is nowhere to be found.

It hasn’t even been a day and Amma acts like Rohan’s gone forever. Her grandmother, too, is behaving strangely. Unwilling to give up on her brother, Rea and her friend Leela meet Mishti Daadi, a wrinkly old fortune-teller whose powers of divination set them off on a thrilling and secret quest. In the shade of night, they portal into an otherworldly realm and travel to Astranthia, a land full of magic and whimsy. There with the help of Xeranther, an Astranthian barrow boy, and Flula, a pari, Rea battles serpent-lilies and blood-sucking banshees, encounters a butterfly-faced woman and blue lizard-men, and learns that Rohan has been captured. Rea also discovers that she is a princess with magic. Only she has no idea how to use it.

Struggling with the truth her Amma has kept hidden from her, Rea must solve clues that lead to Rohan, find a way to rescue him and save Astranthia from a potentially deadly fate. But the clock is ticking. Can she rescue Rohan, save Astranthia, and live to see it all?

Rea and the Blood of the Nectar is Payal Doshi’s stunning #ownvoices middle-grade fantasy debut about understanding complex family dynamics, fighting for what is right, discovering oneself, and learning to make friends.

My Review

This was a really fun book to read! I have been hearing such great things about it for so long that I was a little nervous about reading it. I tend to have that anxiousness about books that have a lot of hype around them. In this case, though, I was not disappointed.

I felt like Rea was easy to identify with. She’s a loner but also lonely, and that absolutely resonated with me, especially in thinking back to my own life at that age. She’s also smart and motivated, though her trust issues kind of trip her up sometimes. I loved that the story explored her relationships with others and gave her opportunities to grow both as an individual and as a friend/sister/leader.

REA AND THE BLOOD OF THE NECTAR is full of playful moments. Sometimes they verge on being a bit cheesy, but I kind of liked those moments, too. It was nice to read a book that was both rich and beautiful but that didn’t take itself too seriously and embraced the silly and fun, too. That made it really fun to read.

The pacing of the story seemed pretty even to me, too. I felt like the stakes kept going up, and the tension definitely built as the story progressed toward the moment where Rea had to confront her antagonist.

I think readers who enjoyed THE FIREBIRD SONG by Arnée Flores or VASILISA by Julie Mathison will love this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12

Representation
Rea and her family are Indian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used twice.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Rea follows her mother to a woman’s home who can predict the future. Later Rea and her friend visit this same woman for help themselves. Rea discovers an entrance to another world in which she and a few others have the ability to use magic.

Violent Content
Some brief battle scenes and brief references to torture.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of REA AND THE BLOOD OF THE NECTAR in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The People We Choose by Katelyn Detweiler

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The People We Choose
Katelyn Detweiler
Margaret Ferguson Books
Published May 4, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The People We Choose

When Calliope Silversmith meets her new neighbor Max, their chemistry is instantaneous, but the revelation of her biological father’s identity throws her whole life into disarray.

Calliope Silversmith has always had just two friends in her small Pennsylvania town, Ginger and Noah, and she’s fine with that. She’s never wanted anything more than her best friends, her moms, their house in the woods, and their family-run yoga studio–except maybe knowing who her sperm donor is. Her curiosity has been building for years, and she can finally find out this summer when she turns eighteen.

But when Max and his family move into the sad old house across the woods from Calliope, she realizes it’s nice to get to know someone new, so nice that she decides to break her no dating rule. The stability of her longtime trio wavers as she and Max start to spend more and more time together.

When Calliope finally finds out who her sperm donor is, she learns a truth more shocking and unfathomable than she could have ever dreamed: her donor is Max’s father. How is this even possible? As she and Max struggle to redefine their friendship, Calliope realizes that she can turn a horrific situation into something positive by recognizing and accepting that family is both the one we are born into and the one we choose to make.

My Review

I love relationship books– and this is definitely a relationship book. Calliope has two lifelong best friends, one of whom is in love with her. She doesn’t return those feelings, though, and for a while, things go unsaid and unacknowledged. Max’s arrival and the obvious chemistry between Calliope and Max changes that, though.

