March 2017 wrap-up

Wow, a third of the way through the year already. It was a great reading month for me. I finished 12 books, covering everything from science fiction to children's fantasy to poetry. One-word reviews and my ratings below (full reviews can be found in the Monday posts on the sidebar.)

comprehensive

****

 

pleasurable

****

boring

***

worthwhile

****

 

satisfying

****1/2

 

wonderful

****1/2

 

good

****

average

***

 

fantastical

***

remarkable

****

inspiring

****

heartwarming

****

What I'm reading this week (3/27/17)

Due to my lovely three-day "readcation" last week, I finished five books (two start to finish), and began several more. I've learned the best way to have a readcation is to have several good books going, so when I've read enough of one, I can move on to another. And another. And another.

 

Last week I finished:

I LOVED The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It was especially good on audio. I'd mentioned that I had a bit of a problem at first wondering who was who and which letter by which character was being read to whom, but it worked itself out nicely when I got to know the different voices of each character. This is the story of a writer who begins corresponding with a literary society on Guernsey just after the second World War. You learn about how the folks of Guernsey survived during the war, what German occupation felt like, how they dealt with rationing, and other war-related topics. There are some dark moments, but the camaraderie between the islanders was a marvel. Despite its frank speak of war, it was still a rather gentle, at times light-hearted, book with wonderfully lifelike characters and even some romance. I highly recommend this book. My rating: 4.5 stars.

Back when I started my readcations a couple years ago, I found that reading an Agatha Christie mystery cover to cover over a couple days was a nice adventure. I believe the first year I read Murder on the Orient Express; another time I read Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I don't like to read these mysteries over too many days or I miss the narrative flow and forget key clues. I believe this is the fifth Christie mystery I've tried, and it might be my favorite. I tend to like mysteries that I can guess at along with the detective, but Christie's aren't exactly like that. You kind of have to wait for the detective (in this case, Miss Marple) to lay it out for you. Mysteries are hard to review because I don't want to give much away, but the plot here is this: The Colonel, whom no one, including his family, much cared for, is found murdered in the vicar's study. Was it his wife, who was having a dalliance with an artist? The artist himself? The daughter who stood to inherit? Or any one of the locals who had access and motive, including the poachers the Colonel recently ran off? Added to the possibilities is that several people confess. I didn't solve the case, but I had fun guessing. Christie is a master, of course, at mysteries, and this was a good one. My rating: 4 stars.

I finally finished Peter Walsh's Let It Go. If you've read anything by Walsh (It's All Too Much, Enough Already, or others), this one isn't really anything new. The focus is on downsizing, either your own home at the major lifestyle change (retirement, divorce, etc.) or your parents' after their move to a long-term care facility or death. Not much of it was relevant for me, except for the fact that my mother is starting to have thoughts of downsizing and asking, what will you kids do with all this when I'm gone? Having lost my father a couple years ago, and all of my grandparents before that, it's not new territory for us. Walsh focuses on determining which items in your (or your parents' home) are treasures, which are useful, and which need to go. And he's characteristically ruthless. All of the treasures in your home should fit on your dining room table. Yikes. I don't pass that test no matter how I cheat, although I am finding since my father's passing that my possessions don't hold the same pull as they once did. Having no biological children of my own, stepchildren who will be facing the other side at the same time I will, and grandchildren who will be grandparents by the time I leave them, making plans for my stuff is a weird dilemma. So, the book brought up lots of thoughts, both good and bad, but it didn't inspire me to go through things and get rid of some the way his books usually do. It felt sort of old hat. But I do prefer his work to the ever popular The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by a long ways. He gets to the heart of why we think we need to hold on to things, and helps you break the mesmerism yours things hold. My rating: 3 stars. 

