101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion
What are you reading?
Finished
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart TurtonMy Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Enemy Women by Paulette Jileshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This historical fiction covered an aspect of the Civil War that I haven’t encountered frequently, the brutality endured by civilians living on the western region of the country. Excerpts from actual primary documents begin each chapter convincing the reader of the author’s research and the authenticity of the fictional scenario. The book opens with a group of Union militia attacking the home of the small town school master and his 4 children. The man is brutally beaten and taken captive, the property is looted and destroyed, the livestock stolen, the daughters injured. The rest of the novel follows the oldest daughter as she tries to find her father, is herself held captive and eventually travels alone the length of the state of Missouri outwitting various villains. I am not sure why I struggled to become immersed in this book. Maybe it is simply that the pressures of this time of year has me distracted, maybe my expectations were unreasonable having loved “News of the World”, maybe plunging me immediately into this young heroin’s extraordinary courage, spunk and resourcefulness did not give me enough time to get to know her, maybe…. For whatever reason, this turned out to be a decent but not a great book for me. 3.5 stars
Close Range by Annie Proulxhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What am I to make of this collection of stories of people enduring a harsh, unforgiving landscape, hopeless lives with bleak futures, banally cruel family relationships, and little, very little spark of insight or growth? The spare writing with its staccato rhythms added to the sense of despair, the feel that the stories were pounding away at me much as life was pounding away at the characters. There are outstanding turns of phrase in these stories; the writing is technically superb. But reading it left me depressed and exhausted. I felt as if I was in one of Dante’s upper levels of Hell, with no hope of ever seeing Paradise. 4 stars for the writing and 2 stars for the reading
Asphalt Moon by Ronald Tierneyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was a boilerplate detective novel complete with the standard issue hard drinking investigators, the extraordinary single-handed take down of multiple bad guys, the improbable plot and the canned dialogue.
The Divine Commedy by Dante Alighieriwww.goodreads.com/review/show/2635762093
I am sure that the beauty of the poetry in this classic was compromised by needing to read it in translation. The imagery is spectacular. While I was impressed with his imagination, I disagreed with a bit of the theological implications.
Finished
Still Me by Jojo MoyesI really enjoyed this one!
My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Red Sky At Morning by Richard Bradfordwww.goodreads.com/review/show/2644864556
This classic coming of age novel is set in 1944-45, a year of transitions for a country, a family and a young man. The 17 year old narrator moves with his mother from Mobile, AL to a small town in New Mexico while his father enlists. As the narrator makes friends and adjusts to his new home, his mother sinks into depression and alcoholism. These accounts of small town bullies and eccentrics, of teenage pranks and first dates, are told with a voice both natural and intimate, leaving the reader with a sense of such familiarity that, for a short time, it is possible to forget that this is a novel, not the reader’s own memories.
The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman
www.goodreads.com/review/show/2644878661
Set in 1929-30 rural West Virginia, this is the narrative of a woman becoming the local midwife. Between chapters that illustrate the next topic in Obstetric Problems 101 this woman breaks the race barrier, rescues battered women, brings medical help to the forgotten indigent, cares for wounded animals and pursues romance. 2.5 stars
Final book of the year and just hit my goal! Whew...Finished
The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince by Serena ValentinoMy Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Suicide of the West by Jonah Goldberghttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
According to Goldberg, human societies are naturally tribal, greedy, violent and unequal. It is only in the recent history of the human animal that ideas such as universal human rights, cooperation across borders for commerce and science and the equality of all people became widely held in the West. Since these notions are not “natural”, Western society will revert to what is “natural” unless these values are carefully safeguarded and cultivated. In both the politics of Obama and Trump, Goldberg sees clear evidence of such devolution. The antidote is promulgation of capitalism, the flourishing of the free market and the protection of small government. At times, I felt as if the tone of this book was rather condescending, but I suspect that it was simply an attempt to keep his arguments accessible and engaging to a popular readership. I do not share his conclusions; I am far more liberal politically than he is. His conclusion that capitalism and small government alone can counteract the pull of greed, fear of the outsider, intolerance and other base impulses is not the conclusion that I draw. But, I did appreciate the opportunity to hear a rational voice outside the echo chamber that I often find myself in. I found here that, despite different political leanings, we share more values and aspirations than the current political conversation would have us believe. This is one of those times when a GoodRead book group pick caused me to read something I would not have picked up on my own and I am richer for the experience.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarquehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I don’t know how anyone could read this classic and still view war as a noble defense of homeland, or soldiers as heroic figures. This vivid account of a young soldier in the trenches of WWI powerfully conveys the brutal, capricious violence of war, the gratuitous cruelty of officers drunk on power, bodies and minds irreparably broken, the lives senselessly cut short, the absolute futility of it all. This confirmed my pacifist stance and my opinion that war is immoral.