I identified with that conflict so much– the complicated situation that a friendship where one person has greater feelings can become. I still have a lot of feelings of guilt and regret over a relationship in my own past, so it was both heartbreaking and cathartic to see that conflict on the page. I remember literally thinking some of the things Calliope thinks in wrestling with the relationship, so that felt real to me. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen another book tackle that situation in such a real, frank way.

Another thing I liked is the fact that while the story has some romantic feelings in it, it doesn’t center around romance. It really explores what makes a family and how to redefine relationships in the face of difficult changes. I liked the way Calliope’s moms were protective and paying attention, but that they also gave her space to find her own way. I felt like their relationships had a great balance in that way.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading PEOPLE WE CHOOSE. I think people who enjoyed YOUR DESTINATION IS ON THE LEFT by Lauren Spieller or who like books exploring relationships will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Max is Black. Ginger is a lesbian. Calliope has two moms.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning for Incest
Brief descriptions of kissing between boy and girl (who turn out to be siblings and really grossed out about it later.)

Reference to a kiss between two girls.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Some descriptions of heated arguments between adults. Brief description of a woman’s accidental death.

Drug Content
One minor character is an alcoholic.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of PEOPLE WE CHOOSE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Double the Danger and Zero Zucchini by Betsy Uhrig

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Double the Danger and Zero Zucchini
Betsy Uhrig
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published September 22, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Double the Danger and Zero Zucchini

Books aren’t supposed to be dangerous. Are they?

Alex Harmon prefers running over sitting still reading. But when his aunt offers to pay him to point out the boring parts in her children’s book, he figures it’s an easy way to make ten bucks. The problem is that her book is about a grumpy frog and a prize-winning zucchini. It doesn’t have only a few boring pages…the whole thing is a lost cause.
br>Alex gives his aunt some ideas to help her out—like adding danger and suspense. But books can’t just be interesting. They also have to be believable. Soon Alex recruits his friends to help him act out scenes so he can describe all the important details. He’s even getting plot twists from a mysterious stranger (who might also be a ghost). Too late, Alex discovers that being a real-life stunt double for a fictional character can land you in terrible trouble—even if your friends are laughing their heads off!

My Review

You know that wonderful feeling you get when you need a really good story to pull you out of a really terrible week, and you find exactly the right one and it somehow makes your life so much better? This was my experience with DOUBLE THE DANGER AND ZERO ZUCCHINI.

I was having a really rough week. My cat had surgery, and I had my own health issues. I wasn’t sleeping much. I really didn’t feel like reading, but I didn’t feel like doing anything else, either. So I picked up this book hoping for hilarity and miracles, and it absolutely delivered.

First off, I was intrigued by the opening– we learn about a famous book that had a difficult beginning. And we meet Alex, a goofy, determined kid who doesn’t have a lot of faith in his own imagination and has a whole lot of trouble sitting still. He gets roped into helping his aunt fix her very boring book, and soon he and his friends are off testing scene ideas and chasing down a helpful writing ghost. I loved Alex’s friends and the relationships he forms with members of the senior center. This is one of those books that keeps you laughing and reminds you of the power of community to help one another and family to stick by each other. It’s packed with spunky characters and adventure and absolutely full of heart. It was exactly the book I needed to read.

I also love that the story championed audiobooks as an alternative way to read and that the crafty librarian is a hero, too. I think readers who enjoy funny stories and powerful friendships will love DOUBLE THE DANGER AND ZERO ZUCCHINI.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Alex’s friends are Latinx.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Alex and his friends joke that his neighbor’s house has a ghost.

Violent Content
Alex and his friends create a model for the final battle in his aunt’s story and discuss what kind of injuries it might cause the characters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog.

Review: Foreverland by Nicole C. Kear

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Foreverland
Nicole C. Kear
Imprint
Published April 21, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Foreverland

Margaret is tired of everything always changing. Middle school has gone from bad to worse. Her best friend is becoming a stranger. And her family—well, it’s not even a family anymore.

