2016 books - part 2
Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl by Daniel Pinkwater
I am devoted to Daniel Pinkwater, and have been since I was a child. His children's and YA novels have this perfect mix of the silly, the bizarre and the philosophical and they made me excited about the world during a very dark period when I was age 12-13. He wrote no children's or YA novels for some years (only published two between 1984 and 2006), because for quite a period publishers just weren't willing to take the chance on something so different. Thankfully that changed and he published the first of a new trilogy in 2006 (The Neddiad, which he felt was the best novel he'd written).
Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl is the third in the trilogy, and my favorite of the bunch. The trilogy (well, the second and third at least) take us back to the idea of different existential planes, which I generally love, particularly his explanations of them. I could barely put this one down. It's classic Pinkwater but perhaps with a new refinement (the whole trilogy is, really).
I haven't read the first one since it came out, so I'm hoping to re-read that later this year. SO GOOD
The Log From the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck is always good, and this account of a few months sailing around collecting specimens is very good. They were sailing in 1940, I believe, and there's a fair bit of preoccupation with the war, though of course the US was not officially involved yet. I think being on a ship generally leads to philosophizing and that's evident here.
The blemish on the book was in the last section, which is a celebration/brief biography of Ed Ricketts (whom the character Doc in Cannery Row was based on, and who maintained the scientific purpose of the trip). Steinbeck describes Ricketts' sexual habits which boil down to picking out vulnerable young women who are tied up enough (by husbands, children, etc) that they won't be able to make trouble for Ricketts when he gets tired of them. Steinbeck describes this as though it's just a humorous quirk and that's pretty gross, all in all.
The Price of Salt/Carol by Patricia Highsmith
This is a beautifully written book. It follows Therese, a theatre set designer, while she's working at a department store before Christmas. She is captivated by an older female customer, Carol, to the extent that she contacts her directly. They begin a tentative, nerve-wracked (for Therese) friendship which creates fallout in both their personal lives.
It says something that this one is considered to have a happy ending (compared to other books of the period involving homosexuality). I would say it's not happy or totally grim (in part because it ends quite suddenly).
It was a very good read, and I loved Highsmith's writing. Really disappointed when I was looking her up to find that she was more than latently racist and particularly vehemently anti-Semitic. I guess as least she's dead and I'm not monetarily supporting her, but it was upsetting to learn that. VERY GOOD
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline Preston
I absolutely loved this book. It's a bit thin on the writing side, but each page is a scrapbook page with period ephemera (Preston has been a long-time collector of vintage scrapbooks). It's a joy to look at just for those wonderful vintage pieces she's found.
The premise and the way things run are a bit too sweet, maybe, but I loved looking through the book. It felt extremely honest as well. I've made accidental scrapbooks out of journals and I saw shadows of them in this. Preston captures a reality and because the images and things are all actual period pieces it does hit you as a True Thing.
I've been so good this year about writing down books I learn about (and want to read) from LT threads, but I slipped with this one. I could have sworn I learned about it here but can't find the thread anywhere now (and it could have come from BookRiot). So annoying not to know. WONDERFUL
Freddy Rides Again by Walter R. Brooks
One of my favorites of the Freddy books I've read recently. I love that the animals dream of being cowboys, just like every other kid in the 1950s. Rich neighbors move nearby and disrupt everyone's life. Freddy works to teach them a lesson or at least get their son to stop being a jerk. A great one for people who love Mr. Bean.
I do so heartily recommend these books. They're great fun and have a lot of good lessons in them delivered without hammering them.
For atmosphere here is a picture of my mother in 1955, in her own cowgirl outfit.
The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
This is a memoir of Grande's life going about through her college years. She was born in Iguala, Mexico and before she is old enough to remember her father goes to work in the US (el otro lado - the other side). When she is six or seven her mother leaves as well, leaving Grande and her older sister and brother with their paternal grandmother. This grandmother does not care for them or treat them well.
Later Grande and her siblings cross the border illegally with their father, having to make multiple tries before succeeding. The US is not the dream they imagined. Their father is abusive and Grande struggles to get by in school and learn English. Their lives are harsh and their father's girlfriend resents them living there while her own children cannot. Soon they learn their mother has come back to the US but has not bothered to try to contact them.
The title of the book refers to both the physical and emotional distances between Grande and her parents. It is a very good memoir, and I really recommend it. I would avoid the audio edition though, if you can. The reader is largely good but struggles with doing voices for the dialogue and ends up sounding very cartoony. VERY GOOD
The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
This was a really interesting novel, with a fairly original format. Isabel is writing the story of her and her husband Quintin's families and their histories in Puerto Rico. Every few chapters her tale is interrupted by her husband's narration when he finds and reads various parts of her work, and writes notes in the margins. There are also chapters set in the present where Isabel talks directly about Quintin's reading her manuscript.
I definitely made liberal use of the family tree in the front of the book, but even with a few moments of confusion, it was a very interesting, enjoyable read. It deals with a lot of different issues in a very personal, family way (Puerto Rican nationalism vs statehood, colonial legacy, racism, etc...).
