Bookish Humor
I am pro Kindle, pro paperback, pro hardback, pro audiobook. Just read, and by “read” I mean consume words other than in social media.
Night Road – Kristin Hannah
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: It was a good distraction, but I did not really connect with it.
Full Summary: I don’t know if this book did not land with me because of my feelings about motherhood or what. I like it because I had just visited Seattle and lots of places talked about in the book were those we had visited. However in general – just a good distraction from a really hectic work week – which is ALWAYS a good thing!
City of Girls – Elizabeth Gilbert
Rating: 5 stars
Cliff Notes: When I finished this book I was devastated because I can never read it for the first time again.
Full Summary: OH MY GOSH THE WORDS IN THIS BOOK.
“Of course, nobody is required to stand in the field of honor,” Olive continued. “If you find it too challenging, you may always exit, and then you can remain a child. But if you wish to be a person of character, I’m afraid this is the only way. But it may be painful.”
Note: The bolding in the passages above are my own, not the author’s.
“The field of honor is a painful field,” Olive went on at last, as though Peg had not spoken. “That’s what my father taught me when I was young. He taught me that the fired of honor is not a place where children can play. Children don’t have any honor, you see, and they aren’t expected to, because it’s too difficult for them. It’s too painful. But to become an adult, one must step into the field of honor. Everything will be expected of you now. You will need to be vigilant in your principles. Sacrifices will be demanded. You will be judged. If you make mistakes, you must account for them.”
“Eventually all of us will be called upon to do the thing that cannot be done. This is the painful field, Angela.”
I knew I was going to like this book because I like pretty much all of the words that Elizabeth Gilbert writes. Then as reviews came out, EVERYONE loved this book. But what I did not expect was to be blown away. I plan to buy this book even after I read it just so I can have it.
Let me tell you what this book is NOT – it is not about NYC during WW2 when all the men went away. I have heard that review a lot and that is not it. Just trust me and go read it. Buy it. Read it again. You will not be sorry.
Stray City – Chelsey Johnson
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: It was fine.
Full Summary: I think I would have liked it better with more in depth POV chapters from various characters.
Wunderland – Jennifer Cody Epstein
Rating: 3 stars (would be 3 1/2 if Goodreads had partials)
Cliff Notes: I love all books about WW2 so I might be biased.
Full Summary: I have always had a fascination with books about World War 2 so when I saw this book‘s review in People Magazine I knew I wanted to read it. It did not disappoint. It was a a little different in that the 2 girls were teenagers during the Nazi-era vs most of the books I read where the characters are adults. Plus it went in reverse time through part of it and also had flash backs and flash forwards so that was interesting, but made it confusing at times.
The Girls in the Picture – Melanie Benjamin
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: It was fine. I got bogged down in name dropping and movie titles. I do want to look up the movie Fran did about women in WW1.
Full Summary: I liked the theme woven throughout this book – that women need to band together and support each other. I believe that a high tide raises all boats. But it also showed how hard we are on each other at times and how we let men waylay our goals, relationships with other women, and / or both.
The Thundering Herd: Farm Life in the 1950’s and 60’s; Looking through the lens of duty in Vietnam – John E. Peltier
Rating: None
Cliff Notes: Kindle – DNF ~ 35%
Full Summary: The alternating story lines of the Vietnam era and farm life in the 50s and 60s made it too disjointed for me to settle into this story.
Providence – Caroline Kepnes
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: This was weird. Kind of a blend of sci fi and lost love. Didn’t like it as much as her other book, You (which has been turned into a Netflix series that is GREAT).
Full Summary: Sci fi is just not my jam (unless it is Dark Matter and its 7,495 Jasons, but I digress). I cannot even when it comes to long lost loves that pine for each other through eternity. Puuuhhhleeze. Then you put them TOGETHER?
I was all tucked in and ready for a cozy, weird-boy-kidnapped-by-weirder-dude-then-returns-4-years-later saga. Then it turned into a dumb love story. Blerghhhh. Who has time for that!? And no one every really addressed the fact that there was some science experiment than rando kidnapper did in the basement of the mall. I felt like I was missing several chapters where they explained what the heck happened in that basement. Nope. But it was entertaining enough to keep reading.
Lawn Boy – Jonathan Evison
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: Cute story, love the voice of the narrator. Read on Kindle.
Full Summary: I was definitely cheering him on through the story. If this were a TV show I probably would have shouted at the TV a few times when he was making bad choices. I would recommend this book as a beach book perfect for vacation.
The Next Right Thing – Emily P. Freeman
Rating: 5 stars
Cliff Notes Version: I have never highlighted on a Kindle until I read this book. Backlist read completed 3/1/2019.
Full Review: Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) on Kindle. This was the first book launch team I was a part of and it was a great experience! The author is local to Greensboro, where I live so I was grateful to be on a launch team that was also convenient for me to support.
Some parts of this book touched a raw searching nerve in me that made all the hairs on my neck stand up. And I don’t know of any big decisions weighing heavily on my heart and mind right now! Additionally, Emily P Freeman has an online course, “Discern and Decide” that works as a companion piece to this book and also a quiz that helps you decide what your decision-making style is. Apparently I make decisions with my gut, which might be why we buy Tums from Costco.
Some people have commented they are not going to read it bc of the “God focus.” I am here to tell you that is a mistake. I would consider myself a seeker and spent a couple decades angry at God for things that happened in my life and for the people he put in charge of churches. But there is a small part inside of me that knows there is something in the universe that is greater than me and I choose to call it Love. Whenever Emily refers to God, I literally subbed the word Love and it unlocked messages that I really needed to hear. Don’t let your fear of the human mess get in the way of the soul message.