Finished
The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better by Gretchen Rubin1st book of the new year!
My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Separate Peace by John Knowleshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I first read this book in high school, along with a number of other coming of age stories. The good ones, this among them, had a mystical quality for me. Like some adolescent Rosetta Stone, each one of these novels held a clue that would enable me to unlock the answers for growing into adulthood with integrity. I resist rereading these books as an adult because I know that when I bring them into the light of my reality some 40 years later, the mystical aura will dissipate. I am late reading this book group pick for that reason, but I finally gave in. I had remembered little of the details of this story set in a male boarding school in 1942, this story of friendship, of unspoken competition, of suppressed jealousy that can surface in an unguarded moment, but I did remember the major themes and the lessons I learned. As anticipated, the mystical aura is now burnt away but that does not mean that I disliked the book. I can still understand why this has had such enduring power. I think it is still found important themes worth exploring by an adolescent.
Finished
An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah PekkanenMy Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Millerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a re-telling of the story of Achilles told from the voice of Patroclus, the best friend and lover of Achilles. Because Patroclus does not follow Achilles into battle, the emphasis of this version shifts from Achilles as the heroic warrior to the tender lover. I had several problems with this book. First, I generally don’t like re-tellings. Usually the re-telling is of a classic and any attempt to re-create a classic strikes me as arrogant. Second, I thought this had the feel of a young adult book, a style I dislike. The narrator kept explaining things to the reader with the phrase:”in our… (language, netherworld, etc.). Even vocabulary like “Hubertus” had to be explained. Third, I found elements of the story incomprehensible. A large number of young noble boys are being raised in the court of Achilles’ father. Since Achilles is the son of a goddess, he is the admiration of all, superlative in every way. So, why does 10 year old Achilles inexplicably ask his father that the newly arrived, sullen, self-isolating Patroclus be designated as his special companion, elevated to the highest status in the court? Why does able-bodied Patroclus, trained as a soldier, not join the other men in battle, but stay behind in camp to socialize with the slave girls? Fourth, I am put off by gratuitous explicit sex, and such scenes permeated this novel. Further, only same sex love was mutual, tender and pure. Heterosexual unions were always either violent or transactional, or purely a product of lust. When I was a teen, the prevailing wisdom was to never trust anyone over the age of 30. Apparently, it is now to never trust anyone over the age of 30 or who is heterosexual. 1.5 stars
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistryhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I think I just read what will be my favorite book of 2019. In 1975, in a large Indian city, the lives of several people with diverse backgrounds intersect in a significant way. This is a story full of horrendous injustice, the capriciousness of fate, incredible suffering and ebullient joy, tragic death and the fullness of life. Mistry is an alchemist, creating living, breathing, flesh and blood people out of ink and paper pulp. The characters grow organically, sometimes profoundly, while always staying true to their core identity as individuals, shaped by their society. The dialogue gives a unique voice for each of them. This is a story of people walking the fine balance between hope and despair. Every reader knows of individuals who persevere despite tragic loss, awful abuse, inconceivable injustice, countless setbacks. And every reader knows of individuals who give up after rejection, in the face of failure or shame, in response to adolescent bullying. Why is it that some people can maintain their balance even when the hope on which they balance is razor thin and constantly wavering? Mistry avoids telling the reader anything. Rather, the reader is invited to live along side these people, to watch and listen, then draw his or her own conclusions. Six hundred pages was too little time with these people; I could have read another thousand pages and still wanted more.