Reviewing it I feel like I should be raving about what a good read it was, but it's a quiet, subdued read in many ways. It is about the storytelling and the characters more than beautiful language. Definitely one I haven't stopped thinking about since I finished it.
Queen of the Air: A True Story of Love and Tragedy at the Circus by Dean Jensen
While the subject was very interesting this book mostly just got on my nerves. It is very narrative non-fiction, and feels totally geared for people who don't like non-fiction at all. Jensen speaks so much for the people involved, their moods, their inner feelings, without saying a single word about how he knows this is how they felt. No mention of any source material at all in the body of the book.
I like sources. I love being swept up in a story, but good writers do that all the time while still filling a book with primary source material (Caroline Alexander, Candice Millard, Tom Reiss). Where did he find out the story of Nellie Pelikan's early life, for example? There are only a handful of mentions of letters in the entire book. Jensen's gives us nothing, no reason to believe that this is remotely close to being accurate vs one person's prejudiced memories or largely his own imaginings.
This is a book I thought I'd love but was feeling disenchanted with during the first 50 pages. Like the fool I am though I didn't decide to give it up. It's just so much harder to call it quits with an audiobook for some reason.
The Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
I feel like maybe I need some more fluff reading in my life (or more children's books, they break up the rest of my fiction reading in the same way). This is the third in the Anita Blake series, I picked it up thinking it was the second. Re-read the first last year and thought I might as well go through the first nine again. They're fun, they're not horribly written (they're in first person with a very distinct, casual voice which if you hate you'll hate the books, but it's fine for me), Anita has a double career, and a whole lot of agency. I tried to read the first book in series the show True Blood is based on and found the writing to be awful and the heroine to have so little character and such little life outside her love life.
While the series as the reputation for smut now, there's really not much/any of that until book six (book ten is where there's suddenly loads of it, and by book twelve there was so much that I had to stop reading them - the crime investigation and the fights for survival are what I really liked). I'm catching myself back up reading the second book now.
Capital by John Lanchester
I really loved this novel. It follows a number of people/families on a single "suddenly worth millions" street in London, set before and during the 2008 financial crisis. It is so nuanced and carefully told and just a really great read. For me it felt incredibly authentic and realistic.
If you seen the previews for the mini-series based on this book, they make it seem like a thriller which it absolutely isn't. I'm also astounded they tried to break this beautiful book into only three episodes. Unless those episodes are 2 hours each, that's just not enough. Inner thoughts are such an important part of it that adapting it will be difficult anyway. They needed the person who adapted The Slap to do this one (that adaptation had the fewest changes I've ever seen in book-to-TV/movie). Also, having seen Toby Jones in the comedy The Detectorists I cannot make my brain imagine him as a city banker.
Highly recommend the book, it really was just an absolutely wonderful read, a great contemporary novel. MUST READ
The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
Since I accidentally read the third book in the series second I had to half-rectify that by reading the second quickly. Also I was on vacation, and while I don't really believe in "vacation reading" I do believe in "books that are light enough and engaging enough to read in an uncomfortable bathtub during necessary soaking." Wish I'd brought the fourth book with me rather than my bulky WWI tome I've been reading!
While I think the writing in this series is far better than a lot of 'trashy' series, I did identify one writing tic that drives me a bit nuts. Hamilton is fond have having Anita say "Damn you, insert name, damn you," in serious situations. It feels so incredibly unnatural to me with the repetition. That's how sarcastic people say it, not seriously annoyed people. I'm pretty sure this happens less and less as the books go on at least (hopefully).
That aside, the books are fun and they are engaging. The way Hamilton turns everything supernatural rather banal and everyday for Anita appeals to me. In her universe it's not just witches, vampires, fairies, and shapeshifters who are real. Trolls, giants, lamias, lots of creatures make it in too. Re-reading them is hitting home why this series kept me interested for a good while when I had no inclination to read similar things. The wide adoption of the supernatural, the criminal investigation aspect, and the fights are all part of that. For whatever reason I like a good bit of fictional violence (more in TV/movies than books admittedly), even while being quite the pacifist. Life's little mysteries...
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
One of the must-read books of US history both for the content and the good writing and organization. It is made a harder read for me now simply because of how little has truly changed. Treaties are still violated for commercial reasons, fashion campaigns use specific tribal dress as a prop, non-native actors are still cast in native roles (even the 1950s Long Ranger TV show got that one right whereas the recent movie did not).
Children are still suspended for talking in native languages in school (and I mean in between class and at lunch, not during class though that also wouldn't be reason for suspension), native kids who adopt traditional hair styles get in trouble in the same school where non-native kids wear the same styles without issue. Obviously those things don't happen at every school, but that it EVER happens is patently ridiculous and wrong.
Read the book if you haven't already, particularly if you live in the US. Pair it with Rez Life.
Freddy and Simon the Dictator by Walter R. Brooks
Another encounter with Freddy's oldest enemy, Simon the Rat, this time working in collaboration with a human farmer to create an animal uprising that would displace the human farm owners. Why a human is helping with this isn't totally clear. There are a lot of references to Russia, which isn't surprising in a 1956 book. This is also the third from last novel in the series.
