JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

Emily Ratajkowski is an acclaimed model and actress, an engaged political progressive, a formidable entrepreneur, a global social media phenomenon, and now, a writer. Rocketing to world fame at age twenty-one, Ratajkowski sparked both praise and furor with the provocative display of her body as an unapologetic statement of feminist empowerment. The subsequent evolution in her thinking about our culture’s commodification of women is the subject of this book.

My Body is a profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of men’s treatment of women and women’s rationalizations for accepting that treatment. These essays chronicle moments from Ratajkowski’s life while investigating the culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for women’s sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the grey area between consent and abuse. Nuanced, unflinching, and incisive, My Body marks the debut of a fierce writer brimming with courage and intelligence.

In her memoir, international model and actor Emily Ratajkowski reflects on her relationship with her body, and in return, how other people seem to build a relationship with her body. Famous for her tiny waist and countless nude photoshoots, Emily is internationally regarded for her beauty. Whilst I’ve long been aware of Emily, I’ve not spent much time following her career. She did indeed catapult to international fame when she appeared in the Blurred Lines music video, and this success has allowed her access to an even greater array of career opportunities.

Whilst the book feels scattered with Emily hopping between memories, experiences and reflections, she ponders many aspects of her life in such a short amount of pages. My Body allows her to reflect on how people view her through her body — people deem her worthy of their time based on her looks, rather than her personality or her intelligence. And she does come across very intelligent in this memoir.

“The shoot for the video was at a large studio in Silver Lake, only a fifteen-minute drive from my loft. I arrived with an empty stomach, having made sure not to eat too much the night before because I knew I’d be naked — topless at the very minimum — on set the next day.”

My Body is quite remarkable and far exceeded my expectations. Emily writes with ease, and her introspection and reflection of past events paints her to be quite the smart, resourceful writer. Her writing is clear-cut and stripped back — dialogue and prose flow together seamlessly. The way she reflects on other people’s behaviour and body language resembles a high level of awareness and ability to observe others.

Emily is unapologetic in her essays, allowing herself the opportunity to tell her truth exactly as she wants it. She doesn’t appear to fear other opinions of her, if they’re accurate. This memoir feels like an opportunity to correct those who only think of Emily in connection with Blurred Lines. Her biggest aim, it seems, is for people to stop underestimating her.

“My body was light and fragile, like a shell doomed to shatter, as I walked through my aunt’s front door, a bell jingling as it swung open. I greeted my extended family, feeling my uncle’s cool skin against my cheek when I hugged him, knowing that they’d be even more disapproving of me than my mother had been.”

Emily seemingly does not address her role in the industry she chastises. She critiques the kind of money one can earn by flaunting products on Instagram, but does not seem to suggest she will stop doing any of this on her own accounts. She describes oppressive moments in her career — powerful, rich men paying for her attendance at events, for example — but does not seem interested in changing the system. The memoir reads like a recount of events, a diary perhaps, but does not seem to make commentary on more expansive ideas or beliefs.

Despite this, I found the book enlightening and the writing of considerable talent. I dare say people will walk away with a newfound insight into her career trajectory. With greater understanding into some of these moments in her life, Emily has opened herself up to divergent career paths perhaps outside the realm of modelling and acting.

“At the spa, we all understand that we can see each other, but we don’t look. We’re comforted by our collective nakedness. We’re not here to perform. We don’t have to be self-aware. Our bodies are simply undergoing maintenance. When I’m here, I’m anonymous, just another body.”

Raw and emotional, and incredibly insightful and well-written, this memoir comes highly recommended. Readership skews female, 20+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

My Body
Emily Ratajkowski
November 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek by Daniel Levy and Eugene Levy

The official tie-in book for the beloved, nine-time Emmy Award-winning series Schitt’s Creek.

This beautifully produced, lavishly illustrated book is the ultimate celebration of the series, the town, the characters, and the state of mind that is Schitt’s Creek. Capturing the essence and alchemy of all six seasons of what is now considered to be one of the most ground-breaking comedy television series of the last decade, Best Wishes, Warmest Regards is a gift to fans everywhere who have made the show their own.

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards is something I’ve been excited to read for months. I’m a huge fan of the TV show, recommending it to everyone and anyone, and I love the idea of learning more about the creative development of this series. This is a striking and colourful compendium for anyone who has grown to love the show in recent years.

