Quick Lit March 2016

Love to be reading outside again!

Each month I link with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit as a way to talk about the books I liked, but didn't review.

I had a sick day a few weeks ago, and reading A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie in bed was just the right medicine. I read this all in one day, and immediately reserved a few more in the series. I needed a good distraction while I waited for Career of Evil to finally come up on my library holds list.

I picked up Train Like a Mother by Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell as inspiration for my summer hiking training. I liked the advice on time management, nutrition, coming back from an injury, and play lists even it was focused on training for a running race. Still useful even though I run a mile at best each week.

If I were to play the game where I had to match Cormoran Strike characters to Harry Potter characters Matthew the fiancé would be Umbridge. I was really hoping he would turn out to be the killer so we could be done with him. (That's not a spoiler: he was never a suspect.) Still a good book though; I can't wait for the next one.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton was the first book in recent memory that I could guess the ending to before it happened. That doesn't make it a bad book. I liked the characters, and I'm glad I read it.

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REVIEW: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

“I do not like postmodernism, postapocolyptic settings, postmortem narrators, or magic realism. I rarely respond to supposedly clever formal devices, multiple fonts, pictures where they shouldn’t be - basically gimmicks of any kind. I find literary fiction about the Holocaust or any other magical world tragedy to be distasteful - nonfiction only, please. I do not like genre mash-ups a la the literary detective novel or the literary fantasy. Literary should be literary, and genre should be genre, and cross breeding rarely results in anything satisfying.”

— The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

It only took me until page 13 to fall in love with A.J. Fikry, the grumpy bookseller main character from The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. Really, isn't it every bookworm's dream to find someone who can talk so eloquently about what they do or don't like in a book?

I put off reading about Mr. Fikry for ages because for some reason I thought this book was about time travel. I'm so glad I finally picked it up last week, because it ended up being one of those books that I loved so much I could only read magazines for a few days after I finished. There was a satisfying love story, a great father daughter relationship, just enough drama to make it a story, and an emotional ending that was sad but not in a manipulative way. And that is what I love in a book.

Other books that were so good I could only read magazines for a while:

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REVIEW: Left For Dead by Beck Weathers

I have a high threshold for scary stuff in books. I can read Stephen King books by the dozen and sleep well at night. So when the first section of Left For Dead by Beck Weathers had my heart pounding, I couldn't wait to read the rest. But sadly, it was just, meh.

I can't think of anything scarier than being alone near the summit of Mt. Everest. Weathers' vivid descriptions of what it was like to wake up and realize he was alone, and most likely going to die were like nothing I've read before. The premise of the rest of the book (how depression led him to take such crazy risks, and how his mountain climbing left a scar on his family life) sounded just as interesting. The book didn't deliver though, and I just barely finished. Sadly, I can't recommend this one, but if you find yourself with a copy the first section is worth a look.

If you too have a fondness for books about disasters on high mountains may I suggest:

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REVIEW: The Bee-Friendly Garden by Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn

I'm in full on garden planning mode this month, and finding ways to attract more pollinators to my yard has been a big part of that process. The Bee-Friendly Garden by Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn is a great resource.

This book is a small one, but it's packed with information and beautiful pictures. There's something for everyone here. I'll admit I skimmed the section of the different types of bees, while my son poured over it. I, on the other hand, read the section about pollinators in the edible landscape twice.

While this book is a great resource for my personal garden it would also make a good gift. If your mom likes to garden, the glossy photos in this book would make it an excellent Mother's Day gift. It's never too early to plan!

Spring is coming!

Note: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for a honest review.

If you liked The Rosie Project

If you're a fan of The Rosie Project (and who isn't?), you should check out the lesser known non-fiction book The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch. It is funny, and poignant, and true, so there's no off the wall story lines. If you're looking for a real love story, read this one.

Other books I love that never made the best seller list:

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REVIEW: Wide-Open World by John Marshall

I have been on a travel writing kick ever since I had a square for it on my Summer Reading Bingo card last year. That must have been how I ran across Wide-Open World by John Marshall. It was a worthy addition to my current reading obsession!

This was a real life book about doing something kind of crazy that was at the same time relatable. It starts with a couple with two teenagers that is drifting apart. Their marriage isn't terrible, but it's not great, and they feel like they're about to lose their kids to facebook and adulthood. They would love to drop it all, and travel for a year, but aren't sure how to swing it. They realize that by leveraging volunteer work they might be able to swing it.