It's fun, though not one of my very favorites. Also the rabbits are mad because of a rumor that the Beans eat rabbit stew. Made me think that the Beans must be vegetarians or only eat mutton (no sheep on the farm). Obviously the fact that they're apparently just keeping Freddy, a pig, for a garbage disposal comes to mind early in the reading, in part because that's the only animal with no dual purpose. Maybe they eat a lot of seafood... In general though I respect Brooks for not attempting to explain any of that, it's a fantasy children's book, children know that.
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
I put this book on my library hold list when I was just reasonably curious about it. When it actually came in I wasn't eager to start, but once I began I just loved it.
Catmull is one of the founders of Pixar and the book is largely about the running of that company, the ideals they wanted to firmly plant in the workplace, their successes, and their mistakes. Catmull is proud of Pixar, but he is not egotistical or arrogant and in the book he shares with us the hard work of maintaining a creative workplace.
It was just fascinating to read, and especially hit home for me as I design and sell cross-stitch patterns. It can be hard to separate my joy in the act of design and stitching from the business side of things, and I've definitely stifled creativity sometimes due to what will actually sell.
Really interesting read, highly recommended. EXCELLENT
Going Solo by Roald Dahl
The second of the slim memoirs Dahl published. He is quite picky of what seems 'worthy' of going into a memoir and I wonder if he had to be goaded into writing them at all. This one basically picks up where Boy left off. Dahl is working for Shell in Kenya and Tanzania. Despite being considered far too tall (6'6") he joins the RAF and learns to fly. He survives a horrific crash early in his career due to being given incorrect information.
What is most striking about the book is the utter lack of care for pilots not stationed in the UK. They're expected to take up planes of types they've never flown before and go out solo on raids without being taught even the basics of fighter plane flying. The high death rate for the RAF overseas is immediately understandable and I felt sick reading about it.
Recommended. His memoirs are so slim and such quick reads.
I also found myself having a strange disconnect about Dahl and Spike Milligan being about the same age. Milligan's work is centered so firmly in the immediate post-war period for me whereas Dahl's children's books are timeless in many ways (they feel both newer than they are but also older than they are all at once).
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund
This is a really interesting take on a WWI history. Englund has chosen 20 individuals, none of whom became well known, and takes us through their war. They come from a variety of countries, and fight or live on a variety of fronts. Englund uses diary and memoir excerpts but also tells us about their lives and the world events himself. My dad was over the moon about this book, absolutely loved it. I had a hard time settling down with it, I think because the focus switches to a different person every few pages or less. It was hard to get into a rhythm.
There's an ordinary Tommy, the American wife of a Polish aristocrat, a dedicated Scottish social worker, an English nurse serving with the Russian army, a Brazilian man who was turned down when he tried to enlist with the allies so enlisted with the Ottoman army instead, a Danish man fighting in the Germany army, a German school girl, a French civil servant, a Scot serving with the British army in Africa, etc...
The book is done really well, and Englund manages to get home points which I don't remember picking up from other WWI reads. Like the fact that when the Germans entrenched themselves they had mostly been retreating and were able to pick and choose the most defensible ground to stop at.
Very interesting book, and really well done. It is truly a personal look at the war. I can't really place whether this will appeal more or less to people who've read very little about the war. If you like social history definitely pick it up.
The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton
Well once I started rereading the first bit of the series I had to continue. Part of the addictive effect of these books is the fact that they occur over quite brief periods of time. Like the first four books represent about one year in Anita's life. This is the fourth book and her personal life begins to get messy.
Apart from Anita's expressions of annoyance with people just not feeling right ("damn you, so-and-so, damn you" rather than "damn it, so-and-so" which feels much more natural), the books aren't horribly written (though she does describe clothing a lot).
Fun, silly, addictive reading. Attempting to own my enjoyment of the first nine or so in the series and banish my embarrassment. I've almost convinced myself.
The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
The second book in the Amelia Peabody series. Amelia and her now-husband Emerson basically hate everyone in the world except each other and they even hate each other a bit. Which makes me love them and love Peters so much. They are snarky and ridiculous and in love.
I do feel that Peters in wishing to keep the characters feeling Victorian is sometimes putting too many stereotypes on the Egyptians. She fought that more in the first book, I think, though I can't be 100% sure. We'll see how it continues. It's not over the top in this one, just some instances really rubbed me the wrong way. Still a deeply enjoyable book with lots of laughs in it for me. LOVE HER
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
I've been meaning to read Allende since I started working at a bookstore in 2003, and finally my new book club made me do it.
The book follows a family through marriages, deaths, affairs, births, and the varying political climate in Chile. It's dense but flowing, and I enjoyed it. It reminded me a little of Beloved (which I loved). While it's a great first novel I think the inexperience does show a bit. I also felt very sure while reading that if published today it would have been split in half, a first novel and a sequel.
Definitely want to read more Allende after this.
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett RE-READ
This is the fourth book in the Tiffany Aching series. I re-read it now as a refresher before starting the fifth book in the series, and the last Discworld book, The Shepherd's Crown.