Schitt’s Creek provided people with a lot of solace over the last couple of years – a welcome, funny, creative show that guaranteed laughs. I was so excited to read this new coffee table book chronicling the journey of the show’s creation, from conception all the way through to the sixth season finale. It’s a classy collection of the best aspects of the show, with insightful commentary inside.

“Working on our presentation pilot showed me just how strongly he was coming into his own as a writer, particularly a writer who had his finger on the pulse of his own generation. His work on camera showed me in the most vivid way just how entrenched he was, as an actor, in his own character of David Rose.”

Daniel and Eugene reflect on the conception of the show, and its characters. Various actors are voiced in the book, as we discover more about their casting and their character profiles. And then, the book moves through each scene, journaling each iconic moment with reflection from relevant actors or crew members.

Example moments include Patrick and David’s relationship, Moira working on the Herb Ertlinger campaign, the Cabaret performance, and the Rose Family Christmas episode. Also included are special features, such as the complete, illustrated catalogues of David’s knits and Moira’s wigs, Moira’s vocabulary and Alexis’ adventures.

“That process started out slow – very slow. The exercise of figuring out who these characters would be was a long one, but it was also, as I came to realize, a necessary one. We would spend weeks brainstorming a single character: where did they go to school? Who were their parents? Were they happy babies? By the end of the process we knew every single thing about each character in the show.”

A stunning tribute to the show, the book features a lot of fan art and contributed designs that really elevate the book above its competitors. Looking at all of David’s sweaters and all of Moira’s wigs makes me want to track down the art and get them printed on a coffee mug or a shirt.

Additionally, it’s really quite touching to read about how many different creatives came together to create this show. It’s not just about the cast, or even the Levy family. It’s about the production team, the hair and make-up team, the costume designers, and the many many other people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to help this show come to life.

Love this journey for me – is it time for another re-watch?

“When you sit down with a concept about a wealthy family moving to a small town, I think the expected scenario is that the town doesn’t know as much as this family, and the jokes would be at the expense of the town. For us it was important to not go down that path. We wanted to use this show to celebrate small towns.”

Incredibly detailed and beautifully illustrated, this is the perfect companion to the show and will please all fans. The perfect Christmas gift or stocking filler. Readership skews 20+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek
Daniel Levy and Eugene Levy
November 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

The Luminous Solution by Charlotte Wood

In this essential, illuminating book, award-winning writer Charlotte Wood shares the insights she has gained over a career paying close attention to her own mind, to the world around her and to the way she and others work.

Drawing on research and decades of observant conversation and immersive reading, Charlotte shares what artists can teach the rest of us about inspiration and hard work, how to pursue truth in art and life, and to find courage during the difficult times: facing down what we fear and keeping going when things seem hopeless.

Acclaimed Australian author Charlotte Wood returns with non-fiction title The Luminous Solution, which provides a reflection on her writing career to date and what she’s learnt about herself and her work since she first started putting pen to paper approximately twenty years ago.

The Luminous Solution prompts creative thinking and creative reflection. There are intermittent references to COVID-19 and how the pandemic has impacted Charlotte’s writing. This isn’t an overly long book, and it doesn’t need to be. Each chapter provides a snapshot into Charlotte’s process, and what she believes could resonate with others.

“This bolt of understanding that contemporary attitudes echoed historical ones, that this loop of hatred seemed ever-repeating, lit a fuse of fury deep inside my writer’s brain. But a novel requires years of immersion in your material. This was ugly stuff, bleak and paralysing.”

The Luminous Solution shifts between introspection – lessons, learnings and slight musings that Charlotte shares – and a deeper dive into her creative process, particularly relating to her 2015 novel, The Natural Way of Things. The Luminous Solution attracts a fairly recognisable audience – works that delve into creative process and inspiration will always find a valued audience, whether you’ve read the authors previous works or not.

There are a string of insights in The Luminous Solution that I imagine could aid writers, and I think perhaps it might comfort writers who feel they’ve struggled with their work. It’s somewhat reassuring to read that The Natural Way of Things was not an easy or seamless book to write. I read that novel when it first came out and whilst it tackles very heavy topics, the writing is beautiful and the novel worthy of its many accolades. It’s somewhat comforting to find out more about its creation.

