Hold on to your hats, this might be a long one. I finished seven books last week, and I'll try to review each of them fully below.
What I finished last week:
Occasionally, I check in with Reese's Book Club to see what she's recommending. Her April 2019 pick was The Night Tiger, the audio version of which stood unclaimed in my library system, so I immediately put a hold on it. I love books set in Asia (this was set in British Malaya), and I was looking for a good story to listen to. This is the story of Ji Lin, a young woman working as a dance companion to pay off her mother's mahjong debts; her stepbrother, Shin, a secretive young doctor-in-training; and a little boy named Ren who is tasked with finding his benefactor's severed finger within 49 of his death or his soul will never be at peace. These characters, and more, interplay in a plot rather too intricate for the book to withhold. There is death and murder and fevered dreams and abuse and female suppression and Chinese custom and lots more. It was often a confusing book to listen to, as all the twists and turns didn't always stay with me from disc to disc. It wasn't a bad book, but there were two big magical realism subplots that I didn't particularly care for nor fully understand. The straw that broke the camel's back, though, was when the stepsiblings decide to start a romantic relationship. I found that element distasteful and completely unnecessary to the already over-burdened plot. This was a book that tried to do too many things, and in my opinion, it suffered for it. The writing was good, and if you can forgive incest and love magical realism, you'll likely enjoy it more than I. My rating: 3 stars.
I read my first John Grisham novel at the end of last year, and I loved it. The experience opened up a whole lot of opportunity as Grisham is a rather prolific writer. I haven't yet read any of the legal thrillers he's best known for, but I keep adding his books to my TBR based on my interest in the plots. I recently decided on Calico Joe, because I love stories about baseball. This is the story of Paul Tracey; his father, a pitcher for the 1973 Mets; and Joe Castle ("Calico Joe"), a rookie who begins his career by breaking record after record, until the day Calico Joe is at bat with Warren Tracey on the mound, and the lives of all three men change forever. This is a story of baseball, fathers and sons, and virtue. It's a short book, and Grisham's writing is succinct and not flowery. It's an unsentimental story (very unsentimental) that examines difficult relationships between an abusive father and his estranged son, but also forgiveness between baseball rivals. I've said before that I do not care for books with characters who are all good or all bad. Warren Tracey was an "all bad" character, and while he changed in the second half of the book, it was not a subtle or progressive change. I kept waiting for a plot twist or complication that would give the book more depth, but I was ultimately disappointed. I came away thinking that it could have been a great book, but it just didn't dig deep enough. I'd love if someone read it herself (it would take some of you an afternoon) and let me know if I'm wrong. My rating: 3 stars.
I've been meaning to read a book by Mark Twain for a couple of decades now, but I'm often not very interested in "boy" books, so I've never given Twain a try. Still, I have always assumed his sense of humor would delight me, so I haven't given up wanting to read a couple of his more popular titles. Last week I finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on audio (it's really not that long of a book), and I was right, I was delighted. For some reason, I didn't really expect a children's book, but that's certainly what this is--though, of course, it's not a children's book that adults can't enjoy. If you haven't read it, I'm sure you know the plot and many of his adventures anyway: how he tricks other kids into whitewashing his aunt's fence (and even tricks them into paying him to do it), his exploits with Huck Finn, his deep infatuation with Becky Thatcher, and the occasional peril he finds himself in. At least twice, his aunty believes him to be dead, and he once shows up alive at his own funeral. This was a charming book, through and through. Twain really is a master storyteller who remembers what it was like to be a mischievous boy. If it's still on your list, give it a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
My rating: 4 stars.