I've only read this once before, I think because I find Tiffany and her struggles so affecting. Something in these books feels MUCH more personal to Mr. Pratchett than in the regular Discworld offerings. Partly because of Tiffany's fascination with words, especially susurration (which I'm pretty sure appears in every single Discworld book).
In this volume people are suddenly very against witches, and Tiffany confronts a foe who can track her without solid form and turn people against her. She also confronts her own relative lack of experience dealing with people as she tries to help them.
It's a lovely book, and I thought a perfect ending to Tiffany's story. Now I've started The Shepherd's Crown, which is starting on quite a dramatic note. Authors never trust me about where to end their series.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
This is a very important book. Desmond followed and lived with people longterm, in their neighborhoods, recording conversations often via digital recorder so the dialogue within in frequently verbatim. He spent immense time gaining the trust of people who have mostly been trained to trust no one.
I would recommend reading the "about this project" bit at the end before you start. Otherwise it might seem like Desmond is dramatizing, or putting words in people's mouths. It's a very well done book, heartbreaking in so many ways.
Since the big recession and the relatively swift decimation of the middle class, I think books like this are particularly necessary. Growing up in this kind of grinding poverty and then attempting to live in it as an adult, often with children of your own, has been shown to cause PTSD. It is an extremely different situation than someone who was raised middle class being relatively poor (in part because they likely have more resources to draw on). I have lived in abject poverty before, when my rent was eating up 70% of my income, with bills and non-food necessities taking the rest (and that was in an apartment where the electricity was paid for by the landlord). It is incredibly hard on a person, and I entered with the privilege of a thrifty middle class upbringing and the very good finance example of my mother (and I'm a strict budgeter by nature).
Desmond does a great job with this one. MUST READ
Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
Fifth in the Anita Blake series. First one to feature Anita smooching Jean-Claude. She finds out more about him in this book, and they encounter some vampires from his past.
This one is quite a bit longer than the previous books, and focuses a bit less on the police parts (mainly because Anita's out of town and the local cops take a dislike to her so she's working outside the law). It's a darker book in some ways.
While I enjoy these, and at the time it was fun having a big series, I'm kind of glad my addictive reading now is stuff like Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom children's fantasy series. I've never been much for binge reading series books. These I've been making my night time bedroom book, and admittedly I have had some late nights because of it. It's been a long time since I've read them.
Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women by Nura Maznavi and Ayesha Mattu (editors)
This was a really wonderful collection. I wasn't sure what to expect from it, but it turned out to be a great read. The essays all come from women who identify as both Muslim and (US)American, but they are incredibly diverse, coming from many different backgrounds, coming to Islam at different periods, some straight, some gay, some bisexual, conservative or liberal, etc...
In the end it reminds us that love is love, and people are all basically act the same, no matter what their religious or cultural influences. In the US I think many white folks, especially those for whom immigration lies many generations back, like to believe that they don't put strictures on their children in terms of choosing a spouse. They outwardly rebel against people specifically looking for a certain cultural or religious criteria in a mate, while managing to hold the same expectations for their children. The number of white people on OkCupid who say they wouldn't marry outside of their race is astounding and frankly horrifying (more so since they are the dominant culture), and I've seen many who refuse bisexuals (which is quite rich when they message me, a bisexual myself, I have no interest in marriage, but if you wouldn't marry me based on that then kindly leave me be).
The essays were great, in any case, and I highly recommend this book. It would be a good one to pick up over a longer period, since each essay isn't too long. The book is also a bit dear to my heart since one of my aunts is an Egyptian Muslima (and, due to various readings, if I ever started believing in one god I'd head to Islam). GREAT READ
The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
Sixth book in the series. Why can't I stop re-reading these?! Still haven't manage to jettison my embarrassment over these. It might be lessened if I read more similar books, but I just don't, and don't have any desire to. In this one Anita spends a lot of time being told what's going on with the werewolf power struggle involving her beau Richard's reluctance to kill the current pack leader. Edward her assassin friend is in it, as someone has taken out a contract on Anita. She is very hard-hearted and numb to the death she leaves in her wake in this one.
The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart
Read this for the Reading Globally Caribbean theme. A good, solid, enjoyable read, though not quite five stars amazing.
It follows a line of women, spending most of the book with Telumee, who mostly grows up with her grandmother. She goes from luck to trouble several times.
SassyLassy wrote a great review here.
I did copy out several quotes:
"For the first time in my life I realized that slavery was not some foreign country, some distant region from which a few very old people came, like the two or three who still survived in Fond-Zombie. It had all happened here, in our hills and valleys, perhaps near this clump of bamboo, perhaps in the air I was breathing."
"I wouldn't say a word or utter a sigh in case I gave voice to some evil influence that might prevent the dream from ever coming true. Elie's words made me proud, but I would have rather he'd kept them to himself, carefully sheltered from bad luck."
"Everyday you must get up and say to your heart, 'I've suffered enough, and now I have to live, for the light of the sun must not be frittered away and lost without any eye to enjoy it.'"
"...people gathered in silence outside, gazing at the scene unfolding before their eyes and trying to puzzle out a story, a story with a meaning with a beginning and an end, as you have to do here below if you want to know where you are amidst the chaos of men's desires."
