Well, last week was a week of finishing books. I finished six , leaving only one more May book to finish (and that was one I added when I realized I could squeeze another audiobook in). So this long three-day weekend included starting several new books, and I could not have been happier, since temperatures were in the 90s. We also cleaned out the dryer ducts and had my brother stay over Saturday night, which is a yearly tradition (my brother, not the dryer ducts).
What I finished last week:
I'm a fan of Anna Quindlen's writing. Although I would say I enjoy her nonfiction more than her fiction, she has a sure-footed way of telling a story. Her latest, Alternate Side, is darker than her Still Life with Bread Crumbs, which was a light and breezy romance, but perhaps on a par with her last novel, Miller's Valley, which was a sad family story that focused on the environment and the meaning of home. In Alternate Side, we meet Nora and Charlie, a middle-aged couple with twins about to graduate college. Their relationship is not healthy, and their marriage seems to be disintegrating. A violent act on their close dead-end New York City block shakes up the residents and proves as a catalyst for Nora moving forward. Guys, this book was depressing. I can imagine this is how a lot of marriages go down: lack of communication, built-up resentments, resistance toward a spouse instead support. They pick and jab and make passive aggressive and downright hostile comments to and about each other. It was hard to "watch" them come undone. It's also hard to "listen to" the couple's mouthy daughter. I think we as readers are supposed to focus on the crime committed as a racial crime because it involves violence by a white man of means on a minority handyman, but that whole plotline just felt contrived, and I think it got in the way of the real plot: the disintegration of a marriage. If anything good came out of my reading of this book it's a renewed understanding of how marriage requires constant vigilance, and that resent and lack of communication are deadly to a relationship. Unless you're into character studies about mean middle-aged couples, this might not appeal to you. It's plot-light, which never bothers me, but did make for some low reviews on Amazon. It's not a bad book, but it's depressing. It might make a good book club pick, though. My rating: 3 stars.
I've already declared my membership in the Fredrik Backman fan club. I've now read all of his novels (or at least all of them available in English), including his novellas, and I cannot wait until his newest novel comes out next week. But regardless of my love of Backman's writing, it took me a long time to get to My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry (his second book). Knowing that it had fantastical elements really turned me off, but one of my unofficial goals for this year was to read this book before his new book was released, so I checked it out on audio. Here we have the story of seven-year-old Elsa who adores her unconventional granny and her visits to the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas. When granny dies (not a spoiler, she dies rather early on in the book), she leaves Elsa with a set of letters to deliver to the various people who live in their building, bringing together the pasts of the characters and tying the story up into a nice, neat bow. (One of the characters, in fact, becomes the main character in Backman's third novel, Britt-Marie Was Here.) Choosing to listen to this one, I knew, was a risky idea, since I'd heard that you move between fantasy and reality in the book, but I didn't have much trouble with that. I did have trouble, however, figuring out if Miamas was a fantasy within a reality story or a reality in a fantasy book. Was the wurse real or imagined? Perhaps this would have been cleared up if I'd have read the book, but knowing Backman's writing and my literal mind, it very well may not have been. In spite of my distaste for fantasy plots, I liked this book quite a bit. Backman is a masterful storyteller, something of a genius with words and plots and characters and motivations and tying things together. So, I'm glad I read it, but I will always prefer his more straight-forward books like Beartown and A Man Called Ove. If you love fantasy elements in stories, do give this a try. I think you'll like it. My rating: 3 stars.