In an effort to re-read 19 books this year (19 for '19), I made a list of possible titles, and right at the top was Jen Hatmaker's For the Love. When I read this book in 2016 (review here), I was blown away by it. At the time, I was much closer to some raw emotions, and I found the book very cathartic. I'd left my church and lost my father the year before, and at the time of reading, I was helping my husband through a difficult health situation (plus, the political conventions happened that summer, and watching Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump prepare to square off was a situation that needed emotional fortification). This time through, though, I was not as taken with the book. I had none of the emotional needs I did the first time, and I'm so glad I read this book when I needed it most. I re-read this on Kindle, and I often had to force myself to settle in for another essay. Though it was something I had wanted to re-read, I wasn't always very interested in doing it. This time through I found myself getting impatient. I probably should have quit reading, but I had already abandoned so many books this month, I refused to put aside another. It was just me and where I was at this point in my life; and it's one of the perils of choosing your reading list in advance. But it's not like you have to be in a difficult period of your life to enjoy this book. Hatmaker touches on motherhood, womanhood, faith, friends, food, and church. It's just that she can often be a little too light for me, and I didn't really have the patience for some of that this time through. I prefer when she goes deep and uses the humor as a spice, not a main ingredient. In short, though, I would still recommend this book. Of the three Hatmaker books I've read, this is my favorite, and I think there's a lot here to chew on. My rating: 3.5 stars.
Oh how I love Billy Collins. I have yet to read several of his earlier collections (I'm saving them for a rainy day), but when a university library offered a copy of Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes to our library, I nabbed it. So that I could read it first. Sorry not sorry. This one started out a little rocky for me. The collection came out in 2000, and it's comprised of selected poems up to that time. I began to wonder if I just wasn't going to like Collins' early work. But before I could figure out exactly what it was that didn't appeal to me about them, I was over the hump. Either the work progressed to poems that felt more like the Billy Collins I knew or my poetry psyche recalibrated (or I got out of a certain mood), but the book became quite enjoyable. There were some old friends here--such as the title poem--and a lot of new-to-me ones. I ended up enjoying this as much as many of his other books. The only thing that really hampered my enjoyment was the size of the pages. While I like the feel of small books like this one, they do not always lend themselves well to poetry. The poems were cut off in weird places (and too often). I'd often get to what I thought was the end of a poem only to realize it continued on the next page. That made for an awkward reading experience that I wish the publisher would have addressed. My rating: 4 stars.
I have been burning through audiobooks lately (I think I'll finish eight this month), and last week while waiting for some holds to come in, I had to scramble for a short filler. While browsing the shelves, I ran across Mike Huckabee's Dear Chandler, Dear Scarlett, which clocked in at just three CDs, and I decided to give this sure-to-be sentimental book a try. (Working in a library myself, I sometimes like to check out the more obscure titles to keep their circulation stats up--or maybe just to skew circ data. Now that is a book nerd confession.) This is a book of letters written by Mike Huckabee to his two grandchildren, Chandler and Scarlet. Huckabee was the governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007, and he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016. Before his career in politics, he was an evangelical minister. His daughter, Scarlett's mom, is White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. His letters to his grandchildren (which number more than two now--this was published in 2012) cover big topics like faith, education, work, America, creativity, and handling pain. I expected a sentimental group of essays, and that's pretty much what I got. Much of it had little depth, but it was all sweet. I was surprised that the statements were so surface when he has such a wealth of experience in so many arenas, and I wished I would have heard more of that, but I guess that's what his books for adults are for. My favorite parts were the personal stories about his childhood and his children's childhoods. While the book is sort of forgettable, I still enjoyed it while I listened, an overall win in my book. My rating: 3 stars.
I also finished Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy for the fourth? fifth? seventh? time. Many Christian Scientists read this book cover to cover and begin again once finished. This book along with the Bible are the pastors of our church, and while I will not review this book, I will tell you that it is the only book that has changed my life--and of course, healed many ills, physical, psychological, and financial. It and the Bible are the two books that are most important to me.
What I'm reading this week:
I'm so excited to settle into book two of the Crazy Rich Asian series.
What I'm reading at night:
I'm enjoying both of these re-reads from long ago.
This week's audiobooks:
Two of these are short, so I'll finish them both next week, but the book about the space program will take a little longer. I'm excited about all three, especially on audio.
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