I am devoted to Daniel Pinkwater, and have been since I was a child. His children's and YA novels have this perfect mix of the silly, the bizarre and the philosophical and they made me excited about the world during a very dark period when I was age 12-13. He wrote no children's or YA novels for some years (only published two between 1984 and 2006), because for quite a period publishers just weren't willing to take the chance on something so different. Thankfully that changed and he published the first of a new trilogy in 2006 (The Neddiad, which he felt was the best novel he'd written).
Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl is the third in the trilogy, and my favorite of the bunch. The trilogy (well, the second and third at least) take us back to the idea of different existential planes, which I generally love, particularly his explanations of them. I could barely put this one down. It's classic Pinkwater but perhaps with a new refinement (the whole trilogy is, really).
I haven't read the first one since it came out, so I'm hoping to re-read that later this year. SO GOOD
The Log From the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck is always good, and this account of a few months sailing around collecting specimens is very good. They were sailing in 1940, I believe, and there's a fair bit of preoccupation with the war, though of course the US was not officially involved yet. I think being on a ship generally leads to philosophizing and that's evident here.
The blemish on the book was in the last section, which is a celebration/brief biography of Ed Ricketts (whom the character Doc in Cannery Row was based on, and who maintained the scientific purpose of the trip). Steinbeck describes Ricketts' sexual habits which boil down to picking out vulnerable young women who are tied up enough (by husbands, children, etc) that they won't be able to make trouble for Ricketts when he gets tired of them. Steinbeck describes this as though it's just a humorous quirk and that's pretty gross, all in all.
The Price of Salt/Carol by Patricia Highsmith
This is a beautifully written book. It follows Therese, a theatre set designer, while she's working at a department store before Christmas. She is captivated by an older female customer, Carol, to the extent that she contacts her directly. They begin a tentative, nerve-wracked (for Therese) friendship which creates fallout in both their personal lives.
It says something that this one is considered to have a happy ending (compared to other books of the period involving homosexuality). I would say it's not happy or totally grim (in part because it ends quite suddenly).
It was a very good read, and I loved Highsmith's writing. Really disappointed when I was looking her up to find that she was more than latently racist and particularly vehemently anti-Semitic. I guess as least she's dead and I'm not monetarily supporting her, but it was upsetting to learn that. VERY GOOD
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline Preston
I absolutely loved this book. It's a bit thin on the writing side, but each page is a scrapbook page with period ephemera (Preston has been a long-time collector of vintage scrapbooks). It's a joy to look at just for those wonderful vintage pieces she's found.
The premise and the way things run are a bit too sweet, maybe, but I loved looking through the book. It felt extremely honest as well. I've made accidental scrapbooks out of journals and I saw shadows of them in this. Preston captures a reality and because the images and things are all actual period pieces it does hit you as a True Thing.
I've been so good this year about writing down books I learn about (and want to read) from LT threads, but I slipped with this one. I could have sworn I learned about it here but can't find the thread anywhere now (and it could have come from BookRiot). So annoying not to know. WONDERFUL
Freddy Rides Again by Walter R. Brooks
One of my favorites of the Freddy books I've read recently. I love that the animals dream of being cowboys, just like every other kid in the 1950s. Rich neighbors move nearby and disrupt everyone's life. Freddy works to teach them a lesson or at least get their son to stop being a jerk. A great one for people who love Mr. Bean.
I do so heartily recommend these books. They're great fun and have a lot of good lessons in them delivered without hammering them.
For atmosphere here is a picture of my mother in 1955, in her own cowgirl outfit.
The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
This is a memoir of Grande's life going about through her college years. She was born in Iguala, Mexico and before she is old enough to remember her father goes to work in the US (el otro lado - the other side). When she is six or seven her mother leaves as well, leaving Grande and her older sister and brother with their paternal grandmother. This grandmother does not care for them or treat them well.
Later Grande and her siblings cross the border illegally with their father, having to make multiple tries before succeeding. The US is not the dream they imagined. Their father is abusive and Grande struggles to get by in school and learn English. Their lives are harsh and their father's girlfriend resents them living there while her own children cannot. Soon they learn their mother has come back to the US but has not bothered to try to contact them.
The title of the book refers to both the physical and emotional distances between Grande and her parents. It is a very good memoir, and I really recommend it. I would avoid the audio edition though, if you can. The reader is largely good but struggles with doing voices for the dialogue and ends up sounding very cartoony. VERY GOOD
The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
This was a really interesting novel, with a fairly original format. Isabel is writing the story of her and her husband Quintin's families and their histories in Puerto Rico. Every few chapters her tale is interrupted by her husband's narration when he finds and reads various parts of her work, and writes notes in the margins. There are also chapters set in the present where Isabel talks directly about Quintin's reading her manuscript.
I definitely made liberal use of the family tree in the front of the book, but even with a few moments of confusion, it was a very interesting, enjoyable read. It deals with a lot of different issues in a very personal, family way (Puerto Rican nationalism vs statehood, colonial legacy, racism, etc...).
