Being of mixed cultural heritage has made me curious about other’s experiences growing up. Did they feel too much one thing, not enough another? How does a person reconcile two very distinct sides? To that end I picked up Margarita Engle’s poetry book. Poetry is a VERY tricky thing as a reader, particularly this kind of poetry that also doubles as a memoir. Read More »
I Read a Lot of Books
I read a lot of books. Sometimes I review them.
The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy Stewart
At this point, I’d read anything Amy Stewart published. I love her non fiction. I love her fiction. I’d even read this book about worms. Read More »
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
I tend to read a lot of non fiction, so I am inevitably behind on good fiction reads. This was recommended to me via a social media request by several of my trusted reader friends and it did not disappoint. I laughed. I cried. I cringed. I hated everyone and loved them all at the same time. Read More »
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
My friend/neighbor both a book reader and elementary teacher highly recommended this one. She teaches 5th grade and swears by this book so I felt I had to read it. It is a sweet story that involved lots of tears and can see why she requires her class to read it together. Read More »
Confessions of an Unlikely Runner by Dana L. Ayers
Back to my task of reading one running book a month until I am running again. Good news on that front, I have started shuffling (it would not be fair to call it running) again, but I’ve been doing this weekly and while my mileage and speed are nothing to brag about, well, I am doing it, and perhaps one day I will brag again. Confessions of an Unlikely Runner was a great addition to my running library. I feel like Ayers and I could be friends if we met in real life because we are both unlikely runners. In Ayers case, the very first sentence of the very first chapter I’m not naturally athletic is basically my rallying cry, and when she continues that she was more of a book nerd growing up… well, lets let this website speak to that, shall we? Read More »
Of Time and Memory: A Mother’s Story by Don J. Snyder
Folks, this is a sad one. A truly sad one. This book first came to my consciousness when I was watching a film that used a quotation from the text “Let us hope that we are all preceded in this world by a love story”. I furiously tried to copy the reference because it sounded like a book I needed to have in my life. I was right. Of Time and Memory (I’ve also found the same book with A Parents’ Love Story) tells the story of a man trying to piece together the story of his mother’s life. Read More »
Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb
This is another audiobook, so I’ll review the content as well as how I enjoyed the audio narration. I’d seen little blurbs for this book on my internets and had wanted to read it for a while before it was on sale on my audible account (speaking of which, I am reminded of credits that I need to spend…). I am particularly interested in books of this nature as they deal with a subject that I am interested in. What does life look like for mentally disabled adults once their parents have passed away? Read More »
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
We all have eras of history that we find more fascinating than others. While I find US history interesting, it doesn’t usually captivate me in the same way that Latin American history does, but Nathaniel Philbrick is changing that. I read In the Heart of the Sea and quite enjoyed it. Read More »
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden
Unlike most of my peers, I didn’t grow up watching The Princess Bride as a kid. I vaguely remember my 4th grade best friend, Katy, raving about it and arranging for me to watch it at her house. I have no idea why that never happened but it didn’t. Instead, I watched it for the first time as a freshman in college, and I LOVED it! I am glad I came to it later than a lot of my friends because some of the subtle humor is really best observed by older teens or adults. Read More »
The Trespasser by Tana French
French and I have had a pretty serious thing going on since I read one of her books while I was in the hospital delivering my first child in 2010. Then I read another in 2012 while I was in the hospital with my second child. And again in 2014 with my third child. Well, her new book came out and I was nowhere near having a kid, so I had to break our streak and read The Trespasser. I was initially pretty thrilled because I knew this book would follow Antionette Conway who I enjoyed in the last book and wanted to delve more into what a partnership between her and Stephen Moran would look like. Read More »
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
I’d heard a lot about this book and had always wanted to read it. I’d read excerpts of a few of her other books and it looked like Battle Hymn was a bit of a departure, but exciting none the less. Then I had the opportunity to hear Chua speak at my brother’s law school graduation and enjoyed what she had to say. She spoke a lot about the backlash she received after writing the book and the controversy surrounding it. Which goes to show you, people who don’t read books shouldn’t get to make talking points on morning shows. Read More »
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
This is another book I picked up for research for our family trip to Hawaii in 2016. I’m already a fan of Vowell, and at this point I’d already done a fair amount of research so I was excited to add Vowell’s perspective. I knew there were certain things I could count on in a Vowell history. 1- She was going to be cutting. 2- She was going to find the ridiculous. 3-She might eviscerate the colonists. I was right on all counts. Read More »
The Song of the Quarkbeast: the Chronicles of Kazam Book Two by Jasper Fforde
Jasper Fforde loses no steam with his followup to The Last Dragonslayer. In the last book we discovered a few things. The Mighty Shandar is kind of not a nice person. Jennifer is a berserker. Big Magic is back. Read More »
The Last Dragonslayer: The Chronicles of Kazam Book One by Jasper Fforde
I have a love/love less relationship with Jasper Fforde. One of my favorite books ever Shades of Grey (not to be confused with 50 Shades of Grey) was written by Jasper Fforde. I started out strong with the Thursday Next series, and loved the Nursery Crime series and was fully expecting to read all the books in the Shades of Grey series, only there have been no more books. Read More »
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d by Alan Bradley
