Katharine's January and February books
Feb. 28th, 2019 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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christianreaderPeaceful Parent, Happy Kids, Dr. Laura Markham - I've had this one on my to-read list for ages but finally ordered it on interlibrary loan, feeling a need for some parenting encouragement/resetting. Although I didn't learn much that was new, it was encouraging and gave me some new techniques and mindsets to practice in my pursuit of a more peaceful home and way of relating to my daughters. [5 stars/5]
Blackout and All Clear, Connie Willis (rereads) - Fourth time through these new favorites of mine! I seem to feel a deep draw to these books during the deep of winter. Maybe it's the sense of trudging through dark days toward the light and hope. Every re-read brings me fresh appreciation of the layered themes. [a million/5]
Rose in Three-Quarter Time, Rachel McMillan - Novella in this author's "Three Quarter Time" series set in Vienna. As she's an online friend, it's always been hard for me to rate her writing, but I feel confident in saying this is my favorite so far. She is much better at packing real character development into a novella format than most and the pacing of this story worked well. The characters are a conductor and a violinist who end up drawn together by their profession, their love for their adopted home, and circumstances when the violinist almost loses her visa and her job. The author uses small details carefully to create an engaging and believable relationship in the old marriage-of-convenience trope. [4/5]
Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan (DNF) - Apparently the movie is really charming but I found this novel incredibly disappointing. The setup and background are intriguing and attractive and the author places his characters carefully in their homes and relationships as if populating a stage and painting an exquisite backdrop... and then the play falls totally flat. There is way too much endless detail about the luxuries of the wealthy protagonists and their families, way too much name-dropping and brand-naming, way too much dragging out of unnecessary overblown conflict around what is basically a simplistic plot. I was going to make myself finish and I was so bored, I couldn't do it, even though I was already 2/3 into the novel. Do not recommend. Try the movie perhaps. [1.5/5]
Educated, Tara Westover - This memoir got so much attention last year you've probably heard of it from other sources but unlike Crazy Rich Asians it FULLY lives up to the hype. It consists of the recollections of a woman who grew up in an extremely isolated, extremely paranoid, extremely fundamentalist Mormon family who were preparing for the apocalypse on a remote mountain in Idaho. They claimed to homeschool but that actually just meant working for the family. Somehow the author managed to read enough and and study enough on her own to pass the ACT, and she got out and went to college despite her family's disapproval. The writing is vivid and gripping, and the author interweaves her musings about relationship, family, abuse, survival, memory, and the purposes of education, but without seeming arrogant or self-aggrandizing at all. Totally worth reading. [5/5]
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (reread) - I first read this a number of years ago, but there's a recent adaptation and Ryan and I have Netflix right now so we were able to watch it. The movie is cute, but I remembered the book being much deeper. On a re-read, I was right. I don't mind the movie making structural changes, but just due to the slower movement of this epistolary format it gives a great deal more insight into the experiences of the island residents during the Nazi occupation. [5/5]
Five Children and It, E Nesbit (reread) - First read as a child, I read this classic novel out loud to my kids for homeschool. It's about four English children and their baby brother who find a mysterious creature that grants wishes. Somehow they never manage to wish for anything sensible and every wish gets them into trouble. Lena was old enough to get some of the humor; Ada didn't like it so much. There's one chapter toward the end I'd forgotten about in which the children wish to meet some "Red Indians" and I had to do some editing and even then had a talk with the girls about outdated attitudes towards people from different cultures. Yikes. But it's a fun little book if you're generally into Brit Lit. [3/5]
Broad Strokes: 15 Women who Made Art and Made History, Bridget Quinn - This is a casual, personal, and feminist retelling of the stories of 15 women artists, from the obvious (which feminist art historian hasn't talked about Artemisia Gentileschi?) to the obscure. The author drops her own impressions and personal encounters with the art into the narrative along the way. Sometimes this adds a real connection to the art but sometimes it just seems intrusive. I enjoyed the book and the repeated themes of how women face difficult life circumstances. [3/5]
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas - Another hit novel which has been made into a movie. I'm interested in seeing the movie but I haven't yet. The story is told by a high-school girl from a difficult neighborhood who witnesses a close friend get killed in a police shooting. After the shooting she wrestles with how to deal with what happened, how speaking up about injustice will affect her, her family, and her relationships, and she reacts in alternatively hopeful and despairing ways to everyday racism. The characters and details of the plot and settings are written with a great deal of realism and power. I felt the book dragged a teeny bit in just a couple of places but overall it was an extremely important read that I think will stick with me. I really thought it gave great insight into what it might feel like to be on the receiving end of such injustice. Recommended. [5/5]
Jan/Feb books: 9 + 1 DNF
2019 books: 9 + 1 DNF
Blackout and All Clear, Connie Willis (rereads) - Fourth time through these new favorites of mine! I seem to feel a deep draw to these books during the deep of winter. Maybe it's the sense of trudging through dark days toward the light and hope. Every re-read brings me fresh appreciation of the layered themes. [a million/5]
Rose in Three-Quarter Time, Rachel McMillan - Novella in this author's "Three Quarter Time" series set in Vienna. As she's an online friend, it's always been hard for me to rate her writing, but I feel confident in saying this is my favorite so far. She is much better at packing real character development into a novella format than most and the pacing of this story worked well. The characters are a conductor and a violinist who end up drawn together by their profession, their love for their adopted home, and circumstances when the violinist almost loses her visa and her job. The author uses small details carefully to create an engaging and believable relationship in the old marriage-of-convenience trope. [4/5]
Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan (DNF) - Apparently the movie is really charming but I found this novel incredibly disappointing. The setup and background are intriguing and attractive and the author places his characters carefully in their homes and relationships as if populating a stage and painting an exquisite backdrop... and then the play falls totally flat. There is way too much endless detail about the luxuries of the wealthy protagonists and their families, way too much name-dropping and brand-naming, way too much dragging out of unnecessary overblown conflict around what is basically a simplistic plot. I was going to make myself finish and I was so bored, I couldn't do it, even though I was already 2/3 into the novel. Do not recommend. Try the movie perhaps. [1.5/5]
Educated, Tara Westover - This memoir got so much attention last year you've probably heard of it from other sources but unlike Crazy Rich Asians it FULLY lives up to the hype. It consists of the recollections of a woman who grew up in an extremely isolated, extremely paranoid, extremely fundamentalist Mormon family who were preparing for the apocalypse on a remote mountain in Idaho. They claimed to homeschool but that actually just meant working for the family. Somehow the author managed to read enough and and study enough on her own to pass the ACT, and she got out and went to college despite her family's disapproval. The writing is vivid and gripping, and the author interweaves her musings about relationship, family, abuse, survival, memory, and the purposes of education, but without seeming arrogant or self-aggrandizing at all. Totally worth reading. [5/5]
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (reread) - I first read this a number of years ago, but there's a recent adaptation and Ryan and I have Netflix right now so we were able to watch it. The movie is cute, but I remembered the book being much deeper. On a re-read, I was right. I don't mind the movie making structural changes, but just due to the slower movement of this epistolary format it gives a great deal more insight into the experiences of the island residents during the Nazi occupation. [5/5]
Five Children and It, E Nesbit (reread) - First read as a child, I read this classic novel out loud to my kids for homeschool. It's about four English children and their baby brother who find a mysterious creature that grants wishes. Somehow they never manage to wish for anything sensible and every wish gets them into trouble. Lena was old enough to get some of the humor; Ada didn't like it so much. There's one chapter toward the end I'd forgotten about in which the children wish to meet some "Red Indians" and I had to do some editing and even then had a talk with the girls about outdated attitudes towards people from different cultures. Yikes. But it's a fun little book if you're generally into Brit Lit. [3/5]
Broad Strokes: 15 Women who Made Art and Made History, Bridget Quinn - This is a casual, personal, and feminist retelling of the stories of 15 women artists, from the obvious (which feminist art historian hasn't talked about Artemisia Gentileschi?) to the obscure. The author drops her own impressions and personal encounters with the art into the narrative along the way. Sometimes this adds a real connection to the art but sometimes it just seems intrusive. I enjoyed the book and the repeated themes of how women face difficult life circumstances. [3/5]
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas - Another hit novel which has been made into a movie. I'm interested in seeing the movie but I haven't yet. The story is told by a high-school girl from a difficult neighborhood who witnesses a close friend get killed in a police shooting. After the shooting she wrestles with how to deal with what happened, how speaking up about injustice will affect her, her family, and her relationships, and she reacts in alternatively hopeful and despairing ways to everyday racism. The characters and details of the plot and settings are written with a great deal of realism and power. I felt the book dragged a teeny bit in just a couple of places but overall it was an extremely important read that I think will stick with me. I really thought it gave great insight into what it might feel like to be on the receiving end of such injustice. Recommended. [5/5]
Jan/Feb books: 9 + 1 DNF
2019 books: 9 + 1 DNF
