Other Women's Stories: What I'm reading this week (7/16/18)

Well, I'm back from Readcation, and I have to say as far as reading went, it was kind of a bust. I have too many other projects going on right now to want to read as much as I'd planned. I gave myself grace and slackened the reading schedule a little. I'm also floundering with book choices this month. I guess I'm a restless reader this summer, but I know it will pick back up when my projects are done and the fall book releases hit.

Last week I finished:

I so enjoyed My Lady Jane earlier this year that when I found out a second book in the Janies series was coming out in the summer, I was very excited. My Plain Jane has the same premise: a famous historical Jane, this time Jane Eyre, has her story retold with the insertion of otherworldly elements. In the first book, it was shape-shifting humans; in this book, there are ghosts and possessions. But, you know, fun ghosts and possessions. True to form, the three authors add plenty of humor in their retelling, and my special favorite was Helen, Jane's beloved childhood friend who passed and is now her ghostly sidekick. There's romance, adventure, and an explanation as to why Rochester is so blasted "broody" and difficult. I don't read much of this kind of thing, not much YA, and no fantasy at all, but I have fallen in love with these books. They're long, but they read very quickly. Highly recommended. My rating: 4.5 stars.

I had such a hard time settling on a nighttime read this month. I finally tried The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, which was a short, quick, quirky read. Think Marie Kondo but an older author with more sass. This is part-memoir and part-self help, I guess, and our author, Margareta Magnusson is "somewhere between 80 and 100 years old." In her little book, she tells one how to get rid of a lifetime of clutter so your descendants and friends won't have to. It's not as morbid as it sounds, but Magnusson is not very sentimental, making it all seem very easy for her. I enjoyed this little book a great deal. I'm working on my own clean-out, and I'm finding it exhausting but so satisfying. I wouldn't say that this book alone, however, would be enough for most folks to undertake their own "death cleaning." The advice is, perhaps, too simple. It would work for the motivated or self-starter, though, who just needs a little boost of encouragement. If you're looking to undertake a clean-out, check this one out, but maybe don't stop here. My rating: 4 stars.

Every now and then I get a wild hair to read a celebrity memoir. Earlier this year I read Tina Fey's Bossypants, and I found Lauren Graham's Talking As Fast As I Can much the same, but not as good. I think you have to be a bigger fan of Graham's work and silly humor than I am to truly enjoy this one. I've seen several episodes of (the original) Gilmore Girls, but I've never seen Parenthood, which I think I have confused with Modern Family. I have a hard time getting into actors and comedians who are always "on." Tina Fey can on occasion turn off the funny-gal persona and be personable. It would seem Lauren Graham cannot. That disappointed me. I enjoyed the book on audio because it was narrated by Graham, but I'd only recommend it to folks who are big fans--in which case, you've probably already read it. My rating: 3 stars.

And speaking of television reboots... I was a big fan of Trading Spaces, back when HGTV was relatively new and TLC's Trading Spaces held the market on home shows. One of the better designers, in my humble opinion, on the show was Vern Yip. He seemed a little better than the others, perhaps more schooled or more in touch with his own design style. He made it serious business whereas the others may have had more fun. When his decorating book, Vern Yip's Design Wise, came out in 2016, I added it to my TBR where it languished until now. Reading it, I was reminded just how exacting he is. He is definitely of the opinion that there are design rules and they should be followed. With a strong foundation of those rules, one can design a beautiful space. The book is divided into two parts. The first 160 pages are Yip's rules, including how large an area rug should be, how deep a couch's seat should be, the proper size of a coffee table, the types of dining table legs, etc. and etc. If you're that kind of person, it's all there in an easy to take with you guide. The second part of the book is full-page photos of Yip's homes. While we don't really share the same style--he's more Asian modern and I'm more contemporary traditional--the spaces are truly beautiful and well curated. Oddly enough, with all the design rules and measurements provided, I didn't get the two pieces of information I was hoping to: the proper height of a bedside table lamp and options for lighting antique paintings. Guess I'll just wing it like I generally do! My rating: 3.5 stars.

I've enjoyed several of Kevin Young's books, both of his own poetry and of his edited anthologies. The Hungry Ear, an anthology of poems about food, is one of my favorite poetry books. And a couple of years ago I read his Dear Darkness which I really enjoyed. Brown, his newest book of poems, came out this April, and it's more of what Dear Darkness had to offer. Young writes about the African American experience, blues, and sports. He's one of the finest poets writing today, and likely my favorite African American poet. He's a master at arrangement of poems in a collection so that they flow together as several long pieces, and you really feel like you're having an experience rather than just reading a bunch of poems. A fine collection. My rating: 3 stars.

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