Rachel Baack

I have read ch. III of On Liberty and a short excerpt from On the Subjection of Women. What follows is my review of each:

• “Of Individuality” (from On Liberty): This chapter by John Stewart Mill argues in favor of personal liberty and freedom to express one’s individuality. Mill gives several reasons that freedom and individuality should be allowed to flourish. Rating: 3/5
• "On the Equality of the Sexes": John Stuart Mill explains the negative effects that male-domination have had on the expression of female thought and character. Rating: 3.5/5

Summary: In this collection of short essays, SG Huerta processes and shares their experiences of racism, queerphobia, abuse, mental illness, and trauma.

Their writing is honest, demonstrating both vulnerability and strength in the face of great difficulty. My favorite pieces from this collection were “I Text My Partner i love being beholden to the delicate feelings of white ppl! At Least Once A Week” and “Post Traumatic Interlude featuring La Llorona.”

Summary: When a man turns up dead in her tea shop one morning, Vera Wong decides that she—being much more fastidious and insightful than the police—will investigate the case. Very quickly, she identifies four suspects and begins trying to uncover any secrets they might be hiding. The problem, however, is that Vera starts to really like this group of suspects-turned-friends.

I really enjoyed this book, but I found the solution to the mystery to be somewhat unsatisfying.

Summary: After Justyce McAllister is—to his shock—handcuffed and treated unjustly by a police officer when he is trying to help a friend, he begins writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to try to process what is happening to and around him. As the year goes on, Justyce continues to write these letters, detailing his experiences navigating being a Black student in a predominantly white prep school and confronting the realities of racism and police brutality on both a personal and national scale.

Summary: Lexicographer Kory Stamper engagingly reveals to readers the history and current process of creating dictionaries, explaining along the way the ways in which language evolves and is perceived, described, and argued over.

Summary: Mortician Caitlin Doughty relays her first-hand learning about the customs and beliefs surrounding death in various places and cultures around the world, and she explores the ways in which the American death industry might adapt its practices in order to allow mourners to more meaningfully grieve and process the deaths of their loved ones.

Summary: Caitlin Doughty has worked close to death in various capacities for years, and, in this memoir, the relates her experiences and reflections upon working with the dead and the living who tend to them. She shares a behind-the-scenes look at the current practices of death work in America and offers her thoughts on the ways that those practices—mostly focused on distancing the average person from the realities of death—are socially and emotionally damaging. She leaves readers with some ideas about how we might engage with death in healthier ways as a society.

Summary: Stevie Bell thinks she has finally solved the decades-old mystery surrounding the kidnapping of the wife and daughter of her school’s founder, Albert Ellingham. The problem, however, is that danger continues to lurk on the Ellingham campus. Since Stevie has arrived at Ellingham, death and danger have seemed to stalk the campus and those connected to it. Stevie suspects that it’s all somehow tied to the Ellingham case, and she is determined to figure out how.

Summary: Despite having (kind of) solved the mystery surrounding the death of her classmate, Stevie Bell has been pulled out of Ellingham Academy by her parents, greatly hindering her ability to continue her research into the decades-old Ellingham kidnapping cold case. It is not until Edward King, the deeply unpleasant politician for whom Stevie’s parents work, steps in that the Bells allow Stevie to return to Ellingham. His seeming kindness, however, comes with strings attached, and Stevie must balance meeting his expectations while continuing her investigation into the Ellingham case as well as the continued mysterious happenings on Ellingham’s campus.