Michelle’s Comments (group member since Dec 08, 2021)

Michelle’s comments from the On The Same Page group.

Bill wrote: "My review of On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy by Ira Wells 4.5 stars

https://www.goodreads.com/revie..."

Excellent review Bill. You make so many great points about book banning. The one that stands out to me the most is the need to support teachers and librarian who are fighting against the banning. They are on the front lines of freedom. I looked for it on my library app but couldn't find the book. I'll have to keep my eye out in the bookstores.

Bill wrote: "Michelle wrote: "I am so confused about banned books after The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. Why are we banning this..."

Your quote is spot on Bill. I would add that since books are one way that we experience empathy we are also inhibiting their ability to learn compassion. Banning a book like The Sun Is Also A Star definitely seems like sanitizing reality. Or possibly we have been practicing banning for so long that we can no longer tolerate different points of view.

Digging further into this list with Nineteen Minutes.

Visited West Virginia with The Lost Story

Lea wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Great month Lea! Looks like you have been checking off some heavy hitters. I'm glad to see the Amish back on your list and in the tome category too. Who knew?"

Yes! You can buy Am..."

I'm looking forward to it. Especially the sassy part.

Great month Lea! Looks like you have been checking off some heavy hitters. I'm glad to see the Amish back on your list and in the tome category too. Who knew?

I am so confused about banned books after The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. Why are we banning this book? Someone please explain.

Two young people meet and fall in love on what will be a pivotal day in both of their futures. At the end of the day, one will decide whether to be the dutiful child of immigrant parents, accepting the future they have mapped out and the other will face deportation, losing the only life they remember.

This was first and foremost a really sweet love story. If you like your romances star crossed this is a great one. It also included immigration politics, the immigrant experience, racism, mild violence, family dysfunction, and a healthy amount of teen angst due to planning the future. I cannot for the life of me figure out why we are banning this book. In addition to the above which was all addressed responsibly and appropriately, there were a few scattered f-bombs and one hot and heavy make out session that didn't go beyond the kissing stage. I googled it and I'm still no wiser. Really the only reason I can come up with is because it touches heavily on current immigration politics. Surely that isn't it? Now we can't even read novels about current events? Someone please tell me that isn't it. Banning this book is the equivalent of banning Romeo and Juliet. Actually, I can think of more reasons to ban Romeo and Juliet, but we teach it in high school English class instead.

3 politically incorrect star-crossed lovers stars.

Quotable:

“There’s a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn’t mean love at first sight. It’s closer to love at second sight. It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.”
― Nicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also a Star

“The thing about falling is you don't have any control on your way down.”
― Nicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also a Star

“I love this part of getting to know someone. How every new piece of information, every new expression, seems magical. I can't imagine this becoming old and boring. I can't imagine not wanting to hear what she has to say.”
― Nicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also a Star

“Stars are important," I say, laughing.
"Sure, but why not more poems about the sun? The sun is also a star, and it's our most important one. That alone should be worth a poem or two.”
― Nicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also a Star

My five year old grandson actually got me started. He and his Dad have been reading it at bedtime. I'm reading along so he and I can talk about books together. Such fun.

It looks like your February was quality if not quantity. Enjoying what you read is the most important thing. Every time you write about Wolf Hall you make me feel like I should be reading it. It's getting hard to resist.

I started readingThe Lincoln Highway. Loving it so far.

“Bookstores also stimulate our senses. Being surrounded by books matters. Sociologists have found that just growing up in a home full of books—mere proximity—confers a lifetime of intellectual benefits.”
― Evan Friss, The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

32 books
2693 pages

24 audiobooks
8 print

#30 The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore This is literally a history of bookshops in America. I have to admit as much as I loved the topic it dragged in places. Ultimately though it inspired me to visit an independent bookstore which it featured. The bookstore is about 2.5 hours away from me but is actually one of the closest independent bookstores to me. Planning a trip soon. I would love to visit some of the others featured in the book. 3 you've got to love a bookshop stars. Nonfiction.

#31 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion's classic essay collection on grief. My first by this author but not my last I think. 3 surviving grief stars. Nonfiction-Essay.

#32 The Silent Patient A good suspense novel with a nice twist. I liked the twist. I didn't like the characters. I didn't think it lived up to the hype stars. 3 what happened more important than who done it stars. Fiction-Suspense.