“Creativity as violent birth, as approaching death – this is absurd melodrama. Of course it is. And yet…at times my writing process has been so full of darkness that descriptions like these are the only ones that come close to the truth.”

As with all her novels, Charlotte’s writing in The Luminous Solution is clean and stripped back. Words aren’t used unnecessarily, and we move between stories and tales quite quickly. A lot of the book is designed to leave you wondering – they will plant some kind of thought or idea in your mind and let it ponder the possibilities, which is quite perfect for the creative reader.

“I spent many months thinking about these discoveries, sorting and parsing them, enriched by the whole experience. But at the end of it all, after the research was completed and the doctorate finished and award, came that pesky and familiar and important question: So what? What does all this mean for the person sitting down before the blank page?”

Reminiscent and reflective, The Luminous Solution is recommended for readers interested in the craft of writing. Readership skews 30+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Luminous Solution
Charlotte Wood
October 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

The New Hustle: Don’t Work Harder, Just Work Better by Emma Isaacs

What if we’ve been served a big, fat lie about what it takes to be successful at work?

Pro-hustlers will tell you living in a work-more, sleep-less world is how we get ahead. But on the back of the pandemic, entrepreneur and Business Chicks founder Emma Isaacs believes the hustle is now dead. Moreover, traditional ways of working – long commutes, unproductive meetings and outdated systems of bureaucracy – actually don’t work at all.

Emma believes we don’t have to work harder; we just need to work better. In fact, we can slash our hours, take shortcuts and still get more done – without feeling depleted. By becoming more intentional and reimagining the way we work, we can rewrite the old work rules and reinvigorate our lives.

The New Hustle condenses Emma’s wisdom into 77 anti-rules for maximum dip-in-and-out efficiency. Drawing inspiration from her team, the member of Business Chicks and the many entrepreneurs and leaders who have graced the Business Chicks stage – from Elizabeth Gilbert to Simon Sinek – she guides us towards embracing radical flexibility, making quick decisions and working smarter, from the emails we craft to the talent we recruit . . . and say no to the things that don’t matter, so we can say yes to the things that do.

Written with humour, insight and a serving of tough love, The New Hustle is your go-to for more productive, creative and meaningful work by one of Australia’s most unconventional and effective entrepreneurs: a bestselling author, mum of six – and a woman determined to start an anti-hustle revolution.

Emma Isaac’s The New Hustle is the latest addition to a long suite of go-to business guides with practical, useful advice to people working within a professional environment. The New Hustle will also suit readers wanting to pursue a new passion — people who are perhaps afraid to take a leap towards something different.

Given we’re eighteen months into COVID-19, there’s a lot of content in here that feels relevant and timely. Businesses have had to learn how to adapt to the pandemic, and Emma’s inclusion of COVID makes the book a welcome inclusion in this genre.

“Making better deals is not just about making more money. It’s about being able to enjoy our work more and it’s about being able to truly work smarter and not harder. Sometimes to make a better deal you just need to be a bit more creative and think of alternative ways to structure it.”

There is an element of vulnerability to this book — it’s as much about advice and rules as it is about Emma revealing the lessons that she has learned throughout her career. She’s experienced hardship and failure, and she doesn’t shy away from introspection and delving into personal stories.

The book is broken up into short chapters to allow for easy reading — you’ll devour this very quickly. I can imagine many of Emma’s fans, particularly members of Business Chicks, will enjoy having this on a bookshelf for the odd occasion that you need some life tips.

“Sometimes we’re so used to something being normal, we forget to interrogate why we’re going along with it in the first place. A great example of this is the work hours that most workplaces accept as normal.”

Whilst there is plenty of advice and wisdom in here that readers can take away from, if you’re the kind of reader who regularly delves into these kind of books, you will find a bit of similarity here. There were a couple of nuggets in this book that I felt I hadn’t read before, but some of this is common sense and I wonder if the target audience of this book might already know what they’re reading.

Something else I felt when reading this book is that it seems to mostly serve people who work in management roles, rather than professional workers who are lower down the pecking order within the business. There’s a chapter about companies needing to adapt work hours to reflect contemporary lifestyle — great! love it! but that’s not a decision I can make, nor is my boss. We’re a company with thousands of employees. Ideally, we’d need the CEO to read this book.