If you recall we last left Flavia de Luce on her way back to England after a brief sojourn at a Canadian boarding school. I must admit, I was excited to see where the series would go once Flavia returned. But I am getting ahead of myself. Read More »
Americana: Dispatches from the New Frontier by Hampton Sides
I have some go-to non fiction writers that I rely on to provide a variety of real life events or stories that I know will educate, enlighten, entertain, and always be great. Erik Larson, Sarah Vowell, Nathaniel Philbrick, Amy Stewart. And Hampton Sides. It was a happy day when I discovered this man. One thing I LOVE about Sides is that his books are so varied, and still so interesting. There is no better example than Americana. Read More »
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Okay, I am warning you right now this is the first book in what looks to be a YA fantasy series so it could go on forever. I didn’t know that when I bought this book. I was hoping for a quick little one off. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) this book was good enough that now I am going to have to continue reading the series. The problems of a person that reads a lot of books… Read More »
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
I don’t know what it is about the darker moments in US history that people find so fascinating, but perhaps it is that psychological warm blanket of knowing that an awful thing happened while you are safe. I could ponder this all day but you came for a review and a review you are going to get. Read More »
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Full disclosure, this is usually the type of book that I really dislike. The characters are awful, I mean AWFUL. Flawed, and petty, and one dimensional, but for whatever reason I really enjoyed it. Possibly because all the characters are loathable so I wasn’t rooting for or against any of them. Read More »
Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
So, I am not Vietnamese, but I am multi cultural. My mom is Chilean, so I understand what it is to float between two cultures, to be American and something else. I’ve rarely read a book, fiction/non-fiction/YA/Adult that captures so well what it means to embrace the beauty of two different cultures to understand what it means to be a person. Read More »
Hellhound on His Trail: The Electrifying Account of the Largest Manhunt in American History by Hampton Sides
I’m a fan of Hampton Sides, if he writes it, I’m going to read it. (I’m currently reading Amercana: Dispatches from the New Frontier and loving it) I read this book at a challenging time which made it a very heavy read. Read More »
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Oh, yes I did. Yes I DID pick out a cheesy/romantic book to read. Did I read it in a day? Yes. Did I cry? Yes. How did I fall into this trap, you ask? That is a very interesting question. Read More »
Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii by James L. Haley
Way back in the early days of 2016, my husband and I decided that we would do something spectacular for his four week sabbatical rather than the yard work and errands that we’d initially talked about. Then randomly we decided we’d go to Hawaii, and we’d take the kids. I’ve never had a lot of interest in Hawaii, it seemed too touristy, too obvious, too not my kind of island, but once we decided we’d go (and take three kids aged five and under) for 2+ weeks in paradise, I threw myself into research mode. Read More »
The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower
Congrats to Stashower for introducing me to a true crime that I knew next to nothing about. Sometime, somewhere, in some article or book or other I knew that Edgar Allan Poe had based one of his stories on the murder of Mary Rogers, but that is about it. I looked forward to learning a bit more about the whole affair. And MAN, affair it was. Really this book tells two stories. The first is of Edgar Allan Poe, a lonely, kind of ungratious, impetuous writer. The second is of Mary Rogers, a young girl with secrets who happens to get killed and to this day no one knows exactly who did it. I hate to admit it, but the Poe stuff was very secondary and when the story switched to follow him it always took me a couple paragraphs (or pages!) to actually care again. Not a good sign, but overall, I enjoyed the book.
Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II’s Most Dramatic Mission by Hampton Sides
I keep telling you I am going to stop reading books about World War II, and I keep reading books about World War II. I am in that vicious Can’t Stop/Won’t Stop cycle. Apologies again and always, but I love me some World War II books, and spoiler alert, I’ve started reading spy books about that era so you are going to be in for it for a long time. Read More »
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
Another Man Booker finalist. I distrust them but keep reading them. The Quickening Maze is an interesting book that I found well written and compelling. Notice I didn’t say it was enjoyable, because I find it hard to enjoy mental illness, and Foulds deftly created a world that indeed felt like a maze. Read More »
Bastards by Mary Anna King
I come from a stable home. Two parents who are still together and just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Four kids. A few regular ups and downs but certainly my childhood was filled with a sense of security and well-being if not full of ponies and sweet sixteen parties. My life could not be more different than King’s but I enjoyed reading an account of someone who was able to reconcile a tumultuous childhood and examine it in front of the world. Read More »
Sole Sisters: Stories of Women and Running by Jennifer Lin and Susan Warner
I used to be am a runner, but until I regain my former running glory, I made the goal to read one running book a month to keep the inspiration alive as I’ve battled through an IT band injury, knee-injury, various pregnancies (okay, only three), and the sleep depravation associated with having three kids 5 and under in my life. Read More »
M is for Malice by Sue Grafton
It seems like Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone is always getting involved in uncomfortable family dynamics in these books.
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I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton
Another of the earlier Kinsey Millhone books. This time has Kinsey picking up mid investigation for a PI who died of a heart attack while working on a civil suit (or did he die of a heart attack… dun dun dun…) Read More »