Our Man In Havana by Graham Greenehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud when reading a book. This story of a British vacuum cleaner salesman recruited to be a spy in Cuba at the height of the Cold War was clever, smart, funny and totally entertaining. I don’t think I will ever hear a report from any intelligence agency the same way again.
Finished 2:1) Circe
by Madeline MillerMy Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2) Sea Witch
by Sarah HenningMy Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Winter Father by Andre Dubushttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I like Andre Dubus’ writing, the way he tells a story, the way he portrays vulnerable, hurting men with respect and compassion, the way he gives a world of truth in a short story. But, living with such characters for 400 pages is draining. I was disgusted by the objectification of women, disturbed by the skewed moral compasses, irritated by the selfishness which ran through most of these stories. There were a few exceptions, a few stories in which I felt a bit of the compassion for the characters that Dubus obviously felt, but they were the exception.
His Family by Ernest Poole
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In the early 20th century, US society was undergoing great change. From the waves of new immigrants to the growing prosperity of many Americans, from shifting attitudes toward family and sex to the transformative women’s movement, from the specter of the First World War to the rise of a social reform movement, the US was living through a time of rapid alterations. For some, the possibilities were freeing, for others the shifting ground was terrifying. In this family drama of a middle aged widower and his 3 adult daughters, the family dynamics mirror the larger society. When I read award winning books penned a century or more ago, I am confronted by the change in literary taste. Like many novels of this era, I found it to be wordy and the philosophizing rather heavy handed. But I appreciated how Poole captured the dreams and fears of each character and found both value and caution in the preserving of what one knows and embrace of what the future could be. 3.5 stars
The Orenda by Joseph Boydenhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is the story of the early encounter between Huron and French missionaries and their common enemy, the Iroquois. The narrative is told through three alternating characters. This tries to show the reader the attitudes, motivations and fears of each group. This is a historical setting which I have read little fiction set in, something that I appreciated about this book. But I found the voices problematic. Each character is supposedly speaking to an unseen presence, two are addressing dead relatives and one shifts between speaking to God and to his religious superior. But, it all sounds like an inner monologue, plausible for those speaking to dead relatives, but not for the priest who is supposedly keeping a log. For those addressing dead relatives, they explain beliefs, practices and cultural values that only the reader needs to learn, certainly not a recently deceased member of the group. Much of the cultural practices described were more interesting than necessary to advance the plot. I know little about Huron culture, but I know quite a bit about Catholic culture and practices. So, when I found glaring inaccuracies in his depiction of these Catholic practices, I questioned if I could trust what I was told about the Huron life. Finally, ritual torture of enemies played a large part in this novel which depicted graphic violence on a number of occasions. 2.5 stars
Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedicthttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A bit of mistaken identity, a bit of deception, and a newly arrived Irish immigrant is placed as lady’s maid to Mrs. Carnegie. Without any training or experience in wealthy homes, she immediately intuits all the knowledge she needs to win over the difficult Mrs. Carnegie and win the heart of Andrew Carnegie. Not only does she instantly master the expectations and needed skills of a lady’s maid, but she also solves business problems and recommends new business ventures for Andrew. I realize that I often find romances more fanciful than believable. But, beyond that, I disliked the writing. The author appears to think her reader is dumber than a box of rocks because she refuses to trust the reader to draw a single conclusion or to remember a single fact. Every chapter we were reminded that the heroine was functioning under a false identity, that her family needed her income, that she had heard tales of masters assaulting maids, etc. There was much in this book that did nothing to advance the story or develop the characters, but only served to allow the reader to gawk at the lives of the rich in mid-19th century America.