I'll cut to the chase: these are not self righteous, I'm better than you because I help people instead of traveling types. If you're afraid reading this book will make you feel bad about your next trip to the hotel swimming pool don't be. These are people who initially use volunteer work as a way to help them travel, but who end up being changed for the better by it. This book includes the good, the bad, and the ugly, and that's what makes it so likable.

Other armchair travel I've enjoyed:

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REVIEW: The Green Road by Anne Enright

I read about The Green Road on Library Thing, and thought it sounded like the perfect book for me. I love Irish family sagas. Then I picked the book up from the library, and saw it had been longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. I avoided it for a while then because I assumed that meant unlikable characters with an unresolved ending. It was only a looming library due date with a holds list three people deep that kept me from renewing this book that got me to give it a try.

An old picture from a trip to Western Ireland I took in college. The trip that started my love for Irish family sagas. 

You know what? The characters were pretty unlikable, and the ending was a bit unresolved, but I still loved this book. Despite their total selfishness, the characters read true, and Enright's writing was beautiful and efficient. She used just the right words. She let you know what was going on in the way F. Scott Fitzgerald told you all about Jordan Baker just by the way she drove.

Don't be scared off by this book's success. The Green Road is exactly the Irish family drama you were hoping for.

Quick Lit February 2016

Each month I link with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit as a way to talk about the books I liked, but didn't review.

The Japanese Lover is about love, growing old, expectations, and loss. It is mostly a love story between a Jewish refuge and a Japanese man during World War Two in San Francisco, but there are current day issues as well. There's too much going on in this book to make it great, but it was perfect when we were snowed in.

When Books Went to War was a super interesting account of books, and their role in World War II. Reading! It's patriotic.

Hissing Cousins is a complete account of the rivalry between everyone's hero Eleanor Roosevelt, and the original mean girl Alice Longworth. I listened to this while I was shoveling us out from the blizzard, and I barely noticed what I was doing.

An Ember in the Ashes has all the elements of good dystopian YA. Love triangles (well, love squares really), battles between teenagers, conversations interrupted just when you're about to find out what's going on...

Read this one if you liked Divergent.

Maybe it's just because I'm such a super James A. Garfield fan girl, but I didn't get into Lafayette in the Somewhat United States as much as Assassination Vacation. Still it was completely worth it for the section on the political implications of playing a French Revolutionary War hero at Colonial Williamsburg during the Bush administration.

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REVIEW: 100 Recipes: The Absolute Best Ways To Make The True Essentials by America's Test Kitchen

If you need simple, tasty food that your kids will actually eat may I suggest 100 Recipes from America's Test Kitchen? I've looked at books like this before, and have been disappointed by lists of crazy ingredients or fancy twists on basic food. This book isn't like that. It contains basic recipes that use the best ingredients cooked in the best way.

A real sign of how basic these ingredients are: I was reading this book in the car on the way home from a hike, and saw a recipe for Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts. I decided it looked good, and was able to cook it from things I had on hand. That never happens to me due to the small children who live in my house and eat through all available ingredients as if they were a swarm of locusts.

I've never been tempted to cook through a cookbook before, but this book might just get me to do it. It seems as if it can get me to rise above the daily beat down caused by my lack of time combined with my suspicious of anything that is not pasta kids - at least once or twice a week.

I got this book from the library, but I'm planning on buying my own copy using cash money from the bookstore. That's saying something.

If you too are beaten down by life, here are some more cookbooks that might bring you back from the dark side:

REVIEW: The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy

I used to hate books told by two narrators to the point where I wouldn't even pick them up, but lately I have been giving them another chance. I'm not sure if old age has mellowed me, or if I just needed to find some good ones. The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy is a good one.

The novel is narrated by two childless women struggling to find their purpose. In the present day we have Eden, a former PR worker who moved to West Virginia to start a family. In the past we have Sarah Brown, the daughter of abolitionist John Brown, who reacts to her father's hanging with a resolve to fight on. Both characters are sympathetic, and the way their stories eventually come together is very creative.

If you like historical fiction, you'll love this book. The chapters that deal with the present enhance rather than distract from the engrossing tale of Sarah Brown and her family.