Reviewing it I feel like I should be raving about what a good read it was, but it's a quiet, subdued read in many ways. It is about the storytelling and the characters more than beautiful language. Definitely one I haven't stopped thinking about since I finished it.
Queen of the Air: A True Story of Love and Tragedy at the Circus by Dean Jensen
While the subject was very interesting this book mostly just got on my nerves. It is very narrative non-fiction, and feels totally geared for people who don't like non-fiction at all. Jensen speaks so much for the people involved, their moods, their inner feelings, without saying a single word about how he knows this is how they felt. No mention of any source material at all in the body of the book.
I like sources. I love being swept up in a story, but good writers do that all the time while still filling a book with primary source material (Caroline Alexander, Candice Millard, Tom Reiss). Where did he find out the story of Nellie Pelikan's early life, for example? There are only a handful of mentions of letters in the entire book. Jensen's gives us nothing, no reason to believe that this is remotely close to being accurate vs one person's prejudiced memories or largely his own imaginings.
This is a book I thought I'd love but was feeling disenchanted with during the first 50 pages. Like the fool I am though I didn't decide to give it up. It's just so much harder to call it quits with an audiobook for some reason.
The Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
I feel like maybe I need some more fluff reading in my life (or more children's books, they break up the rest of my fiction reading in the same way). This is the third in the Anita Blake series, I picked it up thinking it was the second. Re-read the first last year and thought I might as well go through the first nine again. They're fun, they're not horribly written (they're in first person with a very distinct, casual voice which if you hate you'll hate the books, but it's fine for me), Anita has a double career, and a whole lot of agency. I tried to read the first book in series the show True Blood is based on and found the writing to be awful and the heroine to have so little character and such little life outside her love life.
While the series as the reputation for smut now, there's really not much/any of that until book six (book ten is where there's suddenly loads of it, and by book twelve there was so much that I had to stop reading them - the crime investigation and the fights for survival are what I really liked). I'm catching myself back up reading the second book now.
Capital by John Lanchester
I really loved this novel. It follows a number of people/families on a single "suddenly worth millions" street in London, set before and during the 2008 financial crisis. It is so nuanced and carefully told and just a really great read. For me it felt incredibly authentic and realistic.
If you seen the previews for the mini-series based on this book, they make it seem like a thriller which it absolutely isn't. I'm also astounded they tried to break this beautiful book into only three episodes. Unless those episodes are 2 hours each, that's just not enough. Inner thoughts are such an important part of it that adapting it will be difficult anyway. They needed the person who adapted The Slap to do this one (that adaptation had the fewest changes I've ever seen in book-to-TV/movie). Also, having seen Toby Jones in the comedy The Detectorists I cannot make my brain imagine him as a city banker.
Highly recommend the book, it really was just an absolutely wonderful read, a great contemporary novel. MUST READ
The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
Since I accidentally read the third book in the series second I had to half-rectify that by reading the second quickly. Also I was on vacation, and while I don't really believe in "vacation reading" I do believe in "books that are light enough and engaging enough to read in an uncomfortable bathtub during necessary soaking." Wish I'd brought the fourth book with me rather than my bulky WWI tome I've been reading!
While I think the writing in this series is far better than a lot of 'trashy' series, I did identify one writing tic that drives me a bit nuts. Hamilton is fond have having Anita say "Damn you, insert name, damn you," in serious situations. It feels so incredibly unnatural to me with the repetition. That's how sarcastic people say it, not seriously annoyed people. I'm pretty sure this happens less and less as the books go on at least (hopefully).
That aside, the books are fun and they are engaging. The way Hamilton turns everything supernatural rather banal and everyday for Anita appeals to me. In her universe it's not just witches, vampires, fairies, and shapeshifters who are real. Trolls, giants, lamias, lots of creatures make it in too. Re-reading them is hitting home why this series kept me interested for a good while when I had no inclination to read similar things. The wide adoption of the supernatural, the criminal investigation aspect, and the fights are all part of that. For whatever reason I like a good bit of fictional violence (more in TV/movies than books admittedly), even while being quite the pacifist. Life's little mysteries...
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
One of the must-read books of US history both for the content and the good writing and organization. It is made a harder read for me now simply because of how little has truly changed. Treaties are still violated for commercial reasons, fashion campaigns use specific tribal dress as a prop, non-native actors are still cast in native roles (even the 1950s Long Ranger TV show got that one right whereas the recent movie did not).
Children are still suspended for talking in native languages in school (and I mean in between class and at lunch, not during class though that also wouldn't be reason for suspension), native kids who adopt traditional hair styles get in trouble in the same school where non-native kids wear the same styles without issue. Obviously those things don't happen at every school, but that it EVER happens is patently ridiculous and wrong.
Read the book if you haven't already, particularly if you live in the US. Pair it with Rez Life.
Freddy and Simon the Dictator by Walter R. Brooks
Another encounter with Freddy's oldest enemy, Simon the Rat, this time working in collaboration with a human farmer to create an animal uprising that would displace the human farm owners. Why a human is helping with this isn't totally clear. There are a lot of references to Russia, which isn't surprising in a 1956 book. This is also the third from last novel in the series.
