In 2024, I had aimed to finish reading 6 books, since I’ve dropped so many from my original habit of 20-26 annually back in the early 2010s. However, I only managed 4. Nevertheless, here’s the reviews for those.
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January :: Unmasking Autism by Devon Price
5 Stars
This book was recommended by a colleague who had found it specifically helpful at sharing how the less “stereotypical” signs of autistic spectrum can be, and I found it incredibly helpful to understand how someone with differences has to mask in our current Western world. The author speaks about multiple disabilities experienced by different minorities, and how these compound (i.e. being a black female trans autistic all at once makes the world much less safe than just having one of those attributes).
I feel the context of how autism and other visions are masked in the modern day very helpful as someone who fits a couple of the minority categories they used as examples, making this book easy to read and relate to.
If you think Autism is just about obsessions over train timetables and not making eye contact, this book will help you understand the deeper impact of ASC for those who experience it.
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February :: Chosen (The Warrior Chronicles Book 1) by K.F. Breene
5 Stars
I began reading Chosen in 2021 (almost 3 years ago to the day, as it happens) while taking a writing class that suggested we look deeper into the typical genre categories, and I specifically went searching for books like the ones I tend to write.
I then paused reading any fiction for around three years as my real life shifted and my writing and reading both got pushed to the bottom of my to-do list. Returning to this story nearly 3 years on, I picked up where I’d left off pretty easily, and the pacing, characters, and descriptions of this book are brilliant.
There are a few grammatical mistakes (insure not ensure), and some clichés are present. However, this is the tale of a capable, determined main character who has a depth we slowly get to see as the book progresses. The author uses mystery and snippets of gold well, and the story delivers on the genres it was tagged under when I picked it up: Heroic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Fantasy Romance, Magic, and New Adult.
I’m eager to begin the next book, and note now there is a “0.5” I will be checking out.
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February :: The Survivor’s Quest: Recovery After Encountering Evil by HealingJourney
3 Stars
The survivors quest is a memoir about one person’s experience of psychopathy.
A friend gifted me this book as my ex has some narcissistic behaviours. For those who have found themselves in relationships with sociopaths, perhaps this is a useful book.
As someone with two psychology degrees working in mental health, I do find that the language used concerning, and some of the blanket “this is how all psychopaths are” to be a bit too much. Not to downplay the experiences of those specific people, and to be clear perhaps this book was not for me as my ex was not a sociopath – his narcistic behaviours often part of defensiveness and toxic shame rather than a lack of conscience. But when psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists are all seen as the same thing, we’re missing a whole lot of the human experience. I also have personal views on the word ‘evil’, which I understand are mine to work through (and blame on my Catholic school years).
I know for some people this book likely helped them feel comfort and less alone. For my brain, I just couldn’t help but feel it paints all narcissistic behaviour alongside psychopathy when the two are very separate, as even if most sociopaths also showed Narcissism, the reverse is not true.
This made it hard to take any of the other points as accurate, although I appreciate that is my personal perspective.
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June :: Responsibility Rebellion by Kain Ramsay
3 Stars
This book has some good points to share, although the tone and examples screamed ‘privilege’ that lacked self-reflection in some places, which was off-putting for me. A few of the comments about mental health were reductionist and may lead to increasing stigma around these conditions, which I always find concerning in books that many turn to for practical advice around what they can do to help themselves. Some of these points felt unhelpful or untrue, like describing Automatic Negative Thoughts as “habitual lies” we’re in control of (CBT would not invalidate an experience like this). Even the aspects I felt he had a valid point of came across badly, as his language could come across as judgemental for those with mental health difficulties.
Some of the positive points including what can be helpful or within our individual control to shift had merit, and if written with a sensitivity for those who experience mental health difficulties, I felt this book definitely had some additional points to make over the ‘standard’ self-help book. There’s a bit of gold in these pages, but I would give a word of caution to those who may turn to blaming themselves for their mental health difficulties.
As a qualified mental health practitioner with two degrees in psychology, who treats patients using low intensity CBT in my dayjob, I was very concerned by the comments about mental health as “simple rewiring” or “this is what CBT is all about.” Not only are they inaccurate when used in such a broad way, but this really countered some of the useful reframes and ideas he shared, and made me not want to recommend it.
If you have read a lot around the subject before and can meld the ideas with approaches which are perhaps more carefully worded, or if you’ve done some work on self-acceptance and don’t think that CBT is “just simple rewiring” or that its simple to change our habits , and can apply some of the concepts with a lens of self-care, then there are some good examples and concepts in this book.