 

The Shadows, the first book from The Books of Elsewhere series, was a fun listen. I highly, highly recommend the audio version for kids and families who like to listen to books. The narrator is just fantastic. Her voice is high-pitched and childlike, and it gave the story a wonderful spirit. The plot, however, wasn't necessarily something I enjoyed. I'm not big on fantasy and otherworldly fiction. I do think, though, that lots of kids would love this book. My grandson loved the whole series, even though he's not a Harry Potter fan. In this book, 11-year-old Olive and her parents have moved into a new house that's spooky and weird. Olive makes friends with talking cats, then finds a pair of spectacles that allows her to enter the paintings hung throughout the house. Soon, Olive is caught in a battle to save the house from the shadows that want to take over the manse for good and banish Olive to a painting forever. So. Yeah. If you're looking for a good audiobook for your fantasy-loving kid, try this one. My rating: 3 stars (though I'd rate the audio production higher).

One of my mini reading challenges for 2017 was to read some "curveballs," books I'm not apt to pick up but intrigue me in some way. Sci fi books aren't generally on my reading list. I thought The Martian was good, but I certainly didn't love it. I thought the writing was amateurish at best. But I do watch an inordinate number of sci fi movies, and I'm working my way through all the episodes of The X-Files (the original series, not the new). So it's not that I don't like sci fi, because I really do. All this by way of saying, I decided to begin Dark Matter on readcation and give it one chapter. Well, that chapter completely hooked me, and I added it to my March reading list. The plot here is the physics principle of multiverses, the fact that the observer affects the observation, and a little Schrodinger's Cat thrown in, too. Jason Dessen is caught not in other dimensions, but in other universes, all of which have a version of himself, his wife, and his son. He must find the universe that he knows as home. I can't give you more than that--and I hope that's not too much. I quite enjoyed this book, because I just never knew where I'd end up next, and because the physics ideas are continuations of ideas central to my religion. It's a good book if you're looking to mix things up. A caution: there is swearing, violence, and death, though nothing beyond what your average X-Files episode would offer. My rating: 4 stars.

Last week I began:

I've mentioned before that I'm always on the search for Christian books, but I seldom find any that give me what I need. I don't need to be preached the gospel, my church does that. I don't need to be shamed, the devil does that. I don't need a list of "shoulds" and "musts," I've heard enough of those for a lifetime. What I need is inspiration. Why do so many Christian preachers, theologians, and faith workers think inspiration is not enough? Why do they always go beyond inspiration to condemning other Christians or telling us there is only one way to meet the world's needs? Well, I'm here to tell you Samuel Rodriguez's Be Light is not one of those books. If you're looking for an inspiring book to read during Lent (if you celebrate that, I don't) or leading up to Easter week, this is a book that can cut across religions and church dogma and inspire you to be the light God knows you are. A full review next week.

 

This week I'll finish:

I finally hit my reading stride with Short last week, and I'm absolutely adoring the main character. Can't wait to tell you about it.

 

My current audiobook:

I'm not sure The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is a particularly well-written book, but it has been fun to listen to. They can't all be Middlemarch, I guess.

 

What I've added to my TBR lately

My TBR is fuller than ever with all the new spring offerings. It's almost overwhelming, but I'm up to the task. Here is what I'm most excited about reading:

FICTION

Jane Steele came out last year, but something about it has been gnawing at me since. I like the cover, but I also am interested in an alternate reality in which Jane Eyre is a serial killer. I did my homework on this, and it seems like a well done reimagining, and the deaths aren't gruesome. Has anyone read it? What did you think?

I made a mini-challenge this year to read a reading curveball, and I think Dark Matter might be it. I've read so many bloggers who just loved it, even though they're not sci-fi readers. I think I'll give it a whirl and see how it goes.

I'm seeing some buzz for Exit West, and what I'm hearing mostly is that this one isn't about the plot (an immigration love story), but about the beautiful writing.  

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series made an Alexander McCall Smith fan of me, so I'm interested to try another of his series. I settled on The Sunday Philosophy Club from the Isabel Dalhousie series.

Amy Stewart is releasing book three in the Kopp Sisters series, Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions. I plan to read book two soon so I'm caught up before this is released in the fall.

And then there's Mr. Rochester, a novel filling out the other half of the Jane Eyre story by giving us the tale of Mr. Rochester's life. Can I just tell you how much I love that cover?

I was intrigued by My Mrs. Brown when it came out, then it fell off my radar, and now I've rediscovered it (and bought a copy). It's about an unassuming women who needs a very special dress for a very special occasion, and the reader knows no more than that. I'm a sucker for a quiet novel.