It's fun, though not one of my very favorites. Also the rabbits are mad because of a rumor that the Beans eat rabbit stew. Made me think that the Beans must be vegetarians or only eat mutton (no sheep on the farm). Obviously the fact that they're apparently just keeping Freddy, a pig, for a garbage disposal comes to mind early in the reading, in part because that's the only animal with no dual purpose. Maybe they eat a lot of seafood... In general though I respect Brooks for not attempting to explain any of that, it's a fantasy children's book, children know that.
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
I put this book on my library hold list when I was just reasonably curious about it. When it actually came in I wasn't eager to start, but once I began I just loved it.
Catmull is one of the founders of Pixar and the book is largely about the running of that company, the ideals they wanted to firmly plant in the workplace, their successes, and their mistakes. Catmull is proud of Pixar, but he is not egotistical or arrogant and in the book he shares with us the hard work of maintaining a creative workplace.
It was just fascinating to read, and especially hit home for me as I design and sell cross-stitch patterns. It can be hard to separate my joy in the act of design and stitching from the business side of things, and I've definitely stifled creativity sometimes due to what will actually sell.
Really interesting read, highly recommended. EXCELLENT
Going Solo by Roald Dahl
The second of the slim memoirs Dahl published. He is quite picky of what seems 'worthy' of going into a memoir and I wonder if he had to be goaded into writing them at all. This one basically picks up where Boy left off. Dahl is working for Shell in Kenya and Tanzania. Despite being considered far too tall (6'6") he joins the RAF and learns to fly. He survives a horrific crash early in his career due to being given incorrect information.
What is most striking about the book is the utter lack of care for pilots not stationed in the UK. They're expected to take up planes of types they've never flown before and go out solo on raids without being taught even the basics of fighter plane flying. The high death rate for the RAF overseas is immediately understandable and I felt sick reading about it.
Recommended. His memoirs are so slim and such quick reads.
I also found myself having a strange disconnect about Dahl and Spike Milligan being about the same age. Milligan's work is centered so firmly in the immediate post-war period for me whereas Dahl's children's books are timeless in many ways (they feel both newer than they are but also older than they are all at once).
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund
This is a really interesting take on a WWI history. Englund has chosen 20 individuals, none of whom became well known, and takes us through their war. They come from a variety of countries, and fight or live on a variety of fronts. Englund uses diary and memoir excerpts but also tells us about their lives and the world events himself. My dad was over the moon about this book, absolutely loved it. I had a hard time settling down with it, I think because the focus switches to a different person every few pages or less. It was hard to get into a rhythm.
There's an ordinary Tommy, the American wife of a Polish aristocrat, a dedicated Scottish social worker, an English nurse serving with the Russian army, a Brazilian man who was turned down when he tried to enlist with the allies so enlisted with the Ottoman army instead, a Danish man fighting in the Germany army, a German school girl, a French civil servant, a Scot serving with the British army in Africa, etc...
The book is done really well, and Englund manages to get home points which I don't remember picking up from other WWI reads. Like the fact that when the Germans entrenched themselves they had mostly been retreating and were able to pick and choose the most defensible ground to stop at.
Very interesting book, and really well done. It is truly a personal look at the war. I can't really place whether this will appeal more or less to people who've read very little about the war. If you like social history definitely pick it up.
The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton
Well once I started rereading the first bit of the series I had to continue. Part of the addictive effect of these books is the fact that they occur over quite brief periods of time. Like the first four books represent about one year in Anita's life. This is the fourth book and her personal life begins to get messy.
Apart from Anita's expressions of annoyance with people just not feeling right ("damn you, so-and-so, damn you" rather than "damn it, so-and-so" which feels much more natural), the books aren't horribly written (though she does describe clothing a lot).
Fun, silly, addictive reading. Attempting to own my enjoyment of the first nine or so in the series and banish my embarrassment. I've almost convinced myself.
The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
The second book in the Amelia Peabody series. Amelia and her now-husband Emerson basically hate everyone in the world except each other and they even hate each other a bit. Which makes me love them and love Peters so much. They are snarky and ridiculous and in love.
I do feel that Peters in wishing to keep the characters feeling Victorian is sometimes putting too many stereotypes on the Egyptians. She fought that more in the first book, I think, though I can't be 100% sure. We'll see how it continues. It's not over the top in this one, just some instances really rubbed me the wrong way. Still a deeply enjoyable book with lots of laughs in it for me. LOVE HER
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
I've been meaning to read Allende since I started working at a bookstore in 2003, and finally my new book club made me do it.
The book follows a family through marriages, deaths, affairs, births, and the varying political climate in Chile. It's dense but flowing, and I enjoyed it. It reminded me a little of Beloved (which I loved). While it's a great first novel I think the inexperience does show a bit. I also felt very sure while reading that if published today it would have been split in half, a first novel and a sequel.
Definitely want to read more Allende after this.
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett RE-READ
This is the fourth book in the Tiffany Aching series. I re-read it now as a refresher before starting the fifth book in the series, and the last Discworld book, The Shepherd's Crown.