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist by Radley Balko and Tucker Carringtonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In the later decades of the 20th century, Michael West, a self-proclaimed bite expert and pioneer in other bogus forms of pattern recognition, and Steven Haynes, an uncredentialed and untrained coroner, defrauded a gullible Mississippi judicial court system, condemned numerous innocent people to prison, even the death penalty, and cheated Mississippi citizens of a small fortune in tax dollars. Although this book starts with the history of racial injustice in Mississippi, racism did not appear to be behind their fraud. However, it could be argued that efforts to deny justice to blacks for so long, weakened the system to such an extent that these shysters could function with impunity. The more immediate cause for their travesty of justice was a “get tough on crime” mood among the populace, prosecutors determined to get a conviction at any cost, a “good o’l boys” network that managed to resist modernizing the state medical examiner office to match the rest of the country, judges fearful of not being re-elected and jurors ignorant about basic science. To the extent that racism played into this horrific miscarriage of justice, it was the exponentially higher number of black men falsely accused of crimes and the disproportionate number of black families living in poverty. To add insult to injury, appellate courts now deny a retrial to those convicted by the false evidence produced by these men. At times, I found the book to drag, becoming a bit repetitive and a bit tedious. But, this is an important story. I can only hope that it leads to changes in our judicial system and allows those falsely accused to find justice at last. 3.5 stars
Born A Crime by Trevor Noahhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Despite domestic violence, social injustice and poverty, this memoir of growing up as a mixed race child of a black mother was never self-pitying. Noah could name what was bad while celebrating what was good and making the reader laugh at much of his childhood experiences growing up in the final years of apartheid.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morrishttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Based on a real couple, this is a romance set in Auschwitz. Maybe I am so super saturated with WWII books that I simply can’t open myself to any more set at this time, maybe, knowing that the story would include horrible human suffering, I refused to enter the story, maybe I am destine to dislike romance, but this was not the 5 star book it was for so many others.
I recently finished a book called The Hate U Give and LOVED it. I also finished Screenshot and loved it too although it was kind of confusing because there are at least 5 view points in it.Now I am starting a book called Timekeeper and it seems to be good as well.
Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Pricehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The narrator of this award-winning novel is a 57 year old single woman about to meet the son she abandoned as an infant. Kate came of age in the 1930s and 1940s, in a close-knit small rural community, raised by an unconditionally loving aunt and uncle after the tragic death of her parents when she was 11. The author deftly captures the speech of a person recalling her life with folksy similes that give the reader a sense of time and place. Price gives us a conflicted and flawed character, sympathetic and perplexing in turns. I am no psychologist, but I began to wonder if Kate suffered from PTSD or Reactive Attachment Disorder, rejecting or abandoning those who loved and supported her, even seeming to use people. Despite everything I enjoyed about this book, I never felt connected with the narrator, maybe because she never seemed connected to her own story. Two-thirds of the way through, I was counting the pages to the end. 3.5 stars
The Neighborhood by Mario Vargas Llosahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This novel revolves around the blackmailing of a prominent, very wealthy Lima business man. When the man refuses to pay the extortion money, scandalous sexually explicit photos of him are published in a local gossip tabloid. A crime that first seems to be about the ubiquitous petty terrorism of the Shining Path and drug cartels, soon includes the highest levels of Peruvian government. I enjoyed this element of the story. The characters, the dialogue, the tension was all skillfully written. But there was a secondary story line that perplexed me, the sexual experimentation and increasingly promiscuous sex play of two couples. I am guessing that this was some sort of metaphor for corruption in Peru, but I really did not understand or appreciate these scenes which, for me, were simply pornographic.
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherfordhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was fascinated by this history of Mongolia in the 13th-15th centuries, a subject I had no prior knowledge of. At times, the power struggles and family intrigues had me a bit lost with the sheer number of unfamiliar names and places. But, that did not prevent me from thoroughly enjoying this book. I learned so much about the way of life of this people. The role given to women by Genghis Khan and the power women were permitted to wield in this nomadic culture was so far ahead of European culture of that time.