(Note: Blogging For Books sent me this book, but all opinions are my own.)

REVIEW: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a love story between a town and some books. Yes, actual people fall in love too, but the love story between people and books is more believable and satisfying. It's not that there's anything wrong with the person to person love stories. It's just that the example of a run down town that starts with almost nothing, but is completely transformed into a place people want to live once it gets a book store is so satisfying. It's economic and social policy that makes more sense than anything you'll see in a presidential debate.

The story starts off simply enough. A Swedish girl goes to visit her pen pal in Broken Wheel, Iowa. The only problem is she shows up just as her pen pal's funeral is ending. The town puts her up, because it's the right thing to do, and they take care of all her needs. However, it doesn't seem right to come all the way to Iowa only to let others make hamburgers for her and make her coffee. All alone, and without purpose, she decides to pay back the town's kindnesses by opening a book shop. The town is doubtful, but as all bookworms know, a small bookstore can solve everything.

If you love reading you'll love this book.

(Note: links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support.)

Catching up on podcasts

When I'm not reading actual books, I tend to alternate between audiobook listening and podcast binging. This week I've been catching up on podcasts, and have found some bookish ones I loved. (Some of these are old, but they're new to me!)

Jane Austen Game Theorist from Freakonomics Radio

What to do with ARCs on Dear Book Nerd

Rick Steves talks to David McCullough about the Wright Brothers

The Get Booked ladies answer the burning question "What should I read if love West Wing?"

What's your favorite podcast?

Where were you when Challenger exploded? Two books about the space shuttle.

The Space Shuttle Discovery at the Air & Space Museum in Dulles, VA

Like many other people my age one of my most vivid memories of elementary school was an announcement on the loudspeaker explaining that Challenger exploded. All of the astronauts died, including a teacher. It's confusing to see your teachers upset when you're so young, and that's what I mostly remember. There was a very special Punky Brewster episode a few months later that made more sense of the situation, but I didn't really realize what this teacher in space from a neighboring state had meant to the ones who were educating me.

Despite deciding to get a degree in physics based on a scene I loved from the movie Apollo 13, despite spending many college nights looking at the stars for my senior seminar instead of just looking something up on the internet like a normal person, despite being hired by a Teacher-In-Space finalist who got me in to meet Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe's back up who later flew on the space shuttle herself, I never knew much about the program.  That changed this year with two great books I can very highly recommend if to anyone who wants to read more about the shuttle.

Sally Ride was a totally kick butt astrophysicist and athlete who also happened to be America's first woman in space. This is a really great biography, one of the best books I read in 2015.

Leaving Orbit is a travelogue written by a woman who visits the last three shuttle launches. I haven't quite finished it yet, but I am enjoying it quite a bit. If you like Sara Vowell's books, you'll probably like this one too.

“For a bit of perspective: at the same time the Mercury astronauts were being chosen, a nine-year-old African American boy was being asked to leave his town’s whites-only public library in Lake City, South Carolina. Fourth-grader Ronald McNair refused to leave until he could check out the books he had chosen, prompting the librarian to call the police. McNair eventually earned a PhD in physics from MIT, was selected in the astronaut class of 1978, and flew in space for the first time in 1984. He was killed in the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. The library where he was once denied service is now named for him.”

— Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean

Where were you when the Challenger exploded?

(Note: you can click on the images above to read a full description of the books on amazon.com. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!)

Books that make me want to read other books

Everything I've read about Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir has been positive, but I've put off reading it because someone said it would cause me to add dozens more books to my TBR. Since my list usually hovers around 400 books, I'm a little scared to read a book that will add to it. So, I'm putting that one off until I can get my list down to 375 or so.

It wouldn't be the first time a book forced me to add to my TBR. It was Kelly Corrigan's Glitter and Glue that got me to try My Antonia, and Katherine Reay's books always have me tempted to spend my whole paycheck on Barnes & Noble Classics. So, it's not a bad thing that a book will cause me to read other books. I just need to put it off for a while. For the sake of my family. And my future employment prospects.

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The Book Was Better: A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson was one of the first books I read about hiking. I loved it right away, and made my husband listen to the audiobook version on a road trip. We both thought it was hilarious, and we still repeat some of the lines today. When I heard it was going to be a movie starring Robert Redford, I was puzzled, but excited. It sounded baby-sitter worthy.