I've only read this once before, I think because I find Tiffany and her struggles so affecting. Something in these books feels MUCH more personal to Mr. Pratchett than in the regular Discworld offerings. Partly because of Tiffany's fascination with words, especially susurration (which I'm pretty sure appears in every single Discworld book).
In this volume people are suddenly very against witches, and Tiffany confronts a foe who can track her without solid form and turn people against her. She also confronts her own relative lack of experience dealing with people as she tries to help them.
It's a lovely book, and I thought a perfect ending to Tiffany's story. Now I've started The Shepherd's Crown, which is starting on quite a dramatic note. Authors never trust me about where to end their series.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
This is a very important book. Desmond followed and lived with people longterm, in their neighborhoods, recording conversations often via digital recorder so the dialogue within in frequently verbatim. He spent immense time gaining the trust of people who have mostly been trained to trust no one.
I would recommend reading the "about this project" bit at the end before you start. Otherwise it might seem like Desmond is dramatizing, or putting words in people's mouths. It's a very well done book, heartbreaking in so many ways.
Since the big recession and the relatively swift decimation of the middle class, I think books like this are particularly necessary. Growing up in this kind of grinding poverty and then attempting to live in it as an adult, often with children of your own, has been shown to cause PTSD. It is an extremely different situation than someone who was raised middle class being relatively poor (in part because they likely have more resources to draw on). I have lived in abject poverty before, when my rent was eating up 70% of my income, with bills and non-food necessities taking the rest (and that was in an apartment where the electricity was paid for by the landlord). It is incredibly hard on a person, and I entered with the privilege of a thrifty middle class upbringing and the very good finance example of my mother (and I'm a strict budgeter by nature).
Desmond does a great job with this one. MUST READ
Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
Fifth in the Anita Blake series. First one to feature Anita smooching Jean-Claude. She finds out more about him in this book, and they encounter some vampires from his past.
This one is quite a bit longer than the previous books, and focuses a bit less on the police parts (mainly because Anita's out of town and the local cops take a dislike to her so she's working outside the law). It's a darker book in some ways.
While I enjoy these, and at the time it was fun having a big series, I'm kind of glad my addictive reading now is stuff like Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom children's fantasy series. I've never been much for binge reading series books. These I've been making my night time bedroom book, and admittedly I have had some late nights because of it. It's been a long time since I've read them.
Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women by Nura Maznavi and Ayesha Mattu (editors)
This was a really wonderful collection. I wasn't sure what to expect from it, but it turned out to be a great read. The essays all come from women who identify as both Muslim and (US)American, but they are incredibly diverse, coming from many different backgrounds, coming to Islam at different periods, some straight, some gay, some bisexual, conservative or liberal, etc...
In the end it reminds us that love is love, and people are all basically act the same, no matter what their religious or cultural influences. In the US I think many white folks, especially those for whom immigration lies many generations back, like to believe that they don't put strictures on their children in terms of choosing a spouse. They outwardly rebel against people specifically looking for a certain cultural or religious criteria in a mate, while managing to hold the same expectations for their children. The number of white people on OkCupid who say they wouldn't marry outside of their race is astounding and frankly horrifying (more so since they are the dominant culture), and I've seen many who refuse bisexuals (which is quite rich when they message me, a bisexual myself, I have no interest in marriage, but if you wouldn't marry me based on that then kindly leave me be).
The essays were great, in any case, and I highly recommend this book. It would be a good one to pick up over a longer period, since each essay isn't too long. The book is also a bit dear to my heart since one of my aunts is an Egyptian Muslima (and, due to various readings, if I ever started believing in one god I'd head to Islam). GREAT READ
The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton RE-READ
Sixth book in the series. Why can't I stop re-reading these?! Still haven't manage to jettison my embarrassment over these. It might be lessened if I read more similar books, but I just don't, and don't have any desire to. In this one Anita spends a lot of time being told what's going on with the werewolf power struggle involving her beau Richard's reluctance to kill the current pack leader. Edward her assassin friend is in it, as someone has taken out a contract on Anita. She is very hard-hearted and numb to the death she leaves in her wake in this one.
The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart
Read this for the Reading Globally Caribbean theme. A good, solid, enjoyable read, though not quite five stars amazing.
It follows a line of women, spending most of the book with Telumee, who mostly grows up with her grandmother. She goes from luck to trouble several times.
SassyLassy wrote a great review here.
I did copy out several quotes:
"For the first time in my life I realized that slavery was not some foreign country, some distant region from which a few very old people came, like the two or three who still survived in Fond-Zombie. It had all happened here, in our hills and valleys, perhaps near this clump of bamboo, perhaps in the air I was breathing."
"I wouldn't say a word or utter a sigh in case I gave voice to some evil influence that might prevent the dream from ever coming true. Elie's words made me proud, but I would have rather he'd kept them to himself, carefully sheltered from bad luck."
"Everyday you must get up and say to your heart, 'I've suffered enough, and now I have to live, for the light of the sun must not be frittered away and lost without any eye to enjoy it.'"
"...people gathered in silence outside, gazing at the scene unfolding before their eyes and trying to puzzle out a story, a story with a meaning with a beginning and an end, as you have to do here below if you want to know where you are amidst the chaos of men's desires."