Sustainable Sue Packs for Vacation
Odd Apocalypse – Dean Koontz
Rating: 2 stars
Cliff Notes: Omg I should have quit this damn book. I threw this one when I finished it. I may never read another Odd Thomas.
Full Summary: It usually does take a bit to get into the action in an Odd Thomas book, but this was extraordinarily long. Then when the action hit, it was effing time travel!? No thank you. Don’t muck up my Beach Week reading with science fiction. Blergh. I spent 512 pages on this puppy so you better believe I threw it when I was done. I generally don’t believe in book abuse, but when I get tricked into not abandoning stuff like this – BYYYYYEEEE!!!
Lucky – Alice Sebold
Rating: 4 stars
Cliff Notes: I am not sure how I missed that this was a memoir of her rape as a Syracuse freshman. Perhaps not a great choice for a Beach Week read, but I am glad I did.
Full Summary: I am glad this was relatively short because I could not put it down, and it was intense. I picked it up because The Lovely Bones is a favorite of mine – a book I kept even after reading it. I kept waiting for the twist where the rapist would go free on a technicality and was so grateful how it all turned out.
Then I was confused when there were still about 50 pages of the book left but her trial was over. THEN OH MY GOSH. I do not pretend this is a spoiler-free blog, but on this one I am going to leave this as just an OH MY GOSH. I truly think that last part of the book is the lesson that we are supposed to learn from this memoir. How we all come to – and leave from – each situation differently.
After I finished reading this book, I also spent time thinking about Sebold’s current relationship with her mother. It is not a spoiler to say her mom was unhelpful almost to the point of harmful, then there was such a heartfelt message to her mother in the acknowledgments. Was there a reckoning that happened? What does her mom think about how she was portrayed in the book? I plan to do a deep dive on this the next time I cannot sleep in the middle of the night. I shall report back.
My Reading Life – Pat Conroy
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: There is no better place to read Pat Conroy than on the beach in South Carolina. This had to be a Beach Week read.
Full Summary: Although this is not the book I rated highest of those I read during Beach Week, it is my favorite from the week. I love Pat Conroy, and I love reading. So to read about Pat Conroy’s reading life on the beaches of South Carolina (where he was raised and where most of his books seem to be set), was just too good to pass up.
I did not love every book that Conroy wrote about (many I have not even read – I am not the Brainy Smurf I pretend to be), but it really gave insight into his writing style. For example, the chapter on Tom Wolfe was so revealing because Conroy talks about how he has modeled his super wordy style after his love of all of Wolfe’s writing. Of course he says it much more eloquently, verbosely and humorously. You kind of have to read it to get it. Sort of like hearing how he describes, Gone with the Wind:
To Southerners like my mother, Gone with the Wind was not just a book; it was an answer, a clenched first raise to the North, an anthem of defiance.
Inheritance – Dani Shapiro
Rating: 4 stars
Cliff Notes: I have lots of mixed feelings about this book, but they are all strong. I am not doing 23 and Me anytime soon.
Full Summary: The tag line on this book is “A memoir of genealogy, paternity, and love,” but for me it really struck a nerve about motherhood. As I have mentioned before, there can be all kinds of feelings wrapped up in being a mother. Or not being a mother. Or being a childless step-mother, as it were.
I read this book around the same time as some other books that struck a motherhood chord with me. I do not think there are coincidences. I think the universe brings different things to our awareness to learn lessens. Often those lessons are presented different ways or through different mediums. Once something is Brough tot our awareness, it seems to come up everywhere.
What are the recurring lessons or topics that are showing up for you?
A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: I have heard great things about this book for years and was excited to pick it up at a recent book sale.
Full Summary: It took me a little longer to get through because of the foreign names of geography and culture (food, clothing, celebrations, etc). I also got bogged down at times with the in depth details of the conflict in the region.
But the stories of these women. Holy cow. The resilience and courage these women showed throughout the novel is humbling, especially knowing that the situations that these women endured are probably taken from actual events. And are probably still happening today.
Secret Daughter – Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Rating: I would rate it 3.5 stars if I could.
Cliff Notes: I loved all of the Indian culture present in this book. The author did a great job describing it in great detail. The themes of motherhood and what that means for women really struck a chord with me, making it hard to read at times.
Full Summary: I don’t think this is spoiler-ish at all, but read the review at your own risk. Somer could not have kids and struggled with that infertility and what it meant about her as a woman. It really struck a chord with me as I have had these same thoughts. Not that I struggled with infertility, but as a woman who does not have biological children of her own.
Throughout evolution, one of the main “purposes” for women is to procreate, to carry children, nurture them, work with other women to foster a community in which to raise the children. This is not my jam. I am about as nurturing as a porcupine, although it has gotten a bit “easier” as the kids have gotten older. Teenagers don’t really want to cuddle – they actually don’t even want to be on the same level of the house with us. I put “easier” in quotes because let’s be honest – the bigger the kid the bigger the problems. We certainly have had our fair share. But I am specifically talking about my ability to be maternal and nurturing. Or not be maternal and nurturing, as it were.
When I first became a step mother and we made the choice to not have children of our own, I did struggle with the idea that I had no purpose as a woman if I was not going to have my own kids. What was broken in me that I did not long for that? Over time I have come to see different ways. I can make a difference in the lives of kids – my nieces or my step kids. Friends’ kids and such. Not everyone needs to birth kids in order to make an impact in their lives. Nurturing can look many different ways.
Nights in Rodanthe – Nicholas Sparks
Rating: 3 stars
Cliff Notes: Super cheesy, but sometimes you just need an escape. I loved how the story ended.
Full Summary: The copy of this book that I read is the one where it had the movie characters on the front so the whole time I just pictured Richard Gere, which I generally don’t like to do because I want to use my imagination. Because that is pretty much the point of books, right!?
Anyway, so this was super cheesy – I am not sure how you fall in love like this in a weekend. But how the relationship played out was RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!! I do want to watch the movie so watch for the review of that. I see a new hashtag coming – Book to Movie Adaptation. Hint: The books is always better.
Songs of the Humpback Whale – Jodi Picoult
Rating: 4 stars
Cliff Notes: Accidental unicorn. This was a reread, but I did not realize it until too far in. I figured if I forgot so much I might as well redo it.
Full Summary: I like how this was written backwards. I remember when I read it the first time that I was confused for quite a bit of the first half of the book. Which is probably why I don’t remember so much of it. This barely counts as a reread.
I like how much this book honors young love. Love when you are a teenager is different. It is often dismissed as puppy love or not “real” love. It might not be a love you can base a future on and God help me if I would have married a person who liked who I was when I was 15 or expected me to stay that poor same young woman. But those first loves are big and deep and real. Jodi Picoult does a wonderful job of presenting it in this novel.
Where There’s Smoke – Jodi Picoult
Rating: 5 stars
Cliff Notes: A prequel – YAY!! But a short story – boooooo. I always want more Jodi Picoult.
Full Summary: This is listed in Goodreads as Leaving Time 0.5. Basically it is a story that leads up to the book Leaving Time, which I have reviewed previously.