So Margaret is running away to Foreverland, her favorite amusement park. Hiding out there is trickier than she expects–until she meets Jaime, a thrill-seeking, fast-thinking runaway who teaches Margaret how to stay one step ahead of the captain of security.

At first, this after-hours, all-access pass to the park is a dream come true: sleepovers in the Haunted House, nonstop junk food, and an unlimited ticket to ride. But as the runaways learn each other’s secrets, they must face the reasons they left their normal lives behind. With the Captain closing in and Jaime’s future on the line, can Margaret finally take control?

My Review

I can’t help being fascinated by books that take place in a theme park, whether they’re dark, like TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET or VANISHING GIRLS or sweeter, like THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER (okay, so that one is set in a museum, but I’m still counting it.).

FOREVERLAND is on the sweeter/lighter side of the spectrum. Margaret wrestles with fears and feelings of rejection and loneliness, but her friendship with Jaime helps give her a new perspective on not just her life, but herself. He sees her as this bold, courageous girl, which gives her an opportunity to reevaluate herself and see if she can find that courage and strength that he sees in her.

I’m pretty sure I saw the book on a list on Twitter and decided to order it to help support authors whose books have come out during the pandemic. We don’t always realize how much authors depend on school visits, book cons, and other big spring and summer events to get the word out about their work. With so many events canceled and so many students distance learning, it has not been easy for authors to reach new readers.

If you’re looking for a really sweet, uplifting book about friendship and courage, I absolutely recommend this one! You can find it on Indiebound and support not only the author but an independent bookstore near you, too!

You can also find other books for readers ages 8 to 12 that came out this year on this Goodreads list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Margaret has panic attacks and anxiety. Jaime’s grandparents are Puerto Rican.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Margaret feels left behind and forgotten now that her older sister has a boyfriend.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Margaret chokes on a bite of food and someone helps her by knocking it loose.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: 10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon

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10 Things I Hate About Pinky (Dimple and Rishi #3)
Sandhya Menon
Simon Pulse
Published July 21, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About 10 Things I Hate About Pinky

The follow-up to WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI and THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT SWEETIE follows Pinky and Samir as they pretend to date—with disastrous and hilarious results.

Pinky Kumar wears the social justice warrior badge with pride. From raccoon hospitals to persecuted rock stars, no cause is too esoteric for her to champion. But a teeny-tiny part of her also really enjoys making her conservative, buttoned-up corporate lawyer parents cringe.

Samir Jha might have a few . . . quirks remaining from the time he had to take care of his sick mother, like the endless lists he makes in his planner and the way he schedules every minute of every day, but those are good things. They make life predictable and steady.

Pinky loves lazy summers at her parents’ Cape Cod lake house, but after listening to them harangue her about the poor decisions (aka boyfriends) she’s made, she hatches a plan. Get her sorta-friend-sorta-enemy, Samir—who is a total Harvard-bound Mama’s boy—to pose as her perfect boyfriend for the summer. As they bicker their way through lighthouses and butterfly habitats, sparks fly, and they both realize this will be a summer they’ll never forget.

My Review

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY is the first book by Sandhya Menon that I’ve read. I’ve heard great things about her other books, and have meant to read them, so when I got the chance to read this one, I was super excited.

First off, if you’re unfamiliar with Menon’s books (like I was), you can read this one without having read the others. There are some references to characters from the other books, but this book stands on its own.

I think this book totally lived up to the series hype. I loved Pinky’s quirkiness and passion and Samir’s awkwardness and insightfulness. I loved the fake dating. The family relationships were great, too. I especially loved the way the story explored Pinky’s relationship with her mom and things Pinky didn’t even realize she was doing to make that worse.

Also, the dramatic opossum! I love that Pinky rescues her and names her and walks her in a harness. It was weird and adorable and just SO Pinky.

The story has a lightness to it that I definitely need in my life right now. I found myself giggling and grinning through scenes and staying up to read just one more chapter (and another and another).

I think readers who love romantic comedy with family presence will love this fun, fake dating adventure.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Main characters are Indian-American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used about a dozen times.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to sex. Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
References to teens drinking alcohol.

Note: I received a free copy of 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT PINKY in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.