I've bought a copy of We Were the Lucky Ones though I've had enough hefty WWII novels for a bit.

Speaking of WWII novels, I recently bought a copy of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, about a women's church choir during the war. I hope it will be something like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I'm absolutely adoring right now.

NONFICTION

I have a very romantic view of baseball. If I have to watch a spot, it will be baseball. And I love baseball movies and books about baseball. Also, I love road trip books. I Don't Care If We Never Get Back combines baseball and road trips, and it sounds like the perfect summer read.

The Preacher and the Presidents is written by the team who wrote The Presidents Club. I've always been a little fascinated by Billy Graham and the fact that he had a personal relationship with most every recent president. This book examines those relationships.

Having just read Bret Baier's book about Eisenhower, I've added his memoir about his little son, Paul, to my list of things to read someday.

PERSONAL GROWTH

Yeah, I've included Astrophysics for People in a Hurry in my "personal growth" section. I feel I need to fill some knowledge gaps, and Seven Brief Lessons on Physics didn't do it for me.

In February, I read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists, and I was less than impressed with its simplicity. Perhaps her follow-up, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions will go into more depth.

There is a strong pull within me toward minimalism, but at the same time, I like the cozy feeling of being surrounding by things with strong memories and deep beauty. The two desires war with each other, and I live pretty successfully somewhere in the middle of minimalism and hoarding. But Fumio Sasaki's Goodbye, Things is likely a book I'll read to satisfy my Japanese-minimalism self.

I ran across 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do lately, and judging by the table to contents, I have trouble with at least six of the thirteen, so I picked up a copy for my personal growth mini reading challenge.

I'm a fan of Jen Hatmaker, and I adored her last book, For the Love. Of Mess and Moxie comes out this August, and I can't wait. She writes about being a bold Christian woman, a wife, a mom who makes hilarious mistakes, and a church worker, and she does it with such candidness and humor you can't help but say "Amen."

Gretchen Rubin is coming out with a new book detailing her personality framework, The Four Tendencies. I'm not really into personality frameworks, and I prefer her happiness books to her recent one on habits, but Rubin is one of my auto-buy authors, so I'll be buying a copy as soon as it's released.

BOOKS ABOUT WORDS

It's been awhile since I've found a book about words to gobble up. I'm ready for these. Naboko's Favorite Word Is Mauve is a book that statistically examines authors' most-used words, and tells us what that says about them. It sounds much more fascinating than that. I'm a sucker for books that try to quantify things like this.

And then there's Hemingway Didn't Say That where Garson O'Toole corrects misconceptions about who said what and why others often get attributed.

ART

President George W. Bush turned to painting after leaving office, and Portraits of Courage is a short-ish book of his paintings of soldiers with accompanying stories.

And for a touch of whimsy: Peanut Butter Dogs, a book of photographs of dogs trying to eat peanut butter. It doesn't take much to satisfy some folks. And by some folks, I mean me.

POETRY

I've added four books of poetry to my to be read list to help me reach my reading goal of reading 1,000 poems again this year. I've added: Hafiz's The Gift, The Essential Emily Dickinson (selected by Joyce Carol Oates), Robert Hass's The Apples of Olema, and Garrison Keillor's O, What a Luxury.

GARDENING

I am not a gardener. I'm ready to admit that now. I want to be one, but I am not one. I resent weeds too much to be a gardener. But I love books about gardening. I think The Thoughtful Gardener looks gorgeous (check out the pics on Amazon), and I've long wanted to read The Wild Braid, conversations with poet and lifelong gardener, Stanley Kunitz.

CHILDREN'S

And last but not least, some exciting children's books. See You in the Cosmos is being compared to the best in contemporary children's literature, including Wonder. It sounds wonderful. 

Juana & Lucas is the winner of an ALA award, and it looks charming.

I've wanted to read the first in the Ruby Redfort series, Look into My Eyes, for awhile now.

And a third Calpurnia Tate Girl Vet book will be out in the fall: Who Gives a Hoot?

Whew. That was a long list. Who knows how long it will take me to get to some of these, but, as I like to remind my husband: books keep.

What have you added to your TBR lately?