Dragon reborn Robert Jordan colony Anne rivers siddon 11th hour James Patterson MURDER house James Patterson snagged Carol Higgins Clark ransom canyon Jodi thomas bizarre of bad dreams Stephen king the stand Stephen king tigers claw Dale Brown
Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russohttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sully is a member of Russo’s pantheon of emotionally stunted male characters, deeply wounded by alcoholic, abusive, neglectful fathers, these flawed characters fail as spouses, fathers and friends while still nurturing a deep inner goodness, a spark of light that is waiting to be fanned into flame. I love Russo’s character development, the way we can both love and be irritated by these walking wounded. At the same time, I find some of his secondary characters or non-essential stories to be played for cheap laughs or pure oddity. Clive Sr. death, Deidre’s entire presence, Hattie’s death by cash register, etc. I would have found Sully’s struggle with the ghost of his father so much more poignant if it had not been surrounded by characters perched on the brink of freakish. Yet, Russo somehow manages to make me believe in the drunk one-legged lawyer, Bootsy the petty thief, Ruth and Janey and Bird Brain and all the other broken, strange inhabitants of this small dying town; not only believe in their existence, but believe in their humanity and their eventual triumph.
Tattoos On The Heart by Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fr. Boyle has spent 3 decades ministering to youth involved in gangs in Los Angeles. With compassion, reverence and wisdom, Fr. Boyle weaves the stories of the young people who have touched his life with spiritual reflections on the mercy, acceptance and unconditional love of God. 4.5 stars
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwinhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In 1972 New York City, a young black artist is falsely accused of rape and sent to jail. Narrated by his pregnant fiancé, this is a story of love and family struggling under the burden of racial injustice. Forty-five years later, it is tragic that, except for clothing styles and slang, this could have been set in the present. Having the young fiancé narrate sections of the novel where she was not present was jarring. This book felt like the story and the characters were secondary to the social agenda of the author. Because of this, several characters, such as the young man’s sisters and mother, seemed peripheral, their reaction to the crisis not quite believable. 3.5 stars
Touching The Void by Joe Simpsonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a classic among mountain climbing memoirs. A terrible climbing accident on a particularly dangerous mountain leads to an extraordinary story of survival. The writing was stellar, creating an immediacy to each scene with such power that, despite knowing the outcome, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. In any other book, this would easily gain four stars from me. However, this book also made me so angry. I don’t understand the impetus to engage in such highly risky activities just for the thrill of it. Had this extraordinary effort for survival occurred as a result of natural disaster or war or of the effort to rescue another person, my reaction would have been much different. But, knowing people who are doing everything they can to survive disease or violence or poverty, I am enraged by anyone who deliberately puts their own life in peril. 3.5 stars
The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tennessee was the final state to ratify the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. It succeeded by the slimmest of margins. This is the story of that historic vote and the activists on both sides of the issue. Accessible, engaging, exciting, this is an example of popular history at its best.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owenshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In 1952 in the coastal marsh of North Carolina, a 6 year old girl is abandoned by her mother and older siblings in a shack with her abusive alcoholic father. In 1969, the body of a young man, the playboy son of a prominent local family, is found in the same marsh. In alternating chapters, the girl grows up and the young man’s death is investigated until the two story lines converge. Owens captured the beauty and isolation of the coastal swamp with evocative prose. The duel story line worked very well. The main characters were both strong and endearing; the reader could not help rooting for them. I understand why so many readers have awarded this 5 stars. However, it was a bit sweet for my reading palate. The characters lacked complexity; the good ones were completely good, kind, sensitive, generous, intelligent and respectful of nature, with an unwavering inner strength, the bad ones were cruel, selfish, arrogant and disdainful. There were times when the character’s words or actions did not feel plausible coming from their context, but was perfectly calibrated for the advancing of this heart-warming narrative. 3.5 stars
Us Against You by Fredrik Backmanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This sequel to Beartown did not hold the punch that its predecessor had. Maybe I was simply too familiar, knowing what to look for when I came to this book, but it felt as if this was very predictable, the moralizing hit repeatedly through the novel and the ending was too sweet. There were too many themes; none of which made me think or question, but only seemed to make me want to feel good as I found myself on the right side of their resolution. This book got off to a very slow start and never picked up the dramatic tension present in Beartown. I still enjoyed visiting with some of the memorable characters I met in volume 1, but this is not a book I would widely recommend as I did with the first one. 3.5 stars
The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasongahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a wonderful tribute to a mother, a strong, wise, resourceful, compassionate woman who dedicated her life to providing for and protecting her family in harsh and frightening conditions. The family lived as internally displaced persons in Rwanda, in constant fear of the brutality of Hutu soldiers, struggling for food, for social cohesion, for dignity. Although we are spared the story of the mother’s murder, we know that, although the daughter survived, the mother did not.