Currently:
Birds, Beasts and Relatives ebook. This book is like a vacation.
The Lincoln Highway Hardback. Loving it.
Next to Last Stand Audiobook. Longmire. Enough said.

“Read, learn, work it up, go to the literature.
Information is control.”
― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

Ioana wrote: "Dark Matter is one of my all times favorites, I should re-read it too. So glad to hear it's as good the 2nd time as the first!!"

Check out the AppleTV production if you can. They did a really decent job of it. My RL book club meets tonight. I'm really interested to hear what they thought about it. It's a bit of a departure for the group.

Lea wrote: "I had similar thoughts about The Silent Patient. It isn't a bad book at all, I had no regrets reading it. But it wasn't a hit for me either. It's quite forgettable."

Exactly.

I will say this though. The one brilliant part of the book was the unreliable narrator. The narrator was the reason I didn't like any of the characters. They were all unlikeable because that is how the narrator would have viewed them, and the reader sees them only through the narrator's eyes. From that point of view, it was pretty awesome writing. It just didn't make me love the book.

Alissa wrote: "I'm so happy you've had more hits than misses!"

Yes. This is turning out to be a great list. Unfortunately, it is going to force me to admit that "everyone" is right about what I "should" read. Ugh!

Not saying it was bad but I'm giving The Silent Patient a Miss. It didn't live up to the hype for me.

A therapist struggles to help his mute patient, a young artist who reportedly killed her husband but hasn't spoken since. Her only communication since the murder being an infamous self-portrait. The therapist, however, has his own past and his own struggles. That past informs his work with his patient and makes him determined to find out exactly what happened and why she remains silent.

This was a nice psychological thriller with a satisfying twist at the end. It was well written and fairly well paced. It was fine. I didn't like any of the characters even the less important ones and I really didn't care who did it. I just kept going for the how and I have to say that was satisfyingly twisted. I would like to say it made you look at the entire story differently, but I don't think it did. There was massive foreshadowing, so the surprise when it finally arrived was not that shocking.

3 like the kiddie roller coaster, not bad but I wanted more of a thrill stars.

Quotable

“At the time I didn’t understand. But that’s how therapy works. A patient delegates his unacceptable feelings to his therapist; and she holds everything he is afraid to feel, and feels it for him. Then, ever so slowly, she feeds his feelings back to him.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

“We're all crazy, I believe, just in different ways.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

“Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance. —WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, The Winter’s Tale”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

Lillie wrote: "I haven't really been able to take a look at what everyone's been reading this month. Wow! You've been on quite a ride. Did you say you've read 2 5* on this list alone?

Pachinko I..."

Pachinko is emotional Lillie so maybe choose your moment but do read it. It is just so well thought out and well written. I'm not usually a fan of the intergenerational saga but this one I would recommend. Shotgun Lovesongs I would obviously recommend also. I just love Butler's writing. So honest and real, and as I think I said above he really has a handle on male friendship. I also read The Hearts of Men by him which was excellent. Seven Husbands and Thirteenth Tale were both just plain good reads. Both in their own way were unique and interesting with just enough going on behind the story to keep you on your toes. Also, well written. That seems to be what most of these books that "everyone" recommends have in common. No wonder there haven't really been any stinkers so far on this list.

Ioana wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Continuing on with Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. A hit!

Joan Didion documents the ..."

I'm trying to decide what should be next. Definitely an author I should sample more of.

She really was. I have already been checking out her other books. What do you recommend?

Beginning to listen to The Silent Patient

Continuing on with Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. A hit!

Joan Didion documents the year after her husband's death with a series of essays that explore grief and loss.

I can't say this was a fun book but it was a comforting book.. Didion takes a writer's view of her period of grief, learning about the causes of her husband's death as well as the psychology of grief while documenting her own journey. In doing this she gives the reader permission to acknowledge their own thoughts and feelings as they journey through the grieving process. She also pays homage to a long and happy marriage and documents what the loss of it means to her.

3 sharing life experience stars.

Quotable:

“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.”
― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

“I know why we try to keep the dead alive: we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us. I also know that if we are to live ourselves there comes a point at which we must relinquish the dead, let them go, keep them dead. ”
― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

“There was a level on which I believed that what had happened remained reversible”
― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking