Nomadland by Jessica Bruder, 2017

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century is non-fiction account of a (mostly) older generation of retirees who can no longer find a job & 'decide' to move into their cars or campers.

This is not the romantic portrayal of road tripping across the United States, but driving to low-paying-back-breaking job to low-paying-and-back-breaking job. 

These people are trying to survive - without heat, medical care and sometimes food.

Corporations like Amazon to private agencies contracted to national parks take advantage of these people to staff short term, part time positions.

It is heartbreaking to read about these people who have fallen on hard times but inspiring to read about the community they have embraced.

Tips are shared, including where to find cheap dental care in Mexico and how to convert a bucket into a toilet.

Similar to Janesville, it is especially jarring to find people whose lives & struggles I have read on social media, that these are not characters in a book nor do they necessarily have a happy ending.

I imagine by parents - some of these Workampers are in their 70s - living in a car or old camper driving miles on end for menial and hard labor jobs and it really is heart breaking.

This is what America has come to, the divide between the haves and have-nots getting more vast and shocking that a nation so wealthy has so many people living on so little.

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell, 2015

Fascinating look into Danish culture. 

Each chapter represents a lesson of the month so the book reads much like a series of articles, which was the premise for the book. 

Would have been nice if the memoir was more of a fluid story.

Things I learned about living Danishly:

Hygge is a term that means coziness, warmth that results from the brutal winters in Denmark, where the temperature falls to below freezing & there is only a few hours of daylight. 
- As a retreat from the harsh winters, people hibernate
- The Danish believe the best way to hibernate is with aesthetically pleasing interior,  candles & proper lighting to escape the harsh reality outside
- When Danes move, they not only take their lightbulbs, but light socket fittings...they take their lighting serious
- This explains why virtually every Danish apartment will look like a Design Within Reach catalog

Tradition - The Danish take their rules & tradition seriously
- They trust their fellow Danes and will leave their doors open
- They are proud to be Danish
- They accept their high tax rate because they know education & health care will be provided for
- Everyone holidays in July, forcing couples to spend weeks together with none of the everyday distractions...with August being a busy month for divorce attorneys

Equality - There is no social economic divide
- CEO of a company is just as likely to be biking  to work along the janitor
- There is no stigma with someone's profession
- People like their profession - part of the aforementioned high tax rate means that unemployment benefits are generous and allow people the safety net to quit a job & look for another one or to take (free) training classes to prepare for a new career

Work Week - Short work weeks & subsidized/guaranteed day care...  wow

Strange Stuff - Porn is common in Denmark, not anything that is particularly stigmatized
- Corporate holiday parties are a drunken free for all
- Despite the trust and pride, Danes tend to be very violent - the Viking blood the author muses

Rich People Problem by Kevin Kwan, 2018

Engaging and fun.  The 'Return of the Jedi' of Kwan's Crazy Rich Asian trilogy.

Kwan's chapters end in a cliffhanger and there are enough characters in his cast of crazy rich Asians that it would keep me reading through a few chapters until find out what happened with the cliffhanger.

Rich People Problems bring us back to Singapore with uber rich families who are so old, rich money, that they are not even known to the general public. 

'Heros' or non-materialistic-non-judgmental-nothing-to-prove rich kids Nick & Astrid return.

Nick returns to Singapore to make peace with his grandmother, who has had a heart attack & not long to live, while Astrid is in the midst of a messy divorce.

Kitty Bing steps up as she attempts to buy herself into respect & the upper stratosphere of high society. 

Soon, everyone is fighting over Tyersall Park, the estate in which Nick's grandmother resides.

The name dropping becomes a bit tedious with a cheeky footnote stating that by just mentioning a watch brand, sales will surely go up.

The run down checklist for a fellow Asian in descending order of 'importance' made me laugh, with New York & San Fran Chinese ranking decently, but rest of American Born Chinese not faring well.