What I'm reading this week (2/26/18)

I’m a little behind with reviews, not having posted last week. I’ll try to catch up now with slightly shorter reviews.

The last two weeks I read:

In an effort to get to some of the more popular books of the last couple years, I’ve been listening to a number of them on audio. That’s how I took in A Piece of the World. It’s the fictional imagining of the life of a woman in one of Andrew Wyeth’s paintings. Christina Olson lives on a farm in a coastal town in Maine with her brother. She’s unable to walk, so her life is primarily confined to her home. She meets the painter Andrew Wyeth one day, they become friends, and he spends a great deal of time on her farm in the future decades. The book alternates between going back in time to Christina’s childhood and describing the present, the 1940s with Andrew Wyeth hanging around. The childhood parts felt very much like a middle-grade novel (Wolf Hollow came to mind), and at one point at the beginning, I even double-checked that it was, indeed, a book for adults. I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t flashy or action-packed, but the characters felt real, and the setting was vivid. I’d recommend this one to anyone needing a reading refresh after a number of heavy books. My rating: 3 stars.

 

I also finished the second in the Maisie Dobbs mystery series, Birds of a Feather. You can read my review of book one here. In this book, which takes place in the last 1920s/early 1930s, Maisie is asked to look into the disappearance of a prominent businessman’s daughter. He is a man used to getting his way, and he wants her returned at once. But while trying to determine where the woman has gone, Maisie discovers that the woman’s friends are being murdered one by one. Who is doing it? Is it the missing woman, or is she the next victim? I enjoyed the plot of this one more than the first, although the first book sets forth Maisie’s life and is a good introduction to the characters which continue throughout the series. One would not have to read them in order, but I think you’d get the most from them if you do. I really, really like this series. They are well-written, tight of plot, and have wonderful characters. If you’re looking for a new series, especially a good British mystery one, I can’t recommend this one highly enough. My rating: 4 stars.

 

I’ve been meaning to read a book by Melanie Shankle for years now, and when her latest, Church of the Small Things, came out recently, I bought a reduced-price copy for my Kindle and enjoyed the beginning so much I bought it in hardcover. I tell you, the book publishers see my coming. This was a wonderful book, and an especially good read for Kindle, because it’s written in essay form, and each one is easily read when you have a few minutes here or there. Shankle is a Christian author with a fun sense of humor who writes here about motherhood, friendship, family, and pets. It’s quite funny, and I loved it. I immediately snapped up two more of her books for the future. If you enjoy Jen Hatmaker’s writing, you’ll find a similar voice here. My rating: 4 stars.

 

I can’t say that I’ve read everything that Gretchen Rubin has written, but I have read everything she’s written that’s made her famous: her two happiness books, her book on forming habits, and now her newest, The Four Tendencies. I’m not a big subscriber to personality frameworks, and I am bored by Rubin’s relentless self-promotion, but wanting to read her latest, I checked it out on audio. I wasn’t sure if audio would be a good idea for a book like this, but it worked very well. It is read by the author, which I normally enjoy, but I kind of find Rubin’s voice grating, so take that for what you will. This is the presentation of Rubin’s Four Tendencies framework introduced in her last book, Better Than Before, in which she categorized people into four types based on how they respond to and handle expectations: Upholder, Obliger, Questioner, and Rebel. The Upholder upholds inner and outer expectations; the Obliger upholds inner expectations but struggles to meet outer expectations; the Questioner questions expectations, usually meeting inner but not outer expectations; and the Rebel rebels against all expectations. There’s a quiz in the book (and online) that you can take to determine your type. I’ve taken the quiz at least three times, and I always forget which tendency I’m pegged as. Listening to the descriptions in the book, I’m likely what Rubin would label as an Upholder, but I might lean equally toward Obliger and Questioner depending on the situation (which, Rubin will make clear, is not really possible). I do have some reservations about this kind of framework, and this framework in particular. First, I don’t think it’s helpful for the individual or society as a whole to classify and pigeonhole folks, no matter what Rubin says. Division creates discord, not harmony. Second, Rubin discounts any chance that one’s tendencies have anything to do with nurture, telling us that it’s all nature, and therefore, one cannot change their tendency, just make allowances for it (and for others’ tendencies). I just don’t believe you can disregard how someone is raised and socialized. Third, Rubin discounts religion. This is a common problem I have with her books. You cannot remove a person’s most basic beliefs about where they come from and where they’re going and believe that you understand them. Still, if you like this sort of navel-gazing, the book is well-written, well-researched, and full of concrete examples. My rating: 3.5 stars.

 

My devotion to the Flavia de Luce mystery series is well-documented here. I love these books with undying adoration. The fifth book in the series, Speaking from among the Bones, is one of my favorites. In this one, tween Flavia de Luce is present when the church sets to opening a saint’s tomb, but what they find is the corpse of the church organist, who all had presumed had just up and left in the night not long ago. Flavia has a new crime to solve. Who did it? What was the motive? With much sneaking around and even some high danger, Flavia solves the case and then leads the inspector (and the reader) through the summary, proud as ever of herself. The backstory of the family losing their estate (it’s put up for sale in this installment) continues. Also, there is a crash-bang cliffhanger here that makes me want to read the sixth book immediately. I enjoyed the crime of this one more than some of the others, and really, that is the only variable in the books. Flavia is Flavia, through and through, always—one of the most wonderful characters in all of literature. Highly recommended, but it might be good to start at the beginning of the series. My rating: 4.5 stars.