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Pennyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
To fans of Three Pines, no explanation is needed as to why I am addicted to these mysteries set in this idelic Canadian village, solved by the saintly Chief Inspector. To those who have not read this series or who was not charmed, well I can’t explain. This, most recent installment, wraps up some story lines introduced earlier as well as presenting its own crime to solve. I think I am finally getting a bit too familiar with this author because I had this one figured out a third or so into the book. 3.5 stars
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrellhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Iris, a rather unremarkable young business woman, gets a surprise phone call informing her that she is the only living relative of an elderly woman who has spent the past 61 years in an asylum for the insane. As is the case in these sorts of novels, Iris soon has her newly found great aunt living in her flat, bonding with this woman who is amazingly lucid despite six decades in an abusive institution with no contact with the outside world. As Iris is getting to know Esme, the reader is getting to know the family story, the events that resulted in a 16 year old abandoned to misery. I found this book very difficult to follow with its sudden shifts between time frames and narrative voices. Stories broke off mid-sentence to pick up in a different time or place. I felt constantly disoriented. Possibly as a result, I never connected with any character, never felt invested in the plot. I have seen a number of glowing comments about this book. Unfortunately, I did not fully appreciate its merits. 2.5 stars
In America by Susan Sontaghttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is neither a plot-driven nor a character-driven novel. Despite the decades that the story spans, little seems to happen, or what does happen never conveys any real plot tension. The characters never change or develop beyond the incremental alterations of age and experience. I suppose I would have to describe this as a novel of ideas, a chance for the highly regarded essayist to discuss her thoughts on the nature of theatrical performance, the essential differences between the European and American identity, attitudes toward marriage, family, success, and more with a different audience or through an alternative venue. Based on the life of an actual 19th century Polish actress, this story follows a young theatrical star who emigrates from Poland to California to set up a utopian commune with her intellectual friends. When the commune fails after a year, she returns to her career and achieves equal acclaim on this side of the Atlantic. Maybe I am just not smart enough to appreciate this award-winning novel, but I found it tedious, self-important and quite underwhelming.
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraserwww.goodreads.com/review/show/2755892605
This was not what I was expecting or hoping for. I was anticipating a thorough biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Although this book did follow her life, she often took a back seat to a cultural history of her era. I learned more than necessary about the hazards of monocrops, the US policies toward native nations in the Dakotas, the list of authors managed by the publishing house that published Laura’s books and so on. I learned a great deal about locusts, government farm loans and the production of pre-fab houses. All of this was interesting, but not what I wanted. At times it felt as if the author was padding the page count. My disappointment grew midway through the book as the Wilder’s only daughter, Rose, took center stage. Fraser presented Rose in a very negative light and allowed the spot light to remain on Rose through the entire second half of this biography. I never learned if Laura had a happy marriage, how she was regarded by neighbors and friends, whether she was religious, anxious, or laughed easily. The only quality that was made clear was that she was parsimonious. We also were frequently told how individuals “must have felt” or “might have thought”. In a book with hundreds of footnotes in each chapter, such speculations felt out of place.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannahhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Although not promoted as young adult, this novel with its teenaged narrator, its sweet young romance, its coming of age focus, felt very young adult to me. I generally do not enjoy young adult books. This is the story of a family hoping for healing in the Alaskan frontier. Leni’s father returns from 6 years as a POW in Vietnam haunted, paranoid and increasingly violent. They move to a remote Alaskan village to homestead in the hope that a simpler life and a connection with nature will relieve his symptoms. It should not be a surprise to anyone that the isolation, the long nights, the hardships are not a magic cure. I applaud Hannah for taking on the difficult topic of domestic violence. I appreciated the depiction of the conflicting feelings of love and fear and anger and hope present in the young narrator. For the first 2/3rds of the book, I was surprised at how engaged I was in the novel. But I struggled with the final 1/3rd with its story book romance, its abandonment of psychic trauma, its Hollywood ending. I suspect that the very things that I disliked about this novel is what appeals to most readers.