It felt like the book never really settled on the type of reader it was speaking to. Is this for creative people wanting to start their own business? Is this for bosses? Management? Is this for entry-level workers wanting to move up? What about middle-level? Each category of reader may find something relevant in this book, but interest will differ depending on what chapter you’re on.

What does feel different about The New Hustle are the personal experiences, the anecdotes, and the life lessons along the way. Whilst sometimes, and it’s just sometimes, Emma tells a story from a time she did something ‘right’ and it comes off like a humble brag, it is nice to have examples tied to most of her advice so that we can gain further understanding. It is also refreshing when authors admit what they’ve struggled with over the years, how they’ve failed, and the lessons they’ve picked up along the way.

“Another great way to keep in touch with the people who matter to you is just to drop them a short email from time to time. I do this regularly with our members. I’m never after anything from them, but a random, unexpected note to say ‘I’m thinking of you’ can go a long way towards making others feel great and building upon a relationship.”

Recommended for readers wanting some direct advice on their career, and how to achieve what they want. Readership skews female, 35+

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The New Hustle
Emma Isaacs
September 2021
Pan Macmillan Book Publishers

She’s On The Money by Victoria Devine

Through her phenomenally popular and award-winning podcast, She’s on the Money,Victoria Devine has built an empowered and supportive community of women finding their way to financial freedom.

Honest, relatable, non-judgemental and motivating, Victoria is a financial adviser who knows what millennial life is really like and where we can get stuck with money stuff. (Did someone say ‘Afterpay’…?) So, to help you hit your money goals without skimping on brunch, she’s put all her expert advice into this accessible guide that will set you up for a healthy and happy future.

Learn how to be more secure, independent and informed with your money – with clear steps on how to budget, clear debts, build savings, start investing, buy property and much more. And along with all the practical information, Victoria will guide you through the sometimes-tricky psychology surrounding money so you can establish the values, habits and confidence that will help you build your wealth long-term.

Just like the podcast, the book is full of real-life money stories from members of the She’s on the Money community who candidly share their experiences, wins and lessons learned to inspire others to turn their stories around, too. And with templates and activities throughout, plus a twelve-month plan to get you started, you can immediately put Victoria’s recommendations into action in your own life.

Victoria Devine’s financial self-help book She’s On the Money will help all readers on their journey to save more, invest more, and put their money towards realistic, achievable goals.

Victoria Devine is an Australian financial advisor and company founder. She’s the creator of the finance podcast of the same name, and prides herself on passing along reliable, helpful financial advise to young women. I haven’t read Barefoot Investor so impossible to know how it stands up — some reviews have noted the similarities. I also haven’t listened to Victoria’s podcast, which some people say has the same information as this book.

“If you want to create a structure for sustainable saving, start by tweaking small things instead of taking an all-or-nothing approach. Be reasonable and be aware. Before you go out to dinner or take a tour through the city or head off on a road trip think about what you’re going to spend.”

The writing style is accessible and accepting, so young women who haven’t had many successes saving money won’t feel shamed when reading this.

Readers will get value out of certain aspects of the book, and it’s entirely dependent on where they are in their life. I’m really quite savvy at saving money, and I don’t possess an interest in shares or investing, but my interests definitely lie in learning the how-tos of buying property and what I need to be aware of before purchasing property. Young readers who haven’t been able to save money but can’t work out why will find this book especially helpful.

“Look, credit cards aren’t bad. It’s just that people are bad with credit cards. And it’s okay that we aren’t super amazing in every aspect of our lives. I just think we need to be realistic about which financial products are enabling us. What things are making us stray from our values and goals?”

There are certain elements of the book that I’m not sure are as useful — I’ve never been one to fill out any interactive element or activity in a book, and this book has a lot of them. But hey, perhaps that works for some people.

“I hear a lot of excuses for why people can’t save, but the notion that they don’t earn a high enough wage is the one I want to debunk first. Saying that you’ll start saving when you earn more money is like saying you’ll start going to the gym once you’re skinny and fit.”

Recommended for readers wanting to understand their financials better. This is a pretty clear-cut book — either you’ll want to read it or you won’t. But know there’s a lot of information in here worth learning. Readership skews female, 16+

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

She’s On The Money
Victoria Devine
June 2021
Penguin Random House Publishers