Who nowadays isn't enamored with Joanna Gaines? Design guru, businesswoman, long-suffering wife to Chip, mother to (almost) five, Christian, and one of the few Asian American women on primetime television. She's created a design and home empire complete with television shows, a restaurant, a magazine, a line of goods at Target and Pier 1, etc. Although farmhouse chic is not necessarily my thing, I'd enjoyed Fixer Upper and the occasional views of the Gaines' home life. And I admit, I'm one of the oddballs that always wondered what Joanna Gaines ate. I pegged her as an organic-produce-and-quinoa kind of gal. So when her cookbook Magnolia Table came out this year, I was cautious. But when I bought my copy (was there ever a question I would?) and began reading, I was so excited to find that the recipes are my favorite kind: uncomplicated, hearty home-cooking. She includes her recipes for biscuits, chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, lots of salads, and gobs of breakfast dishes. I can't fathom how a woman as busy as Joanna Gaines has time to cook meals for six on top of everything else on her plate (no pun), but she apparently loves cooking and does it to relax at the end of a busy day. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for good, simple meals for a family. My only disappointment (other than there not being a picture for every dish--there were photos for most dishes) was that there weren't many recipes for Korean dishes. I believe there was only, and I would have enjoyed more, but it seems her family didn't eat Korean food at home while growing up. A great cookbook, and the photos throughout are lovely, too. My rating: 5 stars.
Thinking I'd likely never again read a huge chunkster collection of a single poet's work after finishing Pablo Neruda's All the Odes earlier this spring, I decided I couldn't swear off all of them without reading Mary Oliver's Devotions. This is a collection of about 240 selected poems from Oliver's long poetry writing career. It includes her famous Wild Geese and The Summer Day, which even non-aficionados of poetry know. But in addition to all the old friends I encountered here, there were dozens more that blew me away. There are a handful of poets who can consistently stand me still, time after time: William Stafford, Billy Collins, Max Garland, and Mary Oliver. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out on this one due to size. The pages flew by, and I was delighted over and over. It's a very hopeful and cheerful collection. Check it out if you're interested in adding some good nature poetry to your reading life. You'll be the richer for it. My rating: 5 stars.
I love me some Jen Lancaster, and I've read all of her more recent memoirs: The Tao of Martha, I Regret Nothing, Stories I Tell in Bars, all of which I highly recommend, but of her older work, I've only read My Fair Lazy (also very good). I own most or all of the rest, so when I was looking for my last Kindle read, I decided to give Pretty in Plaid a try. I came out in 2010, I believe, and it's the only book of hers I've read that talks about her parents and childhood. In this memoir, Jen (I don't know why I feel I can call her Jen, but I do) writes about pivotal moments in her life by telling us what she was wearing. We go back to childhood, through high school days and college rush week, the suit she wore to her first job interview, etc. I had a college professor once who when asked how long our papers should be said, "cut it by a third." No matter how long or short it was, always leave them wanting more. Lancaster is more of a "more is more" writer, and while this usually doesn't bother me, this one seemed at least a third too long. It might have been the subject matter. I have a very low tolerance for egomaniacal teen stories, and stories about drinking and being irresponsible and ditzy and smart-mouthed, and most of the stories here were of that variety. It got old and grated on my nerves. I dragged myself through the last half of the book. I definitely enjoy the Jen who learned from these experiences to the Jen who lived them. My rating: 3 stars.
You know how much I adore Clementine, Sara Pennypacker's spirited little protagonist. I find the books hilarious and true to life. Clementine and the Family Meeting is the fifth in the Clementine series (there are seven books total). In this one, Clementine is told that she'll soon have a new sister or brother, and she's N-O-T not happy. What finally brings her around to the idea? You'll find out. There are also subplots about losing her rat for the science fair as well as other plots involving change and upheaval of the eight-year-old variety. I enjoyed this one as much as the four that came before it. If you're looking for family read-alouds or good middle-grade readers for your kids, check out these books. I seldom see them on lists of suggestions, and I simply cannot fathom why. They're great. My rating: 4 stars.
Last week I started my first June reads:
I'd been interested in Chasing Hillary since it came out because I've always wondered about those imbedded journalists who follow political candidates around the country for the entire election cycle. What must that be like? How close do they get to the candidate? Do they necessarily support the candidate? To what degree do they have to put their normal life on hold? I was not, however, a fan of Hillary Clinton's campaign, so I hemmed and hawed over this one until a very conservative television personality admitted to being enthralled by it. I immediately bought my copy. We'll see.
I also started Chip Gaines' Capital Gaines last week, and it's wonderful. I expected to like it, but I'm loving it.
My audiobook:
I'm currently listening to Jessica Fellowes' The Mitford Murders. It was a little slow to start, but I'm enjoying it more now.
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