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullershttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Set in a small town in the late 1930s, this is the story of the universal loneliness deep in the human heart despite the number of social connections that may be present. This novel explores the tension between dreams and despair, the forces that fuel the relentless pursuit of hope and those forces that enables this precious prey to get away. Chapters rotate the focus among a half dozen characters. Despite being narrated in the third person, each character’s chapter is given a unique voice consistent with that person. I greatly appreciated the intelligent writing in this novel which respects the reader, resisting the temptation to explain characters or actions or themes. This book clearly deserves its place among the classics.
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Rescue the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammerhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Timbuktu was a leading center of Islamic scholarship in the medieval era leaving a precious inheritance of hundreds of thousands of illuminated and gold plated manuscripts on subjects ranging from jurisprudence to musicology, from medicine to poetry. When Al Qaeda forces took control of Mali in 2012 enforcing a strict interpretation of Shariah law, these texts became endangered. This book chronicles the collection of these ancient texts in libraries in Timbuktu, the occupation by Al Qaeda, the daring efforts to hide these texts and the eventual over throw of these militant Islamic forces by international military power. The book ends in 2015 and it is clear that Mali and these precious artifacts are not safe. I found this a fascinating story clearly told.
Becoming by Michelle Obamahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This memoir chronicles Michelle Obama’s journey from a lower middle-class African American Chicago neighborhood to an Ivy League education, through high-powered professional positions to First Lady of the United States. With the exception of some nasty politics and the recognition of racial prejudice, this is a positive account filled with a loving home, strong, wise, empowering parents, wonderful mentors, natural ability, intelligence and ambition, a mutually supportive marriage and terrific children. I am an incurable sceptic, so I spent much of this memoir wondering how her brother or an outside biographer would recount the same life story. Nonetheless, this is her story, hers to interpret, and she tells it well.
101 Books to Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
Persuasion (other topics)It (other topics)
The Immortalists (other topics)
The Hate U Give (other topics)
Timekeeper (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jane Austen (other topics)Madeline Miller (other topics)
Sarah Henning (other topics)
Sarah McCoy (other topics)
Sarah Pekkanen (other topics)
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Tyler’s specialty is the ordinary dramas of family life. Her plots may be thin but her characters are complex. This is Liam’s story, a 61 year old man who seems to have spent his life avoiding conflict or challenge. As the novel opens, Liam is passively moving through several major life transitions which culminates in a night time intruder leaving him unconscious from the attack. Waking up in the hospital, he has no recollection of the home invasion, a memory loss that obsesses him to such an extent that he uncharacteristically initiates some actions to try to restore the memory. As his misguided actions to restore his memory play themselves out, his ex-wife and three mildly distant daughters, his somewhat estranged father and step-mother, move in and out of his days in fairly normal patterns, but which lead him to dawning insights about his life. I appreciate the way Tyler explores the quotidian. At the same time, I often felt as if I were seeing puzzle pieces that looked right, until they were forced into place, they just did not fit comfortably. I often have that sense with those who populate Tyler’s novels, that there is something almost imperceptibly off , a sense that things don’t exactly flow from point to point. One example of that in this novel was the development of the relationship between Liam and Eunice. 3.5 stars