 

At the university library where I work, we’ve created a display of campus members’ favorite books. Each book is displayed with the submitter’s reasons for loving that particular book. It was through this display that I became acquainted with Elizabeth Peters and her Amelia Peabody mystery series. Peabody is a Victorian spinster ahead of her time who takes a trip to Egypt, picking up a lady companion, Evelyn, along her way. The women meet up with an archeological group led by two brothers, Mr. Emerson, a crusty man, and his younger brother, Walter, who takes a shine to Evelyn; but the possibility of their romance is not without difficulties. The group is excavating ancient tombs when a mummy repeatedly terrorizes them, causing harm to each, but not seemingly intent on murder. Has the mummy truly come to life? Is the apparition a dressed-up local trying to drive the group away from the tombs? Or is something else going on? This was a wonderful book. I listened to it, and the narration was perfect. There was much “heart-pounding” action and some levity provided by the sparring between opinioned Amelia and curmudgeonly Emerson. And the writing was superb. This is the first book, published in 1975, in a 19-book series, so I have much ahead of me, even if the books are hard to acquire. If you can get your hands on a copy or the audio version, I highly recommend this book, and if the rest in the series is like it, it will be a long, fun ride. My rating: 4 stars.

 

I’ve never been interested in fashion. I’ve always seen it as an ever-changing, never-ending set of fads that bleed your wallet dry (how’s that for opinionated). Yet, I like clothes. I like variety and having beautiful things that make me feel confident and comfortable. I just don’t like to shop, and I resent purchasing things that are out-of-date as soon as you take the tags off. My style is simple, traditional is probably the most apt word. I like slacks and a well-ironed blouse, cable knit sweaters, skirts, loafers. I prefer cotton and leather, and I always layer. I dress mainly for warmth, buy most all of my clothes used, and have a million ways to keep things nice-looking for a LONG time. So you can imagine that my clothes may be a big dated—if traditional clothing styles can ever be dated. I’ve been feeling lately like my wardrobe might need a refresh. The capsule wardrobe appeals to me, but I don’t feel like I have the energy to create one. Still, I wanted to explore some options, so I picked up The Curated Closet from the library. I didn’t really know what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved the book. While the book is written as a plan to revamp your wardrobe, discover your style, and find pieces to help you express it, I didn’t really sit down to do the exercises the author sets forth. I sort of did them in my head, and I found that I loved doing them. While I’ve never been much interested in fashion, I’ve always loved design, and this book appealed to that love. What I liked most about the book is that it was never a set of Do’s and Don’ts. Nothing was ever written in the negative. And the author never pushed the reader to follow fashion trends. She takes a “if you don’t like something, don’t wear it, and if you like something, do” attitude and tosses aside the notion that certain clothes aren’t for certain body types. This was so freeing. She really puts the ball in the reader’s court to make the most of finding her style and building a wardrobe she loves and feels confident in. If you’re looking for a little encouragement to find your style or ways to branch out, this is a wonderful place to begin. It’s not necessarily about building a capsule wardrobe but about creating a wardrobe of only pieces you love and that work well with many other pieces. I liked the book so much I decided to buy my own copy to spend more time with the exercises she provides. Overall, the book was very thorough, but there were a couple things I wish the book had included. One was a pictorial glossary defining different fashion terms. She’d sometimes use a term, maybe referring to a specific kind of top, and I wouldn’t know what it meant nor what the top looked like. She’d also talk about different waistlines and necklines that, had they been pictured, might have sparked something for me to try. But then, I’m a very visual person. I also would have loved more information (maybe again, pictures) of mixing different colors and patterns, as that’s something I’d like to get bolder with in my own style. Also, there wasn’t much talk of accessorizing, though I suppose most folks can figure that out without help. I especially loved the section on choosing a color palette; it might have been my favorite part of the book. All in all, I was really impressed with this book, and I’m so glad I tried it. I recommend this one to anyone looking at defining their style or refining their wardrobe. My rating: 4 stars.

 

Lastly, I finished a re-read of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. I read this the first time in April of 2016, and I mentioned in my review, that I likely needed to re-read it to get more out of it. I’m not sure I got more out of it this time, nor did I understand the concepts more fully. I don’t know if it’s the book or me. I’d ask my husband (a former physics major) for more information on certain things (specific points in the theory of relativity, quarks, etc.), and those discussions helped me. It must be difficult to write a book like this, because you don’t know what a person’s educational or science background is, nor, necessarily, where to give more explanation and where to give less. You have to walk the line of giving just enough to define the term or theory but not so much information as to overwhelm or muddy the waters. You also must be able to anticipate readers’ questions. The book does well enough, but I’m not sure physics is a topic I myself can learn from a book. I was able to follow the discussions in the book well enough, but I was unable to bring it all together—or to remember exactly what was discussed. So, I guess, my physics education must continue elsewhere. My rating: 3 stars.

 

Last week I began:

Having finished all of my February reads early, I've begun some books off of my March reading list.

My "chunkster" for March is Bunny Mellon, the woman who designed the White House's Rose Garden.

I'm already halfway through the Kindle version of The Nine of Us, Jean Kennedy Smith's memoir of growing up as the eighth of the nine Kennedy children (sister to JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy).

And I began the mammoth collection, Pablo Neruda's All the Odes, which is presented in English and Spanish.

My next audiobook:

I picked up a copy of this book recently at a used bookstore, but I had a feeling that if I wished to get to it any time soon, I'd need to pick it up on audio. I have it ready and waiting for me to start this week.