My first clue should have been when we got the baby-sitter, but couldn't find the movie in any theaters around us. I finally ended up streaming it last week, and was really glad I didn't shell out baby-sitter + movie theatre type money for it. Everything that is so wonderful about Bryson's book comes off as stiff and uncomfortable in the movie. Some of my favorite plot points in the book were there, but taken out of context they just don't stand up.

It's a shame. When one of your favorite books is recreated by one of your favorite actors you expect magic. But even Robert Redford couldn't make this movie better than the book.

If you like books about hiking try:

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REVIEW: Superforecasting by Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner

I make dumb predictions all of the time. I'll call up my brother in the middle of the day in February and say something like "The Astros are going to be better this year." I'll tell my kids "It's going to snow 8 inches this weekend." These predictions aren't usually based on anything more than some tweet I saw, or the weather forecast I listened to with half an ear. I love to make these kind of predictions even if I don't have any kind of success. Turns out that there are people who have been making predictions as part of an experiment by the author Philip Tetlock, and he's sharing their secrets in his book Superforecasting.

Superforecasting sounds really hard when you first read about it, but this book makes it seem approachable. It's full of tips to approach problems big and small. I especially liked the sections that talked about the project's participants, their backgrounds, and the reasons for their forecasting success.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in books about brain science, polling, or decision making. It's a good one!

(Note: Blogging For Books sent me this book, but all opinions are my own.)

Turning to books for comfort

“When I’m 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I’ll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, ‘After all this time?’ And I will say, ‘Always.’”

— Alan Rickman

Last week we had to leave town suddenly for a funeral. It was very sad, and totally unexpected, so of course I knew I would need a stack of books to get me through. I grabbed the next four books on my reading list, and threw them in my bag without thinking. And then at the last minute I took Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off the shelf. In the car on the way there I flipped through the book, re-reading my favorite parts, and let myself be comforted by the world we all know so well.

Books have given me so many things. If there's one thing I hope to pass on to my kids it's a love of reading, because from there all of the other important things will flow: compassion, empathy, understanding, pride, hope, courage, and comfort.

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Quick Lit January 2016

Each month I link with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit as a way to talk about the books I liked, but didn't review.

3/4 through The Nightingale I would have said it was good, but not great. But the ending, wow. I am talking a miss your kid's school bus level of gripping. Great feminist message at the end too.

The Bassoon King is surprisingly deep. Not just another celebrity memoir. Give it a try if you've been holding off.

Two of the books I read last month were in an effort to find new Christmas stories. Both A Christmas Escape and A Christmas Blizzard gave me what I was looking for: short, entertaining novels with an uncomplicated story. (Disclosure: I got A Christmas Escape from the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.)

Kitchens of The Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal was my first read of 2016. I've been on the library holds list for this one since the summer, and it was worth the wait. It's hard to describe. It's hopeful and heartbreaking at the same time, and has you cheering for bad decisions. Plus, it includes recipes.

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REVIEW: The Nesting Place

The subtitle of Myquillyn Smith's The Nesting Place is "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." I finally got around to reading her book after being a longtime fan of her blog because I feel like the inverse has been true in my home for a while now. "It doesn't have to be beautiful to be perfect." could be my design mantra. Let's just say that after having two kids in three years plus working full time, our house has become a bit functional.

I appreciated Myquillyn's encouragement to just try a few things rather than worry about what will happen if I mess it up. I really loved all of her beautiful pictures. I think I've seen most of them on her blog, but I enjoyed having them all in one place. I'm frustrated that the thrift stores near me don't sell chairs for $20 that I can recover to look awesome. I'll keep looking though.

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REVIEW: The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs

This book left me completely gutted. It's a short book - I read it in under 24 hours during one basketball practice, two metro rides, and a long, weepy lunch. It's a good thing I was working from home that day because I was a wreck.

The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs is the story of a girl who was picked on in high school, and what happens when she finally begins to stand up for herself. You'll like her daughter Polly better, but you'll relate more to Caroline. This book is full of wacky characters, but winds up with a wholly satisfying ending. If you ever dreamed of catching up with the kid who picked on you in high school this book is for you.

(Note: links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!)